Part 3 - Don't Be A $20/Hour Entrepreneur

Welcome to this edition of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

You're talking back now in those three years you're talking to, you know, things always fall into a pattern. You know, if you're a refrigerator repairman, you go to the house, you know, pretty much it's going to be this, this or this I gotta fix. You know, air conditioning is going to be something to do with the thermostat, you know. You know, it's not. Everything doesn't have a thousand variables. And so as you go in and you're doing this, you know, one afternoon a month, half day a month, I'm sure with these entrepreneurs, things settled, you know, certain patterns emerged.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

And you could recognize them because you've been through them yourself. What? Think back. Can you think back to the kind of things you found yourself telling those entrepreneurs at those sessions?

Then yeah, yeah, I can actually boil it down to one factor that divided. The successes that went to a million and those that languished. So the companies that broke through and made it to a million dollars, they all had one thing in common and that was they all hired a really capable kind of number two, a right hand man. A person, right? A person they could hand everything off to. That wasn't what they were best at, right? So whether that was an administrative assistant or whether that was an operations manager, you know, making that decision, having the courage to say, you know what? I'm going to hire a full time person that can shoulder the load of a lot of other work I did. That was a tipping point for so many of the people I mentored in those companies.

You know, it's really interesting. I spent so much of, you know, my, basically the bulk of my business career, financial services, recruiting, training, opening financial services offices, much like real estate, you know, and brokerage like. And a lot of them, most of them are small and they start out, they were great in sales and they got a few people underneath them and then they open their own office. You know, the number one thing that kept the small ones small, they would not get a good admin.

A good assistant wouldn't get a good admin. It's so easy. And they would say, so obvious, it seems so obvious, right?

And they're stubborn about it, you know what I'm saying? And like they say, well, my wife can help out. I said, you don't want your wife.

Oh, yeah. This is my favorite. This is my favorite. This is my favorite. Oh, I don't want to manage anybody. And it's like, it's not about managing them. It's on making your life easier, you know? Right. But yeah, it's tough for people to make that shift psychologically.

Yeah. And so maybe people hearing this, that'll be enough to get them to budge off that spot if they're there. Because you're killing yourself. You know, you're much more powerful if you're linked arms with one other person. You know, the wind can blow you over. A blast of wind can blow you over if it comes from a blind side. But if you're linked arms with someone else, you don't blow over that quick.

And I'll give you another analogy to go with that. And it says, the biggest problem, the reason people don't make that higher is because everybody, every new entrepreneur, they underestimate the value of their time. Right. They just don't understand they spend too much time on $20 an hour tasks when they have the brains and the talents to be focusing on hundreds or thousands of dollar tasks. And they just need someone else to take this load off of them.

And in their garage, I promise you, most of them have a lawnmower. You know, you know what I'm saying? I never wanted a lawnmower. I never, I never, you know, people.

I love that. I love that analogy. That's perfect.

People used to say, you know, you ever work on your lawn? I said, well, I see my lawn, I walk by. I've been introduced once or twice, but we really don't have anything in common. I have other people who deal with the lawn. Right. Because you could spend your entire life on the stupid lawn, and you get competitive over the lawn. The neighbors got this. The neighbors got like, what are you thinking? You know, and so the simple thing of spending, you know, you're going to spend your time on $20 an hour, $5 an hour, $10 an hour jobs, or do you want to become a 500 or a $5,000 an hour person? You know, you've got, you're only going to have a few hours in the day to be productive, you know, in business, away from sleeping and eating and family and stuff like that. So, you know, we have so little time. We have so little really productive time to invest. People don't look at it as an investment. And, you know, so as you went, when did you along your way, when did you start getting the idea about the Value of your time.

Yeah, great question, great question. Well, one thing that made it a lot easier for me is that when I became a consultant, when I started training lawyers on how to use social media to bring in business, most of these lawyers, they were billing somewhere from five to 900 an hour early on. And by the time I left the legal profession, there was people billing over a thousand dollars an hour. And so my thinking was, if I can make it so that in one hour I can teach them what it would take them five hours to learn, then my hours worth just as much as theirs, at least. So all of my offerings to the lawyers, when I was a consultant to them, I tried to average out around $600 an hour for those services. And so when I started my software business, it was very easy to say, like, I know my hours worth 600 there. I built this software company so I could make my hour worth even more. And so the light bulb for me was just, you know, anytime I'm doing a task that somebody else can do for a hundred dollars or less, even a hundred dollars, like that's gonna be a good deal for me because it's gonna allow me to focus on, you know, a thousand dollar an hour tasks. That's helped me get the light bulb on that.

Well, you know, thinking about value of time and relates to scalability, you got accused of choosing too narrow a niche.

Yeah.

Early on. But you have cleverly now moved into a field where you can sell to anybody, any industry.

Yeah. And it's interesting, right? So I had a very tiny niche before, and now I have a different niche, which is I want to eat dinner with my family every single night. I don't want to get on a plane. And so my niche now is I work locally, I work. All my clients are within an hour drive. And most of them come here to this beautiful space I have with big whiteboards. They just come to me and then I finish my day, I'm nine minutes away from home, and I have dinner with my family every night. So your niche, I think going after niches is huge. And now I have the luxury to choose a very broad niche that allows me to stay home, you know?

Yeah. Is that the kind of situation that would lend itself to zoom type meetings? You know, because here's what the thing about the quarterly meetings and the things like that, what I found in, I wanted to tell you, we train people, open offices, and then they would open up the good ones. It is like McDonald's. You work at a McDonald's and you get a McDonald's, then if you're fortunate enough, you can open other McDonald's, use that as a training center rather than a sales center so much. But then people domino all over the country and so you have to wind up training your. You can't see everybody on Monday morning. When I was working up in Greensboro, North Carolina for two, I had a two hour radius. All my full timer, you know, everybody who ran an office would come in within a two hour. I found a full timer can drive in once a week, two hours. But beyond that was tough. But once they got like 300 miles away, 600 miles away, then you had to go back to these weekend rendezvous type meetings and then it's quarterly and you had to judge the results to see how quick, how often to do those types of meetings. Yeah, but you found that they, if you're going to continue to grow, that was a thing that worked. You know, people like that because, you know, they could grow too. And so do you see yourself evolving into something like that? Have you had a chance to where you can spit? Because I didn't want to travel either.

Yeah, I never wanted to be a.

Musician, but you gotta be on the road. My father was in the Air Force, he traveled all the time. You know, I didn't want that life.

Well, right. And once you've had an exit, you take some time to be really clear about what's the life you want to design.

Right.

And so right now I love in person interactions. So it energizes me having a whole leadership team here where we can get real and we can get raw and we can, you know, get through challenges and work together and grow as a team. But I have a handful of clients that are remote. Right. One that's all over the world. And so I have to start that call at 6am my time and we have our full day over Zoom. I'll be honest, it's not my favorite, but there is a scalable version. Right. So I'm starting a monthly coaching program where I can have multiple teams at once come and join me over Zoom, you know, because otherwise I'm limited to about 20 companies I can work with doing the full EOS because I'm, even though I make great money, I am trading my time for money. Right. And so the entrepreneur me can't stop thinking of scalable ways to like, how.

Can I help more people to point out, okay, you've got in you that same spirit that went to the EOS and saw that competition upon the board of the fastest growing, you still got that in you.

That's right. I don't know. I just can't lose. I don't know. I don't know what it is, you know.

Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing to think about is what you told me. I got more excited, more energized than I have been before in, you know, in a long time, you know? Yeah, there's things like that, the competition that energizes. It brings out the best in us. And good things happen when you put yourself in a situation to bring out the best where you are energized and you have that.

That's right.

Rocket fuel flowing through your veins, you know, like that.

Yeah. And I would say the other big thing for me that's been helpful. There has been throughout my career. I've always relied on great coaches, great executive coaches, great sales coaches, people to help me perform at my best. So that's a big recommendation I have for other entrepreneurs.

Now what were you referring to when you said, you know, I love the in person meeting, getting people in. We can really get in face to face and wrestle through these things. What kind of. Yeah, what do you do?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Great question. So I'm a big fan of Patrick Lencioni's book Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Okay.

You know, and in that book he talks about if we're going to have open and honest conversations, if we're going to hold each other accountable, we have to have a high degree of trust for one another. You know, and I'm not talking about trust falls. Right. And I'm not talking about like, you know, employee games. What I'm talking about is really knowing one another. And it's interesting. I meet a lot of companies where everyone's very friendly to each other. They don't really know each other, they don't know what's going on in each other's lives. They don't feel safe being vulnerable.

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Now talk a little bit more about why that's important. Why, you know, as related to feeling safe and.

Yeah, absolutely. So vulnerability, right? Obviously to our partner or the person we're married to. Right. I've been married to my wife for almost 18 years. We know each other so well that we can be completely open. We can be really vulnerable. Right. If we wake up depressed or if I'm thinking about my mother who passed away a few years ago, me and my wife, we can just be with each other in those deep feelings. And because we can be with each other, it means we also can call each other out if on each other's crap. Right. Like if we're not living up to our own standard or the ones we set together, we can call each other out because that vulnerability. But most teams, they have this. They have an illusion of vulnerability, right? But when it comes down to it, they're not willing to call each other out. They're not willing to say, you said you would do this and you didn't come through on it. What happened? Like, we expect better.

So you're saying you found that the lack of ability and lack of really knowing each other very well prevents people from feeling comfortable to call BS on each other when they need to call 100%.

100%. And the only way to get that level of comfort is to spend time together and to get to know each other. And it's interesting, I mean, as I built my software company, we did these full day quarterly meetings every quarter and every year we did a two day annual. And one component of those was for us to get to know each other. And I think people think about it.

What was the most effective thing you did to get them to know each other during those meetings?

Oh, okay, great question. This, I love this question because there's two really good exercises I love.

Okay.

The first one's a little easier. And it's called a timeline of your life. So you give everyone a big poster board, a bunch of markers, you give everyone 20 minutes to write. It's kind of like a graph of the ups and downs, highs and lows of their whole life from their childhood, you know, and it's all confidential, right. And so you give people a chance, you know, and as people are sharing their stories, you realize like, oh, you grew up in a broken family too, or you had severe illness that had you hospitalized. People make these connections like, oh, I thought I was the only one that's been through this stuff, but you've been through this too, so that's a great exercise, and that's a good one to start out with, you know? But once your team's ready to be more vulnerable, there's an exercise called the One Thing. I love this. The one Thing. Everyone goes around and they share one thing they love about everyone on the.

Team and one area that just like city slickers. The One Thing. No, no, no.

I know it's not like that. It sounds the same, but it's actually. What is the one thing that you see the person needs to improve on an area of improvement. Oh. So you give them a chance to call each other out. Wow. And, yeah, that's powerful.

I can see why you did that first.

And here's what's interesting. When I set it up for the team, everyone is biting their fingers and like, ah. Like, I don't want to know. I don't want to know.

Right.

And then people start sharing and people are dying to find out what people are seeing, you know? And it's so funny. I get this comment every time. Yeah. So I went home and I told my wife what everyone said about me, and she said, well, of course, like, isn't that obvious, Right? So, I mean, it's just great, right? Because it breaks this. Right. Because we try to be so civil with one another, it keeps us from being totally open and honest with each other. Right. It's like, that's the. In person, it's hard to get that same vulnerability over zoom.

Right.

That you can get in person.

Okay, can I ask you, if we just took 20 minutes and I gave you a board and a pen and say the highs and lows of your life up to this point, what would you say are the low? We talked about some of the highs. What are some of the lows?

Yeah.

Wow.

Great question. So that's a great vulnerability question, Larry, right there.

You know, I'm trying to get to know you, Adrian.

Yeah. Yeah. So I've had a successful life. My mother, who passed away about 15 years ago from breast cancer, she's about 59 years old. That was definitely a low point for me. But she always said that I was just the luckiest person she'd ever met. I've always felt lucky. I've always been very blessed in everything I do. But two years ago, my oldest son, I have three children, started high school, and he has some. He's on the spectrum, but very intelligent, bright kid. But entering a loud, noisy high school, suddenly this severe social anxiety manifested in him. And he ended up being hospitalized. And look. And then I just switched into entrepreneurship mode, right? Like, okay, we have a problem. Let's solve it. Found the best resources, found the best medication, found the best clinic, found the best psychiatrist, the best family therapist. The best. And you know what? Nothing I did helped.

Wow.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing worked. It just, like, things just kept getting worse and worse for my son, and it culminated in last summer. We sent him for the whole summer away to a summer program, you know, residential program in Hawaii. And it helped a little bit. He came back, and, you know, he was. Things went better for a few months, but honestly, it's the toughest challenge I've ever faced in my life, because it's my oldest son. I love him more than anything in the world. I just want to help him, but it's been very difficult to help him. You know, your firstborn. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what do your. Well, between me and you, I'll pray for it. Okay.

Well, thank you. Thank you, Larry.

When it gets to where we've reached the end of our rope, we don't know what to do. We can pray.

You know, I'm a man of faith as well, Larry. And I promise you, we. He gets a lot of prayers on our behalf and from our family, but he can take a few more, Larry. So his name's Taylor.

So.

Okay, anyone listening to the podcast, feel free to pray for my son, Taylor.

Okay, Taylor. And down the road, I'll want to get an update on it. And so you and I talk again. But what do people say to you about the number one thing they want from you? That they would like you to change, would you say?

Well, I can tell you what my operations manager said. She wanted me to be better at time management, which is absolutely true. Get right. But it didn't hurt my feelings because it's obvious. Right. What's so funny is people think that other people don't notice. They know everyone knows this stuff about themselves. They just don't know that everyone else is aware of it.

Right.

They think they're hiding it. Right. So, you know, and then the other thing is, like, I'm extremely disorganized, right. That's why, like, I found team members that compliment me, and that's allowed me to have a lot more success.

Yeah. Where did you learn the concept that, you know, it's a very powerful concept. It is good to kind of wrap this up around this idea of the concept that you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be good at Something or you're never going to amount to much of anything. But the deal is at you can free yourself up to kind of be a specialist if you have a staff around you that can make up the weaknesses. Where did you get the concept in your mind that I don't have to be all things to all people? I don't have to be great at everything. You know, I have weak areas. So what, I can hire people that are geniuses at that and, you know, together where I can build a team. You know, the whole idea of team and shoring up your weaknesses with people around you, where did that concept come into your consciousness?

Yeah, probably the first time that seed was planted in my mind was reading the E. Myth. Right. This whole idea. Great book.

Yeah.

You create the processes. You have people to run the processes. And so that had a big impact on me. But I just. I think also just the concept of. There's a great new book that came out from one of my mentors called buy back your time by Dan Martell.

Okay.

And in this book, it's called buy back your time. And the whole idea is, if you're going to buy back your time, you need to know what your time's really worth. And, you know, we kind of already talked about this, but if you really know what your time is worth, then you're going to be desperate to find. Surround yourself with the right team that can do the things you're not great at so you can get the full value from your time and what you're best at.

That's very powerful. And can't thank you enough for being on.

Oh, thank you, Larry. This was a delight.

This was a lot of fun. And that's why the most important thing that fame does for me is, you know, get the right guest because you wind up making me look great.

I hope this worked out for you.

All I have to do is throw a little question in your direction, and, you know, things can bump out. So you've been a big hit today, and thank you so much. I always like to give the. Our guests the last word. And so for people who have stayed with us to the, you know, kind of a reward for the people stayed with us the whole time. What would you. Anything in your mind that you'd like to pass on to them?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think the biggest thing. This concept of. You brought up a few things that I told you about moments in the last couple years where I've been very energized.

Yeah.

Right. And I think as an entrepreneur or Even if you're not an entrepreneur and you think you want to be an entrepreneur, if you have an idea that gives you that kind of energy, if it gives you more energy than anything else. Right. Then you got to follow that path. Listen to that. Listen to that energy. You get an excitement you get. Because I don't care what you do, if you're passionate about it, you're going to have a pretty fun life.

Absolutely. Thanks so much, Adrian. This has been a lot of fun, and I hope to get over to Salt Lake City during the winter anyway. Maybe we can go skiing. What's your favorite mountain out there?

Snowbird is my favorite. Yeah, Snowbird.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Well, let's look forward. I look forward to that happening. And congratulations on your new company and incredible success. Let's check back in down the road, see how things go. Thanks so much.

So much, Larry.

Bye. Thank you for listening to the final.

Part of this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind podcast.

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