Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to the Certain Success Podcast, Matt and Joe here. Today is business day. Lots of our podcasts are so much Jesus, which there's nothing wrong with that but we are business owners trying to build businesses. Most of y'all with us are in that same mode. So today we're gonna talk about the thing that we do the most, which is we help businesses go from a six-figure business to a seven-figure business. It doesn't mean that we don't help eight-figure businesses and all that other kind of stuff, but the reality is the vast majority of businesses that are successful at all are in the mid to high sixes and they want to go to seven, and what happens is everybody gets stuck. So you ready for?

Speaker 2: 0:46

that, joe Ready, let's do it.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Okay, if you've been listening to me for a minute, you know that I've built a bunch of businesses that crashed and burned, but I built three in my career that broke through the seven figure barrier and I think, if you're listening to this, you can raise your hand. If your business is doing six figures, everybody raise your hand. Right, at least six figures. And the truth is that 99% of us are running a business that's in the six figure range and it just is the reality.

Speaker 1: 1:27

And what happens is you go to a certain point, you reach your natural ceiling of achievement, which means, whatever my skills and habits and personality and flaws and like all the things that make up who you are, they're going to allow you to get to a certain point based on your maximum amount of hustle, and they're just going to get to a place and everybody does it. And then what happens is you get stuck there and the vast majority of people never break through it. You either get bored and you quit, or you fail, or both, or you just stay there and you just keep running the same business and making the same result. I think we don't talk about enough the fact that is just like a constant repeat until you die. Like you don't want to get off. You don't get off the train, it's comfortable.

Speaker 2: 2:19

It's what you know it's. If you see it and you're doing it every day and you're in the minutiae of it, you're like, okay, this is comfortable, I know it, I've. I did this yesterday, I did it last week, so it should be the same today. So so we get stuck, like you said.

Speaker 1: 2:36

We get stuck in that pattern and you know it's so funny in in the world that we live, in, joe, in like the coaching consulting world, and in 2024, on Instagram or wherever you are, it's like you're constantly being sold this aspirational dream that says, oh, there's this magic bullet and you're going to finally go from six to seven and, based on this magic bullet, and come on, like, come on. We all know that that is not. That's not the deal. You know. The deal is you have to reevaluate what you're doing and why you're doing it and how you're doing it, and break it, probably in order to push forward to that next place. And it's going to. It's going to require a change in you and a change in your business process, and everybody just like once, they're like not have that conversation, right?

Speaker 1: 3:38

We were talking before we hit record about this notion that we've seen and operated businesses that run at six and we've seen and operated businesses that operate at seven, and we're the same human being, right? So what was the difference? Timing, process and maybe most of all, is alignment to, to mission and dream and and vision. And you know, because it's you're pumped to get up every day to go do what it is that you want to do and as soon as the joy is gone we talked about this on another podcast as soon as the joy is gone, then it's one way or another, it's going going to crash, right.

Speaker 2: 4:25

Wish you could all see Matt right now, good old Italian, just using those hands and expressing every emotion that he's been through, experienced not just himself. We've both done it. We've hit the top of the mountain. I think I've shared in the past my wife and I have. We've owned our own businesses. We flipped a lot of houses. We've taken that piece of junk property in the middle of a neighborhood and we turned it into the star and then we got it to where it looked good. We sell it and we go get, we go find another one.

Speaker 2: 5:00

And I think what happens with most CEOs and leaders and since our passion is Christian CEOs and leaders that want to parlay their faith from their personal life and how do we immerse in our business life and make them all running in cadence and get into that runner's high where everything is clicking, the. What happens to us is when we're in a pattern of the same. We've experienced something that we're going through, we we get comfortable in that, but as soon as someone that comes along and I think Matt, you and I have talked about this where just talking it through with a like-minded person, there's so many CEOs and leaders out there that don't have these conversations with anyone. It's a conversation they're having in their own mind and they don't really get the answer they're looking for. I think it's like a low level burn.

Speaker 1: 6:06

There's this low level burn too. You don't have the conversation because you don't have anybody to have the conversation with. So you just get up and do the things all day and in the back of your mind you're like this is kind of sucking, but it doesn't actually come all the way out. Right? You touched on something there that I want to go talk about being in the zone. I like to think about that and call that the flywheel. I don't know if you said this or not, but I was thinking runners high when you said it and to me that's like step three, if you're listening to this and you're like, yeah, you know, I've been doing the same couple hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, whatever the number is, and I want to break through to the next level and I don't know how.

Speaker 1: 6:47

Step one is alignment to purpose. If you're running a business for the money, to the extent that you're doing that, it's never gonna go because you don't have, even though you may you might not even have lost track of the fact that this is true, but you don't appreciate the fact that your joy is gone. You're not living for a dream, you're trying to make a dollar, and unless those two things are in alignment, it's never going to scale. It's just not. I mean, maybe one in a million, but not with any kind of certain success, not with any kind of batting average. Can you scale something that's not in alignment with who you are and what you're actually trying to do? And I think that those kinds of words get fuzzy and people start thinking that, oh, that's just. I hate the term woo-woo, but I can't seem to our mission. We're supposed to be aligned to our dream that he's put on our heart and people get confused about that. But it's actually pretty clear when you really start to unpack it, what makes you burn.

Speaker 1: 7:50

You know, you were on yet another podcast we've already done. You were talking about a past client of ours that when he got started talking about what he'd love to do, he just lit up, like I'm lit up right now. But in the same conversation that same person was, you could see him thinking I can't do that. That doesn't make sense. It's irrational like no. So step one, step one's that. Step two this could be a long part of this conversation is persevere, which you and I, joe and I, just spent the last hour talking about the relentless need for perseverance and what's really interesting and I think both Joe and I can attest to this is that you're never really going to persevere all the way to the win if you're out of alignment with your dream.

Speaker 2: 8:42

That alignment is so important. We talked about this this morning. Is it in alignment with the way that our God wired us? Are we actually doing what he designed us to do? You shared something this morning on social media about Steve Harvey the comedian. He likes to talk to his audience after a show. He started off with guys. Comedy is easy. For me, it's how God wired me. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be making you laugh because it's God's perfect design.

Speaker 2: 9:14

I think that alignment for most leaders is when they start seeing the alignment challenge. It can come up through the body, through pain, disease, things that they can't describe. It's like why am I feeling this way? And it's when the body's at and we've heard it several times is at dis-ease. The alignment has been knocked off balance and for anyone listening to this, for Matt and I, the most important alignment of anything is our faith in Christ and it's parlaying that special relationship, that walk with Christ. And how do we take that from our personal lives into the boardroom? And it reminds me of Proverbs 16.3, and I brought this up this morning. 16.3 says commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. And then, of course, jeremiah 29.11 is for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. So much scripture is so foundationally important. I know for Matt, for myself, but for a lot of you, listening is that you know you go to church on Sunday or maybe you go to a Wednesday night Bible study, but that's an hour of our lives here and there across the week.

Speaker 2: 10:44

But what does it look like 24-7? What does it look like in the boardroom? But what does it look like 24 seven? What does it look like in the boardroom? What does it look like if someone did a 30 story view of your business and said I see where the alignment's out and it's in our faith walk. We try to do things on our own and I think that's where a lot of the struggle comes from. I wish you guys could have been a fly on the wall before we started hitting the record. We were fired up about the solve of what people go through on a daily basis, and it's not just business owners, it's everybody. It's fixing that angst. The answer's right there for us. Unfortunately, we don't go to him enough, unfortunately we don't go to him enough.

Speaker 1: 11:27

You know it comes back to this process versus outcome. I just wrote persistence in the process. I feel like maturity is the ever increasing span that you're willing to endure the process without the outcome, just continuing to lay another brick, have another conversation. What you saw in me an hour ago, joe, is this frustration. It's okay to be frustrated. I'm frustrated this morning where I was like, oh, I don't want the outcome, even though I know that ain't it, and we talked about it for an hour. We had some great prayer about it and it's OK, cool, I'm ready to lay another brick. And so that's step two. So we're digging through this three step. This is, this is gold. You guys like save this podcast. Give us a view on Apple Podcasts, by the way, please. Thanks.

Speaker 1: 12:30

So it's alignment to your dream, perseverance in the process and then flywheel effect, and this is the seven-figure gold that you don't know about if you've never run a seven-figure business, is that the only difference between a six-figure business and a seven-figure business is the flywheel effect, which Joe called being in the zone. I've also alluded to the idea of runner's high, which there was a season there a few years ago. I was running every day and I finally learned what runner's high feels like. And it's this state of euphoria where it feels automatic and you're just going there and you could just go forever and it feels effortless. And that's the difference between a six-figure business and a seven-figure business.

Speaker 1: 13:17

If you only run a six-figure business, you think there's only the perseverance, you think there's only the just lay another brick and it never, never, never ends. You think there's only the just lay another brick and it never, never, never ends. And what you don't know is seven-figure business is the breakthrough, where it feels effortless and it starts to just spoof, it just starts to go and you can't control it anymore. And, by the way, it's a different podcast, but some people pull it back by trying to control it. Pull it back by trying to control it. And, guys, it's this perseverance and knowing that you're seeking the flywheel effect, knowing that that's what, like that, there's a dream, there is something on the other side and that's what that looks like. It's the same business you're running today. It's just gonna feel different when you hit that moment.

Speaker 2: 14:12

Which leads me to this very cheesy and Matt has no idea where I'm gonna go right now, but it's a cheesy analogy. But as you were laying that out, it made me think, guys, for years I loved working out to P90X Tony Horton. He's 66 years old now and if you go look for Tony Horton online, the guy is a rock at 66 years of age. But 20 years ago my wife was sitting in a hotel waiting for me to get out of conference and she said, hey, when I got back she says I just ordered Beach Bot. We're going to get in shape together. And I dove into his program so much so I recorded every pushup, every pull up, every chin up. I had sheets, years of me writing down progressions of growth. I had it all written down, matt. Yes, there is a hyphen between anal and retentive.

Speaker 1: 15:10

I was just saying I was just sitting here listening to you going. I'll never do that.

Speaker 2: 15:13

Yeah, I know, but we all have our way. So what happened over the years in this analogy is I got to a point in my life that I said this is the size I want to be suit jacket wise the rest of my life. I don't want to go buy any more sport coats that are a different size. I want everything to fit. I want my pants size. So I stopped writing everything down and said I know, if I do this and this, I could stay the same weight, same size, and I'll be out of the woods and guess what? I've stayed that same weight size for the last 10 years without writing anything down. But did I grow?

Speaker 1: 15:56

Because it became unconscious. Is what you're? That's what you're driving at. Is you reach that?

Speaker 2: 16:00

place. I came to that unconscious place where it became repetitive. But I said to myself at the beginning of that Matt, I don't really want to grow my muscle any bigger. I don't want to be some big. Hey, I talk like this and look at my muscle. I didn't want to be that. I said this is what I want to be.

Speaker 2: 16:21

And there's a lot of people out there that are like you know, I'm okay making six figures and I'm going to keep repeating my same processes, which was what I was doing. I was okay repeating my same processes because I was okay with not growing. But there's a group of people who are like no, I need to write down everything I'm doing so that I can look back and measure it against what I did before when I was doing six figures Am I improving? And the only way to improve everyone is you've got to write down the measurement of where you are today, where you were yesterday and where I want to go. And that's how I grew for years writing it down in that sense when I talk about workouts. But to me, yes, it's that cheesy analogy. To get back to, how are we treating our business? Are we doing the same thing over and over and again and expecting a different result.

Speaker 1: 17:12

Yeah well, and I think you're right about the fact there's a great area to expand on the idea that you might be happy at the current level of business and, if that's true, kind of this isn't for you. But here's the thing Businesses have to be growing or they're dying and you're going to get bored at some point. Whether it's two years or five years or 10 years, you're going to get bored if it's not moving. And we're in an incredibly inflationary environment. Let's not miss that. Half a million dollars in revenue used to seem like a lot of money and let's not miss that Half a million dollars in revenue used to seem like a lot of money and now it's not. I'm fond of the phrase $5,000 is the new 500. If you're not reaching to go from six to seven, you're going to have a problem in the future. A because you're going to get bored as an entrepreneur and B because the world's moving by.

Speaker 1: 18:06

I'm old enough that I remember thinking that making six figures at all was like, oh my God, if I could ever, ever, ever make a hundred. I remember thinking that way. And now that's just out of college money, right. So you got to be at some level. I think. Where am I growing to? But that also goes back to step number one of alignment to your dream. Alignment to your dream should never be, I promise you. God's not saying, oh, just get to this place and stay there for the rest of your life. That's not the way God talks, right? It's always more than you can accomplish, more than you could ever ask or imagine. If you're not chasing something huge, what are you doing here? God's not oh, like the Bible doesn't say oh, get comfy and retire. My man, jamie, said something on a sermon one day. About what did he say? Because he's a recovering alcoholic and he said there's no way that God said that you should lock yourself in your gated community and drink yourself into oblivion because you know Jesus.

Speaker 2: 19:11

He doesn't talk like that. It really made me think about the parable of the talents, and a talent back in biblical, is money and what the three people that Christ talks about, what they did with that money for their boss. And one buried it and, in a sense, if you don't want to grow, you've buried it and said, okay, I'm okay with this. You didn't even try to invest it, you just said this is it, and so we don't want to be that it's true in all of this.

Speaker 1: 19:45

Sometimes I look at things like the parable of the talents and I go. I can see myself in every single version of that. So the best version of me is aspirational and digging deep and trying to build something greater, and the worst in me is burying it. The first piece of land I bought in the current set of land I bought after the great crash of 08, 09. It was a small piece of land and I intended to build the tiniest little shack on it. I used to describe it and I called it the Unabomber strategy and I'm like just give me the shack in the woods, some weapons, some alcohol, and like, don't know anyone ever talk to me again. So that's the lowest level of the parable of the talents right there half the audience.

Speaker 1: 20:34

I'm not saying, do that I'm saying there's a piece of that in all of us, right, and I didn't do that, by the way, but I did think it I did. I did think it and you thought it too. Come on, I I know Same thing Raise your hand. You thought at some point, you thought I'd like to be in a shack in the woods and have no one talk to me ever again. That's not a good strategy and that's not growth, and that's not what God put us here for.

Speaker 2: 20:55

Exactly, but it's fun hearing it come from you. So where is it that someone lands in processing all of this, because we've just shared a lot. Do they bury their talent? Back in the day, talent was money and the analogy is really about how God wired us. Don't bury what God created in us. He wants the best for us. He wants us to keep growing.

Speaker 1: 21:25

I think it's alignment to your dream which, if you're a follower of Christ, your dream is going to be what he's pouring it into your spirit all the time. There's something burning inside of you, and if you're not doing that, that's step one. It just is. You know you can't be a follower of Christ and not be chasing something that's bigger than your capability If all you're doing is what you're capable of, that ain't following Jesus. I don't think I've ever said it that way. If you're an entrepreneur and you're following Jesus, you better be scared to death that if he doesn't show up you can't execute. Otherwise you just aren't doing it. Actually, you're living on your power, your god, you know. So we've taken the fight to a higher level, but I mean I I think that's true yep, he doesn't want us to be lukewarm.

Speaker 2: 22:22

He wants, wants us to fight the good fight. He wants us to stand firm. He doesn't want us to fear. We've repeated this over a few other podcasts 365 times in the Bible it says do not fear. And maybe that's one of the biggest hiccups people have. Is this fear of growth, fear of what comes with that growth, fear of can I manage the growth? Fear of am I wired to do that kind of growth? It's all of that. I think the coming years are going to produce a lot of Christ warriors. I think more people are going back to their original foundation and their faith. They're realizing we need a Savior. For so long, I think, we've lost Him. We've lost Him in our schools. We've lost Him in our leadership. We've lost Him, in some cases, in our churches. Churches have lost their way. So it's up to us individually to say you know what way. So it's up to us individually to say you know what? I can't do this without Jesus.

Speaker 1: 23:34

I want to grow and we got to get back to basics. Yeah, and I think the church of the business world is there, a greater testimony than I'm chasing this huge dream and I'm out on a limb so far that I am completely reliant upon the Lord to show up or we're dead. That's testimony. I'm walking on the water and if the Lord's not in it, we're dead.

Speaker 2: 23:58

Yeah, we're burning the boats, baby.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Burn a man. I think that's a wrap. Guys, Thanks for being with us on the Certain Success Podcast. We'll see you back here soon.