Clarify Your Owner’s Intent to Find Fulfillment with Casey Graham

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All.

This is going to be a good one. Casey, my man, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. This is going to be fun. I've already fired up.

I know. I was pumped up. I was looking at my calendar. I'm like, yep, that's today.

Yeah. Hey, that's true. There's two types of meetings. There's meetings you look at, and you're like, I'm ready. And there's meetings like, I don't want to do this.

It's like, when you're counting down, it's like, okay, how many meetings do I have to finish to get to the meeting that I want to get to? And this. This is one of them, man. And one of the things that I love doing in the show and the feedback I've gotten right is like, you know, we don't do backstories. We don't go through the fluff.

Sure.

And right before we hit record, you said a phrase that is literally going to guide this entire conversation, which is owner's intent. Owner's intent. And I love that phrase. And it's something I think you've created. So let's start with the definition. What does owner's intent mean?

Yeah, it's a. It's the single sentence to help you not screw up your life.

Can I go back in time and say it to myself?

That's what we all say. So the only. And it answers this question. And this would seem like, Kevin, you go, I can't believe I invited this guy to come on the show. Because this is such a simple question. Here's the question. I've asked over a thousand people this question. Nobody can give me a succinct answer instantly. Here it is. What do you want?

Freedom.

What does that mean for you?

Mind spend and time spend. I want freedom to think about what I want to think about and the freedom to spend my time where I want to spend it.

Okay. And how much time do you want to spend doing that?

All my time.

All your time. And so is there anything blocking that?

Anything blocking my ability to have freedom of mind spend and time spent? I'd say, no, there's nothing blocking it. I could have freedom of mind spend and time spend whenever I can, walk out the door right now and have it. But there's a certain quality I want of it. So no, no. No is the answer. No is the short answer. There's nothing preventing me from having it.

So when asking the question, what do you want? Your answer is, say it again.

So freedom. Freedom of mind spend. Freedom of time spent.

And that every decision that you make.

Flows through that decent amount of it. Yeah.

Right. And that's the Single sentence. So you did it. You're the only one. Let's go. I love it.

I mean, too, man. Like, I mean, there's audio, but I've got my cards right here. Like, these are my intentions.

I get it. Done the work, like you've done the work. But here's the thing, here's the step further, and here's the. Where it gets messy. And all this kind of stuff is that most people that I've talked to, whether it be business owners, people in their career or whatever, they'll tell me one thing, and so I wrote about this in my book, is that they'll tell me one thing, that that is my intention and that's my thing. And a lot of people say, oh, it's my family, my family's my intent. Or I would say, you know, some people would say whatever is their intention. But here's how you truly know what it is. The way you know what your intention is, your owner's intent is, is what stresses you out the most. What stresses you out the most reveals what your true intentions are. And so a story I like to tell is there was a lady that I was working with, I used to do consulting. I hate consulting, but I used to do it. That's how I know I hate it. And she would always tell me, like, I want to influence a billion women and that's what I want to do, right? And that was thing. And I think we would all agree that's a great thing. And that's a lot of the women on earth, right? It's a big deal. But every call I had with her in consulting call, she would talk about how many members she has and what her financial situation was. And so I kept asking her, I would be like, well, what about I thought you said your intention was the billion.

And.

And she was like, it is. Is that's what my true intention. That's my why. That's what I do. That's why I do what I do. But I was like, but why don't you ever talk about that? Why? And the thing that stressed her out was her money and her net profit or not and how many customers or people that left. And everything was around financial. And so I connected the dots with her to say, listen, you don't have to have this over zealous, over spiritual, over sound good why? And this whole idea that I think, and I love Simon Sinek and his work, but this whole thing is about, start with why is that people have these big ethereal whys. And. But what I see with people is truly what they want to do. It's pretty simple. So I dug down with her and I figured it out. And really what she wanted to make was $40,000 a month net profit out of her business. She wanted to be able to work from everywhere she wanted to work, and she wanted to be able to have the dogs that she wanted to have because she was a dog rescue person. And that was it. And so I got her not. And people say, did you talk her out of a billion dollar, you know, vision? And I was like, no. But she. That's not truly what her intention was.

I got to jump on that real quick because it's not talking her out of anything. No, he couldn't talk herself into it.

That's right.

Even talk herself into this idea. And I love that you brought up Simon Sinek because I agree. Love his stuff, love his books. And like, you read and you go, ah, find people's why? And there's. I talk a lot about the differences between, like, what's in books than what happens in real life. And it's like, I worked on this with my managers. It's like, look, we gotta be honest with ourselves. Most people don't have a strong why. If they did, the world wouldn't be the way that it is. The industry wouldn't be the way that it is. Like having that. Why. So I love that. I was speaking with a woman last month. She's actually meeting a guest soon. Asked her a similar question, what she was looking for in her next role. She's like, I want the big pop. I said, all right, how big of a pop?

There we go.

How big of a pop? She goes, $100 million. Really? Okay, here's what I want you to go do. Here's assignment. Go try and spend that. Tell me when you run out of things that you think you can buy with that. And she went there, she came back. I didn't make it past like 22. I'm like, exactly. You don't want $100 million? No. Ridiculous. So how do you help people find that out? Because you got super specific 40k net profit, the dogs and work from anywhere. What process did you go through with her to narrow down to those three key things?

Yeah, Well, I would start with, I know you said that you don't do backstory. And this isn't my backstory. But the way I came to care about this is that in my last business, I was actually in the church industry. And so that's all like, spiritual. And you Got to like, your mission's about helping people and the church and all this kind of stuff. And what happened was, is I told myself that, and I even told our staff that. But really all I cared about was becoming a millionaire. That was it. And then ended up selling the business, became a millionaire. And then everybody looked back at me and was like, I thought this was about the people and the church and all this stuff. And I went into a funk and a depression, and I was 14 months. I. My granddad, I have a lot of suicide in my family. And people may say you have Jesus in your heart, but you got your granddaddy in your bones kind of mentality. And so that scares me. And so I went down into a reality, and what I learned was, is I learned how to be honest with myself. Because most of us, we're not honest with ourselves about what we truly want, and we're scared to just go, I want to be a millionaire. And that's why I own this business. And then when people come work for us to say, hey, I'm just going to tell you on the front end, I am doing this so that I can sell this company in five years, and I want to personally be a millionaire. Now, I'm going to treat you great, and we can. Let's align this together. But I want you to know why I'm really in this, and then let's flip it, and then you tell me why you're really in it. And then we create alignment together on what those true outcomes are. And so that's kind of how this thing happened. It happened out of pain and Kevin, it happened out of getting to the end of lying to myself and then other people going, well, you're just a liar. And so what I. My heart for people is to say, you don't have to do that. So the way to start is the five whys. And you've already done this. It seems like you've already done it, but it's the five whys. And so I'll say, well, why do you want that next career jump? I don't want to be the VP of sales at the next company. Well, I want to do it to make more money.

Okay, why?

The way I say it is, why is that important to you? And then they give an answer, what's important to me so I can provide for my family. And, you know, I've worked really hard to get. And I'm going, okay, so providing for your family and working really hard, why is that important to you? Well, working really hard is important to me because, you know, I want to be able to provide for my kids, and they're young and go to college and. And I want them to have, like, what I didn't have. Why is them having what you didn't have important to you? Well, when I grew up. And then we'll go back and they'll end up telling a story. When I dig to about the third why, I'll get a story, and the story will usually involve some type of pain, and it's something that they didn't have or an experience or relationship or something like that. And then I was in this. We'll go down to, like, well, my parents split up when I was 12, and I had to start working at whatever, and then I'll go, okay, so why is it so important that your kids don't experience. And then I get down to it. And ultimately their answer may be that I am scared that I'm going to become like my parents. I mean, like, that would be, like, driving all the way down into the. To the. To the depths of it. And then we play around in that. And the way, you know, you've gotten to a true owner's intent is that when it can be a single sentence and it is something that you can't answer the question any other way, and you always come back to it over and over and over again. Like, it's like, Casey, you've asked me why 25 times, and this is. This is. This truly is. Doesn't happen fast for me to get to my true first owner's intent before starting gravy. It took me 90 days to be honest with myself, and it's hard to do by yourself. So having people that will not. Kevin, you know, this deal, especially online, like, everybody, you know, hey, you just be you, and I'm proud of you, and I love all that stuff. But what if you're an asshole?

Thank you.

Like, you don't need to be more of you if you're, you know, whatever. But if nobody's telling you, like, hey, you're an asshole. So, like, you need people that would. That will come on the other side and gently help you understand that. I hear what you're saying, but I'm not accepting these surface answers from you. Yeah.

And funny enough, I work with a Coach Townsend. Shout out Townsend. Like, that helped me with a lot of, like, you know, similar processes of, like, because I would say something to what do I want? I want $35 million. Why do you want $35 million? Right. So I Could, you know, feel whatever you feel free from. I want to be able to, like, work on what I want to work on. Why do you want. Why is that important? And you go through all those things to find. Okay, what you really want is freedom. First of all, you don't want money. You want freedom. And then it's like, how you get there, right? Is that path and that process. And so. So for people listening, then I guess, where. How would you encourage them to start to try to define this? Right? Because again, most people don't know, even in sales, right? You ask a lot of salespeople, what do you want? Always adding money. All right, cool. Right. The question I always ask, similar to, why is it important? I always ask, what would that allow you to do? Or what would change because of that? Getting that intense? Like, where do I start? Because your whole thesis here is it has to be specific.

That's right.

I got to work through it. How do I start this process?

Yeah, I hate to say this, and if you get mad at me, that's fine, but literally, that's why I wrote the book. So my book is the no BS Small business book. And I titled the book Wrong.

I'm just gonna say I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I titled it Wrong.

Owners Intent would have been perfect. What are we doing?

Well, they talked me out of it because they were like, well, then people think it's just Owners. And I was like, no, it should be. So anyway, so I titled the book Wrong. And you could go to Amazon. Everybody says, I'm not a business owner, but. And then go through the first 70 pages. Most people can read it in literally under an hour and start the process that you've got to. You've got to read stories of people who've gone through the process and get different examples of how people think. I think that's the best place to start to do. The next thing I would say is, who can help you with it? Which we just talked about, obviously, who can help you with it? And the third thing is, is go public with it. This is a big one I talk about. Most people don't go public with their intention. They don't because it's not clear to them. And so they can't make it clear to others. And so going public with this is why I own this company. Right? And being clear about it. And so my favorite thing is all these CEOs I talk with. I mean, I'm telling you, they're like, you know, we're here to change the trajectory of, you know, this sales, blah, blah, blah, platforms and so, blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff. And all they talk to me about is raising money and selling the business and. But, you know, ipa, like, that's all we ever talk about. But then the public versatile is all of that. And so I think it would just do everybody. And again, I'm not against what anybody's intent is. That's a big part as well. Kevin, if you tell me your owner's intent is literally, we have people do this. It's called why I Gravy. When they start at gravy, we help them go through why I Gravy? And we drive them through the owner's intent process and say, basically, hey, you're not going to be here in 60 years. You're not dying at gravy. I'm not dying at gravy. So you're going to be here for a short time. You don't know the time. I don't know the time. But while you're here, why are you going to actually show up and actually do this every single day? Why are you going to do this? And so we get them specific. That's not necessarily their life intent, but it's, why am I going to take the 40 hours and do that? Right. And then we have them share it. Some people's were literally, I just want to be here because I was bored at home and my kids got old and I just like working around other adults. Awesome. I know. But when we talk about this stuff, Kevin, everybody goes to these, you know, big examples. And I was good stuff. That was a great. So. So she's happy as a lark. Like, somebody, a recruiter hits her up, she's like, nope, I'm fine. I don't want any instability. I just like stability. And I like working with Peggy. Right. It may be. It may be that you. We had somebody come in and they were a director of sales, something I can't remember, but they said, hey. And I got them to be really honest. And they said, honestly, gravy is a stepping stone in my career so that then I can get a VP of sales job.

Great.

We'll try to be the best stepping stone, because here's the reality. Their intention was that whether we talked about it or not.

Exactly. Oh, say that again. Say that again, Casey.

Well, their intent. I forgot what I said, but their intention. No, their intention. Their intention is their intention whether we talk about it or not. And so my whole thing is people are already thinking it. So why don't we just say it? And if they're already thinking it, then why don't we just say it? And if we just say it, that will create a culture where people can be honest about what they want.

I love that, I love that. And I love that's where you started. Because we did something similar with goal setting early. Like you come in, we set those goals and funny enough, it was almost the opposite. A little bit more on my squads was like I was the one telling them, look, you're only going to be here three to four years. Like, I love that you're coming in bright eyed and bushy tailed and like you want your. Yeah, I might have you for four years and I'm going to try to give you everything I can there, but I want you thinking about what comes next. Right. And having that, that intention there. And so I think what keeps going through my head though on this is like how, like how do people know either that they're lying to themselves or to establish that. Right. Like if you ask the job why I gravy why, why I joined and I say, you know, most people that first question is money, right. I want to, I want to, I need to have a job, I gotta make money. Where do you go from there to start getting there? Because the story you opened with, right, that woman. Yeah, that specific 40k in. That's right, the dogs. And he got to a very specific like number you've talked about your business to sell or to hit a certain mark. Like. Yeah. How do people get to that level of specificity? So I feel those are more like two sides because one side it was the, you know, like, I'm trying to heal this pain from my childhood.

Yeah.

But then on the flip side, I need something, you know, I guess that I'm actually shooting for here. So how do you kind of like cross that cast?

Yeah. So like the, the pain from childhood might go into this person going. And so then I would come back to them and go, so what I hear you saying is you truly want stability and you want to know that whether the company has an up or the company has a down, that will be honest with you about you having a secure job. And they'll go, yes, I want my, I want a secure job. Okay. So that means you're not going to put a lot of your ote at risk. Right, Right. I want to just know it's this. And even if it's below market value, I care more about security than I care about this. You see what I mean?

Yeah. Okay.

And so. So, so let me give you practical. Write it down, the five whys. Oh, and I have resources for this. I forgot Katie's going to be mad at me. Don't fail biz. Don't fail biz. And I've got a. It's a. It's a. It's a journey through how to do this. And it's. It's the five whys. I've also found that you can't do it verbally. You need to write. You need to write your answers down. You can't do it in a day. When we do why gravy. We give people a week to think about it. It's a little simpler to talk about that than it is to talk about macro life. But you can start there. And hell, honestly, Kevin, if everybody listening to this just had a really clear definition of why I fill in the blank of the company that they're currently at, that's a huge win.

Yes.

Because all of their conflict that they have at their company is coming because they have an intention and the other person has an intention and they just haven't talked about it. So write it down on paper and then give it time. Share it with others and like get feedback and then go public with it. That's exactly what I talk about the book. And that's how I write would do it.

Now I really like that. And again, that mismatched intentions, like that was just a nugget there. And that's why I cut you off earlier and made you say it again. You're like, just cause they haven't told you their intention doesn't mean they don't have one. Right. He was gonna. It was gonna be a stepping stone regardless. At least now you're on the same page. At least now you both understand, like, hey, that's a stepping stone. Great. Let's make it good together. And so then let's flip it the other way. Right. So this is a little bit on like how to get the owner's intent.

Yeah.

Let's talk about the different things that we own. Right. Because I think. And that's where you know. I know you did it with the book. Right. It was like, it'll be a small business. Well, I'm not an owner. You said that actually gets brought up a reviews. But I'm not an owner. I'm not an owner. I'm not a vp. I'm not a CEO. Right. People listening, like, I'm not at that level. Let's talk about like when you say owner what do you actually mean?

Yeah, you could own a personal brand. So I literally had to draw. I have to write things on paper because they become real to me. And I literally, last year, wrote, here's Casey Graham as a human being on one paper. And I drew a stick figure. Then I put, here's Casey Graham, another stick figure, but I drew a circle around that Casey Graham. And I said, that's Casey Graham, Inc. As a personal brand. Because we mix these things together, we're like, your personal brand is just you. I'm like, no, it's not. It is a entity. It is a play. It is a. That's. It's different than just me as a human being with the people that know me and love me and my friends that I do life with every day, but by LinkedIn, that, sure, you can be authentic, but it's a business. It's like, you're not doing it for your health. You're doing it to get something out of it. And if people say, I'm just being me, and I just want to be authentic because I. And I'm like, bullshit. Like, sorry if you have to cut.

My cusp, but, oh, my gosh, you don't have to apologize to me about that algorithm.

But you can own. You own that personal brand, but people act like they don't. And they act like, oh, I'm just being me. I'm like, no, you have a personal brand. You should know. Why in the hell, when you pick up your cell phone and look at your time spent on LinkedIn this week, why was it 7 hours and 22 minutes, or 3 hours and 15 minutes or 12 hours? Like, if you can't give me a clear answer for that, then you don't know why your brand exists there. And so for me, my personal brand intention is to recruit A plus talent at zero cost.

Yes.

Yes, period. To recruit. So, Casey, you're so helpful. Yeah, I'm helpful, but I do want something out of this over time. And my goal is to be so helpful that when I contact somebody, that they will take my call. And I have an opportunity to get A plus talent at zero cost.

I was just talking about this with someone because I'm sure you get this question often. How do you do it? How do you do it? How do you build a brand? How do you build a brand? How do you build a brand? And I'm always like, why does no one ever ask me why I built a brand?

Wow, what a great post. You didn't post that today.

Like, no one ever Asked why I did this, right? I am an introvert, not an extrovert. I do not like being the. I literally have zero other social media. I have a Facebook, no Instagram. Like, social media is not me. But yet here I am some now thought leader, whatever in the space. And everyone asks how. They never ask why. And one of my reasons was your exact reason. I wanted to be able to attract people to work with me because I thought if they knew who I was, had a flavor of who I was. Wow, he helps me win. I'm not on his team, whatever. That attracts people to want to work. The other reason also around people is I wanted access to people smarter than me. I want to be able to be able to hit you up and say, yo, need you on the podcast. And you respond back with done. And that's literally what happened. Like, that brand gives me access to people that are also smarter than me. Different worlds. I did this a few months ago. I was like, who are the best channel leaders? You know, I want to learn about channel, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I get 50 names and I can hit them all up directly and say, hey, trying to learn. And they know who I am. It's that access to people. And when you think about that, your content becomes better. Everyone focuses on the content. You forget why you're doing. Doesn't matter.

You need that, that one little segment and clip right there. And then there's a lot stir around. And why do you have that brand? That's a great question. Everybody asks how, but nobody asked me why. God, that's good. So there's personal brand. There is obviously your career. And so I call this one. It's not just career, it's not just job. I call it aspirational intent. Like, what is your aspirations? Most people don't know what those are. And those people are the people that talk to the recruiters all the time and like get like, should I or should I? And like, they live in a state of panic all the time of like, opportunity and did I miss out and should I go to this one? Well, they just got the series B. I heard they're paying better. And it's just like, like all this kind of stuff is because they don't have their aspirational intent. They don't know. They don't know where they're going. They don't. They don't think through the fact that at some point all of this crap is not going to be known. That all of the people that they currently talk to and think about and care about in 20 to 30 years, they're not even going to know who they are. They're not. They're not going to. And they're swayed so heavily about what they think about me or what this looks like. This, that they don't know what their end game is. And because they don't know what their end game is, they're swayed. And because they're swayed, they. They don't do what I think you should do. Well, that should. Should's a bad word. I say don't let people should on your. On your intent. Because my should is different. So I caught myself. It's not a should. I think it would be wise to. If you're going to have a career and not be Kevin. I see people. I'm 40 years old, 20, at 28. They're the same person as they are at 40. They just keep moving and go into a different thing and a different thing, and then they're there. And then three months, and then they go, oh, my God, I don't like the VP of sale. And then. And it starts the cycle, and then they just keep doing it again and again and again and again and again. And they don't wake up and go, hey, bro, you got older and you didn't get any better. So part of aspirational intent is twofold. I think there's in any different stop that you make in your career. I think there's assets that you pick up and there's some liabilities that you can work on. So assets that you could pick up. Number one is obviously your relationships. People undervalue that. So you, like, I think through, you know, we've had these young SDRs or Reps come in and they're here, and then they go in 14 months or whatever, and then you just never hear from them again. And like, they have your cell phone and whatever, and you gave them a shot. And I don't care. I'm not like, mad at them. I'm just going, like, you understand that life is long and those relationships that you pick up and being a person that connects back and stays in the loop and stays in the process. Like, what does your relational network bank look like? Not Your post only 10, but the checking in and the looking back and staying connected to the people of where you were, because those people will be people, helped you get you where you want to go in the future oftentimes. So. So relationships is an asset, and the other asset is skill sets.

Yes.

We help somebody come in and identify. They're like well I just, you know, sales money, money, money. But then we help them realize hey, what if, if I were you and we were working on this, the skill set you should pick up is copywriting. So do the sales job. But like you should be thinking when I come in what skill am I going to get from here beyond getting my T? And most people don't and they just keep cycling to the next ote and they're not clear about it because they're not clear. They don't build their aspirational the assets that carry with them from one place to the next. And then the flip side, and these are just a couple of examples would be, one example would be on your liabilities in your career is your self awareness. So this is a big one, is that very few people come in and go I need to work on my EQ and I need to work on my blind spots and like I'm going to have a plan in place to say when I jump to that next job that that one goes away, whatever that one is or, or and you may not know what it is but it may be something. But if you don't, it keeps carrying to job to job to job. And the older you get and that's why people get cranky and mad and you know, it's old people like all this kind of stuff is that they never, they never thought through their liabilities and started. So at every career stop that's something I would encourage people to do and I love that.

And to the leaders listening 1 I hope you hear all the intention he has here with his people and the coaching around this because also what people don't always understand is if all they're getting from you is a paycheck, that's all they compare you to. Okay, if all I'm getting from the company I work for is a paycheck, well then I'm just going to compare paychecks. This is one paycheck. What's this other company offering a paycheck and that's it. But if I'm getting skills, if I'm getting intention, if I'm getting light design, if I'm getting a network and relationships even if it's not, I've never had the highest paying roles ever in terms of the orgs, the companies I've had to work for, one day it'll be great to be the highest paying org. Like watch out the moment I can pay everybody what I want them to be paid. But like that was people still didn't leave because they're getting more than just a check. And I love this idea around skill of like, I'm gonna go a layer deeper here though, like, especially because, you know, we have a lot of salespeople, managers, directors, VPs, that listen this. When you say own your skill set.

Yeah.

What does that actually mean when you say own your skillset? Yes, it's mine. Okay, cool. I'm an owner. I don't think that's what you mean when you just say own it. Like, what does it mean to actually own your skill set, to own your relationships?

Yeah, it's a balance sheet, meaning that it accumulates in value over time. And that on a company's balance sheet would be the cash that you have on board, your cash, your currency, into your future that gets you into doors and opportunities and makes you more better. And all that stuff will be owning a clear pathway to relationships that you want to keep up with, you want to nurture, you want to develop. So, and a practical example would be if I was 24 years old, I worked at a company and I had access to. I'm not saying just me as a CEO, but anybody that let's say that they looked up to or they had a relationship with, and they reached out to me and said, hey, listen, I'm going to be leaving. However, would you be open to scheduling a 90 day reconnect? And I'm going to be starting this new career. But 90 days, I'm going to reconnect from now. I've never had one person do that ever.

It's funny enough, I've never had the people that do stay in touch, they don't wait 90 days. It's like, yo, yeah, that's true. It's like KD, like I landed. Now what?

Now what? That's right.

They're quick. They don't even wait the 90 days.

But my point is most people just let that relational opportunity go to waste and they don't nurture it and keep up with it. So that would be owning that skill set wise would be I would just ask anybody besides your pay, like, what skill set? And it may be, again, you're the salespeople. I don't know all the different skill sets around selling, but it may be like having tough conversations, like if somebody said, I'm coming to gravy and for a year I want to figure out how to be the best in the world at tough conversations on both sides of giving and receiving and being in the middle of that. And that's what I'm working On, I'd be so impressed with that person because that skill set goes on your balance sheet that you care carried to the next role and carry to the next one. Next one. So that's what I mean. But most people, they're not intentional about those things that carry over to the future.

That was something we preached all the time to the sales team, was like, look, I'm not trying to make you a great patient pop salesperson. I'm trying to make you a great salesperson. Salesperson. I want you going to that next job. And I still get these texts to this day. It works here too.

Oh, that's good, right?

It's like exactly like, that's what I was like that's what I was trying to do. That's what I was trying to help you with is it was a skill, it was a framework that when you go to the next place, you're like, oh, yeah, it works here too. And it's like, yes, right? Like that's what it's all about, skill. Because you don't. I almost caught myself. I said, you don't lose skills. You can lose skills, sure, if you don't, like, nurture them. But like, once you have it. Right. Like, that is. I love that analogy of like, it accumulates over time, that balance sheet, right. Of like on the books. Here's all the skills that I'm stacking. Right?

Life is cumulative. Life is cumulative.

100%.

You will 100% multiply everything into your future that you're currently nurturing and not nurturing. Yes.

Oh, great call out. Great call out. Because it's like we focus on what we are doing. You don't focus on maybe what we're not doing.

That's right. That's right. And so another, Another thing to think about with that is that I've heard it said this way, is that your irresponsibility in whatever area of your life will end up being somebody else's responsibility one day. And so you bet. So think about your health. If you're irresponsible there, it's fine for a day, or it's fine for a week, or it's fine for a month, but. But you have year upon year upon year. At some point, it's become a burden to smile your finances, you know, if you're irresponsible, you know, whatever decisions that you're making, that's. That's a whole other podcast. But the question you would ask is, if I have my career intent, it clarifies those things. If I have My aspirational intent, if I have my personal brand, it clarifies. It gives me the North Star to know am I marching in that right direction or not? And most people have no idea the answer to that question, and it's actually.

The last question I wanted to dive in here before we wrap up is like, okay, let's say we've checked these boxes. All right? I took the time to go through my whys, I took the time to establish my owner's intent. I've taken inventory kind of of my world and my life. And I'm like, okay, like, here's where I'm at. My skill balance sheet, my relationship balance sheet. So I have it. I wrote it down like Casey said. Now what, what do I do with this? What do I do with this intent? How does it guide me? Like, then what happens?

Yeah, the first thing is all of your decisions come back to it. And that may seem like a small deal, but I just did it today. So my owner's intent of why I started Gravy, which actually is shifting, I'm not clear. I'm not, I don't have my next one. So it's in my book. And it's one thing because it was when I started five years ago, but now it's shifting. And so I don't have it nailed because it takes me time to mold it down. But, but, but, but the reason I started, as I say, is to create a company that my adult children would want to work at someday if they so chose to. Right. So we had a situation where somebody left. And I am, I would say I and our team culture are some of the most open handed on. We know when people leave that they're going to take people with them or, you know, have those conversations. But we had some conversations about like, hey, we're struggling in this area right now. Can I know you're close friends? Could you just give us like six weeks? Right? Just. And then, so that we don't get ourselves in a massive bind. And then obviously, if you want to take this person, whatever, that, that would be fine. And they, they didn't. They didn't wait. And it then the person. And we knew that that would happen. And then I literally saw the person today in person. Like I was going to see them. And I asked myself the question if. Because I'm mad and I'm not mad about the person leaving. And I'm not mad about that. I'm mad because we asked them specifically and had almost an agreement. Right. But I asked myself the Question. I said, if I was gonna. If my daughter was 30 something years old and she ended up doing what that person did and their CEO came by, how would I want them to respond? How would I want. What would I want them to do? And it would just be. I would want them to be a person of grace, of forgiveness, and to just be like, I'm not gonna make this weird and make some big deal out of it, and I'm just gonna be nice and have the chat or whatever, versus saying something that's gonna be divisive or create something that's whatever. And so you would say, Casey, that, that seems. But that literally came through my mind, and that's why I made that decision. So every decision will circle back through it. Every relationship will be filtered through this as well. Is this person or these people, or is this boss helping me or hindering me to achieving that intention? So that, that, that. That's a big one. So it's decisions, relationships. And then the last thing I would say is the third is the. For yourself, the peace of mind, meaning a lot of people don't know the answer to the question, what do you want? And so they're. They're always searching and unhappy and unfulfilled because they don't know. And if you don't know what it is, then you'll never be happy. And so just having this as a bedrock for your soul is a safe place for your. Your heart and just your mind and your spirit to land. To say, hey, that is it. And I'm okay with that. Doesn't have to be 100 million. It's really. It could be 300,000. And I did it. We did it. And I can feel good about it. And I don't have to have all this other crazy stuff just because culture baits me into believing that I do.

Oh, man. I mean, this is my world, the last year. Because that was the journey. And like, you know, you asked the question at the beginning, you asked me for my statement, had my statement, asked me, does it guide your decisions? And it truly does. One of my cards is, is what I'm doing right now bringing me closer to or further away from my goal, right? And that constant presence, checking, right? Either I'm getting closer to it or further away from it to guide those decisions. I turn down clients, I turn down jobs, right? Where I'm like, yeah, that'd be a lot of money. Money isn't what I'm chasing anymore, right? Like, you know, old me. I did actually write a post about this where it's like, sometimes you have to go through this journey to understand it. Because me, seven years ago, right? Like, oh, like, you just need freedom and peace of mind. Like, dude, get out of my face, right? Like, I'm living in a little dump. I've got a kid I need to provide for and all these things. But I wish I'd had that clarity then of, like, what you really are seeking. And generally we almost always already have what that is. You're right. Like, Townsend, the coach I work with, he's like, you don't seek happiness. Like, you are happy. Like, you are happy, right? Like, that's a decision you get to make right now. You have peace. Anytime you want it, you have peace. You just have to claim it and accept it. Right? And so with all this, man, like, where, Where? So let me.

I want to stop you on this for a second, what you just said. So part one starts with Arianna Huffington's quote that says, and this is really good. Nothing is ever enough when what you were looking for isn't what you really want. So what that's the premise, I guess, of everything that we're talking about today is that nothing is ever going to be enough when what you were looking for isn't what you really want. So that's kind of how I would end this.

And it's full circle because if you don't know what you want, if you haven't established it and actually knowing it is what you want, and I think that's the point you were making earlier. It's like, oh, I want to. To be a vp. Why do you want to be a vp? Well, security. Why do you want security from a kid? So what you really want is for your kid to live a different life than you, and that's what you want. And the VP title might be a. It might be a tool, might be delivery. Yeah, want is that.

Or it might hinder you.

True story. That's.

Cause it puts so much stress on your life and relationships. And like, you end up living in some cycle that you repeated because you made up a thing that. That's going to get you, but you didn't realize, like, what you currently have may be the perfect role because it's getting you that.

I'll never forget this one. Like when people. I ask people this question all the time too. Like, why they do it. Like, what their motivation is. Like, it's my family. I'm like, bullshit.

Yeah, right, right.

Ask your family what they wanted. It's you. So you working 60 plus hours a week.

Yeah.

Telling yourself you're doing it for your family is completely hypocritical because your family.

Yeah.

Would want you with them. Your family would want you to have more energy. Your family would want you home. So if that's really your motivation, you need to quit tomorrow. Because that's not what's driving. It's okay. Like, I don't do this for my family. I don't do this for my family. I push myself for my family. I push myself for my own pride, my own potential. What I believe I can be, they benefit from it. But I'm like, I'm going to make these calls for Lily. I'm making these calls because this is what I do. And I enjoy it sometimes. Other times I don't. But I do it because. Hey, I'm going for something bigger, dude. Casey, hold up. But we got. See, we knew we can wrap this. What's the name of the book again? Where can they find it? And where can they get the cheat sheets? Because, like, people need to get their hands on this.

Yeah. So I would go to Don't Fail Biz. Don't Fail Biz. And then at that, you can get everything. So Don't Fail Biz. And if you are just want to go straight to Amazon, the no BS small business book. That's it.

Casey, my man. I can't even say this is what I was hoping it would be, because this was more than what I was hoping it would be like, this was phenomenal, dude. Thank you so much. Your time, your energy, your insights. I'm gonna have to bring you back for part two because we're not done.

We're not done. All right, my man. Thank you.

Hell yeah. I appreciate you, dude.

See you, bud. Bye.

Bye.