Moving CEO Mindset - Part 2

Anytime you make any change at all, you've always gotta be you. You have to have buy in to what the result is. You have to believe in that result. And for me, I knew that I had to make a shift in my mind. You go from being a college ball player to a pro ballplayer. It's like, hey, I'm a pro now. You know what I mean? Like, you've gotta. You've gotta act differently, and you've gotta conduct yourself differently. Don't shortchange yourself and. And just make a living, right? This is a business where you can make a fortune. And if you look at it that way, it will inspire you to do the things that might seem challenging or outside of your comfort zone. If you're not looking at, where is this taking me, right? What life is this gonna let me live? Then you're gonna have a really hard time finding the reason why you put up with the stuff that you put. Hey, my friend. It's Luis Massaro. And welcome back to another episode of the Moving Mastery Podcast. We are diving into part two of the moving CEO Mindset. I've got my man Chris here with me today. What's happening? Hey, hey, hey.

I'm ready to dive into part two. Part one was really good, so I'm excited about part two here.

All right, well, we literally just finished, and we're going back to back recording these because we just didn't want to go too long with the episode, but wanted to really finish on this because I. I think it's so important, you know, and I know most of these episodes, I'm talking about strategies and different processes and specific tactics in the business, but if you don't get this one right, you're gonna not reach your full potential. Right. So if you didn't already catch part one, Moving CEO mindset, part one, go and listen to that so you're not lost in this one. It's the episode right before this. And then come back and join us here if you've already listened to us. Welcome back. This is part two. We've kind of covered a few things here. Chris, what did we cover in the first one?

So in part one, we talked about, you know, the first real step towards adapting that moving CEO mindset, which is saying taking responsibility for all of your results, you know, for everything that you've achieved and everything that you haven't achieved so far, being able to say, hey, this is all my doing. It wasn't anybody else's fault or anybody else's doing. This was all on me. And that's literally the first step. And then the second one was, if they can, I can.

Which if they, if they could do it, I could do it.

If we're all human and we're all capable of the same, you know, same level of achievement. So if you see somebody out there doing something that you feel is, you know, you would want to be doing, then, then, then emulate them, do what they did and you can. I mean, it's literally that simple.

Right?

And then the third part was I.

If I built a $20 million business and moving business, you could do that? You know, only if you want that. Right. If there's someone that's, that's out there that, that, you know, built a successful company in your market, they're doing a couple million a year and that's what you want, you could do it if they could do it.

Absolutely, absolutely. And then the third part was adopting the ideal of there's got to be a better way. You know, taking a look at everything you have going on. And even if it's working well, looking at it and saying, how can it be better?

You know, every, every, every single time you hit any type of roadblock, any type of challenge, any type of issue, anything you just don't feel good about, look at it and say, there's gotta be a better way. You know, we talked about it in the last episode like that I believe single handedly was, is what has been like my guiding principle to be able to get me to where I am today and be able to develop all of these different processes and all these different strategies that, you know, that I teach. I know in the last episode I mentioned two books. I just grabbed them off the shelf real quick during the time where I was, you know, going through the transition from, from, you know, just moving company owner. Right. To that moving CEO mindset and that identity that I had to adopt. There was, you know, two books that I remember, there was a bunch more that I read that stood out to me. One was Jack Welch Winning. Jack was the CEO of ge. Great book on strategy and management and what it takes to really step up as the leader and CEO. The, the other one was Jim Collins. Good to great classic book. Explores a lot of different CEOs and why some companies make that leap. Right. And some don't. And it has a lot to do with kind of like, you know, what we're talking about. Right? So those are the things that are. Those two books were way beyond kind of what I was doing and moving and a Lot of those principles seem so far out there. But. But again, we talked about in the last episode, I was, you know, I kind of picked, you know, when I got information from places, I took a little bit and said, oh, I could use that. And I applied it right. And like, that's not for me. And I. And I left it. So I just wanted to share those with you. Cause I had them right here behind me. And. Yeah, let's get into this. Part two, Moving CTR mindset.

Those books are good, positive input, by the way. You know, we're all sitting in lockdown right now, and, you know, we have a few extra minutes, and rather than scrolling the news and, you know, keeping up on the latest Covid, you know, headlines, maybe, you know, pick up a good book and get some positive input coming in, you know, yeah, you can.

Go to the bookstore. You don't want to wait for Amazon to deliver it. Get the Kindle app on your phone. You don't even need a Kindle. And just download it and you could have it right now. So.

Instant.

Instant.

Yeah. All right, so let's get back to this. This moving CEO mindset. So, you know, as we said, we had the. I'm responsible for my own results. If they can, I can. And there's got to be a better way. So. So what's next in. In the evolution of becoming a moving CEO?

And. And, you know, this conversation started. Let me just kind of go back here. It started because you were asking, like, what's the difference between yourself and other people that have succeeded and are succeeding at high levels in the moving business and the people that are struggling? And we started, you know, I started by saying it starts with the mindset. Right.

So. Right.

This isn't only, you know, these are the things that I've noticed that were traits of mine that I've also see those same traits in others that either we work with or I see out there that are performing at high levels. The next one is the understanding that moving is my vehicle to financial freedom. And what I mean by that is, you know, you don't have to be passionate about this business. You don't have to want to be in this business forever. But if you look at it and you say, you know what? This is my vehicle for financial freedom. This is what I'm going to use to set myself and my family up for the long term. It changes everything for you. Right. Because there's so much talk out there now about, you know, finding your purpose or, you know, finding something you love to do and you'll never work another day in your life. And you might not love the moving process. You know, for me, it wasn't that I loved moving, but I did love the business of moving. I did love the move, you know, all the moving pieces, if you will, of moving. And, and you know, from having to book the move first to. Then you got to find enough quality movers to get them out there. And then you've got to be able to logistically, you know, juggle everything in dispatch to get everything serviced. And at the end of the day, you've got to be able to have enough more money that came in than you spent to make it all happen. So for me, like the, the, the game of it all, the business of it, is what I really love. But you know, instead of saying like, oh, you know, I want to do something that, like a lot of people are waiting right now to find something they love or find their passion or they might be in the business and they're constantly looking for something else to do. The people that are succeeding at high levels look at it and say, you know what, this business is really just my vehicle to financial freedom. Right. Doesn't mean it's all about the money because you've got to be able to do a great job for your customers. You've got to be able to take care of your employees. Employees in order for it to be lucrative and successful and sustainable over the long term. That's huge. That's huge. Because if, if it's, if it's, it's a tough business to be in day to day, and if you're not looking at where is this taking me? Right. What life is this gonna let me live, then you're gonna have a really hard time finding the reason why you put up with the stuff that you put up with. The reason why you say, I'm responsible for my results. The were looking at it and saying, if they could do it, I could do it. The reason why you sit there and you know, say to yourself, like, there's got to be a better way. And then, you know, seek that way out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, and you got to know where you're going.

You know, we've got to know where you're going. Yeah. And, and you don't. The thing is this, and I'm surprised at, at how many, how many people don't really know where they want to go. Yeah. You know, and, and you don't have to know the exact number immediately. Right. Like, but you know, you have a general Idea of, like, the life you want to live, you know, when you want to be done doing all this, but you can't just, like, dive in without realizing that, you know, this is how you're going to do all the things you want to do for yourself, for your family, Buy all the stuff, have all the experiences, take care of all the people you need to take care of, be able to retire and live a good quality of life when you're. When you're all done. It's huge. And, you know, one of the first things that we do in some of the workshops that we do or at the seminars is kind of take people through a process of figuring out what it is you want in your life. Yeah, right. What do you want? You know.

It'S a big question, and, you know, it's really the key to creating the map on where you want to go. And I think another question that sort of goes alongside of that, that maybe you tell me, but it could be helpful in a moving CEO mindset, but would also to question your current beliefs. And I don't mean religious or spiritual. I just mean, like, who you believe you are rather than, you know, who you actually are or who you want to become. You know, like you were saying in the last episode, you had that. That switch in your. In your mind where you went from being a moving company owner to being a moving CEO, and you had to.

There was an idea with an identity shift. Like, I had to. I had to see myself. I had to look in the mirror and see a different person.

Yes, exactly.

And it's not. And it wasn't. It wasn't being like. It wasn't. It was still authenticity. It was still me, but it was me calling out a higher level of me that I needed to show up and step up at that time.

Exactly, exactly. And who you. You know, who you were as opposed to who you became. They're different people, you know, so who. How you were able to. To accept that about yourself, like, believe that you could be a moving CEO, you know, question.

And it wasn't that. I just believed it and I walked out, like, you know, super common. I had doubts. Right. It's like anytime you step outside of that comfort zone, you know, we all have that comfort zone. You know, no matter where you go, there's always that next level and you have doubts, you know, and for me, that was like, you know, probably the second big shift for myself because, you know, just starting the business alone, you know, going from being just a, you know, a year before I was A high school kid. Right. And then I'm. And then I'm a business owner. That was, that was one, like, identity shift. And then, you know, seven, eight years later to be able to, you know, see myself differently was huge. But there was times where you doubted it and you didn't believe it, and you're like, who are you fooling? And you keep, you keep pushing past that right into the point where. Yeah, like, that's, that's me now.

Yeah. Yeah. So you, you, you accept that as your new identity, who you are, and, and then you, you know, decide where you want to go as that person.

Well, yeah, I mean, you, you have to understand the importance of that first. You know, you're not just like, I'm gonna be a moving. I'm moving CEO now. Like, you gotta, Anytime you make any change at all, you've always got to be. You have to have. Buy in to what the result is. You have to believe in that result. And for me, I knew that I had to make a shift in my mind, and that's just the, that's just the CEO was just that the label that I put on it for myself. Right. Maybe for you it's something different, but it's like I had to put some label for me to step up to. You know what I mean? It's like you go from being a college ball player to a pro ballplayer. It's like, hey, I'm a pro now. You know what I mean? Like, you've gotta, you've got to act differently and you've got to conduct yourself differently. You know, it's just, it's just a, A shift in, in your identity.

Yeah. So.

Okay, so. So when we talk about, you know, financial freedom, you know, what's it really all about? I mean, I don't, I, I don't really know anybody that would want to just move people for a living if they, if there was no financial reward for it, you know, I mean, you know, you want to volunteer and help somebody that they can't, that can't afford to move, and you want to do it as, you know, goodwill gesture and help somebody, great, but other than that, you're doing it to make money. So don't, don't shortchange yourself and just make a living. Right. This is a business where you can make a fortune. And if you look at it that way, it will inspire you to do the things that might seem challenging or outside of your comfort zone, knowing of where it's going to lead you. So if you start if you really sit down and identify, like, what do I want in my life? Right? What things do I want? What experiences do I want to have? You know, who do I want to share this stuff with? Who do I want to be able to take care of, right? How do I want to be in the world? It starts to, you know, crystallize. Like, okay, well, what's that gonna take? Right? And. And, you know, powerful exercise for me was to sit down at some point, and it really took a financial planner to really kind of sit and do it for me. Of like, okay, well, what do you. Like, what do you want? Okay, like, what do you want in your life? I want this. I want that. I want this. Okay, what's it all gonna cost you to get it, right? So, like, figure out everything you want, right? Okay, I want this house, I want this cars. I want to send my kids to these schools. I want to retire by this age. I want to be able to take, you know, four, you know, short trips every year, and then I want to take two long, two, you know, two week trips, or I want to take the whole summer and go spend it somewhere else, like, whatever you want. There's nothing wrong with that. Right? And that's another, you know, limiting belief that a lot of people have, like, every. You know, I think. I think most people, you know, grow up with. With a. With a skewed outlook on money, right?

Yeah.

You know, money's bad. You know, money doesn't grow on trees. You can't just have everything you want. You know, people that have money, they must be doing something wrong. You know, the more money you make, the more taxes you got to make more money, more problems. Like, it's just there's. There's this stigma behind it. But, you know, I believe that if you're gonna go out there and you're gonna serve, like, you provide a great service right to. And. And you build a business that allows you to provide that great service to a lot of people. You know, you're. You're providing, you know, you go out there and you do a move, you know, for 10 people a month, well, then you should be compensated for that, okay? But you go out there and you do moves for a thousand people a month, then you should be compensated for that, right? And you have the ability to run that business well, and you have the responsibility of all those employees and all those customers and all that liability, then you should be compensated for that. And so it's like, you know, I believe that if there's desires in Your heart for things that you want in life, that. That's your truth. That's who you are. And you should go after those. Those things, whether they're, you know, just time off, you know, whether you want to spend half the year just chilling or whether it's, you know, just finding financial stuff, you should go after that. Once you. Once you get past the point where, you know, it's really what you want, and it's not ego. It's not like, oh, I should have this car, I should have this, or I need to keep up with this. And you're able to get to a place which I. I believe that comes with. With time and maturity, you know, Like, I feel like I'm much more grounded and. And simpler right then in. In what it is I want from a material standpoint than I was, you know, in my 20s. But, yeah, it's. It's. You've got to know that, and you've got to know that this business is your way to get it. You know, I. I had good friend of mine in the business that was, you know, he's like, I. I don't. I. I don't want to do this. Like, I don't. I'm gonna. I want to go start something else. Like, he wanted to go start a vineyard, right? He was, like, passionate about making wine and wanted to start a vineyard. Like, all right, so get it up and running, get it going, and then go, you know, either sell it or keep it running as a passive means, you know, get your systems in place, get your processes in place, and keep it running as a passive means of income, right? And then go do whatever you want. And, you know, within a few years, he built a successful business. And it was. This was actually a partner of mine in one of my. In one of our. One of my locations, built a very successful business, made himself a ton of money, and, you know, now it was like, okay, yeah, you're right. Like, I. I don't. I don't. I'm looking at it differently now because at first you're like, you're dealing with all the stress, the problems. You don't really have everything smooth. You don't have your rhythm of how you handle things. So it's. It feels more. There's more burden than there is reward, right? So, like, you're dealing with more stuff and you're making less money. And then as you build the business, you know, a model business, you start to make more money and you start to deal with less stuff. So now you're looking at it from a different vantage point. And now you're like, okay, even though I'm not passionate about this, if I want to go start a vineyard, I got the money. Now I'll go do that. I've got the people in place, the systems in place, the processes in place. I don't have to be there every day. I could go do it and still keep the business going. And that's why I say moving is a vehicle to your financial freedom. And that's part of the mindset, right? Instead of looking at it as like, you know, I am a. You know, this is me. This is who I am. This is what I'm about. It's like, look, this is what I do every day in order to take care of living in this world. I mean, we need money to live in this world, and we need money to have the freedom that we want. I mean, that's really ultimately what it's all about. It's not like, you know, moving is my vehicle to get rich, because you could get rich and not have the freedom, but you could also set up a business that generates predictably the money that you want it to make and go enjoy your life. You know, I mean, this business set me up for life. I mean, this. This business put me in a position that I'm so grateful for it. You know what I mean? And I want to see that happen for so many other people. Because the flip side of that is torture, right? The flip side is all the burden, all the stress, all the worry without the money. Like, no, like, you can't do that. You don't want to do that, but you don't need to go get in a different business. You don't need to go find a passion and, you know, do all that. You want to find a passion, great. But it doesn't have to be your business. It doesn't have to be your job, be passionate about something. You just do because you love doing it. And then when it. When it switches from a lot of burden, a lot of stress, a lot of worry and little money, and it switches to like, okay, the burden, the stress, the worries going down. Because all my systems, processes, everything's in order, but the money starts to rise. You're like, oh, the moving business is my vehicle for financial freedom. I see that now. I could now take part of that money, live the life I want to live, take part of that money, give it to charity, take part of that money, invest for the future, take part of that money, start another business. If I want to start A business, another business. Like, you know, that's part of the mindset.

Yeah. And I think for anybody that may be struggling right now with the business, and it feels like it's a big beast, you know, weighing down on them. I mean, you know, it could only get better. And you'll find the more you put into it, the more work you sink into it, and the more effort you put into it, the more you give to it, the more it gives back. And, you know, you probably change. Change attitude about it after a while when that money starts coming in.

It's. It's, you know, it's funny. I see it happen. It's. It, you know, I mean, you know, we. We get, you know, we hear from people, we get the testimonials. Like, I. I could think of several right now. If people are like, I was thinking about closing my business.

Yeah.

And, you know, then we started working with you, or we started going to your, you know, going to seminars or in programs or whatever, and totally, like, you know, it was that scenario. Right. A lot of burden, a lot of stress, a lot of worry, uncertainty, very little money. And then it's like the whole thing just shifted like a seesaw and went the other. Went the other direction. And now it's like, oh, no, no, this business. This business is great. Right. It's a whole, you know, you. That love, hate starts to become more love than it does hate.

Yeah, well. And you love what you give your energy to, so. Yeah, it's worth the investment.

Yeah. And. And it's. It's important that, you know, a lot of people feel uncomfortable talking about money. You know, like, I don't really know what I want. I just. I want to. I want to live. I want to live a simple life. Okay, well, what is that? You know, the best thing you could do is get clear on it. The best thing you could do is just take a day on the weekend and just start looking at it and say, okay, what do I want? What do I want to have and what do I want to experience and who do I want to become? Right. Because that's another really big part of this. It's like if you set big goals for yourself on what you want to achieve, even if you don't hit those goals, you're going to become a better, stronger, you know, more grounded, wiser, happier person, period.

It's only going to help. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just like building muscle, you know? I mean, if you have a. If you have a goal, you know, a physical goal, you know, health, goal, and you go and you start working out and you start eating good. You know, you might not hit that goal if you've set it really high, but you're still going to be a healthier, stronger, more energy, energetic person because of it. Well, you set yourself high financial goals, you're going to end up with more money. You're going to end up, you know, just, Even if you just ended up being able to manage your business in a way that didn't stress you out the way that it does now. Right?

Yeah.

So.

And it's, it's, it's step by step, right? So the burden lightens, you know, incrementally, and, and it gets easier, right?

As you go, it gets easier. I mean, you've, you've, you worked with one of our groups, you know, for, for a year, and it's just kind of like wrapping up, like, and see the progression that people make when, when they, when they adopt this, this mindset, right? This whole moving CEO mindset, they start to look at their business differently. Yeah, it's, it's, it's. Honestly, I love watching it. I love seeing me too. You know, and for me, that's why I do this. Like, I love that more than I love doing it for myself now. It's like I, I, you know, it was 20 years ago I started the business and, and now I, I don't. I could never get as much, you know, having already done it, I couldn't get the joy anymore from doing it, like, doing it for me, you know what I mean? But to see other people do it and just to kind of, you know, help in whatever, in whatever way I can. Right? Like, they're, they're the ones doing the work. They're the ones putting in the time. They're the ones shifting their mindset, and they're the ones making it happen. But, like, it's just, it's amazing to watch, you know, it is.

Well, and it's about the journey, you know, the destination. Once you get there, it can, it can get boring real quick, but it's about building it. You know, that's the fun part. You know, seeing these things you put in place and they, you see them start working and become successful, and you see the company start running smoother, like, that's rewarding. It's exciting when that, when that happens.

Well, and there's, there's so much you've got to deal with along the way, right? There's no. And I try to say it as much as possible, this is not a Get rich quick business, right? You know, I'm not out there saying to people like, hey, you want to make money? Get in the moving business. Like, I'm really talking to people that are in the business, right? Like, you're already in it. You're, you're in, you've decided to do it. Okay, great. Now let's step this up because, you know, you've got to start looking at it differently. Embrace this mindset here, you know, because day to day, you're going to be tested day to day, you're going to be challenged day to day, you're going to have difficult situations with customers, difficult situations with your employees, difficult situations with your trucks. It's, you know, listen, it is what it is. But when you adopt this mindset and you say, I'm responsible for the results, if they could do it, I could do it. There's got to be a better way. And you're like, you know what? I'm doing this because this is the vehicle. This is what I'm choosing to go out there in the world, provide service, right? Like, so you're, you're doing something of value to your community. And because I'm going to do a good job, this is what's going to give me that financial freedom to do whatever I want. Because that's, I mean, what do we really want? We want freedom, right? We want the money because we feel that it's going to give us the freedom that we need.

So, you know, somebody has, has accepted that the moving business, that's, that's it for them. That's what they're going to, you know, create their freedom with. That's what they're going to create their life with, right? And they've, they've decided where they want to go, what's next, what, what else can they have in their mindset to help them get there?

You know, one of the other pieces that for me was very big again, and like, these are like, there's a lot of stuff that, that I believe is helpful for success, but this, these are the things that I saw in myself. And I also see them in other, you know, high achieving moving company owners, right, that have stepped into that moving CEO mindset. And it's, you know, when I improve, my business improves. When I improve, my business improves. And what that means is, you know, a lot of times people will say, you know, Louis, what are, what are the best business books and things like that. And I'm like, you know what you've got to first start with with you Right. Like, you know, you gotta. You gotta dive into, like, the personal development books. You've got to figure out how your mind works and be able to improve that. Right? Then also on top of that, learn about business, develop new skills. You know, look at it constantly and say, what do I need to learn how to do in order for, you know, my business to grow? Like, you know, what skills do you need to develop? You know, so it's. It's just that mindset of understanding that, you know, I think it's like some people look at everything as. It's like, it's the opposite of not taking responsibility for your results. They look at it and they're like, everything is outside of me. But once you. Coming back to the first point, once you've realized that, you know, you're responsible for your own results, it's like, okay, so when I improve, my business improves. When I get better, when I absorb knowledge, when I take courses, when I read books, when I go to seminars, when I get coaching, when I, you know, take care of my health and take care of my energy, when I learn new skills in my business, my business is going to improve. Right. Adopting that as part of the moving CEO mindset.

I see. Okay, so now, when you were coming up, how did you get into that, that side of it? Did you find some books or. I mean, give us an example.

It all stems from there's got to be a better way. Yeah, right. It all stems from. From that little black book of me writing down what all the issues were and looking for that better way and, you know, going to the bookstore and, you know, grabbing. I mean, you see, you can't even see them all up there. But, you know, it's searching for knowledge, Right. It's like once I realized, like, oh, my God, like, I. By the way, I hated to read in high school. I didn't do my book reports, right. I would, like, get. Get, you know, a girl that I know, like, somebody. I'd get somebody to do them for me. Like, I didn't. I hated. Hated reading.

You delegated your homework. Yeah.

And. And even when I. It's funny, even when I started to read and I was a very slow reader, you know, I. I'd say even today, I'm. I'm slower than average when I read. But once you start to realize that there's answers out there that you're not the first person to have gone through what, what it is that you're going through, you know, even if there was at the time, for me, there Was no answers. In moving specifically, it's like, okay, I saw that, you know, business is business, right? And so I just, you know, gathered what I could from wherever I could. I mean, I would, you know, if there was, you know, back then, if there was some kind of tape on, you know, on a course, I would take it, Read a lot of books, you know, if there was, you know, seminars. Like, I started the call center, for example, and I didn't know anything about call centers, okay. So I started going to call center conventions, right? To, like, learn and understand how that whole thing works. You know, I realized that I needed to. That the marketing was shifting away from yellow pages and it was moving towards online marketing. Okay. I had to dive into that, right? I had to learn SEO. I had to learn pay per click. I had to learn digital marketing and how all of that started to work, you know. You know, now, like every, you know, whether it's, you know, what we're doing here today. I mean, I started doing all this with a camera, learn how to do it, learn how to edit the videos. Not because I couldn't afford to hire somebody to do it, but because I knew when I improve, the business improves. When I skill up, when I get more skills, then the business improves. So when someone learns how to understand and manage their. Their profit and loss statement, Right. And their cash flow, their business is going to improve. Right. So it's like, once you accept the fact that, wow, the more skill I develop, the better I'm gonna get. And when I get better, my business gets better.

Yeah. Is there. Do you remember a particular, you know, skill that was the most challenging for you that you. You struggled with the most coming up?

Yeah. Learning how to estimate moves.

Oh, really?

That was one of the. I mean, that was one of the first ones. I mean, we talked about that in the last episode. How I just, you know, that was. Yeah, okay, sure. Three men, 75 an hour. Like, that was. I didn't matter what size move you got. And so. And it was really. It was very intimidating to me, you know, and it was one of those things. I was like, oh, my. How do I. Cube sheet. What? And. And I gotta add this. There's weight. And then. And translate it from. From cube to weight. And. But I knew something that I had to get good at. Right?

Yeah.

You know, same thing with the call center stuff. You know, we started getting leads and it was like, okay, we were getting leads and printing them off on the printer and handing them out to people here, here, here. And it's like call them and it's like, now what? I don't know, call them back again. Right. What do we do now? Well, I don't know. Write on the sheet of paper when the last time you called them was and just keep up with it. Right. So like that was the start. You know, a lot of, a lot of our listeners, they're, they're in moving Sales Academy or you know, in our programs. And you know, they know the follow up system, they know the scripts, they know the rebuttals, they know all the processes. You know, now I teach how to estimate moves. Right. In one of our programs. And it's just a constant. You know, you, you, you can never stop, right. You never want to stop improving. You want to constantly improve. And when you do, your business will improve. Simple as that.

What's the, what's the skill that you've acquired over the years that's made the biggest difference for you?

Oh, man. Wow. Let me, let me just spit out some. I don't know which one, you know, which one would be the biggest. But you know, just ability to talk to people. Right. Ability, you know, to deal with customer service and to deal with any issues that come up. Reading, understanding and managing my business off of profit and loss statement. Understanding online marketing. Right. I mean that was, that was big because I was spending, you know, my first, the first time I did SEO, the company charged me 30 grand up front and you know, I was like, okay, right. But I got a really, you know, they. Luckily I, I learned a lot from them and I was in, you know, spent time in there and like made them teach me as they were doing it. Yeah, I mean, it's just, there's so many, so many, you know, just, just, you know, the, the sales. Sales, right, sales, you know, to be able to learn, you know, I learned that before I really needed it. I mean, I learned the sales before I got into the business. Working at the call, at a call center, selling vacation packages and the importance of scripts and rebuttals and overcoming objections and then being able to translate that and refine that with moving, you know, understanding man, CRMs. Everything that we did, I wanted to learn. Right. Because it was just, you know, I don't know, some people argue like, you know, just, just hire somebody that knows it. And I just don't believe that I, I believe that you first need to learn it yourself. Then you hire somebody that knows it or you hire somebody that knows it and you learn it with them. Once you hire them. Kind of depends on the Level. And, you know, some people could argue that fact, but that's just how. How I like to do it because that's how I started the business. Right? When I started the moving business, like, I dispatched the trucks, I called to confirm, I dealt with storage, billing. I was in the warehouse, moving, moving vaults, you know, checking off stuff that was coming in, doing the sales, doing the bookkeeping. Right? So, you know, it just puts you in a position to where later on you could do everything and you don't have somebody coming in telling you how things are done. Right, Right.

Yeah.

Like, like you, you came in, you kind of took over the whole, the camera, the editing, all that stuff. Now we've got other people that, you know, do the editing and everything. But it was like, it's, you know, if I had to, at some point, I could, I could jump back in and do it. Right. I don't, I don't want to, but I know that I can, you know, I, I knew that I could jump back in at any point and dispatch trucks if I needed to dispatch trucks, I could jump back in and book moves if I needed to book moves. And, and for me, I like that feeling of knowing that I don't have someone in my business that, that, you know, can do something that, that I can't do. You know, that's just me. So you got to be able to develop, you know, different skills. I think right now some of the skills, you know, moving CEOs need are delegating, right? Delegating is a skill. It's not, it's not something that you're just born with the ability to do. Creating processes, you know, the, you know, be able to actually, you know, create formalized processes for your business and role descriptions so that you could start to really build a model business. Running your business off of numbers, right? Certain, you know, KPIs, certain key performance indicators and certain metrics that will allow you to view your business and run it differently. Marketing. Understanding how marketing works and understanding how to manage marketing by, you know, testing, tracking, tweaking and, you know, sales process. Right? Not, you know, it doesn't. They don't necessarily need to be the best salesperson, but they need the skill of learning how to develop the sales process for their business. Right? These, these, these are skills that they should develop and investing as well. Right? Because once you get this money, remember, moving is the vehicle to financial freedom. I'm not saying to manage all your own money and go invest it, but you should have some idea what's happening with your money, if you're turning it over to someone to manage for you, right? Or if you're going to invest in real estate, understand that and know that, you know, and it's just. It's just looking at, like, what. What don't I feel confident with? What do I do in my. You know, because what happens is without the awareness of. Of, you know, realizing that you have skills that you need to develop, like, what's hard in your business is only hard because you haven't developed that skill. And so as you start to run into certain things and they're a challenge to you, then you're like, you know what? I've got to work on this. I've got to develop this skill. I've got to get better at this. You know, right now I'm actually working. I'm writing a book, right? Yeah. And. Cool. It slipped out. I wasn't gonna say anything, but it came out.

That's cool.

You know, I'm learning, right? I've got a coach. I've got a coach specifically for that, right? I'm diving in. I'm reading about it. I'm learning about it. I'm developing the skill. And anytime you're developing a skill, when you start, you suck. Right? And that's where most people give up, right? Especially people that are just kind of, like, naturally talented at certain things, they try stuff, and if it's outside of their comfort zone, that they're not comfortable being outside of the comfort zone because they're so used to just being good at everything, that's. That's one of the biggest things that you could overcome is saying, you know what? That's keeping me in a fixed mindset. I need to be in a growth mindset, and I need to be okay being an amateur again. I need to be okay being a beginner again. I need to be okay learning something and not being good at it so that I could suck my way through it and then become overly competent with that and become skillful with that, Right? Because, you know, I talk about it before is like, in. In psychology, there's. There's the competence, confidence loop. The more competent you get in something, the more confident you get to do it and in doing it right? So it's like, I'd say we're talking about reviewing, you know, like, managing your business off of numbers. It's like, at first you're like, oh, my God, like, I feel stupid. I don't. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, right? And I Remember, like, I went through this and you just have to push through that and realize it's because I'm a beginner, of course. Like, why would I be good at this? I've never done this before, right? But as you get better at it, you become more confident. As you become more confident, you're less hesitant to go towards it, and so you do it more. So as you do it more, you become more confident, competent, right? You know, mastery takes time, right? It takes, you know, 10,000 hours of something to become a master at doing it. You've got to do it over and over. So as you do it over and over, your confidence is going to grow. And that's how you get that confidence competence loop going, right? So whoever's listening, anything that you know, you need to skill up on, anything you know, you need to become better at, go get at it and do it and be okay sucking at it, you know, like I'm, you know, I'm dealing with it. I'm going through my own private struggles right now. Learning how to, how to write a book, right? Yeah, I'll figure it out, but, you know, I don't know how long it's going to take, but I'll figure it out.

That's cool. What's, what's, what's the best part about being a moving CEO.

Man? It's like a whole different place. Like, it's like this, this, this. I don't know, like, like this. It's like a. You live in a different place, right? Like you kind of, you know, normally, like just as a moving company owner, you're. You live here and all your problems are here, right? They're here.

Shoulders.

Yeah, they're here. Right? Yeah. And like, once you step up and I say this because I've seen it. I, I've seen it and felt it with me and I've seen it and felt it with, with others, right? You're like. Instead of all that stuff being on top of you, it's like you rise above all of it and you're like standing on the top, planting your flag like here. And everything you see becomes different. All the possibilities of what is truly possible become different to you. All the little problems that used to consume you day and night are just, listen. Parts of the business. It's like, you know, if you haven't, there's certain things that you've resolved and there's other parts that you've just accepted and just make sure that, you know, claims, for example, like, you know, you're gonna have Some claims, you know, but as in the role of moving CEO, you've established, like, what's an acceptable threshold? What's the acceptable percentage of claims? And you just, you know, you're managing the numbers, you're looking at things. It just becomes a much simpler way to run your business, you know, where right now it feels like you've got this like, so much coming at you, so much flying at you, right? Like you're just in a, in a, like, I don't know, like a, like a rave or like a crazy nightclub where it's just like, loud and there's people and there's this craziness going on, right? And it's like you're, like you're trying to concentrate and all this is happening. And then all of a sudden, like now you're in this, like, slow dance of this. Like, everything is just moving and you could see everything happening kind of before it's happening. It's, it's. It's hard to describe unless you've been there. It's. It just like all of a sudden the business goes from like, man, this used to be hard and it used to suck, to, man, I could open up, you know, I could just keep doing this, right? Or, or like, great, like, I could go live my life now. I don't need to. Like, you know, most people aren't looking to be, you know, billionaires in this business, right? And it's to be able to make the money and enjoy the life that you want to live. And look at moving as like what these people on the Internet are selling, like, oh, just passive income or side hustles and, you know, all that stuff. It's like when you get to a place where you're just controlling the dials, right? You're just looking at your business. You're watching the numbers, you're meeting with your key people. You have clarity to see what's going on. And you just make some adjustments here and there and then watch how that impacts the business. It's. It's a beautiful thing, you know, I mean, like, to be able to go away, to be able to spend time for weeks and. Or months on end, like out of town, away from your business and be able to afford it, be able to know to your business is running smoothly because it's like, it's. It's like it's on tracks, right? Imagine a train just like running through the desert and there's. It's not on tracks. I mean, what's going to happen to that? You know, what's going to happen. That tram, there's no tracks. It's. You know, it's not going to get far. It's going to flip, or it's going to be a really bumpy, miserable road. Right? But now imagine you've got tracks, and those tracks are leading you, you know, the destination is where you want to go, that you've already decided you want to go there. And once you get there, if you want to go further, you know, the process now of just laying down more tracks to get you where you want to go. Does that make sense?

That is cool. I like that analogy.

Yeah. Yeah.

How much? I know you're. You're a big proponent of personal development. How much of that plays a part in being a moving CEO?

A big part. I mean, what we're talking about right now is. We're talking about mindset. Yeah. Right. And, you know, mindset is personal development. You know, business is out here.

Mm.

Right. Mindset is here. So you could work on this, but if you're not working on this, you're just gonna make a mess out of that.

Yeah.

Right. So just, you know, being able to kind of understand how your. How your mind works, understand, you know, why you do the things you do. And there's. There's so much to that. I mean, we did a couple episodes, a few episodes back of just, like, wellness. Yeah, right. Talking about morning routine and. And meditation and visualization and gratitude and, you know, just how, you know, you fire off certain neurons in the brain and certain chemicals are released with exercise that help you maintain energy. You know, it's. It becomes. It all goes back to, like, when I improve, my business improves. Right? It all goes back to that. And it's like, people are like, where do I start? Where do you. You start by just starting, right? You start by saying, there's got to be a better way. Right? You start by saying, you know what? Maybe there's some things that I need to understand about me. There's some things I need to understand about my mindset and, like, why I do the things I do, and I'll be able to make some adjustments and make some shifts. You know, listen. Listen to good people that have good, positive input for you. You know, you're not. You're not a good book reader. Fine. Find. Find someone that's got a great podcast or some great videos or a great audiobook that you could listen to and start to just kind of explore, you know, different. Different possibilities. Right.

Of.

Of what's out there and be open. Right. Be open to realizing that. That you can improve, you can get better. And when you improve and you get better, your business is going to get better. And when your business gets better, your life gets better.

Mm, that sounds good.

Yeah.

Is there. Are there any obstacles that could prevent somebody from. From having a, you know, from adopting this mindset of being a CEO? Like, I don't know, like, is it easy to do? Like, what's the. What's the journey of it?

You know, the journey of it is first, you've got to. Anything you want to do, you've got to first believe in the outcome, Right?

Yeah.

So my. My goal of this podcast that these two episodes that we've done is to paint the picture of the outcome, to shed light on, you know, something that. That maybe, you know, someone listening wasn't looking at before. They're. They're, you know, they're looking for, like, okay, maybe it's this marketing source or that marketing source. Maybe I need this kind of truck or that kind of truck, or maybe I should pay my guys this way or that way. And. And they're not even looking over here to the mindset piece. So it's like, I want to show. Look, there's this piece here. And some people will go, nah, you know, I'm not. I'm not into that. But someone that's like, man, totally makes sense. I could. I could see how that could make a major impact in my business. They buy in to the outcome, right? Like, you listen. We listen to all kinds of stuff. We watch tv, we read books, we listen to people on podcasts, we listen to people on social media, and it's a matter of having your own filter to take it in and go, yeah, that makes sense. Or, yeah, that guy's full of, like, you know, it's. You know, you got to be able to have that filter. But once you do and you buy into something, right? You. You. You say, yeah, like, I could see that, right? Like, I could see if I. If I eat better and I work out that I'm gonna have that I'll be healthier and I'll be in better shape, but that alone might not motivate somebody, right? Like, you've got to really want something or you've got to really be afraid of something else. And that's what I believe. This Covid opportunity called. Let's call this Covid opportunity I like, that has done for us is it's shown us what we don't want and what we're afraid of, right? Every single person listening had either a moment or has had a couple months of feeling like, the worst is gonna happen, and they're gonna go out of business, and it's gonna be the end, and it's gonna be over. Good. Feel that feeling. And then think about what you want, right? Think about what you want in your life. And so now you've got two ends of the spectrum, right? You've got what you want in your life. Like, if I had everything the way I want it, what would I have I could have if I knew I couldn't fail, what would I want? And then it's like, then there's this possibility, like, oh, my God, I could go out of business. Right? Because sometimes people aren't motivated by what they want, but they're motivated to get away from the bad thing.

Yeah.

You see what I'm saying? So if you put your. If you put yourself in between, like, the worst case and the best case, and then every day you just go, what steps do I need to take to go that way? Right? And. Because this is what's over here, right? And what happens is, you know, people make good effort, but they don't. They don't have this. They don't have these two extremes. And so they kind of like, take a few steps. You hear it all the time. They're like, louis, I feel like I just take a few steps forward and a few steps back. A few steps forward and a few steps back. It's because this. What you want isn't compelling enough, and it's not pulling you to go do what you need to do. And this isn't scaring you enough to say, I. I'm not taking a step back. Like, I need to keep marching in that direction. So I. I feel like this is a great thing that's happening right now. Of course not. You know, my heart goes out to people that are suffering with. With COVID and. And people that are losing, you know, losing people. I know there's a lot of bad stuff happening in the world, and I know businesses, especially outside of moving, are closing or already closed. But even for those people that their business doesn't make it, I hope that they take it as an opportunity to look at this like what they don't want and move away from it. You know, I always say, like, you know, even when we talk about, like, you know, I talk about putting money away in the summer to get through, you know, a cash reserve fund to get through the off season, right? So I like the, you know, in the, you know, coming, and that's that's kind of what was. Was really bad about this. This virus is like this whole EPI pandemic happened coming out of the slow season, too. So it just kind of makes it worse. But again, if you're a moving CEO, it's like, look, I'm responsible for my results. This is happening, but what can I do about it, right? But when we talk about the cash reserve, if you ever are in a position where things are so bad, feel that pain. Remember that pain, right? If things are bad for you right now, things are slow for you right now. Even though it's because of, you know, Covid, even though it's because of all that that's happening, remember that pain and use it as a tool to pop up here when you're like, hey, I've got a decision every moment of every day of which way I'm gonna go, what I'm gonna do, and I'm either going towards that life. So having. Having this vision of the life you want and saying, I'm gonna go towards that. Yeah, I can't go that way, right? So it's like sometimes you're like, I don't need to have all of this. I'm good where I'm at. No, you're never staying still. You're moving one way or you're moving the other way. So to have that reminder there of where you don't want to go, it's powerful.

It's powerful. If someone maybe, you know that that fear is too much, you know what something they can do to kind of overcome and get the momentum moving right now.

The fear of. Of what's going on with their business. Yeah, yeah. It's like, look, you know, like, what's your fear? You're going to go out of business? Like, okay, all right, so what are you going to do? If you do go out of business, Then what? Then what do you do? You're either going to have to go start a new business, whether it's a moving business or whether it's something different, or you're going to have to go get a job. So why not take the action right now to head in this direction, like, you know, feel, you know, you know, use the acronym for. For fear of. Like, face everything and rise. Right? Not forget everything and run. Face everything and rise. And when you're feeling that fear, know it's time to rise up and go towards what you want. That's it. Like, now is the time. Like, the people. Like, I see people putting in the work now. Like, you Know, we see, we see people, you know, we see the progress in the courses. People are diving in, doing the work, you know, going through, you know, all the people we had at the seminar, like, people are. Not everybody, but the people that are, are going to be good through this. You know, anything, you know, anything, any business that's lost in, in this, you know, springtime here, I feel confident will be made up later in the year. You know what I mean? I feel confident it'll be made up later in the year by the people that take the action to actually go forth and make that happen, you know, and, and, you know, we, that's. I, I just released the, the Moving CEO business program to, you know, as, as, as my way of saying, hey, this is something that can, like, you know, when, when I improve, my business improves. I'm responsible for my results. If they can, I can. There's got to be a better way. It's like I'm putting it out there. The Moving CEO business program, which is basically everything that I've got, right? It's such a reduced price, like the pr, the price of one of my courses, you get. I'm, I'm, I'm saying this. I don't like the plug stuff in the, in the podcast, right? But it's, it's value, right? It's, it's. Yeah, it's something to buy, but it's. I've created a program that's, that's such value and gives someone everything they need to go from that, you know, place where they are to that next level to step into that Moving CEO. I mean, there's my moving sales academy program in there, the new Moving CEO blueprint in there, the new movers marketing accelerators in there, plus working with me every single month for the next year as part of it all for the price of, like, what one of those courses are. So if somebody's interested in that, just go to movingceo.com movingceo.com that's the moving CEO business program. That's my plug for it. That's all I'm gonna do. But it's like I'm, you know, I'm. My concern is like, I want to see as many people through this as possible, right? It's like, you can't get stuck right now. You've got to do the work. You've got to work, you know, like, even me, like, I know that, you know, right now. It's so. I mean, I spent the last two days, like, back to, you know, back to, back to Back to. Back to. Back to back on calls with. With private clients, like, strategizing, right? Going through all this, not fear, not, you know, oh, my God, what are we gonna do? It's like, no, like, taking action.

Yeah.

And so anyone that's. That's. That's got fear right now, it's like, look, take action, run towards the fear, and look at it like, okay, what's the worst that could happen? You go out of business. I'd rather go out of business trying and developing new skills than just sitting there waiting for it to happen. And you know, what I've seen in the past is most people that, that. That are in the moving business, even if they have a rough time and end up, you know, having to close down, they end up opening another moving company. It's like, skill up right now. Learn how to do it the right way. Use. Use that. This. This Covid. Opportunity to say, like, all right, no, no, no. Like, I'm not, you know, like, that's what happened to me when the recession came, right? The recession came and pointed out all my inefficiencies. I was good la de da making money until then. And then it was like, oh, wait, you know, it's. It's different. I mean, it's like there's an opportunity right now to learn how to surf, right? So let me explain you. Right now, there are giant waves crashing, right? There's giant ways. Like somebody called you, like, Chris. There's giant surf out there, man. You got to go out there and you're like, oh, my God, I can't handle that. Right? That's what operating in. In a recession or something like this feels like. It feels like it's so much more intense. It's so much harder. But the people that learn how to. How to surf, the people that learn how to ride that wave, right now, that wave is going to take them so far that they're going to be so far beyond the competition, so far beyond the fear and the problems. Like, now's the time to really, you know, learn whatever skills you need to learn. Like, let this be the thing that. That. That points out to you, the things that. That it's time to sharpen, right? It's time to sharpen. To not only help you thrive through this, but. But then when you come out on the. On the other side, you're even better. When I came out on the other side of the recession, I was better, stronger, making more money. You know, things were smoother. I was really, like, fully embracing and living and being that moving CEO. And I wouldn't. I wouldn't take that. That. I wouldn't. I wouldn't have it any other way. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Wow, that's cool. So let's, let's recap. We've got. I'm responsible for my own results. If they can, I can. There's got to be a better way. Moving is my vehicle to financial freedom. And when I improve, my business improves. Now, is that the order? I mean, is there, Is there, Is there a beginning and an end to becoming?

No. And there's. Listen, there's more to it, you know, but these are the things that were clear to me when I sat down and I was like, look, what, what is it that, you know, I know. I feel like I know what, what made me successful, but, like, what. What can I match between. What are the same characteristics? What are the same mindsets between that I, that I had and that the people that I see that are. That are, you know, achieving at high levels in the business. And these were like, the ones that just were clear, right? They're like, okay, we all share these values. We all share this mindset. And so, you know, you started the question of, like, are there certain. I think it was certain, like, personality traits or something like that. And it's really the mindset stuff that is the common denominator.

Okay, okay. Well, I mean, if you adopt these, these philosophies and become that moving CEO, you're, You're. You're in good company, right? There's lots of very successful and, you know, innovative people that all think this way.

So that's it. So take those. Listen, if you didn't listen to part one, go listen to part one. If, if you're new to the, to the Moving Mastery Podcast, if this is maybe one of the first episodes you're catching, go back and listen. There is so much content there, so much training, so much information, so much perspective on just, you know, different ways to look at this business. You know, if you want to take it to that next level. Join the Moving CEO business program. Let's. Let's do this together for the next year. Just go to movingceo.com and just go out there. Believe you could do it. Know you're responsible for your results. Say to yourself, every day, there's gotta be a better way. Know that moving is your vehicle to financial freedom and believe that when you improve, your business improves. Adopt that mindset, and I promise you, things will start to unfold for you the way that you want them to. And until we see you next time, my friend. Go out there every single day. Profit in your business, thriving your life. We'll see you next time. Hey, my friend, I hope you enjoyed that video. Make sure you subscribe to this channel. And if you're really ready to take your moving company to that next level, watch that video right there. And until I see you in the next one, go out there every single day. Profit in your business and thrive in your life.