57. Subtract - Add - Multiply

Hey, my friend. Welcome back to Leadership in a nutshell for home service professionals. I'm your host, Kenny Chapman, and I'm super pumped that I get to be back with you. And I say get to be back with you because I love this time of the week where we get to lay down 10, 15 minutes, something like that, of just sharing some thoughts, some ways to interrupt our behavior patterns and have new levels of success, emotional regulation, and the amazing things we want in our lives. So please stay with me on this. Make sure you hit that subscribe button or the follow button or the like button. As they continue to change podcasting platforms. Whichever one is your favorite is the one that I want to meet you on. But I'd love also to get a rating, a review, click on something to show us some love. Today as we talk about subtract, add and multiply episode 57. We're going to dive into subtracting first, then we're going to add, and then let's multiply what we've put together together. So, you know, as an abundance thinker, and I know you are, you wouldn't have been with me for 57 episodes so far. So when we think about abundance or growth mindset, we think about the contrast of a scarcity mindset. You know, it's really easy to kind of just always add on and just layer on and layer on and layer on. And I just, I want you to think about, how does it show up in life for you when you just see things that are just constantly added to and added to and added to? Do you ever notice, like, complexity and different things happen? I think about the lovely Christy and I like to watch some real estate shows here and there. We like investing in real estate. I like building homes more than I like remodeling. But personally, I like to build from the ground up. And it's probably one of the reasons that I'm sharing the concept. I am with you today. Because in life, it's about building from the ground up. And what happens, though. And one of the reasons that people coin the midlife crisis. I was just on a mastermind call earlier today and a client was saying, what's that thing that happens in the middle of life that you're supposed to. And one of my other coaches is like, midlife crisis, like, yeah, exactly. And what happens is when we wake up and we realize we are in a process, in a relationship, in a result, in a storyline of our lives that we're not totally bought into, perhaps then we go, hang on, wait a Minute. And what I want you to think about with this subtract, add and multiply concept today is that this is true in your business as a leader, like different line extensions. If you're plumbing, heating, air, electrical. If you're in the restoration game, if you're in pest control, garage doors, whatever your line is. And we think like, well, I could just add that most of us have thought about adding a line. And that's where I really want you to think today about how does this show up. So when I share that Christy and I like real estate shows, the reason that comes to mind and when I'm talking about this concept. Have you ever watched one of those shows where there's a house from, like the 1930s or 40s or something and it's been added onto like, four or five times? Some of us have had an opportunity to live in homes like that when we were younger. Or maybe you had a do it yourself or, you know, set of parents that would add on. Or do you ever really see, like, as you're watching that show and they're walking through and it's kind of like the real estate agents trying to make it as positive as possible, but at one point they're just like, yeah, it's kind of been added onto in the 50s, and then the 60s and then the 70s. And what we have is kind of a hodgepodge, and it's going to take a million bucks or something to really strip this down and remodel it and do that, whatever the case might be. I want you to think about your business in that capacity. See, if you would have just scraped that house back in the 40s and had a new set of blueprints and plans, then it would have been super easy. Now you go, well, wait a minute, Kenny. It's not cost effective to scrape the house and start from scratch. When the house has value, so does your business, so does your life. So I'm not asking you to scrape the entire thing and scrap everything and start from scratch with a brand new blueprint, but I am asking you to look at. Is there any place we might be able to bring a wrecking ball in and just knock down a couple walls? Is there any place where we might be able to just tear this garage off and maybe pour a new foundation and add a second story where the garage was and then perhaps add a garage on the other side of that? You following me? You with me? Give me a head nod. I know we're not on camera, but you got to stay with me. My Friend. So think about this for your business, for your life, for strategies, behavior changes, all of these different types of things I want you to subtract. So if you're taking notes, if you're driving, obviously re. Listen to this. Look at. Show notes and capture these notes. If you have an opportunity, write these down. When I think about subtracting as a leader or just creating changes in my life, what do I want to subtract? I want to subtract complexity. I want to subtract obligation. I want to subtract shoulds, right? And so when I say obligation, what is an obligation? An obligation is something that I must do that I have no emotional tie or. Or doesn't give me energy. So you could argue like, well, I have a lot of things. I run a business. I've got an incredible team. I've got family, I've got friends. I've got financial responsibility. I've got investments. I've got a lot of obligations, right? I don't see those as obligations. I see those as responsibility. An obligation to me is something that doesn't give me any energy. I don't want to do it. So that's why I say subtract obligations. Subtract those, Put them in air quotes. Those shoulds, right? I believe that most pain in people's lives is created by operating through the should lens and what our parents said we should do and the education that we should get and the job that we should have and the relationship we should be in. Stop that insanity and subtract the shoulds right out and get clear about what you want for your life, your situation, and what you're building in your own personal vision. I would encourage you to subtract mediocrity. I can't stand mediocrity. I was on a session earlier today where I was talking about just how much mediocrity just drives me crazy. Talk to any of the leaders that have been involved in running businesses that I own or operate or have been partners in, and you will hear, Kenny can't stand mediocrity. I just. I don't want it. I would rather completely suck at something than to just go through the motions. And if I suck at something, I'm a smart enough guy to go, hey, Kenny really sucks at that. And I have an opportunity to get a lot better. Or usually because it's not unique ability, it doesn't give me energy. It's a should and an obligation. So therefore, it creates a mediocre situation. Stop that crazy last thing I would say Just as a reminder is to subtract those we'll call them BS stories. Then I'll leave it abbreviated for you here today. We'll keep it G. Well, I won't promise a g, maybe a PG13 rating here today, but what are the BS stories that you're telling yourself? That of what you can do with your business, what can be accomplished in home service, what you can accomplish with your team, how your team can find fulfillment, growth, peace of mind, financial independence, all while being on your team and executing their own unique ability. So we want to subtract those things that really make no sense. Then we want to add. So I subtract first. Then I add. Now what am I looking at? I want to add energy, I want to add purpose. I want to add fun. I want to add excitement. I want to add to my why of what I'm doing. Like the things that tie to that purpose. So I've got a why behind what I do in life, why I get up in the morning, why I want to play the game. I'm going to. I'm going to live to 146 years or older. I recently added that caveat because I realized 146, that's only 90, what is it, 90 something years away from me, 96 years away. It's less than 100 years. In today's world with technology and the medical industry and all the different things that we're understanding and learning how to REWIRE Our brain, 100 years is nothing for me to live another hundred years. So 146 or beyond. So I've got to have a good why? Why I get up in the morning and want to play the game. If I lose that, why I die. And that's why I want to add to that why. Because my future is always going to be bigger than my past. Therefore I got to keep elevating that game. Another thing I want to add is value. I believe that as we add value to those around us, then our own value increases and it creates a loop in the world. And I believe that if I can add value to my intimate relationship, then I'll be able to elevate my value in the world. If I believe I can add value to my team members, then I believe that I can help them add value to their own situation. As they add value to their situation, they can then intrinsically impact our clients and add value through front stage backstage activities that blue collar does different things like that. So I want to add energy, purpose, fun, excitement. My why, my value. So I subtract some things because think about, like, kind of cleaning out your closet. You want to go on a shopping spree. One of the things that. We've come to an agreement with the lovely Christy. We're going to add some clothes. Let's go ahead and take some out first. Right? We can always buy the bigger house or add the bigger closet, but what's the point? I'm not looking to live as a minimalist, but I'm also not looking to have stuff that takes up energy and unnecessary things in our lives. Right? So we subtract, then we add. Now it gets fun. My friends and I think it's pretty fun to subtract and add. But now we go into multiplication. So we grow our businesses, we grow our capabilities, we grow our influence, we grow our lives, we grow our finance, we grow our health by subtracting things that don't make sense, adding things that do make sense, and then multiplying the hell out of where we're at with those two. So I want to multiply. I want to multiply what matters most to me. So my buddy Joe Calloway wrote a great book years ago called Be the Best at what Matters Most. And so you think about in the social media world we live in now and the quote unquote influencer game that gets played online, and I put it in quotes or air quotes because I don't believe a lot of it is actual authenticity, and I'm a fan of authenticity. And authenticity to me is something that matters, and it matters a lot. And it's one of the things I model my life after. So for you, when you think about multiplication and you think about what matters most, maybe you explore things. For me, relationship relationships matter the most to me. Emotional regulation matters tremendously to me. Leadership influence matters tremendously. I want to multiply my ability to influence as a leader, I want to multiply my awareness because I believe that awareness is the first initial understanding of what's going on in your life. And that can create the knowledge. But remember, knowledge isn't power, knowledge isn't result. Knowledge is simply knowledge. There's a lot of people that know a whole bunch of stuff that don't overdo anything in the world. And I'm not judging that. I'm just saying that knowledge is one of the components. But it starts with awareness. So I want to multiply my awareness so I know more things, more aware of my blind spots, aware of where I can influence better and make a bigger impact, and then I also want to multiply My why? Throughout, throughout everything I do, throughout everything I touch, throughout everything I'm involved in, I want to be able to multiply those things. So again, here at the Leadership in a Nutshell podcast, I want to be sharing with home service professionals around, like, abundance, growth, like, make everything as big as you want to be. You always hear me talking about future bigger than a past and never letting your past turn, you know, turn into your future. It's always about grow, grow, grow. But I wanted to take today and tell you to just take a breath for a minute, take a step back and go, you know what, maybe there's some areas I need to remove. There are some areas that I need to subtract. What do I need to say no to? What do I need to stop doing? What do I need to shore up before I add to it? So earlier I talked about line extensions and people talk about, oh, I'm going to add plumbing or I'm going to add electrical. I'm going to add a drain division, underground, bursting, lining, whatever it is. I've got a client that I've worked with for a while now that is an H vac plumbing electrical company. And their plumbing department had never done more than $500,000 a few months ago in a month. They've never done over 500 grand in a month. And what's interesting, their H Vac division is two and a half times the size of their plumbing department. So the plumbing department doesn't always get all the attention and some different things like that. And they never broke a half a million in a month. And what was fascinating is we focused on subtracting what is in the way? What are the blockers, what are the things creating mediocrity? What's in the way of the technician selling, what's in the way of parts, getting the install crews set up more efficiently, quicker. What's in the way of, quote, middle level management being more effective there different things like that. You know what's crazy? Never done more than a half a million, broke a half a million, then the next month or the next record, they skipped completely over 600,000. So they've still never done 600,000 because they jumped over 700. And now they're pacing this month at the time of this recording to do three quarters of a million dollars in that plumbing department. Now, am I saying it's because we subtracted? No, I'm not saying it's just because we subtracted. What I'm saying it's from. Is that we subtracted first we looked at what we need to remove. Then we looked at, oh, okay, we removed some complexity, we removed some pain points from our top producers, we removed some communication complexity with the cl. And then we layer on and we add some effective training, we add some confidence, we add some capability, and then we multiply that across the several trucks and all of a sudden, boom, here we go. That's your job as a leader, my friend. That's your responsibility in your personal life. I'm going to talk in a couple episodes upcoming the difference between personal and work life balance. And that's all kind of crazy in my mind. So what I share, I say it because a lot of people kind of buy into it. You got your work life, you got your home life. What I'm telling you is what we talk about here on Leadership in a Nutshell for you home service professionals. It works across the board. You're a leader in all different aspects of your life. This is one I want you to think about. Where can you subtract first, then add, then lay on some multiplication to absolutely crush it? This is Leadership in a Nutshell for home service. Episode 57. I am your host, Kenny Chapman. Subtract, add, multiply. Give us a like rating review. Would love to hear from you how we're doing. Any topics you want to hear, let us know. Until we talk, my friend. Make it a better than fantastic week. We'll see you real soon. Thank you.