WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:15.100
What is success? How do you personally define success? I ask every guest on this show the same question, "How do you define success?" And the answers vary, so I wanted to go to the experts. I have a book, um, right here.
2
00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:29.160
My sister gave me this book. This is the Book of Positive Quotations. I pull out this book often, and there's a full chapter on success here. Um, well, that's making dreams come true. That's not the worst. On success.
3
00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:36.620
And so I highlighted some. I'll read them off to you. These are quotes from people who should know what they're talking about.
4
00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:46.540
The first one, "The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do." That is Donald Riggs.
5
00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:58.540
The next one, "Nature gave men two ends, one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then, man's success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most." I like that one. George Kirkpatrick.
6
00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:10.000
Uh, this one is one that I really like. "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."
7
00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:23.530
That is Henry David Thoreau. Uh, the next one, "Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful." That's Malcolm Forbes. Uh, next one, "Also bear in..." Or, uh, excuse me.
8
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:35.000
Oh, this is Abraham Lincoln, by the way. "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing." And then as we head to the Bible, "He did it with his heart and prospered."
9
00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:43.580
That's 2 Chronicles 31:21. Uh, Robert F. Kennedy said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
10
00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:52.320
And another banger from Thoreau says, "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." Albert Einstein's got a little bit different take.
11
00:01:52.340 --> 00:02:03.560
He says, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value." Uh, and this next one, "I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up." This is an actor's perspective.
12
00:02:04.110 --> 00:02:11.940
"Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn't give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you," Harrison Ford.
13
00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:24.680
Uh, and then Benjamin Disraeli, "The secret of success is constancy of purpose." I think this last one by the famous NCAA basketball coach for UCLA
14
00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:29.060
is my favorite and defines what it means to live an Ascent Life here on this show.
15
00:02:29.070 --> 00:02:39.960
"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the, the b- you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
16
00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:48.980
So hope that clears up the definition [laughs] of success for you. Hint, it varies. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, R. Brandon Long, and this is Ascent Life Live.
17
00:02:49.020 --> 00:03:01.160
We're here with the mission to inspire one million people a day to live their best lives and be the best version of themselves. This is Ascent Life Live. Uh, please subscribe to the show on YouTube at my page, R.
18
00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:11.900
Brandon Long. Follow me on X under R. Brandon Long. And for daily visual inspiration, you can follow on Instagram at Ascent Life. And I made it under TikTok as well under R. Brandon Long.
19
00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:20.800
Reminder, we're live four days a week. Episodes are then uploaded as a podcast to your favorite podcast outlets, including Spotify and Apple as the Ascent Life Podcla- podcast.
20
00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:31.860
If you're watching live, I think we're live on YouTube this time as well as X. You can drop a comment or question and we'll get to those in the chat if we, um, s- if there are any before the end of the show. So
21
00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:49.720
introducing our guest today is founder, CEO of Biznis Resource, B-I-Z-N-I-S Resource, offering coaching, uh, God, there's so much. It's my favorite phrase, by the way. You play with words a, a little bit.
22
00:03:50.040 --> 00:04:04.720
Uh, coach, consulting, and sales and business plans and more. So, uh, Mike Westover, Michael Westover, uh, welcome to the program. Thank you. Yes. [laughs] Yes. Uh, thank you for coming on, uh, on the show.
23
00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:06.960
So first of all, let's, let's kind of...
24
00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:14.920
For those of you, for those of the audience who are just getting to know who you are and what you do, uh, you didn't, you didn't graduate high school and start selling businesses, right?
25
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:26.080
That's, there, you took a little bit of a trek to get there. So what's sort of the, the background of your work history and how you came to have business resources or resource? Yeah.
26
00:04:26.140 --> 00:04:37.420
So, uh, high school career was so important to my future. Yeah. [laughs] Um- Right off the bat. Yeah... good times in high school. Um- Yeah... uh, good times in college.
27
00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:46.220
I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in, uh, Spain and Africa, so I learned a little Spanish there. Yeah.
28
00:04:46.260 --> 00:04:58.920
I learned, um, interacted with a lot of, um, great people from Africa and learned that you don't necessarily need to have a lot to be happy. Mm. Um, let's see.
29
00:04:59.310 --> 00:05:11.290
I was a school principal for many years and, uh, started a business of my own to help schools. So I ran a consulting company for a bit there. Uh, ran several schools simultaneously.
30
00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:23.320
That pretty much burnt me out- [laughs] Yeah... after, after, uh, my 20 years of community service, uh, working for schools. I, uh- Well, h- uh, lightly paid, I guess. [laughs] Is that... [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
31
00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:35.560
Um, you know, I th- I thought, well, I, I think businesses need similar things, you know? I- we would go into these charter schools, for instance- Yeah... and they had great missions, they had great people, but
32
00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:45.480
navigating the, the red tape, the, of the government and the systems was harder than most would think. And so, uh, they just needed a lot of help in a lot of different ways.
33
00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:53.420
And so, you know, we're not our grandparents anymore. We don't have to do the same thing for 50 years. So I thought, "Hey, why don't I do something else?"
34
00:05:53.540 --> 00:06:03.180
And I bet there's a bunch of business owners who could use help with their businesses. Yeah. And that's funny you say that because it's, boy, it's changed a lot as far as career.
35
00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:15.440
I mean, I personally have changed careers, I don't know, at least three times. Um, and I mean, like, from retail to marketing to podca- like, careers. You know, not, didn't even, wasn't even the same vein or something.
36
00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:24.970
And so was that-Did you have some nervousness about that, or did you feel pretty confident of like, "Yep, no, I'm, like, I'm gonna change. I'm gonna do something different now"? Y- yeah.
37
00:06:25.020 --> 00:06:32.300
I mean, I, I enjoy learning and growing. Um, but yes, there's definitely risk involved. There's definitely some fear involved. When I- Yeah...
38
00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:41.460
jumped from the district principal position to a busine- my own company and doing consulting, that was a big risk. That was scary too.
39
00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:53.540
But immediately just had tons of clients needing help with their schools, and so I just took the leap. And, um, at the end of the day, helping businesses, frankly, is 10 times easier than helping schools.
40
00:06:53.700 --> 00:07:06.970
I mean, uh, public schools at least have, you know, there's taxpayer dollars involved. Yeah. And there's lots of laws and rules and regulations. And so businesses can be complex, don't get me wrong, but they're easier.
41
00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:16.109
Yeah. So it, it actually worked out great. Okay. So on the show, we do like to highlight, um, it's like visual inspiration of the day, but it's mostly just, uh, Instagram accounts.
42
00:07:16.210 --> 00:07:29.030
And I, I th- I, I'm wondering if you're familiar with this person. Uh, let me pull her up here. Codie Sanchez, she has a new book out, Main Street Millionaire, where she talks about, um,
43
00:07:30.460 --> 00:07:43.020
you know, getting wealthy by b- buying ordinary businesses. Um, so if you're not following Codie Sanchez, look her up on Instagram, Codie, C-O-D-I-E, Sanchez on Instagram.
44
00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:56.260
I mean, she has 2.3 million followers, so she's doing all right. But, uh, it, you know, young and, and, uh, pretty and easy to, to, uh, consume her products, her, her information, her content.
45
00:07:56.300 --> 00:08:02.500
She's out there all the time putting stuff out there, and it's good stuff. It's good stuff. And she buys... She's in it, man.
46
00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:15.800
Like, she's buying businesses all the time, and so she kinda just details what she does, and that's what you do. You help people buy businesses, um, which is similar, and sell businesses. Um- Mm-hmm... and so
47
00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:26.840
how come we should, [laughs] how come we should buy small bus- why is that easier than starting your own business? Yeah, yeah. And people have... I get people referring, "Hey, have you seen this?"
48
00:08:26.869 --> 00:08:38.660
And they'll text it to me. Yeah. Yeah, probably. [laughs] Yeah. She has great content. Good for her. Happy for her. But, um, sure. I, I have people reaching out, um, every week, uh, to the website.
49
00:08:38.800 --> 00:08:44.980
You know, a lead comes in and says, "Hey, I really wanna start this business." Mm-hmm. And so we can help people start a business.
50
00:08:45.020 --> 00:08:55.640
You know, there's a number of steps we can walk them through to save some pain and suffering. It's really not that complicated. Uh, none of the steps are necessarily hard, but you do need to go through some steps.
51
00:08:55.900 --> 00:09:06.480
Mm-hmm. The... What I usually end up telling them though is, "Unless it's something crazy unique... Look, I've got three of these businesses for sale right now." Mm.
52
00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:14.520
"And because the person selling it didn't really prepare or plan ahead, it's at a fire sale price. And so you have a choice.
53
00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:25.700
You can either spend all your money and time and effort, blood, sweat, and tears, and five years trying to get it to where this is, or you can just pay them this small price." Um- Yeah...
54
00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:27.600
and so that's just the honest truth.
55
00:09:27.760 --> 00:09:41.020
If, if there are businesses currently in the industry with clients, cashflow, that's for sale, um, it may look like it's a lot of money, but trust me, it's probably a lot less than doing it yourself. Yeah.
56
00:09:41.060 --> 00:09:47.900
And the, and the flip side of that, and I... And you mentioned this on a podcast we had John before, is that, um, if you own a business and you want...
57
00:09:47.910 --> 00:10:06.360
And this is fascinating me, and you want out or you wanna pass it on to family or something, um, boy, have it looked at because apparently too many businesses get sold or handed off without being properly evaluated for way less money than they're worth.
58
00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:20.540
Absolutely. Yeah. I do v- business valuations all the time. At least one a day it seems like. Um, so there are business- our country is run by small businesses. Main Street, State Street is just full of small businesses.
59
00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:38.380
And the sad part is most of these people getting up early and going to work and working long hours just literally have no idea what their business is worth, and they have no idea how to exit that business, or if they can exit it, um, how to scale.
60
00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:41.220
And so that's where I come in, and I do free consultations.
61
00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:53.220
I can jump on the phone with someone for a half hour and just walk them through the process, the timeline, the, how much it costs, and I can just feel the weight of these people literally lifting off their shoulders- Mm-hmm...
62
00:10:53.240 --> 00:11:03.240
because they, it's just something in the back of their mind they've been worried about for years and years and years and years, and I can help bring, I guess, peace to them- Yeah... that there is an exit.
63
00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:12.660
You can get paid for what you've done. Yeah. Yeah. What are some of the businesses that are hot right now? Like, and we're in, we should say we're in Utah, and I don't know if you list businesses out of Utah or not.
64
00:11:12.680 --> 00:11:22.780
Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, what are some of the ones that, like, everybody either wants or are selling well or something? Yeah. I've got a lot of soda businesses right now. [laughs] Okay. Um, man. So- soda's hot in Utah.
65
00:11:22.920 --> 00:11:36.200
Yeah. [laughs] I'm not kidding you. Yeah. Yeah. Um, maybe five. Five soda businesses. Oh. Um, and cookie businesses. Those two seem to be very common. Um, cleaning businesses. Uh,
66
00:11:38.060 --> 00:11:51.860
man, we, uh, some marketing businesses. Mm. Done some of those. So really I've sold everything from auto shops, tow companies, you know, service ba- landscaping. Mm-hmm. Just sold one of those. Um, two of those actually.
67
00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:05.460
Um, to more professional type businesses like dental offices- Yeah... dental businesses. Um, so, or marketing agencies, things like that. Yeah. Uh, are some harder to evaluate than others? Sure.
68
00:12:06.090 --> 00:12:15.700
Sh- uh, businesses that have a lot of what we call goodwill. Uh-huh. Uh, if there's IP involved in it. Yeah. Um, so, uh, maybe there aren't a lot of tangible assets.
69
00:12:15.760 --> 00:12:22.980
You know, some businesses clearly come with, you know, vehicles or equipment. Yeah. Some, some businesses not so much. Yeah.
70
00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:31.880
But they have this, um, patent or trademark or they have this process that's super unique that's, you know, secret sauce of- Yeah... you know, or something. Yeah.
71
00:12:32.140 --> 00:12:45.400
And, and that can be difficult to evaluate, uh, w-To put a, a dollar number on. But there's definitely value there and so you have to kind of, you have to try some different things. Well, I asked you this before.
72
00:12:45.540 --> 00:12:57.320
What's, what's... What about, what about influencers? You know, like- Yeah... or someone who has a big audience on social media. Is that currency when it comes to selling? And, and how do they, how is that evaluated?
73
00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:00.910
Yeah. It's, it's similar to the IP question, right? Okay.
74
00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:15.040
It's i- if you can monetize anything, like if you can show that we have this many, um, subscribers or this many likes or this many followers, and as a result, you know, these products, you know, I just keep getting more.
75
00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:25.020
I'm adding a new, um, a new, a sponsorship every week or every month. Yeah. And we can tr- we have to be, you have to be able to track success.
76
00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:43.240
And whether it's in likes, followers, whatever, then if we can show a tran- um, a trajectory, a positive trajectory where you're just growing, growing, growing, then yeah, you can kind of a- attach some dollar symbols to that and say, "Oh, the average ad spend is for this," and, you know, attach some dollars that way.
77
00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:54.190
What are... And this is a little harder question, but what would be some of the businesses that have, it's like tight margins, harder to make money on kind of things? Restaurants. Um- Oh, really? Yeah. Oh.
78
00:13:54.200 --> 00:14:01.040
Restaurants can be really tough. Okay. Obviously, if you find the right model- Yeah... you can hit it big and, you know, open up several.
79
00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:14.800
Um, but even then, sometimes things go well for a couple years in restaurants and then they kind of die down. Mm-hmm. You know, you're beholden to so many, uh, factors with re- I mean, food prices, I mean, uh, any...
80
00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:25.960
Gas prices go up, it affects all the food prices. You know, employees, you have all these employees you've gotta cover payroll for. Mm-hmm. So I would say restaurants can be tough to- Okay... to manage.
81
00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:35.190
How's retail doing right now? Uh, retail can be great. Uh- Yeah... e-commerce can be great. Um, again, you've, you've gotta have the right product or service. Mm-hmm.
82
00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:45.409
And sometimes those go in trends, so you just gotta find... I, I think I mentioned this before. It's, it's like buying and selling stock, right? You wanna buy low, sell high. Yeah.
83
00:14:45.409 --> 00:14:48.480
And so you can't always know when exactly that high...
84
00:14:48.760 --> 00:14:59.700
You, you wanna sell before it plateaus or starts to decline, and you wanna buy when it's really, you know, just getting started and you can see a, a strong, uh, trajectory.
85
00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:04.030
But, you know, you don't know the future, so you- Yeah. Business is risk. Yeah.
86
00:15:04.060 --> 00:15:14.530
Business transactions are risky, so you try to mitigate that as much as possible with research and with, um, planning and- And by hiring you. Yeah. I, I can help- [laughs]... with that too. Yeah.
87
00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:24.880
And then, and you win some and you lose some, but you, you, you never wanna invest more money than you have- Mm-hmm... to spend, you know- Mm... to, to survive. Yeah. But that's...
88
00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:35.180
Your, your job then is, like, kind of like a real estate broker, but for businesses- Mm-hmm... in other words. And so you can go in and, uh, negotiate the deal- Mm-hmm... I guess. Yeah.
89
00:15:35.300 --> 00:15:47.250
Uh, what's like one of the hardest deals you've had to negotiate? Oh, wow. Um, franchises can be tough sometimes because you have a third party involved. It's just not, it's not the buyer and seller. That's right.
90
00:15:47.250 --> 00:15:58.270
There's, there's- Yeah... a franchise involved. Yeah. And sometimes they have additional rules that they want to attach, sometimes last minute. "Oh, we're changing our franchise disclosure document, and-" Oh "...
91
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:07.520
now you have to do this, this, and this." Yeah. Well, that wasn't part of the agreement. Um, just that- Are they, are they just messing with you at that point?
92
00:16:07.640 --> 00:16:17.970
Or, or are they literally trying to actually cover something that they forgot? Um, they... Yeah. They're... I, I would like, I like to think that most people are good and decent people. [laughs] Same. Same.
93
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:28.740
I just, sometimes you wonder. But there are people that, um, and I can give specifics personally in my business, where people just, just don't pay you and- Oh...
94
00:16:28.780 --> 00:16:34.040
just, just are, are hoping that you don't, you know, sue them. Yeah. And I...
95
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:46.800
You can work literally in my, in my line of work, I could be promoting a business, a l- a larger business for literally a year, uh, find the buyer, bring the offer, and then they say, "Oh, we don't need you anymore." Mm.
96
00:16:46.890 --> 00:16:55.600
And so I have to make the choice, well, do I wanna take this to court or not? Mm-hmm. You know, and they're hoping I don't. Mm. And, or you settle for less money. So you have to play...
97
00:16:55.620 --> 00:17:03.580
They, unfortunately, there are people that are dishonest. So that's different from real estate, 'cause there you have... Or, I mean, how does that work?
98
00:17:03.589 --> 00:17:11.340
'Cause in real estate, you, there's, like, a title company that's in between- Mm-hmm... and makes sure the money gets transferred. So for you, you're on your own essentially. Yeah.
99
00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:23.060
I mean, still work with escrow companies and whatnot, but- Okay... but yeah, I don't typically charge upfront fees like other brokers, 'cause I don't, I don't wanna gouge people. I w- I want, I work off a success fee.
100
00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:34.680
So I wanna- Yeah... I wanna get paid when I bring results. However, sometimes people do take advantage of that, and, um, there's other, [laughs] there's other ways, and they just try to find loopholes and get around it.
101
00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:44.000
But, um, you know, I, like I said, I, I think most people are good and most people mean well and, you know, I try to treat people as I would wanna be treated. Yeah.
102
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:52.920
And, and I think things work out for the best generally. Sounds like you've learned a few things, maybe the hard way a couple times. Yeah. You, you tend to trust people, and that happens- [laughs]... you know?
103
00:17:53.380 --> 00:18:04.220
Oh, that's so sad. That shouldn't, that should never happen, though. Yeah. Oh, bummer. Okay. So first deep question of the day, which I give this out in advance, but what is your definite major purpose?
104
00:18:04.300 --> 00:18:18.320
And this has probably changed, 'cause you've had career changes, and so as you are going through life now, you have a family, um, and a business that you own, business owner, and you meet a lot of other business owners.
105
00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:31.260
Where do you sit personally? What is your purpose? Yeah, I was thinking about that. The, um, my... So in business, the, the purpose I would say, obviously, is to make money, become...
106
00:18:31.610 --> 00:18:36.480
It's about, all about passivity, becoming absentee owner. It's- Mm...
107
00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:51.260
y- my business, my friends' businesses, the people I represent, their businesses are more valuable when they are passive, when you can leave for a week and a month, and the business continues. It continues to cashflow.
108
00:18:51.700 --> 00:19:05.216
It's successful. Mm-hmm. Um, in personal life, though, you know, it's not so much about passivity as activity, frankly, right? Yeah, for sure.'Cause, 'cause life isn't about money.
109
00:19:05.496 --> 00:19:10.216
I mean, once you have established some security and, and the opportunity,
110
00:19:11.256 --> 00:19:20.956
um, you can continue to make more and more and more money, and I don't think that necessarily makes anyone happy or fulfilled or even successful, frankly.
111
00:19:21.216 --> 00:19:33.466
I think in the back of their minds people think, "Oh, I'll, I'll be successful when I can afford this-" Yeah... or when I can get this many businesses or this grand size. And t- to each his own.
112
00:19:33.536 --> 00:19:43.916
Everyone has different goals, and that's fine. Personally me, the goal of money in business is, is to achieve security and to ach- achieve opportunity.
113
00:19:43.936 --> 00:19:57.016
And once I have that, then I wanna be fulfilled in other ways as well, and you kinda hinted at some of them, you know? Um, I'm married, I have a family, uh, you know, children. I have a, a greater family.
114
00:19:57.976 --> 00:20:12.336
I have, uh, I belong to a church. I ha- have, I live in a community neighborhood, and, you know, the, um, the city where I live. My business itself, I try to, you know, be influenced and help other people
115
00:20:13.376 --> 00:20:25.526
in my business community as well, and even in my hobbies. Um, there are ways to grow personally- Mm-hmm... while helping others in, even in hobbies. Mm-hmm.
116
00:20:25.726 --> 00:20:35.806
And so I think, um, the, the business is a, is a big part of life because you've got to secure, you know? [laughs] You gotta be secure, and you've- Yeah...
117
00:20:35.846 --> 00:20:48.476
gotta, you know, have opportunity to be where you wanna be, but that's just a small piece and it's really frankly to me it's sad when people fixate 100% all the time on dollars, dollars, dollars.
118
00:20:48.716 --> 00:21:03.006
And so I would just propose that contrast between, you know, passivity in business is fine, but in life it's, it's about that activity, about action. It's about finding, uh, helping others.
119
00:21:03.136 --> 00:21:11.995
And as, of course as you help others, you help yourself. Mm-hmm. And I, like I, we mentioned earlier about we don't have to be in the same job our whole lives, 50 years.
120
00:21:12.596 --> 00:21:17.916
You know, it, there's so many great things in this world. There's so many great people in this world.
121
00:21:18.536 --> 00:21:28.016
If we just open our eyes, we will learn something from virtually everyone we come in contact with, and those people will bless our lives.
122
00:21:28.065 --> 00:21:36.815
And, and possibly we can even help them and bring a different perspective and, and, and allow them in their lives to be their best selves.
123
00:21:37.436 --> 00:21:53.336
And whether, you know, they're in a family of one or a family of 10, or whether they're in a tiny community or in a huge community, they belong to a church or don't, um, but there's, there's so many opportunities to, to grow while blessing others.
124
00:21:53.376 --> 00:22:05.676
Mm-hmm. To me that's, that's success. That's fulfillment. And it's not, I don't wanna call it balance 'cause I don't believe balance... You know, it's, it's this like unicorn.
125
00:22:06.136 --> 00:22:11.056
You can't- Yeah, it's not like black and white really. Yeah, I mean, you do your best in my opinion. Mm-hmm.
126
00:22:11.196 --> 00:22:24.796
Um, and, you know, if you believe in a higher power, you, you can pray for help in, in finding that balance or in achieving more than maybe you're capable of personally. Mm-hmm.
127
00:22:25.676 --> 00:22:31.196
I wanna dive in on something you said to start out, like on the details of it, and that is your...
128
00:22:31.856 --> 00:22:45.095
Which I lo- I love the whole concept of on your business, try to make it as pa- get to where you can be as passive as possible there, and then personally be as, as active as you can be with your family, your friends, your community.
129
00:22:45.696 --> 00:22:49.336
Uh, that is, man, that's... I mean, you nailed it right there. I think that's fantastic.
130
00:22:49.496 --> 00:22:59.476
But I think one of those is really might be harder [laughs] to do than the other, and that's be- m- uh, when you're in the business, it's your baby and you're trying to make it work, but you can't...
131
00:22:59.916 --> 00:23:13.296
It's like really hard to have it be passive. And so what are some suggestions you might have, some steps that people can take to start handing things off to get it into a position where they're not there 24/7? Yeah.
132
00:23:13.576 --> 00:23:21.695
Great question. So I read a book a while ago called... I can't even remember the honor, the, the, uh, author, but it was called The Perennial Seller.
133
00:23:22.296 --> 00:23:34.096
And one of the things in that book, it wasn't about s- really selling anything, which I originally thought it was. [laughs] It's in the name. Yeah. But yeah. [laughs] Yeah, it was really about creating something lasting.
134
00:23:34.396 --> 00:23:43.126
Mm. Something perennial. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. Um, and one of the, one of the points he made in that book was don't try to do too many things all at once. Mm.
135
00:23:43.156 --> 00:23:54.846
Like d- if you're tr- you know, don't try to create a nonprofit, a great nonprofit and write a novel all at once, you know, for instance, or a great business and start a family all at once. Mm.
136
00:23:55.026 --> 00:24:10.116
He, he just says if you're gonna do something lasting and meaningful that takes a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort, focus on one thing at a time. And so what you just asked is, is, is a great question.
137
00:24:10.216 --> 00:24:20.336
Like I, I would say whatever stage a person's at in their life, find that thing that is most critical in that stage, and that stage may be about making money.
138
00:24:20.456 --> 00:24:28.176
Like if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you're trying to establish yourself. You know, get that security, that opportunity that I was talking about.
139
00:24:28.696 --> 00:24:40.816
At my stage where I'm a little older and maybe I have that security and opportunity, I can just work to duplicate, duplicate, duplicate, duplicate, but I want more meaning in my life than that. Mm-hmm.
140
00:24:41.156 --> 00:24:50.676
Um, so I, I don't know if that answered your question about one thing at a time. Yeah. What was the other part? You keep- Well, it's helpful, but if, if there's something... I mean, is that what you would...
141
00:24:50.716 --> 00:24:58.496
How would you go into a business and, um, you know, they hired you to, as a... What, what was your word for the consulting? It was- Coachulting, yeah... coachulting.
142
00:24:58.516 --> 00:25:10.684
And they're like, "Hey, I don't wanna spend, uh, you know, 14, 16 hours here at the job anymore, what are some things I can do?" Yeah, the scaling part. Yeah. Uh, sorry. So it got-I tried to get there, but I- [laughs]
143
00:25:10.864 --> 00:25:20.154
... think I got sidetracked. [laughs] So by the way, coach-sulting is... So coaching is typically more focused on personal... Yourself, right? Yeah.
144
00:25:20.154 --> 00:25:31.734
And that can happen a lot from just, even just asking the right questions and drawing. I f- I think each one of us actually has most of the answers we seek sometimes w- within us. Interesting. Yeah.
145
00:25:31.734 --> 00:25:43.344
And sometimes you just need someone to ask the right questions. Consulting, on the other hand, is more, you know, laser focused on, on business goals and strategy. Okay. So, so that's why I call it coach-sulting.
146
00:25:43.364 --> 00:25:54.924
Yeah, that's a good clarification. Um, but yeah, scaling, sometimes people overthink it, and the bottom line is if there's something you're doing that someone else can do, then you should do that.
147
00:25:54.934 --> 00:26:08.124
And the, the scary thing about scaling is... 'Cause people try, and then they, they fall back to the status quo or the norm. Mm-hmm. It's because it's hard. It's hard to train someone how to do it like you want it done.
148
00:26:08.174 --> 00:26:17.164
Mm-hmm. The, the quality assurance. It takes time. It's hard. Uh, and the other problem is it takes money, and a lot of times when people start scaling, they see...
149
00:26:17.344 --> 00:26:27.944
I don't know if you've heard of the change continuum, where, you know, you're on this positive trajectory going up, and someone like me says, "Hey, you have, uh, tremendous potential here.
150
00:26:28.384 --> 00:26:36.004
We ought to think bigger, and we ought to, we ought to scale this so that we can go this way instead of this way." Mm. And, and they say, "Great, let's do it."
151
00:26:36.504 --> 00:26:46.124
And then immediately just everything goes to hell, basically. [laughs] Oh, geez. Every... You know, you're losing money. It's more work. It's more time. So people just back into it, back to where they were.
152
00:26:46.224 --> 00:26:56.024
Because they don't know how to do it properly? Or... Okay. Yeah, and there's, there's some stick-with-it-ness that it takes to- Okay... to scale. Yeah. And so what I tell people is I try to prepare them that, "Look,
153
00:26:56.924 --> 00:27:03.624
w- we'll try to baby step this so we don't hit that, you know, that huge dip- Yeah... uh, uh, and scare you to death.
154
00:27:03.784 --> 00:27:14.804
But frankly, it's gonna take some time and some effort and some money, and you may actually, your margins may shrink a little bit." Mm. "You may suffer a little bit financially from this.
155
00:27:14.924 --> 00:27:26.984
Um, but if, if we can get there, and we can all of a sudden replace this person, you... You're doing all these things and just not s- you know, barely living, right? You're just trying to keep your business alive.
156
00:27:27.664 --> 00:27:38.404
And if we can offload these things to other people, then all of a sudden you can step away from your business. And now there's... You've set up systems operations where you can just launch it.
157
00:27:38.904 --> 00:27:48.944
You, you literally, you're not beholden to your own time- Yeah... and your own money anymore. It just can fly." Yeah. And so, yeah, I, I can help people with scaling, for sure.
158
00:27:49.624 --> 00:27:59.604
Um, a lot of it's common sense, but sometimes you need someone to help, uh, get you there. Yeah. Well, has anyone asked for you, your advice on how to...
159
00:28:00.104 --> 00:28:10.664
This would be the flip side of that, is to how to be more active at home and how to, you know, like, how, how do I participate more in my community or anything? Um, have...
160
00:28:10.844 --> 00:28:21.384
Well, have people asked me to help them, to help them in their community? Or have people asked me to help in the community? Yeah. Well, once, once they find that they're not so caught up in their job- Mm...
161
00:28:21.424 --> 00:28:31.764
now they've got free time. Now it's like, okay, well- I wish-... now, now what do I do, you know? Yeah. I wish people would ask. Uh- [laughs] Not really. Yeah. Uh, usually what they do...
162
00:28:33.564 --> 00:28:41.984
Usually they come back to me and say, "Oh, now, great, thanks for helping me sell that business." Now... And they start another one, and then I help them sell that business. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or it's, it's...
163
00:28:42.004 --> 00:28:50.974
When you're an entrepreneur, it's, it's a bug, right? Yeah. It's, it's exciting to start something and to h- help it grow and then to get paid for it. Yeah.
164
00:28:51.004 --> 00:28:56.194
And so some people are just on, just on that perpetual cycle of doing that a lot. Mm-hmm. And you know what?
165
00:28:56.284 --> 00:29:07.784
Like I said, if that brings them fulfillment and happiness, because you are building something good, and you are probably helping people in the process. So I'm, I'm not trying to disparage that lifestyle,
166
00:29:08.924 --> 00:29:22.294
but I think, I think there comes a point where maybe people should pivot a little bit in their lives and say, "Wow, I live in an amazing world." Look around a little bit- Mm-hmm... instead of just churn and burn. Yeah.
167
00:29:22.294 --> 00:29:33.574
You know? Yeah. Well, churn and burn will burn you out probably. Yeah. Uh, you seem pretty... I'm getting the vibe that you're fairly comfortable with where you're at, with where you're at personally in life.
168
00:29:33.604 --> 00:29:40.444
Do you think this is what you'll be doing until you're not working anymore? Or, or you wanna do something else? Do you have ambitions? Yeah.
169
00:29:40.684 --> 00:29:52.114
Um, yeah, I think I'll, I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing and, uh, till I retire, I suspect. Um- [laughs] My wife keeps talking about retiring early. Uh-huh.
170
00:29:52.144 --> 00:30:07.204
And so, yeah, I think we're probably going to try to retire early, but I don't, I don't foresee me... Like I said earlier, a lot of happiness, it, for me, is in being engaged and ac- active. And, and
171
00:30:08.444 --> 00:30:30.844
part of that is it's, it's selfless but selfish at the same time, because as you, as you reach out in your community or even in business to help others, um, and your family f- certainly, right, as you try to, to serve and sacrifice, it, it always comes back, and you always learn more, and you grow from it.
172
00:30:30.884 --> 00:30:45.904
And so, um, business is just one of those categories. Mm-hmm. Well, we have a mutual friend, Rex, uh, who's a financial planner, and he talks about helping people transition into retirement. And, um, boy, that's...
173
00:30:46.464 --> 00:30:54.584
It got me thinking too. I'm like, I don't... I could talk to people forever. Like, I could do... Be- I don't wanna retire from podcasting necessarily, you know?
174
00:30:55.064 --> 00:31:07.904
I wanna retire from the chase or the hustle or trying to make mens- ends meet. You know, you wanna have enough money there that that's, that's okay, but you still wanna be active in some way and-In, in involved, right?
175
00:31:08.024 --> 00:31:15.974
I mean, you don't wanna just, like- Yeah. So, and it may be a variation. Like, you may take- Yeah... actually take this thing on the road. Yeah. Or, or buy one that goes on the road. Own it. Yeah. Yeah.
176
00:31:15.974 --> 00:31:28.164
And start doing gigs, you know, doing podcasts around the nation. Different version of... Yeah. So it- we, we all get- you know, my business may continue to grow, and I might expand, you know, or, or not.
177
00:31:28.284 --> 00:31:41.094
Maybe I'll end up doing something else still, you know, like I did with schools, do something else. But whatever it is, I wanna continue to learn and grow, and I, I think, you know, sometimes we just...
178
00:31:41.144 --> 00:31:52.504
Money is so important in our world, we just fixate on it so much, and there comes a point where I think we just need to step back and say, "Oh, look, I'm, I'm, I'm okay." Mm-hmm.
179
00:31:52.664 --> 00:32:01.724
Like, what else would help me be fulfilled in life? Mm. And like I said, if you believe in a higher power, if you don't, ponder.
180
00:32:01.784 --> 00:32:08.584
You know, like, meditate and just think, and it will help you identify areas that are lacking in your life.
181
00:32:08.624 --> 00:32:22.104
And give those a little bit of energy, and guaranteed, suddenly you'll see other opportunities for growth that will be super meaningful to you, whether it's, whether money's coming in for it or not. Yeah.
182
00:32:22.224 --> 00:32:29.704
Well, and that's why I love the question, what is your definite major purpose? Because I feel like people don't ask themselves that question. Mm-hmm.
183
00:32:29.784 --> 00:32:33.804
They don't, they don't have the mission, the, the one thing that they're shooting for.
184
00:32:33.864 --> 00:32:45.794
They're just working the job, doing the thing, when if you do, if you meditate, um, if you think about it, pray about it, and just think like, "Okay, well, is there something else I should be doing?
185
00:32:45.884 --> 00:32:56.224
Like, what, how can I contribute?" You know? I, um, I mean, to be very personal, so, you know, I think we've all been given common sense.
186
00:32:56.524 --> 00:33:12.084
So I think there's a lot of good I can do, you can do, just by using common sense throughout life. Um, and as we, as we progress through life, as we get older and wiser, we, we s- we gain some good judgment, you know?
187
00:33:12.114 --> 00:33:22.144
And I think we can draw on that good judgment as obstacles hit us, and we can say, "Oh, I, I remember this from before," whatever. There's so much wisdom out there that we can draw on.
188
00:33:22.784 --> 00:33:33.784
A- apart from my own common sense and, and good judgment, if ever on big decisions, I think we need to do a little more research- Yeah... and, uh, and look online.
189
00:33:33.924 --> 00:33:49.334
Like, research things out, and there's wisdom that we can draw from. But even then, I, I personally, truly believe that no matter how hard I try, I'm, I'm going... Even if I'm doing good things or better things- Yeah...
190
00:33:49.484 --> 00:33:56.824
because of that good judgment c- and wisdom, I feel like I'm still not always maximizing my potential.
191
00:33:57.304 --> 00:34:09.983
And so I try to allow myself to receive, you know, inspiration, um, help from this higher power to help me in my life. And, and it's, it may sound corny, but I believe in it.
192
00:34:10.044 --> 00:34:21.874
I have faith in it, and I find that as I allow myself to say, "Hey, look, I'm gonna do my best. But guess what? When that fails, can you help me?" Sure. "Can you put me back on the right track?" Yeah.
193
00:34:21.874 --> 00:34:31.044
And I'm telling you, I go to bed at night and I'm like, "How was that day so meaningful? There's no way that was just me." Mm. And it's just little things here and there.
194
00:34:31.074 --> 00:34:43.784
And I think, I think we all have the opportunity to be better than we can be ourselves if we just open ourselves up to more possibilities. Yeah, not always easy. Sometimes we're, we're closed.
195
00:34:43.844 --> 00:34:55.264
We, e- either we've been hurt or, or we just don't know how, or we're insecure or something to do that. But, uh, no, it's, it's great. Uh, great wisdom from you. So thanks for spending some time with, with me today.
196
00:34:55.284 --> 00:35:06.144
I appreciate it. Yeah. Sorry to wax spiritual on you there. [laughs] That's, that's why we're here. Uh, if someone needs your services, Mike, how can they get a hold of you? Um, biznisresource.com.
197
00:35:06.184 --> 00:35:15.224
You have to pretend you're in first grade. [laughs] It's spelled with a Z. So- I'll link it in the description, by the way. Yeah. But go ahead and spell it. Yeah. Yeah. B-I-Z-N-I-S resource.com.
198
00:35:16.064 --> 00:35:31.934
Um, and then, uh, you can obviously message us on, on the website or call. My phone number is 385-528-8584. You can... Actually, maybe it would be easiest just to text and say, "Hey, saw the podcast. Love to chat." Yeah.
199
00:35:31.944 --> 00:35:44.884
And we can schedule a time. But yeah, I, I try to be helpful, and sometimes it be- there, sometimes it turns into a client, sometimes it doesn't. But I, I truly believe that what come, go, comes around, goes around.
200
00:35:44.984 --> 00:35:48.424
Yeah. And so, yeah. Yeah. I love it. Thanks, Mike, for your time today. Yeah, thanks for having me.
201
00:35:48.744 --> 00:35:59.634
Uh, I do have some wisdom from the pages, uh, and this is from the book The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, and it kinda sums up what, what we were talking about today.
202
00:35:59.724 --> 00:36:09.924
Actually, he says, uh, "Having more control over your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world," which is kinda, Mike, what, what you were saying.
203
00:36:11.064 --> 00:36:18.464
Um, thank you for tuning into this episode of Ascent Life. We'll be back to- oh, no, we'll be back next week. I was gonna say tomorrow. We'll be back next week.
204
00:36:18.504 --> 00:36:27.244
If you made it this far in the program, please subscribe on YouTube at Rbrandonlong or on the Ascent Life Podcast or your favorite podcast app. Follow me on X @Rbrandonlong.
205
00:36:27.984 --> 00:36:37.964
For your daily dose of visual inspiration, I can be found @AscentLife. Thanks for joining me on this journey as we learn how to level up and become the best version of ourselves. No wasted ability.
206
00:36:38.004 --> 00:36:39.624
We'll catch you next week on Ascent Life.
1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:15.100
What is success? How do you personally define success? I ask every guest on this show the same question, "How do you define success?" And the answers vary, so I wanted to go to the experts. I have a book, um, right here.
2
00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:29.160
My sister gave me this book. This is the Book of Positive Quotations. I pull out this book often, and there's a full chapter on success here. Um, well, that's making dreams come true. That's not the worst. On success.
3
00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:36.620
And so I highlighted some. I'll read them off to you. These are quotes from people who should know what they're talking about.
4
00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:46.540
The first one, "The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing what the failing person doesn't like to do." That is Donald Riggs.
5
00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:58.540
The next one, "Nature gave men two ends, one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then, man's success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most." I like that one. George Kirkpatrick.
6
00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:10.000
Uh, this one is one that I really like. "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."
7
00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:23.530
That is Henry David Thoreau. Uh, the next one, "Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful." That's Malcolm Forbes. Uh, next one, "Also bear in..." Or, uh, excuse me.
8
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:35.000
Oh, this is Abraham Lincoln, by the way. "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other thing." And then as we head to the Bible, "He did it with his heart and prospered."
9
00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:43.580
That's 2 Chronicles 31:21. Uh, Robert F. Kennedy said, "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
10
00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:52.320
And another banger from Thoreau says, "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." Albert Einstein's got a little bit different take.
11
00:01:52.340 --> 00:02:03.560
He says, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value." Uh, and this next one, "I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up." This is an actor's perspective.
12
00:02:04.110 --> 00:02:11.940
"Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn't give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you," Harrison Ford.
13
00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:24.680
Uh, and then Benjamin Disraeli, "The secret of success is constancy of purpose." I think this last one by the famous NCAA basketball coach for UCLA
14
00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:29.060
is my favorite and defines what it means to live an Ascent Life here on this show.
15
00:02:29.070 --> 00:02:39.960
"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the, the b- you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
16
00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:48.980
So hope that clears up the definition [laughs] of success for you. Hint, it varies. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, R. Brandon Long, and this is Ascent Life Live.
17
00:02:49.020 --> 00:03:01.160
We're here with the mission to inspire one million people a day to live their best lives and be the best version of themselves. This is Ascent Life Live. Uh, please subscribe to the show on YouTube at my page, R.
18
00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:11.900
Brandon Long. Follow me on X under R. Brandon Long. And for daily visual inspiration, you can follow on Instagram at Ascent Life. And I made it under TikTok as well under R. Brandon Long.
19
00:03:11.940 --> 00:03:20.800
Reminder, we're live four days a week. Episodes are then uploaded as a podcast to your favorite podcast outlets, including Spotify and Apple as the Ascent Life Podcla- podcast.
20
00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:31.860
If you're watching live, I think we're live on YouTube this time as well as X. You can drop a comment or question and we'll get to those in the chat if we, um, s- if there are any before the end of the show. So
21
00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:49.720
introducing our guest today is founder, CEO of Biznis Resource, B-I-Z-N-I-S Resource, offering coaching, uh, God, there's so much. It's my favorite phrase, by the way. You play with words a, a little bit.
22
00:03:50.040 --> 00:04:04.720
Uh, coach, consulting, and sales and business plans and more. So, uh, Mike Westover, Michael Westover, uh, welcome to the program. Thank you. Yes. [laughs] Yes. Uh, thank you for coming on, uh, on the show.
23
00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:06.960
So first of all, let's, let's kind of...
24
00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:14.920
For those of you, for those of the audience who are just getting to know who you are and what you do, uh, you didn't, you didn't graduate high school and start selling businesses, right?
25
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:26.080
That's, there, you took a little bit of a trek to get there. So what's sort of the, the background of your work history and how you came to have business resources or resource? Yeah.
26
00:04:26.140 --> 00:04:37.420
So, uh, high school career was so important to my future. Yeah. [laughs] Um- Right off the bat. Yeah... good times in high school. Um- Yeah... uh, good times in college.
27
00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:46.220
I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in, uh, Spain and Africa, so I learned a little Spanish there. Yeah.
28
00:04:46.260 --> 00:04:58.920
I learned, um, interacted with a lot of, um, great people from Africa and learned that you don't necessarily need to have a lot to be happy. Mm. Um, let's see.
29
00:04:59.310 --> 00:05:11.290
I was a school principal for many years and, uh, started a business of my own to help schools. So I ran a consulting company for a bit there. Uh, ran several schools simultaneously.
30
00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:23.320
That pretty much burnt me out- [laughs] Yeah... after, after, uh, my 20 years of community service, uh, working for schools. I, uh- Well, h- uh, lightly paid, I guess. [laughs] Is that... [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
31
00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:35.560
Um, you know, I th- I thought, well, I, I think businesses need similar things, you know? I- we would go into these charter schools, for instance- Yeah... and they had great missions, they had great people, but
32
00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:45.480
navigating the, the red tape, the, of the government and the systems was harder than most would think. And so, uh, they just needed a lot of help in a lot of different ways.
33
00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:53.420
And so, you know, we're not our grandparents anymore. We don't have to do the same thing for 50 years. So I thought, "Hey, why don't I do something else?"
34
00:05:53.540 --> 00:06:03.180
And I bet there's a bunch of business owners who could use help with their businesses. Yeah. And that's funny you say that because it's, boy, it's changed a lot as far as career.
35
00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:15.440
I mean, I personally have changed careers, I don't know, at least three times. Um, and I mean, like, from retail to marketing to podca- like, careers. You know, not, didn't even, wasn't even the same vein or something.
36
00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:24.970
And so was that-Did you have some nervousness about that, or did you feel pretty confident of like, "Yep, no, I'm, like, I'm gonna change. I'm gonna do something different now"? Y- yeah.
37
00:06:25.020 --> 00:06:32.300
I mean, I, I enjoy learning and growing. Um, but yes, there's definitely risk involved. There's definitely some fear involved. When I- Yeah...
38
00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:41.460
jumped from the district principal position to a busine- my own company and doing consulting, that was a big risk. That was scary too.
39
00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:53.540
But immediately just had tons of clients needing help with their schools, and so I just took the leap. And, um, at the end of the day, helping businesses, frankly, is 10 times easier than helping schools.
40
00:06:53.700 --> 00:07:06.970
I mean, uh, public schools at least have, you know, there's taxpayer dollars involved. Yeah. And there's lots of laws and rules and regulations. And so businesses can be complex, don't get me wrong, but they're easier.
41
00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:16.109
Yeah. So it, it actually worked out great. Okay. So on the show, we do like to highlight, um, it's like visual inspiration of the day, but it's mostly just, uh, Instagram accounts.
42
00:07:16.210 --> 00:07:29.030
And I, I th- I, I'm wondering if you're familiar with this person. Uh, let me pull her up here. Codie Sanchez, she has a new book out, Main Street Millionaire, where she talks about, um,
43
00:07:30.460 --> 00:07:43.020
you know, getting wealthy by b- buying ordinary businesses. Um, so if you're not following Codie Sanchez, look her up on Instagram, Codie, C-O-D-I-E, Sanchez on Instagram.
44
00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:56.260
I mean, she has 2.3 million followers, so she's doing all right. But, uh, it, you know, young and, and, uh, pretty and easy to, to, uh, consume her products, her, her information, her content.
45
00:07:56.300 --> 00:08:02.500
She's out there all the time putting stuff out there, and it's good stuff. It's good stuff. And she buys... She's in it, man.
46
00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:15.800
Like, she's buying businesses all the time, and so she kinda just details what she does, and that's what you do. You help people buy businesses, um, which is similar, and sell businesses. Um- Mm-hmm... and so
47
00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:26.840
how come we should, [laughs] how come we should buy small bus- why is that easier than starting your own business? Yeah, yeah. And people have... I get people referring, "Hey, have you seen this?"
48
00:08:26.869 --> 00:08:38.660
And they'll text it to me. Yeah. Yeah, probably. [laughs] Yeah. She has great content. Good for her. Happy for her. But, um, sure. I, I have people reaching out, um, every week, uh, to the website.
49
00:08:38.800 --> 00:08:44.980
You know, a lead comes in and says, "Hey, I really wanna start this business." Mm-hmm. And so we can help people start a business.
50
00:08:45.020 --> 00:08:55.640
You know, there's a number of steps we can walk them through to save some pain and suffering. It's really not that complicated. Uh, none of the steps are necessarily hard, but you do need to go through some steps.
51
00:08:55.900 --> 00:09:06.480
Mm-hmm. The... What I usually end up telling them though is, "Unless it's something crazy unique... Look, I've got three of these businesses for sale right now." Mm.
52
00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:14.520
"And because the person selling it didn't really prepare or plan ahead, it's at a fire sale price. And so you have a choice.
53
00:09:14.800 --> 00:09:25.700
You can either spend all your money and time and effort, blood, sweat, and tears, and five years trying to get it to where this is, or you can just pay them this small price." Um- Yeah...
54
00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:27.600
and so that's just the honest truth.
55
00:09:27.760 --> 00:09:41.020
If, if there are businesses currently in the industry with clients, cashflow, that's for sale, um, it may look like it's a lot of money, but trust me, it's probably a lot less than doing it yourself. Yeah.
56
00:09:41.060 --> 00:09:47.900
And the, and the flip side of that, and I... And you mentioned this on a podcast we had John before, is that, um, if you own a business and you want...
57
00:09:47.910 --> 00:10:06.360
And this is fascinating me, and you want out or you wanna pass it on to family or something, um, boy, have it looked at because apparently too many businesses get sold or handed off without being properly evaluated for way less money than they're worth.
58
00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:20.540
Absolutely. Yeah. I do v- business valuations all the time. At least one a day it seems like. Um, so there are business- our country is run by small businesses. Main Street, State Street is just full of small businesses.
59
00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:38.380
And the sad part is most of these people getting up early and going to work and working long hours just literally have no idea what their business is worth, and they have no idea how to exit that business, or if they can exit it, um, how to scale.
60
00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:41.220
And so that's where I come in, and I do free consultations.
61
00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:53.220
I can jump on the phone with someone for a half hour and just walk them through the process, the timeline, the, how much it costs, and I can just feel the weight of these people literally lifting off their shoulders- Mm-hmm...
62
00:10:53.240 --> 00:11:03.240
because they, it's just something in the back of their mind they've been worried about for years and years and years and years, and I can help bring, I guess, peace to them- Yeah... that there is an exit.
63
00:11:03.340 --> 00:11:12.660
You can get paid for what you've done. Yeah. Yeah. What are some of the businesses that are hot right now? Like, and we're in, we should say we're in Utah, and I don't know if you list businesses out of Utah or not.
64
00:11:12.680 --> 00:11:22.780
Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, what are some of the ones that, like, everybody either wants or are selling well or something? Yeah. I've got a lot of soda businesses right now. [laughs] Okay. Um, man. So- soda's hot in Utah.
65
00:11:22.920 --> 00:11:36.200
Yeah. [laughs] I'm not kidding you. Yeah. Yeah. Um, maybe five. Five soda businesses. Oh. Um, and cookie businesses. Those two seem to be very common. Um, cleaning businesses. Uh,
66
00:11:38.060 --> 00:11:51.860
man, we, uh, some marketing businesses. Mm. Done some of those. So really I've sold everything from auto shops, tow companies, you know, service ba- landscaping. Mm-hmm. Just sold one of those. Um, two of those actually.
67
00:11:52.000 --> 00:12:05.460
Um, to more professional type businesses like dental offices- Yeah... dental businesses. Um, so, or marketing agencies, things like that. Yeah. Uh, are some harder to evaluate than others? Sure.
68
00:12:06.090 --> 00:12:15.700
Sh- uh, businesses that have a lot of what we call goodwill. Uh-huh. Uh, if there's IP involved in it. Yeah. Um, so, uh, maybe there aren't a lot of tangible assets.
69
00:12:15.760 --> 00:12:22.980
You know, some businesses clearly come with, you know, vehicles or equipment. Yeah. Some, some businesses not so much. Yeah.
70
00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:31.880
But they have this, um, patent or trademark or they have this process that's super unique that's, you know, secret sauce of- Yeah... you know, or something. Yeah.
71
00:12:32.140 --> 00:12:45.400
And, and that can be difficult to evaluate, uh, w-To put a, a dollar number on. But there's definitely value there and so you have to kind of, you have to try some different things. Well, I asked you this before.
72
00:12:45.540 --> 00:12:57.320
What's, what's... What about, what about influencers? You know, like- Yeah... or someone who has a big audience on social media. Is that currency when it comes to selling? And, and how do they, how is that evaluated?
73
00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:00.910
Yeah. It's, it's similar to the IP question, right? Okay.
74
00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:15.040
It's i- if you can monetize anything, like if you can show that we have this many, um, subscribers or this many likes or this many followers, and as a result, you know, these products, you know, I just keep getting more.
75
00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:25.020
I'm adding a new, um, a new, a sponsorship every week or every month. Yeah. And we can tr- we have to be, you have to be able to track success.
76
00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:43.240
And whether it's in likes, followers, whatever, then if we can show a tran- um, a trajectory, a positive trajectory where you're just growing, growing, growing, then yeah, you can kind of a- attach some dollar symbols to that and say, "Oh, the average ad spend is for this," and, you know, attach some dollars that way.
77
00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:54.190
What are... And this is a little harder question, but what would be some of the businesses that have, it's like tight margins, harder to make money on kind of things? Restaurants. Um- Oh, really? Yeah. Oh.
78
00:13:54.200 --> 00:14:01.040
Restaurants can be really tough. Okay. Obviously, if you find the right model- Yeah... you can hit it big and, you know, open up several.
79
00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:14.800
Um, but even then, sometimes things go well for a couple years in restaurants and then they kind of die down. Mm-hmm. You know, you're beholden to so many, uh, factors with re- I mean, food prices, I mean, uh, any...
80
00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:25.960
Gas prices go up, it affects all the food prices. You know, employees, you have all these employees you've gotta cover payroll for. Mm-hmm. So I would say restaurants can be tough to- Okay... to manage.
81
00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:35.190
How's retail doing right now? Uh, retail can be great. Uh- Yeah... e-commerce can be great. Um, again, you've, you've gotta have the right product or service. Mm-hmm.
82
00:14:35.190 --> 00:14:45.409
And sometimes those go in trends, so you just gotta find... I, I think I mentioned this before. It's, it's like buying and selling stock, right? You wanna buy low, sell high. Yeah.
83
00:14:45.409 --> 00:14:48.480
And so you can't always know when exactly that high...
84
00:14:48.760 --> 00:14:59.700
You, you wanna sell before it plateaus or starts to decline, and you wanna buy when it's really, you know, just getting started and you can see a, a strong, uh, trajectory.
85
00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:04.030
But, you know, you don't know the future, so you- Yeah. Business is risk. Yeah.
86
00:15:04.060 --> 00:15:14.530
Business transactions are risky, so you try to mitigate that as much as possible with research and with, um, planning and- And by hiring you. Yeah. I, I can help- [laughs]... with that too. Yeah.
87
00:15:14.760 --> 00:15:24.880
And then, and you win some and you lose some, but you, you, you never wanna invest more money than you have- Mm-hmm... to spend, you know- Mm... to, to survive. Yeah. But that's...
88
00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:35.180
Your, your job then is, like, kind of like a real estate broker, but for businesses- Mm-hmm... in other words. And so you can go in and, uh, negotiate the deal- Mm-hmm... I guess. Yeah.
89
00:15:35.300 --> 00:15:47.250
Uh, what's like one of the hardest deals you've had to negotiate? Oh, wow. Um, franchises can be tough sometimes because you have a third party involved. It's just not, it's not the buyer and seller. That's right.
90
00:15:47.250 --> 00:15:58.270
There's, there's- Yeah... a franchise involved. Yeah. And sometimes they have additional rules that they want to attach, sometimes last minute. "Oh, we're changing our franchise disclosure document, and-" Oh "...
91
00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:07.520
now you have to do this, this, and this." Yeah. Well, that wasn't part of the agreement. Um, just that- Are they, are they just messing with you at that point?
92
00:16:07.640 --> 00:16:17.970
Or, or are they literally trying to actually cover something that they forgot? Um, they... Yeah. They're... I, I would like, I like to think that most people are good and decent people. [laughs] Same. Same.
93
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:28.740
I just, sometimes you wonder. But there are people that, um, and I can give specifics personally in my business, where people just, just don't pay you and- Oh...
94
00:16:28.780 --> 00:16:34.040
just, just are, are hoping that you don't, you know, sue them. Yeah. And I...
95
00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:46.800
You can work literally in my, in my line of work, I could be promoting a business, a l- a larger business for literally a year, uh, find the buyer, bring the offer, and then they say, "Oh, we don't need you anymore." Mm.
96
00:16:46.890 --> 00:16:55.600
And so I have to make the choice, well, do I wanna take this to court or not? Mm-hmm. You know, and they're hoping I don't. Mm. And, or you settle for less money. So you have to play...
97
00:16:55.620 --> 00:17:03.580
They, unfortunately, there are people that are dishonest. So that's different from real estate, 'cause there you have... Or, I mean, how does that work?
98
00:17:03.589 --> 00:17:11.340
'Cause in real estate, you, there's, like, a title company that's in between- Mm-hmm... and makes sure the money gets transferred. So for you, you're on your own essentially. Yeah.
99
00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:23.060
I mean, still work with escrow companies and whatnot, but- Okay... but yeah, I don't typically charge upfront fees like other brokers, 'cause I don't, I don't wanna gouge people. I w- I want, I work off a success fee.
100
00:17:23.120 --> 00:17:34.680
So I wanna- Yeah... I wanna get paid when I bring results. However, sometimes people do take advantage of that, and, um, there's other, [laughs] there's other ways, and they just try to find loopholes and get around it.
101
00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:44.000
But, um, you know, I, like I said, I, I think most people are good and most people mean well and, you know, I try to treat people as I would wanna be treated. Yeah.
102
00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:52.920
And, and I think things work out for the best generally. Sounds like you've learned a few things, maybe the hard way a couple times. Yeah. You, you tend to trust people, and that happens- [laughs]... you know?
103
00:17:53.380 --> 00:18:04.220
Oh, that's so sad. That shouldn't, that should never happen, though. Yeah. Oh, bummer. Okay. So first deep question of the day, which I give this out in advance, but what is your definite major purpose?
104
00:18:04.300 --> 00:18:18.320
And this has probably changed, 'cause you've had career changes, and so as you are going through life now, you have a family, um, and a business that you own, business owner, and you meet a lot of other business owners.
105
00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:31.260
Where do you sit personally? What is your purpose? Yeah, I was thinking about that. The, um, my... So in business, the, the purpose I would say, obviously, is to make money, become...
106
00:18:31.610 --> 00:18:36.480
It's about, all about passivity, becoming absentee owner. It's- Mm...
107
00:18:36.920 --> 00:18:51.260
y- my business, my friends' businesses, the people I represent, their businesses are more valuable when they are passive, when you can leave for a week and a month, and the business continues. It continues to cashflow.
108
00:18:51.700 --> 00:19:05.216
It's successful. Mm-hmm. Um, in personal life, though, you know, it's not so much about passivity as activity, frankly, right? Yeah, for sure.'Cause, 'cause life isn't about money.
109
00:19:05.496 --> 00:19:10.216
I mean, once you have established some security and, and the opportunity,
110
00:19:11.256 --> 00:19:20.956
um, you can continue to make more and more and more money, and I don't think that necessarily makes anyone happy or fulfilled or even successful, frankly.
111
00:19:21.216 --> 00:19:33.466
I think in the back of their minds people think, "Oh, I'll, I'll be successful when I can afford this-" Yeah... or when I can get this many businesses or this grand size. And t- to each his own.
112
00:19:33.536 --> 00:19:43.916
Everyone has different goals, and that's fine. Personally me, the goal of money in business is, is to achieve security and to ach- achieve opportunity.
113
00:19:43.936 --> 00:19:57.016
And once I have that, then I wanna be fulfilled in other ways as well, and you kinda hinted at some of them, you know? Um, I'm married, I have a family, uh, you know, children. I have a, a greater family.
114
00:19:57.976 --> 00:20:12.336
I have, uh, I belong to a church. I ha- have, I live in a community neighborhood, and, you know, the, um, the city where I live. My business itself, I try to, you know, be influenced and help other people
115
00:20:13.376 --> 00:20:25.526
in my business community as well, and even in my hobbies. Um, there are ways to grow personally- Mm-hmm... while helping others in, even in hobbies. Mm-hmm.
116
00:20:25.726 --> 00:20:35.806
And so I think, um, the, the business is a, is a big part of life because you've got to secure, you know? [laughs] You gotta be secure, and you've- Yeah...
117
00:20:35.846 --> 00:20:48.476
gotta, you know, have opportunity to be where you wanna be, but that's just a small piece and it's really frankly to me it's sad when people fixate 100% all the time on dollars, dollars, dollars.
118
00:20:48.716 --> 00:21:03.006
And so I would just propose that contrast between, you know, passivity in business is fine, but in life it's, it's about that activity, about action. It's about finding, uh, helping others.
119
00:21:03.136 --> 00:21:11.995
And as, of course as you help others, you help yourself. Mm-hmm. And I, like I, we mentioned earlier about we don't have to be in the same job our whole lives, 50 years.
120
00:21:12.596 --> 00:21:17.916
You know, it, there's so many great things in this world. There's so many great people in this world.
121
00:21:18.536 --> 00:21:28.016
If we just open our eyes, we will learn something from virtually everyone we come in contact with, and those people will bless our lives.
122
00:21:28.065 --> 00:21:36.815
And, and possibly we can even help them and bring a different perspective and, and, and allow them in their lives to be their best selves.
123
00:21:37.436 --> 00:21:53.336
And whether, you know, they're in a family of one or a family of 10, or whether they're in a tiny community or in a huge community, they belong to a church or don't, um, but there's, there's so many opportunities to, to grow while blessing others.
124
00:21:53.376 --> 00:22:05.676
Mm-hmm. To me that's, that's success. That's fulfillment. And it's not, I don't wanna call it balance 'cause I don't believe balance... You know, it's, it's this like unicorn.
125
00:22:06.136 --> 00:22:11.056
You can't- Yeah, it's not like black and white really. Yeah, I mean, you do your best in my opinion. Mm-hmm.
126
00:22:11.196 --> 00:22:24.796
Um, and, you know, if you believe in a higher power, you, you can pray for help in, in finding that balance or in achieving more than maybe you're capable of personally. Mm-hmm.
127
00:22:25.676 --> 00:22:31.196
I wanna dive in on something you said to start out, like on the details of it, and that is your...
128
00:22:31.856 --> 00:22:45.095
Which I lo- I love the whole concept of on your business, try to make it as pa- get to where you can be as passive as possible there, and then personally be as, as active as you can be with your family, your friends, your community.
129
00:22:45.696 --> 00:22:49.336
Uh, that is, man, that's... I mean, you nailed it right there. I think that's fantastic.
130
00:22:49.496 --> 00:22:59.476
But I think one of those is really might be harder [laughs] to do than the other, and that's be- m- uh, when you're in the business, it's your baby and you're trying to make it work, but you can't...
131
00:22:59.916 --> 00:23:13.296
It's like really hard to have it be passive. And so what are some suggestions you might have, some steps that people can take to start handing things off to get it into a position where they're not there 24/7? Yeah.
132
00:23:13.576 --> 00:23:21.695
Great question. So I read a book a while ago called... I can't even remember the honor, the, the, uh, author, but it was called The Perennial Seller.
133
00:23:22.296 --> 00:23:34.096
And one of the things in that book, it wasn't about s- really selling anything, which I originally thought it was. [laughs] It's in the name. Yeah. But yeah. [laughs] Yeah, it was really about creating something lasting.
134
00:23:34.396 --> 00:23:43.126
Mm. Something perennial. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. Um, and one of the, one of the points he made in that book was don't try to do too many things all at once. Mm.
135
00:23:43.156 --> 00:23:54.846
Like d- if you're tr- you know, don't try to create a nonprofit, a great nonprofit and write a novel all at once, you know, for instance, or a great business and start a family all at once. Mm.
136
00:23:55.026 --> 00:24:10.116
He, he just says if you're gonna do something lasting and meaningful that takes a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of effort, focus on one thing at a time. And so what you just asked is, is, is a great question.
137
00:24:10.216 --> 00:24:20.336
Like I, I would say whatever stage a person's at in their life, find that thing that is most critical in that stage, and that stage may be about making money.
138
00:24:20.456 --> 00:24:28.176
Like if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you're trying to establish yourself. You know, get that security, that opportunity that I was talking about.
139
00:24:28.696 --> 00:24:40.816
At my stage where I'm a little older and maybe I have that security and opportunity, I can just work to duplicate, duplicate, duplicate, duplicate, but I want more meaning in my life than that. Mm-hmm.
140
00:24:41.156 --> 00:24:50.676
Um, so I, I don't know if that answered your question about one thing at a time. Yeah. What was the other part? You keep- Well, it's helpful, but if, if there's something... I mean, is that what you would...
141
00:24:50.716 --> 00:24:58.496
How would you go into a business and, um, you know, they hired you to, as a... What, what was your word for the consulting? It was- Coachulting, yeah... coachulting.
142
00:24:58.516 --> 00:25:10.684
And they're like, "Hey, I don't wanna spend, uh, you know, 14, 16 hours here at the job anymore, what are some things I can do?" Yeah, the scaling part. Yeah. Uh, sorry. So it got-I tried to get there, but I- [laughs]
143
00:25:10.864 --> 00:25:20.154
... think I got sidetracked. [laughs] So by the way, coach-sulting is... So coaching is typically more focused on personal... Yourself, right? Yeah.
144
00:25:20.154 --> 00:25:31.734
And that can happen a lot from just, even just asking the right questions and drawing. I f- I think each one of us actually has most of the answers we seek sometimes w- within us. Interesting. Yeah.
145
00:25:31.734 --> 00:25:43.344
And sometimes you just need someone to ask the right questions. Consulting, on the other hand, is more, you know, laser focused on, on business goals and strategy. Okay. So, so that's why I call it coach-sulting.
146
00:25:43.364 --> 00:25:54.924
Yeah, that's a good clarification. Um, but yeah, scaling, sometimes people overthink it, and the bottom line is if there's something you're doing that someone else can do, then you should do that.
147
00:25:54.934 --> 00:26:08.124
And the, the scary thing about scaling is... 'Cause people try, and then they, they fall back to the status quo or the norm. Mm-hmm. It's because it's hard. It's hard to train someone how to do it like you want it done.
148
00:26:08.174 --> 00:26:17.164
Mm-hmm. The, the quality assurance. It takes time. It's hard. Uh, and the other problem is it takes money, and a lot of times when people start scaling, they see...
149
00:26:17.344 --> 00:26:27.944
I don't know if you've heard of the change continuum, where, you know, you're on this positive trajectory going up, and someone like me says, "Hey, you have, uh, tremendous potential here.
150
00:26:28.384 --> 00:26:36.004
We ought to think bigger, and we ought to, we ought to scale this so that we can go this way instead of this way." Mm. And, and they say, "Great, let's do it."
151
00:26:36.504 --> 00:26:46.124
And then immediately just everything goes to hell, basically. [laughs] Oh, geez. Every... You know, you're losing money. It's more work. It's more time. So people just back into it, back to where they were.
152
00:26:46.224 --> 00:26:56.024
Because they don't know how to do it properly? Or... Okay. Yeah, and there's, there's some stick-with-it-ness that it takes to- Okay... to scale. Yeah. And so what I tell people is I try to prepare them that, "Look,
153
00:26:56.924 --> 00:27:03.624
w- we'll try to baby step this so we don't hit that, you know, that huge dip- Yeah... uh, uh, and scare you to death.
154
00:27:03.784 --> 00:27:14.804
But frankly, it's gonna take some time and some effort and some money, and you may actually, your margins may shrink a little bit." Mm. "You may suffer a little bit financially from this.
155
00:27:14.924 --> 00:27:26.984
Um, but if, if we can get there, and we can all of a sudden replace this person, you... You're doing all these things and just not s- you know, barely living, right? You're just trying to keep your business alive.
156
00:27:27.664 --> 00:27:38.404
And if we can offload these things to other people, then all of a sudden you can step away from your business. And now there's... You've set up systems operations where you can just launch it.
157
00:27:38.904 --> 00:27:48.944
You, you literally, you're not beholden to your own time- Yeah... and your own money anymore. It just can fly." Yeah. And so, yeah, I, I can help people with scaling, for sure.
158
00:27:49.624 --> 00:27:59.604
Um, a lot of it's common sense, but sometimes you need someone to help, uh, get you there. Yeah. Well, has anyone asked for you, your advice on how to...
159
00:28:00.104 --> 00:28:10.664
This would be the flip side of that, is to how to be more active at home and how to, you know, like, how, how do I participate more in my community or anything? Um, have...
160
00:28:10.844 --> 00:28:21.384
Well, have people asked me to help them, to help them in their community? Or have people asked me to help in the community? Yeah. Well, once, once they find that they're not so caught up in their job- Mm...
161
00:28:21.424 --> 00:28:31.764
now they've got free time. Now it's like, okay, well- I wish-... now, now what do I do, you know? Yeah. I wish people would ask. Uh- [laughs] Not really. Yeah. Uh, usually what they do...
162
00:28:33.564 --> 00:28:41.984
Usually they come back to me and say, "Oh, now, great, thanks for helping me sell that business." Now... And they start another one, and then I help them sell that business. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or it's, it's...
163
00:28:42.004 --> 00:28:50.974
When you're an entrepreneur, it's, it's a bug, right? Yeah. It's, it's exciting to start something and to h- help it grow and then to get paid for it. Yeah.
164
00:28:51.004 --> 00:28:56.194
And so some people are just on, just on that perpetual cycle of doing that a lot. Mm-hmm. And you know what?
165
00:28:56.284 --> 00:29:07.784
Like I said, if that brings them fulfillment and happiness, because you are building something good, and you are probably helping people in the process. So I'm, I'm not trying to disparage that lifestyle,
166
00:29:08.924 --> 00:29:22.294
but I think, I think there comes a point where maybe people should pivot a little bit in their lives and say, "Wow, I live in an amazing world." Look around a little bit- Mm-hmm... instead of just churn and burn. Yeah.
167
00:29:22.294 --> 00:29:33.574
You know? Yeah. Well, churn and burn will burn you out probably. Yeah. Uh, you seem pretty... I'm getting the vibe that you're fairly comfortable with where you're at, with where you're at personally in life.
168
00:29:33.604 --> 00:29:40.444
Do you think this is what you'll be doing until you're not working anymore? Or, or you wanna do something else? Do you have ambitions? Yeah.
169
00:29:40.684 --> 00:29:52.114
Um, yeah, I think I'll, I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing and, uh, till I retire, I suspect. Um- [laughs] My wife keeps talking about retiring early. Uh-huh.
170
00:29:52.144 --> 00:30:07.204
And so, yeah, I think we're probably going to try to retire early, but I don't, I don't foresee me... Like I said earlier, a lot of happiness, it, for me, is in being engaged and ac- active. And, and
171
00:30:08.444 --> 00:30:30.844
part of that is it's, it's selfless but selfish at the same time, because as you, as you reach out in your community or even in business to help others, um, and your family f- certainly, right, as you try to, to serve and sacrifice, it, it always comes back, and you always learn more, and you grow from it.
172
00:30:30.884 --> 00:30:45.904
And so, um, business is just one of those categories. Mm-hmm. Well, we have a mutual friend, Rex, uh, who's a financial planner, and he talks about helping people transition into retirement. And, um, boy, that's...
173
00:30:46.464 --> 00:30:54.584
It got me thinking too. I'm like, I don't... I could talk to people forever. Like, I could do... Be- I don't wanna retire from podcasting necessarily, you know?
174
00:30:55.064 --> 00:31:07.904
I wanna retire from the chase or the hustle or trying to make mens- ends meet. You know, you wanna have enough money there that that's, that's okay, but you still wanna be active in some way and-In, in involved, right?
175
00:31:08.024 --> 00:31:15.974
I mean, you don't wanna just, like- Yeah. So, and it may be a variation. Like, you may take- Yeah... actually take this thing on the road. Yeah. Or, or buy one that goes on the road. Own it. Yeah. Yeah.
176
00:31:15.974 --> 00:31:28.164
And start doing gigs, you know, doing podcasts around the nation. Different version of... Yeah. So it- we, we all get- you know, my business may continue to grow, and I might expand, you know, or, or not.
177
00:31:28.284 --> 00:31:41.094
Maybe I'll end up doing something else still, you know, like I did with schools, do something else. But whatever it is, I wanna continue to learn and grow, and I, I think, you know, sometimes we just...
178
00:31:41.144 --> 00:31:52.504
Money is so important in our world, we just fixate on it so much, and there comes a point where I think we just need to step back and say, "Oh, look, I'm, I'm, I'm okay." Mm-hmm.
179
00:31:52.664 --> 00:32:01.724
Like, what else would help me be fulfilled in life? Mm. And like I said, if you believe in a higher power, if you don't, ponder.
180
00:32:01.784 --> 00:32:08.584
You know, like, meditate and just think, and it will help you identify areas that are lacking in your life.
181
00:32:08.624 --> 00:32:22.104
And give those a little bit of energy, and guaranteed, suddenly you'll see other opportunities for growth that will be super meaningful to you, whether it's, whether money's coming in for it or not. Yeah.
182
00:32:22.224 --> 00:32:29.704
Well, and that's why I love the question, what is your definite major purpose? Because I feel like people don't ask themselves that question. Mm-hmm.
183
00:32:29.784 --> 00:32:33.804
They don't, they don't have the mission, the, the one thing that they're shooting for.
184
00:32:33.864 --> 00:32:45.794
They're just working the job, doing the thing, when if you do, if you meditate, um, if you think about it, pray about it, and just think like, "Okay, well, is there something else I should be doing?
185
00:32:45.884 --> 00:32:56.224
Like, what, how can I contribute?" You know? I, um, I mean, to be very personal, so, you know, I think we've all been given common sense.
186
00:32:56.524 --> 00:33:12.084
So I think there's a lot of good I can do, you can do, just by using common sense throughout life. Um, and as we, as we progress through life, as we get older and wiser, we, we s- we gain some good judgment, you know?
187
00:33:12.114 --> 00:33:22.144
And I think we can draw on that good judgment as obstacles hit us, and we can say, "Oh, I, I remember this from before," whatever. There's so much wisdom out there that we can draw on.
188
00:33:22.784 --> 00:33:33.784
A- apart from my own common sense and, and good judgment, if ever on big decisions, I think we need to do a little more research- Yeah... and, uh, and look online.
189
00:33:33.924 --> 00:33:49.334
Like, research things out, and there's wisdom that we can draw from. But even then, I, I personally, truly believe that no matter how hard I try, I'm, I'm going... Even if I'm doing good things or better things- Yeah...
190
00:33:49.484 --> 00:33:56.824
because of that good judgment c- and wisdom, I feel like I'm still not always maximizing my potential.
191
00:33:57.304 --> 00:34:09.983
And so I try to allow myself to receive, you know, inspiration, um, help from this higher power to help me in my life. And, and it's, it may sound corny, but I believe in it.
192
00:34:10.044 --> 00:34:21.874
I have faith in it, and I find that as I allow myself to say, "Hey, look, I'm gonna do my best. But guess what? When that fails, can you help me?" Sure. "Can you put me back on the right track?" Yeah.
193
00:34:21.874 --> 00:34:31.044
And I'm telling you, I go to bed at night and I'm like, "How was that day so meaningful? There's no way that was just me." Mm. And it's just little things here and there.
194
00:34:31.074 --> 00:34:43.784
And I think, I think we all have the opportunity to be better than we can be ourselves if we just open ourselves up to more possibilities. Yeah, not always easy. Sometimes we're, we're closed.
195
00:34:43.844 --> 00:34:55.264
We, e- either we've been hurt or, or we just don't know how, or we're insecure or something to do that. But, uh, no, it's, it's great. Uh, great wisdom from you. So thanks for spending some time with, with me today.
196
00:34:55.284 --> 00:35:06.144
I appreciate it. Yeah. Sorry to wax spiritual on you there. [laughs] That's, that's why we're here. Uh, if someone needs your services, Mike, how can they get a hold of you? Um, biznisresource.com.
197
00:35:06.184 --> 00:35:15.224
You have to pretend you're in first grade. [laughs] It's spelled with a Z. So- I'll link it in the description, by the way. Yeah. But go ahead and spell it. Yeah. Yeah. B-I-Z-N-I-S resource.com.
198
00:35:16.064 --> 00:35:31.934
Um, and then, uh, you can obviously message us on, on the website or call. My phone number is 385-528-8584. You can... Actually, maybe it would be easiest just to text and say, "Hey, saw the podcast. Love to chat." Yeah.
199
00:35:31.944 --> 00:35:44.884
And we can schedule a time. But yeah, I, I try to be helpful, and sometimes it be- there, sometimes it turns into a client, sometimes it doesn't. But I, I truly believe that what come, go, comes around, goes around.
200
00:35:44.984 --> 00:35:48.424
Yeah. And so, yeah. Yeah. I love it. Thanks, Mike, for your time today. Yeah, thanks for having me.
201
00:35:48.744 --> 00:35:59.634
Uh, I do have some wisdom from the pages, uh, and this is from the book The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, and it kinda sums up what, what we were talking about today.
202
00:35:59.724 --> 00:36:09.924
Actually, he says, uh, "Having more control over your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world," which is kinda, Mike, what, what you were saying.
203
00:36:11.064 --> 00:36:18.464
Um, thank you for tuning into this episode of Ascent Life. We'll be back to- oh, no, we'll be back next week. I was gonna say tomorrow. We'll be back next week.
204
00:36:18.504 --> 00:36:27.244
If you made it this far in the program, please subscribe on YouTube at Rbrandonlong or on the Ascent Life Podcast or your favorite podcast app. Follow me on X @Rbrandonlong.
205
00:36:27.984 --> 00:36:37.964
For your daily dose of visual inspiration, I can be found @AscentLife. Thanks for joining me on this journey as we learn how to level up and become the best version of ourselves. No wasted ability.
206
00:36:38.004 --> 00:36:39.624
We'll catch you next week on Ascent Life.
