Episode 370: Key Takeaways From The Tampa Mastermind

Well, if you've heard me say it once, hopefully you'll hear me say it many times. Never trust a coach who doesn't have a coach. The biggest and best investment I've ever made is in my own personal and professional development. So I just got back, um, time of this recording when it drops, it may be a little later than this, but I just got back a couple of weeks ago from being in Tampa. With a mastermind that I'm a part of. It's led by Chad Cannon and a couple other guys, and I've been in this group for about a year and a half or so, and it's just an incredible diverse group of business owners from around the country in different industries at different levels. And I wanted to share some of my key takeaways, so I'll give them to you kind of high level, and then I'm going to go through each one of them. So So I've got 6 main big key lessons learned, or a lot of them were things that I needed to be reminded of. Number 1, land and expand. Number 2, know your numbers. Number 3, you can't see the label from inside the jar. Number 4, you need truth tellers. Number 5, my business isn't as unique as I think it is. And then number 6, the value of being in community. I'm actually going to work backwards as I share this. So I did a podcast on community and AI, and I don't think that— as incredible as AI is, and is just going to get incredibly more incredible, um, and it's going to become more of a fabric in everything that we do, um, personally and in— and certainly in business, uh, there's never any substitute for being in the room and at the table breaking bread with other people, both in business and in your personal life. But obviously I'm referring just specifically in the context to business. And I think it was Michael Hyatt that said, you know, they say it can be lonely at the top. Well, that's a choice. Totally agree with that. I— it was going to be a very challenging time. I was actually in Austin, Texas earlier during the week that I was going to be there, and it really did not look like that I was going to be able to make it, and it was just going to be tight with son's basketball. And so I was really questioning there's some other things with my family, specifically my mom going on at the time that I actually sent a message and said, I'm not going to be able to make it. And to their credit, Chad specifically, he sent one back and actually pushed in on me. He leaned in on me and said, I think you need to be there. I think you need to be there. And I think you need to try to be there to be able to get some wind under your sails. As well. And I chewed on that for a few minutes and I said, you know what, I think he's actually right. I think he's actually right. I need to try to find a way to make this happen, even if it's going to be difficult. And it was— ended up being difficult, um, notwithstanding some weather challenges getting there. But I'm so grateful that I did, because the moment I was there, once we were in the Airbnb, within 30 minutes or an hour or so, I was telling myself, you know what, just being here, just being here. I don't even know what we're going to do. We're going to discuss the next couple days. But just being in this room already makes me have perspective that I would not normally have. So big thank you to Chad for leaning into me with that. But that was my very first— not lesson learned, but really something I was reminded of— the value of being in community. Number 2, my business isn't as unique as I think it is. At the end of the day, there are business fundamentals that apply to everyone's business. And I won't go through all the different industries that people are in, but, you know, from marketing consulting companies at different levels, from, you know, half a million to, um, $20, $30 million in revenue. As a matter of fact, one of the the members of the group on Thursday— we got there on Wednesday, so Wednesday through Friday— he sold his company while we were there on Zoom. He— that's when they were processing it. And I was talking to him 5 minutes, having a cup of coffee, before he walked into one of the bedrooms, jumped on a Zoom call, and sold his company for 8 figures. That was mind-boggling. And but yet there were still, as he was sharing with me and with us kind of the story of that company, from its inception, from when they raised money. There was obviously many bootstrap companies in, in the room. There were all of these business principles, fundamentals that were at, at play. How do you get your message out there? What is the problem that you solve? How do you find really good team members? How do you keep really good team members? How do you build a sales team? How do you have a product that actually gets results and actually works for people? How do you keep customers? How do you get the customers to be worth more? I'll talk more about that lesson in just a couple minutes or so. But my business, we tend to kind of get in our head. I think it's Tony Robbins says, "Stay in your head, you're dead." And we tend to get in our own head and we think that, "Oh, you know what? Nobody really understands. I'm in this business, but you know, you don't really understand my market. You really don't understand this." And all these, yeah, there are nuances at play for sure. But underlying, there are business economics, there are business principles at play. And that's why I specifically, like in my program with Blueprint OS, we want to be industry agnostic. The other thing, there's like with some other people, there are great coaches and consultants out there, incredible, that are fixated in a specific industry. And I think that is Excellent. But for me personally, the thing that has— that changed my life is getting around other people and learning these business principles and then going, okay, that's how they see it. And I'll apply it back to my, to my business. And so hence, therefore, that's why I've never wanted to niche down specifically, because I wanted to be able to hear from other people from different industries. So lesson number 1, value of community. Number 2, my business isn't unique, as unique as I think it is. Number 3, Simple one, but profound. You need truth tellers. There's one of the guys there is honest to goodness— I'm setting this up interestingly, given what I'm about to say, because I'm talking about truth tellers. He is the most brutally honest person that I've ever been around in business. He says all the things that a lot of people are thinking, but yet we just don't have the guts to be able to say them. He will say them. And he's okay making people uncomfortable. He's not there. I mean, I wouldn't say he's there, not there to make friends, but that's actually not true. I mean, he— everybody loves him. But he— I want to be more like him, honestly, myself. And when I'm talking to people, not in a way to be rude, just to be rude, but that level of truth-telling. When you've experienced it, it's hard to go back and you want that level of honesty. As a matter of fact, when there was one of the groups, and I'll talk about this again in one of my other lessons, but they, they were sharing and they got kind of beat up pretty bad about their numbers. And so I happened to go next. And, uh, as I was going through it, I was like, oh, I'm going to have to be prepared, you know? And I was a little somewhat anxious. I don't really get anxious. This is a small group. I just spoke to, uh, in Austin to, uh, 50 or 60 people in a room. And I wasn't, I was even more anxious being on the back deck talking to this group because I want to do a good job. And I knew I was going to get beat up. And so when it, when it, my time was up, 25 minutes or so. I was like, oh, okay, I'm off the hot seat. And then later that night, I was kind of reflecting and I happened to sit next to— his name's Josh— I happened to sit next to Josh and I said, you know, I have to tell you, I feel a little, I don't know, feel like a little cheated or so. And he said, really? Why do you feel that way? He said, well, I shared with him, you know, I was really wanting you to beat me up. I was really wanting you to just— he said, well, you know, I thought we did. And, and I can really tell you that years ago I did not want to hear that level of truth. But yet things evolve and things happen in your personal life that when you begin to have certain truth tellers— and I don't think this can come from your team as much as we try to get that. I think we need truth tellers in our life. And then I think we need truth tellers in business. So who is yours? Next, number 4, you can't see the label from inside the jar. This is very similar to my business isn't as unique as I think it is and having truth tellers, but I wanted to carve it out specifically because and it even goes into the value of community. So this one kind of lesson learned or lesson reminded of, I think kind of encompasses, encapsulates, excuse me, all of the ones before. But really it is that there are sometimes we get fixated on what we think that the problem is that we're trying to solve. Like, what's the, what's the main constraint of the business? So when I was flying to Tampa, I was thinking to myself, what is the actual constraint of the business? You know, I've got— I'm going to have a hot seat time. I really want to use that time well. What do I really think the constraint of the business is? And so that's what I kind of went into it to be able to share. And they redirected me and said, actually, I don't think that's the constraint of the business right now. I think this is the constraint of the business. And if I had not had been there, made the commitment, had been, you know, pushed on to show up, and I guess maybe if I had not been as open as what I really thought my challenge, the challenges were and the opportunities were, then maybe I wouldn't have been able to get there. But they were able to redirect me and say, Actually, I don't think that's the biggest problem you need to solve right now. This, this one is. And so I think it was just another good reminder is you can't read the label from inside the jar. All right. Next. This one was huge. It was one of the biggest things, biggest lessons that we all took away from being down there. And there was such— there's no way on this recording that I would be able to express to you the level of intensity that was in the moment that happened. But there was a— there's a really successful business that's there. They're incredible men, incredible business owners. I learned so much from them. They're doing really, really well. They're in the mid, mid-seven figures, looking to, to grow to well past 8 figures. And there's no question that they will do it. They are super talented. They have an amazing team. They have such positive energy. They're, they're just a blessing to be around. And back to the point about truth tellers, they can't see the label inside the jar. This lesson of know your numbers came out. And so look, they have gotten to where they have gotten again to mid-7 figures by not being dummies, okay? They have done really well. They have all the tech in place to measure numbers. It's not like they're, you know, writing things down on a sticky note, okay? They, they have the tech. But when certain business fundamental principles were asked around certain numbers or so, it was a little bit of not guessing, but it was kind of like approximations is probably the best way to put it. And Josh, one of the guys there, was really hammering them on knowing their numbers. And the reason is, I think this is key, it's not because he was just hammering this, it was because of where they wanted to go, because of their, their big vision. And I won't necessarily share that, but where they wanted to go, where they see the ability to get there, there was a disconnect between the way how they viewed and what numbers they knew, what numbers they didn't know currently, to the numbers that they ultimately needed to know to be able to get to that point. And so while it was super uncomfortable, this is actually the one I was sharing a minute ago where I was like, oh man, you know, boy, that is uncomfortable, but I kind of need that. I want that level of intensity, you know, kind of more you know, in-my-face type thing, metaphorically speaking, of what it is I need to do to fix it because I'm so committed to being able to grow the company and ultimately make a difference in the lives of more people. And so that was a really big reminder when we went around the table at dinner and everybody was kind of sharing their takeaways individually. One of the ones that pretty much everybody around the table said in unison, know your numbers, know your numbers. I think I knew my numbers, but I don't know, I don't think I knew my numbers at the level. As a matter of fact, I'm going to do another recording that's going to be next that's going to be specifically, well, what numbers do you need? Oh, as a matter of fact, I put together a Google document really off the back of that because then I started to think, okay, look, I, I believe in scoreboards, I believe in dashboards, I believe in scorecards. You need to track these key metrics. But what are the actual numbers a CEO needs to know? In fact, that's actually what the document's called, is Need to Know. So be on the lookout for that. You'll see that next week in the podcast when that, when that drops. Okay, last one: Land and Expand. Now this is a take on kind of some different language on this idea of acquisition, ascension, retention. So in any business, you got to get more customers, you got to get them to be worth more, and you got to keep them longer. So I love that framing, uh, to be able to like to grow a business. But actually, some language of landing and expanding apparently is really popular in the, um, in the tech world. How are we going to land customers? Are we going to land new customers? And how are we going to expand them? In other words, be able to get deeper into their their pocketbook. And so that was a really simple one, but the land and expand is a good way to think about ascension, right? And maybe the language land and expand is a little more simplistic. Ascension feels like a fancier word, but it basically is meaning the same thing. Land acquisition, expand is ascension. But I really love that one. So my key takeaways from the Tampa Mastermind The value of being in community. My business isn't as unique as I think it is. You need truth tellers in your life and in your business. You can't see the label from inside the jar. Know your numbers and land and expand. I hope that served you well. Well, I would love to invite you to be a part of our community. We're going to be spending 2 days together coming up at our 2-day MBA. We did this for the first time in August. Of last year, and we're going to be getting together again this year, August 6th and 7th. It's going to be for 2 hours both days. Would love to be able to have you to join us. We're going to be going from 11 to 1 Central Time, 11 to 1 Central Time. And wow, do we have some incredible speakers. Mr. Dan Martell is going to be showing up. It is totally free for you to be able to register. And for the first people who register and sign up, we have got 100 bundles that you're gonna wanna definitely check out. And when those 100 are sold out, and it truly is going to be 100 of them, then they are sold out. But it is free to register and to be able to attend. Go to abovethebusiness.co, abovethebusiness.co. At the very top, you'll see the banner to be able to register for the 2-day MBA. And I can't wait to see you there. Till next time, lead well.