Mike Minutes Mastermind 08/08/2024

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Mike minutes. Mastermind. Happy Thursday.

Let's get this party started. I just looked at the queue for questions. There's only two. So in the description, if you'd like to leave a question, there is a link to the Google form. It is always there. By the way.

Let'S go ahead and get this thing kicked off.

One quick announcement. I guess I'm getting a truck wrapped just for the media team. It'll be parked here at command center so we can balance out and do more stuff with it. Very good. Should allow us to get more content faster instead of always having to bother the Bellingham shop for trucks. So that is good.

All right, let's rock and roll. Let's jump right in. I think there's just a couple questions.

All right.

First one up is from.

Nick from Hudsonville, Michigan. Mike, I've been reading about the recent Alabama court ruling strike down the beneficial ownership information BOI filing requirements for small businesses. And there are a lot of discussions online about potential freedom infringements and privacy concerns related to this. Given the current case law and these ongoing concerns, I'm wondering how you're handling this with our franchise and other businesses. Are you going to comply? Do you see any concerns or issues with filing this BOI report? And what is your recommendation for our franchise? I'm inclined to avoid giving the government more information than necessary, but would like to hear your perspective on the best course of action. Thanks, Nick. Yeah, so for people who don't know.

The beneficial ownership information is basically having to disclose to the government. Essentially Anyone in an LLC that has more than 25% interest.

All stakeholders, you have to mention them. Obviously with a public company it's very easy to track this, it's public. But private companies, they are cracking down on this. And so.

My POV on this is similar. Like I don't want to give more information. I wouldn't have felt that way if it wouldn't have been for Covid when, you know, I was like threatened to go to jail and threatened over like $5,000 per day fines if I stayed open, etc.

However, I see why they're doing this and I actually think it is probably necessary, especially with cryptocurrency, the way it's going. So there's just so, so many ways to have shell companies. So what someone can do to launder money is essentially, you know, have some sort of illegal activity, take crypto, then use a shell company to basically take that cryptocurrency, exchange it into a Different wallet and then exchange it into US Dollars, then exchange it into cash. And then now that money's been laundered, it's been gone from dirty to clean through a shell company. So this happens a lot. It's important for the sake of.

Crime, in my opinion. Will it be misused? Yes. A lot of times the inherent.

Implications of giving information for the sake of security is usually then misused. That's just the truth. However, I do see there's valid concerns and there are like, I, I just see it consistently around the technology of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, it being people having shell companies, and then it's very, very hard to track them. And so it's a, hey, we're selling Windows. And in reality, that is a shell company to basically launder money from their illegal eagle activities. It's hard to track cryptocurrency, and it's hard to track it even more so if that cryptocurrency is being laundered and put into dollars through a shell company. So happens all the time. People do it to avoid taxes. But more so, I think the, the spirit of this law is to crack down on, on. On crime and people that are getting paid for things like ransoms and drugs and, you know, guns and things like that. So, you know, will that you be used against you? Eventually, probably. Would I comply? I personally would, simply because I have nothing to hide. And so the bottom line is, if you're running your business legitimately right now, they already have all your information.

You already are filed with your secretary of state, you already have a business license, you already are registered with so many different government agencies. They have all your information. So that's why in this case, I'm like, hey, sure, file me with another organization. But now this one's going to prevent people from having minority stake ownerships in these shell companies and basically being able to hide their name from the government. So is that a bad thing? No. Is giving more information to the government a good thing? Probably not. But in this case, I think that it will affect us very little, if at all down the road, because we are. They already know all your information. They just do. If you have a credit card in your business name, they know all of this stuff already. So what they're trying to prevent, though, is having like one clean person. So they'll get. So these shell companies will do. They'll get one clean person that hasn't. Doesn't have a record. They'll put them as the 60% ownership of a shell company and the other 40% or 10% or 15% will be divvied up between criminals and then they won't have to put their name on it. So that's what this is, I think the spirit of the law is trying to do here. So, Mr. Anonymous, do you have any advice for being content or patient while being in your current stage of business or life?

It's always been said to enjoy the process of building as you will never feel like you have made it and that finish line will forever move further and further away as you achieve your goals. We all want more and it can be a mental battle between being patient and wanting it. Now.

A few things I would say. First off, one way to get around this is create more finish lines. So everyone has like, well, there's like this one big finish line. Let's say it's building a million dollar business. Okay, great. That could take you years to achieve. Can you make more finish lines on your road to that major goal? Would be my first thing. Second, because like if, especially if you like that dopamine hit of like hitting a goal crossing the finish line, just make more finish lines. Instead of having a finish line at the end of the marathon, have a finish line at the end of each mile of the marathon, have 26 finish lines.

So that might be helpful. So it's like, okay, I'm not going to like go after this million dollar business. I'm going to also have like, okay, when I get four trucks, when I can go away for a vacation for two days and the business doesn't fall apart, when I get 10 leads in one day, when I have a month where I can do 50,000 plus, like make all these finish lines and goals, write them up, put them wherever so you feel like you're making some accomplishment on the way to the very large objective. If that motivates you. That doesn't motivate me a whole bunch, to be honest. Like having smaller finish. But for a lot of people, that's really, really important. So you just got to kind of know what, what keeps you motivated.

Was a part of this. Do you have any advice for being content or patient while being in your current stage of business or life? So one, one kind of frame that kind of helps me is like, okay, if, if I didn't keep growing the business, if I didn't make more money, am I happy? Like, am I, am I okay where I'm currently at? Content. So if you're going to use the word content, which I do, let's be Very clear. It's not complacency. But if I'm content.

Like, to be content, it's like, okay, if I didn't have any more money, if my business did not grow, am I okay with that? Like, if for the rest of my life I was at this current stage, would I be okay with that? And the answer to that is no, then there's no reason to not be grinding and hustling. If the answer to that is yes, like, okay, I'd be fine. Like, I have a little bit of money in the bank, I have some employees, the business is okay. I'm able to take a weekend here and there off. Like, this is cool. If you're content where you're currently at, great.

You know, even if. Even if the desires and the goals of making more are there, you can still be content where you're currently at. So, like, if I want a vacation, I would still do Mike Man's masterminds. I would still want to do a lot of the work that I do, because it is something that I am. I'm content as I am currently am. And, you know, anything on top of this is like super gravy. I think comes somewhat with, like, when you do have kind of a close graze with death, you kind of get this frame pretty quickly. And that just like, look, I'm content to wake up. Anything that happens good today, fantastic. Anything that happens bad, I'm gonna learn from it. And I didn't. I don't. I. I could have not experienced this. Like, I could have not been sucking air today. So that helps.

Having that kind of frame. One other thing you said here always been said to enjoy the process. I'm not. I'm honestly, I don't enjoy the process. This is just me. People have different ways of, of making sure they stay on. For me.

Sorry I've been all blocked up the last few days. For me, I don't enjoy the process. For me, I just look to seeing evidence. And for me, that's just progress. I need to see progress. And so constant improvement is our number one value for a reason. And it's like, I don't need to see perfection. I just need to see progress. And it's the only thing that will keep you when things are going bad is progress. And what is really, really tough, it's like, well, the business is falling apart. Like, people are leaving and I'm losing money. Like, how is that progress? Okay, pause. Three years ago, what was your revenue? Three years ago, did you have any employees? Three years ago. Like, that frame is helpful. It's like, no, you're making progress. It doesn't mean it's going to be a linear. Linear to success, your final goal. It's not like you're gonna like elevate in this elevator to go there. It's gonna be choppy getting there. But like, if you actually usually three years is a good frame of like, actually understanding, am I further ahead now than I was? And if the answer to that is yes, then it means you've made progress. And if you're making progress, I would know that, okay, as long as I'm directionally correct and I'm making progress, this is a win.

And so.

Yeah, like, it's very easy to.

Compare yourself and then judge yourself based upon that comparison. But if you can just compare yourself for a measuring stick, and it is the challenge of being a close knit community, like Augusta is. It's very easy for us to compare, which is like a huge benefit, but it's also like a huge detriment when you're not doing well. Because when you're doing really well, it's nice to be able to compare because, like, okay, great, I'm making all this traction and progress and I talk to other people and now I get to share with them because they're learning from me. And like, there's so much like, reinforcement as you're growing.

In a community. The problem with a really tight community is that it's so easy to compare also. But when you start to judge yourself because, oh, man, they're further ahead of me, or like, oh, man, they have more locations than me, or, man, they have a great general manager, I don't have a good general manager. And so it's very easy to start judging yourself based upon the comparison. And so, you know, Alex talks about this all the time. Like, comparison is not the thief of joy. The judgment of that comparison, that's what takes away joy. The comparison part is just like, you're just. It's just the benchmark. So it's like, they're here, I am here. Okay. Am I gonna judge myself? No, I'm just gonna realize there's a difference between our skill set. And now I'm gonna go on this journey to gain the skills.

I don't think you'll ever really feel like you made it. I would really try to distance yourself from that notion. There'll never be a finish line where you're like, I am. Everything has been accomplished and everything has been done, because.

The type of person that is going to Achieve the goal you have in mind is the type of person that will also move the goal post when you reach that goal. And so if you realize that, then the goal posts always change. Then it does become a matter of, let's just make more goal posts and like hit more targets along the way to keep me motivated to keep doing that. And then if you're like, well, I'm stressed out, okay, great, dial back how fast you need to hit all these, these, these benchmarks. Because if you just dial back your speed, you won't have to go in as much debt, you won't have to leverage yourself, you won't be as much stress, you won't work as many hours. So then you just throttle. How fast do I need to do this? Like, speed will, will add so much stress to everything. It's like, this is why it's kind of a contradiction here. Like content versus patient. Like if, if, if you are patient, you were like, the likelihood of being content will be higher because you will not be trying to go fast. And when you, because whenever you try to do something fast, you're going to add leverage, you're going to add way more work required because there's way more inputs in order to achieve the output and in that timeframe. And so if you can just realize, okay, I'm actually okay where I'm at right now, like I make enough money and like I would survive if I just kept doing the same thing I'm doing now. Oh cool. That means anything that comes on top of this is like pure gravy. Therefore, I'm willing to be patient because I am in no rush to reach my goal. I just know that all along the way I'll be content. If you can get there, it's pretty cool. But I know it's like to like not be content, not, not be patient and not see any sort of evidence of success. And so then that's when I take the frame of like step back three years and ask yourself, have you made any progress towards the goal? If the answer is yes, you're directionally correct and keep doing whatever you're doing. Because after like three, four years of my lawn care business being unprofitable, not making any money, I just had to, I was like, man, I should have gone back to, I should have stayed in medical school. Like that was what everyone told me to do. I was wrong. I'm a stupid, I'm stupid. I'm working crazy amounts of hours. So yeah, tons of self doubt, tons of like, I shouldn't have done this and all the rest of it. And so I said, okay, three years ago, I didn't have a business. I didn't have any employees. Now at that time, I think I was like, three, four years. I was just coming up to a million. So I'm like, I'm almost at a million dollars. Like, come on. Like, there's something there. I'm doing something right.

And I knew I was directionally correct. And so then just staying on that path is what led to the success down the road. But, like, that doesn't. It doesn't look like success four years in. It just doesn't.

So. But if I could have been more patient and like, okay, after three years, I don't need to be hitting a million. I can be at 500,000 making more profit. I probably would have been less stressed out and working way less hours. And so just, like, how fast you want it is going to be the dial that gets you there faster, but also ratches up stress, leverage, etc. And so just, like, what level of stress and pain are you willing to deal with? It's kind of like the determining factor of how fast you'll hit those goals typically. So. Good question. All right. Oh, I got to send the text message out. Sorry, everyone. I was like, why is there not very many people on? Okay, I'll send it out. Thank you all. Have a fantastic rest of your day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Take care. Let's get that next session scheduled, and then we will.