0189: Business Builder Camp: How To Build A Business and Life That Matters with Wayne Herring

EA interviews episode 189, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the Imperfect Action Round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's Expert Authority Effect interview. So you have a successful business, but do you have a life of adventure? Do you have the family you want? Do you have the finances you want? Are you living the life you want? I'm excited to have the founder of business builder camp Wayne Herring on the show today because he's going to be talking about that it's not just about succeeding in business, but it's also about succeeding in business and in life. I'm going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. Visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's free businessbook publishingcourse.com Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Wayne Herring. Wayne, how are you feeling today?

Mario, good to be with you.

I'm excited to dive in because there are so many people that have successful businesses, but I'm not sure if they have a successful life. I don't think they're doing everything they want and I frankly think everyone can use more adventure. So what would you say to someone who is already successful but isn't doing every last thing that they want to?

I would say right now, write down those things that come to mind that you'd like to do and put it in your calendar, whether that's a week from now or several months or several years, but start writing those things down, put them in your calendar because you don't put them in your calendar, they're not going to happen.

Why is that?

I think that, you know, we all, when we're in business, there's always something more to do, right? There's always one more email, there's always one more LinkedIn Connect request that I could send. There's always on and on and on, another piece, another component. And then I see a piece of content and then I get on social media and I go down that rabbit hole and on and on. And our brain likes to be busy and it's, and it's, you know, it's just so easy to say, I'll do that tomorrow, someday soon it's coming when this happens and I'll do it. We just, we just don't make time for the things that really balance out life and make it worthwhile.

I'm glad you bring that up because life is supposed to be enjoyed. And I think it's easy for entrepreneurs to get wrapped up in business.

It's easy for me to get wrapped up in business. I love it.

When you're working with people, what are some of the obstacles that you first help them overcome so that they get on that track of living that adventure of having that family life in addition to business?

Well, one of the things we do is just get clear on what you want because it is a process. So the obstacles that we're talking about are not always so apparent. Right. Like these are tricky obstacles. We're talking about the tendency to keep scheduling in more, the tendency to keep business, business, business, business. So what I do with people is start to take them through a process. Like just earlier today I was starting a new group out and we sat and we did the wheel of Life, which is not my exercise. The Wheel of life is something you could Google right now and you can find that. And it's simply a way of looking at life in eight dimensions. Not just career. Career is one of the slices, but there's seven other ones. So in order to overcome the obstacle or see the obstacle, we first have to start by betting, getting clear on how satisfied am I in the other seven dimensions. And then what I always have people do is start to write in what are small actions they could take. What would they like to create in those different dimensions? Because by writing it down, then oftentimes the next steps will become clear. And then I think if people keep not doing it, then in coaching, when I'm working with them, we can start to talk about why they're not doing it. And we can also sometimes start to get tough with people and help them push through the resistance. By that, just put it in your calendar, man. Just do it. And in a peer group like business builder camp, then you get other people that are also jumping on you, not just your one on one coach.

What would you say are the.

Common problems that entrepreneurs are having that hold.

Them back.

From living that full life? Yes.

You know, again, it's not to be too simple, but it's just, I think it's, it's so easy to think we have forever, that, that we can, we can keep delaying. I, you know, it's hard for me in this case to talk about obstacles. What will come to mind are more the, the positive flip side of that. Like I'll give you an example. I wanted my son who's just turned 12 and I love traveling and I hadn't done it for a while and I Haven't spent a long block of time with him ever. You know, I've had weekend trips. We've got four kids, so I've spent time with all of them. But I just, I kept waking up the recurring dream of being in my truck and just driving. And so I, I said to my wife, hey, I want to take Thomas for two weeks to Colorado and, which is about a 25 hour drive from Pennsylvania. And so, so then the wheels started turning on that. Like I said it, I verbalized it. I told him we were going to do it once I told him we were going to do it once I told my wife we were going to do it, there was no turning back, right? So then it was, all right, well, here's the dates. And we picked the dates and we started getting ready with some food and a cooler and on we went. So when I want to, when my wife and I want to want to create something, it's like that we really, we just talk about it and then it goes into the family calendar and it goes into my work calendar and I, you know, make the arrangements necessary in my work and then we, we go do those things.

Do you think, how do you think businesses would be impacted if more entrepreneurs were taking time to do stuff such as that, that they would enjoy?

I think businesses are helped when the founder or when leaders take extended time off because.

You know, it's, it's a, it's a circular type of a problem or it's, which came first, the chicken or the egg type of thing. If, if somebody schedules two weeks off, then they are absolutely going to make sure that the, the steps are taking to protect the business because they, they love their business. They're not, they're not going to go for two weeks and let the whole thing go to crap. It just, it doesn't work that way. So it's kind of like the day before vacation, right? The day before. The day before vacation. When people are traditionally employed are often, it's often the most effective day they'll ever have. I know I experienced that for sure when I was an employee. And so similarly, if a business owner is going to take two weeks of vacation if they're real and if they're really going to take two weeks off. I don't mean, look, it's not realistic for most business owners to not check in at all, but to check in minimally and to not be on their phone. You know, I wasn't on my phone when I was with my son, fishing, so on and so forth. It's like if I put it in my calendar, then I will talk to Joe and Susie and Fred and the key people in the business to make sure that I'm able to go on that trip. But if I don't schedule the trip, I may never talk to them about what it would take to empower them to handle things while I'm gone. Right. So I think you have to do it. It's almost like the Nike slogan, just do it.

Just get it done.

Get it done.

So I want to ask you about the inspiration for the start of the company. What made you want to go from being an employee to being an entrepreneur and getting get business builder camp off the ground.

Business Builder camp isn't the first venture. After being an employee.

I've had an opportunity, Mario, to work on different ends of businesses in different spots. I worked with my dad for nine years in a company that he started in 1992. So he started 92 and I was there from 04 until we sold. Well, we brought on a private equity investor and sold the company, sort of, although they call it partnering when the private equity firm came in. And then we grew the company, we sold it to a publicly traded firm in 2013. So I, in that sense, I was there with him when he started it. In the beginning, I helped him type some of the first contracts on my old Tandy computer for the. Yeah, I remember those when he, when he started it. And I used to lick envelopes and stuff them with mailers to get them going. And then I came in about, you know, like halfway through the history of the company. And we grew it, we doubled in size. And during that period of time I had started an organic farm with my cousin and with my wife. So we were raising pigs and chickens and turkeys. And so I got to experience the startup stages of a business with the farm. And then when we sold the company, I was sitting at my kitchen counter and realizing that I did not want to go along for the next push to grow the company from 22 states to 48 with the acquiring company. And I also knew that the organic farm wasn't going to pay the bills and take care of the things that we needed at home with four kids and a mortgage and 20 acres and all those things. So that, that was how I got started in coaching consult. And I, I did one on one coaching, working with a handful of clients for about five years before the urge to start going beyond one on one happened. And that business builder camp came out of that desire to move beyond one on one I still do one on one coaching, but the desire to build more of a business and have mastermind groups started five years into the coaching journey.

Okay, so you didn't jump right away. And it sounds like you have a fun story in between there. How was it getting business builder camp off the ground? Was it easier because of the experience or did you find it had some difficulties because it was something new you hadn't done before?

During the coaching journey, I've had a number of paths that I had gone down to work to scale the coaching business. There was a time where I was going to, to build a more of a training solution for how to hire salespeople. Okay. And I learned a lot about working with virtual assistants. I learned a lot about.

Marketing and identifying a target market.

Ultimately, I ended up going back to one on one coaching, which is just kind of a comfort zone, I guess for me. So. So, yeah, so doing business builder camp, that started in May of 2018. It was the first time that I did a live event with a handful of male business owners in an outdoor venue. And it's been fairly slow really. And intentionally, I've taken my time with going from one on one coaching to building the group. This time in the past, I would get all excited about an idea like this hiring salespeople product that I had in mind and it would be like chasing shiny things. But it didn't last. In business builder camp, I've purposely been going slower in terms of hiring an assistant, putting processes and systems in place with her one at a time rather than saying we gotta do all these things like all at once. It's been more.

You didn't want to overwhelm her.

What's that?

You didn't want to overwhelm her?

Yeah, I didn't, I didn't want to overwhelm her. I didn't want to overwhelm me. I didn't want to.

Get my wife, you know, all kinds of stirred up because Wayne has a new idea and it's really easy for me to. Well, I used to, you know, years ago, I'd get a new idea like that. I'd want to talk to her about it. I'd want to share with her how great this thing was going to be. And now I just, we're busy. We have four kids. Like, I don't, I don't need. If she asks, I will talk to her about what we're working on, but I don't need to, I don't need to burden her with, you know, all these, all these different ideas.

I gotcha.

So what do you, where do you see the business going? Let's say five years from now.

I.

Have a.

Sheet of paper visual that hangs behind my computer. It's not here where I'm recording, but in my home office I've got a sheet of paper. I'm a strong visual. So there are 40 stick figure men that I've drawn as members of mastermind groups and then I got tired of drawing stick figures. So I have dots for my entry level program which we call basecamp and there's 100 of those people. I think in, I think in five years, Mario, that, that there's a good chance that I'll be at the point where I'd like to have some other coaches helping this community of men who are building businesses and also lives and living lives of adventure.

But we'll see. The five year vision is simply to help more people and make an impact and make a difference. The 40 and 100 are the numbers on the wall and that I carry around in my pocket on a little three by five car.

So what is the ultimate impact that you're looking to make?

I have this vision in my mind of having my 40 guys in a room. It's somewhere that's a outdoor themed venue and we're, we're at a gathering of the camp and it's a feeling and a sense of men who have lived the life that they've always said they wanted to live. Men who have taken their sons on a two week trip to Colorado or who have taken their daughter on a missionary trip or.

To do whatever they want. Men who have, you know, if they say they want to get in shape instead of just talking about it like they've gone out and hiked mountains or run an ultra marathon. And it's men who have built companies where employees.

Feel like they're part of a family and feel like they matter and they've made an impact. So when I, yeah, I do, I do a lot of like visualizing and thinking about.

The impact, but it's, it's not in. I don't visualize it in terms of dollars or, you know, anything that that's a number. I'm really a kind of a, like feel it and see those 40 people and they're sharing stories and talking about the good stuff that has happened and.

It'S a brotherhood that's, that's powerful because there's so many people. You know, unfortunately, I've come across a lot of people who didn't really have family growing up. And if they did, it wasn't the best environment.

And I know that plays a role with your confidence, just how you should be acting in certain. Not even certain situations, specific, certain situations, but how you should just be acting and carrying yourself all the time. And when you don't have those examples, it's, you know, things get off kilter, which you might have the heart and the knowledge and expertise and desire to grow a business, but now you're, you know, I heard the quote that you don't have any business problems. They're all personal problems that get carried into business. And I think it's great that you're helping men because that's going to create this ripple effect of just better families and better businesses across the board.

That's where we're going for. You know, I have a client, his name's Jack justice, and he wrote a book called Get Found Online. And he's got a company named Ramblin Jackson. And he's been growing, and he. And he helps landscapers build websites, but he helps them build websites that attract their ideal customers. And then he's been going beyond and helping them with their sales processes. And I have said to Jack a couple times, if I had the transcript of our boxer interactions over the years, we could write a book on how to build a sales team and how to be a leader and how to, you know, gather people up for all hands meeting, because these are all things we've talked about. But one of my favorite things in the boxer thread, Mario, is pictures of him and his boys. Like, last weekend, he sent me a picture of him and his two sons in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on a daddy weekend. And like, oh, that's awesome. Like, that. Clients want to share that stuff with me. I feel like I kind of own a little part of that.

Yeah, you're helping them create it. And that's a perfect segue into, you know, is he the biggest transformation you can think of, or do you have someone else that also comes to mind?

Yeah, well, he's a great one, but I just, I. Yesterday, I had one of my clients. His name is Tony Stokes. And Tony received a packet of some of our new materials. We can also do journals at Business Builder Camp. And a little sticker for the window of your truck. So you're like part of the. Part of the camp. And he posted. It was like one of those things that pops up on social media. I didn't ask him to do this, but it said, hey, I just received some cool things from my coach, Wayne Herring, and he Noted how their business. He's an elite dog trainer. So we're in a small town in Pennsylvania and he has people bringing dogs in for board and train for multiple weeks. And he's charging a lot of money, but he's worth every penny to have them bring their dogs in. And he's been hiring employees and then he has employees training employees. And he's like a massive road biker. He's been doing 120 mile rides. And all this stuff has happened since we've been working together and he proposed and they have a child on the way. So it's that whole full circle. Like he's making more money, he's building a business, he's building systems that allow him to be out doing 120 mile rides. And him and his wife were working together in the business and they've been communicating more clearly. They've learned how to talk about things like the intersection of the money in the business and the money at home and. Yeah, so that's a fun one too. That just comes to mind.

Well, I appreciate you for sharing those with us because you know, there's people that have successful businesses and they're successful with what they do. But one thing I always look for.

Is people who can bring on other people and coach them, train them, teach them. You know, you can be a rock star yourself, but frankly it's kind of boring just doing it yourself. But how many other people can you bring and have them rise up? And it's always great to hear those transformations because it's not only inspiring, but I believe it shows that it's doable. It's not always easy, but it's a simple process.

Right?

For sure.

So beyond the 40 and the hundred, you know, I had asked about the five year goal. Have you thought about like ten years out?

Yeah, I've even thought beyond that. Mario, There's a guy that. So I'm constantly hiring coaches and I've been constantly participating in group programs and I'm a member of a mastermind right now and I always learn from those people. To be able to bring it back to my tribe is partially aligned with constantly investing that way. There's a coach I've worked with, he's the co author of the book Prosperous coach and his name is Rich Litvin. And Rich talks a lot about like he's got some resources online that talk about setting an impossible goal and how important it is like to kind of trick your mind into setting something way out there. And then he also talks about what are you in for, for the next 20 years. And so I'm 44, almost 45. And I think I'm going to be 60. I'll be 65. Like, wow. And then I always go through. And how old will my oldest daughter turn? 17 today when we're recording this? So she'll be 37. Like, what will she be doing? And when I think out that farm, Mario, truthfully, it's not a number or it's not profit or revenue or anything like that. But what I'm convinced of after having spent almost seven years in the coaching space is that in 20 years, I want to be an even more effective coach to help these guys grow than I am now. I know that I want to have a trail of stories. Those two that I just told you about, Jack and Tony are wonderful. But in 20 years, I think about like, wow, how many people could I possibly impact? How many people could I help have a better marriage? So I don't, you know, I don't think it's, I, I don't exactly want to clarify that this is exactly what it is, but, but I know it's just a continuing growth, a continuing expansion. I'm committed to this line of work and helping people. I've learned that I, this is what I was built to do. And so we'll keep going there and keep working to get better at it.

Well, it sounds like you're definitely on the right track and you are making a difference and that's a wonderful thing. So thank you for what you do because I think the world needs more of it.

Well, thanks for that. Appreciate it.

So I'm going to ask you one more question.

It's the fun wheel of whatever part.

Heard about this wheel.

Yep. Right before we thank our sponsor. And your question is, let's get some speed on that. I don't want to drop it, but wow. I think that's the fastest I ever had it. Look at it go.

Like a car wheel. Your question is, who is a well known person you'd love to coach that you know you could help them and they need it?

So he's not well known, maybe except in certain circles. But there's this guy, Tyler Robertson who appears on LinkedIn in my feed and he owns a company named Diesel Laptops. And I just, I've seen him post things about family and I've seen him post things about work and balance and he's very open. So when I see people like that on LinkedIn who are building strong companies but also obviously care about family and life, those are people that I want to reach out to and that I want to work with and that I want to coach someday.

Have you ever reached out to him?

So I've connected with him for sure. And like we've traded messages back and forth. I haven't made a proposal to a conversation. I haven't done a formal invitation. But now that I've said it on a podcast, by the time the episode comes out, I probably ought to do that, shouldn't I?

Yeah, it's one of the reasons I like helping people publish their business books because it's a great way to do it and also super simple to write a note inside of the book and mail it to them.

Yeah, for sure.

They'll. For sure it's memorable. They'll remember it. But yeah, it's always fun to. If you got some people identified, I love asking people that because sometimes some of them do reach out, some of them don't. And I go, they're just another person. And I will tell you straight up from, you know, all the people I've had on the show and they're all high level people that you would not think anyone needs help with anything. There's almost always something we've been able to talk about, whether it's before or after, and sometimes during we can help each other with. And it's like, you know, sometimes I'm literally blown away. I'm like, I know they have a team. I know they have this, I know they have that. And I'm thinking, hey, it's just nice to meet them. And afterwards they're like, hey, could you tell me more about A, B and C? I'm like, you seriously don't know that. So I'd encourage you reach out. If that's one of your dream clients, go for it. Absolutely, I'll do it. All right, we're going to thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action round. You've heard me say every business needs a book, including yours. And it's true. And that's why you should visit freebusinessbook publishingcourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what? Don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having.

An idea and a possibility to actually getting my book published.

Or Catherine, thank you for making my.

Mom number one best selling author.

Or Mary Alice, what he got done for me in three days regarding my book launch.

Unmanageable John Cody. I've worked with Mario over the phone and online and he's been very helpful in getting me where I needed to go with promoting my books.

Rocio, there's no way in the world I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process. Adele, if you're looking for an amazing business coach, I highly recommend Mario Ficcini or Bill Benner. I can't make a higher recommendation than to work with Mario Ficini. He has been great for me and right now I won't work with anybody else except for Mario.

Hey, their words, not mine. Visit freebusinessbook publishingcourse.com to get started now. And I look forward to hearing your transformation as the next video success story. Once again, that's free business book publishing course.

And we are back with the imperfect action round. Wayne, are you ready to take imperfect action?

I'm ready. Let's do it.

All right, 60 second rapid fire answers. The first question is what is the fastest path to the profits?

Fastest path to the prophets is serve other people. You talked about it right before the break by we could send a book, somebody. So in my experience, serving other people first, helping them has been the fastest way to profit.

Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way for them to fix it?

Yeah, the biggest problem is not sitting and carving out the time to proactively plan the other dimensions of life that we talk about. Not only business, but about the other pieces. But that's true for business, too. Just sitting and spending time and getting, getting some clarity rather than go, go, go, go all the time helps. Helps many of them.

Excellent. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Well, I think the first thing is to actually take a look at it and take a look at.

Your customers and stuff. Study one of them. You know, I really like that. I like that. You know, in, in outdoor research, I grew up watching some of these shows on TV where they would like dart a bear and then like, you know, put a collar on it and track it and follow it around. I think in businesses a lot of times we need to pick out a few customers and really follow them and track them. Even if you have a lot of customers, you can't track all of them, but you can pick out a handful individually and study them like the biologists would study the collared bear.

Do you have any specific darts you'd recommend?

I have no idea. No, no.

But I get what you're saying. There's ways to do that. And truthfully, when you said that, I was thinking of tracking pixels, email marketing, anything. I mean, there's. So anything you do online can be tracked for sure.

And what I'm saying is go beyond the metrics and pick out, you know, Facebook, Pixel. You mentioned Pixel. So pick out 5 or 10. Depends on how big your customer body is. But pick out some actual customers and then really study them. And if you can, study them with a handful of people so you can watch their journey, watch the touch points, brainstorm, what are other products that we might serve them with and then they'd also pay us for. That's what I mean by. By studying those. But you can certainly start with a database or email, Pixel, so on and so forth.

Excellent. That's great advice. What are some books you'd recommend that have made a difference in your life?

My favorite sales book is OG Mandino's Greatest Salesman in the World. And not just reading it, but that particular book was written in the style of Daily Affirmations, which Zig Ziglar, you know, think and Grow Rich, has ideas like this. So it tells you to. It says in there, read this book for. Read this scroll. Read this chapter for 30 days. And I have a book at home where there's stroke marks in it, where I've read every scroll for 30 days. So work it. And then the other books that I really love that are non traditional, Steve Chandler is a coach that I've coached with. He wrote a book called Crazy Good. And it's how to have not just a good life, but a crazy good life. And it's written in the style of short chapters, where you could read one chapter every morning and then journal about what it means in your life. So that's another one I'd recommend.

Oh, excellent.

Well, I've appreciated everything you've shared. Thank you for that. Where would you like people to learn more?

Well, we've created a page for your listeners, so it's businessbuildercamp.com forward slash, expert, authority. And there's a resource there called the Best Life Inventory. And it pivots off the wheel of life to get clear on where you're at and what you really, really want. There's also, if they opt into my email list, there's a series of five emails that come with a video from me out on the farm. And it offers it shows them with the download the different tools we use in business builder camp to get in a rhythm and the last thing is there, that is there is a way to get into my calendar and I will spend 20 minutes with people and I really love for people that might want to join camp or people that might want to be a one on one client. I believe in the model of serve first and so you know, I'll bust it and spend an hour and a half helping somebody and if at the end of that time we want to book a longer call, that's great. And if they feel like they're complete and done, that's okay too. We'll have a. I'll have another connection, another friend.

Well, thank you for making that available. It sounds good. And thank you again.

Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been fun.

Expert Authority World we have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. God bless. You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate and qualify leads while increasing profit for you 24 7? And if so, how well are you promoting it? With the Expert Authority Effect publishing method, it's easier and faster than ever. Visit Free Business Book Publishing Course today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit freebusinessbookpublishingcourse.com to get started. Now once again, that's free businessbook publishingcourse.com hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview, video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.