Ep 604: From Homeless to 9 Figures: Stephen Scoggins on Alignment, Legacy, and the Real Reason Businesses Fail | Stephen Scoggins
Rory: [00:00:00] welcome back to the Influential Personal Brand Podcast. I’m about to introduce you to a friend of mine that I’ve known for years.
Someone that I love and adore. I admire and respect in real life as a real entrepreneur. And you know, when I use that term real entrepreneur, I don’t, I don’t dish it out lightly. It means somebody. Who knows what they’re doing in the world of business, not just the stuff that you see online, but offline real relationships.
Uh, Steven Scoggins is who you’re about to meet, and Steven was homeless. He went from homeless to nine figure entrepreneur. For those of you that are not math majors, nine figures means a hundred million dollars a year in annual revenue. Um, he was very, very close to that number, and he has had multiple exits in business.
His brand is all about being unstoppable, both in your personal, your professional life. He’s a spiritual giant. Um, someone that I’ve come to respect. We’ve done some really important projects together. And I’m honored to have him on the show and excited for you to learn from him today. Steven s [00:01:00] Goggins
Welcome bro.
Stephen: Love you bro. Man. Thanks for the intro, dude. I appreciate you guys. Uh, it’s been, it’s been a minute, man. It’s been a few years now.
Rory: Dude, we, we should we have to talk about the last thing we did together because Okay. People don’t know this. Uh, you know, ed Millet was something that, he was someone who brought us together and, and, uh, I don’t even know if Ed knows this, but.
You know, when Ed brought us in to help him with his book launch, there were a lot of people that helped. Mm-hmm. Uh, and you know, part of what was magical was Ed pre-sold 117,000 copies of his book. Yeah. Uh, and we were some of the team leading the strategy there. Mm-hmm. But what became legendary. Was, we sold 35,634 books.
I always ran up 36,000 books in a single day. Mm-hmm. And we sold those books at an event that we had at your building. Yeah. And, uh, it was your butt on the line for all the AV and the technical and, um. That was like the last time that we really did something. That was like a [00:02:00] few years ago already.
Stephen: Yeah.
Yeah. Dude, you know what? Tom really flies, man. But it was a, it was a great experience. I was telling somebody recently, I was like, I remember this time Rory calls me, he says, Hey, I got a client. I’m like, yeah, okay, cool. He’s like, we wanna do a book, a hybrid book launch. What do, what do you think about that?
I’m like, okay, cool. He’s like, how many, you know, how, how, how many, uh, seats can you hold? What can you do live? What can you do? Virtual virtually, all this kind of stuff. I was like, oh, I, you know, I can, I’m, I’m good. I can do 10,000 virtually, and I can do this. You’re like. Uh, I might need a little more than that.
We might
Rory: need more. I remember the conversation that we had where I said, uh, I said, Steven, do you have a generator? Yeah. And you were like, no, we don’t have a generator. Do you think we need one? I knew that was gonna come next. And I was like, I don’t know. Imagine what would happen though. Do your reputation if the power went out.
Yeah. At Ed Millet’s event in
Stephen: your building. Well, when Eric Thomas is on stage and, and, and you were like,
Rory: all right, let’s do it. I’m gonna get a generator.
Stephen: Yeah. And then sure enough, we had a tornado jump over the building. A tornado that jumped over the building
Rory: knocks the power out at the building. Yeah.
Eric Thomas is on stage. There’s however many [00:03:00] thousands watching the whole place goes black. Uh, 10 seconds though. Not even, not even 10 seconds. It was like less than three seconds. Generator comes right back. Kick, kick
Stephen: out. We, we didn’t even lose any live feed. That’s how quick it happened. The, yeah.
Rory: It was amazing, dude.
So the way that you supported Ed. The way that you, um, you did something, you made him feel so special the way you had, like, custom pillows made. Mm-hmm. You had like little, uh, you had a whole wall that was of, of his dad. Mm-hmm. You had decorated the whole place, which I later
Stephen: found out was his least favorite picture.
But he, he still loved it in, in the moment. He,
Rory: he did love it. Uh, Ed’s not like the most emotional guy, but the way that you showed up for him that day. Really made him feel special and he performed at his best and everybody did that day. It was a
Stephen: very special event.
Rory: Legend. Legendary. Yeah. But to see you go all in on somebody that you had, you know, no personal relationship with, um, and a lot of trust and faith in me and like the whole thing.
And I was like, Hey, I, I, I think we can make this happen. Yeah. Was extraordinary.
Stephen: Well, and I think that, you know, it’s funny, I’m gonna say one of your quotes ’cause I think [00:04:00] it’s, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s instrumental when it comes to relationships, uh, is when you say that the best time to build a relationship is before you need it.
And you and I have been building a relationship. We were trying to help a lot of the, the, uh, personal brands you guys were representing and helping out, trying to get their, their footage created and all this kind of stuff. I’ll never forget this, when we agent and I had the hair brainin idea to put a program together, and I think she flew you to North Carolina and you’re like.
Am I here again, kind of thing. I don’t know. It, it is just really cool because that, um, that culminated in such a special day and such a special event. I remember at the end of the event, you and I giving each other this massive big hug. It’s like, it, it, and Ed was happy, which is great. But I I, one thing I didn’t share with you was the weeks leading up to the event specifically.
Um, God was talking a lot to me about Ed. Hmm. A lot to me about Ed and, ’cause obviously Ed had a, already had a massive reputation, massive brand, was already doing incredible, incredible work and a massive, you know, max out Lie or Max Out podcast or Ed Mylet show, you know, max out [00:05:00] and, uh, he, you know, or he had a lot of tremendous amount of success in a lot of different ways.
Yeah. And I kept praying. I was like, well, you know, Rory brought this, this, uh, this opportunity to me. How can I be the best steward of this? Hmm. And part of the reason that we were able to have that picture of Edna’s dad up, um, was because God told me that he was doing something special inside of Ed.
Hmm.
Stephen: And he asked me to show up. Essentially, God asked me specifically to show up for Ed in a way that I was show up for my own father. Wow. So all the extra details, the color coded macaroons, the pillows, the I branded my entire building with
Rory: color coded macaroons. If you wanna know the secret to selling 35,000 books in one day, color coded macaroons.
That that’s what it takes. I think
Stephen: it’s a custom bobblehead you got, but that’s, that’s me’s uh, yeah, I mean, I, you know, it’s, I think it’s, I’ve tried to always have a servant’s heart in general. And when given an opportunity to serve and serve at scale, um, I ne I never knew if or when my, my personal brand would ever [00:06:00] really take off.
And it was the greatest access, um, to get to know some of the world’s best speakers and thought leaders on the planet. ’cause obviously I added to share the stage with ’em, get to know everybody’s human beings. Mm-hmm. Um, we had a zoom room. We kept having hiccups. I, I found out later that the zoom room was, uh, trying to force an update.
So Dean Gaza is in the back. He’s like, well just. Kick him outta this room, move him to this room. Now it happened to be the one that Ed’s my left wife was in. Yeah, of course. So that was fun. But, you know, but then having Marie Forlio and Jenna Kutcher sitting in my left and my right, and they’re like, Steven, you don’t understand this event’s going great.
Yeah.
Stephen: Like you’re putting a lot of extra pressure on yourself. But I, I felt a responsibility to not prove my worth or prove myself, but instead give the audience the best opportunity to have the most impactful message that they may ever hear in their life. And so much of what you guys do at Brand Builders is giving that opportunity to the voices that need to be heard by the masses, the mess, mission driven messengers, as you guys call ’em.
And I’d like to think I am one. You know, you are, you know, you are
Rory: you, you are the epitome [00:07:00] of what we want, have always wanted this business to be about. And the way that you served Ed that day. Um. And the way that you’ve done that for lots of other people, you’ve shown up big. And, and I love, ’cause I do believe wholeheartedly in that we, you know, it’s one of our mantras, build relationships before you need them.
Mm-hmm. But few people sell out fully to that. Like in the way that, yeah. The way that you do. Um. I wanna talk about building a real business. Sure. Um, not, not that building a personal brand isn’t a real business. It’s, it’s becoming, it’s becoming more and more real business. Mm-hmm. And there’s like a lot of dollars in sophistication coming into this space.
But, um, first tell us the story about. You know, this, this piece of your story of homeless, like wh how old were you and how real was this? Gosh. Like, oh, what, what, when? Take us back to then.
Stephen: Yeah. So, uh, you know, covered, covered this quite a bit, but, um, the greatest thing that I dis, lemme tell you what I discovered in that process, right.
So the homelessness for me came as a byproduct of pride and arrogance.
Rory: [00:08:00] Interesting.
Stephen: Okay. I wasn’t, I wasn’t, um, in a situation where. I was mentally ill. I wasn’t in a situation where I was intoxicated or dealing with drug issues, nothing like that. My first mentor of all time, and now I, keep in mind I dropped outta high school to help my family pay the bills.
My dad specifically, um, had no real college aspirations. I’ve been on my own since I was essentially 17, uh, living on my own, providing for myself and stuff like that. But when. I first, uh, over the course of the years of fucking 11 to 17, I would get to know a man by the name of Old Man Myrick. Steve Myrick was my first mentor of all sorts.
He’s my dad’s employer. Uh, he was a multimillionaire by, by all stretches and purposes. Okay. Uh, he was a home builder. My dad obviously worked for him, framing houses, and for whatever reason, he would pull me down off his framing crew on nights and weekends. As a child, basically 11 to 17, and talked to me about life and talked to me about business and talk to me about this and talk to me about that.
I later discovered that one of the reasons, one of the reasons, [00:09:00] uh, that he did that was because my grandfather, uh, who I used to refer to as, uh, ox, ’cause he was actually six foot two, which is kind of funny ’cause I’m not six months old. Um, you know, um, actually employed Steve.
Interesting. And because
Stephen: of alcoholism now my grandfather survived Pearl Harbor.
Right. So he is one of the few people in North Carolina, I think it was one of seven, um, that actually, you know, survived Pearl Harper, went back to North Carolina and tried to restart, was dealing with probably PTSD from not knowing what that is. Right? So self-medication became, um, alcohol and lo and behold, uh, Steve, Mike told me one time in, in the car, he is like, Hey, your grandfather would’ve been a multi multimillionaire.
Hmm.
Stephen: Had this one thing not gotten a hold of him.
Mm.
Stephen: And my granddad had a crazy integrity, crazy solid integrity. If he shook him, shaking your hand, it was like a contract. Those days I miss.
Yeah,
Stephen: I really do. Um, people would stand up for what, you know, stand up for those relationships. But I say all that to say that for some reason Steve would take me down with these framing crews, put me in this, his Jeep Grand Cherokee, ride me around the community and tell me [00:10:00] about real estate.
He would tell me about, um, I remember in fact one of his greatest quotes. He, he used to, I used to, I kind of still live by this day, is be willing to do today. And you saw this with Ed, my Lets event be willing to do today what others won’t. And you can have tomorrow what others don’t.
Yeah.
Stephen: Right. And sometimes we think having today what others won’t is money or resource.
What I’ve discovered is a lot of times it’s inner peace. Mm. Amen. It’s Amen. Immigration. It’s friendship, it’s relationship. You know, I would call Ed a friend now, you know, I think he would call me a friend as well. Right. And that became as a byproduct of just trying to show up. But in the grand scheme of things, uh, when you look at this homelessness journey, I was given a lot.
So Steve gave me a business of my own. I. Early on, very similar to the one that I exited. And, you know, he brought it, he provided all the equipment I needed, all the vehicles, he provided the back office resources Wow. To help me like handle accounting, all this kind of stuff. So he was like trying
Rory: to groom you?
He was legitimately
Stephen: trying to put me in business for myself. And, and part of
Rory: that was thinking like a payback pay forward to your, for your grandfather. Okay. Exactly. I would assume, I [00:11:00] mean, so how old were you
Stephen: uh, when that, when that took shape? I was probably around 18 and a half to 19 in some change.
Rory: Okay. So how do you go from that to like living on the
Stephen: streets again? It’s. It’s arrogant. So I go from making hardly any money, 11, 12 bucks an hour, like, you know, which was, you know, late nineties, you know, it wasn’t terrible money, but it wasn’t great money. Right. I was still very much blue collar work.
Right, sure. Which I, I admire still to this day. But, uh, in that grand scheme of things, when he comes through this, this opportunity, I go from making that kind of money to making close to six figures. So a hundred plus thousand dollars a year in annual income based on the work he was now, which is in late nineties.
Rory: Well, that’s a lot. Even that’s a lot of, especially young, early twenties, that’s a lot of money.
Stephen: Yep. And you know, you and I did a podcast a number of years ago, a virtual one, I think it was, we were coming outta COVID where you asked me, you know, why did, why didn’t you start speaking? And I, this has always hung with me.
’cause it had, if you go back and watch the podcast, like there’s a spiritual moment that happens between the two of us. And I realized that I, I think I articulated it, I was like, well, I think I was trying, and you see me on the [00:12:00] podcast, like, it’s like an epiphany. It’s like I was trying to decide if I was worthy of a voice.
Right. So almost everything that I’ve chased in my life or forced into existence has been a byproduct. They’re trying to choose or trying to prove my worth to other people. Wow. Now, keep in mind, if you look at my life nowadays, a lot of folks would say that I’ve, I have managed to come through a scenario where I’ll, I’ve already done a lot more than a lot of folks will do in a lifetime.
Rory: You know, I mean, you’ve sold, you’ve, you’ve had multiple exits. Mm-hmm. A, a recent one, which is your, yeah. Biggest, right? Yeah. Big roll up. Yeah. Was a big, big roll up and yeah. So you, you’ve definitely done what people dream of. Yeah. I mean the American dream.
Stephen: Yeah. But the homelessness journey came as a biproduct was making a bunch of money becoming very cocky, very arrogant.
I’ve got this figured out. I had something to prove to all the people who told me I was gonna be a failure when I dropped outta high school.
Yeah.
Stephen: That was, I think at the, at the end of the day, then you had a big chip on your shoulder, a big chip on my shoulder. My father came to me and lost his business, you know, a few years earlier and said, Hey, Skagen, get [00:13:00] ahead.
They get by like all these life lies, all these things that I think a lot of times that we’re all navigating and trying to work through. And I find that a lot of entrepreneurs share two things in common historically, especially early days. Uh, number one, they all think they should be further ahead than they actually are.
Hmm. Even today, I got, even today, I’m like, I should, that’s funny. I should be doing this, this, I told this
Rory: to someone, someone the other day, I was like. Yeah. I feel behind constantly. Mm-hmm. And I have felt that way since I was in eighth grade. Yeah. Like, I just, I always feel like I’m so far behind. Yeah.
Stephen: Yeah. Well, and I think that’s, you know, it’s into, before I, before I mention the next, uh, comment, uh, the second thing that we all deal with that we. All have in common is we’re all in some way, shape or form chasing an admiration or worth issue. Hmm. Sometimes it’s a lack of a parent that wasn’t there that could have affirmed us early on.
There’s a, there’s always a sense, there’s, there’s always an undercurrent. Right. And if I think’s one of the things why, the reasons I’m so adamant that hustle culture as we know it must die. Right? [00:14:00] So this, this, this ability to think, if you just take activity. If you just produce enough activity that great things are gonna happen.
What I’ve discovered is, and, and, we’ll, I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk about this when I get you and AJ on, um, is, especially as it relates to monetizing personal brands, um, is most of them never monetize and they never monetize because of the same reason a lot of businesses struggle to get through the million dollar ceiling, which is they don’t have alignment.
Their values, their mission, their vision. Uh, it’s one thing brand builders has always been really, really good at. As you guys have been very aligned since I’ve was introduced to brand builders a number of years ago, even before, I mean, we were friends before that, but when, when you launched this business with aj and this inner alignment actually covers a lot of different things.
So a lot of, a lot of business owners, and I’m, and I know I’m, I’m, I’ve diverged a little bit from the homeless story, but I, I think I want to give a, a indication of what I learned. In that journey from there to there. ’cause I think I’m more grounded, more regulated, more authentic, more sincere, more centered than I’ve ever been in my life.
And it’s taken numerous [00:15:00] crushing. I call ’em life gates. So you go through, you go through a life gate, there’s a lot of tension, a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. Go through the life gate. You come out the other side, right? Well, they say in business that, you know, there’s five major reasons that tend to alternate every year after year.
Why businesses fail, lack of funding, lack of leadership, product, market fit, you know, marketing. There’s the stuff right. And I’ve discovered this by osmosis, by just living my journey, by just living my life. I struggled as an entrepreneur at every single level. What was just getting started, whether it’s breaking through the million dollar ceiling, but $10 million ceiling, $50 million ceiling and beyond.
It came down to arrogance, ignorance, impatience, insecurity, and fear.
Hmm.
Stephen: When an entrepreneur can tap into understanding those emotional. Areas of their life and really begin to be self-aware of those areas.
Rory: What do you, you call these something, the five,
Stephen: I call ’em the five.
Rory: Constraints. Constraints,
Stephen: yeah.
’cause if you think about it, there’s, there’s things like, alright, you take your neck for example, like your neck for example. You’re breathing air, it feels great, you know, in through your nose, out through your [00:16:00] mouth, going down to your lungs, coming back out, right? But someone, the moment something goes to cons, constrict your throat or block your airway, right?
It, labor breathing, hardly you’re able to breathe. Possibility of passing out all this kind of stuff. A business is no different, right? In that if you can’t get your arms around making sure you, the lifeblood of your business, that your core values, your mission, your alignment, who you are as a leader, your personality traits, your own self-awareness.
If you can’t understand what’s driving you to make the decisions, you can’t really change the decisions you’re making. Right? So almost every dumb decision I’ve made, a few, I’ve been through embezzlement, I’ve been through all kinds of stuff in my business journey, came down to being emotionally dysregulated
Rory: Interesting.
I. And that started right away. Earlier it started by the
Stephen: trigger of the homeless journey, which is why I brought it up. It’s like that was the moment that you, you go back to a moment of scarcity, that if you can’t unlock that moment of scarcity and deal with it, you’ll prevent you from moving forward. So
Rory: let’s talk about these constraints.
So, well, uh, before we get to the constraints, I wanna come back to the hustle culture thing. [00:17:00] Sure. Because, uh. I know this has been like a pendulum where it was like, Hey, work hard and hustle and you know, Gary va, Gary Vaynerchuk, I remember reading in his book Crush It That said, you know, work until your eyeballs bleed.
Uh, and then, then, you know, there’s been this like anti hussle culture. Mm-hmm. And now it’s been like real trinity to be like anti hussle culture. Yep. And yet, I don’t know a single mm-hmm. Like, I don’t know, a single ultra successful person that has not hustled hard Yeah. For a long time. Yeah. Yeah. So you’re sitting here telling me mm-hmm.
Anti hussle culture as we know it today. Yeah. So I want you to bring some clarity to that conversation ’cause I know you’ve worked your butt off. Yeah. There’s, there’s, there’s no question about that. Yeah. So how do you find the balance between like. There’s an amount of hard work that goes into this. Sure.
But that’s not the same as hustle culture.
Stephen: Yeah. So if you take hustle culture in today’s terms, when I’m phrasing hustle culture, it’s not the inability to have diligence and focus. Right? It’s, it’s the ability to just take, take [00:18:00] random activity, wake up at 4:00 AM without a real clear path of why you’re waking at 4:00 AM You know, I, when I wake up that early, I’m, I’m going into a, you know, you and I talked about this downstairs a little bit, a journal session or a prayer meditation.
There’s, there’s an intent. Behind what I’m doing, and I’m finding a lot of entrepreneurs are just waking up and just jumping into their day. They’re not spending any time being more self-aware of themselves and digging into things. Okay, so when I say wholesale culture. I mean, hustling from the sheer aspect of just literally just doing, just
Rory: doing, like you’re disconnected from your purpose.
You’re, you’re completely, you’re
Stephen: disconnected from your purpose. You’re oftentimes disconnected from your family, and most nine times outta 10, you’re disconnected from yourself. Huh. And almost every s situation I’ve seen where you’ve got a thought leader, or not a thought leader, but a leader in general who’s got a, a business that hasn’t broken through the seven figure ceiling, let alone the eight figure ceiling.
In almost every case, it’s actually the leader. It’s actually the person. That has to change their behavior pattern and the thought patterns. Sometimes it’s limiting beliefs. You know, sometimes it’s the ability to develop [00:19:00] relationships. Sometimes it’s the ability to have a healthy lifestyle at home. You know, because you’re bringing that stuff with you in and out, right?
So what I’m saying is, is rather than just hustling for the sake of hustle,
right,
Stephen: just thinking because you’re having a lot of activity and because you’re on your phone all the time, you’re in your computer all the time, that somehow you’re making, you’re making your life, your business, and your family better, okay?
What I believe differently. Is, I believe alignment is the answer. Mm-hmm. I believe as soon as you get aligned, your income and everything else will follow. Mm-hmm. Right. Brand Builders Group is a perfect example of a business that, as long as I’ve ever known, it has been very aligned with what the mission was to begin with.
Mm. The term mission driven messengers has been there since, since I was introduced to brand builders. Yeah. You
Rory: were one of our first clients. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, early, early, early.
Stephen: Yeah. And it was because it was so clear, the methodology, even wealthy and well known, like I’m super excited about it ’cause it.
I know the secrets that are in that book. Well, I know, I know. I don’t even know all of them, but I know a lot of them. ’cause I’ve had a chance to spend time with you guys. And, and the reality is, is, is just that [00:20:00] the, that alignment has, has allowed your business to scale exponentially in a very short window of time.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Right. The, what you guys managed to do in a very short window of time will normally take companies 30, 40 years to do the same top line revenue amounts mm-hmm. And produce the same kind of results with consistent team member behavior and everything else.
Rory: Yeah. Which is ironic ’cause like. Revenue growth has never been our focus.
Mm-hmm. Like we say it all the time, like brand builders group was never started to be a profit maximization machine. Yep. It was started from the beginning Yeah. To be an impact maximization machine. Yeah. We don’t price our, our services. Mm-hmm. At the most we think we can charge. We charge, at the least we think we can charge.
Mm-hmm. And still provide the experience mm-hmm. And the career path for the people here. Yeah. Like, we have to pay our people well. Right. And, and. Um, you know, that is really interesting to kind of hear you talk that out because I, I think that really is true is it’s going, we’re not aiming at a number for a number sake.
We’re not working hard. But one, one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I don’t ever share this. Yeah. Oh, this is such a good quote. Let’s quotes, let’s it, this [00:21:00] is, this is from Times of Two Friends Get Together a philosopher, um, I don’t even know how to say the name. I think it’s Pan Pan Panjai. And it says, um.
When you’re inspired by some great purpose mm-hmm. Your mind transcends all limitations and new creative forces, dormant faculties come alive and you discover yourself to be a far greater person than you ever thought you could be. Yeah. Yeah. And it, and it’s like you’re, you’re not working for the sake of work.
It’s, you’re working out of alignment with the vision that you’re pursuing mm-hmm. Is kinda what I hear you saying.
Stephen: Yeah. And, and it’s, and it’s alignment with the vision you’re pursuing, but it’s also alignment with you like. If you took this gift, uh, and you and AJ took this gift that you guys have to make this kind of impact and this kind of specific niche, and you decided, you know what?
We’re not gonna do this anymore. We’re gonna, we’re gonna become lawyers.
Mm.
Stephen: You’ll be completely out of alignment. It’ll be very difficult to make money. You’ll be unfulfilled, you’ll be unhappy, you won’t be happy with the results. Interesting. You know, so it’s, it’s like even
Rory: though the, the, the principles of [00:22:00] operating a service-based business theoretically are the same, it’s just not.
It’s not like your calling, it’s not what God’s created you to do. Yeah. It’s, it’s the vehicle.
Stephen: Right. So, uh, you know what, one of the, one of the epiphanies I had after we did the event with Ed was, you know, ed is a, he’s a phenom when it comes to speaking. Yeah. Like, I don’t know anybody like him.
Rory: He’s a world changer.
I mean, he’s anointed and like Exactly. I
Stephen: would, I would agree with that a hundred percent. And on top of that, when we were able to partner with him for his endeavor and then partner together on other endeavors, but we were able to partner with. Every life that he spoke into, every tear that was cried that we could see, we couldn’t see.
Every person that bought a book, didn’t buy a book, went to, went to the um, the private retreat when in Palm Springs after that. Yeah. Or watch the podcasters. Watch the little sizzle clip from Max out live, or can go online right now. Watch the recording version of Max Out Live today. All of these different lives have been touched and because we were both operating in alignment with our unique skill [00:23:00] sets to aid someone else.
Who has their own mission and stuff like that. We play, we get to play an active role in the kingdom building, if you will. That happened there. Yeah. So a and we gotta,
Rory: we gotta give a shout out to Daniel and to Pete. Oh. Because it was, dude, it was an all, it was an Allstar team of people coming together.
Yeah. And then, you know, obviously it was Ed like, but to your point, it’s like everyone ral, there were so many people rallying. It was a
Stephen: special event
Rory: behind Ed’s leadership and like we all get to have a piece of the impact that, that Ed has made.
Stephen: Yeah. So you take alignment. And you take focused intensity.
So focused intensity is different than hustle to me.
Rory: Okay. To
Stephen: me, hustle can can be described as nervous energy.
Rory: Yeah. ’cause this is my question is what’s the difference between hustle, culture and proper hard work? Mm-hmm. And that’s what you’re saying right now?
Stephen: Yeah. Priorities. So when you’re able to articulate what your number one priority is, you can now set the dominoes up in your favor.
Okay. Again, I’m teaching you, I’m, I’m, I’m sharing things that you already know.
Rory: No, but what’s the term that you set out? Like intentional. Intentional or [00:24:00] focused Intensity. Focused intensity.
Stephen: Yeah, focused intensity. So I, um, as, as you know, I travel and speak. Um, I’m looking up, hoping to get more out there.
This year I took a year and a half off after the exit to, yeah, to recalibrate and whatnot. Um, but I did an event, um, it was probably three years ago and I started, it was the first time I ever brought some of my construction background on stage. So I come out stage, I got a nice big cinder block, right?
It’s four inches thick, eight inches or eight inches wide, 12 inches deep. It’s cool. Yeah, it feels tough. Yeah, it was tough. And I come out and I’ve got my, my tool belt on my shoulder. ’cause you know, I started, you know, I started the company that I exited with a nail and a hammer basically. Right?
Rory: I love this.
Stephen: And so I come out on stage. I’ve got the thing on my, I mean, I’m talking about the, you know, you it, the tools you use are, you know, very helpful. I said, but most people don’t understand that focused intensity is what makes you unstoppable.
Mm.
Stephen: Right. So I take the hammer out and I’m starting to like, I’m starting to hit the, the, the block in different areas on the block, right?
And sure there’s little chips flying off and little sparks and whatever. [00:25:00] And I was like, but I’m, I’m, I’m not breaking through it. It reminds me a lot of your She hands wall. She hands
wall,
Stephen: right?
Yeah.
Stephen: And. It’s really interesting because Shehan Wall is a direct representation of this brick. I hit this block three times in the same exact 0.3 times, and the thing shatters into Wow.
Right. And to me that’s the principle focused intensity. You, you and AJ teach this with Brand Builders Group as when it comes to a. In order for you to really make an impact, we have to help you understand what your niche is, so you become notable for it. Right? It’s the same, that same principle applies to every business.
It may not even be coming notable. It’s just like, okay, what is the number one thing I need to focus on right now? Mm-hmm. To get the greatest lift.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: And my experience has been six figure entrepreneurs aren’t thinking that way. Seven figure entrepreneurs oftentimes will stumble into it.
Mm.
Stephen: Right. But then when they could go from seven to eight, they don’t realize.
From seven, you’re all about earning and trying to, and trying to get the thing like really kinda established. And eight, it’s all about compounding. You know, one of the principles I learned from you and take the stairs is compounding your time. Mm-hmm. Like for every hour [00:26:00] that I devote to a podcast, I’m hoping to pick up four hours of impact or four hours of productivity, or the, that’s the focused intensity approach, right?
So it’s like wake up on purpose. If you wanna wake up at 4:00 AM great. Wake up at 4:00 AM If you wanna wake up at six, wake up at six. But be intentional about it.
Rory: I love what you said there about see the, what’s the difference between a seven figure entrepreneur and an eight figure entrepreneur? Mm-hmm.
And I think that’s where the biggest leap happens, because you can get to seven figures. Mm-hmm. Even multi seven figures. Mm-hmm. Through sheer hustle. Through Yeah. Just red line, hard work. Yeah. No, quit. Do it all yourself. Figure it all out. But you can’t get to eight figures like that. Mm-hmm. No, you can’t.
You can’t grow like no business will outgrow the strength of its systems. Mm-hmm. The only way to get to eight figures or the leader is you have to develop the people, develop the processes, and develop the product. And like, and, and it’s namely the leader. Mm-hmm. Right. To go, what, what got you to multi seven figures as a producer won’t [00:27:00] get you to eight figures.
Yeah. As a leader. Yeah. You have to become a different person. Yeah. And so, and there’s so few eight. Figure personal brands, and I think that’s part of it. Mm-hmm. Is going, you can, you can build a multi seven figure business as a personal brand, like through your charisma. Mm-hmm. And you’re amazing. But like to get to eight figures, you have to have people and process and systems.
And it’s almost counterintuitive to a lot of personal brands who are just like. You, you know, they’re kind of flying on charisma. Yeah. Um, but you have to become a real leader to get to eight figures.
Stephen: Yeah. And you also have to understand business basics. So, you know, I, I believe there’s five stages of a business for five seasons.
You got the start up phase, right. We’ve, you and I have been there. Um, millions of other entrepreneurs have been there. Yep.
Rory: Exciting. But disorganized, very disorganized. You’re,
Stephen: you’re, you know, you’re taking advantage of every opportunity. You’re weighing risk later. A lot of times, you know, you’re. You, you very much are in hustle, right?
Yeah. You’re just trying to make something happen, right? Surviving. I always de
Rory: I describe this, that phase as you’re being chased by a bear, and it’s like, and [00:28:00] people are like, your shoe’s untied. Yeah. And you’re like, but you’re in startup mode. Like, it doesn’t matter. Like your shoes untied, your pants are half fallen off.
Like you don’t, you cannot stop to Yeah. You have to. You’re just running like you’re being chased by a bear. Yeah. Like hopefully you get ahead to where you can stop and tie your shoe. But like the survival mode of the startup is you’re just, it’s a flat out sprint. So I, I, I agree with you. Yeah. That’s like straight up hustle.
Yeah. What, what’s after that
Stephen: testing? Right? So now you got something that’s working. Um, I got, I was very fortunate. I’ve experienced some of this when we got introduced with Brand Builders Group a number of years ago. Yeah. Because it was like COVID Right. Had just happened and we’re like doing live events on Zoom and.
And, and just being, I call it pivot to it becomes possible. Like you just, you’re pivoting, but you’re, oh,
Rory: wait, wait, wait. Say that again?
Stephen: Pivot to what becomes possible.
Rory: Pivot to what becomes possible.
Stephen: Yeah. Because in the testing phase, you’re, you’re seeing things that work, you’re seeing things that don’t work.
Yeah. You’re having to come up with new ways that things that are working. Like there’s, there’s a, it’s a bit, it’s less, I would call it less of being chased by a bear.
Mm-hmm. [00:29:00]
Stephen: And more of like, Hey, I need to go ahead and like plant a garden. Like, it’s much more of like seeing what grows in different areas.
Yeah.
Rory: Well, so it’s interesting as you’re talking, I love that. I’ve never heard you say that before. Pivot. Mm-hmm. Pivot until it becomes possible. Until it becomes possible. What it really seems to me is almost like you’re like in a maze or something. Mm-hmm. Or like you’re getting hit, you’re getting slapped in the face.
You’re like, this doesn’t work. Go this way. Yeah. And you’re just like, oh, like pinball. You’re just kinda like getting bounced around until you, but you kind of like mm-hmm. It’s like, just take the beating. Yeah. And you’ll find your way. Yeah. Kind of a thing. Well, and I
Stephen: think, and I think, again, I think it’s, to me, it’s so important to understand what season of business that you’re in, because you can give yourself grace.
Amen. People present in the moment, you’re less than patient. You’re, you’re not, definitely not on the arrogant side. You’re more open to being teachable, which helps you overcome the, the side of being, you know, I call it ignorance. It’s like you don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t know where to find what you don’t know.
Right. You’re gonna, you’re gonna discover these different things along the way, but, and in the testing phase, once you’re done with the testing phase, you’re okay. You’ve got something that’s working. [00:30:00] It’s working. I got something here. I can build a business. Okay, now is the next phase, which is the investing phase.
Okay? What do I invest in investing? Yep. Do I invest in team? Do I invest in leadership? Huh? Do I invest in process or systems or CRM or um, gosh, your accounting software or like, there’s all these different tools that ultimately will make your life easier. Right. But you still have to get through the window.
Rory: That’s a tough phase, the investing phase. ’cause it’s, it’s like your eyes are open to all the things you need. Mm-hmm. But you can’t afford them. Mm-hmm. You can’t afford all of them Priorities. Yeah. You can’t afford, it’s like, oh man, we need a CFO. It’s like, I can’t afford A CFO. Like, oh, we need another sales person.
It’s like, I can’t, you know, we need better microphones, we need better cameras. We need a building. We need, we need a new CRM. And it’s just like. Because you’re still kind of being chased by the bear. Mm-hmm. But like, like you have a little bit of distance. Yeah. But you don’t have, you can’t stop to do all the things.
Yeah. So you gotta place your bets. Mm-hmm. You place your bets there. That’s good.
Stephen: Yeah. I mean, and, and it, and it helps. Like, you, you, you get really. Clear on, okay, we’re gonna invest in [00:31:00] this and maybe six months from now we can invest in the next thing or whatever.
Rory: Yep.
Stephen: Um, I’ve heard terms, I think, I think it’s one of, uh, Dave’s terms as fast as cash build your business or as fast as cash.
Mm. Buildings, technology, whatever. Yeah. Um, I agree with that. All the businesses that I’ve owned are all debt free in general. I never borrow money. That’s good. Um, it’s, I slowly build, it’s slower, but in more stable. I weathered COVID, I weathered, excuse me, the pandemic, you know, I weathered like these different, the e you know, embezzlement, all these different things because.
I didn’t have this exponential risk, right? Once you get past the investing phase, now you’re in a scaling phase, which is, this is phase four. Phase four, scaling.
Rory: Scaling,
Stephen: right? You can’t scale what? You can’t duplicate or replicate, and you darn sure can’t scale dysfunction.
Rory: Ha. That’s good. Yeah. You cannot,
Stephen: dysfunction to me is built from the energy of hustle.
Rory: Which is usually connected to the entrepreneur, like Exactly, because what’s
Stephen: happening is, is they’re not responding constantly. They’re reacting constantly. Okay. So therefore, the thing that they’re trying [00:32:00] to solve in the moment, in the time without taking a moment to breathe, make a data-driven decision, is gonna cause them four more problems.
And then they wonder why they’re constantly putting out fires.
Rory: Here’s a, here is the most sobering thought as an entrepreneur to me, that I’ve ever had to come to grips with.
Mm-hmm.
Rory: Our business is a reflection of me. Mm-hmm. Like our business is a reflection of my internal like thoughts. Yeah, exactly. So it’s like, if my business is chaos, it’s ’cause I’m chaotic.
Mm-hmm. Like if, if we’re helter skelter, da da da da da. Mm-hmm. And you go like, I don’t know how literally true it is, but gosh, it, I think it’s pretty literally true. Yeah. Yeah. And you go everything that drives you nuts about your business. Is an external reflection of your internal paradigm and mindset.
Yeah. Of like what’s going on in your own head a thousand percent.
Stephen: And again, that’s why I’m, I’m, I guess I’m trying to be a bit of an evangelist of, of discovering alignment. Like alignment, not regardless of your faith, [00:33:00] belief, like we’re, we’re alignment with the divine, alignment with yourself, making peace with your past.
Like a lot of my reactions as a business owner. How I treated people even early days, was a byproduct of what I hadn’t dealt with on my inside.
Rory: Like in a personal life. Yeah. Like stuff happened to you when you were seven, seven years old and like now all of a sudden that’s affecting your system. Yeah. I mean, and the reality
Stephen: is that it’s, it’s, it’s real stuff.
I’m a, I’m a big believer in grounding now I’m a big believer in regulat, like help being, having healthy methodologies is regulating prayer. Meditation are part of my, part of my lifestyle. Active work, lifestyle, workout. Um, my checking, making sure my hormone levels are good. I’m 49 years old, man, you know, so.
Things are off from when I was 20 something, right? Or different, right? Um, all this kind of stuff. And then if you can get all that done and you get the scaling situated, now you can go to what I, the fifth phase is either operate or sell. Now the one big mistake operate or sell. Yeah.
Rory: Okay. So this, I couldn’t figure out a way to
Stephen: blend the words together.
So yeah, it’s operate or sell. ’cause when you have choice, now the one big mistake that I think we all make as business owners is we [00:34:00] don’t build our businesses to sell.
Mm.
Stephen: So if you build your business to sell, you’re gonna be far more focused on the efficiencies, the processes, the systems, the people, all those types of things, to be super clear on actually building an actual organization mm-hmm.
If you’re building it solely to operate it, then it’s gonna be built around you, which means you’re never gonna have the lifestyle and freedom that you ultimately want.
Rory: Right. Yeah. I, I’ve, I heard it said once that like a business worth selling looks a lot like a business worth keeping. Mm-hmm. Is to go.
The best business you can build is one that theoretically would operate without you. Yeah. Because that’s the one that’s most valuable to sell. Mm-hmm. It’s also the most valuable to keep. Yeah. It’s like, well, if the business operates without me, why wouldn’t I keep it? Right? Yeah. It’s like if I built a, if I created a vending machine that was throwing off a hundred thousand dollars a year mm-hmm.
I would just keep operating it. Yeah. Or I or somebody would buy it. ’cause it’s a very successful vending machine. Yeah. It’s sort of like how you have to think of like any bi any business. Yeah. So, and did you
Stephen: always [00:35:00] think of your business that way? I did not. I didn’t start thinking about how I built my business until I had to go back and rebuild part of it.
Rory: Ah. It
Stephen: cost me three years of the transitions. Lemme let me talk about something else real fast because you just brought it up. It’s like, okay, if you build a business that’s good enough to, to sell, it’s also good enough to keep okay with that theology. Well, how do you know when it’s the right time to sell?
Yeah. Okay. So this is a question I’d faced. Sure. Good question. Uh, we had aspirations to take that company to 150 plus million dollars. Okay. How invested was I going to be in doing my part? Personal growth, otherwise learning new systems, scaling piece, how much, how aligned was it with who I was and who I’d already become?
Did that company in order for it to have the best chance at that next level is the best person at the helm me. And given the fact that I love to do other things in a different way, take the knowledge and wisdom that I’ve already done. So I love the thought leadership world. I like what it does for [00:36:00] people.
Right. I love real estate. I like, I like passive income. Okay. I also like doing live events for how, because live events change my life along the way.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Right. So you, you be, you discover that you’re going to evolve and change as a human being and how you feel 10 years or now might feel different 10 years from now.
Right. So the question I had to ask myself is, does this business, this industry still light me up or is it sucking my soul from me?
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Even though, regardless of how well it’s built, even when I had, it really built really well, very little problems and breakdowns in systems. We were probably about 70 million I think, at that point, where things are be humming along.
Oh, wow. Um, where I kind of had what you talked about, which is actually when I started getting courted, which had been thinking about it. Um, and then we went through another growth spurt. Right outta 2021, the, the market in the, the construction business, which was what type of company it was, was like prices went up, everything went up, volume went up.
’cause it was, we were coming outta the pandemic and all of a sudden there was this [00:37:00] massive need for housing and all this kinda stuff. But the question I asked myself was, do I really wanna do this? Mm-hmm. And if I was honest with myself, and this is what I wanna encourage your listeners and viewers to do, is be honest with yourself.
Right. If you can say right now that if you’re honest with yourself that you’re not the person to lead the charge, the best thing you can actually do is step aside. Mm-hmm. Now, step aside with a strategy. Continue showing up for two or three years while you get everything in place to make sure that business isn’t dependent on you, and then obviously you can then pursue it that way.
Rory: And what I heard you say that I think is different than what I have literal words you said is it’s not necessarily am I the best person to lead this, it’s do I want to lead this? Yes. Yeah. That’s a really powerful question is to go, when’s when’s the right time to sell? As if you go, if I’m hearing you right.
Yeah. It’s like if I ask myself, do I, am I still passionate about leading this? Mm-hmm. And you’re saying if the answer to that question ever [00:38:00] shifts from yes to no mm-hmm. Then that’s the point. You go, great. Yeah. Create a, create a plan to step aside as the leader. Yeah. And the good is, that’s really good, Steve.
I’ve never heard anyone say it so clearly.
Stephen: Thank you, brother. Yeah. Um. It’s, I think it’s just really important. I, I believe. Alright, so Billy Graham said before he passed away that one of the greatest moves of God is gonna come in the house of business. Amen. Yep. Okay. He said that right. And I’m seeing that Totally.
’cause you spend most of your time at workplace.
Rory: Yep.
Stephen: Right? So if you’re leading from an incongruent place on unaligned place, then your team to your point, is gonna be experienced an unaligned piece. Right. So I say all that to say that. I feel like part of the initiatives that need to take place in the, in the, in the marketplace right now for is for every single entrepreneur to literally evaluate themselves with radical honesty.
No condemnation, no guilt, no shame, just observation. If I took myself out of the picture and I just looked at everything like as if it was a movie. Mm-hmm. Okay. What would make, what would make the Hero’s [00:39:00] journey thrive? Right. And in many cases it is stepping aside. Now you, when you step as when, if you, you choose to step aside, you’re choosing to step aside with a roadmap in mind.
Not you’re just gonna throw in the, you’re just gonna throw the keys to everybody and hurt people out the door.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Right? It’s more lines. Okay, well I realize that I, internally, I don’t, I don’t feel great. This is not my thing. Okay, great. Then spend the next two or three years really focused intently.
On actually making sure you’re setting the business up to be sold.
Yeah,
Stephen: right. Because that was the one big thing that I didn’t do. I got all the way I was getting courted and then all of a sudden they were like, they would bring up the things, not in due diligence, but there’s different phases when you put your business out there.
Rory: Sure.
Stephen: And by the
Rory: way, like, it’s like you don’t wanna wait until that moment to go, oh, now I should think about building this to sell. It’s like it want, yeah. You want it to be at that, at that at that point. You know, and for, and like for us at Brand Builders Group. We, we never started this to sell it. And y you know, uh,
Stephen: what happens when Rory and AJ no longer exist?
Rory: Right. See, we’ve already been [00:40:00] courted to, to, by mm-hmm. People to, to, to buy it. Yeah. Because of just the database alone of like the cell phone numbers of the people that are our clients is like, yeah. Where, where’s a lot of money? Yeah. Uh, the, the, but it’s. It’s the, the thing for us is to go, what? What happens when something happens to us?
Yeah. Right. And going like, okay, if this is really God’s company, if we’re really hearing God say, help my people be heard. Mm-hmm. And it’s like. What happens? Yeah. Something happens to us. Whether that’s tomorrow or if it’s a hundred years, like you’ve gotta think about that now. Yeah. Yeah. So even if, even if you’re like, this is my life’s work and this is my passion and my calling it, it, it is all those things for us.
Yeah. But it’s like even more so to go like, great, this is all gonna die when you die. Mm-hmm. If you don’t set up. Yeah. A business, a real business to operate without you. Yeah.
Stephen: Yeah. And so the only reason why I think it’s important because, um, when you look at personal brands in general, right? You, you mentioned you can, you can get to a certain extent just on charisma.
Yeah. Right? [00:41:00] Well, you, you typically have a family in play, extended family, family at the home or whatever, that will, would be impacted in the event that you were no longer here or there to produce. Okay. Um, which is another reason why I’m. Almost everything that I think about nowadays is about how do I create a legacy, not a legacy that brags about me, but a legacy that I’m proud of because it, it basically helps others be free.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Right. So and so as, as I’ve been thinking about this more and more, um, I realized I need to be the most aligned, most grounded, most regulated, most just present, Stephen, I can be. I don’t need to be trapped in trying to. Make things happen or force things to happen. I need to actually open my hands and actually say, okay, God, what do you want me to do?
Rory: What were the five constraints against the five arrogance constraints? Again, a arrogance.
Stephen: Ignorance.
Rory: Ignorance. Im patience. Mm. Impatience,
Stephen: insecurity and fear.
Rory: Yeah. So basically it’s like, I, I don’t want to be any of those five,
Stephen: [00:42:00] basically. And if you, if you’ll do just some daily basic work, even somatic work, I mean, I’ve done a lot of somatic work the last two years and it’s been, it’s worked wonders.
I actually had more success with that than I did with traditional therapy models. Hmm. Um. Let me, lemme come back to something real fast. So you’ve got the five constraints, essentially you have five seasons, and then well, how do you evolve? Okay, so every business has a life cycle. So zero to 1 million, 1 million to 10.
10 to 50 is typically about the next big jump. 50 to a hundred is the next big jump from what I’ve seen. Okay. Well, how do you evolve? Well, I’ve been, so, I’ve been thinking about this for the last probably two years. Okay. What is, what is, what is it that has to be retooled and looked at continually, regularly on a regular basis?
And what I’ve discovered is there’s actually yet another five, right? I call ’em the five drivers. Now, these drivers are in every business. Doesn’t matter what industry, doesn’t matter what you’re trying to build. Um, but [00:43:00] essentially the drivers are very simply ideation. So that is you creating the business out of thin air.
Okay. Mission, vision, core values, what you stand for, what you stand against, roles, responsibilities, key team impact you want to make, how you plan to make it, how you plan to measure it. You know, all those kind of fall in the ideation bucket. Brand goes in the ideation bucket. Uh, you know, ideal client persona goes in the ideation bucket.
Like it’s really the, the, the what and why is this business gonna exist? And once that’s dialed in, then you have, what’s something that you’re, you and your team have always been really exceptional at, which is sales.
Hmm.
Stephen: Okay, so how, what, when, where, or why are we gonna sell? You know, are we gonna sell books?
Are we gonna sell podcasts or endorsements or a product, A good or service? Okay, well, well, now we know what we’re gonna sell. Okay. Well, is it gonna go to door to door? Is it gonna go through phone call? Is it gonna go through a website? Like, like, you know, I call it who, what, when, where like, it’s like, you know, just kinda like really thinking through your business, saying, okay, who, what, when, where?
Right. Well, then you go to fulfillment. Okay, well, how you gonna deliver that product with [00:44:00] excellence? Right? That adds to your reputation. Long time. Mm-hmm. Long term. Right. And then helps you build in and stuff like that. Which is another reason I love brand builders. I just like how I, like how you guys build.
Um, which is why I call my podcast build, I think. ’cause I, I like how things are built, um, built, you know, and then the fifth one or the fourth one gets a lot of people in trouble, which is finance. Mm-hmm. Cash comes in, you have no idea how it’s coming in. Have no idea how it’s going out. Yeah. Cash flow kills businesses left and right.
It’s the, the, it’s funny that that particular cog in the wheel when I look at it. Uh, was a major cog for me. That’s how I got in. That’s why, how I was able to, with, I’ll say how I was able to, um, how uh, suspected embezzlement happened. ’cause I have to put air quotes around it. Um, ’cause I couldn’t read my own numbers.
I wasn’t tracking my own numbers, but yet other people in the business could. Right. So you open yourself up to that. I’ve seen people, um, do really great at sales, do really great at fulfillment, bring a lot of money in. [00:45:00] And have a lot of money go out ’cause they’re not watching their expenses. Mm-hmm. You know, I was, uh, talking to Sean, it doesn’t matter how
Rory: much you make you mm-hmm.
You can always outspend it like
Stephen: Yeah. Well I even told I was, I was on another, uh, show not long ago and one of the things we talked about was like, okay, what’s the biggest one of the biggest lessons you learned? I said, well, if you wanna increase your profit was a, was run profit also, the biggest thing you knew was take a fine tooth comb to go back through your business on your expenses.
Hmm.
Stephen: I picked up 3% margin. And about a 45 day window, which added about $3 million cash to the bottom line. Wow. Because of just going back and double checking expenses. Now, you don’t do that until you’re pressed to do that. ’cause when things are good, you get sloppy. What I’m saying is, is be intentionally focused.
Be aligned. Right. Make sure you’re, you’re finance matters are aligned in a healthy way as well. If you get all of those dialed in, then it’s about raving fan retention. Right. Mm-hmm. What types of, uh, processes can you put in play of make sure your customer doesn’t wanna buy anywhere else? Because a lot of builder, a lot of businesses, they’ll have a one-time transaction.[00:46:00]
Well, you’ve, I just, with me, you’ve already created repeat, uh, uh, like recurring revenue. Recurring revenue, or a lifetime value, or, you know, any of these different terms that honestly help you scale. You can’t scale a business on a one time transaction.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: You can’t. Right. So I say all those different fives, because to me they go like a cog.
Right. So I wanna constantly be checking where am I at, where am I at emotionally with my arrogance, my impatience, and so on and so forth. I wanna see what’s kind of, what season of business I’m in, and then I want to take those five drivers and I wanna overlay that over both of those and say, okay, uh, every 18 months I use those five drivers.
Say, okay, lemme go back through ideation. What’s changed in my business? What’s pivoting? You guys have just started a, a, a wonderful publishing, uh, side of your, your arm that I’m super excited about, right? Like, that’s a, that’s a pivot that wasn’t there three years ago.
Rory: Yeah, technically it’s a new, a new business.
We had to separate it ’cause it it grew really fast. Yeah. So I think we, we hit like 5 million in revenue like the third year. Oh, that’s amazing. So it, it’s now a separate entity and has its own team. ’cause [00:47:00] it, but, but yeah, it’s, it was a new, it was the, it’s the same journey all over again. Yeah. And it’s, it’s like you follow the same.
The same stages we’re talking about. Yeah. I
Stephen: mean, successful entrepreneurs that I’m seeing yourself and several other friends that we have, and not just this industry but other industries, they have innately done this. They’re innately looking at business and reevaluating their business and their teams and their leadership and stuff on a regular basis.
Rory: Well, and coming back to, to the theme that we were talking about earlier in terms of service, like we’re not thinking about how can we get more rich. Mm-hmm. We’re thinking about how can we help our customers succeed faster? Mm-hmm. And that. Guides the path. It illuminates the path. Mm-hmm. It says like, oh, okay, this is the next move.
Yeah. Like, this is the next thing, this is the next thing you gotta, you gotta fix. Mm-hmm. Um, and you know, I think profit is a byproduct of service done well, service done well. Mm-hmm. And, uh, that is where I feel like, you know, we, we, alignment is really the [00:48:00] driver of what we do. Yeah. Um. You know, and I think one great thing about making a lot of money mm-hmm.
Is that you realize, you get to a point where you go, oh yeah, money doesn’t really get me there. Because, because, because when you’re, when you’re like broke or when you’re coming up through the ranks, people always say, you know, money doesn’t buy you happiness. Mm-hmm. And, and you’re, and you’re like, oh, that’s cute.
But like, I’d like to try. I like, I’d love to, I’d love to. I’ve learned that lesson harder. I’d like to prove this. That’s really it. Right. And, and then, and then there is a point where you go, okay, like. I’ve had enough things you, you know, um, that I realized that’s, that’s really not the thing that is, gives us the most satisfaction.
Yeah. Um, same thing about awards and achievement, right? Mm-hmm. Like I remember becoming a New York Times bestselling author, was this, it was like such a focus. Mm-hmm. Like you talk about that focused intensity. Yeah. It was such a focus and in, in many ways it’s sort of a shallow way to live your life. To go, I’m gonna like conquer this thing.[00:49:00]
But the powerful part of it was that once I got that mm-hmm. It really put that to bed for me. Yeah. Where it was like, I’m no longer after a title to, to, to, to prove my worth. Mm-hmm. I can legit like let go. Yeah. And just, just be focused on service. Yeah. And that’s a really, that’s a really great, beautiful part of like achieving some of those things.
Stephen: Yeah. And you know, again, I, I was, um, sharing this again with somebody else ’cause we, you know, there’s a, a bit of a. It’s not a juxtaposition. I dunno why that word stuck in my head for recently, but there’s this element of wealth being evil sometimes.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Um, and I remember hearing that growing up a lot.
It’s like the rich people were evil, but then I noticed that we were always borrowing money from people that had the money to borrow from.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: I said, well, okay, but they’re not evil. The people I know that are doing this aren’t evil. In fact, they’re very generous or actively giving and, and stuff like that.
So I’m a big believer in creating overflow,
right? Yeah. [00:50:00]
Stephen: And if you serve well, you’ll profit well. If you profit well, you can overflow well.
Rory: Yes.
Stephen: Right? And you might do it in church, you might do it on the, you know, a person passing on the street, and there’s any number of ways that you can do that, you know.
But at, at the end of the day, uh, one of the things that I’m really adamant about is making sure that what you’re doing matters. Like it really matters. So I’ll give you an example I’ll share with you, I think downstairs that, you know, I, I had exited right, and we did well enough where I can choose to do what I wanna do with my time, talent, and resources.
That’s amazing. Okay. So not necessarily f money, it’s like, you know, where it’s like the world, you know, whatever. We, I’ve got a couple friends that did quite well and buying jets and islands and whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which ironically is a, is a thing, uh, I’ll come back to that in a second. And. In a home, beautiful home, can travel, do all the things right.
And yet I was my least happy, my least fulfilled to contrast that to showing up. [00:51:00] Um, and we’ll go back to Ed’s event for just a minute. Going back to Ed’s event and showing up at that event, dude, I was lit up.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Because I knew I was part of something bigger. Mm-hmm. And it was just, it was just, so every time I’m in an act of service, I also feel like I’m in an act of obedience with the divine.
And because I’m in an act of obedience with a divine, it’s almost like I get supercharged downloads of love. Like, so the inner sort, the fulfillment that I’m chasing is not external. It’s all internal. Okay. Now take that same mindset shift. Right? I also realize that I don’t have a problem with wealth. I don’t have a problem with people having things.
I don’t have a problem that I have some things. What I would have a problem is if those things had me. I think at the end of the day is, is ultimately what I’m concerned about, right? I wanna be seen for service and who I am as an authentic human, not for what people may or may not, but a gain for me or things of that nature.
And I feel like I’m starting to see that be a bit more of a culture change.
Mm-hmm.
Stephen: Right? The relationships that I’m [00:52:00] trying to build, uh, with people, uh, I’m trying to make sure they’re real relationships, like they’re real friendships. Like Rory, you call me and say, Hey dude, I got a flat tire. Yeah, right.
And I left my wallet at the building
Rory: and, you know, I’m not capable of changing no flat tire. That’s mama’s boy not getting, I’m not getting out no crank and like getting on my knees and like, I, I need help.
Stephen: But if you made the phone call, I’d show up. You know, and I’m, you know, those are the sincere relationships.