Critical Steps to Grow your Business w/Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings

If you're looking to grow your business but need actions and strategy to make it happen, Troy and Rashad of Earn your Leisure are here to help. This is the Launch youh Business podcast because we know starting a business is challenging, but it doesn't have to be confusing. Each week we'll give you the tactical advice and the necessary tools to scale your business without feeling burnt out. I'm Terry Rice, business development consultant and staff writer here at Entrepreneur Magazine. Let's dive in. Today we're chatting with Troy and Rashad of Earn your Leisure. And if you're not familiar with them yet, the Earn your Leisure network is a revolutionary platform which gives rise to emerging and established content creators from the world of business, finance, and entrepreneurship. The Earn your Leisure show has amassed over 50 million downloads and and is consistently ranked in the top 20 business podcasts in the United States, peaking at number one on the apple Podcast charts. So these guys clearly know their stuff, but they also excel at explaining complex topics in a digestible and relatable approach. And I should note, this interview was originally meant to be used for an article, but after chatting with these guys, I knew I had to share more of their advice and perspective with you. Today we'll discuss the one thing you can do to dramatically increase your chance of success, a checklist of actions that will help you grow your business and revenue, and one common but avoidable challenge many entrepreneurs face. So let's get into it right now. So I know you guys do a lot of interviews and obviously have your own show as well, but what is one question about entrepreneurship that you never get asked but people should because the answer is so important?

I think one question that we never get asked is, is the most underrated part of success. And, you know, everybody always wants to know the glamorous part of it and the obvious. A lot of things are obvious, but there's a few things that's underrated. And I think relationships are extremely beneficial, probably the most important aspect of any business or anybody's success. And nobody really talks about how to cultivate relationships, how to make relationships, how to keep relationships. It's actually a skill set that you can actually learn, but I don't think that that's talked about enough. It's not really axed enough. Like, it's not. I haven't never really been asked the question, how do you keep relationships? How do you cultivate great relationships? Like, I don't think I've ever had that question asked. So that's something that's extremely important because it's one thing to make an introduction and actually meet somebody, but. But that's only half the battle. You know, actually cultivating the relationship, keeping the relationship, managing the relationship over the course of time, knowing how to, you know, stay in touch without being annoying. These are all things that, you know. It's a very delicate situation, but it's important and it's extremely beneficial to know because a lot of times people make relationships and they just go ghost that you just don't hear from them ever again. And it's like, what's the point of getting somebody's information if you're not going to follow up? Or if you follow up one time and then you kind of just fall out? So having a system in place, even like a client management system where you're actually managing the referrals that you get or managing the contacts that you make, that's something that I don't think is talked about enough in business and definitely not axed a lot.

Yeah, that's a good point. Because on my end, what I try to do is I'll call it network nurturing, where maybe I don't need anything from you, but I know it's your birthday or I just saw you got a promotion and I'll send you a quick, you know, shout out on LinkedIn or whatever. And I love it.

It's important to, I think, have another source of income at the beginning stages of your business, so you're not relying totally on your business as your sole source of income, because that can cause tremendous financial hardship because most business are not profitable for a while. So, you know, you're putting yourself at a tremendous disadvantage if you have no other streams of income coming in outside of that. I think it's important to, you know, try to pay off debt before you start a business because you have a high likelihood of, you know, accumulating debt at some point in the business, especially at the beginning stages. So, you know, you don't. You don't want to compound the situation to make it worse where you're already coming in with, you know, $15,000 of personal debt on credit cards, and then you're starting a business and then you got to do another $5,000. You know, it's just you. You want to give yourself as many chances to win as possible, because we all know that being successful in business is extremely difficult, but you don't want to make it more difficult on yourself. Right. And mentorship would probably. The last thing that I would say is try to have somebody that is already successful in this space, network with that person. Obviously, a mentor would be the best case scenario. But even if you're not able to get a mentor, um, you know, see if you can add value to that person and in return you can just gain some insight. If you work for them, you know, for free, or if you, you know, shadow them, or if you just read enough, you know, that's even a form of mentorship. You know, just study the industry. Study the industry insiders, read, watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, see the mistakes that people have made, go through, you know, hundreds of hours of audio and kind of dissect it and put together a blueprint. I think doing these things, you give yourself a leg up on your competition and you give yourself a head start in the race. Not to say that you're guaranteed to be successful and you're guaranteed not to have any obstacles. There's always going to be obstacles, but you'll be better suited as opposed to just going out in business and just freestyling it.

Rashad just provided some extremely valuable pointers, so I'll bullet point them for you. The first is to stay consistent. And for me, the best way to do so is to create a goal for each quarter and then determine what I must accomplish on a weekly basis to make it happen. And if you have any problems with getting distracted, check out episode three, where Near I.O. teaches you how to become indistractable. Next, keep your overhead low. Don't invest in fancy tools or a dedicated team until you have a proven business model that could scale with these additional resources. Rashad also mentioned having another source of income. This is super important if you weren't able to save up money before launching your business. And even if you don't like the job that much, at least you know there's a great purpose behind it. Next, you want to make sure you pay off your debt. Besides reducing your stress, this will also make it easier for you to get a business loan or credit card should you need additional funds. And one of my favorite takeaways was the focus on mentorship. And the best way to find a mentor is to identify people who have already accomplished what you've set out to do. Approach them with a specific ask and follow through on the guidance they provide. You'd be amazed at how many people are willing to help you out so long as you put in the work as well. Okay, now let's hear what Troy has for you.

I think kind of right where shy left off is understanding who the competition is in your field. Right? You Want to know what they're doing so that you can figure out how you can add value, how you can make a difference, how you can be more of something that's sustainable that the industry doesn't have. So understand who and what is going on in the industry is. Is key. Finding the right niche is key. Right? Like, you know, if you look at the. The landscape and you're saying, all right, well, everybody's doing the same thing. Well, what can I do that's specifically different than everyone else? Right. Like, even when we talk about finance, if you look at our space, people have been talking about finance for years, for decades, right? We came with a different type of spin. We made a little bit more digestible. We were authentic to who we are. We look different from the average person that's talking about finance. So we found a niche audience. A lot of times people overshoot and say, all right, well, I'll just do what everybody else is doing. Then you look like the crowd. Nobody wants to stand out. And sometimes that doesn't work in business. I think taking imperfect actions is key, too. You know, it's like one of those things, like, what's the best way to start is just start. Well, if you wait for everything to be perfect and aligned, you'll be waiting forever, right? Because it's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be aligned. But what is going to happen is that you're going to learn on the job. And so that's something that we've had to do. You know, we started with, you know, well documented. We started with iPhones. We didn't have cameras. We didn't really know what mics to use. But these are things that we've learned over time. And. And as we were learning, our audience was watching us grow. And so they felt like they were part of the process as well. And they were right. They got to see the evolution. They got to see, you know, the dedication that we put into this. And they said, like, you know, these. These guys are really serious about what they're doing. They respected the craft, they respected information, and now it's led to where we are now. So taking those imperfect gashes in the beginning were vital because we learned a lot through that. And then I would say, dream big. I think entrepreneurs should dream big and dream more. It's one of the things Tyler Perry has said to us, you know, dream big and hindering more, in a sense, where it's like, I want you to prepare for where you want to go and not where you are right. Don't look at Even if it's a, it's the T shirt brand, you should be looking at it like this is something that's going to be luxury in the next two or three years or four or five years. Like that's where I want to be. Right. So figure out what the vision is for where you want to go and treat your business like it's there right every day. Attack it like that's where I need to be. That's where we're headed.

I'm going to pop in here again with my recap. The first part was to understand the competition and this can be as simple as reviewing their website, following them on social media, and joining their email list. From there you can determine what will make you uniquely different. Next up, find the right niche. If you're speaking to everyone, you're speaking to no one. And I always say your niche can be in regard to what you're selling, who you're selling it to, or both. So don't let yourself get limited by thinking it only applies to your audience. Troy also mentioned the benefit of taking imperfect action and this aligns with one of my favorite quotes. Perfection is the enemy of progress. You're gonna fail, but that's the only way to learn. And sometimes planning is just a form of procrastination. Lastly, dream big. And I know that might sound trite, but it's important. You don't want your self limiting beliefs to hinder opportunities and revenue potential. So create an audacious vision for your life and commit to taking the steps needed to achieve it. We're going to pivot here for a moment because it's one thing to encourage people to dream big, but here's what I like about Troy and Rashad. They give you the tactic level details for how you can make it happen. If you have any questions about how you can make money through investing or real estate, these are the guys to know. And they have a really great way of making complex topics digestible so you can actually apply what you've learned. So I asked them to share an example of someone who took their advice as well as the associated outcomes. Can you give an example? You don't have to give the person's name, but of someone you know, someone in your audience who you know, consumes your content and just got amazing outcomes from it. If you feel comfortable sharing this just one example of that.

Yeah, I mean we had an amazing one that happened at Invest Fest. You know, we have another show that we do call Market Mondays and It's based on investing in stocks and in crypto, and we talk about real estate as well. And a gentleman, you know, we hear the phrase a lot. You changed my life. And it's always humbling to hear it because, I mean, it's just one of those profound statements, like, you never know what you can do with information. You never understand, like, the value or the reach of it. You just kind of just do it because you know that is needed for your community. And a gentleman walked up to me and he said, look, I'm gonna tell you this, and I'm not going to be ashamed to. And I'm not even going to feel away. I feel actually comfortable saying it to you. But I listened to the information that you gave me about six months ago, about to stop, and I've made seven figures off the information. Wow. It just blew my mind because I was like, I've been holding on to this gentleman who had told me he had made $125,000 of information that he had heard, and I'm like, wow, 125,000. I was so impressed that he was even comfortable sharing that and showing me his brokerage account. I'm like, wow, this is a different type of time. Especially we're in New York City. I'm like, well, you don't show me 125,000. That's great. And then at Invest Fest, this gentleman, you know, he showed me that he made seven figures. And I was like, that's the power of information. That's the power of reach. Like, you just give it, and you never know what can happen with it, especially when people are executing. Executing it and applying, Buying it. So just think about that. Somebody got information, they made seven figures. Think of it, what that does for their families. But it also brings people in. It brings their friends in to see, like, wait, you did that? I can do it, too. So it's always incredible and it's extremely humbling. Anytime you hear information like that, it's like, yeah, we got to keep going because there's so many other lives we can impact.

Yeah, there's a ripple effect that you're not always aware of, but. But it's great to hear that in this case, you were able to hear the results of your work. So one of the goals of this podcast is to help people avoid common mistakes and just. Just make money faster without working around the clock. So to help with that, what is one lesson that you wished you learned earlier in your career as an entrepreneur?

That's a good one, I guess. I wish I would have learned how important systems are, you know, as you're going through this journey. I come from a 9 to 5 background, right, like I was teaching. So the entrepreneurial journey was very new for me. But it's something that I was willing to learn and I was excited and eager to learn about. But having systems in place while you're on that journey, it just makes things very streamlined, so it doesn't feel like everything is out of order. It makes everything more organized, and that helps business. It makes things function a lot better. Um, it. It makes your life a lot better, for sure, but it's a learning process. Like, I. I wouldn't change it. I just would. I would have known it, you know, because as. As we go through these things and we go through challenges and, you know, things feel like they're chaotic, you figure out who you are in those, in those times, and you figure out who your partners are and who your friends are and who your business, you know, the businessmen and women that you're going to be working with are. And so you figure out who you are in those, in those times, and you figure out who your partners are and who your friends are and who your business, you know, the businessmen and women that you're going to be working with are. And so it's something that you can't discount. It's definitely something that's valuable to go through. But if I had to go back, I could imagine how further we could have been. Not that we're not now, but if we had some of these systems in place in the early beginning stages of it, I think the trajectory would have been incredible. But I'm happy where we're at now to.

All right, listen, guys, this has been great, but where can people learn more about you online?

Yeah. Thank you for having us. Earn your leisure across all social media platforms. YouTube, Apple, Spotify. Earn your leisure.com.

And that's our show for today. Troy and Rashad provided a ton of value, but here's one thing that didn't come up. They launched their platform in 2019, and in just that short amount of time, they've been able to reach millions of people, while also partnering with the likes of Steve Harvey, Floyd Mayweather, Deion Sanders, and more. And I'm bringing this up because it shows how much you can accomplish by building relationships, delivering value, and committing to a process aligned with success. Thanks for joining and I'll see you next time. Apply what you've learned on today's show. You'll find the show notes and more resources at Tickets Terryrice Co Podcast Again, that's Terryrice Co Podcast and the best way to support this podcast is by subscribing, telling a friend, and leaving a review. Also, you can get more tips by following me on Instagram @TerryRice or follow me on LinkedIn. This episode was produced by Josh Wilcox of Brooklyn Podcasting Studio and every edited by Dan Lardy. Special thanks to my wife Dominique for keeping our kids relatively quiet as I recorded. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you next time.