Episode 308: Winning the Battle of the Learning Curve with Cofounder President of Muros, Tricia B...

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 here this afternoon with Tricia Binder and we're talking about winning. And Tricia knows a lot about it. She has spent years working inside exciting divisions and product lines and brands, inside the corporate Fortune 500 companies with Essie Johnson, Leslie Purin and Ordstrom. And she's worked in operations, but she's also worked in marketing roles. And eventually she worked herself in a position where she could start her own company. And she's the co founder and president of Muros. And they are a they specialize in murals and street arts. And this year we're getting Tricia at a great time because they are surging. They have already this year passed their first two years of revenue already in 2021 for six months. So it's great to run a million multimillion dollar business. And the compounding is a fun thing, but it's not fun as much fun when you're doing the ones and twos. It's great to where you've got something happening all the time. So, Trisha, let's talk about winning the battle of the learning curve, which you brought up the last time because you know, you start something and like, like you, you pointed out, there's going to be a learning curve in doing anything, starting anything. And you got to fight your way through that to where you can start to see those metrics or those numbers that we were talking about start to show up. And the reason most businesses fail is not that they don't work, not that they don't have a good product, but it's they don't get enough sales, clients, business coming in before they run out of time and money. And so that has to do with planning and things like that. But you know, that's that is getting through that learning curve where you're learning how to be as you brought out in the early thing, you're learning how to be intentional, learn how what are the things that turn into revenue and how can we make that happen in the shortest period of time. So welcome back, Trisha. And that's a long winded introduction to this, but it's been fun talking with you and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say and tell us about winning the battle of the learning curve.

Yeah, I mean, I have to say winning the battle of the learning curve, always a challenge, but I think it sometimes just comes down to patience. It's certainly, at least for me, terrifying to not always know or have the answer or know how much is riding on your shoulders. But I think just fighting through it and keeping focused on what you're doing with an eye to what's working, what's not working and being willing to pivot and make changes and be accepting of mistakes or downfalls. I mean we've certainly make them all the time and we recognize that, you know, even though we don't have all the things solved for, we don't even always have enough time in the day to really be as thoughtful or strategic as we want. Like celebrating those incremental wins and just staying focused on, you know, where you still need better ideas and better solutions, I think is incredibly important because there's, there's never a shortage of opportunities in my experience, especially you know, being in a younger, again about three year old company. It's just, it's always coming, you know, fast and furious and it just kind of, you know, speaks sticking to it and again, staying focused and headed in the direction that you want to head in.

Now when you started, went from one company to another, you know, it's amazing. It's like winning the super bowl, you know, the next year, like Nick Saban at the University of Alabama with the football team, they'd win the national championship and they'd start off, get all the players, they get back home and get all the players in the, and in a room and they'd have a, you know, a big celebration. Everything he said now I'd like the seniors to leave the room and he says, the rest of you guys, you've not yet won nothing and we're going to go to work now so you can win your championship.

Right?

And you know, when you start with a new company or you start a new company, all your past awards and everything, I don't matter. I mean, you got to perform in the new job and talk about moving from one. You know, they can be cold and impersonal type situations, but talk about moving from super success, comfort, mastering a situation in one company and moving over to another big giant company where again, they're super competitive, they're driven to perform, they expect you, they're not going to give you three years to get comfortable. They want you to make a contribution right away. So talk about the learning curve and those transitions and what you remember about that.

Yeah, I think in those situations, and you're right, you're always kind of almost in a sense starting over. Like, maybe you have a fuller toolbox that you're bringing with you, but. But there's so much that you need to learn to understand. And I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make is wanting to, like, jump in too soon with, like, thoughts or opinions. I've always felt that when you're making that transition that, like, really being a sponge and listening for your first couple of weeks, months there, like, really understanding the differences. The nuances of a particular business are so important so that they can begin to influence how you're thinking about those challenges, because it could be the same thing that they want to accomplish. And. But based on the nuances of any given business or a different demographic or target market or whatever the case might be, or resource limitations, there's just going to be a different approach that you need to take. So I think, again, being like, humble and stepping into it and really being a great listener and in hearing from those that are the experts there and at that organization and with that business is one of the most important things that you can do.

And the thing is by taking your time, you know, focusing on the fundamentals, asking, you know, come armed with questions, don't come arm, you know, blowing off a bunch of, you know, we always loved. We have offices, training centers where we got hundreds of people coming in and out. You know, we're leading the nation. And then somebody bring a potential recruit in. And the guy would. You'd meet him afterwards and he would say, man, that was really impressive. I really liked the way you did, love the energy. But he said, you know, I've got a lot of experience in this area. Let me give you a few ideas about how you can make it better. Oh, you just look at the guys like, can, you know, how have you gotten this far in life and being that stupid? But they're out there. But as you get your. In the beginning, you want to get the fundamentals down. You need to know who, what, where, when, how. And you got to give yourself a chance to ask the questions or study or observe to where you can feel confident that you're building some skills for that particular situation and some instincts that are relevant or educated instincts for that situation before you just start firing your gun off in all directions. What kind of process would you go through when you move to a new company?

Yeah, so usually my first step is to begin meeting with as many stakeholders or different departments as possible. Again, really just asking questions, as you said, ask questions, don't come with all the answers. And getting a sense of what are their biggest hurdles, what are they looking for from the role or the function that I'm stepping in? What are they not getting? What do they want to see? What's been successful in the past? I think when you're able to get that immediate intel and also, by the way, make allies in the organization, I think that gives you the foundation that you need to really begin thinking through and diagnosing different opportunities and what, what solutions or what approaches could be. But without getting, you know, that kind of like a well rounded perspective again from multiple functions who touch a particular role or department or area within an organization. I don't think you're going to be able to make as big of an impact as fast as you want as you could if again, you took more of a, you know, kind of intake, type of position and approach to beginning in a new organization.

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, has 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 up. Now, when you moved, what would you say you learned from moving from one company to another? What was fresh and what was exciting for you when you did that? And then finally you said, I've had enough, I'm going to start my own.

Yeah, I mean, I think the fun thing about all the different organizations that I've been at is that they really do all have, you know, different cultures, different challenges, different opportunities even, you know, I spend a lot of time in CPG, probably the first, I guess, maybe 15 years of my career. And just because it's consumer packaged goods doesn't mean, you know, there's a single key to unlock every door. There's always something new and nuanced and for me, that was always very exciting. Even every brand has their own, you know, their own personality, the way that they approach things, the way that they speak to things. So I loved, especially in digital marketing, I got to span across so many different brands and be able to consult for them. So there's always something new and fresh and different and new product launches. I love the CPG world for that reason. So I think for me, like, that was a lot of fun and very interesting, and I was constantly learning new things because it was so different. But I think at the end of the day, I kind of had this goal probably maybe after I turned 30 or so, that I really wanted to begin working towards and learning as much as I could, as broadly as I could, to be able to go and do my own thing one day. So I was always trying to gobble up as much experience as possible. And I remember when I left one of my roles and I moved back to the Chicago area, I was really sad to leave because it was such a phenomenal organization, but I just felt like I had more learning and personal growth to do and I wasn't willing to kind of. I needed to kind of keep forcing myself into different things that I didn't understand. And that eventually kind of got me to here, where, again, I wanted to start my own thing, really be able to build something from the ground up and really be able to influence where that company went and the culture of the organization. Because I think people and culture and leadership are things I ran into in my career where I wasn't always happy or maybe felt like we shared the same values and I wanted something that I could really influence in that respect.

And would you say that as you were looking, you were looking for places, products, things that you could get excited about before you connected with it? Would. Would you say that's part of it?

Yeah, that's totally. You're. I mean, you're 100% right. Like, I really wanted, like, I could get behind and that was exciting and interesting to me personally, so that I could pour myself into it professionally.

That's something that is the takeaway for, you know, we gotta constantly self edit, self coach, self challenge ourselves, grade ourselves, and like, look at elements in your life and ask yourself, are you really excited about that now? There's some things you just gotta, you know, mundane things you just gotta do. But that's not even true either. Most. Most of those you can. If you focus on things you really enjoy doing and get really great at it, like a surgeon is in medicine, you can hire a lot of people to do those things, you know, step by step, you can move up and. And offload those things that bring you down that, you know, suck the life out of you. In the beginning, you got to do it, but do it with a Vengeance so that you can move up to the top, you know, move up to another level and get a staff around you to do some of those things for you. But the more you're spending time on things, people situations that, you know, you're excited about, you know, that's why I live in Palm beach and Aspen. You know, I go back and forth. You know, I'm fired up about it. It's like, I don't like to go to resorts. I'd like to live in a resort, you know.

Yeah.

And, you know, it's like, go to a resort and then I'm going to go back to a dungeon. You know, it's like, what? You know, I want to feel, you know, I want to be energized. You know, it took me, you know, 30 years or something to get to where I could do that. But, you know, eventually it happened and I was, you know, my original plan, Trisha, was to be able to set my business up to where I could run it from St. Moritz in Switzerland. And, you know, remote control, I had that. I worked on that for, like, 15 years. And then I found out what a nanny state Switzerland was. And, like, a bunch of school moms, you know, is there. We won't get into it. But I was like, you know what? I like my freedom. And so I got. I came to Aspen and I say, hey, Snowmass, it looks like the Swiss Alps. You know, asthma is just gorgeous. Go down to Palm beach, it's just, you know, a total the same thing, but just with the ocean and all, it's like, that's why I'm there. But you, you know, there's like, who are your friends? You know, your friends, your associates, the projects you're in. Find you're going to be your best if you're doing things that you're excited about. And so you can. That's all part of setting yourself up for success. And so when you get involved in something new, you're more likely to win the learning curve in terms of staying with it long enough to get great at it because you're excited about. You're doing something that you're fired up about. And so is. What would you add to that before we move on again, Tricia, what would you add to that?

Yeah, no, I love everything about that. I think the only add that I would have is just, I think really enjoying the people that you work with is so incredibly important because oftentimes we're spending more time with them than we are with our families or whatever the case might be. And I think being around good people that you really enjoy spending your day with, and who also can energize you when you are down or things are tough or something didn't go right, I think it's just so incredibly valuable to keeping you happy, focused, like, ready to, you know, somebody to pick you up when you need it. And I think surrounding yourself with individuals that do that for you is incredibly important and pertinent to your success.

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 whiteellawinning.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.