Episode 271: The Steps for Getting to the Top and for Solving Problems Are Exactly the Same with ...

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm talking today with one of my longest term great friends, million dollar earner John Lavin. Hello, John.

Larry, It's a pleasure. It's always great. I'm really looking forward to the conversation.

Hey, I appreciate you doing this because I know you've been talking seven or eight hours already today, but John has offices. What he's talking about. John is heavily engaged in business offices in 30 states, 2,300 agents in financial services, $500 million in assets under management. He's like a hedge fund guy. Like he's running his own hedge fund, more or less. But congratulations on all of that, John. And in the process, you've learned some things. I want to give you the chance to weigh in on a couple of subjects. And here's. I'll give you my theories on it and get your. You can say, well, that's hogwash, or yeah, I agree, and here's why. Okay, so I was thinking the other day about the steps. You know, you think about going to the top, but going to the top is. There's steps, you know, you don't just go to the top, there's steps. And to get to the top, it dawned on me that process is in many ways exactly the same for solving big problems. It's the steps you have to go through. And here's what I mean. First of all, if you want to solve a big problem, you don't step back and say, oh, that's just too hard and walk away. No, no, you got to dig in. You know, if you've got a big problem in front of you, got to dig in and start to peel that onion, you know, or it's never going to. Or untie that knot, you know, it's never going to untie itself. So you got to make up your mind to work hard. If you want to go to the top, you work hard. You want to solve a big problem, you got to work hard. You can't sit with a big problem and whine about it. Whining is, you know, people, people don't understand, John, why even winners whine. Even great CEO, great athletes whine. Well, we don't whine that long.

Right.

Because the thing Is because sometimes what goes wrong or the problem is so big that fell on our head, you can't help but say, ouch. Why? And kind of look for sympathy around. But pretty soon you realize sympathy ain't coming. Everybody's got their own rocks falling on their head. And quicker you can get over it. Winners are quicker at getting over it and getting back to being productive than other people. It's not like they stoically stay there. I'll never show hurt or whatever. No, everybody hurts, but you don't let it dominate you. It's just like they got that bounce back, spring back thing. So you got to work hard and then the other thing you do, you know that we like working hard beats 50% of the people. So if you want to solve a big problem, the first thing is you got to attack it. That's half of the job. The other thing is have a system. How do you get a system? In other words, having a method to your magic, your madness. Have a art. Williams used to call it a management philosophy. You know, you got to have a way you go about solving this thing, but it has to be one that works. You know, it's like, well, this is my system. Yeah, but it doesn't work well. You got. And the way you find that is you copy the leaders. You know, you get your eye on the people heading or already who have arrived at the place you want to be and you follow them. You know, you take your cues from the people who know. You don't take your golf tips from the guy who can't play golf. You take your golf tips from the guy who can pure it right down, you know, the fairway. And you know, so. And the thing is, when I say that right there, John, you know, the, the last bit, you got to think, you know, the last bit of getting to the top that will get you 90% of the way done or 90% of your problem solved is working hard, another 40% by having a system to follow. But the last 10%, you got to think in your feet, you know, you got to figure some stuff out. You're going to have to connect. You got to connect some dots in your brain to put some pieces to the puzzle that you need to get you that final thing through the finish line, you know, so it's going to be on you when it's all said and done, after you've done working hard, after you got yourself a system, it's going to be on you. But that's the joy of it. That's why when you get there, it's yours. No, even if you have a team, you always give the credit to the team. But let's face it, the team wouldn't have gotten it done if you weren't there. And so the thing is, John, getting to the top at 50%, 40%, and the last 10%. That dogfight of figuring things out, coming up with ideas and solutions, the right thing at the right time, that you just pull ideas out of the air. It's the same thing in solving big problems. So I wanted to ask you if that resonates with you. If you agree with. Agree that. Or if you maybe can say it better than I said it.

No, I mean. Well, if you've got a big problem, I think the first thing you have to do, and it could be not even the word problem. You could use the word challenge or problem or goal or dream or mission. I mean, it's all a big something that you've got to deal with. So how are you going to deal with it? Well, I think that the first step is you have to get to the root of the issue. When you have a problem, you got to find out what is the real problem. You talk about the under, you know, uncovering or unconcealing or peeling back the onion. You know, you have to be able to identify exactly what must be done to fix where you want to go or what you want to do or the problem you've got. So I agree, really, 1000%, they are the exact same. Because the problem in my case was I had a big dream and a big goal about a lifestyle that I envisioned as a very young person. And my problem was I had no way of getting any of it unless I figured it out. There was no road to the goals and dreams I had in my head other than me. And then eventually my wife and I together decided to grind it out. And, you know, we found a cause, a mission that we could get passionate about. And for us, we were very fortunate in that it dealt in the people business. And we like people, and we're pretty good at getting along with people. And the biggest problems that I've ever had in my business isn't the financial services business, it's the people business. It's the relationship business. It's the how do you figure out how to help others find out what they want so you can help them get it? You know? And so my biggest challenge has always been in making sure that I'm communicating the lines of communication are open, that my ego is out of the way. That I'm. I have the ability to be a listener, to put myself in other people's position or place and actually look at it from their perspective so that I could make a decision on how I wanted to proceed as a coach, you know, as a mentor, as somebody who's committed to helping other people become successful. So, like, that's the problem is people, they kind of know what they want, but they don't know how to get it. And as a leader, it's our job to lead the path, to create the path, to lead the way, to prove that it works first and show people that, hey, here's exactly what I did, and I can show you how to do exactly what I've done. If you. And if you're willing to do those things and you're willing to work as hard as I've worked and you're willing to continue to grow and stay coachable, you can be whatever you dream of becoming. And that's what I. You know, I was very fortunate to have mentors like you, like Dick Walker, like Art Williams. You know, I had. I've been very fortunate to be around people that were big thinkers, big dreamers, hard workers, encouragers, and I just had to learn what they learn. And when I didn't, when I made a mistake, I had to be willing to ask for help and, you know, pick myself up and get after it again. One of the things that you said that I think is critical is that we all have problems, we all have challenges, we all have life events. It's. The winners seem to wallow in it for a very short period of time. It's how quickly can you kind of figure out, wow, I'm going down the wrong rabbit hole mentally, and I need to fix this. I need to make a change. And usually that change for me was always action. You know, it was action. It was really getting. Getting back engaged. For me, it's. It's serving. When I go back into the serving mode of taking care of others, of focusing outward, my problems seem to disappear. My challenges seem to disappear.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business that's accrued over $5 billion in assets under management and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks just for Those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move. Yeah. And another way of looking at it, John, is that going for number one, obviously a lot of effort, but what it is, is you're fighting to stretch yourself to find your maximum. And the thing about a big problem, why a big problem is the same for going to number one. A big problem is a problem that's going to shut down your butt down, okay? A big problem is going to cause you to give up your dream. It's going to cause you to stop growing, is going to cause you to have to settle for something less than you want, Live somewhere, you know, you know, take a different kind of job, live in a different kind of place, different kind of neighborhood. And, you know, if you can't solve that or give up your business, you know what I'm saying? And so what the big problem, the reason why the big problem is same thing. Getting number one is because both forces you to fight to push, to stretch, to find your maximum. Because, see, it's like lifting weights when you lift your maximum. Most of us don't know what we're capable of, John. You know, we don't know, and you don't know until you do it. And you want to believe it, this and the other, but the deal is to make those breakthroughs. You've got to fight against those mental barriers to find your maximum. Because usually your maximum is what you've done before. And you're limited by what you've done before because, well, you know, that's. That's all I've ever done.

Yeah. Does the past equal the future? And the answer is no, unless you allow it to. So many of us are, you know, subconsciously held prisoner to our past, and we really don't work hard enough on personal growth or seek enough coaching, counsel, direction to get through it, you know. You know, lifting weights would be an example. Exercise. I always exercise way more when I have somebody that I've paid money to to make sure I exercise, I show up, I exercise harder, they stretch me, they push me way better, you know, and business was the same thing. When I align myself and I'm around people that are big thinkers, and I put myself in an environment where I'm uncomfortable, where I'm not the top guy, I stretch to become part of, seek to the level of the people that I surround myself with. So if we surround ourselves down, you know, we surround ourselves with people that are weaker, we'll go right down and, you know, be right there with them. But if you, if you surround yourself in bigger, better places, places you aspire to get to, eventually you'll. You'll feel very abnormal until you're there. And so that's been kind of. That's been really what I've been able to do.

And I think, to wrap this up, folks, it's the point that you don't have to give up even when you run into a big problem. And if you really want to go to the top of whatever arena really fascinates you, chances are you can get an awful lot closer to it than you possibly ever imagined. Who knows if you'd be number one in the world, but it'd be fun to find out. And the great thing is you don't have to accept other people's opinion of whether or not you can do it or not. You can find out for yourself. And the way you get to the top, if it's possible, and the way you get through these problems that seem like they're just going to steal your dreams is you work like a dog. You attack in the way the people, the successful people attack. And then you, if you stay nimble, you force yourself to come up with, to keep your antenna up and investigate any clues for anything that can give you competitive advantage. One or two more percent of a breakthrough. Because, you know, I was talking about this earlier today on a podcast that most people fail and they go the. They fail stupid. They fail when they're about 98, 90% of the way there.

Yeah, well, you know, they're not, they're not willing to pivot. They're not willing to change. It becomes an ego and a righteous kind of attitude of, I know what I'm doing, and even if it's not working, they're not willing to get their ego out of the way. Hey, there's. Maybe there's. I'm not seeing this correctly. What am I missing here? You know, I think a lot of, you know, it's that in your book that you wrote, there's a point where you reevaluate, you know, you adjust, you make the change, you know, and you can only make those changes after you put massive effort and had some degree of success. And then suddenly you. You've plateaued out a little and you go, okay, I'm stuck here now. Now what? What's next? What? And suddenly it's that pivot, it's that reevaluation, it's that seeking coaching. It may not be working harder, but smarter, maybe systematizing some things, maybe hiring staff to alleviate you so you can go do the creative things you're supposed to do. And that's really what's helped Patty and I so much in our business is being able to do that, being open to it.

Yeah. And that's a perfect wrap up for what I want to get into next time. But thanks so much, John. That was great. If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.