Gary Keller's CEO Geoff Woods: Mapping Your Billion Dollar Vision

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Hey, fastlaners. Ryan Daniel Moran here with Freedom Fastlane. Hey. Today we're going to be joined by my buddy, Jeff Woods. Jeff is the CEO of the latest project headed up by Gary Keller. Gary Keller is obviously the billionaire founder of Keller Williams Realty. He also is the author of the One Thing, which is probably the most popular book among entrepreneurs from the last several years. Well, Jeff was recently brought on to spearhead a new project under Gary Keller. And I asked him to come in and kind of go through their process of how do you take an idea, a loose idea, from one of the biggest thinkers on the planet and how do you actually create a chunk of a plan to be able to implement that vision? Now this was inspired by a conversation that he and I had privately where he was going through the process of creating your Disney, which is their internal language for creating the high level view and high level map for what this business is going to look like. And then identifying the people that you need to have on your team in order for your Disney to become a reality and then chunking it down even further into what are the highest level activities that you can start doing now. You to get those people into place and to get the company up and running. This is a good one. If you are building a business that you want to have bigger than you, if you're looking to move from the cash flow world into having a more of a disruption type of company, or if you've got an idea that just feels way too big for just you, this is going to bring what is possible and into reality. When I did this process, it really opened my eyes to how close I was to building the businesses of my dreams and seeing the billion dollar path. You're really going to enjoy this chat with Jeff Woods. Hey gang. Welcome to Freedom Fast Lane. This is Ryan Daniel Moran and today I'm joined in person by my buddy and local Austinite, Jeff Woods.

What's up?

So Jeff just moved here to Austin to be the CEO, is that right? The CEO of one of Gary Keller's new companies. Is that the right title?

I gotta earn that title. My title is general manager, but I moved here very specifically to earn that title.

Okay, so you're working with a billionaire, the author of the one thing, the founder and the CEO of the world's largest realty company in the world. I think Chairman.

He's not CEO.

Okay, well, I mean biggest real realty company in the world and he's commissioned you to. To build the next company. No pressure, but I want to hear you know, at Freedom Fast and Live, you were there. Kind of one of the recurring themes was the thing that really took a lot of the millionaires and billionaires that were there, from where they are to the real breakout success, was the team that they had. And you've been commissioned to build the team and to build the generals, as you call them, or as we've called them together around that. Around that company. So how. How the heck. I mean, you come from a medical background, correct?

Yeah.

And. And so you've been commissioned to build this company. How does that happen?

Well, should I tell them kind of how this even happened?

Yeah.

Okay. So for the last five, six years, I was in medical device sales in Southern California, which was a job that I loved. I wore scrubs every day, I worked from home, I made great money, and I sold a device that actually saved lives, which was really cool and really rewarding. But kind of like all the entrepreneurs you've surrounded yourself with, there's always that defining moment. And for me, at the end of 2013, two things happened. One was a colleague had a stroke when he was 35. And so, I mean, you've got a kid now what all of a sudden happens? If something happens to you, do you have those passive income streams in place to protect the Esther's future? You do? I didn't. And that scared the crap out of me. And the next week, my company decided they were going to slash my income by 40%. So that sucked. So I sought out to build passive income. I started a podcast called the Mentee. I launched it in January this year, just documenting my journey from employee to entrepreneur and surrounding myself with really high level mentors. And because I took action and started to learn how to monetize content, an opportunity was presented where Gary's partner, Jay Papizan spoke at my national sales meeting talking about the one thing. And I basically tackled him as he came off stage and we built that relationship. And I just constantly looked to add value to him. And an opportunity was created where they needed somebody with my exact skill set. And so here we are today, and.

That'S been a focus of yours as we've gotten to know each other more of pretty much in every interaction that you have, you're looking at how can I provide value to this person? Where did that come from?

It came from getting in the room with some really successful people and noticing that the most successful people in that room never asked for a single thing. They always were asking what they could do for other people. And it made such a deep impression on me that that was one of the first things that I started to embody in my style as I went through this transformation. And it has just served me amazingly well.

That's really interesting because my biggest pet peeve is when people just ask for something out of, out of nowhere. You know, I've never met you before, but there's a big, there's a big ask. A little ask is fine. Like, can you answer this question? That's one thing. But the idea of just constantly taking or constantly asking, there's no, I call it like cash reserves in the relationship bank account. You've got, you've got to make a few deposits in that bank account before you can cash a check.

That's exactly where I was going to go. I mean, every training that I do, I talk about the relationship bank account. If you, you're going to walk into a bank right now, you sit down at the teller's desk, they give you the paperwork, you sign all the papers, you slam the pen down, you look up and you say, I'd like to withdraw a thousand dollars. They're going to look at you like you're crazy because you haven't deposited any money. You have to make enough deposits in order to make withdrawals and still maintain a positive balance. And relationships are the exact same way. Yet people always show up looking to get instead of looking to give.

So you've been commissioned as. Is it fair to call you kind of a new entrepreneur? I mean. Yes. Yeah, I mean, within the last 18 months.

I went from employee to entrepreneur in 10 months.

Okay, so a fairly new entrepreneur. Now you're commissioned with, hey, we'd like you to commission the charge for billionaire Gary Keller and Jay Papazon. So where do you even start with that? You've been given a vision. Step one, go build a team of rock stars. Have fun, new entrepreneur.

Well, step one was actually they had an idea for what they wanted the vision for this media company to be, but they wouldn't share it with me. They wanted me to come up with my own vision first and foremost and make sure that it was aligned. Because if it was my vision, then I would be more vested in it. If they just handed it to me on a silver platter, they couldn't hold me accountable to it.

What, what guidelines did they give you.

In that around the concept of just talking about the goals that they wanted to achieve in terms of our media company, in terms of being a one stop shop with where you take content, it doesn't just become a book like Every New York publisher, it's a matter of taking the content of that book, creating the freemium, the podcast, the blog, the video blog, then creating the best selling book, building the list, launching the digital course, launching the live event, the coaching, the masterminds. It's all an integrated product suite and we want to systemize the crap out of that and master it.

So you're going to be the publishing arm for content experts.

Yes.

And so step one, create the vision. And we've kind of gone through that process together and I want to touch on that a bit. But what I'm really interested in is the process of, if you're on the same page for this vision of where you want to go, which I would agree is step one. So many entrepreneurs are like, show me the money rather than give me the vision and such a missing piece if you want to have a breakthrough company. But once that vision is in place, who is going to be around you that, that, that builds the vision. And I don't know if you were given a budget or just guidelines or just said, go, go at it.

And this is what was so interesting. What struck me so hard was I'm new into this role, I'm new as an entrepreneur. And they're sitting down with me and they're looking at me and they're saying, who are you going to hire? And I hadn't even thought about that before. And they immediately start talking to me.

About, I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you have experience hiring people?

Not really.

Okay, so they're gonna walk me through.

They've got a process, very detailed process that I will follow for hiring people and they'll mentor me there. But, and this is very similar to what everybody on stage of Freedom Fast Lane Live talked about was the concept of growing something beyond yourself, growing your business to the point where it operates with or without you. And so they start having this discussion with me about who are those five generals, like we talked about, who are those five people that you are going to hire, that those are the only five people you need to worry about and they're going to control the, of this company.

So the immediate question that comes to me is from kind of in our solo entrepreneur world, I hate, I hate that word, I hate that concept. But in the world where a lot of new entrepreneurs are by themselves or they're bootstrapping the idea of going out and hiring five people, you know, great, I'd love to have a billion dollar portfolio too. But when you're, when you're starting a company the funds to hire that either don't exist, or it seems like a huge investment in your scenario. You're, you're coming with some funding, but the process has been the same as of, of outlining who that's going to be for the next five years. Who are those five people that are going to be leading that charge? What was, what was your strategy? Or do you even have this strategy yet of how these people are going to be profitable from day one? Because yes, you have a budget, your, your boss is a billionaire, great. But I'm sure that even Gary Keller is upset if you're in the red for more than a few months. So what, what's the plan there to pay for five great people?

And I think, and it's not necessarily that you immediately go and hire five great people. You know what, what, what I went through was the process of saying, who are those key positions that I absolutely have to have in order for this business to thrive? And I identified them. And then in true fashion, of the one thing, for anybody who's read it, you know, what's the one thing that I can do that such by doing it, everything else becomes easier, unnecessary. In this case, I see what's the one? Who is the one person I can hire that if I could only hire one, everything else would become easier or unnecessary? And for you and me, in terms of both of our businesses, we're aligned, it's that content person. It all starts with the content. So instead of thinking, holy crap, I've got to go hire five people, I have become hyper focused on my one thing.

Got it.

And so now it's a matter of, okay, I've identified, it's a content person. And then this is where Jay and I have the conversations. He said, you have to figure out what is that person's job description. And he defines a job description as what are the two to three things that that person has to be able to do really well, otherwise they get fired? Puts it in a little bit of a different perspective. And so I went to the whiteboard and I just started drawing out of these things. I ranked them, I listed them again in priority and brought it back and had the conversation with him. And he. And we were able to narrow it down to what are those two or three things? And then it's a matter of what they call filling out the missing persons report. How does that person walk? How does that person talk? If you had to describe them, how would you describe that person? So that when you're in everyday conversations, you could describe that person to somebody else and they would go, I know exactly who that is. Let me make a referral.

So what is what? So that makes sense to me. The one, you identify the five. But then it's a process of who's the one that is going to make all of this come easier or faster or make it even unnecessary. So I get that. So it's not hiring five people, it's really hiring one person. It's that first domino. So how did you identify that? How did you get clear on what that first domino is going to be in order to move the direction of the company?

Well, I think, you know, I sat down and I said, alright, the company needs to scale, we need content. That's check. We're going to need a future coo. We're going to need that person. We're going to need a future CFO to run the finances, we're going to need marketing. I listed all the positions and then I just started asking a simple question. Do I need marketing more right now or do I need finance more right now? I need marketing more. Okay, do I need operations more or do I need marketing? I probably need operations. Do I need content more or do I need operations? I need content more. Just like boom, boom, boom. Just kept asking the question to narrow.

It down to the one, what are we going to operate if there's no content? Let's get the content underway.

Yeah. And then what was really interesting, and this is what truly expanded my mind was Jay drew out for me this picture and for those of you who are listening, this. Imagine where you draw yourself with a circle at the top and then you draw under you a little tree with your five circles, your five generals. And he said, he drew that where you've just got that tree right there. And then he duplicated that exact tree. But then each of my five generals had five lieutenants under them. And he said, what's the difference between these two companies? And I looked at him and I said, I have no frickin idea. And he said, it's who these five generals are. You're not going out and recruiting a chief marketing officer or a chief Operations officer. If you're going out and you're looking for a coo, what you're really looking for right now is, is that assistant that you can bring in, groom, embody in your culture and ultimately promote to the coo.

That's such a good distinction. Because when you first told me about the five generals, I was like, all right, I've got to think of five, $80,000 a year, c level people that I'm going to hire away from somebody else. But then you said, no, think about it like, who's the person that's going to be groomed into this position at 40 to 55,000 a year and that can earn their way into becoming one of those generals.

There is a reason my title right now is general manager and not CEO. They wanted to bring me in at a level where I'm doing the same thing I would be doing regardless of the title. But they want to bring me in at a level where I have some skin in the game, I've got something to earn, and ultimately I can be embodied in this culture and ascend to the level where I can earn the title of CEO, where I can call Gary and Jay my partners.

I'm curious if you're starting from scratch, you're building a new company from scratch. I'm curious if you would do the exact same process if you were thrown into an existing company, for example. There's a lot of people listening who are, again, I hate this word, but solopreneurs, they run a business by themselves. They're lost in all of the details and getting out of it sounds impossible to them. I'm curious if you would do the same process if you were trying to undo a lot of messiness in a company that was already running.

Here's the beauty. I'm doing it right now. I still have my podcast, the Mentee. I have spent the past year building a raving audience, developing the email list, the online funnels, the digital products, to the point where just now I'm starting to actually make money from it.

And.

And I look at how many hours a day I am spending working in my business instead of working on my business. And in the last six weeks of just being surrounded by guys like Jay and Gary, I immediately they're saying I need to go hire people for this business. And I immediately looked at my podcast businesses that I need to hire my generals there too. And I just went out and hired my assistant.

Yeah, I'm going through the same process with Freedom Fast Lane and the new company that we're spawning out of Freedom Fastlane is, is that process of who do I want those generals to be? It's actually really completely changed my hiring process. So let me ask you this. When you have those lieutenants and those generals outlined, how do you go about finding good people?

And this is honestly where the big question that I'm bringing to my mentors, both Gary and Jay, but Also, outside the mentors that I've assembled over the last year is where does it start? And everybody keeps saying the same thing. And I knew this in my gut, but it starts with clarity. Clarity of who that person is, what is the job description? What are the two to three things they absolutely have to do, otherwise they get fired? And then what do they walk like and talk like? And then it's a matter of just asking myself, like, how often am I sharing with people that I'm looking for an amazing writer, researcher who has the ability to potentially teach down the road?

So it's been mostly through your network?

Well, that's where I'm starting, is I'm starting there. And then I'm asking people every single time I'm seeing, who do I know who writes? And I'm asking them, hey, are you a part of any online forums? Do you listen to any podcasts? Where do you get your media? Are you a part of any groups? If you wanted to meet other writers, where would you go? I'm just asking every single person who's somewhat tied and just going deep.

Yeah, there was a great podcast episode that Josh Bazzoni did with Mike Dillard at Self Made man where he talked about how he built BioTrust, which is a hundred million dollar a year supplement company. They had a hundred million dollars the first 12 months. And he said that he did this process of the missing person's report and then he went basically headhunting on LinkedIn, saying, I want someone like you. Who else do you know? And started getting referrals. And some people said I'd be interested in this vision. And I've been copying that and seeing. I'm actually very surprised by the quality of people that I'm finding because I've had this mental block around. There's. I'm doing quotations with my fingers right now that good people are hard to find because I hear that all the time. The truth is they're out there, they're just already doing something right. And you just. They're not necessarily hard to find. They might be.

I don't even know what point I'm making. I'm just surprised at how quickly I'm able to find the good people that I thought were impossible to get in front of.

The best people are employed. They are not necessarily looking for a job. And you always hear that oftentimes the referral is the best source. So you and I are both in the position where we've invested heavily in building networks over the last few years and now it's just a matter of going out and sharing where you need help. And it's amazing. I talk about this on my podcast all the time. When you get clarity on where you need help, in this case, who you need to hire, and you just reach out to your best friend and say, what's up, man? They'll say, not much. What's up with you? You say you know a lot recently, I'm looking to hire. And you tell them where you need help. You're not telling them because they're that person or because they necessarily know that person. You're telling them because they're one degree of separation from you, and you have no idea what their Rolodex looks like. And you're starting to tap into your degrees. And when you do this, it is amazing how rapidly and accurately things come back to you.

Same thing with I utilize it for Facebook. I usually try again.

You're just looking for people to poke you.

That's it. Yeah, I love being poked on Facebook.

I use Facebook for that because with one post, I can be in front of everybody knows somebody.

Yeah.

And I've seen a lot of good results out of that. How do you identify what you don't want in hiring? Because the process in hiring is so often, I really need this and this. And I found in my own experience that when you're really anxious to fill a role, you can make some really bad hiring decisions. And I'm curious how you identify what you don't want. So when it shows up, it's very clear.

I don't know that I have 100% clarity on that yet. What I do know is, is when I look at Gary and Jay's process for hiring and onboarding, the first 90 days is a trial period. Like, I moved here to Austin. I'm still within my first 90 days here. You know, 90 days could be up and we could say absolutely say, this is not the right fit. You are not on path to be CEO. That's not the conversations that have happened so far, but we are very actively, almost every single week, saying, am I on path to earn the title that I want to earn? And that was the purpose of the 90 day trial. And so I think as you go through this process, it's kind of like failing forward. You know, you get that clarity on what they absolutely have to do. And then you start to figure out the other things that are deal breakers. You identify them. You do your onboarding process in that first 90 days. If it's not a fit, you let Them know my assistant who I just hired, I point blank told him this 90 day period is a trial period. We will have a meeting every Monday to discuss what's going to happen for the week and what your goals are. We'll have a meeting on Friday to figure out what's your knowledge, where are you lacking, how's your attitude, what are your skill sets, where do you need help there? And from a habit standpoint, how can I develop you help you develop the right habits so that you will be successful in this job. And at the end of this 90 days, if we don't feel like it's the fit, we'll mutually part ways.

Tell me more about that evaluation process. Because you walked me through kind of the, I call them primary objectives, but those, those, that one thing each week that is really going to move things forward and you've got kind of a systemized, detailed process that makes my brain hurt. But it was very clarifying for me to see how you're being evaluated and thus how you're going to be evaluating other people.

And this just goes to the power again of surrounding yourself with the right people. And in this case, working with Gary and Jay. They've got their process down and I'm literally just adopting theirs. But what they did is they said, I want you to cast, or in your case, or for anybody who's listening, you cast that big someday goal, the goal that frankly scares the crap out of you.

Own the Cleveland Indians, be worth $100 million, sell a company for a billion dollars someday goal.

Exactly. Something that's so far out there that it scares you. And now it's a matter of bringing it back to a five year goal. You know, Ryan, what are you going to have to do in the next five years in order to feel like you're on track to owning the Cleveland Indians? And you get some clarity on that and then you bring it back even further. What do I have to accomplish this year to feel like I'm on track for that? And everybody can kind of figure out what they need to do this year, but when you start with that someday goal, your this year goal becomes a lot more clear.

Yeah.

So that helps. So if you go, you guys walk through this process of goal setting to the now someday goal to 5 year goal, then get the clarity. What do you need to do this year? And now it's really about breaking it down. What do you have to do this month to feel like you're on track for that? And you list them out and then if it's this month. What do you actually have to get done this week? And I've got a form that I actually fill out that they gave me. It's called a 411 and it's a live document. I update it every day. I carry it with me everywhere I go. And I know as long as I'm following that, I'm on my way.

Yeah, we were at lunch the other day and you literally just pulled it out. I carry this with me everywhere that I go. So I'm going to talk about the Disney process because you showed me this and I had a brain gasm. So one of the first steps that you've walked through as you've outlined what the vision of the company is, as you kind of set that someday goal, was you mapped out your Disney. Would you talk a little about what that process looks like, by the way? I just did that this week and I'm like, I had so much clarity over where I want to go in the next five years.

So one of the first things that Jay showed me is he showed me, he whipped out this 11 by 17 piece of paper and it had chicken scratch all over it. It was a mess. And he goes, do you know what this is? And I said, no. He said, this was Walt Disney's sketch of his Disney. And it was literally a piece of paper that Walt Disney had written down. If he could wave the magic wand and everything could possibly happen for his company, what would that look like? And here, let's actually just. I'll grab it.

Alright. Jeff is digging through his bag right now. He pulls out a mysterious notebook. He takes off the paper clip. He turns to the next page and he pulls out the Disney.

So on this piece of paper, you know, you've got a box that says tv. You've got a box that says music. You've got a box that says films, theatrical films, merchandise, license, publications, Walt Disney magazine, comic strips, art corner shops, Disneyland. Like these are all the key elements that Walt Disney envisioned for Disney. And then you've got all these squiggly lines showing how these things flow together. This is his Disney. He built his Disney.

And I like that you put it as if you had a magic wand.

Yep.

Because before you showed me this, I always drew out my. My business maps according to what I thought I was capable of, not according to what could be done if I just had magical powers to make whatever I wanted happen. And all of a sudden I had all this creativity just, just bursting at the seams because I felt like, all right, I Don't have to do all this myself. I'm going to have my generals anyway. So let's just map out what my ideal business would be if I got out of the way.

And it's amazing how when you come from the perspective of waving the magic wand, you immediately shatter all your limiting beliefs of what you think is possible. You demystify the possible as you. As you like to call it, and you just start saying, hey, you know, there's nothing holding me back here.

This is.

If anything could happen, I would have this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. And this is what Jay asked me to do when I walked into my first meeting with Gary, and I literally went to the whiteboard and drew my Disney for our company. And starting there is so cool, because then you start to work backwards. All right, all right. So of all these elements, what is the one element that I need to do that such by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary? What is that one lead domino that I need to knock to make this whole thing go down?

And that gives you such clarity and momentum. For example, just this morning, I was interviewing somebody who might be a fit for that first domino. And after that, I interviewed another potential person. And that just the fact that I could see them fitting into that role, and I saw what their network was meaning, who was. Who is in their network that they could bring to the table. Yeah, I started looking at, okay, so this person could move this domino and this domino, and all of a sudden I can see. I can see like, three feet further down the road. Whereas before, I could only see up to it, up to a certain point, now I can see a little bit further. And there was just a lot of momentum that's coming out of that process. So when you were mapping out your Disney, I know you had to run that by Gary. What was that like? And did he poke holes in your Disney?

And this is what I think surprised me more than anything. You imagine someone who's had that level of success. And from the very first time I met him.

We were in a mat all day, mastermind with him, and we broke for lunch, and I'm, like, hammering away at my computer, and all of a sudden I feel some hands on my shoulders, like, start to massage my shoulders and turn around, and it's him. And he goes, welcome to Austin. I'm so glad you're here. Here. And it just, like, felt like that kind of father, grandfather figure. And he's just got this incredibly warm and nurturing energy. He just wants to mentor young Entrepreneurs, like, that's what he gets out of bed for. And so it's very much been a relationship like that so far. So, you know, I think it helps that I like to doodle because he loves visuals and doodling, but, you know, he asks very thought provoking questions. But kind of like how you talked about you wanted to surround yourself with the people who would expand your mind and help you think a bigger game. When I walk in to his meeting area, which is freaking cool, by the way, and get up there and draw my Disney, which I think is massive, and he just sits back and goes, yeah, you're doing a great job. You're going down the right track. What if we just did this one thing different and that one thing completely shifted the way that we looked at the company and made the opportunity about 100 times bigger.

Did any of that scare you?

No, it gets. And I think this is why I feel like I know in my bones that I'm in the right spot. Because feeling my mind expand, being around the people who expand my mind, that's my drug. Like, I live for that. That's when I am living a life on fire. I ask.

I've had a really weird experience with this because I've often felt a high from mapping out of business. And then I almost get depressed after because I. It all falls to me. And that's been. That's been a struggle of mine, is getting outside of my business so that I can build on something rather than stay stuck within it. And this has taken me a good 12 to 18 months to kind of get in a place where I feel like I can draw out my Disney and look at it outside of myself.

And.

And I haven't announced it on the podcast yet, but in the direction we're going.

In, this year is so much bigger. And it's the first time that I feel like I have such clarity and mission and purpose that I'm not scared of it. It's just something I have to do. And it's a completely different energy that I have. And I'm curious if being around Jay and Gary has kind of given you that same level of confidence where you can just move through it.

It has, and I knew it would because this has been my experience for the last year. You know, when. When my colleague had the stroke and my income gets slashed by 40% and I'm wondering how the heck am I going to provide for my family in a sustainable fashion? How am I going to build passive income? How am I going to break the golden Handcuffs that I've got on and I didn't know how. And I'm scared when I just realized that you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And I was honest enough to say that I have great people in my life, but they're not where I want to be. And I simply decided to surround myself with those people. You realize you're not alone, because on a raw human level, one thing that we all have in common is we feel good when we help others. And so if you can go to those people who are where you want to be and simply ask for help, what you don't realize is that you're often giving them more value than they are giving you. It feels better to give help than to receive help. And I asked Jeff Hoffman this, who you had on your stage multiple times over the last year, why in the world are you talking to me?

And he point blank. I recorded this from my podcast, Neil, point blank, say, because I believe it is my responsibility to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs. I believe entrepreneurs will change the world. I have accomplished a lot in my life, and I had mentors, and the one thing that they asked me to do was to pay it forward. This is a billionaire founder of Priceline.com saying that it is his responsibility to mentor the next generation. And so for those of you who are scared, who do feel that fear, recognize that if you can just set an intention to surround yourself with the people who are where you want to be and you can seek their guidance and ask for their help, you. You don't have to figure it out for on your own, because they will hold your hand and they will tell you step by step exactly what you need to do. And that's exactly what Jay and Gary are doing for me right now.

Okay, so let's talk about that networking process because. Great, go get five billionaires to mentor you. Step one.

Step one.

Well, I mean, I say that tongue in cheek, but I mean, you've built a relationship with Jeff Hoffman, you've built a relationship with Gary Keller, you've got built a relationship with some pretty impressive people, and you've been an entrepreneur for less than a year. So wtf is that about? How did that happen? This is my whole podcast.

Same thing here in terms of what we talked about in that hiring process. Step one, get clarity. And the two things that I will tell people on my podcast is ask yourself these two questions. First and foremost, out of everything that's going on in my life, where do I need to the most help right now. Can we role play with you?

Yeah, I've kind of got a little bit chip on my shoulder right now because this is getting kind of woo, woo. I'm more like, I've seen you network with some really impressive people, and it just seems effortless to you. And I'm more interested in, like, how.

The heck did you do that?

I want to, like, reverse engineer how you've built this network.

Here's the golden goose. Here it is.

I'm sorry. Here it is.

Here it is.

Do you ever see the SNL skit with a democratic debate? And Hillary is like, bernie, you can't promise the. The golden goose. He's like, I could find you a goose that congregate around ponds. Give me 30 minutes. That's awesome. I'm sorry. I just love doing Bernie Sanders impressions. Go on, Jeff. This.

This is a true testament to freedom. Fast Lane live. You said you're following me for some reason because you want to think a bigger game. I am bringing the people who stretch my mind into the room. Who you should probably be in that room.

Exactly. Yep.

That is what I do ultimately on the highest level. The reason I have a relationship with Jeff Hoffman, the reason that I have a relationship with Jay, for that matter, is because I got in the room at a conference where they were on stage, and when they finished speaking, instead of sitting in my seat and clapping, being like, yay, good job, Jeff. Like, everybody at your conference. My ass was out of the seat and I was taking. Tackling them as they were coming off stage.

Okay, so that can get annoying quick.

Here's where the shift is.

Yeah, let's go there.

When they come off stage. This is not. Here's my business card. Because they will throw it away. This is not. Can I take a selfie with you? Because you're putting them on a pedestal. This is. Thank you. Because what you just shared truly touched me, and this is what I'm going through in my life. This is what I'm struggling with. I don't know what I could do to add value to you, but would you be willing to make a small investment of your time to help me? And if you do, not only do I promise I will take action, but I will find a way to return the favor.

I like to add one thing into that, and that is if you can show them how you took action before there's a conversation or if you can even. If you can even show them how it made a change. Like, I'm going to apply it in this Way, Hey, I really appreciate it that you talked about this. I called my employee right after the, off the, after you talked and I was like, we need to do this, this and this. So thank you so much. We're putting it into action right away.

Yeah.

By the way, like, I don't know where you're at right now or what you're working on, but here's what we're doing. Is there any way I can provide value for you? So I like to add in that little shift, just because so many people say that they're going to do something with what you've taught them. It makes a big difference when somebody says, this is what I've done. Like when, when I have, if I have two podcast listeners and one says, thank you, I love you so much and the other says, thank you, I love you so much. I built $100,000 a month business. I love both compliments, but one is like, I can work with this person because there's been a change that he or she has implemented and we can roll with that.

And what you're touching on is that follow up process. Because people oftentimes, what they don't realize is even if it's a 15 second interaction, if Jeff Hoffman talks to you for 15 seconds, he just invested 15 seconds of his most valuable resource, his time. And when you follow up and say, hey, you told me to do this, this is what I did. These are the results. Thank you and can I ask for help again? That's how the relationship builds. That's how I've assembled my army of mentors, is I flat out just approached them, I told them the way that they had made an impact on me, whether it was their speech right then and there or something that they had done up until that point. And I followed up and showed them the success of their efforts.

How have you found that you've been able to provide value for those people? I know you asked that question, what do they say and how have you done that?

So a few fold. Number one, sometimes just asking to these people blows them away if they're a very public figure. Like if you go to Gary Vaynerchuk or Tim Ferriss, that annoys the crap out of them because everybody asks them that question and it's effort for them to come up with it. But if you're talking about the average everyday person who is successful, who's where you want to be, who you're looking for, some guidance from, that will blow them away. Outside of that, I make a point to figure out where they're needing help. And I actually do document it. Like I put it in my phone, I put it in my process that I keep for managing relationships. And I review it on a regular basis. And I constantly am playing Super Connector. I'm constantly looking to connect two people that maybe didn't know each other before. And in that moment, the value that is created is tremendous. And the first, well, the first real powerful time for me was when I first wanted to get into real estate. I'm reading all of Robert Kiyosaki's books and I buy Cash Flow, the board game. Have you ever played it?

Yeah, I played the video game.

Okay, so when you actually buy the board game, it comes with three audio CDs. And one of the CDs, Robert says, hey, when I've got extra money, I give it to this guy, Bill Shop Off. I give him all my money. He plays with it. He makes me a lot of money. I'm like, okay, name stuck with me. Well, I see a meetup group in Orange county and Bill Shop off is speaking. I'm like, holy crap, I am going. And so I showed up early because I knew once he spoke, everybody would want to talk to him. So I am canvassing the room looking for, looking for Bill. I have no idea what he looks like now. I'm smart. It's called Google Images, people. But I found him and we had a conversation and I asked for his card, I asked for his time and. And he actually said no. But I followed up and we ended up meeting and I asked him, you know, here I am, little chump, starting out, how can I add value to you? And he kind of giggled like, yeah, what could you possibly do for me? But he said, I'm always looking to form relationships with big time developers. If you ever happen to come across any, make an introduction. I documented that. I filed it away. Four months later, I was at a bar, I heard a guy talking about real estate. I struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he was the guy who built the Las Vegas City Center. Steve Wynn was his direct mentor. He was literally the head honcho when it came to building the Las Vegas City Center. We struck up our relationship and I asked him how I could add value to him. And he said, I'm looking to meet other big time developers. I connected Bill to Bill. What do you think happened in that moment? Was I valuable?

Yeah, absolutely. What came out of that?

As a result, I got an email from one of them that said, holy crap, how do you know this guy? Thank you so much.

That's fantastic.

You never know. And this is what I tell the people in my podcast.

I'm sorry to interrupt again, but I have just. I've become very aware lately about the power of being a connector, of if you can't provide value, do you know someone who can and make that happen?

There you go.

Because that elevates you immediately. Even if you can't provide value, you know somebody or can scout for somebody. And it's why it frustrates me to no end when somebody acts like they're helpless and they can't get around or they can't provide value.

Six degrees of separation. It's just about leveraging and just how you're talking about the guy you interviewed earlier, how you said, what's your superpower? My superpower is being a super connector. And I've realized that. I'm trying to remember where I was gonna go with that one.

Doesn't matter.

Doesn't even matter.

Bill and Bill.

Bill and Bill. Oh, I got it.

When it comes to being a super connector and your relationships, I often tell the story of, if I were to drop a 500 piece puzzle in front of you and not show you the COVID and I asked you to pick up just one puzzle piece, would you have any idea what the big picture is? No, not a chance. But what do you do? You keep picking up the pieces and you keep trying to fit them together. And over time, after enough persistence, you start to find that pieces fit together, and over time, the puzzle finally shows itself to you. Relationships are the exact same way. Every single person you meet is a puzzle piece. And if you can just set the intention of figuring out what they're good at and where they need help and document it, over time, you're going to find that you're able to put puzzle pieces together. And in that moment, you create tremendous value for yourself and the entire picture of your life changes. That's how I landed this job. Jay spoke at my national sales meeting. As he came off stage, I cornered him. I brought him on my podcast. I followed up with him relentlessly. Just how can I add value to you? How can I add value to you? How can I add value to you? And one time he finally said, gary and I are looking for a CEO for our new publishing company. And I said, oh, interesting. I've done a lot of networking this year. I know a lot of people who could be a really good fit. Let's have a conversation and I'll connect you with the best person. I wasn't even thinking of myself. But by the end of that conversation, I basically said, screw those guys. I'm your guy. That's how it happens.

That's awesome. And that brought you here to Austin. Yeah. And now you are the puzzle piece to my heart, Jeff.

Yeah, same.

Well, Jeff, talk a little about the podcast, because, I mean, we met. That was kind of how we connected. I was on the Mentee, and sometimes just because we're broing out, I forget that you even have it. So take, say, 60 seconds.

60 seconds. If you.

Time's up. I'm sorry, go ahead.

If you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, who are your five? Are they already living the life you want to be living? And if not, what does that say about you? My podcast has been me just simply documenting my journey from employee to entrepreneur and actually pressing record on the private conversations I have with the mentors who are changing my life. Because I feel so grateful for having them. I started to feel guilty that I wasn't sharing them, and so I started sharing those conversations, and that's what I do.

And I didn't even know when we were recording. It's worth checking out the. It is. It is worth. It is worth. No, don't play it right now. Put your phone away.

Oh, can I play it?

No, you have to. You have to go to the Mentee podcast to hear the intro with. I'm gonna figure out what episode it was.

I think it was.

So what I'm trying to say. Jeff is trying to interrupt my pitch for his podcast, but it is worth actually looking up the Mentee Podcast with Ryan Daniel Moran, episode 58. Episode 58. Just to hear the introduction, because I did not know that we were recording, and I kind of embarrassed myself, and it turned out beautifully.

It was amazing.

So we'll leave it at that. Jeff, thanks for hanging out with us at Freedom Fast Lane. Good luck on what you're doing over with Jay and Gary. Keep on changing the world, buddy.

Thanks, man.

It really is true that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. And that's why I advocate being very intentional about your relationships. Are the people who are around you stretching you? And if not, do you need to get a different network? That's why I advocate for joining masterminds, and if not our mastermind, then another mastermind, or at least joining the tribe. You know, you've heard me talk about the tribe here on the Freedom Fast Lane podcast for a couple of years now, and for the first time ever. We're going to be opening that to the public here at the time of this recording. It'll be in a couple of weeks. So if you're listening to this after Q1 of 2016, it's probably open and so I want you to stay out on the lookout. We're obviously going to make it very obvious@freedomfastlane.com and also here on the podcast, but it's going to be spectacular. The purpose of the tribe is not to be just a place where you get training, although some really awesome training will be in the platform of the tribe. But it will be a place to create and foster in person relationships, accountability teams and your own masterminds that will hold you accountable and stretch you over the long term. It'll also be a bit of a think tank and an incubator as we bring in people that are outside of our industry to stretch the way that we view our businesses. And we're bringing in investors and marketers who will help bring exposure and cash flow to your businesses as well. That will all be available inside of the tribe and actually I'm kind of underselling it. But stay tuned over the next couple of weeks while the tribe opens. It'll be a perfect opportunity for you to start to stretch that average of the five people you hang out with and also get some new exposure, cash flow and ideas to grow and build your business. As always, thanks for listening to Freedom Fastlane. Please share this episode with anyone that you think may have found value in it, and I'll see you guys on the next show.