Latest / TWRS-Leadership Straight, No Chaser / Why Mentorship Changes Everything
Transcript
- Scott Brandt: It's always interesting when people like to twist numbers to try to fit a narrative. And I don't understand why business leaders are the biggest culprit when it comes to twisting numbers. So I shared some with George that somebody that is a business leader, big voice, whatnot have put out. And so he had shared that, let me see here. In 49 % of small businesses fell within five years, most with only one source of income. Well, first off, how often do we hear the bad side? Five years, 49 % of businesses fell. The interesting thing is, is there was a study out there and the statistic is that with businesses that have mentors, 70 % have a survival rate after five years. So... how often do we have people that actually share a resource or something that can combat the negative? And I think as humans, you go look for whatever reason we're attracted to negativity more than positivity. And so George, when I shared that with you about businesses after five years having a survival rate with a 70 % survival rate with those that have a mentor, Big G: Yes. Hello. Scott Brandt: I asked you when was the last time you heard that stat and what did you say? Big G: You know, when I heard, when you told me about it and showed me, I have never seen anything like that because a lot of times we as entrepreneurs do everything on our own. And when I saw what it helps to have a coach slash mentor, it really helps you grab the road and make things going because see, when you don't have anybody and you're on your own, You really don't have any direction. really kind of isolated what you're trying to do. You get emotionally burned out. You got blind spots stay hidden. And with that coach, you have so much more to give because as you have a coach, you have a clear direction. You have a strategy. ⁓ not, someone's working with you and they ⁓ you have the accountability to make things happen. And when you're out there by yourself, you know, Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: and you don't have anybody you can lean on, your chances are very very quick to go down because you don't have any giving you direction. You're kind of learning on your own. so, you know, you just kind of there's not really a book like we talked about, you know, when I opened the business back in 1983 in Palm Springs, know, state of California didn't give me a three-reading binder ⁓ to build the business. And I think it is wise ⁓ have a mentor, have a coach. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: especially these days, especially the competition, and especially to make sure you're confident and grow strong throughout those years. Scott Brandt: Yeah, I think it's an interesting thing because you did highlight as an entrepreneur, you're going about it by yourself. I think as entrepreneur, a lot of times we're like, ⁓ it's my baby. It's my idea. And the catch of this is there's really no original idea. And so it is very funny how people are like, ⁓ good original idea. And it's like, there's not a lot of originality. The Interesting thing is when I was going back to college, my minor was entrepreneurship for a while. And then the instructor that I had, he had opened like 10 different businesses. Five of them didn't work out for him. And then he had success with others. But he said, really, when you look at entrepreneurship, it's looking at the consumption chain for the whole situation that's going on for whatever business. And then you identify a. problem space in that consumption chain. And then you bring a solution to that problem. so ⁓ is one that for whatever reason, entrepreneurship is a weird thing of let me do this by myself. Let me try to be Superman. But it kind of goes hand in hand with how we had talked about the importance of your tribe ⁓ building that out, surrounding yourself with people that have the same values, the same vision. and work in that route because if you are trying to do this by yourself, you're only one person. You have your own perspective. You have your own experiences that you're going off of. if you really do a deep dive and look ⁓ you're at right now, if you're stuck, the actions that you took, ⁓ experiences that you went through, the perspective that you hold is what brought you to where you're at. being stuck right now. And so it's a very interesting thing when we see people that are in business ⁓ numbers that are very negative and why, ⁓ do we do it? And I know some people like to play off of fear. Some people are like, we're going to drive this fear factor stuff here. But I'm like, did you go look to see if there's other numbers that you can showcase to say, yes, If you have the support, you have a chance for survival. But for whatever reason, I think maybe it's the scarcity mindset that you have some businesses, they're like, I don't want competition. And so let me throw out these wild numbers to scare people off. And they're like, I don't want to start a business because the failure rate is so high. So it's a, don't know, like I just want to fight people when I see this stuff. And they wonder. why nobody wants to be around them and they feel like they're on their own is because what's the energy you're putting off? Big G: I can bring this up because being an entrepreneur myself, my wife came from a corporate background. And when you talk to her, she'll tell you. I said, listen, I'm an entrepreneur. You work for corporate for 30 years. What do you know about business? Boy, that really backfired on me. And you just you learn from that because you try to trust your instincts and you try to do things. But ⁓ happens is you have no accountability on yourself. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: And it's easy to drift and it's easy to make excuses, right? Lose momentum. tomorrow, I'll get to it tomorrow. When you have a mentor, coach, someone that is directing you, there is no laziness involved. There's no tomorrow. It's today. It's making sure you are grown because when you have a mentor or you have a coach. Scott Brandt: Yeah. Big G: growth is incredible. Seriously. The growth, having someone there and understands and works with your experience, the way your business will do it, will explode. When you're by yourself, you have limited growth. Because all you're doing is putting out fires. You become a... Scott Brandt: when you're ⁓ Big G: You become an entrepreneur fireman in your own business because all you're doing is pushing out fire. You're putting out fires. It's because you don't know what you're doing. And it's so hard for people to understand that. And I was one of them. Scott Brandt: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Big G: And I can say this, and because as I learned through business, it was so important to surround myself with people, you know, and it was hard to take advice. And I have learned to, you know what? I need to listen. You that's why you have these is to listen. You have to listen to people who are successful, who are making things happen. They might not be in the same business. But what's what's important business is business, no matter you sell a real estate, know, post your shop, you know, Scott Brandt: Mm-hmm. Big G: handyman business. You want a retail store, doesn't matter. Business is business no matter what you're looking at. It's just different things you've got to overcome. And sometimes when you are on your own, get that emotional burnout. I mean, you're like... I'm maybe an ego job and you are on a tippled wedding but you don't see it because you're completely burned out and you haven't get discouraged so easily and next you know everyone you talk to you it's a great point everyone you talk to don't want to hang out with you because poor me the poor me syndrome kicks in now things happen good people but Scott Brandt: Mm-hmm. Big G: When you're trying to do business and your friends like, there's something not right, you got to start listening because you just eliminate everything you're working on. Scott Brandt: Yeah. Well, a little bit of that though really is understanding that we're social creatures. We're meant to work together. And it's the, could be a little bit of the fear factor of if I start working with this person, are they going to steal my ideas? Are they going to ⁓ me? ⁓ that was something that I find interesting because we ⁓ having our production meeting tonight with and there was something that came up. And I was talking, I think I was, were talking about the working genius assessment I had highlighted the fact that sometimes we have these business owners that are in the right spot. And so you'll have somebody that has the idea, but they're not made to the CEO of the business. And so that's where you have to understand where your weaknesses are. So that way you can go find people to compliment those weaknesses that you possess with their strengths. And then you can focus on your strengths to go progress and really flourish. But it is a very unique thing of letting go of the ego, not letting it get in the way. and then potentially holding you back and hurting you because you believe that, this was my idea. So I should be the one running the business. Well, if that is not your zone of genius and you're not meant to run a business at the CEO level, you need to understand that and let go of the ego and the pride that is hurting you probably because you think you know better and you have this idea, ⁓ it's my baby. I can't let somebody else take care of it. As I know, like you want something to work smoothly. need to understand your strengths and you need to understand that if you're not in the proper area that you should be in, you're only doing more damage to the business and to yourself and the people that are around you instead of really driving and pushing it and having it flourish to be a phenomenal vehicle of impact. So ⁓ It's a very interesting thing when you look at that about a lot of business owners have the ego that ends up getting in the way and really hurts them. it's just human nature. It's a very weird thing when you look at it. Big G: you know when you take a look at businesses that really have poor leadership with them and really the leadership suffers because again what you just said and not to you know say it again is that you might be a great you might have a great vision but your leadership skills are horrible And what that means is that you got to give to someone else who can help you with your vision to grow. And you know what? you're by yourself, kills What that means is that you are so overwhelmed and limited your brainstorming and how you Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: I just see it all time. Vision fades. People one minute, know, ⁓ shop. Then they actually know they have a handyman business. ⁓ you know that, you know, they're doing tile or carpet. It's because they just don't have any clarity or vision and they lose it because they're trying to regain when they didn't have it at all when they start. I mean, you're Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: started starting business got your name LLC you got your bank account you have cards made and then you're like okay what I do next if you're not a person like to go to network you place how you gonna create business how are you going to do that Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: and I think you know being isolated just builds so much pressure internally and it can kill you and you know as I take a look and I made some notes on this you know clarity you know clarity leads confidence and what that means is that when you have a coach or mentor that is helping you man the guidance Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: with the purpose you know accountability again with compassion but encouragement is a you encourage yourself so you every year people go through hard season so like Colorado you are a construction worker and as the weather starts to change you have to with coach mentorship changes your mind shifts okay now you got work inside okay that's easy but we don't have days that snows on and on and on so you've got to have that knowledge how to switch gears into coming and going inside you know and having structure creates freedom so you're not wasting seven days a week trying to figure out what you're going to do and you gotta expand your network Scott Brandt: and Big G: And that's what mentorship and coaching does. It really kind of goes to a fine to comb, to really go through things. Scott Brandt: right now if you you're getting value from the video at the like button for it's down here I know last episode I was like, don't know where it's at but it's down here and then of course if these are the type of videos that you're looking for really they're fill the gaps that you have and helping you fine-tune and move forward hit the subscribe button the Interesting thing when you think about it How many times have you been let down because somebody shared a number with you they were trying to lead you down the road one way, but there was other numbers that could have been shared to do something better for you. But ⁓ ⁓ didn't have the clarity and got caught up, what opportunities have you missed out on? What have you done that really has hampered what you wanna achieve? So ⁓ it's... Very interesting because you were highlighting the different aspects of somebody jumping from one industry to another industry to another. I took the working genius assessment, my top two are ideation and wonder. And gentleman that created this had highlighted that the person that has ideation as a genius, it's a very dangerous thing for them because they will have idea chaos. And so that's where, if you don't have the mentor, you don't have the tribe, you don't have the team around you, you can have a bunch of idea chaos going on and nobody to help you reel it in. And so that's where the importance of having the mentor, having the coach, having that tribe that you can lean on comes in and helps you out because there are people that have ideas. And they love the ideas. love going after the ideas, but they may not know how to bring it to life. And so that's where having the team, having your tribe that can help you create those action steps, highlight different things that you haven't thought of, and then fine tuning that idea. So it is one of those things that you really have to look at yourself and then ask yourself, what is that environment? who you surrounding yourself with, who is near you that is helping you overcome that degradation of idea chaos because you just want to go after every idea and then you start doing it you're like, ⁓ I'm on board with this, I'm done. I want some of that else. And so that's where you have to really look and say, okay, who do I need around me to help me to make sure that this gets pursued? and really comes to life and it does what it needs to do. And then what's the next thing? What's the next thing that we can add? What's the next thing that we can go after? But that also comes down to the fact that you want to get strong in one area before you start going after other things. Because if you're mediocre in one one thing and you start chasing another thing, nothing's gonna work out, it's all gonna blow up in your face. And so that's also that aspect of the item that the individual shared where 49 % of these businesses are out of business after five years, and they only have one income stream. I'm like, this myth of you need multiple income streams. Yes, you need those. But the thing is, if you aren't strong in an area, and you're trying to pursue other things, It's not going to work because then you're just mediocre all over the board and you're just not doing any good and you're doing a disservice to everybody. Big G: Yeah, I mean, sitting back listening to you and you know we up. had some really great ideas that did not come through at all. It's just because I rely on other people. But the one thing I realized is having a mentor, having a coach, you get to you really get to see those blind spots because they see them when you're with someone who understands business. They will teach you the blind spots you know, especially in construction. So you take a look at those things that you have, like in construction, don't want people, they change it. got, and you know, when you get as a handyman, you go into construction, you never heard change orders and have them signed. So when they ask you to do things and you don't know about the change orders, guess what? You just basically did that job for free. And it's crazy when you have someone who is mentoring you. understands the business you're in they'll give you the give you the ideas they'll give you the information it takes for you to have success and when you're on your own you don't You can walk away with no money in your pocket because you basically did the job for free. People ask me, back in the day when a good friend of mine said to me one day when I was bidding jobs, never bid from your checkbook what's in your account. Because if you're thinking, I need to make $2,000 so I can pay everything, bid the job correctly because you can lose $3,000. Scott Brandt: Hmm Big G: the job to be worth five grand. And what that does is, is having those people around you who understand the business you're in. And I've made really great sense is to bid the job accordingly. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: not by your checkbook. ⁓ you didn't know that, you need to know because there's so many people I know in the handyman business down in Springstad failed. It's because they just built by Scott Brandt: Mm. Big G: what they needed that week and that's not what you do. that's man, that's something in business that is, know, the one-on-one you don't do because you will fail. You will fail the first six months if you go that way because it's going to cost you money. think the thing to do is to really understand what you're doing and have that clarity that that's what you want to do. That's what you stick. You cut out the outside criticism. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: whoever you're listening to, bringing someone who knows what they're talking about, mentor or a business partner or coach that helps you, get things going. Get that and momentum becomes multiplied. So that means it starts to grow in different areas. And when you are growing, then you can test the waters in different areas underneath that one umbrella. And the confidence replace the fears that you get. So you're not laying that night. what happens if this happens? You already know what's going to because that coach, mentor is going to uncover those blind spots and that's important in this as leader, a new entrepreneur, already an existing entrepreneur is knowing what's around the corner. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Well, I kind of, I look at the situation with the podcast because when we had talked about bringing this to life, I told you, I was like, I'm not messing around with this because this is my third go around. And when I really reflect on that, that is kind of the mentorship role, ⁓ because ultimately it's somebody that's done it just a couple of steps ahead of somebody else, but it helped out. Big G: Yes. Scott Brandt: really to bring it to life. And then I also told you in Ron though, I was like, if there's stuff that I've not seen, then bring it up. If there's something that is grabbing your attention, share it because I don't know everything. I just know enough to make sure that we're not over here doing some craziness, but also being for myself being in student mode because jumped on with Sean Finnell and his VRA Academy. Big G: Yes. Scott Brandt: And really doing a deep dive into the world of YouTube because tonight when we were doing the production meeting where I was like, there's so much on the backside that a lot of people don't realize when it comes to building out the YouTube channel. And it's very interesting because a lot of people just see the end results and then they're like, Oh yeah, that looks like it should be simple. And then you're like, Oh my goodness. If you actually do it like, my idea of it being simple ⁓ a little to the left. ⁓ so that's the ⁓ of just being social creatures, being human is meant to work together. ⁓ But mentor role really, it could where it's somebody that's younger, that's filling out that mentor role for somebody that's older. that's where you have to understand with that have to take place. so being the older individual, you might have to let go of your ego and be like, yeah, I might need to listen here, but also that ego piece ⁓ may there and you're going to miss out sorely because ⁓ you're your own way. And so it is a very interesting thing, but it's, of that's really necessary because. You want to have the team around you really to highlight what you don't see highlight things that you're not aware of. So that way you can cut down your learning curve. But the other flip side though, is you still need to make mistakes just because that is your chance to learn. And so it's very 22 sometimes. It's just one that you just have to prepare, be prepared for, but it's those variables that we've talked about that you can't pinpoint every variable. And so that's where the power of the team, having the mentor, not trying to do this on your own because you're only one person and all you know is your experiences and your perspective and that's it. And so that's why you want that mentor. You want the team, you want the tribe to help flesh out stuff that you're not aware of and stuff that you're not seeing. Big G: I the story about Holly, you know, being a corporate, you know, for 30 years and being an entrepreneur for, you know, 43 years. It is a different perspective because, you know, when she was telling me honestly, hey, I think this, and I'm like, well, you have no idea. You work for corporate and... what she was telling me is the trust factor. if I would have listened to her, and I say this on podcasts is that I would never lost the money we lost. It's because she, huge faith, that's the foundation of our family, loving the Lord. And she just felt that there was a problem. Of course, my personality really overcame saying, you know what? You have no idea what she's talking about. I'll just make it simple. You have no idea. And because of that, I didn't listen to her. And we, when I had to tell her we lost everything, she'd say, that's two things to me. I told you so. That hurt more than almost anything else. What are we going to do about it? Let's go ahead and let's make it happen. Let's figure this out. So as I sit here and I think about all the things that the business is, the ideas, the one thing I'll tell you, out of all the years, is have control of what you do. You know what? ⁓ can... you can have the biggest dream in the world. And if you depend on other people to follow through, then you're happen. Depend on yourself, surround yourself with people who are mentors, coaches, who know what you're doing and give you solid advice. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: You know, and listen to the ones who the loved ones have faith, you know, would never say this, but man, I start praying more and more about everything that we do the podcast family faith, everything. And, know, believe in that you need to start praying about it because God will speak with you when you're quiet and listening. And I wrote something down. I just want to say without support. You're just surviving. With support, you're thriving. Failure alone trains you. Failure with a coach, a mentorship, shapes you. Together we can, don't just recover, we rise. And that's why we created Together We Are Strong. It's because when you're alone and you're on this island by yourself, and I've been on those events by myself, and again, I feel like I'm getting bombarded with ones from Missouri, know, USS Missouri, and you feel alone, reach out to people who knew who you are. And really, Scott Brandt: Hmm. Big G: Focus on that. Don't focus on the negative stuff because that will pass. Focus on what's in front of you. Have control of what you do. Listen. Cut the ego out of the way because I'm telling you from my experience, I wish I can go back and rewind, but I'm telling you as... man of faith, a man of made major mistakes, you need to listen to people who have your back. Because when you've got a big ego, you take big falls. Scott Brandt: Hmm. Yeah, the the biggest thing is social creatures. We're meant to do life together and ⁓ get of your own way. Let go of the ego ⁓ and up. Find find your tribe. But that goes back to ⁓ the pieces that we've talked about. Clarity. Your values. And then start ⁓ finding people that align. But the the two big things is the clarity and the values. because without that, that's all over the place. And so if you know somebody that is trying to do things on their own and they don't want to listen to anybody, share this with them because it just, could be hearing just something different that you haven't heard before. That could be that key that you're looking forward to unlock to get to the next level. And so it does go back to, if you're a leader, share this out because that's the only way we grow and we do bigger things is. through the sharing of knowledge. And then of course, always appreciate everyone, allowing us to be part of your journey, allowing us to be here. ⁓ you are, like we said, if you're looking for these types of videos, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, hit the bell icon, because that should give you notice when new episodes are released. Goal for what we have is every Thursday, new episodes getting released and may vary, be. ⁓ has of the systems and when things show. have some tracking pieces that we look at. But other than that, we'll catch you on the next episode. Have a great night. Big G: you.