The Business Brickyard Podcast

I want to tell you a little story from my past that, I hope, will convince you of the importance of going down the paths life presents you ESPECIALLY when you think they may lead to nowhere. Lots of people talk about missed opportunities. Looking back, they usually were missed because we decide upfront where that opportunity will lead even though we have absolutely NO idea. In the words of English actor Jim Broadbent, “We’ve all got a little black book of missed opportunities.”

You know the information you need to deliver great work for your clients. I am willing to bet, with some effort, you could figure out ways to get the results much faster than you do today. Nobody wants to spend years in therapy, they just think that is the only way it works. So it stays the same until someone decides to change their expectations. So, for the people you sell to, what are THEIR expectations (In time and money) for getting the results they truly want? How could you give them those answers in half of the time and turn that into your competitive advantage?

How does one make a decision that they know will hurt their business in the short term without 100% (or even 80%) certainty that it will help them in the long term? You know what you have, even if it is not making you happy or as successful as you want, so how you do make the leap of faith to damage your business in order to make it better? Maybe you have clients that cost you more than you earn from them. Maybe the market is shifting under your feet and you need to make a big investment to change how you do business. Maybe you need to make some key new hires to allow you to handle larger clients long before the revenue from those larger clients comes in. How many of these decisions are you putting off? How long have you been struggling with a status quo that has lost its status? How bad does the pain have to be in your business before you make these hard decisions? Books mentioned in this episode: Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink - On Amazon Way Of The Warrior Kid - Jocko Willink - On Amazon

With my apologies to Simon Sinek, NOBODY really cares about your “why.” They want you to care about THEIRS. Almost every business owner I talk to these days has figured out their “why” (And cannot WAIT to tell me all about it). The problem is that stating and broadcasting their why has not helped their ability to clearly articulate why someone should actually buy their product or service. Even worse, knowing their why has not helped them win new clients. The reason is quite simple.... Nobody cares about your why. They care about theirs.

Go slow to go fast. Stop with the hustle and grind bullshit, slow down and spend the time on the things that will allow you to finally create a foundation to support a future of incredible speed and capacity in your business. Go slow to go fast. Who are you racing against? Do they matter (If you read my book then you know how I feel about chasing your competitors)? Go slow to go fast. When you make business decisions quickly… they are usually made from a place of emotion instead of allowing the time to be more logical, strategic and thoughtful about the longer term implications of your choices. Go slow to go fast. Links mentioned in this episode: Rich Roll Podcast : https://staging.richroll.com/all-episodes/ Book - Finding Ultra by Rich Roll: https://staging.richroll.com/shop/books/finding-ultra/ Chris Hauth Training : https://www.aimpcoaching.com/ Heart Zone Training: https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/beginners/a760176/heart-rate-training-the-basics/

People leaving your company, because they quit or you let them go, is the least discussed and most disruptive aspect of business ownership. SOOOO, let’s discuss it! Regardless of the scenario, replacing someone eats up an enormous amount of time and energy. If you are not involved in the hiring, it will eat up a lot of time and energy for the member of your team that has to find someone great. How can it be improved? I do not have all the answers but, on this episode of the podcast, allow me to share 5 lessons I have learned over the past 30 years of running businesses and helping others run theirs a bit better.

After a few episodes where we have focused on lots of business strategies, I hope you will allow me to share some valuable lessons I have learned about life and the distorted ways we view the times in our lives where we have been hurt and challenged to our core.

Right now, you are thinking about the end of your month, your quarter or your year. You are likely in a mad dash to make or break your numbers from this same time last year and your targets for the full year. You push on the members of your team, you push on your clients, you pressure your prospects and you make deals to attain a “score” you set in January. This is how it goes every year, over and over. Sprint after sprint. Quarter to quarter and then year after year while never feeling like you can do the things that would create the size and scale of the business you truly want. All because of a calendar construct you did not create.

For far too many businesses, profit increases (hopefully) a little each year and we take that as a win. But there are businesses in your industry that earn 10-20X the amount of profit that you do. Do they have a secret that you do not? I don't think so. In this episode, let's talk about how to, finally, make your profit LEAP.

I have endured years of known pain at different times in my life and career. In retrospect, you can barely perceive the protracted and subtle descent. After years of slogging through the recession of the 90's, I needed someone else to tell me that I had lost my smile to even recognize how resigned I had become to the struggle. It had simply become my normal. It never should have been. In this episode, we'll uncover how we all can get stuck with known pain and, more importantly, how to snap out of it.

Why would a smart business owner, CEO or board of directors not ask for help when the likely alternative is their business ceases to exist? Why would an entrepreneur choose to put their savings, home and family at financial risk when simply calling someone with the right expertise could change such an important outcome? Having worked with dozens of businesses in the past decade (and made the tough call for help for my own business before that) there is one word that keeps coming up. Pride. Your pride is stopping you from building a business that makes you proud. I am going to tell you what you can do with your pride.

Business is supposed to be fun to run. This core truth has been the through-line for most of my work and career. It has stayed true through the ups and downs of businesses I have owned or lead and for the many clients I have worked with. Just like in a marriage or relationship that has lost its fire, not feeling the love for your business anymore impacts your life, leads to flailing strategic decisions and creates a stifling resignation to just endure. So HOW can you make business more fun, more fulfilling and capable of bringing you joy? It is not enough to just want it or lament not having fun. What can you actually do? I am glad you asked. In this episode, I will answer those questions and more.

How many activities is your business currently involved in that it is not great at? How many business lines generate the right amount of profit (Meaning enough profit to make it worth the effort, risk and expense)? Bonus point question so you keep fueling your passion for the business… How many parts of your business do you truly love doing? My hunch is that there is a core inside your business (That original sculpture) that is sharing a lot of time, attention and money with products and/or services that other businesses do better than you. Why are you doing them? Let's discuss it all, shall we?

Oh no! Not ANOTHER business podcast! Wellllll… yes...and no. I think there are more than enough business interview podcasts where the host asks the guest for all of their secrets to their incredible success. This is not going to be that.