In this solo episode of the Club Capital Leadership Podcast, host Bradley Hamner explains why surrounding yourself with people who are a few steps ahead—what he calls the "proximity" principle—can dramatically improve health, leadership, and business outcomes. He opens with a personal story about choosing a salad instead of a burger when dining with fitter workout partners, illustrating how peer behavior shapes personal choices. Hamner then connects that lesson to business, emphasizing that investing time in relationships with mentors, coaches, and high‑performing peers (e.g., his mentors Daniel and Mike) provides insights and decision‑making shortcuts that books or podcasts alone cannot. He outlines practical ways to create proximity: Zoom calls, mastermind groups, one‑day events, WhatsApp groups, and coaching programs. By regularly interacting with those who have achieved higher revenue milestones (e.g., a mentor’s companies reaching $1 M run‑rate in 12 months and $2 M ARR in 18‑24 months), listeners can adopt better habits, make smarter choices, and accelerate personal and professional growth. Hamner concludes with a call to action for listeners to identify and spend time with people a few steps ahead in the areas they wish to improve.
Chapters
So the big question is this: how do small business owners like us grow our leadership, develop our teams, and scale our business in a way that allows us to get our products and services out to the world yet still remain profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. I'm Bradley Hamner, and this is the Club Capital Leadership Podcast. Welcome to The Bottom Line, a new weekly podcast series that we drop every Thursday to complement our weekly Monday podcast interviews with the industry leaders. These podcasts are going to be designed to give you short, impactful, and value-driven information that you can start using right away in your business. I value your time and attention and will do my very best not to waste it. Just get what you need and go. So with that, let's get into today's episode. Hey everyone, uh, so I'm sure many of you have heard this idea that you're the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with. Well, I've heard that many different times, and if I'm just totally honest, it's never really resonated with me. And I guess it resonated with me, but it never really caused me to really make a change. But this has, and its proximity. And so let me try to give you an analogy that of something that actually literally did happen, and how I kind of began to think about it and apply it to my, to my own life. So I was with a, a group of guys, a group of men, and, uh, we just worked out pretty recently and we're gonna go to this kind of cool hip place and I was going to get, um, it was actually going to be, I guess, effectively kind of a cheat day. I'm not like super into it, into, uh, fitness, but these guys are, and, uh So I was like, you know what, I'm gonna get a burger, I'm gonna get fries, and kind of do it. I don't usually eat that kind of food, but at this, in this case, it was on Friday. I was like, yeah, why not? I'm gonna do it. Well, I think I was maybe the fourth person in line, and every person in front of me that I was with in the group had ordered a salad with a protein on top and the dressing on the side. What do you think I ordered? Not the burger. I ordered the salad, protein on top, and dressing on the side. Now, many of you may hear that and say, oh, you know, you're just trying to fit in. And maybe there's a little bit, you know, certainly peer pressure. But to me, that resonated with me because it was the context of what we had just been doing and how I wanted to perceive myself as someone who makes these choices. And so I don't, again, I don't eat burgers and fries, you know, a tremendous amount, but I have really taken more, I've mentioned it on the podcast, taken more of an interest in trying to improve my overall health. And so hence why I was working out with those people. And so what I've heard Craig Groeschel recently say this, but What I think about myself is what I choose to do. And so if I started to begin to see myself as someone who is fit in my forties, someone who is getting fitter, who is training, then my nutrition is part of that. And because these people are far more fit than I am, then they— I see that as the choices that they made and the choice that they made that day. And I, of course, then went along with it. So what in the world does this have to do for you in your business? So here's my thought in that context. That one's very highly around health and nutrition, but I think the exact same thing is true in business. Listen, I, I love to listen to podcasts. I've mentioned some of the ones that I've listened to. I hope this podcast serves all of you. I think about these solo episodes or even the interviews that we do about just trying to curate the very best guest and the best content for all of you. Sometimes we're doing a Wednesday episode, we cover different topics. Some of them are lighter, some of them get very, uh, uh, down in the weeds of certain things. These Friday solo episodes are really designed to just kind of share things from my experience, what has been impactful for me. And so when I think about my just business bank account or businesses in general, podcasts have been helpful and I listen to a lot of them. Books have been helpful and I love to read books and I'm reading more books and I will continue to do so. But without a doubt, without question, the thing that has impacted me the most is investing in relationships, in people. And you can call it mentors, you can call it coaching, but it's really just getting in proximity of other people who are thinking bigger than me. I've been fortunate enough to be on some Zoom calls. Um, you know, of course, last couple years since, uh, COVID, we're, we're, we're on more Zoom calls and accustomed to that than we ever have been. Zoom calls or mastermind groups or one-day events or two-hour events or whatever, and have been able to be around— I'm in a few WhatsApp groups, um, with some folks that are absolutely doing it at a much higher level than I ever have been, and they are expanding my thinking in ways that no book could, that no podcast could. Because they've actually done the thing and they're doing— they've done the things that I want to do. Daniel, one of my mentors and coaches, I think I've mentioned this before, the last 7 or 8 companies he's launched has had a million-dollar run rate in 12 months. Think about that. $84,000 a month run rate in 12 months. His latest venture, I just saw his tweet today. They hit $2 million ARR, annual recurring revenue, in their latest software company. And I think that's maybe in 18 to 24 months, something like that. Just incredible success in other businesses. And so being able to just tap into that type of wealth of knowledge, some other groups, it just is helping to push me. It's the proximity. It is the thing of, uh, Uh, you know, you, you're the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. And I think that's true. And I think when I hear that, I think about, you know, who are the 5 closest friends, but 2 or 3 of the friends that I spend the most time with now in my life have nothing to do with business. And so you're listening to a business and leadership podcast, and so I'm trying to share with you that get in proximity of somebody who has bigger bank account than you do. That has maybe an extra or a couple extra commas in their business or personal bank account if you're wanting to grow that part of it. But if you're wanting to be around someone who— or let's say you're wanting to improve your own leadership, who do you know? Who do you look up to to say, man, they've got— their leadership ability is unbelievable? And work to get around those people, whether it's on a Zoom call, whether that's in a coaching program that they may or may not have, whatever that may be. Being in proximity around those people has been the absolute most important thing that I've ever invested time and money into. Most importantly, my time, because it's helped me to be able to level up. And by that, I make different decisions. Because I'm around those people. Just like I was sharing with you the analogy initially, I was walking into that to, to have, you know, a burger and fries and probably 1,300 calories. Instead, I ate probably 600, 700 calories with a lot of protein and some healthy foods because of the proximity of the people I was around. I'm— they make better choices that day, and so I want to be more like them, so I'm going to make better choices. Same thing, what, what it if it's not your health, your leadership, maybe there's some things in your personal life. You want to be a better husband, you want to be a better father, you want to be a better wife, spouse, etc., better friend for that matter. Then I want to be around people who are really incredible friends so that I can learn from them. And I want to be in that proximity. So proximity has been something that I was sharing something with somebody the other day. And they were wanting to improve a certain aspect. And I said, well, who do you need to bear around? Who are some people that you can actually get yourself around that you look up to, um, you can look up to that are, you know, steps ahead of you, but they're not so many steps ahead of you? I mean, it'd be one thing to say, you know, Richard Branson, you know, that's who I want to look up to, Bradley. Oh, okay. Well, you know, he's, he's a billionaire, and, uh, you know, good luck getting in proximity to Richard Branson as an example, or Elon, or, uh, whatever, Bill Gates, somebody like that. But being a few steps ahead, I mean, I see where Daniel is, I see where Mike is. Those are my business mentors and coaches. I think I, I can get there. I can get there. Not in the next 12 months, not next couple years, but over the next 3 to 5 years, 2030. Yeah, I can get there. I can get there. And I'm going to use them, um, as a guide because they've, they've done what it is that I want to be able to do. So hope that served you. Get in proximity of the people that, um, are doing the things that you ultimately want to do. All right, everyone, till next episode, dig well.
