TES 001 - Creating a Business of Meaning

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Welcome to the Entrepreneur's Solution, where highly successful entrepreneur Mel Abraham becomes your entrepreneurial mentor. Here, Mel reveals his business building strategies and even gets a chance to answer your questions. Mel Abraham, a CPA by education, but an entrepreneur by exhilaration and a true believer in the entrepreneurial way of life. It's through entrepreneurship that we create community, support society, and live our dreams.

It's where possibility meets reality again and you can have the life and lifestyle you want. One of freedom and peace of mind. Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur's Solution, where it's time for you to be bold, dream big, and live life your way.

Hey there. I'm Mel Abraham, the author of the Entrepreneur's Solution and the founder of Business Breakthrough Academy, where we teach you how to design a business and create a life, a life of freedom and peace of mind. And welcome back to this episode of the Entrepreneur Solution show. I'm really excited about this episode because we're going to talk about is one of the key turning points in my entrepreneurial journey that really shifted things over, opened my eyes to a new way of looking at things, a new way of life and a new paradigm. And so when we talk about this, it's to do the same for you. Remember, when I look at entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship is about building possibility. It's about bringing possibility into people's lives again. It's about giving them another way to live. It's giving them a new paradigm, a new way to look at life. You know, we have so many societal rules and we have so many different ways of doing things. In fact, I followed them at first. When I came out of college, I went to one of the large accounting firms just like every other accountant accounting student tried to do. That was the journey we were supposed to be on. We were supposed to go get a job in an accounting firm and work our way up, you know, until we became partner. And that was our career path. And I, I kind of succumbed to that. I kind of allowed that influence into my life and said, all right, let's give it a shot. So I went to work for one of the large accounting firms in downtown Los Angeles. And I was doing the journey, I was doing fighting the good fight just the way that I was expected to do by the powers that be, the society.

The partners and management of the firm and all that. So I was working the late nights in the suit, the three piece suit at the time, the shoes, the tie, all of that stuff. And here I was, 10:30 at night, after years of doing this, looking out at the skyline of downtown Los Angeles, which, if you haven't seen it, it really actually is stunning at night. And as I was looking there, I was reflecting and saying, wait a second.

This is not the life that I was looking for. And I turned around from the skyline, looked in to the partner's office, and there was the partner sitting there, working late again. And in a moment, in that moment, I saw a vision of what my life was going to be like. Here's this partner who was overweight, stressed out, high blood pressure, diabetes, and probably that close, just inches away from a heart attack. And I looked at it, I said, this is what's in store for me if I stay on this journey. And I realized in that moment that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something different. So I went in literally that night and quit. But that put me on a totally different path to say, how do I design my business? How do I go and do it myself? And I went out and started to try and build my own practice and build my own business. I did it with a couple of partners. And then all of a sudden, in 1996, my partners came to me and said, we don't want to be partners with you anymore. Now, mind you, in 1996, I'd been traveling around the country trying to build my reputation, trying to build a practice during that time. And I also, many of you may know that I've been involved in the martial arts for many, many years, actually for almost four decades now.

And I went into that karate school around then and started to do something I tell my students not to do. One of the I owned was a martial arts studio. I went in there and I started throwing the students around.

And working out without warming up. And next thing I know, I hurt my back. And six weeks later, I didn't do anything about it. Six weeks later, I found myself hunched over down in Chicago trying to speak. And I could literally not move. I couldn't straighten myself up. I Had pain down to the toes. And I found out, found out that I had herniated three discs, down to three discs, 8 millimeters and into the center, into my spinal cord. So.

It was excruciating, painful. I was on disability, and here my partners turned around and said, we don't want to be partners with you anymore. So I found myself on disability with no clients, no cash flow, no work backlog, and I had just purchased a house. So here I was, $350,000 in debt, trying to figure out what do I do? And I was struggling with this decision because now I was faced with the decision of, do I follow the path of my dreams? Do I follow the journey that I want create? Or do I take the easy road? Do I take the easy road and go get a job somewhere? That would be the, I guess, the.

Road well traveled path, the standard path to do that. And I had to reflect on it until I looked at it and said, why? Why am I doing this? See, business is really easy to understand. Building a business is easy. Being an entrepreneur on some levels and is real easy. I mean, you just simply have to take care of two things. One is to minimize the downside. And I've been an analyst all my life. Let's face it, I'm an accountant. So I've analyzed businesses. I know what makes them successful, I know what builds their value, I know what can destroy them, and I know how to avoid those things that can destroy them. So analyzing it, I understood that there was only two things you have to manage in business. One is to manage the downside risks, to minimize the downside risk, to eliminate as much risk as possible. And then the other is to maximize the potential, maximize the opportunity to boost and escalate all of the opportunities that come into play. And if I can manage the downside and maximize the upside, then I'm doing well. The business is going to grow. It's what we call the mechanics of business. It's based upon the business model of business. The interesting thing is that different businesses will have different business models. People come to business for different reasons, so they'll have different business models. Let's face it, some people just come to business, say, I just want to make a profit, I just want to make a profit. And all they care about is the bottom line and the dollars that are coming into their pocket. There's others that literally come into business, believe it or not, to steal your money. If you don't believe so, look at the Wolf of Wall street, all the Ponzi schemes It's not a true business, but they're coming into this world to steal your money. And then there's others that will come into business because they care about things. They want to have an impact, they want to make a difference, they want to solve a problem, they want to create solutions, they want to create a better life for other people. They do it because there's a meaning to business. And that's where. That's kind of the camp I fall into. That's where I learned and work with. That's where I love to work with entrepreneurs that want to build something that's impactful, that makes a difference, that's for a higher purpose. But that's all below the line stuff. The minimizing of the downside, the maximizing the upside and the business model. That's how we do business, and that's what we do for business. And those things are really easy to do. The how and the what. The challenge is what's above the line. The challenge is what's above the line. So I was building my business, I was trying to do that. I had the downside and the upside working. I had my business model in place. I was doing the work. I was building the practice, my own practice. After my partners threw me in, out, and it was growing. I had a reputation and I was traveling and I was. And I was speaking and I was doing all the different things that you should do to build. And the cash flow was starting to come in. And then one day.

My little boy came in.

And he said. And he came in excited and he says, daddy, Daddy, Daddy. I drew a picture of you at school today. Have you ever had it happen with you where one of your kids comes running and so excited about something, they accomplished something they did, and they want to share it with you, that all you can do is stop everything and give them that moment, Give them that moment where you're there with them, present. That was one of those moments where I knelt down and I looked at him and I said, yeah, let me see it. And he hands me this picture of.

Me in blue felt tip pen, a stick figure in front of a desk with a two computer screens, a phone in each ear and the other one on the desk ringing. And all I could do was say, wow. It wasn't a picture of him and I playing ball. It wasn't a picture of.

Me and him at Disneyland. It wasn't a picture of us sharing joy together. It was a picture of me working to the bone. And that's the vision he had of his dad. That's the vision he had of what I was all about. And in that instant, I felt the knife go deep into my heart. I realized I gotta change this. I mean, I had the bottom, the below the line stuff right, I had the mechanics right, I had the model right. But I was missing the greater thing. I was missing the greater good. I was missing what is so important in business today. And what is missing in many businesses today. That's meaning. See, I realized that the greatest responsibility and gift that I had ever been given in my life, my son, I was a single full time dad from the moment he was 6 years old. And I was raising him from that point on. And I look at it, he was my why. He was the thing that was driving me to do some of the things I was doing. But I was also gonna, I was allowing that, that driven need for success to take care of him, to drive a wedge between the two of us. I was failing at the greatest responsibility and the greatest gift that I had been given. And that was to be a dad to that little boy. And I figured I had to figure out, I had to struggle to figure out how do I change that, how do I shift it? What is it that needs to happen? And I realized there's something beyond the below line, minimize the risk and maximize the opportunity stuff that you need to think about. And that's the above the line stuff. What's your legacy and what's your lifestyle going to be like? That's meaning. It's not about the what and the how we do business, it's the why we do business. Simon Sinek talks about this also in a, just in a different format. But the reality is why you do business, what we do above the line, the meaning we give it, the legacy, the lifestyle that informs every decision we make below the line. And if we don't have that set right, if we don't have the above the line stuff set right, we can't make the correct decisions down below. And that's where I was failing in business is I didn't have the above the line things set right. I didn't know what I was doing it for. I didn't know what I was doing it except that I was trying to drive profit in order to take care of my son. But what he needed was not profit, he needed presence. And that's what I needed to realize. And so how often do we take and allow our careers, our professions, our businesses to suck the life out of us? So we dedicate our time to building something, but it's an empty build. I've got colleagues and friends of mine that are ultra, ultra uber successful. They've got one that's got five airplanes. But he's miserable because he lost the meaning behind it. His health is failing, his relationships are awful. That's not a way to live. That's not the way to do it. That's not what business is for. That's not what entrepreneurship is for. So I realized that there's. There's four things we need to ask ourselves as we start to build this in order to make sure that we get the above the line first. Then we dig down on the below the line, and we're going to get into the mechanics. We're going to get into the what and the how of business in some later episodes. But let's start to dial in and drill in to make sure that you have your why correct, where you understand the meaning, what kind of lifestyle you're going to create, want to create the legacy that you're going to create, and why that's important. Remember in the last session we talked about this concept that you can't compartmentalize your life and say, there's business, and then once I'm done with business, I'll have my life. And then once I'm done with life, I have my legacy. That they're all in continuum. They coexist at the same time. That business, life and legacy are created in the moment as we live and breathe, and that every decision that we make is a life decision, not a business decision. It may be have a business context, but it affects life. And we, when we make those decisions or we understand that they're life decisions, we're going to make them differently than if we just simply categorize them and corral them and say it's a business decision. Okay? So every decision I make in business, every decision that I help others make, that when I'm working as part of a board of directors or where I'm working as an entrepreneurial mentor, or when I'm working with entrepreneurs or other business owners, we talk about it in the context of life because we cannot separate the two. And we should not separate the two. So there's four things I want you to consider, and these are four takeaways I'd like you to take from this episode and to think about. In fact, not just think about, actually write it out. To really reflect and write it out and revisit. And the first is this. What are you dedicated to? What are you dedicated to? In the context of the higher purpose, the meaning, everything that you're doing. In my world, I look at entrepreneurship as the vehicle. It's a vehicle to create life. It's a vehicle to create change. It's a vehicle to create impact. It's a vehicle to make a difference. And for me, it's a vehicle to bring possibility into people's lives again. That's what I'm dedicated to. To turn around and find folks that either are in business, but they're not sure where to go next, or they're just thinking about shifting gears and going into business and say, let's dust those dreams off. Let's. Let's, you know, escalate them. Let's give them life, and let's bring them to life so you can live your dreams. It's about bringing possibility into people's lives again. And that's what I'm dedicated to. That's what everything in this show is all about, is to bring possibility into your lives again. So ask yourself this. What are you dedicated to? What is the higher purpose that you're dedicated to? Then the second item, the second piece is, what are you devoted to? You know, what person, people are you devoted to? And this is an easy one for me. This is about my son, my beautiful wife, my. My family, and my friends. I'm devoted to creating experiences and memories that are meaningful for them, that they can reflect and say that their life is different because I was there and that their life is better because I was there. So that's what I'm devoted to in that context. And anytime I lose sight of. I'm getting frustrated with business. I go back and reconnect to the dedication and the devotion that I have. And then we get to number three.

That's the discipline. What are you prepared to do? What discipline? How much discipline do you want to bring to this? What are you willing to do to make this a reality? And, you know, it's easy for us to look at people in the world and say, oh, they're gifted. Well, most of the time, yes, some might be gifted, but most of them are gifted with one thing and one thing only, and that is the gift. Discipline. To do what it takes to build, to create, to continue to master, to become an artist in the things that they do. They dedicate their lives to a pursuit. They'll put in the 10,000 hours. They'll put in the work, and they'll dedicate themselves to making it clear. You know, my discipline, quite frankly, comes from the decades of the martial arts. The discipline that it took to.

Advance and to become a high ranking black belt in the martial arts, there's a lot of discipline involved that is really just systematically and methodically and determinedly going for what you want. And it's the same thing that I bring to my entrepreneurial pursuits, to everything that I do. So how much discipline are you prepared to bring to this game, this world called entrepreneurship? Because the level of your lifestyle, the level of your success is going to be directly proportional to the level of discipline that you bring to this. And then ask yourself, if I don't have discipline, how do I get it? How do I start to build that habit, to build that muscle of discipline? What are the things I need to do? And then the fourth which brings it all home is this concept of what's driving you? What's the energy that's driving you? What's the thing that gets you up in the morning and it gets you moving and that's driving you. And again, it comes back to the things that I'm dedicated to and devoted to and I'm driven for growth. I want to learn. I've got this.

Insatiable desire to continually grow, to become better, to learn more and more and more, more, just as much as I can become your entrepreneurial mentor. I have plenty of mentors myself. To continue to push me to be better, to continue to be better as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as a husband, as a father, as a brother, as a son, to continually see what can I do that's better, to drive me forward. So if we're looking at this, at this episode and we're talking about a business that is a business with meaning, creating a business with meaning, which is what this episode is about. I want you to take away these four things and ask yourself these questions and you can download the worksheet and work through it. But what are you dedicated to?

Who or what are you devoted to? You know, viscerally, emotionally, in the heart?

Three, where's your discipline come from? Do you have enough discipline? Do you need to build the muscle of discipline? What are the steps you need to take to build the muscle? Discipline. How can I support you in helping you become more disciplined? And what is driving you? Answer those four questions literally. Don't just answer them in your head, write them down, journal them. I mean, I journal, this is my journal here. And I spend a lot of time writing about things. So don't just reflect, act, take action. Take those four elements and ask yourself the question, because that's what's going to start to define and refine your why, the above the line stuff. So when we make the decisions below the line about minimizing your downside, maximizing your upside, building the model out of the how and the what, we're going to make them under the umbrella of the meaning that you've created of your legacy and the lifestyle and the things that are important, important to you. That's the important part of this. That's what I call my analyst framework. This is the way I look at a business right from the get go is to start to get a pulse of this and what it is we want to do. So I hope that serves you in this episode and go ahead, make sure that you, if you haven't already, go ahead and make sure that you subscribe so you can get notified every time I do one of these. We're going to be doing these regularly. And if you have friends out there that are looking to be in business or are in business, go ahead and share this with them. Because I just, I look at entrepreneurship as the vehicle, the shift and the change in our society is going to come from you and I as entrepreneurs. And I'm looking forward to being on this journey with you. If you have questions on this episode, go ahead and post your comments or questions here. If you have other questions on business, go ahead and go to Ask Mel.

That's WWW A S K M E L N O w dot com. You'll be able to leave me your question in a voicemail there. I'll make sure that I pick it up and we'll answer it on one of the upcoming episodes as we go through this. So I hope you enjoy this. And if you want to access the worksheet, the tools, go ahead and go to melabraham.com session001. That's melabraham.com session001 and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode where I'm going to talk about the five elements that you need to focus on to build a business. It's going to be the stuff from below the line. It's going to be some of the mechanics and the model stuff that we need to talk about. So we're going to do that in the next episode until we get a chance to see each other in the next episode. May your vision be grand, your journey epic, and your legacy significant. See you soon. Bye for now.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Make sure you subscribe so you get access to all of Mel's business and success tips and if you like this episode, share it with a friend. If you have a specific business or success question, you can ask it at www.askmelnow.com. remember, it's all about being bold, dreaming big, and living life your way because the world needs you. Until the next episode, may your vision be grand, your journey epic, and your legacy significant.

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