Mentoring Your Employees

Foreign.

S. It's Louis Massaro and welcome to another episode of the Moving Mastery Podcast.

Hey, my friend. It's Luis Massaro and welcome to the Moving Mastery Podcast. The purpose of this podcast is to help you take your moving company to the next level to be able to profit in your business and thrive in your life. This podcast is specifically for anyone that owns a moving company or someone that works at a moving company that wants to help provide value to the business and help get them to that next level. You will get practical takeaways from each and every single episode. And today is a special episode. I have Chris with us, my right hand man, Chris, who some of you who have been to my live events and seminars. You know, he's the one running around like a madman over there. What's up, Chris?

Hey, what's happening?

So the reason I brought Chris on today is because I've been getting a question quite a bit lately about building teams and is it better to hire somebody from the outside with experience, with moving industry experience or skill specific experience, like a sales manager or whatever it might be, or.

Bring somebody up from the ranks in the company. And my belief is if you are constantly relying on finding that perfect person with the perfect skill set to run a department or to fulfill a position, you're always gonna be scrambling looking for that person because you don't want people to run your business. You want the processes to run your business and then you want to get the right people to run those processes. And if you continue to feel like you've got to hire people that, you know, have these high qualifications, high salaries, you know, huge track record of success and that's what you feel you need, you're going to have a very, very hard time building your business, only doing that. And my belief is if you could find and identify people that are hungry, that have talent, that share the same values as you and are willing to receive your mentorship and your coaching and let you help bring them up not only in the business but help guide them in life towards success, that you're gonna have the most loyal employees that you could possibly find and somebody that will stick with you and really help build your business. And so I wanted to bring Kris on today because, you know, this isn't the first time that I've done this. I mean, I've, you know, had my. When I first started my move in company, six months after I started, you know, I recruited my best friend to come work for me and, you know, he had a football scholarship. It was summertime I'm like, look, come out here. You're not going to the NFL anyways. Like, you know, come. Come work with me in the moving company. It'll be fun. He came out for the summer, he ended up staying with me. And you know, at that time we were two 19, 20 year old kids. And, you know, I kind of took him under my wing and showed him the way. He was with me for six years and then, you know, went on to open up his own chain of moving companies and is ultra successful right now. And I just, you know, have done that several times where, you know, not even years later, I opened my call center and, you know, my director of call center operations who, you know, rose to a position where he was making a quarter million dollars a year, started off as a salesperson with me. Right. And you know, I tried before that to hire, you know, somebody that was a call center sales manager, so to speak, and let them come in and create the processes for me.

Yeah.

And you know, that was a mistake. Right. I just, I always feel like if you're going to bring a manager in or somebody to run a department, you've got to have the processes set up first and then bring them in to run those processes. So after I went through this whole thing of trying to find a, you know, call center expert to run the business, I realized, you know what, let me cultivate from within, let me create my own processes. And that's what I did. I had a sales rep that was just great on the phone, turned him into a sales manager. At the time we probably had, I don't know, 10 or 15 people on the phones. And he continued to rise up with me and the company to the point where we had 60, 70 people on the phones. He was overseeing four other sales managers and like I said, making a quarter million dollars a year and went on to, you know, have a really, really successful business of his own later on. And I could tell you there's nothing like bringing somebody in. And, you know, I think the relationship that we've established over the last three years, I don't know, I mean, I feel like it's been a great working relationship, a great friendship, a great, you know, mentorship, and, you know, I figured it'd be perfect to bring you on because, you know, what your skill set was versus what you're doing now, you are not qualified for the position.

Oh, yeah, no doubt. Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm worlds away from where I was before and, you know, just to be able to get this kind of Mentorship and this kind of experience in the business world, that's not something that I was doing before. You know, I came from the background of the arts and I was a professional musician for many, many years. And being able to make the transition from being an artist, a starving artist, really, to, you know, I always wanted to learn business. I just didn't know how I was going to do that. Yeah. And to be able to come into a situation like, I mean, how fortunate am I to. To be able to cross path with you? You've already got the business mindset in place. You've already got all the history behind you. You've got the experience, you've got the, the lineage of. Of mentor of people you've mentored. It's all proven like I stepped into the most fortunate position I could have ever, you know, imagine. So I really am happy about this. I feel like I've really expanded my personal life, my professional life. I've just grown so much in the last two and a half years. And it's something that I realize now is making me a whole person.

We were talking about this earlier today. I have been on one side of the pendulum for so long.

Since meeting Lewis and coming into this business, the pendulum swinging the other way. And now I'm getting a whole nother perspective. It's like visiting a whole nother land. Yeah, it's a whole nother place. So I'm forever grateful. Forever grateful.

So when you came in, I was in. We were in that first office over there. It was just me. I was, you know, starting moving Mastery from. From scratch because, you know, essentially that's how I started the moving company. I wanted to start and learn everything on my own with the, with this business as well. Right. And you came in and I had some lights and some can, a camera up. I was getting ready to do something. But you were working for the blinds company and I needed new blinds in that office. And you came in and you started commenting on the lights and commenting on the, on the cameras, like you knew exactly what this stuff was. And it was like, hey, well, you know, I need somebody to film. I do these live trainings every month, you know, where I teach live, and I need somebody to film these. Would you want to do that? And that's kind of. That's essentially how we started. And we did that for a few months and then I brought you on full time. And, you know, essentially what happened was, you know, we were developing the processes for moving Mastery as a new business. Right. And you know, those of you that have been to my seminars or, you know, are in the programs. I mean, you know that there's a. There's a business behind this. Right. It's not just the podcast. There's, you know, you know, the podcast is here. But the main mission is to work with people directly to help them, you know, improve their lives, improve their business, make more money, live a better quality of life, profit and thrive. And all those processes needed to be established. So, like, one of the first things I had Chris start doing was formatting all of the processes. Right. I would shoot a video on. On online. Like, showing you how to do something.

Yep.

I would send you the video and say, okay, you're gonna start doing this, but before you start, take that video and make a PDF manual of this process. Because as we scale this, we need to make sure that when we hire somebody, they know exactly how to do that. Right. And so, you know, I teach this all the time that you don't want people to run your business. You want systems to run your business. And here's. You know, you came in and listen. I could tell you we're hungry. I. I could tell you were ready to listen and apply what you had going on. And I could tell that we shared the same values.

That's true.

You know, that that was big. And so instead of me looking for somebody that had been in this space before, I said, you know what? Let's. I think Chris would be a really good fit. And, you know, you started by doing that. And what happened was I just started taking everything that I had on my plate and put it on your plate. Right.

Delegating.

And then later on, you know, we started taking everything that was on your plate and put it on somebody else's plate. And as we build the team, that's kind of the process. Right. And for a lot of moving companies, and me included, when I started, I wore all the hats. I did everything there was to do. And when you bring on that first person, you've got to be able to just delegate. They might not have a specific position, they might not have a title or whatever the case may be. They just need to be someone who's willing to do whatever you ask them to do and take it and run with it, and. And that was you. Yeah, right.

Yeah. And, you know, at first, it was a. It was foreign. It was. It was new to me, just the idea of having processes. I'd always been a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy and just learn as you go kind of Person and to sit down and have the discipline to really work out. Okay, how exactly do we do this task? How do we accomplish this every day? What are the steps involved? How can I make this as simple and easy to understand as possible so that when it's time for me to delegate this to somebody else, they'll be able to have a simple, easy plan to follow?

Whatever. You didn't, you didn't, you didn't adopt that right away.

I did not.

Like, at first, you're like, you know, because you're a smart guy. So it's, you know, you, you relied on your, your smarts and figured, hey, I don't need a step by step instruction manual at first. Right. I had to, I had to guide you back. I had to explain to you the importance of it. I had to explain, listen, I know you get it, but this is very technical stuff and there cannot be a step that's missed.

Right?

Right. So we created checklists, and every time something, you know, I mean, at first you were posting stuff to the blog, you were posting videos online, you know, helping with a lot of that. And it was, it had to be done a specific way. And at first you didn't understand that. Right. You're like, why is, why was he so rigid? Yeah, well, if I'm not so rigid, yeah, me and you could sit here and do it and you could figure out your best way, but you'll never be able to scale the business that way. Right. As we started to hire a team, if you tried to explain to them how to do it and, you know, they didn't have a specific set process to follow.

Yeah.

They would have done it their own way and their own variation. It would have been like the telephone game. By the time we passed it on three times, it would have been totally different than the way that I had originally set it up. Right. So, you know, those of you listening, you know, it's like you might have someone who, you know, I hear it all the time. Somebody will be like, yeah, but he doesn't really, you know, listen. And, you know, it's hard to get them to do what I want them to do. And the reality is you've got to sell them on why it's so important. Right.

I mean, do a great job at that, by the way.

Yeah. You know, for real. Right. I mean, I don't want you doing something out of, out of feeling of obligation. I want you to see the value and why you're doing what you're doing. Right, Right.

And I think a Lot of it too is, is understanding the bigger picture. It's not just about, you know, understanding why we're doing this. It's understanding that this is laying a foundation that's, that the whole company is going to be using. It's not just me coming in as the first employee. It's everybody in every position is going to have this foundation of all the processes of how they do things exactly, step by step that will allow the company to have a solid foundation to be built from, you know, and I.

Think that's, that's really important for everybody because, you know, everybody's concerned about like, who do I hire as my first person? Do I need this, do I need that? I mean, you've done everything, right? You've done everything, and there's nothing that you're, you're not willing to do. And now, you know, for the past year, you were an accountability coach for one of our high level masterminds. And it was on the phone with three different groups every week. You know, we set out certain objectives that they were hitting every quarter and I broke them down in the milestones and action steps. And every week you were on the phone holding them accountable. And that's only because you took the stuff that, you know, you're like, this is kind of bullshit, like, why am I sitting here making PDFs of stuff that I know how to do this and all this tedious, you know, foundation laying. Right, but it doesn't. Until you understood that it was part of the foundation, it just seemed like you were doing busy work. Yeah, right.

Yeah.

And so, you know, as someone listening that is, you know, building their moving business, to know that you really want someone who's just down for the cause. Right, Right. And you know what our mission is? Our mission is to help as many people as possible profit in their business and thrive in their life. Because you can't have one in the one or the other. Right. You've got to have both. And especially as owning a business, if you don't profit and make money, you're gonna have a really hard time maintaining your level of happiness, joy, fulfillment, and being able to thrive in your life. And it's gonna be hard to thrive in your life without the money as well. So, you know, we work with moving company owners specifically to help get them out of that pickle. Because I know that it was a stressful time for me. I know it wasn't.

Easy, right, to be able to. It wasn't, it wasn't that it was hard. It's just that it, you know, took a lot of work to build the business. And at first, in those first years, it was very stressful. So to be able to bring somebody in and have them just be all in with what you're about is huge.

That, that goes along, along a lot further than having somebody who's got a bunch of experience sometimes, because if they've been in the, in the business for a long time and they have set ways that they've been doing things for years and years and they come in and you have a different way of doing it, there can be some, some issues there, there could be some conflict there, there can be some, some rubs, you know, and, and having somebody who's just open and, and willing to learn and willing to dive in is, is probably going to be easier than retraining an old dog.

You know, what are some of the things that you feel, you know, how have you grown in this time and what are some of the things that you've been able to like, build upon in your life other than, you know, moving from a position of, you know, doing the bare basics to now, you know, running a department? Really?

Yeah.

What, what talk about that.

You know, first and foremost, I've learned a ton about the moving industry, obviously, which has really enlightened me as to the reality of what everybody out there is going through, you know, on a day to day basis. And it just gave me such a great deal of respect for the industry and for, for people who have, you know, the initiative to just go and get some trucks and start moving people and start a business. That to me is, is just incredible. So just that alone has really helped me understand, you know, what it takes to be a business owner. And so.

For me, I was never a business person. I was, like I said, always an artist. And so to, to. The biggest thing that's impacted me is bringing the organization into my life. The ability to kind of get things in order, have a, have a routine. I think a routine is really important. Having.

You know, a specific way you do things, striving to do things better all the time instead of just doing them the same old way you've always done them because that's the habit that you had. You know, slop, slop.

You got to get rid of the slop.

Got rid of this, get rid of this slop.

You know, we had that conversation not too long ago and we were talking about a client that we were trying to help overcome something that Chris was working with on a weekly basis. And you know, the conversation came around to slop. And it's like you've got to get rid, you know, just sloppiness. Right. There's this in all areas of your life. You've got to just look at, you know, where am I being sloppy?

Yeah.

Right. Because how you do anything is how you do everything.

Right?

So, you know, if you're on point in one area of your life, you're probably going to be on point in another area of your life. Right. And if you're sloppy in one area, it's trickling in to a different area. You know what I mean? If you're going hard at work, but you're neglecting your health, or you're neglecting relationships, or you're just, you know, neglecting the organization of. Of just your desk. Yeah, right. All that's going to creep in and start deteriorating your efforts.

Yeah.

And I've seen that a lot with you. I've seen you really step up and start to embrace this concept of.

You know, just creating that. That organization and that structure.

Yeah. That's been one of the biggest lessons I've learned from you. And for those of you listening out there, Louis really is this way. This is how he lives his life. It's not just what you see on YouTube or at a seminar. This is him. This is how he conducts himself. He's very organized, he's very disciplined. He has everything in order and he does everything with excellence. And that's been an amazing lesson for me and an amazing opportunity to just work closely and watch somebody who has that ability and be able to emulate it and strive to get it myself in my life.

And I've challenged you to let go of the excuses of why, you know, you've got certain areas of slop. Right. That were going on before and, you know, push you to see that. You know what it's not. You know, a lot of people look at somebody that's. That's committed, organized discipline and say, like, that's so rigid. You know what I mean? Like, that's rigid. I want to be a little more free flowing. But the reality is that the keys to freedom are first, number one, commitment. Right, Right. You've got to decide what you want and be committed to it. Then you've got to get organized. You've got to figure out how to organize yourself so that you can execute. And then you just have to be disciplined to do what you committed to do.

Yeah.

And that's it. And once you start to just embrace that and live that every day. Right. It's like, you know, growing your business and scaling your business just becomes a lot easier. And, you know, it's like for you, I think, what we're working on, you know, and by the way, always anybody that you're going to mentor in your business, anybody that you're going to take under your wing, do it not only in the business aspect. Don't just show them how to book moves. Don't just show them how to handle, you know, operations. Take interest in their life and help them in all areas. Right. You know, lift them up. Right. Bring them to another level. And by doing that, you know, number one, it's. It's super fulfilling. Right. I mean, it would be. It would be a shame for me to spend the time with you two and a half years where like, you were in this music musician world this whole time, and now you're in business, you're done with music, you're making a transition. You know, it's like if I didn't do my part to help with that transition, it's like, shame on me. Yeah, right?

Yeah. And.

And same thing for you. It's like if you didn't do your part to absorb and embrace and apply all of it, shame on you.

Yeah, it was definitely a big transition and being able to just come from a place where I was really my own boss and nobody told me what to do. I played music. I played in Las Vegas for many, many years. I was able to just go with the flow all the time and to come into a situation where I was committed. You know, I met Lewis and I said, okay, here's somebody I can learn from. Here's somebody that I can, you know, really be, become a student of. And what I wanted to do was, okay, I have commitment. I'm committed to learning about the moving industry. I'm committed to learning about business. I'm committed to becoming this person. Where I was lacking was the organization. The organization. And I'm still. Still struggle with that. But it's, it's. It's getting better all the time. The organization, I think, is key because that's where instead of just kind of being impulsive and reactive and going through your day putting out fires or whatever, you go through your day with intention. And the reason you have intention is because your day is planned out, your day is organized, you know exactly what you're going to be doing, and you just stick to the schedule, and that's where that discipline comes in.

Yeah, I think it's important to be able to communicate as well. You know, I mean, I think multiple times I've. I've, you know, said, like, chris, like, how, you know, how much do you really want me to, you know, step in and mentor you and push you?

Yeah.

Right. Because, you know, like, today you could be. I could say, you know, what, you're doing a good job, what you're doing. I'm happy with what I'm paying you, and we could just leave it at that. Right. Or I could keep, you know, pushing you. And when I say pushing, it's not, you know, I'm not, like, cracking a whip or anything, but, you know, challenging you. Right. Pushing you, you know, pointing out when you're making excuses and being very candid with you and not, you know, sugarcoating anything. Right. Like, calling you out when it's time to call you out and letting you know if you're slipping and letting you know if there's some slop in a certain area. And I think that's really important, to be able to have that and to be able to have somebody that understands that that's what you're doing, that doesn't take offense to it. I mean, hopefully, I. You know, nothing I ever say it comes off disrespectful, and you understand the intent of it. But, you know, I'm sure there's times where I walk out, you know, screw that guy.

It's not easy sometimes, but it's. It's because of, you know, I'm open. I know that. So. And I'm. I'm. I'm somebody who's ready to learn, and I think that's a lot of it, because Louis is intense sometimes, no doubt about it, But I know he does it. He comes from a good place with it, and it's about him being able to see potential in me, and I understand that. So. Because I know that Louis sees potential in me and wants me to be a better person and a better employee and a better mentor and a better coach for our clients and stuff. I welcome it, you know, but, of course, it's not easy all the time. You know, there's times where I, you know, your ego gets in the way, and you feel like, why do I have to do this? And, you know, who does he think he is? But at the end of the day, when I go home and I have a quiet moment to myself, I realize, oh, he's making me better. He's making me a better person. He's challenging me. He's pushing me, and I welcome it.

Yeah. You know, and I think it's important to be able to, you know, get permission to do that. Like, for me, I need to be able to get permission. Like, listen, where do you really want to go?

Yeah, right.

I mean, we've had. I wouldn't say a lot, but I'd say once a year, we've probably had the talk of, like, you know, what do you really want? Yeah, like, really, where do you want to go?

Right, right.

You know, and, you know, there's times where you're doing things in the business where I know you felt maybe stagnant. You're like, hey, this is great. We're doing this. But it's like, because there's so much process, it's just, like, repetitive stuff. It can be, you know, and. And you want to. You want to go further, and we have that conversation. Okay, well, here's what it's going to take, right? Here's what you got to do. Here's the skills you got to be able to develop. Here's the team that you've got to be able to manage, and here's how you go about doing that. Are you up for that challenge? Here's what the reward is for that. Right? Here's what the next level is like, to be able to show whoever it is you're mentoring what that path is. Right. And to show them that it's. That it's unlimited. I mean, one thing that I've said to, you know, many people, I mean, you're the third person that I've really, really, really taken under my wing. I mean, I've taken. I used to mentor a lot of people in the moving business that worked for me in different locations. But, I mean, as far as, like, very close friendship under the wing, getting involved with your personal life and, you know, challenging you there and calling you out there.

It'S important to be able to get that permission for that. Right. Like, look, I see what you're going through. I want to be able to help get you, like, what do you want first? And then find out, like, can I push you? Do you want that? Like, this is what I'm telling you. What I see, you need this, this, and this. You want me to call you out on it, or would you rather me not? I mean, I'm okay with the job that you're doing if you just want to stay in that position, but if you want what you're telling me you want, I could show you the path, but I'm going to need to push you a little bit.

Do you think that that's something that's easy for you to see in people. Like. Like if you or any business owner, like, when they hire somebody or they've got somebody in the company who's. Who's coming up through the ranks, do you think it's easy to recognize in them that they are somebody that you could push, that you could lean into a little bit?

I think it's easier than people make it, right? I think people make it hard, and they either think that they have that quality or they think that they don't have that quality. But the reality is, it starts off small. I mean, you know, we didn't have that conversation on day one. I was just like, hey, can you know how to run the camera? Can you come in for an hour a month and run the camera while we. While we do this? And then it just developed. But, you know, you do it little by little. It's the same thing with any position. Whether you're truly mentoring them in all areas of their life or you're just trying to delegate. You know, you've got to give a little, see what they do with it. Give a little, see what they do with it, right? So it's like, you know, ask the questions, how far do you want to go? What are you willing to do? And then I put some of that on your plate and see if you really do it right. You know, all the things that you wanted to, you know, kind of take over from the. You know, whether it was the production of the podcast or, you know, certain things with the seminar or stepping into that accountability coach role, you know, whether you recognize it or not, there were little micro tests before that, you know, where I'm like, okay, yeah, no, he could do this. And then I gave you enough, you know, enough leeway to be successful with it. But knowing that, like, even if you weren't, the consequences weren't that bad. I could live with them. You know what I mean? I think what happens is people are so afraid to delegate that they keep doing everything themselves, right? They're either, you know, fearful, right? They have guilt, or they're in their comfort zone. There's a few reasons why people don't delegate. And what about.

What about somebody who might be, like, afraid to push somebody because maybe they feel like they're gonna push them too far or there might be some resistance or they might rock the boat, like, things are going well? You see the potential in this person. You see that they could be a good person to mentor and bring up. But maybe you're afraid as a business owner, how to Approach them or how to. Or if you feel like you're being too hard on them. Yeah. What's a way to recognize that?

You know, I think it's, you know, first thing you do is you. You might go too hard. You know, you might go too hard. I mean, I. I used to push in the early days in the moving business. When I started, I mean, we were grinding. I mean, we were sleeping at the office five nights in a row at the end of the month. I mean, put, you know, no sleep. You know, I was pushing guys to the point of, you know, breakdown. Right. And, you know, but you learn. Right? So it's like I learned. I was. I was young and over my ability to have a conversation with them at that point, and my ability to have a conversation with you now is totally different. Right. But, you know, I. I got to be able to recognize when something. When I could tell something's off with you.

Yeah.

You know, I'll say, chris, what. You know, like, what's going on? And I'll. I'll kind of, you know, try to find out what you got going on in your real life, and not your real life, but your personal life.

Yeah.

And, you know, it'll. You'll. You'll. You'll start to open up and tell me that, you know. You know, I'm kind of. Everything we're doing is great, but it's kind of boring, and I'm kind of stagnant, and I'm, you know, I'm looking for some more challenge and. Right. And that opens up the conversation to be able to say, all right, well, like, there's a lot more you can do. But, you know, are you okay with me pushing you? You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to push you too hard to where, like, you know, you break. I want to know, like, you know, again, permission. Right. You want to get the permission for that? Because if you don't get the permission and somebody doesn't take it as you mentoring them and making them better, it just feels like discipline from the boss.

Yeah.

Right.

Right.

And so, you know, you have to remind people, I used to say all the time, like, look, I'm on the elevator and I'm going up. Right. You're welcome to come up as far as you want to go with me, but your skill set and your ability to add value has to increase along the way. Don't think because the company grows and you were here from day one that all of a sudden you're entitled to be in this top Position.

Right.

And at the same time as the elevator goes up, maybe I want to get off. Maybe I don't really want to work that hard anymore. Right.

Yeah.

And you could continue to run with the company.

Yeah.

So there's no limits for you. Your limits are set on yourself. But as long as you're providing the value that I'm paying you for, I'm okay if you want to get off the elevator. And you have to be okay recognizing when someone's, you know, beyond their.

Their abilities. Right. I mean, there will come a time if you're somebody that's really looking to, you know. You know, we've. Listen, we've got people that are on their way to build $100 million companies.

Sure.

You know, and not all of their, you know, like, OG employees from day one are coming with them. I mean, it's just, you know, or they. They may stay with the company the whole time, but just stay in a certain level, in a certain position.

Yeah.

So. And if you push too far, you'll recognize it, and then, you know, it's like hug it out and say, listen, I'm just trying to push, you know, where I'm coming from. I think being authentic with them and letting them know that it's, you know, you're. You're coming from the heart.

Yeah.

Right. And, you know, you could always go back and not just apologize, but, you know, like, listen, this is where I'm coming from. And I realized maybe I pushed you too hard. But, you know, that's. That's what I thought you wanted.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What's. How do you, you know, let's say. Let's say I'm a moving company owner, and I have somebody that I, you know, see promise in somebody that I want to bring up through the race. Like, where do I start? Like, what do I do? How do I get the process going?

Well, I mean, first thing you want to do is identify that person. Yeah, right. Identify that person. Kind of watch and see. Maybe if you're listening, you already, you know, you've got it in your mind, you know, who it is, you know who it could be. Then you want to have a talk with them. Right. Have a talk with them and say, look, I see a lot of potential in you. You know, I think that you could do great things, not only in this business, but in life in general. And I want to see if you're open to me, you know, developing our relationship a little bit further than just me being your boss and me mentoring you and kind of showing you the ropes, not only in this business, but success in life. Right? I mean, you know, like, I. One of the best things you could do is once you identify that person, you have the talk, and they're like, yeah, I want that. Like, bring them. If you're coming to one of my seminars, if you're coming to an event, bring that person with you.

Oh, yeah.

You know what I mean? Because you don't ever want to be afraid of teaching somebody too much. You know, that. That's. You know, people might say, louis, but what if. You know, what if they learn too much and they want to go out and open their own company? That's. You know, that's. That's a chance you take, but that's a much. I'd rather take that chance all day right then, and take that chance with my mindset on abundance and not this scarcity mindset. Like, I'm gonna hold everything I know close, and I'm not gonna share it with this person that I'm trying to help that could help me, because I'm afraid that they're gonna go and do it without me. Yeah, right. That's total scarcity, and it's never gonna get you anywhere, and you're just gonna stay not growing your business. What's the worst case that happens?

You.

You know, you. You grow. And, you know, they. They help you grow. They grow as a person like you. You shouldn't be trying to lock somebody down for life. Everybody's got their own path. Everybody's got their own journey, you know, and. And, you know, like, you know, I told you earlier today, like, yo, listen, if you ever want to go down a different path, like, I'm. I'll support you for that, you know, And I've done it with other people, too. And, you know, the first, you know, my. My good friend, my best friend that came in and worked for me right from the beginning, that was the first one. Then I had about five more that I recruited when I was 20, 21. I didn't know how to hire people, right? So it was like, hey, call everybody from back home and, like, tell them to come out here and let's.

All the boys, let's go.

All the boys, let's go. And so that was it. And so, like, you know, some fell off along the way, right? They got off the elevator. They just. It wasn't. Wasn't for them. And over time, you know, some opened offices with me, and some, you know, we had mutual, like, hey, look, this. You know, it's just kind of we've, we've come to this point where it's better that you go do your own thing. And they took what I taught them and went and did, you know, they didn't compete against me. Which is, you know, shows really, you know, really highlights their character, right. That they're not like, go open in your market, went to a new market, opened up. And I'm super proud of them and super happy that, you know, I was able to contribute and bring them into a business where now that they're, you know, I know how they run it now and I know that they're making money and I know that it's gonna be passed down to their family. Like it's, you know.

Yeah. So don't, don't ever worry about somebody leaving you or somebody going to, you know, competition or it's just, it's scarcity mindset, you know, And I, and I know, and I know it's there because, you know, listen, those thoughts come up in my mind too, right? All the things that I say, don't think like this or don't do this, like the thoughts come up in my mind. Yeah, right. But then you just have to tell yourself like, that's not healthy. And you know, what if that person chooses to go do their own thing or you invest. What if I invest all this time in them and then they just leave? Okay. When you're teaching somebody, you're also learning, right? And you've got to put your energy and effort into someone, you know, or multiple people within your company. Right. I mean, you know, earlier today we were doing a training for some of our members and I was talking about, you know, the process of taking their existing sales team and making them better and coaching them. Right. Instead of constantly looking for new people, take the people you've got and make them better. You know, chances are if you're listening, you've got people. Not even just one person. This isn't about taking one person. You might have a whole team of people that if you invested your time and just helping to make them better and you taught them the stuff that you know, right. They're gonna help make your job better, they're gonna help build your business and it's just gonna feel better to be in an environment of people that are like minded. And if you don't share what's on your mind and you don't share what you're thinking and how you see things, how are they supposed to know that.

That'S usually the case? If you're having issues in the company, a lot of times it's just because the employees aren't clear exactly what they're supposed to be doing. Right. So you're just taking that extra time to make sure they're on the same page, showing that, that respect to them. Like, hey, listen, this is. As the owner, you, you know, it helps a lot to just say, hey, listen, this is my fault. I didn't explain it to you well enough.

That's. That's the first step. Right. Anytime, you know, somebody is not listening.

Yeah.

You've always got to look at yourself first. It's always easy to blame. But you've got to say, did I make myself crystal clear? Communication is a tough thing.

Yeah.

You know, we think that we say something and that the other person takes it exactly how we. We say it.

Nope.

Right. It's not the case. Right. Whether we say it differently, whether they're totally daydreaming and thinking of something else as we're talking to them and only getting bits and pieces of what we're saying, communication is a really tough thing. And that's, again, to go back to process. That's why you've got to have certain processes in the business so that it's clear on how things need to get done. Right. And you know, the first thing that when things aren't getting done right, you say, okay, did I not communicate that right? Or is the process, the written process, the sop, the standard operating procedure, is that not written clearly enough?

Yeah.

Right. The more you could eliminate guesswork in the business, the more you're going to have happy customers, the more you're going to have happy employees, the more you're going to have a happy bank account.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. What would you say to. Let's say there's a moving company owner out there who has somebody that they've brought along. They've. They've mentored them, they've got them to a level to where, you know, they're, they're. Maybe they're thinking about going out and opening their own company. Would you encourage a moving company owner to try to hang on to that person because they've invested so much? Or would you just say just let them go and let them do their thing? Would, should they, you know, try to help the person in some way? What would you do?

I think you got to realize that if you mentor somebody. Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, you really take them under your wing. You really meant to them. Right. They're going to want to do more, and that's good. Right.

Nature of the business.

Let them do more with you. Right. Let them make sure that they know before they start developing their own plans in the background of going and opening up their own thing and you know, doing it behind your back. Make sure that they know there's a pathway with you. Right. That if, you know, listen, if you're able to lay it out for them in this, you know, in this many years or in the future or whatever, you could, we could. Let's open another office together and we'll go partners in that office.

Yeah.

You know, you've got to, you got to let a bird fly. Right. You've got to let the bird fly. And I'd rather let them fly with my logo and fly and go, you know, bring back some, some bread.

Yeah.

That we split, then go out on their own and take off and, and take everything I learned and go do it somewhere else. So, you know, if you're want to open multiple locations, you want to franchise, these people are perfect for being that location operator, being that partner, being that franchisee. Right. If you're going to grow and you're going to scale, you're going to need more good people around you. So make sure that they know there's a pathway with you and what those are, you know, And I would, I would constantly be asking them, like, what they enjoy doing, you know, what parts of the business they like. Because you might have somebody in sales that really would be better in operations.

Yeah.

You know, or be a right hand man for you as you grow, as you scale.

Should a moving company owner or any business owner, should they be afraid of losing good people?

No, no. I mean, it's, you know, first of all, your hiring processes just need to be on point, especially when it comes to movers, especially when it comes to salespeople. Like, you need to have a process that's so dialed in that the minute you know you need movers, the minute, you know, you need sales reps, you hit play on that process, it starts rolling and you bring them in. That's it. You know, but yeah, I mean, you should, you know, I shouldn't say no, you should. If you have really good people, of course you're concerned and say like, what happens if that person leaves? Right. But it's not catastrophic. And that's the exact reason why you want processes to run your business, not people. And you want people to run those processes because, you know, listen, a good person leaves. It's going to be unfortunate. Right. Things might get messy for a minute, but if you've got everything laid out right for them to be able to do their job, you bring somebody else in, you put them right in that seat, and you don't really skip a beat too much, right? However, if you got one person, and they're the only one that knows how to do, you know, if you're listening, like, think about. If you have anyone in your. In your business that's the only person that knows how to do something, make sure you get some processes written for that right away, right? Because now you, now you're held hostage by somebody. You know, it's like, man, they're not really. They're not really a good employee, right? They don't, they don't show up on time. They're negative in the office. Right. They're like an infection in the office. However, they're the only, only ones that knows how to do this. And if I let go of them, I don't know what I'm gonna do. That's a perfect, you know, tell that it's time for you to, you know, start building out those processes. For sure.

You know, what's great about processes is it's a lot of work in the beginning, but you only have to do them once.

Yeah.

You know, well, maybe, but.

Yeah. And look, you've been along for the ride. As we, as we've developed the processes here and you've seen how they've evolved. And we didn't start with saying. I didn't start by saying, okay, look, I'm gonna develop a book of processes for every single thing we do in this business. Let's stop everything we're doing for six months and develop those processes. It was, as I pass something on to you to train you how to do something, we made a process, right? And that process is like an agreed upon, you know, contract almost, of you agreeing. This is how I'm gonna, you know, I'm passing the baton to you. You take it, you run with it. Same thing when you've passed stuff off to other people on the team.

Yeah.

And, you know, so if you're, if, you know, you hear me talk about processes a lot, it's like, look, start with, start with. Wherever you are, either having problems, right? Where there's an issue, so there's. Clearly somebody's dropping the ball somewhere. So there's, you know, the communication isn't there, or you have something new or a new initiative that you're passing on to someone else, you're delegating something else. Make sure you write out that process so it's crystal clear.

Yeah.

You know, there's probably five processes.

In every company right now that if they were to identify them, you know, clearly write them out and implement them and make sure that the people involved knew what was going on would drastically change their business.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

From sales to operations to accounting to finance, you know, all the stuff that you might be sitting there saying, I don't have my reports on time, my salespeople aren't following up. They're not listening to the script. Our confirmation calls, they're not really following the checklist of, you know, going through all the items. Like all this stuff just needs to be put in a process. And this, you know, again, whether you're mentoring somebody or anybody that you have on your team, it's. It's crucial.

Yeah, for sure. Where could somebody learn how to make processes?

Well, I mean, you know, there's, there's books on the matter. This is something we teach in our, in our courses, you know, that. And, you know, we teach it at the seminars.

So, you know, I definitely recommend that anybody that is ready to step their game up, you know, and step into that, that next role of moving CEO. Right. And move out of this, you know, self employed business owner role. Right. Because we all have different identities of how we see ourselves and we need to kind of step up to that next level. And I think the mistake a lot of people make is when they're, when they're small, they look at it and say, oh, that's, you know, I'm not there yet. I'm not at that level yet. Yeah, right. And for those people, I want to say, like, look at me recently and I did the same thing in my moving company or alarm. But like, recently I started this by myself. And the first time I hired somebody, I was like, here's what I need you to do. I laid it out. Right. But I made it easy on me. I didn't sit there and make the PDFs and write it all out. I just shot a video. Okay, you do this, then you do that, then you do this here, make this into a process. And started it right at the beginning because I knew if I didn't, chaos would follow. If I didn't, we wouldn't be able to scale. Right. If I didn't, mistakes would happen, clients would have disappointments, there would be problems along the way. And then there's the people that have already had quite a bit of success in their business and look at it and say, well, you know, I'm doing Okay, I'm doing good. And, you know, for those people, I say, yeah, but are you activating your full potential? Are you really where you need to be? Right. Because I really believe in this new decade, everybody needs to double down on what they're doing and get themselves in a position where they're so far ahead of where they think they need to be that any financial uncertainty or anything that comes along the way that may happen, you never know what's going to happen. Right. You've got to put yourself in a position where you're so far beyond what you think you're going to need. Right. To be secure for the rest of your life and, you know, to safeguard your business as well. Right. So you've got to double down. So, I mean, if you're, you know, in a position where you're complacent and you feel like things are all good, just ask yourself, like, look, can I step it up another level? Right? Can I. Can I dial this in? And I know there's a lot of people out there making really good money that don't really have processes in place that don't, you know, have a lot of these things. And those, those are the people that, with those little micro adjustments, will see, I mean, skyrocketing results in their business.

And. But they're also maybe some of the most.

You've seen it, too. You've seen it. I mean, how. I mean, the people, like, over the last year that you've worked with, I mean, you know, like, don't say any names, but, like, what. I mean, what have you seen them do with their business?

I can't tell you. It's been really amazing. I've watched people literally not only transform their business, but transform their lives, become different people, become better people. Literally. Like, they, they, you know, maybe were timid at first and just tried to, you know, implement one or two things because they thought that that's all they could handle. And then next thing you know, they'll come to me and show me, hey, I've got this notebook full of SOPs that we started to implement. I'm just handing them out to everybody and, you know, transforming the company. What I've come to realize is when you, when you adopt that CEO mentality.

It'S, it's. It doesn't matter where you are in the journey. It's never too early and it's never too late to become a CEO and put on that hat and really, you know, take control over the business. I mean, that's what it allows you to do, you know, step away and just see the business from up above.

Right.

And be able to be.

It's like you're. You're a commander of an army, and you're just moving troops and moving artillery here and this. And it's. It's. They have fun.

Yeah.

You know, you see them start having fun with their business. Because now it's. It's almost like a game. It's like. It's a game of strategy, and, you know.

Well, it's always. It's always been a game.

Yeah.

The problem is a lot of people are in the game but don't know the rules to the game. Once you know, so it's like you don't know the rules, then you learn the rules. Then once you learn the rules, you've got to get really good at that. Right?

Right. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, business should be fun. Business should be. I mean, for me, that's my sport of choice. Right. That's why I like trying, you know, new things like this. That's why, you know, for me, my biggest joy is working directly with clients to be able to help them, you know? Okay, where are you at now? Where do you want to go? Okay, let's figure.

Let's.

Let's map this out on how to get there, you know, because it is the game, and the people that allow themselves to get clear on the strategy and then implement are the people that really win. And you've got to be able to step back. You know, people will hear me say, Louis. Like, they'll hear me say that. Like, why do you always say you got to work on your business and not in your business? Like, I like working. Okay, I get that you like working, but you've got to put yourself in a different role. Right. I don't want you to work as a firefighter every day.

Yeah.

I don't want you to be there just putting out fires and dealing with issues and dealing with problems. I want you to be able to take a step back, see what's going on, have your numbers to where you know what's happening, have your processes to where you could clearly see if people are doing what they're supposed to do. And now you're. Like you said, you know, the more like the general, like, commanding. You're. You're. You're. If you're an NFL team, you're up in the. In the owner's box calling plays from up there, watching it. You're not down on the field where you can't really see things clearly. If you're in the mix every day, that's the mistake. That's, that's what holds a lot of people back from making that leap from just the day to day business owner into that moving CEO role is they feel that they have more control on the field. They feel like they have more control being there. And I get it. Right. I was, I was there. I've been through all this. So I say this stuff. Not like, I don't, I don't do that. And. Right. I went through it all. But then once you make that transition and you see. No, once you take a step back and you could see clearly, you actually have more control, you can make better decisions, you're less stressed, you make more money. I mean, it's, it's really, it's the whole reason for, you know, we got the upcoming moving CEO Live seminar. I mean, it's the whole reason for that shift is, you know, my goal is not to just give people little quick hacks, right. Like, here's a little strategy. Go try that. It's about, you know, building something where, here's the game, here's the instructions to the game. Here's how to win the game. Right? And we all like, when you're, when you're winning games, the games are fun.

Fun.

You know, you, you go play golf and you suck. It's not that fun. Right. When you start to develop your game and you get good, it's much more fun to go play and much more rewarding. It's the same thing with your business.

Well, and same for the, for the employees. You know that your players on the field, like, when you take that leadership role and you embrace the CEO in you inside of yourself, your players are going to not only respect you more, but they'll start to have fun too, you know, because now they have a clear mission.

Exactly. And you know, like, like you at first.

Yeah.

Resisted processes.

Yep.

You know, I had somebody a couple days ago, was asking. They were here to ask about, you know, I have. We got all the processes in place, but I'm having trouble getting people on track, and you just have to guide them back. But the thing is this, once it clicks.

They enjoy it.

Yeah.

They have a better, you know, their job quality goes up. Right. They.

Don'T want the chaos, they don't want the disorder. It's just that when you go from having no processes and then you show up, Right. Maybe like, you know, people that come back from the seminar, like, all right, guys, here we go, right? They're like, oh, man, he drank the Kool Aid. Like what?

You know, Hit the ground running.

Yeah. Hit the ground running. They just don't expect that from you.

Yeah.

So anytime you try to roll out a new initiative with your people, you have to look and say, do I? Am I come? Is this, like, out of character from what I normally do? And if it is, you've got to realize that they might not be taking you that seriously at first.

Yeah.

And you just have to be consistent with the message. Consistent with the message. So I think we're a little bit over time. Chris, thanks for being here, man. Let's do this again.

I had a blast. Thank you so much.

Yeah. So listen, if you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go to itunes, give it a rating. Leave me a review, let me know how it is, and share this with somebody out there that, you know, could really benefit from this information. You know, share it out there in a Facebook group. Share it online. If you have any questions, anything that you want me to address here on the podcast, go DM me on Instagram. It's LewisMessaro. Send me a DM and we'll do a podcast episode on whatever question you have. And until I see you next time, my friends go out there every single day. Profit in your business, thrive in your life. We'll see you later.