66. Ice Cream and Business Growth - 3 Scoops

Foreign. Hey, my friend. Welcome back to leadership in a nutshell. We are cracking the code of the driven mind for home service professionals, just like you and me. I want to really just take a moment and step back today and open your mind because I'm going to challenge your thinking a little bit and help you remove a block. Are you down for that? Give me a head nod. We might not be on camera here, but we are connecting through audio technology. Give me a little head nod, a little thumbs up and say out loud in your car, at your desk, Kenny, let's do this. So here we go. Ice cream and business growth. Three scoops episode 66 so what does ice cream and business growth have to do with each other anyway, Kenny? Well, I. I recently heard an analogy from a friend of mine and I wanted to kind of talk about this where, you know, we look at, I'm an abundance guy and I believe that I'm partnered with the universe and I believe that for focused on what we can create and how we can elevate the game for all of those in, in my tribe, in my circle of influence, if you will, and that includes you as you listen here. Part of my purpose on the planet, one of the reasons I was put here is to make a positive impact in the lives of those around me. I'm learning and growing each and every day and becoming the best version of Kenny Chapman that's possible. And through that, I hope to influence you on some level, inspire you in some way, and most importantly, get you to question yourself a little bit. Not from a questioning standpoint, but from a validation or thinking standpoint. I either want to validate your own beliefs that you currently have, or I want to challenge them for you to think a little bit more on something that might have made sense at one time, maybe it doesn't anymore. And so today we're going to talk about abundance and we're going to talk about where you are in and the world. And I'm going to talk about a universal law. And so I'm not going to get super religious or spiritual, but I'm going to talk about some religious laws or I should say universal laws that religion has adapted as well. And so please don't turn me off. I'm not going to speak one faith against the other or one denomination against the other. I'm talking about universal truth in my perspective. And so I want you to think about anybody. Remember the sitcom King of Queens? I'm a Kevin James fan. I thought he was hilarious. I've seen him do Stand up. And you know, he's just a funny guy. And so at the very beginning of the sitcom King of Queens, when they're running the, the opening credits and all that stuff, he's in the ice cream store with Carrie, right? And they show this clip where he comes, he walks out of the ice cream store. His scoop of ice cream, if you will, falls off and it falls right on the floor and it's like, or on the ground outside the ice cream shop. And he looks at Carrie and she looks at him and we all know what's going to happen. And he turns around and he goes right back inside. So it's a fascinating thing that, like, obviously, you know, he makes fat guy jokes all the time at himself. He's a fat guy that likes to eat and all that stuff. But what I want you to think about is a child. And so, you know, let's say you've got a five or six year old child with you and you're in the ice cream store and they want the scoop of ice cream, their favorite flavor. Let's say it's chocolate chip. They're super excited. They've got those, you know, beautiful little eyes and they're just super excited to say, you know, can we, we please, please. And the only reason you're in the ice cream store is because they were begging and asking for ice cream anyway. And so you get in there, you can't say no to this person. It's like, oh my gosh, I want to give you everything that you want. So, okay, cool, we go in the ice cream store. I'll use my niece Willow as an example back when she's a grown, amazing grown lady now, but when she was a kid, if I had her at the ice cream store, like, I just couldn't, I couldn't say no to Willow, right? So she had these beautiful blue eyes and she would look at me with her broken English, if you will, not broken Eng English from an accent. But she's learning to speak, right? Uncle Kenny, can we please have some ice cream? I'm like, oh, my gosh, okay, let me buy the ice cream store, right? It's like, holy cow. So we get her the ice cream and let's say we go walking out and all of a sudden she drops the ice cream, right? It falls off just like it did for Kevin James, right on the floor. And all of a sudden the beautiful smile and the beautiful eyes all of a sudden well up and turn to tears. And now there's wailing and on and oh, No, I not. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, we've got to stop this, right? So now we're going to turn around. Now, trust me, I got major business and life lessons built in this, so stick with me for just another moment. So she says, oh, my gosh, I want more ice cream. So, of course, Kenny says, I want to give her. I want her to be happy. I want to solve her problem for her. So we turn around and we go right back in the ice cream store. Now, any parents out there, aunts and uncles alike, we've all seen this, where now we go back in the store. Now, a poster caught her ey on the way back in the store. And so now all of a sudden, she looks up at the poster. What's on the poster? I put it in the title here today, my friend. There's the triple scooper ice cream cone on the title or on the poster board, right? So she looks at Uncle Kenny, can I get a triple scoop this time? And I look at her like, oh, my gosh, I love this girl. I want to do everything I can to help her. What do all of us do? We're like, yes, of course you can have the triple sc. Now, let me wreck you. Here's where the game changes. With your partnership with the universe, with your partnership with responsibility, with your partnership for understanding laws of success. I have to look at her and say, willow, I would love to get you the triple scoop, but first we've got to start with the single scoop, and we got to make sure we can get out of the ice cream store all the way to the park without dropping one scoop, my friend, right? So as soon as we can prove that we can handle the one scoop, then and only then might we add another scoop or ultimately go for the triple. Right? Now, I know a lot of you are like, dang it, I've always got the triple scoop. And I'm talking about a hypothetical situation because I think we all know the Kenny. Back then, when she was a young girl, I would have bought her five scoops if she wanted. But now that I've evolved more and I've grown my own understanding and awareness of the way the world works and the way some universal laws work. This is why you haven't grown your business at a higher level. Perhaps this is why you haven't changed your personal debt situation. Perhaps this is why you haven't built good, solid leaders around you. Perhaps this is why you haven't taken more market share. Perhaps this is why when you tried to Open a line extension and an additional trade. It didn't work out for you the way that it did for a neighbor or somebody that you met at a blue collar event or another show or a trade show or whatever. Maybe you weren't ready. And guess what? The universe knows that when you drop the ice cream cone, the universe is paying attention and the universe doesn't care. Let's be clear. Now you go whole. Whoa, Kenny, that's a little rough. A couple podcasts ago, I talked about that. The universe doesn't care what you want. It cares what you pay attention to. And so until we can focus on the ice cream, the one scoop, and have attention to detail with that and make sure that we're good stewards of the one scoop, then and only then will the universe say, oh, okay, you're handling that pretty solid. Awesome. Now I'm going to give you more. It's written about in the Bible. It's been spoken about by Eastern philosophy and Eastern leaders and different. You know, it doesn't matter whether we're talking about, about Rumi or Gandhi or the Buddha or Jesus. Like, everybody talks about the fact that we've got to be good stewards with what we have before we are able to bite off more than we can chew. Why did the Bible say that I'll never give you more than you can handle? That's literally written in the Bible. This isn't a biblical conversation here. I'm just saying there's a universal law that says you got to show you got you can handle what you've got, then I'll give you more. But we all want to jump from, you know, making 10,000 a year to 100,000 a year. And yet I'm up to my eyeballs in debt. And we see. You know, one of the funniest things I see is that, well, you know, rich people, it's easier to save 10% or the tax code should, you know, be way, way higher because they have so much more. Here's the reality. If you're not down to save 10% of whatever it is that you make today, you are not going to be down to save 10% of whatever you make in the future. The number doesn't matter. I'm gifted to be able to coach people that make little amounts of money to people that make extremely large amounts of money. And it's never about the money. It's about the decision. It's about the stewardship. It's about back to your business. If you think that you're going to Create good jobs. Once you have enough, once you get another scoop of ice cream, then you're going to create a benefit plan. Once you get another scoop of ice cream, you're going to attract a higher level of team member. Once you get a better scoop of ice cream, you're going to invest in your own coaching and training. Once you get another scoop of ice cream, you're going to take the time for your own self care. Fill in the blank, my friend. Right? You see where I'm at? You see what I'm talking about? Are you picking up what I'm laying down today? Give me a head shake, right? Not a no, a yes here, right? So I'm so fascinated by this. In 1996, I started in the trades. 1994, April 1st. Yes, that's April Fool's Day. Dead broke, drain cleaner, no business being in business, no idea what I was doing. And it was what they call the school of hard knocks, right? But at least it's a school and it's a school. I didn't do very well in school. I did really good at the school. Hard knocks. If getting a hard knock was getting a grade, right, I got really good grades. I got a lot of grades, right? But here's the thing. Two years into that business, I couldn't stand it and I knew there had to be a better way and I wanted out like nobody's business. And back then I used to interview, like it's funny, way before podcasts and different things like that. And I just would send out letters. Back in those days, I send out letters to the most successful people in town and asking them if I could buy them lunch, just wanted to ask them a few questions about how they got successful. So I personally believe that success leaves clues. And I also believe that success creates boundaries. There is such a thing that I call success traps. My buddy Joe Polish taught me that concept. And I think it's very valuable when we realize that success leaves clues and it teaches you how to get to a certain level. And I knew that there was levels beyond what I wanted. So I wanted to go interview these people. And I constantly wanted to get to this one individual. He owned all the Taco Bells in town. He owned a bunch of real estate his family owned, you know, was almost on the board, or maybe they were on the board, almost founders of Taco Bell. And he's one of these guys I learned, was one of those people that. You ever seen those people where we talk about they're born on third base but they think they Hit a triple, right? It was kind of one of these individuals. But regardless, I'm not about to shoot the messenger. I just want the message. And so I got him finally to take me to or for me to take him to lunch. And we went to lunch together. And I'll never forget, we sat down and one of those guys, interesting. We went to a bar and grill of his choice. We walk in, the high school hostess takes us to the table and says, how would this be? He's this guy. No, that's not going to work. How about the table over there? Just has to be in control to that level, right? Just crazy when you think about that. Which is why rich people get a bad reputation. Because just because you're rich doesn't mean you have to be an ass. And just because you're an ass doesn't mean you're going to get rich. Right? Money is just fuel. It just gives you. Makes you more what you are. Okay, I digress. So anyway, we go to this other table, we sit down, and I'm asking him like, okay, I'm 20. Let's see, I'm 25 by that time, I think. Been in business a couple years. Started when I was 23. I'm like, I just want out of this. I can't stand this drain business. There's no money in it. There's no market in it. And here's what's fascinating. I was telling the universe, I want more ice cream. I want another scoop. This one that's like kind of runny and drizzly and drizzly. I don't know if ice cream drizzles, but it's warming and so it's dripping down my cone and down my arm. Like, I don't want this. I want a new triple scoop universe, please. So I was saying that, not knowing I was saying that. So I take him to lunch and he tells me some of his story and how he got to where he was. And he's like, that's fine if you want out, that's cool. Start building plans to get out of the business and find something else that you can get passionate about and that you can enjoy. But do this, he said, do everything you can to make this business the best it possibly can be until the day that you exit it. Now, many of you are going, oh, wow, big aha. Kenny, who cares what? Obviously he's going to tell you no. Think about that for a minute. Are you right now, my friend, are you doing everything you possibly can to make that business as good as it can possibly be until you exit it. Whether that's with PE money, whether that's with selling to family, whether that's with selling to team, whatever that is, Are you doing everything you can to make it as good as it can possibly be? And that set me free. For whatever reason, I was like, cool. Still hate the business, still hate the couple of team members that I've got. Still hate the on call, still hate my life, right? Like nothing changed other than I saw an exit and until I exited, I was going to be the very best operator that I could be. And what changed was as I went, okay, cool, I only have this much right now. I only have these calls, but I'm going to do the best. I can only have these team, but I'm going to do the best I can. I'm going to elevate. I didn't hate my team. I hated the leader that I was for my team. So all of a sudden that started changing and guess what? The universe said, oh, oh, okay, you're down to handle that one scoop of ice cream. I see. And then the universe said, well, how about another scoop? What flavor are you after? What are you thinking? I'm. I like the double chocolate chip. Okay. Now I went from single chocolate chip to double chocolate chip and I added a scoop and said, oh, okay, well, that's not. And then I was able to build one of the market leading national role model companies that got me into training nationally and globally and all the amazing things that happen that pivoted from that one conversation. I want you to think about that. There are defining moments. Today's not about defining moments, but I can't tell that story without talking about them. I changed how I thought about success. I just didn't know it and I didn't understand the universal law that was waiting for me. I could have got out and got in the mortgage business. I wanted to be a real. A realtor for a while. Anything that I went and did at that time I would not have won at. Why I didn't understand the rules of the game. And there are infallible rules of the game that you must play in life, in business, in finance, in relationship. And you cannot shortcut until you understand really what you're doing. So back to Willow and the ice cream and you and your business. At the end of the day, get that one scoop. Get the half a scoop if you need to have them put it in the cone and mash it down so there's nothing sticking over the top until you can become a good steward of that. That make sure you elevate your game. You're running what you've got as good as you possibly can, and then just then, you might be delivered more, my friend. I'm super pumped you joined me today. I love this stuff. Episode 66, ice cream and business growth. Three scoops, really? I'm your host, Kenny Chapman. Make sure you give us a. Like, a rating, a review, a share, a follow. They keep changing these platforms. Copy the link and send it to somebody that you care about. I'd love to have you help me grow this community of leaders in the home. Service here for you until we talk, my friends. Make it a better than fantastic week, and we'll see you real soon. Thank you.