044 Delegating, Scaling & Freedom with Stacy Tuschl

Hey there, real quick before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience live. It is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. Hey there. Welcome to this episode of the affluent entrepreneurship. Oh, my God. This one is golden. I get a chance to spend some time with a dear, dear friend, Stacy Tushel. Stacy, she gets it. She's an entrepreneur. She's been an entrepreneur since 18 years old building bricks and mortar businesses. And she moved into the online space. She's built multiple seven figure businesses.

But.

But she did it as a mom, as a wife, and as an entrepreneur making impact, doing things. She's got. She's the author of the implementation code. And we talk about how do you scale? Whether you're sitting here just starting out and you're trying to build wealth, you're trying to do this, the realization is that remember the critical outcomes of the affluent entrepreneur, the affluence blueprint. One of them is richer lifestyle. The other one is complete freedom. And if you are stuck in your business, if you're stuck in your business and you're not able to move away from that, where is the richer lifestyle and where's the complete freedom? So we walk through all the stuff to how do you hire? What do you look for? What do you need to do to help you get out of the business, to help you create the life of your dreams? So I know this was a long intro, but this one's good. I'll see you in the episode. Cheers.

This is the affluent entrepreneur show for entrepreneurs that want to operate at a high level and achieve financial liberation. I'm your host, Mel Abraham, and I'll be sharing with you what it takes to create success beyond wealth so you can have a richer, more fulfilling lifestyle. In this show, you'll learn how business and money intersect so you can scale your business, scale your money and scale your life while creating a deeper impact and living with complete freedom, because that's what it really means to be an affluent entrepreneur.

Hey there, Stacy.

So good to have you on the show. I don't know, it's kind of cool because we've had a Chance, we've known each other for I don't know how many years now?

Five.

Five. I think. At least five years. Yeah.

At least five. Yeah. So fun. I can't wait to chat with you.

You know, I've watched you just develop and grow. I mean, you're an entrepreneur. You came out of this, you're not out of the space. You're still in it as an entrepreneur to begin with. And then you came into the online space. So you're this multifaceted entrepreneur that has built, successfully built multiple, you know, seven figure businesses and consulted with, with others to help them build their businesses. And I just think that it's a, it's, it's such a cool opportunity to have a conversation with someone that has been doing it since.

Yeah.

All right, so it's been two years because she's only 20.

But she's been doing it for a long time and she's seen changes in industry and everything. So here's the thing. I want to have a conversation around how you did this, some of the things that transpired around, scaling around, doing it as a mom of two beautiful daughters and as a wife of a busy husband and how you didn't retire him, but you recruited him. And the things. Yeah, and it's just like the things that you were able to do because I think the affluent entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurs that listen to the show, they may be in a place. And if you are in this place of sitting back saying, I could never do that, or I could never see myself letting go of things, it's in the letting go that the growth comes.

Absolutely. And I think people look at me now and they see my big team now and they're thinking, oh, it's easy for you because. No, no, no. I started just like everybody else. Right. Solopreneur, just me. I own dance and music school. So I started teaching dance. I was the main teacher for years. And I don't think you'll make the change until you have a reason to make the change. Right. So for me, I was getting a little burnt out, a little exhausted. I didn't want to be working every night, every weekend. Because if you're in the children's industry, you work when they're out of school. Right. So you work every day.

I did it with the martial art studio. Yeah.

You know, like that lifestyle is not easy with children. So fortunately for me, when I was working that shift, I didn't have kids, but I knew I wanted to be a mom. And I realized I've got to Fix this if I think I'm going to do both and do them both well. So my why was I want to be a great mom but still run a very successful business. And that was the time I decided, okay, time to start to learn how to do this. I'm not a master delegator. Naturally, I have learned how to be really good at delegating. But it is a skill you've got to start to focus on.

Now. Did it scare you at first when you started delegating?

Oh, my goodness. Not. Yeah. Not only did it scare me, first of all, how am I going to pay this person? Right? Like, that's the first thought of, like, I'm not even paying myself. How am I going to pay this person? Right. So that one. And then what are they doing when I'm not there? You know, are they saying the things I would have said? Are they treating our customers that the way I would treat a customer? That part definitely made me really nervous too. How do I make sure they're giving the same great experience and then maybe a little ego of what if they're better than me?

Oh, yeah. So what did it take? I mean, what are the things that you did to start to allow yourself to move through that? Because this. It's a big deal. It's a big deal either. What if they're better than me? What if they're not as good as me? And especially for those that are trying to do stuff online and it's based on expertise, because I know for. I struggled with it. I'm horrible at asking for help. You know, I mean, people force help on me. I'm great at trying to help. But in hiring someone or bringing in a contractor or bringing in someone, that was, it was, it was a challenge to let go.

Yeah. I think the biggest thing, I'm a very visual person for me to really, truly believe sometimes I like to see it. Right. I like to see somebody else doing it to know that. And I know that's not always the best. You know, we should believe before we see. But a lot of times when I see it, I get really inspired. Like, if they can do it, so can I. So I remember, you know, I would go to conferences, like in person events. Right. Really early on in my business career. And I would go to New York for two days and it would be really stressful, money wise. I'd have to, you know, I'd be texting my team all day. I would be not very present and then the person next to me would be enjoying the conference her like the husband and wife duo. We're going to stick around for a week in New York and vacation. And I'm like, how are they vacationing? I can barely be here for two days. Right. So I started to see they have a team. They're not stressed while they're here. They're not constantly communicating, sneaking out in the hallway. Right. And they seem like they've got it together. And it wasn't just like one unicorn couple. It was lots. Right. And what was funny was I was just this solo, you know, single attendee. My husband had a job at the time. And when I was really looking at the truly successful people, a lot of them were husband, wife duos. And it was because they really, truly had the freedom. Right. So they were able to do this together. And I started to look at that thinking like, wow, what if, you know, it took a long time for Kent to come home and work with me, but I think just even planting that seed up of this could be possible one day was pretty exciting too.

Yeah. That brings a whole nother dynamic, working with your spouse. I mean, I think that Stephanie would fire me in a minute.

Well, okay. So even just like having the idea of like, I could never work with my spouse or like, this is going to be hard, or people will think things like I've heard, you know, working with a team is a nightmare, or I had a really bad experience with a contractor. I'm not going to go back there. Okay. So people say things like that all the time and it's super dangerous. Because here's the deal. Yes, a team can be a nightmare if you don't know how to lead, if you don't know how to be really honest with your communication. Right. Like, there's so many things that could be difficult, hard, not fun. But that doesn't mean it would have to be in order for you to bring somebody on. I mean, I have never been happier and my team has never been bigger than it is right now.

Wow. How big is your team, if you don't mind me asking?

So, yeah. So in the, in the brick and mortar, probably like 50ish employees. Yep. And then in the online business, I think there are 14 full time employees and then a couple of pretty consistent contractors we use and then a few virtual assistants.

Awesome. So, so substantial. Substantial enough that it could be at least a headache.

100. Here's the thing, a headache can start with one person.

Yeah.

Right. Like, have you ever had the one contractor or one va or the one employee where you're just like oh my goodness, it'd be easier to fire them. Right. Like this is just crazy. So yeah, the bigger it gets, the bigger headache it could be or the more enjoyable, the less work on your plate that you don't want to be doing anymore. Right. I can go on vacation and the team, like I went on vacation the first week in November and the team had a record week without me and we were not launching.

Wow. And that's what you're looking for.

Absolutely. And they were like so excited. And before that ego would have been what if they don't need me? And now I'm like, oh my goodness, they don't need me. That's exciting.

The baby can walk, right?

Uh huh. Absolutely.

There's two things that I think that really are important. At one point I had a team of 30. It was bricks and mortar also. And that wasn't in counting the Martial Arts studio. So Martial Arts studio was a different group but it was still a team of 15 or so because of the instructors and everything. Because I otherwise I was going to be there working my day job and then working from four to eight at night and weekends. And I was a single dad, so I had to find a way. Jeremy was in the martial arts but that also was a different dynamic. And so there's a couple things that I think come into play that I'd love to maybe touch on. One is how do you make sure that you're. Well, first things first, I guess. When do you know it's the right time and how do you make sure you hire right? What are the things that you look for and the things that you're doing to make sure that that happens? Because man, one bad hire can really burn you.

Oh yeah, for sure. When is it the right time? I mean yesterday. There's probably, you know, most people listening are probably overworked, exhausted, they're hust. There is probably a need for somebody on their team. Right. Even if it's just one part time va. There is so much little stuff in the business that has to be done that truly anybody could do. And I mean like 16 year old high school girl, like anybody could pick up some of these hours. I just think you need at least one person assisting you or it means you are doing 100% of all the things which means you're doing a lot of things that you shouldn't be doing in that space or in that timeframe.

Yeah, okay.

The right people. It's massive, right? The right people. One right person or six wrong people? I mean I'll take one white person all day long. Those six wrong people could be messing things up so bad. Right. And then here's the worst part is no one loves firing.

No.

So then you keep the bad people on the team because you don't want to have to, like, suck it up and have the hard conversation and fire them. So you keep them and they keep making things worse, and then it affects.

The rest of the team.

Yeah.

And then the team loses confidence in the leadership.

Uhhuh. Yeah. When you say, when's the best time to hire? It's yesterday. When's the best time to fire somebody? Yesterday. There is most likely somebody on everyone's team right now that they should fire. We know it. I said that. And somebody just thought of Sally, like, she's been slacking. Like, you already know. You know the person.

Yeah. It's just that hard conversation. I actually have to have a hard conversation, not with a team member, but with someone that is part of my circle of advisors, because I think I need to go a different direction. And I've known them for a long time. And I go, oh, man. But in this case, this is my family's mission. This is my family's future. This is the legacy for Stephanie, for Jeremy, for Cammie, and for my. My little granddaughter Emily. But it's all going to go to Budo anyways. My. My dog. And so I have to put that above everything else, including the personal feelings and the difficulty of having that conversation.

Yeah.

You know, and confession time for me. I'm probably one of those that I should have hired yesterday.

Right.

I just went through a launch, and now I put the launch on the calendar kind of last minute. So I wasn't ready necessarily. But a dear friend of ours, Rachel McMichael, is the one. We were on a call like this, and she goes, yeah, so when are you going to launch? And I go. She goes, do you have a calendar handy? And I go, yeah. She goes, tell me where there's a gap where you could do it. And like, I inserted. She goes, good, book it. And I'm like, oh, and sometimes you need to schedule the fear. You need to schedule it. But in that process, I didn't. I didn't have the time to bring all the right people on board.

Yeah.

Now, I learned a lot of lessons. It was a successful launch. It was. It went really, really well. But I learned a lot of lessons, and now I know the players and the necessity to have those players in place. So I'm. This. This episode, everyone listening is as Much for me as it is for you.

Well, so I like going into right people first. Then it's real communication, I say. And what I mean by that is those honest conversations. Right? Really having some tough conversations even heading into launch. All right, things might get a little stressful or hey, I'm surprising you. It's next week and we're getting ready to go. Right? Really being open and honest and then allowing them to communicate as well. Where do you need support and what am I missing? I came to my team this morning with a new idea and I just said, like, what I'm saying to you is not final. I would love your opinion, your feedback. What am I missing? What am I not seeing? You know, our clients sometimes better than I do because you might be having one on one interaction with them. What are they saying that, you know, I'm missing the mark on, like, let's do this together. So that real communication, it's not just you, the boss shouting out orders, it's let's do this together. Like, what are you seeing, you know, with your advisor, with your Facebook ads manager, anybody?

So truly is a team on a common mission. So that brings me to another question. When you talk about hiring, how do your values get involved?

Yeah. So values for me, this is how we've created my values. When I want to fire somebody, I think, what are they doing right now that is really upsetting me. Like, why am I not getting along with this person? I don't think they're a good fit. I started to come up with themes of, ooh, I don't like this. I don't like that. It's almost like I picked my frustrations and the opposite was my value. So number one is integrity. I believe, like, you show up on time, you say, you say you're going to get a project done, you better get that project done. When you said you were going to get it done by. Right. So I was not loving when people were showing up late and not valuing everybody or when they were not, you know, finalizing their project. When they said they, you know, they picked the timeline and then they didn't deliver it. So that's number one. Number two, I have them, right? I can I see them because I always use that on my board here to look and reflect. So number two is high standards. I am not a perfectionist, but I have high standards and I want my people to have those high standards too. Right? Then it's resourceful. I want my people to not just, hey, I can't find this. It's like, well, Google YouTube. Call somebody. Like, do what you need to do. Okay. Then it's results driven. Because I also want to make sure there's an outcome. And here's what happened. I had those four, and that was it. And I had somebody I wanted to fire. And I looked at my board and I thought, she's killing all four. How could I want to fire her if she's in alignment with my values? And I realized my fifth value was missing, and that's team player. So she was killing it. But sometimes she would say, oh, that wasn't me, that was Michelle. Oh, that wasn't me. Like, that's on Sarah's plate. Oh, I'm not in that department. That's marketing. And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We are a team, and if Michelle needs your help, you better go run and help her. And if it's marketing but you're noticing marketing dropping the ball, you better step in. Right. So I had to add company, my fifth company value, because it was really bugging me. And now those have been pretty complete and sitting there for probably a year, if not more. And I use them in hiring because I will give little tests or little things, and I watch to see are they in alignment. So if they say Tuesday at 11:30 and they show up at 11:33, you're already. Number one is already going to be an issue. Right. So. Or if they do a sample project and it's just very mediocre. Okay. You're not putting in your best effort here. High standards is not going to be, uh, resourceful. This is my favorite. I'll say something like, I might tell you a name of a. A thing like the Oak Creek Library. Right. But I won't tell you the address. And if you ask me for the address, instead of googling Oak Creek Library, Wisconsin, like, what's the address done? Because you're not resourceful.

Yeah. So this is great. So you do use the values in the hiring process.

Yeah. And then when we hire them, we tell them what they are and we say, listen, here's how you know you're the perfect fit. We did this. And you showed you were resourceful. We did this. You showed you had high standards. We did this. And they're like. They almost feel like, wow. Because when you first hire somebody, a lot of times people are nervous, like, am I doing a good job? Do they like me? Like, am I a good fit? And we reassure them, you are a good fit. We knew that before we ever offered you the job. That's why you got the job.

This is. God, I love this. I could geek out about this because for me, persuasion, influence, and bringing the best out of people just, it's so good. Because what you're truly doing, this is something that my wife, Stephanie and I have talked about because she builds teams and runs teams and everything. And this is what you did, is you allowed them to step into an identity that this is who they're being and commit to that. And one of the most powerful forces in human nature is to stay congruent with your values, with your statements, your beliefs and that kind of thing. And so giving them the opportunity and validating that you don't. You would not be here if you didn't check these boxes. So let's take the questioning off the table and out of integrity, our highest value. If we see something, I'll bring it to you. Right.

Which is where the real communication comes in. So we say to them, don't be nervous, don't be afraid. I am not going to hide that I'm not happy with a situation like you. If. And we are very reassuring in the beginning of what is what we're loving. Okay, we like this and let's do more of that. And we're kind of showing them, like, what winning looks like and being very clear what winning doesn't look like. Just to make sure people. People want to know what's expected of them. So having that is really helpful.

Now, do you do regular team meetings?

Yeah, so we actually do a weekly meeting. And every week we do actually somebody shouts out, like, let's say, Mel, you shout out Sarah for being a team player, one of the five values, and you explain what team player looked like for Sarah last week. So Sarah gets recognized. The next week, Sarah calls on somebody else that she works with and calls on it, on the value. They always have to state the value. So every week we're reinforcing our values and what winning looks like on this team. And then we, like, behind the scenes, we're giving them like a gift card to, like, recognize them as well.

So for those of you listening, this piece is so huge because the other thing that you're doing is you're having your people looking for the good in other people. Yes. And it's easy. Look, we live in a world where we want to highlight the bad. The news does it, the social media does it. The media does it. Everyone does it. Your teachers are using red pens, all that stuff.

Yeah.

When do we start to look at the good and Celebrate the good in people. I mean, there's so many studies that show that people will leave a job not because of the job.

Yeah. They want to be acknowledged. Yeah, for sure. We're going to do an annual meeting for the first time this year, really letting them, like, come into the vision and work with us. And we are doing some awards, and the awards, we based off of our values as well. And the team will collectively vote on who they think has earned that. And that's big because when your entire collective team has picked you as the person who's amplifying whatever that is, that's pretty amazing.

That's so cool. So good. I want to shift this. Not too much, but you started out saying, I know that I want to be a mom, and I need to do things differently, because if I don't, I might be a mom, but I'm not going to be a good mom. I'm not going to be a good wife. I'm not, you know, my life is going to be different. So by being able to get these things in place, how has that changed your life? Because in the end, the reality is that we're all trying to create a life. We're trying to impact lives, but we're trying to create a life, not a living, but a life for ourselves and the people we love.

Yeah. I mean, like tonight, my one daughter is actually going to be dancing at my studio. Now, that could be really easy to say. Well, she's there for two hours. I could just pick up two hours worth of work there. Right. But during that time, we're going to drop her off, and then my husband and I are going on a date night for dinner, and then we're coming back to pick her up. And, like, doing that is showing them, everybody involved, that my family is more important than the job. And just, I think the actions speak so much louder than words, you know?

And to me, we go back to the values. You know, I tell people, I said, don't tell me what your values or priorities are. I'm just gonna watch your feet. I'm gonna watch what you do, because that's gonna tell me the truth about what's important, what your values are, what's a priority. And you may tell me that it's a priority to get in shape and lose weight while you're stuffing your face with Twinkies. And I go, it's not. I mean, I hate to say it. It's just not. And so I agree. I used to tell the teachers at the karate school, I said, Our students will learn more from watching what you do than what you say. And it becomes really important on how you step foot. We're a community school, just like you are. And I said, so you out there in the world, how you are, how you interact, those kinds of things. I mean, it all reflects and affects. Because if sensei or the teachers can do that, then it's okay for the kids to do that. But same thing in a work relationship. If it's okay for the boss or the owner to show up 15 minutes late, guess what everyone else is going to do.

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, that's funny, too, is we get to be the leader, not just, you know, for our family, but we get to show other people what boundaries look like. So last night I was talking to the general manager, and she said, I'm actually going to talk to this employee. She emailed back a parent at 12:20 in the morning. And she copied me in. The email was beautifully written. It was perfect. She's ending. She's. She's turning around a bad situation that now is really good. But what I need to talk to her about is why are you emailing at 12:20 in the morning? Why are you not shut off? And you're at home. You should be at home. You shouldn't be working. Right. So really. And it kind of shows, too. We're not. We're not trying to be workaholics here. We're not trying to put in. We're not trying to pay you for 40 or 60. We're not trying to pay you for 40, but while you work 60, we're trying to say we have work life balance and we want you to have work life balance, too.

Yeah. Did that come naturally to you or was it something that you struggle? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, I was the person who would put my kids to bed and then go in the office or in my bedroom with my laptop and type. And I. At some point, you know, I remember Tanner, my oldest, like, when she was old enough to walk, she'd come over and flip my laptop down and she'd say, no more work. Right. And I'm like, ah. Like that kills you. Right? So that was when I said, okay, now they're seeing it. This laptop has to stay in my office. Even though I can easily pick it up and put it wherever, it does not leave my office. Ever.

So good. I mean, look, Jeremy did the same to me. He drew a picture. I'm like going, oh, gosh. Because here's the thing. I. God, I'm Confessing to you, Stacy, I was a horrible boss. At one point. We had a firm. Now I was going through some personal things back then. And we're talking. This is going to age me. So we're talking 19, let's call it 1990. Ish. Okay. And, you know, I had a firm and I didn't know this, but I kind of turned over a new leaf. I realized the error of my ways. I came in basically looking at them and saying, you work for me. And it was so bad. It was horrible. It was horrendous to the point. I can't believe I'm saying this. I've never done this publicly. That I found out later on that the receptionist would put a different colored post it note on her computer screen so people would know what kind of mood I was in. No, it was horrible. I'm like going, why didn't you someone say something? We didn't think you'd listen.

I was gonna say, right. Were you in a place to maybe take it? Because there was times when I would not have taken the constructive feedback. There's no way.

Yeah. And I probably wasn't in a place. And I think that it actually was a dear friend who saw an interaction and said to me, hey, let's talk. And good on him to call me out. And that's when I go, I never really thought about it that way. And I mean, it completely turned and transformed the relationship with my whole team and the staff and everything. And now I look at it and I go, our jobs as leaders, our jobs as owners of businesses, entrepreneurs, yes, is to help our customers, our clients. But Dagon, our team is one of the most important things to serving that cause. And that means that our job is. Is to develop them. Our job is to nurture them. Our job is to support them and allow them to grow. And it took a while. I mean, it took a while for me to all of a sudden realize that and then repair the damage that I did.

Yeah, absolutely.

Wow.

Well, one of the things that I always teach is like, repeatable systems. You hire somebody and then you think, well, figure it out. Like, this is what I hired you for. Like, well, you hired somebody very entry level for $12 an hour. Right. Whatever your minimum wages. And you're expecting them to be this crazy rock star who knows everything. You have not delivered them repeatable systems for them to work the system. You're trying to get somebody who's not a visionary to come up with these ideas and strategies. And that's. You hired a doer you need to give them the processes to do. So it's usually never. I shouldn't say that. A lot of times people think, oh, it's this person, she's gotta go. I'm like, well, let's look at your leadership skills first and let's see if there's some things we can do for you to support them. And then let's assess the situation. You can't assess an employee or a contractor that has been given bad leadership or no support. You have to give them the tools they need first. And that it'd be like making a child take a test and they did not get any support or homework or practice. You know, like, hello, you would give them things to practice and then you would test them.

So this is beautiful because if I start to break this down for everyone, values are important. So first things first, get clear on the values. Second is as you're hiring this team now, hiring in all likelihood, if even entered your mind, then it's too late. You need to hire. And you hire based on values and you build based on skills is what I'm hearing.

Absolutely.

And you support with systems.

Yes.

And those systems can be co created, but that means they need support. Especially if you don't hire at a level that they can create them themselves or they can be created by you and they can then take them over.

Yeah. And here's the thing, you don't have to have systems to hire. You can say, listen, we don't have a system for this role. This is new. So I want you to watch me and I want you to document what I'm doing so that you can still put this on their plate of document it. But watch what I'm doing and document that then at some point, okay, let's try it together. Right. And then the next phase is, okay, are you comfortable in trying it on your own? And I'll watch you. And then pretty soon it's like you got this, like, go for it, you don't need me.

This is so good. So good. And that's what gets you be able to step away from the business.

Absolutely. Yeah. But you don't step away tomorrow, right. When people are like, oh, I don't need your stuff, Stacey, I'm not looking to do this for a couple years. I'm like, if you're looking to do this in a couple of years, you better start today. Because some of these things will take a couple years for you to really like. Mel, if you at some point said, I don't want to be the Voice of the podcast anymore. I'm going to bring somebody else on. We can't do that tomorrow. People would leave. We'd have to come up with a multiple year plan to seamlessly do this where no one would leave because they have fallen in love with whoever we replaced you with. Right. That takes time.

People discount the value of starting early and time in this area and in wealth creation. And it is the greatest lever to sit back and say, I'll get it when I think I need it. So back in the day when I was 18 to 22, I did stunt work and one of the guys that taught me, a guy by the name of Rick Meadows, his primary, he was known for lighting himself on fire. So he was one of those in the movies stuntman that did that. But he used to tell me, he says, if you feel it, I'd never lit myself on fire. I wasn't going to do that. But he says, if you feel the burn, it's too late. Oh, wow. And it's the same thing with this hiring, with scaling, with investing and wealth creation. If there you feel the need, it's too late. Yeah, we should have done it. Now, granted, we can't take back time. We got to do it now and we got to be smart about it. And Stacy's given us at least a little bit of a pathway to do this. But I think it's important for us to look at things and it's not going to be comfortable because you're not used to it, you're not trained in it. But that means, like what you just said, and that's what triggered me, is that we need to prepare for it. So what are you reading? Who are you getting trained by? What are you listening to? What are you doing to skill up your leadership skills? You're the greatest. And this is coming from a left brain accountant. But the greatest skill I believe that we could ever nurture is our skill of communication. Because with it, we can change societies, we can change businesses, we can change minds, we can change directions. Without it, we're at a standstill.

Well, you make a good point too of like, what books are you reading? Right? Who are you listening to? Who are you getting coaching from? Who are you modeling? What businesses are you trying to copy that you like their model, right? So I know you, Mel, and I know how you teach people and I know you are so much more than just like, let's make money and hustle and all the things, right? But some people listening are following certain businesses that they actually don't want to model, but they are so consumed by what they're doing. And you've got to be careful because if you're not modeling the business you really truly want to step into. You want to double check what books, what podcasts, what coaches, all the things.

Yeah. We have another friend that I know that actually went down the path of following someone else's business, hired a bunch of people, and they realized, I don't really want a big team.

I know.

And he had to restructure again. And so I think that along with those values is deciding what is it going to look like for. For you? What do you want it to look like? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want it to feel like? Because without that, you do potentially follow a path that's good for someone else, but it may not fit for you.

Absolutely. You decide what number you're shooting for this year, how many people feels good on your team. It might be one part time va. It might be three people is like your sweet spot. You don't have to have 20 people, 30 people. Like all the things. Right. You have to decide what do you want this business to look like. And we're all at different ages, different seasons, different stages. You just really have to look at the options out there and then figure out, figure out your right fit.

Do you speaking that. Because I know you said you're going to have a team wide meeting, so you are going to allow them in on your ultimate vision and enroll them in this. Is this the first time you're going to do that? Enroll them in the vision?

This is our first annual meeting.

Okay.

We do leadership meetings quarterly and monthly, but just with the leaders and we survey our people. We get, you know, we, we dig in. We get, you know, real communication. Right. And one of the biggest things that we heard from people, not on leadership, was I feel like we're always being told what the vision is and what's happening, but it's already like, done deal. We're moving forward and we'd love to be in the conversation or in the room to help strategize. I'm like, okay, that was one of the reasons we said let's do an annual meeting. And not that the whole team is collectively going to pick our top three goals, but I'm going to listen to what everybody has to say and really take that into consideration before we finalize.

So. Because I like this, because sometimes people just want to be heard.

They do.

Even if they don't. We don't Go that because you're the entrepreneur, you're the owner, you're going to take it the direction that you believe. But as long as people are heard, they've had the chance to speak. This is one of the things that I think society is struggling with today because we in this idea of cancel culture and shutting people down, where's the dialogue? Let's have the dialogue. Allow people to be heard without judgment, without beating people up, because they might just have a perspective. They go, oh, I didn't think about that. And it shifts everything.

There's one personality who wants to be heard, but there's some of your people that they don't want to talk, they just want to listen. Like, think about it. We might have, we might be thinking or brainstorming about something forever and then we spit it out to them in 30 seconds and they're like, wait, what's happening? What's like they can't even catch it. Right. But if they were in that meeting where all your thoughts were happening and saying out loud, they might not have any input and want to say anything, but they might just appreciate being in the room to listen and to hear it and like you said, get enrolled in the vision faster.

Well, and I think you, you then acknowledge the importance of them as a team member.

Yeah. You know, they matter.

Yeah, they matter. So. God, I just, I could keep talking about it because I think this is so important for someone that's trying to find that richer lifestyle for someone that's trying to find complete freedom as we talk about in the affluence blueprint, it's just without this, you are the treadmill entrepreneur. You are running, you are doing the things, you're putting the kids to sleep and then getting in bed with a, the laptop and everything. And that's not what we're in business to do. I mean, there's times where you have to be focused. There's times where it's going to be intense. But. So I'm inviting everyone to sit back and start to look at how you want to do business, how you want to do life, and know that even though our egos tell us maybe they don't do it as good as us, or maybe they do it better than us. Either one. We need to bring people in. This is why it bugs me when someone says I'm self made. No, you're not. You're not. Because one to me, self made that disrespects our customers. Because without the customers, you wouldn't be made at all.

Great point. And Most people with great businesses, referrals are the number one way we explode. And you're really saying you did it. A lot of times you might have one amazing customer telling everybody about you. Yeah.

So, you know, give credit where credit's due and know that this is all, you know, we can. You know, Rising Tide raises all ships, all those things. And there's a gift. I'm going to ask you one other question here. What is it like for you when you see a team member excel?

I mean, so I am a coach, right? You are a coach. The feeling of watching a client get success. Say, oh, my goodness, your program did this. I. That happens in the business with our team. Right. At a totally different level because we get to win together. And that's exciting. Is to go, yeah, this might be my business, but it's really our business and you're a part of it right now. What do you want? One thing really cool we're doing next week that we've never done before either. This wasn't even my idea. This was. Somebody on the team decided to do this. But we are sharing our vision boards as a team.

Wow.

So everybody on the team, they even got Ken to do it, my husband, which is shocking. I'm like, I don't know how you did that, but we all are sharing our vision board. And it's funny because I know some of these people really well. Some of them have worked for me now for nine years, and I have no idea what they're going to put on their vision board. And it's like, how well do you really know some people? Sometimes you might know them in a work environment, but what are they after? What are their goals? How can I help them achieve some of those things on that vision board?

Gosh. Because now you can reward to the vision board you've given them an identity. When you bring them in, you give them the pathway to communicate and feel valued and to grow. And now you understand their personality, their vision, their dreams, and you can look for the opportunities to feed those. I mean, it's. It's genius. It's. It's amazing.

Well, okay, so imagine somebody puts, like a Disney cruise or something on their board. If I want to bonus them, it's not just like, hey, you did a Good job. Here's $50. Right. I could literally buy Disney gift cards and say, add this to your pot. Like, like, you just killed it this week. Throw this in the Disney fund. Like, I can't wait till you take that trip. Right. Like, that's stuff is so much more thoughtful than just throwing a $10Amazon gift card at them.

So good. So good. I know that we're going to run short on time here because I could keep going with you. So let me ask you this one thing. As you speak to entrepreneurs, people that maybe are starting out or they're trying to scale, they're trying to get out of the business, what are one or two things that you would tell them are really important for them to do?

Oh, man. I was like, do you have another hour? Okay.

I think the biggest thing is really, the starting point is really getting clear on your dream calendar. How long are you, like, lots of this stuff. I want to know what your daily schedule looks like. I want to know how many more years you're planning on working. I want to know what's in or on that calendar. Like, what, are you podcasting? Are you coaching? Are you behind the scenes? Are you the face of the business? Like, I want to know all of that because that will dictate. And then here's what happens. That's your dream calendar. Okay, let's go back to reality for a moment. What are you currently doing? There's going to be a massive gap to what you're doing and what you want to be doing. And then we can start to work on the gap of how do we get there. Like, like, if Mel, if you said, I want to be out of this podcast in seven years, okay, let's come up with a seven year plan. Where people are in seven years are like, Mel, who. Like, I thought this person runs that pot, right? Like. Like it can. Anything can be done, but you have to strategically plan. But it will matter what the projects are and what the time frame is. Because if you told me I gotta sell this business, you know, in a year, it's gonna look very different.

Very different. Very different.

Yeah.

So.

And guys, Mel isn't leaving the podcast. I shouldn't be.

No, I'm not. I'm not. This is all new. This is all. This is a new show.

Everybody, right now, they're going.

What? Yeah. Let me introduce you to the new host, Stacy.

Oh, my goodness. I should use a better example next time.

That's okay. That's okay. Yeah. I'm not going anywhere, people. I enjoy this too much, and I think that the world needs it too much. So I'm here. You've got Foot Traffic Academy. I mean, you've got so much going on. Your book, which I have here, the implementation code. If you don't have it, you got to get It. It's incredible. And I love the subtitle Unlock the secret to getting it all done. So good.

Thank you. Yeah, I would say the best place is the podcast. Come on over to the Foot Traffic podcast and check it out.

All right. Yeah, she's great. And I've watched Stacy grow beyond what she did before I knew her. And she gets it. She gets the role of an entrepreneur. She gets the role of a parent, a partner, a team member. She gets it. How do you create affluence? How do you create freedom? And she is definitely someone to follow because she's been through the wringer at times and she's come out on the other end just shining, shining. So, Stacy, thank you so much for joining joining me.

I was just selfishly so excited to hang out with you today.

I know.

On Cloud nine. So thank you. I appreciate you. I appreciate your friendship so much. Like, I just love hanging out with you.

Oh, my gosh. Anytime, anytime. Anything you need, you let me know. Thanks, Stacy.

Thanks, Mel.

Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneur show with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the affluent entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com forward/group, and I'll see you there.

And that's it for this episode of Building your money Machine, where we help you learn how to master your money, eliminate financial stress, and live a life of choice. If you found this valuable or helpful to you, here's what I'd love for you to do. If you do me a favor, go to Apple, Apple Podcast, or wherever you're listening to this podcast and rate and review the show. It helps us tremendously to keep us at the top of the list so we can continue to get this information and this message out to people. Because I truly believe that financial freedom is your birthright, and I want to help each and every one of you claim it. Thanks so much.