Your Network Is Capped By the Size of Your Vision (How to Attract POWER PLAYERS + Bigger Opportun...
Lori Harder and Chris Harder discuss how ambitious thinking attracts powerful collaborators and capital. They share stories about high-level networking and a restaurant owner's growth, then cover fundraising strategy, avoiding commoditized ideas, and scaling with AI.
Chapters
This podcast is sponsored by the following sponsors. The RealReal buy and sell luxury clothing, bags and more on the real real get 25 off your first purchase when you go to therealreal.com forward/happy shopify, the E commerce platform I trust for glossy. Sign up for your $1 a month trial period at shopify.com forward/happy get more when you start your business with Northwest Registered Agent. Your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com earn Airbnb start making money by listing your home on Airbnb with the support of an experienced co host. Find a co host at airbnb.com forward/host get notion mail for free right now@notion.com earn and try the inbox that thinks like you. That's all lowercase letters. Notion.com forward/earn to get notion mail for free right now. We were scraping it together because we knew we needed to go be around people who had done it before and who talked about it like it was possible. Because everything in our current world, even our friends, were bringing us down. And that is the hardest spot to be because you have big dreams and the people around you are not fueling them. And in fact, they're pulling you down like an anchor. Foreign.
We're back.
Another episode of He Said, she Said.
All right, babe, kick us off with a glossy tip.
Oh, a glossy tip is that if you are already hydrating, if you're already drinking water, which I hope that you are, and if not, glossy is going to help you drink more water. But if you're already drinking water, glossy has such a compounding effect because of taking a probiotic every single day, because of taking hyaluronic acid every day, because of getting that vitamin C and zinc in your body and making magnesium every single day. Every single day. It's just like working out. You're gonna start to see and feel things in 30 to 60 days. So if you're gonna be drinking water anyway, why not kick your old hydration packet out of bed that probably costs the same for just really expensive sugar and salt and use glossy. Use something that you're still getting all of your electrolytes, but you're also getting all of the other stuff.
I look at it as the same parallel we always talk about in business. It's never the great big home run that makes your business, you know, a massive success overnight. It's always the small compounding, repetitive moves over and over and over again in your business that makes you wake up one day and say, holy shit, look how far I've come. The same thing with, like trading out glove or, you know, the salt and sugar packets that other people are drinking right now. You wake up one day say, holy shit, my hair and nails.
It is currently Memorial Day weekend right now. And we're recording this. And I am drinking my Glo C.
Because I crushed mine after my stairs.
Because I feel like you're just, you're, you're off your normal food and, you know, if you have a couple cocktails, it is life changing.
Speaking of the little moves that make a big result in business, we're going to talk about big results in business. We're going to talk about it from the frame of mind of, like, when you set little goals, you're going to get a little bit of help from smaller thinking individuals and that's going to manifest smaller outcomes. When you set big, audacious goals that other people can't fathom or may not make sense to them, then those few people that think the same way, that has also had big success, they're going to recognize a peer when they hear you talk about your big goals and they're going to go to bat for you. That means bigger introductions, that means bigger breakthroughs, that means bigger investments. It means bigger everything because they're like, oh, I see you. I recognize. I was there once. And so the big hitters come to help you when you dream big. If you don't dream big and dream out loud, guess what? The big hitters, they're not interested in coming to help.
Okay, so we started this conversation. We were just at brunch. We were with my friend Lindsay Zastrow, who has powerhouse women. If you guys have ever been, it's awesome. And it was you, me and her. And we were sitting there talking about how just how sometimes we ratchet back the size of our dreams at different points in our life.
Because people tell you to, because people.
Tell you to, or because reality, like, maybe you had a tough run at something. Maybe you are like just at a little bit of a down spot in your life where you had something go wrong. Or maybe you haven't been hanging out with really high level people who are playing a really big game as much as maybe you used to, or maybe you're not listening to that podcast that gets you totally, you know, hyped up. You just start to notice that you are playing a little bit smaller. And so what we kind of did at brunch was take inventory. And we had this conversation. I just kind of Took inventory of where I've set my goals recently. And it's not that I'd set my goals lower. I just noticed a couple things and I'll share a story. I am going into a fundraise for Glocee again because I'm at a place where now we just need the fuel for the rocket ship. Like, we know we've got something. Fuel, yes, we know we've got something amazing. We know it's a great product market fit. We know our numbers are incredible. Like, we know that we have room to even make our margins, margins even better. And now we're like, okay, now we need the money to do all of this marketing that we want to go and do, you know, make a massive impact. And so what's happening is, you guys, when you go to fundraise, you obviously have to build out another deck for where you're at and financials and financials and all of the things. And so as we're building it out, I'm noticing that obviously you need to do fairly realistic numbers for a company. You have to show a five year projection of realistic numbers. And over the next couple years, my projections are so realistic for us. And I was like, I just kind of noticed that I started ratcheting down my vision for, for what I wanted the next couple years. Or I started to think, well, if these are realistic and this is what I have to put in the deck, maybe I need to aim for this. And then I was like, wait a minute. If I set this goal for myself, we, you know that if you set a certain goal, you most likely you're gonna not quite hit it or you might fall below it. It's kind of the idea of shoot for the stars. At least you'll land on the moon. And so that's what's always worked for me, is always having this big, audacious, unrealistic goal that makes me set up a plan to meet that big, audacious, unrealistic goal. So while I'm front facing going to keep these realistic numbers, I'm going to still in my head and internally have numbers that are much higher. So that we say, what would we have to do to hit these? Instead of looking at those more realistic numbers going, what would we have to do to hit those?
Well, it's like, okay, so what you're referring to is you have a clear path to 700% growth because a really cool, let's just say opportunity in front.
Of you, which is insane.
You can't put in a typical investment Deck like, oh, this next year we've 7% growth. You have to look at industry averages. Like, oh, industry average is this. So here's my little step here. And then next year, here's my little step here. And it works against you because you're stuck in this world of being realistic, quote unquote. But you're like, no one, I don't want to be realistic. I want to shoot for the moon, land on stars. Number two, I've got a couple of really cool opportunities that don't live in the land of realistic. They live in the land of if we can pack this baby full of fuel, oh my God, we're going to the moon. Right? And so it's a really tough balancing act because your environment is causing you to think smaller. Because your environment is made up of people that says, well, I'm not going to look at those financials if they seem pie in the sky. So what else is this a metaphor for? For the everybody listening. If your neighborhood thinks smaller, then you're going to say, oh, what am I doing with this great big, you know, 100 million dollar dream? I got to think more. Like these individuals are telling me are real. If your church thinks smaller, if your family thinks smaller, if your coach that you work with think smaller. Let me interject here. So I've had two clients in the last week where I have interjected saying, hey, I gotta be real. Why are you building this small thing right here when look at how we could leverage this, this and build this great big thing for just a little bit more effort. In other words, you can give a hundred percent effort to get this little goal and congrats, it's nice. Or we can give an extra 20% effort but get a 500% return by doing this, this and this one specific thing. This guy bought 3D printers and he's like, oh my God, look, I got this contract. Oh my God, look, I got this contract. And his mindset was like, how do I max out these couple of more entry level 3 day 3D printers. And I'm like, okay, if you realize you're good at getting these, why are you the one staying up 14 hours working on these 3D printers? Let's go get a couple of individuals that can help relieve you of that and let's go get the big 3D printers. Because clearly you've tapped into a vein of flowing business here. And yeah, it was scary for somebody to think like that, like, oh my God, I'm going to go risk how much money? And I'M also going to go get a couple employees. But this is a path to printing money in his sleep. Literally. And I mean literally printing money in his sleep. He's tapped into a vein of really awesome opportunity, and it just took some expanding to say, wait, are you going to keep inching your way there, or should we inject the steroids over here and let's go win Mr. Olympia in the world of, you know, 3D printers and all these opportunities that you have. And so that was one example. Another one was, you know, these clients wanted to do a fitness app. And I'm like, guys, I gotta interject here. How's your fitness app gonna be any different than any other fitness app? Let's be honest. Fitness apps are. They're done a dime a dozen, and they're a race to the bottom. In other words, the only thing that sets apart a fitness app. Now, you may think you've got the better workouts, you may think you have the better ideas, you may think you have the little better flow, but the truth is, they're all damn near the same at this point. So it's become a commodity. When something becomes commoditized, it becomes a race to the bottom. In other words, your only way to set yourself apart and compete is to price lower than the next guy. And then someone else says, well, I got price lower than you. And then someone else says, well, I got a price lower than them. And it becomes a race to the bottom. And so I said, forget this old traditional version of a fitness app. What if we went in, leaned into AI, and we built this trainer where you get to choose its personality and it gets to know you and it reaches out to you each day. Like, hey, I noticed we haven't worked out. What kind of workout do you want today? Oh, we did a lower body yesterday. I'm feeling upper body. How long do you have? 20 minutes. Great. Let's do these moves. Because that's what AI does. And having the courage to spend the time and the money and take the risk to lean into something new instead of just traditionally, in this case, filming workouts with humans, which everybody else in the world is doing right now, I'm telling you, you have to surround yourself with massive idea manufacturers. What do I mean by that? People, groups, coaches, it doesn't matter. People that are going to shake you by the shoulders say, hey, listen, I love you. That idea is cute, and it's okay if you want to go that direction, but what if we went over here in the big, audacious arena and what if we performed with the best of the best? How could you change your family tree forever?
It was so cool. And we were sitting at that brunch and we all of a sudden this other group of people came in and sat down and it was the owner of the restaurant that we were in. And it's a really, really well known restaurant in Newport area. And he owns like seven other of like the top restaurants in the Newport area. And I feel like it was just such a godwink for so many reasons because he went around and number one, I watched him like go say hello to all of his servers and bussers and high fives and hugs and you guys, this human was like obviously so well loved and he had this great group of friends with them and they were just having the best old time and we were sitting directly next to them and it was such a moment of, you know what? I want that. And I guarantee that he did not surround himself with small thinking people. And I will tell you, the people sitting at the table with him were clearly not small thinkers either. And it was just this moment of, wow, how many times do we downplay our goals? How many times did he have to reset his goals to be like, you know what? I'm going to have the top restaurants in all of this. One of the most popular areas in the US that hosts I don't even know how many billionaires here, but like, who did he have to hang around in order to do that? And it was such a reflection of, I want to follow in those footsteps. What does that look like?
And look what it did to us. We left there, we got in the car, we're like, that's what I want. Okay, I want a restaurant and I want to be in the restaurant business. So I just want to be a major investor in the best restaurants in town and be able to be able to walk in and shake everyone's hand and bring our friends. Like, hey, post up here. I'm going behind the bar, I'm making these drinks, I'm doing all this stuff. I'm like, that is so much fun. I want that. I want to be able to write that check, to own half of that great restaurant, to own to be a part of that restaurant group in a very influential way. So what happens? It elevates your expectation. We were on a high. We went from, you know, kind of business planning and dreaming and doing that kind of thing. And then they sit down next to us, then we leave, like, okay, next level. I want to be able to do everything we talked about and write checks for the best restaurants in town. Meaning walk in like you own the place. Literally. And so it elevates you. You've got to, I implore you. I know you've heard us say this before. I've got nothing to sell you by saying this, but I'm begging you, go find a bigger thinking group of people, form it yourself, buy your way in. Move the damn place where you live if you have to. I wish, and I'm not going to make this podcast about this, but if you understood what's coming in the future, the separation of the haves and have nots because of how fast technology is happening right before our very eyes, you're going to have to go plunge yourself into the biggest thinkers out there and be a part of that group. Otherwise, even medium thinkers are about to go down with the ship. And I hate to deliver that kind of message. And I don't mean to be ominous, but I also don't want to mislead you.
I'm so excited to share this. You guys know I never shy away from big scary leaps. Those super messy what the heck am I doing moments. And this is Small Business just kicked off a new season and it's all all about risk. You know I'm obsessed with this topic because that's what it takes. The host, Andrea Marquez, takes us behind the scenes with fearless founders who turn their maybe later ideas into heck yes, let's go adventures. These episodes have it all. They have raw stories of grit, honest advice, and so much inspiration. I got full body goosebumps listening. I was nodding along thinking this is exactly the kind of fuel we all need when chasing our big dreams. So if you need that extra push to go after your own hell yes vision, you have to check this out. Go follow this is Small business on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. I can't wait for you to hear it. Okay, if you're like me and your inbox is stressing you out and you need to spend less time there and more time in your business actually moving the needle, bringing money in, I'm about to change your life. Notion Mail is the inbox that thinks like you, automated, personalized and flexible to finally work the way you work with AI that learns what matters to you. It can organize your inbox, label messages, draft replies, and even schedule meetings. No manual sorting required, you guys. It has AI organized inbox. You can tell notion AI what's important to you and it's going to automatically label them and sort them so that they arrive in the way that you want. Custom views for focus. Split your inbox into custom views like topics, urgencies, senders, or what you want to do to stay distraction free from those emails that you don't want to give your attention to. You can fly through emails with something called Snippets. It's a one click email template where you can do different intros, you can do follow ups. This is perfect for my podcast, you guys, because I get over 30 inquiries in my inbox a day, so I can automate all of that. It can even include attachments and scheduling links. You can write beautiful emails faster. Get notion mail for free right now at notion.com forward/earn and try the inbox that thinks like you. That's all lowercase letters, notion.com forward/earn to get Notion mail for free right now. When you use our link, use a supporting our show, you guys. Notion.com forward/earn. Yeah, and you guys, it's not that we. You might look at us and be like, whoa, you know, we're so far from where you are. We remember needing to take this big leap. Like it was yesterday when we were sitting in Wisconsin. Whether it was Green Bay, Wisconsin, or whether it was when we lived in Waukesha, Wisconsin, or whether it was when we lived in Minneapolis, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I didn't know there was a Minneapolis. We've got to.
It's all the same. But we had so many moments where we knew that the people that we needed to be around weren't necessarily near us demographically. And we would have to go and travel and be in those rooms. We'd have to go plug in. And we didn't necessarily have the cash to do it either, you guys. Like, we were scraping it together because we knew we needed to go be around people who had done it before and who talked about it like it was possible. Because everything in our current world, even our friends, were bringing us down. And that is the hardest spot to be because you have big dreams and the people around you are not fueling them and in fact they're pulling you down like an anchor.
So we're doing something kind of fun. And I literally just love this when you said that, I was reminded that we have a few spots left for that weekend mastermind that we're doing at our house here. Yes, this would be one great way to come and be surrounded by like ocean views and, you know, incredible thinkers and like, oh my God, what is possible? And we had launched this to when we did the Mentor collective Mastermind. We said, hey, we got just a few spots to come spend the weekend with us and Mastermind for two days and think bigger and get to know other people. And we're gonna give everybody a shared spot on a podcast episode with both Lori and I. Drop it on both platforms because we're trying to like elevate people. And they grabbed the first batch of spots and we're like, oh, this is kind of freaking cool. We could fit a few more people around the table here, literally the table that we're at right now. And so we're going to open up a few more spots to come to our home and Mastermind for two days. It's going to be remarkable. You're going to get a chance to be on our podcast. We're going to ask you about you and your business. It's going to be a lot of exposure. We're going to expand your thinking. I've got so many cool tricks up my sleeve, I can't wait. But there's only a couple of spots because we're just adding a couple seats at the table, so to speak. If you want to come go to Chrisharder Me weekend again, that is Chrisharder Me weekend. Grab one of those last spots or DM us and ask about it. But you gotta hurry because we're doing at the end of June.
You guys, we're so grateful for you. We can't wait to hopefully see you in person at that event. That would be such a blast. I'm actually looking out the window at the ocean right now, which is sparkling and there was a, an airplane that goes by and a ton of parasailers. It's literally life changing here. So we would love to have you. And until next time, we will see you next week.
Thanks for listening. Hey everybody, one more thing before you go anywhere. We are coming up on our 15 year anniversary next month of eating Isagenix every single day. Because it's healthy, it's fast, it's easy, and the one thing just like you that we have very little of is time.
I have been like, he said 15 years of drinking these shakes and it has bought back so much of my time. I honestly do not know what I would be eating throughout the day. I'd probably be grabbing crap and a ton of carbs. But you guys know that I have a health and fitness background. I was a cover model for years and I did a ton of layouts. So I was always needing to feel ready for photoshoots. And it was one of the only things the only shakes that made me feel super satiated while I feel like gave me this incredible muscle. Of course I lifted weights. But I'm telling you, I feel like it's the secret weapon when you are really consistent with a really good protein. I know protein is all the rage right now, and there's a reason. It's because I have always had a really high protein diet, and I get at least 40 grams of protein from these shakes every day.
Baby, you look like you could step on stage and compete right now. Just like when you were getting all the covers.
Oh, my God. Say it again.
Listen, if you guys want to eat the same stuff that we're eating, especially if you're busy on the go, go to lori harder.isagenix.com Again, that is lori harder.isagenix.com it will change your life because it's so healthy and so convenient.
I mean, 15 years of every day you can look at our orders. Truly, it's. It's insane. So if you want to know more about our hacks, we're obviously trying to share more of everything that we're doing right now, so I hope you guys go and ch it.
