[00:00:00.000] - Chris
Wow. How many of you have listened to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast? I can't tell you that reaction, how much that means to us. Welcome back to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast. I'm Chris.
[00:00:11.230] - Brandon
And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. This new camera angle makes my arms look smaller than yours.
[00:00:21.000] - Chris
I'm noticing that and I really appreciate it. I thought you did that on purpose.
[00:00:24.150] - Brandon
No, I don't. I didn't, and I am not happy with it. Hey, all, thanks so much for listening to the show. Hey, if you're not already following, please do so and ultimately share, right? Like the coolest currency that we have in terms of supporting this is share it with a friend, share it with somebody, a colleague, a peer, one of your downline team members. Let them be able to take advantage of the information you're already leveraging in your favor. And finally, guys, if you hear a show that really moves you, that really moves the needle, will you please leave us a review? Those five-star reviews help us a ton.
[00:00:58.140] - Chris
Right on. And listen, if you're trying to grow your business, you might consider checking out Floodlight's business opportunity audit. It's free. We provided it no charge. It's actually what we use to assess new clients as they come in. It's a 110 point assessment for your business. We've now decided to give access to the general public for it. So go and take our business opportunity audit at floodlightgrp. Com. It's going to help you identify the biggest gaps and opportunities in your business right now. And at the end, it'll assign you a health score to let you know exactly where your business stands right right now. Go check it out, floodlightgrp. Com/audit, and take the Boa. It's a great way to get a pulse on your business.
[00:01:38.550] - Brandon
Mahomes. I'm trying to change my intro based on that sweet open shirt you You got going. Dude, if you had a gold necklace on right now that was visible between the beard and the open collar, there would be a whole new awesome level of awesome going down right now.
[00:01:55.610] - Chris
Oh, man.
[00:01:56.480] - Brandon
Yeah.
[00:01:57.070] - Chris
Well, ever since Avon gave us her social media report and seeing our engagement on LinkedIn and so forth. Oh, gosh. Apparently, the more skin you and I show, the more engagement it gets, which makes me feel just slightly weird, considering the male domination in our industry. What does this mean?
[00:02:15.780] - Brandon
Oh, what is this telling us?
[00:02:17.030] - Chris
What does this mean?
[00:02:17.690] - Brandon
About the stats inside our industry. Don't lean into that too hard. I'll tell you that right now.
[00:02:22.120] - Chris
I'm ambitious enough. I'm willing to...
[00:02:24.420] - Brandon
You're going to test the boundaries. That's right. Test your boundaries. Hey, man, open in the collar. We'll get us a thousand more listeners. Let's go.
[00:02:31.740] - Chris
A little chest hair in this episode. Let's go.
[00:02:33.900] - Brandon
That's right. Okay, dude, I have a... Man, it feels like we haven't been in the studio for a minute. We did some mobile stuff. We did some reboots. Travel has been crazy this year. I think it's... Anyway, so I don't want to go down that path. But so I've been thinking about a topic that I wanted to wrestle with, and I think wrestle is the key because I'm not even sure I can articulate the topic very well. So here we go. Okay, so one of the things that you and I have been working on, really, our team has been working on over the last several months is a very large project, a project that will ultimately reshape the way that Floodlight does consulting and the way that we deliver service to our partners and to our clients. It's been an interesting experience. We're in our own training right now. We spent last week in Chicago with our team getting certified and going through a really robust training model. Anyways, it's one of many things where I feel like I'm facing right now, where the demand on the company, the demand on scope of work, and what we want to do in terms of creating a service promise and actually executing on that level of service with our clients, it's creating a demand on me that is really requiring that I iterate.
[00:03:41.200] - Brandon
I got to level up.
[00:03:42.090] - Chris
Well, yeah, just to be clear, when people hear this, they may think, Oh, is floodlight becoming an EOS thing, or are we doing this like a culture index or some just common certification? No, I mean, this is a one-off. This is a brand new thing. This is a collaboration, a partnership. We've been mastermining around and working on creating for months now, and it's finally come to fruition. It's something that the industry has never seen. It's super exciting. And yet, because it's not just some turnkey, become an EOS implementer or whatever. I'm not down playing EOS. It's awesome. It's great. It's a good thing. But I just mean it isn't just read a book and then go to a four-day class and you're certified. It's been a really...
[00:04:27.070] - Brandon
It's been big. It's been different. We've had question a lot. I think what will be fun is maybe around September, maybe closer to October, maybe we'll do a real intentional- Big reveal. Yeah, show about it because it is fun. I think just in general, there's so much that we've learned about how to really partner with people better. Anyways, it's exciting.
[00:04:46.090] - Chris
I think for us, as we've been collaborating with this partner who's just... I'm not even sure how to talk about it, but I think it's been a threat to us. Relentless executor, by definition. An incredibly successful and powerful serial entrepreneur. It's just been... It's been stretching me. Oh, yeah. I mean, emotionally, psychologically, it's like, wow, okay, there are a number of areas that this is really pushing me. And at the same time, feeling really inspired and motivated. Exactly. You know? Yeah. It's less overwhelmed and more like, man, this is the next horizon for floodlight to be chasing towards. It's all the thing.
[00:05:28.000] - Brandon
Here's where it's landed for me recently. I'm thinking about the relationship that we have with our consulting clients. Guys, just hang on. This is not a freaking pitch for consulting services, but here's how I've been thinking about this. One of the biggest things that happens when we start working with a team is There is some scenario that's either been unfolding or has reached a cadence or a level of pain that that business owner or key leader has decided enough is enough. We've got to do something different. Or there's this motivation of what's possible. And so that it would be another common reason for a team to hire a consulting company. But inevitably, regardless of how you got there, whether it was just you recognizing pain has reached a certain point that you're willing to do something about it, or there's this excitement about the next level of what's possible. There is a root awakening that happens in the first 90 days where you just begin to learn, very pointedly, where the weaknesses where the gaps are in the business. And before you experience it firsthand, just talking about it, most of us can go, Yeah, I can recognize things aren't perfect.
[00:06:39.110] - Brandon
But when they get uncovered and you start identifying, hey, what needs to happen or how big the gap exists between what's possible and what could be in place and what's in place now. There is a deep sense of overwhelm, I think, that sets in. Now, I'm not sure that everyone would state it that way, but there's just a reality where you go, where in the fuck am I going to pull extra days and hours out of my life to begin working on something that feels like it will require something outside of what I'm already doing?
[00:07:09.650] - Chris
In the way I would say it, because I've heard our clients articulate it this way, and I have felt it. I feel it. There's an aspect of it I feel right now, which is you're so engaged in what already is and what's now that it's almost like you're snowed over. You can't see what else it's supposed to be. You can't see beyond what's now. You know that it's not everything it should be. You know it's not exactly where you're going. But seeing the roadmap of, okay, what do we do instead? Sometimes it's really hard to land there. It is. Because you're so engaged in the here and now, you know something needs to change, but it's difficult to really land the plane as to, okay, what's the next right thing for us to do? That's right.
[00:07:55.520] - Brandon
I think what this experience that you and I have been going through with our business, with strategic partner, is for the first time, honestly, for the first time since we've been growing this particular business is somebody's showing us the gaps. The gaps are really in relationship to what we want from our business. We are starting to get very clear on where we're headed. We didn't know how we're going to get there. We've never run a consulting firm before. And so this opportunity with this strategic partner who's done this in spades is showing us these gaps. I am feeling that experience that a lot of clients feel in these first 90 days where you go, wow, this is going to require a lot. And what I found very interesting as part of our training, part of my personal experience is, I'm in this battle between trusting, and I think any of you, if you're our client, you're really going to understand. If you've dealt with any consultant or coach before, this is going to make a lot of sense is, I'm seeing and hearing and identifying, and I'm stuck in this struggle between, I want to believe what you're telling me, but my personal experience is really in conflict because I'm not sure.
[00:09:04.830] - Brandon
It's not like I felt like I've been sitting around wasting my time and energy. There's this conflict that happens mentally where my first response, mentally, if you will, is just this pushback of, Right, oh, when am I going to do that? Or, That sounds good. Or, I wish. Or, Should be nice. What can happen is I don't hear the guidance that I'm getting in terms of what Where are the iterations going to come from? Because they're not necessarily just in the business. Most of the iterating has to happen with the way that I'm thinking about my business and the way that I'm thinking about my relationship to time, energy, values, possibilities. It's so much less about the technical tactical guidance that we're getting. It's like I'm really in the weeds on this iterating on my ability as a person because getting what I want is going to require it. And so as much as in the moment my mind wants to push back and wrestle, what I'm learning is, is that when I begin trying, so out of faith, strategic partner says, Look, you're going to have to make this change. And he tells us why, and he gives us all the good reasons that support it.
[00:10:24.200] - Brandon
And there is just part of me that very timidly takes the first step, and my brain is screaming, This won't work. It's not real. It's not going to work. It's not going to work. I have to... I'm going somewhere. I have to start taking these actions, and I have to start living into the thing, even though mentally, I haven't bought into it yet. It's this mechanical step. Here's a dumb little example. I realized how much I'm going to have to do over the next several months leading the organization as part of this transition. I'm looking at my calendar blocks. I'm a blocking calendar mofo. Like I live in calendar blocks, and I think I'm damn good at it. And I already think I'm pretty much maximizing my time. And what our partner is saying is, You ain't even close, Holmes. And so I'm having to reevaluate my... Sounds so cheesy. I'm having to reevaluate my commitment to blocking. And what I'm realizing is that it's these little detailed nuances, differences, and something as silly as the way I'm blocking my time. And I was able to gather another 12 hours of productive time in my week.
[00:11:29.220] - Brandon
So here's how. Listen to this shit, so it's nerdy. In Google Calendar, there's an analyzer, an analytics, and it will tell you if you go in and label colors by a specific title or category, it will monitor how much of that you're doing in a single week. Then you can set your in business hours. When I did that, and I went through this exercise where I started literally going through my entire calendar and putting the colors not by the way that I used to, which has helped me identify the difference in who I'm meeting with and why, but I did it based on these fundamental areas of that I need to be in the business, on the business, sales, this, consulting, broke all the colors out. Then I looked at the analyzer and tried to identify where all my time is going. Guess how many hours I had logged for working on our business?
[00:12:17.020] - Chris
Not enough. Like two.
[00:12:19.670] - Brandon
Then I took this time, after our training, I'm like, Okay, I'm reorienting this mofo. I went out as many weeks as I had to where all the holes weren't filled in. I started booking in these blocks of strategic time, time to work on my business. I was able to pull out eight hours now that are dedicated to this work. But what tripped me out, man, this is my point.
[00:12:41.270] - Chris
You just lost like 80% of sales people listening to this. I know.
[00:12:43.510] - Brandon
This is so freaking nerdy.
[00:12:44.760] - Chris
And 40% of entrepreneurs. Yeah, but okay.
[00:12:47.870] - Brandon
This is the thing, though. I'm with you. I could have not done that because my default, bro, and you know this better than anybody, my default is not to open up my calendar and turn on an analyzer. That ain't me, okay? But I have to behave differently in order to create a different outcome. I had to step into something that mechanically is not natural to me, and I'm not highly motivated by it, but I'm motivated by what it demands from me because I want that outcome. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:13:18.650] - Chris
Right? Yeah, the way that I'm thinking about it is-Are you going to less nerd? No, no, no, no. In order for you to be the person that you need to be to tackle this next thing that you want to do, right? It's requiring this of you. I've been thinking about this, too, and that's been the conversation in my head is, what person do I need to be in order to do this next season of growth in our company? But then I've also been asking that question, too, of I still got two teenagers at home. I got a daughter who's finding her way in the world. She's living on her own now. It's like, okay, what person do I need to be? And what would that person do? It speaks to the... There was somebody that I was It's like back in the mid 2000s, early 2000s, there was the what would Jesus do bracelet. Oh, yeah.
[00:14:06.890] - Brandon
I totally remember that.
[00:14:08.330] - Chris
Listen, it was a really smart campaign for Christians and whatnot. It makes decision making process very simple. Yeah. It was James Clear. James Clear brought this up in his book, Atomic Habits. It's like, okay, when we're trying to change our habits and just our natural default way of doing things, It's really helpful to find an archetype. I think for you and I, up until we met this partner collaborator, we really didn't know who to graft behind. We didn't know. I mean, it's like we can't exactly follow Chuck Norris' example, and Jesus maybe gets us halfway there. It's like, who are we? What archetype are we following? That's what we found in this partner. Now it's like, okay, what would so and so do? How would so and so manage his time? How is he... Well, we learned how he manages his calendar. Yeah, I've been really wrestling with a lot of that. Okay, what a kind person. Then how would he manage his time in this situation? How would he approach this meeting? How would he prepare for this or That's right. Then starting to just imitate.
[00:15:18.140] - Brandon
It's like doing before your identity believes it thing. Then I think that's part of it. Okay, it's interesting thought in process here. You and I have been talking a lot enterprise value and what does it look like building an exit-ready business. One of the things that us and some of our partners like JT and some of the others in the industry have talked about is this need to separate one's identity from the organization. It's cool that you'd spent your lifetime building this asset? Totally get it. The sacrifice, the blood, the sweat, the tears, all the things. But is it you? It's not you. Maybe you label yourself as an entrepreneur. Cool. But there's more to you in your person than just this business. There's this moment where you got to learn how to segregate those two before you go to sell or exit your organization. Well, in a similar way, in motion, I'm having to separate my identity from who I was or from what skill set I've had in the past or what skills or toolsets I use to create success in the past, because they can't any longer define me if I'm going to move into this new iteration or this new level of competency, skillset, toolset, whatever it is that the business is going to demand of me as we continue to grow it and scale it.
[00:16:32.720] - Brandon
One of the things I guess I'm just trying to lean really hard into right now is I've got to take action first. And once I begin taking some of those actions, I'm going to use the fact that I'm doing it as a new way to frame my identity in terms of what I'm capable of and what I'm competent in. Because otherwise, I just get stuck in this space of, oh, I'm never X or I don't do Y or I'm bad at this. And the reality of it is, yeah, right now, but there's In a lot of ways, there's no reason I can't become gifted or skilled in that in the future. I'm just having to lean into this stuff. I'm going to try it. I'm going to have enough faith to put the practice in and put the reps in. And then I'm going to allow that to reshape who I believe I am because I'm doing it. Yeah. Not to get too existential here, but one of the most powerful books that I've read in the last many years is by Eckart Tolle.
[00:17:25.490] - Chris
It's called The New Earth. And it really is all about the ego. It's all about the ego the role the ego plays in our decision making, the way we think, the way we interact with others, do relationship, do our work, all the things. And he was recounting the story of a young man in his 20s that came up to him at one of his workshops or conferences and said, Gosh, Mr. Tolle, I just can't figure out who I am. And this is a big, huge goal. And some of us have probably asked that question at some point in our lives. Who am I really? What am I doing here? And Eckart looked back at him and without really skipping a beat, he said, That's awesome. That's one of the best questions that we can ask ourselves. When I first read that, I was like, Okay, well, that's weird. Well, yeah, that's a great guru answer right there. The best question is a question. But I think His point, and having read through the rest of the book, is our egos are very quick to define ourselves based on what we do and have done, what we're currently doing and have done.
[00:18:27.010] - Chris
We build a lot of our identity around what what we're doing and what we've done, the people we know, the people we have known, what people have said about us, what people are saying about us. And I think his point is that at any given time, we can change. We can make a choice to be a different person. Yes. Yeah. And I really, really believe that. Sometimes, again, some people are going to be like, oh, my God, this guy, with his flip flops and his- His hippie. Yeah, he's probably wearing bell bottoms right now.
[00:18:59.560] - Brandon
Your shirt is open pretty significantly there.
[00:19:02.000] - Chris
I don't remember who taught me this, but I just find it very useful. It gets me in the right head space. In the morning, everybody knows I do sauna and cold plunge most mornings. It's a great way to start my day. When I'm in the cold plunge for three minutes, listen, I love how I feel after I get out of the cold plunge, but you've done it now.
[00:19:21.550] - Brandon
The during is a different experience.
[00:19:23.460] - Chris
The during is... It's an enduring. I try to just meditate. I try to breathe, and I try to just get through the three minutes. Sometimes one of the mantras or one of the meditation phrases, it's somewhere along the line somebody told me, it's just this simple phrase, new day, new life, new day, new life. I think it speaks to that, this idea that it truly is. We go to sleep at night. Most people don't think about this. I remember Joe Rogan saying something about this. He's like, sleep is the craziest thing, right? Sleep is the craziest thing. Some people don't wake up, but most of the time we do. Sleep is this crazy where you're dead, but you're not, right? It's a very... Our sleeping state is really weird. I think we take for granted the fact that we go to sleep when we wake up the next morning. And so anyway, here I am. I took as far afield. But my point is what you're saying, I think, is something that most of us just don't give any thought or consideration to is that, look, every day is a new day. I can choose to act like a different person.
[00:20:26.710] - Chris
Books have been written about this. Everybody loves atomic habits because they want to stop smoking or they want to start having a morning habit or they want to whatever. They have these just simple things they want to do. But what James Clear was talking about was not just about simple shit. I wanted to have a habit of working out four times a week. His point is, look, our brains are wired in such a way that we can literally change who we are by just adopting certain behaviors. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I can literally, I can say to myself, you You know what? I really admire Joe Rogan. I want to be more like Joe Rogan. He's super fit, freaking super fit in his 50s, has been married for a long time, seems to be very happy in his marriage, has a healthy relationship with his kids, very successful, makes lots of money. I want to be like Joe Rogan. And I can literally start to become more like Joe Rogan simply by asking myself, Okay, what would Joe Rogan do? I'm getting up this morning, what would he eat for breakfast? Well, I know because I listen to his podcast.
[00:21:25.890] - Chris
You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Like, literally, we can approach our lives that way, and it's No, I think you've keyed in on the heart of the issue.
[00:21:34.960] - Brandon
It's like in order for us to experience something significantly different than what we've already experienced. I know sometimes it's easy to say this stuff, but it's so hard to stay in motion long enough to actually experience the fruit of your commitment. I think what I see happen constantly, and this is true even with our clientele, and it's hard to watch sometimes, where it's like somebody came to you because they They know they want to experience something different or they want to prepare to be engaged on a different path, have a different outcome, and I think they just mentally give up before they've spent enough time putting in reps that will help them become this new thing they want to experience. And this isn't all just personal development guru bullshit that I'm talking about. It's as simple as when an owner has been the linchpin to their entire organization and you have to begin trusting people that in the past have let you down, or you've got plenty of opportunities to point behind you where people took advantage of you, or shit all over you after pay raises and bonuses and commitments to commissions. I know, I've been there.
[00:22:43.550] - Brandon
We've all had experiences where things, people, processes let us down. And so there's fear. There's all these things that stand in our way. And so we get stuck for settling. We lower the bar and we just commit like, this is what it's going to be like. And I think what happens sometimes is when a consulting engagement starts, there was something that motivated you just enough to take a little bit of action. Then that team comes in and they start showing you some things that are going to be difficult to do, but they're going to be worth it. And then there's this phase that happens where we start really motivated and we start to put in the reps and we start facing all the challenges of those transitions, all the challenges of those changes. We have the one or two people that begin to push back and really show concern for, Man, I don't know. You're asking a a lot more of me. And then we begin to act out in fear instead of stepping into the thing with faith that we've got to just hold the course long enough to experience the outcome that we're seeking or the change that we're seeking.
[00:23:43.430] - Brandon
And it just breaks my heart sometimes, man, because I watch people throw in the towel before they've gotten to the other side. It's like you and I have talked about this a lot about employees. Depending on where you are in the food chain, you just commonly have a farther view down the field or around multiple corners of what's coming what's possible. It's like you're talking to your employee, you're talking to your team member, and you've already been around two corners, and they're stuck at that first corner, and you're like, look, just keep walking a little farther. You're going to see. It's going to renew your faith, and you'll be able to keep going. It's like it breaks your heart when they don't make it around that first corner and they pull the rip cord for whatever reason, the way they behave, lack of commitment, they quit, they go to another company, they go back to the bottom of the pyramid over and over again. It sucks, right? I think what's interesting is that I've been in a consulting position now long enough that I haven't been experiencing this myself as much. I think what really came clear to me over the last several months is I am back in that position of I am getting my head broken open and I am being challenged by what it is going to require.
[00:24:49.340] - Brandon
But I am motivated enough by the vision and the outcome, and I know what I want enough from this business that I will hold the course. But man, tell you, it is a mind buck. It is hard as hell to wake up every day and say, I'm going to take one more action. It's not normal for me because if I do it enough, it will become normal for me. I don't know. I guess I wanted to talk about it because, A, I want to remind everyone that's listening, you aren't the only one. And all of our businesses at some phase are going to require this of us. Chris and I, in our business, we are no different. We are right in the throes of it just like you are.
[00:25:26.950] - Chris
Liftify. Com/bloodlight. You've heard Brandon and I talk a bunch of times about the importance of Google reviews. Maybe even heard our episode with Zack Garrett, the CEO and founder. Recency, consistency, two of the most important things when it comes to maximizing the benefit from your Google reviews. Why not use an outside partner? Liftify is targeting 20 to 25 % conversion, right? So if you do a thousand jobs a year, you ought to be adding, right now, 200 to 250 reviews a year, every single year. If you're not doing that, you owe it to yourself to get a free demo from liftify. Com. See their system, see how it works, see how affordable it is. I promise you, you'll thank us. Liftify. Com/bloodlight.
[00:26:11.230] - Brandon
We spend a lot of money and a lot of attention trying to get that first call. And one of the things that we do once it happens is sometimes we leave it to chance, right? Who picks up the phone? How do they respond? How do they walk that client into a relationship with us? Well, one of the benefits of partnering with a team like answerforce. Com is we can systemize that, we can make it more consistent. We can also have backup for when our teams need that help. Somebody goes on vacation, somebody's out sick. We get a storm search, we get cat event. All sorts of things can have an impact on how we receive that client. But the most important thing is they need to know that they've chosen the right team. And so answerforce. Com can support you, be a bolt on partner to help you consistently produce an awesome onboarding experience with that first call with your client. So answerforce. Com cnr. Com/bloodlight.
[00:27:02.440] - Chris
That's great. Cnr magazine, we're friends with all the folks at CNR. Michelle and her team, they do a great job of keeping their ear to the ground and reporting all the important information from our industry. You want to stay up on all the M&A activity and what the latest best practices are for selling your company successfully. She's got that. Great articles about all the four quadrants of our business. Cnr is constantly pushing out great material and leveraging great writers and subject matter experts in our industry. It is the water-cooler of our industry. So if you're not subscribed, go to cnrmagazine. Com. Follow them on LinkedIn. Follow Michelle on LinkedIn. Trust us, if you're trying to stay on top of everything happening in the industry, your best destination is cnrmagazine. Com.
[00:27:47.180] - Brandon
You guys, many of you have already heard about Actionable Insights and the training and the technical expertise that they bring to the industry. But how many of you are already leveraging the Actionable Insights profile for Xactimate? That's the game changer. It's essentially an AI tool that's walking alongside of you as you write your estimate, bringing things to your attention that should be added, that could be considered. All of them items that increase our profitability increase the effectiveness and the consistency of that scope. It can do anything from helping a new team member assimilate some estimating best practices. It also helps the grizzled vets add back that few % that we've just forgot over time. So actionableinsights, getinsights. Org/ floodlight, and take a look at what the Actionable Insights Xactimate profile could be doing for you and your team.
[00:28:42.510] - Chris
Another thing I've been dealing with, too, is just a different layer of imposter syndrome. Because one of the things I've been identifying in myself is just there's areas of my life where I lack discipline. And just reconciling that with the areas that I have lots of discipline. I think I've been feeling frustrated with myself because in certain areas, I've developed really high levels of discipline. And then in other areas, I just really struggle to be consistent and to be reliable. And That's been a real wrestling match for me. And I think, though, it's been useful for me to think back to early days in those areas where I have really deep discipline. Did I always have that? And really, when I look back and I say, okay, what areas of my life am I really disciplined? And where did I Well, it literally just started with, okay, I've done that thing three days in a row now. And then when I wake up on the fourth day and I'm really battling with myself, I was just in that headspace, okay, I don't want to break my streak. So I'm going to do this. I don't feel like it.
[00:29:46.360] - Chris
But it was just willpower that got me over the hump of, now I'm just the person that behaves this way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because honestly, and I'm really grateful for it, and there's a part of me, it just feels like luck that I've been able to develop disciplines. We've talked about it before, like with health and certain nutrition and food, stuff like that. I don't have to think about it a ton now because it's just how I do things. It's not much of a struggle anymore because I just adopted it as part of my identity. But it took a lot of mornings and afternoons and evenings of me questioning, what person am I going to be? And just choosing out of sheer willpower. And so in some ways, when I think about that, it gives me hope because it's like, God, these areas I'm really frustrated. I know that I can apply that same, okay, I'm not going to go home from the office until I do that thing because that's the person I want to be, right? I know if I do that long enough, it will become my nature. Not second nature. It'll become my nature like these other things have.
[00:30:51.710] - Chris
But man, I forgot how mentally hard it is. It is. It's so hard to get to that point.
[00:30:58.120] - Brandon
It's hella hard. I think part of the match is the value that we place on it. I don't know. I mean, again, this is live. We're just wrestling with this stuff as well as you are is I go, okay, when I look at certain things and I see that it's fairly easy for me to create a discipline in a certain way, but then I watch somebody else and it's like, they're really struggling. I mean, you and I, we have different strengths and weaknesses, and there's things that are easier for me than you and vice versa. If I'm not careful, I look at that and I look at a challenge maybe that you have versus what I have, and I'm like, To me, it's like I almost make a value statement. Sure. I guess, how am I trying to word this?
[00:31:35.140] - Chris
Well, it's some version of what the fuck is wrong with you. Yeah, it's like, well-Why is that so hard?
[00:31:39.050] - Brandon
If it's important enough, right? If it's important enough, you'll just make that shift. Well, then if I'm honest, I know that someone could look in my world and see that there are certain things that I just suck at, and they're asking themselves the same question. And so, okay, well, what do I do with that? Extreme ownership, who cares? I'm not solving other people's opinions. But I think for me, it's just a matter of, okay, when I'm really struggling to create a discipline in something or do something long enough to where I create a new habit, there's got to be an assessment I do where I go, is this really valuable to me? Am I really looking at this and saying, No, I want this because it's important. This is a value that I can commit to because it feels like in those moments where I make that connection, like physical fitness for me, I'm not as consistent as you because I have these moments where the value of it isn't as front and center for me. In a lot of things, it might be my head space with the work, it might be head space with all sorts of different things.
[00:32:40.490] - Brandon
But I have this moment where the value of it isn't as weighted and therefore it's more difficult for me to be committed to it. Whereas I always feel like I can have a level of discipline with the business. Just about always, because there's no question mark in my mind in the value of it. I think part of what I guess I'm trying to dial in on is when I'm hearing somebody like our strategic partner talk about something and why it's important to the business or the strategy, there is part of me that in my maturity now, I'm starting to think of that and say, okay, I'm going to need a moment to really absorb whether or not I do believe that's valuable. Because until it really is valuable for me, I'm going to struggle to execute the discipline. Yeah.
[00:33:20.850] - Chris
That's James Clear. That book, Atomic Habits, there's just so much in it along this topic in creating change. One of the things he talks about is how when you stick with a certain behavior long enough, it starts to bear fruit that is motivating in and of itself. Oh, right. We've talked about this with regard to physical fitness. It's like the moment somebody starts to see the product of their labor in the mirror, they see themselves and they have this, holy shit, I like the way I look more. They actually feel better about their appearance in the mirror. That alone is a huge motivator to not sleep in the next morning or to pick up the weights after work. But in his book, he talks about how that's true of every single thing in life. It's not 21 days to a new habit. It's until we start to experience the benefit, and the benefit becomes its own built-in motivation. Yeah, that's a flywheel concept. Right. I think that applies to everything. We had this really incredible conversation with Andy McKabe this last week. He talked about his journey with his alcoholism. This didn't come up specifically, but I think just knowing him and the thing that keeps him sober is all of the benefit, and this is true of my other friends who are in recovery, and so I think it just applies to everything.
[00:34:43.420] - Chris
It's like once we start to experience the fruit of that behavior change, it becomes easier to maintain the behavior. But that's the hurdle. Some things take 30 days, and some things take a year. I'm finding that some of the discipline areas that I'm trying to sort out are the kind that take a while. It's going to take a minute. It's reordering. I mean, part of it is the habits, some of the habits I have in place or habits that I've been subconsciously cultivating. I have certain ways that I do things that up until this point in my life haven't held me back enough to get me to focus on them. And so some of these things, like some of these habits, some of the ways I work in things that now are starting to become a barrier for me or a limitation for me, have just worked. And so I've done them for 20 years. There's an element of undoing, I think, that it just makes it harder to start to experience the benefits, or it just takes longer to undo some of those things, to rewire some of those things in our brain.
[00:35:42.040] - Brandon
Yeah, no, I agree. I think just, here's where I'm landing the plane, I think, personally, and this is...
[00:35:48.080] - Chris
You're going to give us a summary here?
[00:35:49.330] - Brandon
Yeah, it's a summary. We've done that in a while. No, it's more like, I think this is how I'm thinking about it.
[00:35:53.920] - Chris
This is the preacher in you. Give us the four-point wrap-up. This is the preacher, dude. Okay. Then we'll do the altar call.
[00:35:58.120] - Brandon
The altar call. I probably need one. All right. I think first where my head's going right now is I have to take stock of what I want. Not in passing, not distracted, not in the midst of Xbox and movies and conversations and outings with people. But me, myself, and I is the starting place. I think eventually you reach out then to significant other business partners. There is a collective conversation that needs to take place. But first, it's just getting real with myself. What do I think I'm capable of and how How bad do I want that thing, that experience, that outcome, that life? Then there's this questions that I have to ask myself before I go running into my next networking group or my next hanging out with beer buddies on Friday to talk about all the cool shit I'm going to do in my life is I have to ask myself, is that important enough to you that you're willing to make the sacrifices and the changes in your behavior? More importantly, how you think between your two ears in order to create that outcome? I think I have a habit as a a natural born, I don't know.
[00:37:08.330] - Brandon
I'm very positive. What is it? What? You're a positive?
[00:37:10.120] - Chris
Yeah, you're a natural born optimist. Optimist. I was going to say killer, but I was like, That's what it's doing.
[00:37:15.520] - Brandon
I wish. Okay, so I'm an optimist, right? I always see what's possible, what could be, and I'm really quick to buy into that and start talking about it. I think that there is a profound disconnect between me being able to do that for others in the world around me and what I'm able and capable of doing for myself. And so there's just this reality I'm trying to take stocks. Anyways, where I'm at right now is I just want to slow down long enough to identify what I want. Visioneering goes back to our time with Rachel, right? I need to visionear what I want in my life. And then as part of that, I need to take inventory and ask myself if I really am committed enough to do hard shit for a long enough period of time that it changes who I am. And if I can't really sit down and say yes to those things, I need to stop fucking talking about it. I need to stop acting like that's what I'm going to do with my business. I need to stop acting like that's what I'm going to do with my relationships. Because look, everybody can say they want a $10 million, $20 million, $50 fucking million business.
[00:38:11.420] - Brandon
Very few of us have what it takes to actually drive an organization to meet that demand.
[00:38:17.050] - Chris
The discipline.
[00:38:17.910] - Brandon
The discipline. The ability, as Mark Springer would say, to relentlessly execute. Where I'm at right now is I'm doing inventory about me, my partnership with you, and this organization, and I'm asking myself, what do I I want. As part of that, I'm saying, if I want that, do I really want it enough that I'm willing to commit to this hard shit long enough to change me? From there, then I can begin identifying or reorienting the way I hear people when they talk to me or give me advice or consulting in regard to my business and my vision. Because it's like, now, instead of me just hearing the thing and being all motivated, I'm taking inventory of it and I'm saying, Okay, this is going to require a lot from me. Don't just get motivated because somebody said they got 12 When you're going to exit the bar. Ask yourself if you've got what it takes to do that in your business, what will it demand of you? And are you willing to make the sacrifices and the commitments to discipline, to change who you currently are, to become the person it will require you to be, to achieve the vision that you have for yourself and your business.
[00:39:18.010] - Brandon
That scares the shit out, if I'm honest. Because it's a lot easier for me to have an IPA and get all amped up and talk big shit about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it. That's a far cry different.
[00:39:29.520] - Chris
I think part of what you're talking about, too, is just getting honest.
[00:39:32.270] - Brandon
Getting honest, man.
[00:39:33.250] - Chris
Because I think there's lots of ways to skin the cat. The other thing that was really interesting with this partner, what they've recently built, they built a huge thing. It was when they actually decided that they were going to stop working 100-hour weeks. There's an interesting angle to this. I think getting this clarity and deciding what you want and putting the disciplines in place to achieve that, I think at times, the thing that we want doesn't require us to grind ourselves down or burn ourselves out or do the whole burning the candle at both ends. You're right. Yes. He had made a decision. He had come out of that and had made a new commitment of, I'm not going to work more than 50 hours a week, which I just think is such an interesting wrinkle to his story. Perhaps someday we'll have him on the podcast to talk about that.
[00:40:20.500] - Brandon
Oh, we definitely will. Yeah, it's epic.
[00:40:22.160] - Chris
But I think what you're really talking about is getting honest and saying, Okay, what parts of me do I need to change or modulate in order to be the person that can actually chase that vision that I have. That's right.
[00:40:35.120] - Brandon
Yeah. Well, let's go back. I mean, dude, go back to the calendar example. Yeah. Okay. I didn't say, I'm now adding three hours at either tier of my day to do more.
[00:40:44.900] - Chris
It's helping you prioritize where you're allocating the time.
[00:40:47.370] - Brandon
I'm being more effective in where I'm allocating my time. But what it required was for me to do something I've never prioritized before, and that was analyze where my fucking times go. It's like part of me was as motivated by the exercise as anything. I think you're spot on, and I hope that's not what people are hearing. When I say make sacrifices or do uncomfortable things, I'm not actually talking about work more. I think more than anything, what I'm saying is you've bought mentally into an idea of what is possible and who you are and how you do it. I think the challenge is the hard shit is to lean into something that's not naturally you and find out that becomes a super tool that lifts you up. You know what I mean?
[00:41:29.270] - Chris
Yeah, Yes. Yeah. And I can't remember what book it was. I wish I was better at remembering books and authors, dude. Some smart person refers to this as the beginner's mind. Oh. Because I think that's what we're actually talking about here is it's a willingness... Our egos hate it. It's a willingness to hang in and adopt a beginner's mind. It's a willingness to be and do things that feel very uncomfortable and awkward and that you're not good at right now. Yeah, there you go. It's a willingness to hang there long enough to where you develop that new skill or that new capability, that new capacity. And I just thought of that as you were saying that. I'm like, shit, that is what I'm feeling. It's that resistance to, no, I don't like to feel like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. And even worse, I don't like to look like I don't know what I'm doing. That is it, dude. But it's stepping into those places that you don't yet have a competency so that you're capable of doing this next big, huge thing in front of you. That's right. It requires to put on the beginner's mind and start, in some cases, start fresh.
[00:42:33.490] - Chris
It is really uncomfortable. I think I see that in our clients. I think that is the thing. It's that we get to where we are because we develop competency And then we hit this point where it's like, you know what? I am incapable right now of running a 50-person company, and I don't even know what it's going to require. I don't know how to be that person. And then you find somebody that tells you how to do it, and it's like, holy shit, this This is different than when we had 10 people. I got really good at running a business with 10 people, even up until we had 30, and it was falling apart around me. And now I have this whole other... I need to be a different type of person. I don't like this feeling. Of not knowing what I'm talking about. I don't like this feeling of, in some cases, my people being smarter than me in this way.
[00:43:23.190] - Brandon
That's it. Beginners' Mindset. It's actually the name of the show. That's what we're going to title it.
[00:43:28.050] - Chris
The Beginners' Mind.
[00:43:29.020] - Brandon
The Beginners' Mind.Yeah, that's great, man. That's it. I think you hit it. I don't think there's a better way to describe it.
[00:43:34.570] - Chris
Guys, I didn't even know what I was hitting until-Yeah, I think he-where we go.
[00:43:38.440] - Brandon
I actually saw the light bulb light up over your head as the idea came out.
[00:43:43.090] - Chris
Hey, listen, guys, if our show If you have value to you, certainly, please keep listening and tell your friends about it. Another way, too, is if you own a restoration company and you are trying to prepare for an exit. I mean, maybe you've reached the point of your career where it's like, Hey, I want to cash in. I want to sell my business so I can go and do other things my life, but you know there's work to do in your business to get it ready to get the maximum value. We call it enterprise value. One of the places you can start is by going to our website. Just make contact with us. Our team will send you a link to our health and value assessment. It is awesome. It's something we've been working on for the last few months. It's live now. Just go to our contact page, send us a quick email. Our team will reach back out with a link to the health and value assessment, and then we'll go over that with you. We'll essentially do a free consultation. You can kick the tires with us. What does it look like to hire a consultant?
[00:44:33.280] - Chris
And we can also go through the results of your assessment and walk through, okay, where are the gaps in your business? Where are the opportunities? What are the areas of health that you can optimize in your business to make it the most attractive to an investor or buyer so that you reap the biggest reward from it? But the interesting thing is, is that a lot of times people go through this assessment, what they discover is, if I get my business exit ready, all of a sudden there's no need to sell it.
[00:44:57.860] - Brandon
Yeah, now you want to keep it, right?
[00:44:59.620] - Chris
And so that's the irony, right? As we optimize our businesses is once we get them ready to sell to get the biggest possible multiple, we realize, holy cow, I have a cash flow machine here that I actually like working in. I like my team. I have things set up in such a way that I don't need to sell it if I don't want to. So anyways, if that's where your head's at and you're looking for a consulting coaching partner, that's a good way to start. Just reach out to us. You can also DM Brandon or I on LinkedIn. We'll send you the link to the health and value assessment. We're getting ready to add it to our website, so it'll be simpler in future episodes.
[00:45:30.430] - Brandon
It's part of the top secret reboot.
[00:45:31.950] - Chris
It's top secret, but that part's ready. So anyway, reach out to us. Till next time.
[00:45:36.320] - Brandon
Okay, gang. We'll see you. All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart, and Boots.
[00:45:44.550] - Chris
If you're enjoying the show, if you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.
