Latest / Abbey the Podcast Lady / The $10K an Hour Filter Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Transcript

The $10K an Hour Filter Every Business Owner Needs to Know · Abbey the Podcast Lady

0:04
Hello and welcome back to another episode of
0:07
Abby the Podcast Lady. Today's episode is one
0:09
that I am very excited for as a busy entrepreneur
0:12
myself. When I had a message come through on
0:15
Podmatch, I was just like, yep, this is an immediate
0:18
yes. We are definitely talking to this person.
0:21
So I would like to introduce George Rivera to
0:24
the show. George, thank you so much for taking
0:26
time to join me today. Hey, happy, excited to
0:28
be here. Can't wait to get into it. So your whole
0:31
thing is about getting your time back and buying
0:34
it back and being a present person in your life
0:37
outside of your business. And this is something
0:39
that I know I have personally struggled with
0:41
being in year three of entrepreneurship. I'm
0:44
full -time self -employed. Life is crazy. And
0:47
I feel sometimes like I'm letting personal relationships
0:50
and family relationships kind of slip through
0:53
the cracks because I'm so focused on making sure
0:56
my business. survives and thrives. So I'm really
0:59
excited for the conversation we're going to have
1:01
today. And hopefully I can have a little mindset
1:03
shift by the end of it. Awesome. Let's get into
1:05
it. Okay. So give me like a 10 ,000 foot overview.
1:08
Who are you and how did you find yourself being
1:11
the authority in this space? Yeah. So a 31 year
1:14
entrepreneur. I started my business back in the
1:16
mid nineties, 1995. That's when dinosaurs used
1:19
to roam the earth and started in the online space,
1:23
a direct response at a high level. That's just,
1:25
you put money in money comes out and that difference,
1:29
hopefully it's profitable. That's how you pay
1:30
your bills and feed your family. And that's what
1:32
I've been doing for a majority of my careers,
1:35
built very successful online companies for myself,
1:38
had an agency doing similar things for clients.
1:40
And it's been a great. Over the last year, I've
1:43
had kind of a pretty significant pivot in my
1:46
life, kind of coming out of the shadows of somebody
1:48
who's behind the scenes, building companies behind
1:51
ad spend to like, hello, I'm George Rivera and
1:54
I have something I can offer the world. And so
1:57
it's been quite a difference because it's the
1:59
first time I've ever like publicly come out with
2:01
something that I can like help the world with
2:03
that has my name on it. And it's basically like
2:05
talking to the me of 10 years ago. And I call
2:08
that avatar to speak marketing. It's a cash.
2:11
rich, time poor. And it means that you're successful
2:14
on paper, but on the time side, your business
2:17
gets all your time and your family gets little
2:19
to none of that time. And so I found myself where
2:23
a lot of founders find themselves, what I call
2:25
the founder prison. And it's not a place we build
2:28
intentionally, but we get a business going and
2:30
it gets momentum and we get pulled into just
2:33
every, it seems like every decision that the
2:35
business has to make and momentum halts the second
2:38
that we stop and second we go to sleep, the second
2:40
we... try to take a vacation or be with our family.
2:42
And I found myself in that place. And it wasn't
2:45
a good place, especially when you're trying to
2:47
grow and scale a business. And so I had to work
2:49
my way out of that. And it really took my dad
2:52
essentially in 2015, basically his dying wish
2:55
to really get me to realize what I was on path
2:58
to doing with my family. And he gave me the words
3:01
that sort of like guide me today. He said, don't
3:03
miss Leo's games. I miss too many of yours. And
3:06
he told me that a couple of weeks before he passed
3:08
away. And Leo's my son. about 10, 11 months at
3:11
the time that he said that statement. And I'm
3:13
already blowing it. I'm already missing the moments
3:15
of him, you know, his first first, learning how
3:17
to walk and talk and being a little boy. And
3:19
so when my dad told me that, I had a flashback
3:22
to when I was in high school. I played in about
3:24
40 basketball games. I'd score a basket. I looked
3:26
to the stands to see my loving, approving father,
3:29
and he wasn't there. But my teammates would score
3:31
and their dads were there cheering like crazy.
3:33
And I remember looking at another dad while he
3:35
was loving on his son. And I was like, I wish
3:37
that was my dad. And I would have. Crush my dad.
3:40
He was a good man. He was a textbook provider,
3:43
always working, but his career essentially got
3:45
all of his time and his family got little to
3:48
none of it. But he was great with giving us nice
3:50
homes, cars, and trips to Europe every summer.
3:52
But when we needed him most and when I needed
3:54
him, he wasn't there. And that was beautiful
3:56
closure to whatever that was as a child. I'm
3:58
not a therapist. I don't know how to label that,
4:00
but. Closure there. But the other side was like,
4:02
holy cow, I'm version two of my dad. I'm doing
4:05
the nice homes, cars, trips to Europe thing in
4:07
exchange for my presence with my family. And
4:09
when he made that statement, I'm like, okay,
4:11
I get it. This stops here. It's not going to
4:14
continue. But it starts tomorrow because I'm
4:16
working 16 hours today. And tomorrow turns into
4:19
tomorrow. Tomorrow turns into three years of
4:21
tomorrows. And now my dad is three years gone.
4:24
And I scale my business to places I'd never imagined
4:27
I would be. Scaled it to $20 million in 2018.
4:30
but I was hating life as a result. And I was
4:33
perplexed because you tell me years prior, one
4:35
day you're going to have a $20 million business.
4:37
I'd be like, oh my gosh, I made it to the summit.
4:39
We're good. But in reality, I was not enjoying
4:42
life because of the effects of being pulled into
4:44
the business, what it was costing me at home
4:46
with my family. So yeah, I could pick it up there,
4:48
but that's kind of how it all started. That is
4:51
something that I don't want to say tale as old
4:53
as time, but it's definitely stories we've heard
4:56
before in the past of people just get so sucked
4:58
into wanting their business. to be successful
5:00
that the family falls behind on the emotional
5:03
needs and all that I know growing up I had two
5:05
working parents and same thing they're loving
5:07
they wanted to be there but they were busy trying
5:09
to provide for me and my sister and I don't hold
5:12
anything against them I'm like you guys were
5:14
doing what you thought was right and what you
5:16
needed to do I understand that you wish you probably
5:18
could have been at more things but I also I'm
5:20
like I'll find another parent to give me a hug
5:22
I'll be okay that's not exactly the best approach
5:25
to it but it's the approach that we all took
5:27
we all have our own specific lived experiences
5:30
with that. So what did you find as like the solution
5:33
to this problem when you finally realized, okay,
5:36
I need to do something, we need to make a change?
5:38
What was that solution? What were the first couple
5:40
steps you took? Yeah. So basically what happened
5:43
in 2018, when I realized I'm scaling this business,
5:45
but I'm not enjoying my life, I had two options.
5:48
One was to sell my business, but you can't snap
5:51
your fingers and sell a business. It's a multi
5:53
-year process. You got to get your finances in
5:55
order. Then you got to get an evaluation. Then
5:57
you got to hit the market. Then you got to get
5:59
an LOI. LOIs have an 80 % like they don't go
6:02
through rate and then purchase or like that's
6:04
a multi -year process. That's not a solve my
6:06
problem tomorrow process, but you can burn a
6:08
business down. And I thought about lighting a
6:10
match. to my business, pulling the plug on the
6:12
servers and just let whatever happens because
6:14
the outcome of that would have been peace and
6:16
reconnecting with my family. So I was considering
6:18
that. But at the time I had a coach and a mentor
6:21
and he lovingly walked me off of the ledge of
6:24
making a horrific decision. But you're in the
6:26
fog of war. You can't really see clearly. And
6:29
what I did was basically took his advice. He
6:32
said, stop doing what you don't like doing and
6:35
keep doing what you're good at. I'm just like,
6:37
all right, 23 years in business. And that finally
6:40
clicks, I guess better late than never. So I
6:43
started doing the work and that's when the work
6:45
that I do now really started, but I had to do
6:47
it for myself. I didn't know what buyback time
6:49
formula was. That name didn't exist. I didn't
6:51
know what a bottleneck was. I didn't know what
6:53
a framework was. I'm just doing the work. And
6:55
it took a couple of years to really get to the
6:57
other side of that. transformation. But when
7:00
I did, I more than doubled my business to just
7:02
shy of $50 million. I was living a semi -retired
7:06
lifestyle, never working more than 30 hours a
7:08
week, very intentional where my time went. But
7:11
the most impressive thing of all of that was,
7:13
like my dad said, don't miss Leo's games. I never
7:15
missed any of his games. In fact, I taught him
7:17
how to negotiate real estate at eight years old.
7:20
A byproduct of the cashflow of our company is
7:22
like investing in other things, trying to expand
7:24
our footprint, our little empire or what we can
7:26
control. And one of them is investment properties.
7:29
We have a home up in Northern Michigan, my primary
7:32
home's in Texas and it's on the lake. And one
7:34
day this other home came on the market and I'm
7:36
just like, oh my gosh, like we have the best
7:39
home on the lake as far as from investment standpoint,
7:42
this is going to be our competition. So I'm looking
7:44
it up and I'm thinking, we're just going to buy
7:46
it unless it's just a bundle of sticks. We're
7:48
just going to buy it. It makes sense. And then
7:49
we're looking at the house and the realtor gives
7:51
us as a family, a couple of minutes to discuss
7:53
a loan. And I remember like the old me would
7:55
have said something like, son, here's an iPad.
7:57
Go ahead and sit down in that room and play till
8:00
your heart's content. And I don't think anybody
8:01
would have judged me for that. But the new me
8:03
is like, this is a teachable moment. Son, you're
8:06
going to make the offer to the realtor. And so
8:07
I told him, all right, tell him we're going to
8:10
close in 30 days. Here's the price we're going
8:11
to pay. Leave the furniture, leave the dock because
8:13
this is an investment property. This will save
8:15
us like $100 ,000. Go. And he's like, why am
8:18
I doing this? And I'm like, just go. We'll debrief
8:19
later. And he's talking to the realtor and he's
8:22
a tall guy and he's kind of looking down. It's
8:23
a little kid, little smirk, like man, fucking
8:25
closing. and all this stuff. And he looks at
8:28
me, doesn't say anything, but with his eyes,
8:30
he's just asking, like, is that the offer? And
8:32
I'm like, whippersnapper spoke for us. That's
8:34
the offer. And we got the house. Of course, the
8:36
term's got to make sense, but he conveyed the
8:38
terms. And I see that from a legacy perspective.
8:40
Like one day he's going to be with his kids saying,
8:43
grandpa took me to make these deals. You kids
8:45
are going to make the offer. And so like the
8:47
impact of that's just going to outlive me essentially.
8:50
Just I can see the generational impact and even
8:53
more to current day. So he's 11 now. He's got
8:55
podcast he's interviewed I think we're on 56
8:58
we're like a little over 50 guests so far and
9:01
he's 11 he doesn't have a network his peers are
9:04
his friends that are like his age yeah so these
9:06
are my friends and peers and he showed an interest
9:09
of wanting to do some stuff online so I just
9:11
kind of opened the door for him and we did a
9:13
mock podcast him interviewing me we edited I
9:16
was like it's kind of good let's just published
9:18
it as episode number one i posted it on my facebook
9:20
for people to see and oh my gosh your son's got
9:22
a pod blah blah blah and i showed him the response
9:25
he's like oh my gosh yeah this is awesome let's
9:27
do some more so i lined up some guests for him
9:29
and now like it's taken a life of its own and
9:32
i kind of divert on my son but like that's just
9:34
evidence of a present dad in the home is you
9:36
could do that stuff because like his trajectory
9:38
was going to be just another kid on an iphone
9:40
that doesn't know how to look up shake people's
9:42
hands and say nice to meet you so it's been quite
9:44
a dramatic shift and again that just goes to
9:47
show present dad in the home with the leadership.
9:49
So I found myself in this interesting place over
9:51
the last couple of years, trying to find what
9:53
I want to do with the rest of my life. I've already
9:56
done all these things and I can keep doing those
9:58
things, but it's like, okay, I can enrich my
10:00
family and it's nice to give money and you can
10:02
do good things with that. And that's fine. Keep
10:04
doing that. But I want my work to have meaning,
10:07
like my hands, my labor to actually like have
10:09
impact, not just sell supplements and stuff.
10:12
And they're good products, but I've never had
10:13
anybody say, oh my gosh, your bottle of pills
10:15
completely changed my life. Maybe they get less
10:17
joint pain. Maybe they can think a little clearer
10:19
and that's fine. It's not a miracle in a bottle.
10:22
But ever since I've come out with this message,
10:24
I've had just a number of just people tell me
10:26
like, oh my gosh, my kids light up like a Christmas
10:29
tree at my presence. I didn't realize how much
10:31
my presence meant to them because they were also
10:33
in that founder prison, sort of just over here
10:36
doing it for the family, even though the family
10:38
never asked for it. But that's what we tell ourselves
10:40
to justify staying in that trap. What great examples
10:43
of like those life lessons. Like you said, those
10:45
are going to be legacy. lessons for your children
10:47
to be learning and just having a present dad
10:49
who's like feeding into like, we think we want
10:51
to do some stuff online. Okay, let's figure it
10:53
out as a family how we're gonna help you explore
10:55
this new territory. I think that is so amazing
10:58
and so encouraging. And I absolutely love that.
11:00
I'm not a parent myself, but that I feel like
11:02
if I was that'd be the kind of parent I'd be.
11:04
Yeah. So the thing that really like hooked me
11:08
in with your pitch to me on pod match was the
11:10
10k an hour filter. I would love to hear more
11:14
about what exactly that entails, because I saw
11:16
that I'm like, I feel like there's like something
11:19
in the universe calling to be saying that I need
11:21
to learn more about this. So can you please explain
11:23
the 10k an hour filter to me? Absolutely. So
11:26
10k is just the number that I put for myself
11:28
that when I'm in my zone of genius at my peak,
11:31
I'm worth $10 ,000 an hour. So the listener might
11:34
say, okay, well, I'm worth 500, or I'm worth
11:37
100, or I'm worth 100 ,000, like figure out how
11:40
much your time is worth. So get that. clear we
11:42
all have an idea and if you don't i'd say just
11:45
figure out a number and then double it because
11:46
it's probably more than you're giving yourself
11:48
credit for and so what do you do with that so
11:50
we take one step back a little bit and we need
11:53
to review what it is that we're doing. We need
11:55
to shine a light on all the activities because
11:57
if we don't know what we're doing, we don't know
11:58
where we're starting. And there's a system of
12:00
getting all that together. But once you have
12:02
that list, you're going to have a list of things
12:04
that you're doing. And then we need to run that
12:06
through the 10K per hour filter or again, whatever
12:08
number per hour filter that you have. When I
12:11
did this for myself at the peak, I was working
12:13
80 hours a week. I identified that 40 of those
12:16
80 hours were done on tasks that were $50 an
12:19
hour or less. Now I'm not a mathematician, but
12:22
40 hours times $50 is $2 ,000. That's $8 ,000
12:26
a month, just almost 100 ,000 a year. And for
12:30
a business doing $20 million a year, that's like
12:32
an afternoon of sales to cover all that. But
12:34
when you're in the fog of war in the activity
12:37
and you're being pulled in a million different
12:38
directions, you can't stop to even look at that
12:41
with any sort of clarity. So I went several years
12:43
doing things that I shouldn't have been doing,
12:46
which was sucking away at my life, at my motivation,
12:48
at my happiness, costing me my - family and so
12:51
when I finally did this I realized that I could
12:54
essentially have somebody else do that work so
12:57
that it wasn't constantly falling on me. So,
12:59
okay. So we got that off of my plate and there's
13:01
a process of what do you do with those things
13:03
you get off of your plate? But then the other
13:05
half, there's still 40 hours. That's still like
13:07
a lot of work. I mean, technically full time.
13:09
But what happened is when I was focused on just
13:11
those 40 hours, it actually compressed down to
13:14
20 hours because those are the, what I call zone
13:17
of genius activities that I should be doing.
13:19
Things that move revenue for the business, things
13:21
like strategic relationships. And when I'm in
13:23
the supplement space or marketing anything, I'm
13:25
thinking, what are other products I could sell?
13:27
What are other marketplaces I can enter? How
13:29
can we refine our messaging? That's revenue generating
13:31
activity, not the other stuff that I moved off
13:34
of my plate. And so I realized that my time went
13:37
from 40 to 20 because now I'm working with complete
13:40
mental clarity, less stress, less context switching
13:43
because that murders productivity. And that's
13:46
how you essentially work less and make more money.
13:48
When you first say it kind of like doesn't make
13:50
sense, but it's not like we're abandoning all
13:52
of these other things. We're having other people
13:54
do them, oftentimes better. and more qualified,
13:57
but part of the entrepreneur identity is this
13:59
is my baby and only I can do it. And they don't
14:02
want to let go. And it's like, that was me. I
14:05
didn't want to let go. But when I did let go,
14:07
I was like, holy cow, somebody's doing it 80%.
14:10
That's fine. I say, if I'm a hundred and somebody's
14:12
80, like I can live with that 20 % breakage.
14:14
So I moved myself out of the way and they take
14:17
that 80 % to like 120. If I'm still at a hundred,
14:20
I'm like, oh my gosh. Why was I even hanging
14:21
on to this? And once you get addicted to that,
14:24
you're like, what else can I get off of my plate?
14:26
And then you seek that dopamine hit from somewhere
14:29
else. The old way dopamine hit comes from being
14:31
a hero in my business. I'm helping my team succeed.
14:34
And we think that's leadership, but that's really
14:36
not leadership because you're training them to
14:37
depend on you. But the true form of leadership
14:40
is to give them the tools they need to succeed.
14:42
So yeah, that's the 10K per hour filter, giving
14:45
you a little context on how we utilize that and
14:47
how we kind of run it through. And then eventually
14:49
we end up with the things we should keep doing
14:51
and then the things we should remove off our
14:53
plate. As someone who is just starting, to take
14:57
on virtual assistants and take on people locally
15:00
that have approached me and said that they want
15:02
to help out. I have a very hard time with loosening
15:05
the grip on what I'm doing for my business because
15:07
it is my business. It's called Abby Graves Productions.
15:10
My name is on this. My reputation is the brand.
15:14
So I feel this very deeply in my soul, but I
15:17
have noticed in the past month of working with
15:19
some extra help that it does make a difference.
15:22
And it hurts to admit that because I'm like,
15:24
I'm right. I can do everything. No, you can't.
15:26
You need help. And if you find the right people
15:28
and just like you said, that 80 % to 100 % gap,
15:32
if you can live with that 20%, live with it because
15:36
it's going to make a world of difference. Absolutely.
15:39
And then the time you get back, that's where
15:41
you're focusing on your zone of genius, reconnect
15:44
and restore the bond with your family that's
15:46
been broken over a bunch of broken promises.
15:48
Not intentional, but yeah, I'll be there. Oops,
15:50
I can't. Business fire. Sorry, you understand.
15:52
That's what pays the bills. And it just keeps
15:54
you going in that vicious cycle. So getting that
15:56
stuff off your plate is the first step towards
15:58
freedom. Yes, for sure. The other thing I really
16:00
wanted to chat with you about, because I actually
16:02
am just coming off of a vacation myself. I didn't
16:05
have a two -week vacation. I had a four -day
16:07
vacation, but it was a vacation nonetheless.
16:10
It was actually the longest stretch of time I've
16:12
had since starting my business without opening
16:14
my laptop. And luckily, the world didn't burn
16:16
down. The world's still turning. We're still
16:18
ready to rock on Monday. But I would love for
16:20
you to explain your two -week vacation test.
16:22
Absolutely. The best way to explain it is what
16:24
I typically do when I'm onboarding a client or
16:27
on a call. this. We can see each other and we're
16:29
talking. And one of the first things before we
16:31
get into any of the strategic and get going stuff,
16:34
I'm like, all right, look at your calendar six
16:36
months ahead from now. And we're going to block
16:37
out two weeks where you're going to go on vacation
16:39
with your family, give or take. It didn't have
16:42
to be exactly six months, but somewhere where
16:43
there's a two week block. And usually the first
16:45
thing that they do is they gasp and they're like,
16:47
well, how in the world am I going to take a two
16:49
week vacation? Like I can't even take an afternoon
16:51
off. And I'm just like, oh, wow. I'm so thankful
16:53
you shared that. You need this more than you
16:55
know, like that just validates that they're there.
16:57
So if you fear this or you have this sense of
16:59
fear and this gasp, then yeah, then you need
17:02
the two week vacation, FYI. But what we do is,
17:06
or my response is usually, well, we're starting
17:08
now, like the clock starts right now. That's
17:09
how we do it. And we don't blindly walk into
17:12
it. The goal is in the first. 14 days or so,
17:15
first couple of weeks, we identify that low hanging
17:17
fruit to buy back some time right away. Then
17:20
the goal is to have like version one of this
17:22
whole thing done in 90 days so that by the end
17:25
of 90 days, we're somewhere between 10 and 20
17:27
hours per week bought back. It might not be perfect,
17:30
but we've got version one going and we're still
17:32
working together to identify any little leaky
17:35
buckets and holes. You're not going to catch
17:36
them all, but we're going to get a good number
17:38
of them right away. And then we do what's called
17:40
absence rehearsal tests. So again, we don't cold
17:43
turkey. go on two week vacation. So you are freaking
17:46
out about an afternoon on an onboarding call.
17:48
So we're going to take an afternoon off and you're
17:50
going to see, like you just said, the world's
17:52
not going to fall apart. You think it's going
17:53
to fall apart, but it won't. And so we need to
17:55
train your brain that it's okay. So what's the
17:58
worst case that can happen? Maybe the accounting
18:00
department doesn't get an email or fulfillment
18:02
doesn't get a notice or something. So something
18:05
is delayed by a few hours that doesn't cripple
18:07
the business that just exposes a tiny little
18:09
leak that we need to button up so that we can
18:12
do another. absence rehearsal test to make sure
18:14
that we caught that and see what else is exposed
18:17
when we're away a little bit longer. So the next
18:19
test might be two days in the middle of the week,
18:21
a couple weeks down the line, and something else
18:23
might slip through the cracks. Not catastrophic,
18:25
but it reveals what we need to plug in. And so
18:29
what this does is it trains your brain. World
18:30
didn't fall apart. We fixed the little leaky
18:33
and we're good. And then we're ready for our
18:35
two -week vacation test. already having a history
18:38
of the world didn't fall apart. We've identified
18:40
the leaky buckets. And the goal is to have a
18:43
number two in place where everything just stops
18:46
to them. Nothing penetrates to the founder while
18:48
they're on the two week vacation. I usually have
18:51
somebody say, well, what, give me an example
18:52
of something that could, because the imagination
18:54
just wants the answer to that. And if there's
18:56
like a legal life or death kind of thing, but
18:59
Having done this for a number of clients and
19:01
myself over the years, it's never happened. So
19:03
usually that's just like, well, what if this,
19:04
what if that? And so the only thing that the
19:07
founder needs to see while they're on their two
19:09
week vacation is a daily scorecard that shows
19:12
them how their business is doing on any given
19:14
day. Now, the goal isn't for the business to
19:17
just maintain. And normally it goes backwards
19:19
when the founder steps away, when they don't
19:21
have any of this stuff in place. The goal is
19:22
for it to grow while you're away. And so you
19:25
will receive a daily scorecard with the top,
19:28
call it five. Five to eight numbers. Every business
19:30
is different. But in my case, my numbers were
19:32
top line revenue, bottom line profit. And then
19:36
there's some numbers in between that are important
19:37
as well. But then some marketing numbers like
19:39
clicks to the website, number of orders, conversion
19:42
rate, average order value. So that in less than
19:45
30 seconds, I can take a quick look and see,
19:47
okay, everything looks good. We're good. Next
19:50
day. Okay, good. Identifying if we're growing.
19:52
If there's ever a time to be concerned, I will
19:54
see my key numbers will show me like, okay, where's
19:57
any breakage? oh, our conversion rate's low.
19:59
That explains why revenue's a little bit low.
20:01
Not the end of the world, we're good. But this
20:03
prevents you from having a login at 20 different
20:05
CRMs and autoresponders and systems while you're
20:08
on vacation, which is like the worst place to
20:10
be. Don't ask me how I know. So yeah, long -winded
20:13
way to explain the two -week vacation. And then
20:15
you come back and then see like, okay, what leaky
20:17
buckets do I identify? We tie them up and we
20:19
do it again. But the goal is by then, any leaky
20:22
buckets will be minimal. You've got a team in
20:24
place to handle those situations. And if something,
20:27
happens to escalate and penetrate then how do
20:30
we systematize this so it doesn't happen again
20:32
so you use all of these escalations as almost
20:35
like internal like case studies on this is how
20:37
we fix this for next time that is Amazing. There's
20:40
been kind of a trend lately on Instagram of like
20:43
people going, oh, owning a business will have
20:45
you standing in places on looking at your phone
20:47
like you're texting a toxic ex. Once I saw that
20:49
trend, I'm like, oh, my God, I have been that
20:51
person and I don't want to be that person. So
20:54
this is a great system to try to set up, like
20:56
test it by the afternoon, fix the problem. And
20:59
then now you have a solution for it for next
21:01
time. I love this. This is immediately getting
21:03
implemented into my business. Awesome. Yeah,
21:06
that's it. And it only happens by doing it. sort
21:09
of like forecast the things. And that's great.
21:11
That'll cover a lot of things, but only by stepping
21:14
away for a little period to just see what leaky
21:17
buckets might exist. That's how you identify
21:18
it, fix it, and create systems for any other
21:21
like urgent situations that keep pulling you
21:23
in. And that's how you prevent it from happening
21:26
again. I think that's absolutely fabulous. We're
21:28
getting kind of close to the end of our time
21:30
here, but I do have a couple of last things I
21:32
want to get to. kind of big last question is
21:35
for people finding themselves in what you called
21:37
the founder prison, what is your best advice
21:40
for getting out of it? Take those baby steps
21:42
and getting yourself out of that cage that you
21:45
accidentally put yourself in. Absolutely. So
21:48
I have this saying that you're scaling one of
21:50
two things. You're either scaling freedom or
21:52
you're scaling chaos. In my case, I was scaling
21:54
chaos. Like when I was at $20 million, I had
21:57
a company infrastructure that was great for a
21:59
$3 million a year company. But at 20, as you're
22:03
growing, it tends to break and it exposes like
22:05
the weak spots. So my suggestion for somebody
22:08
who finds themselves in that founder trap is
22:09
figure out what are those things that keep pulling
22:11
you back in and find a way to not be pulled in
22:14
by those things. And that's by systematizing.
22:16
those processes. We can go into like the specific
22:19
frameworks in doing so, but if you're tired of
22:21
being pulled back in and you realize that it's
22:23
costing you time with the ones that you love
22:25
or just driving you insane, for me, it was both.
22:27
Then you have your reason why to get into it
22:30
and figure out a solution for it. That's great.
22:32
And then my last, another one that just kind
22:34
of popped in my head. So I work with a lot of
22:36
like beginner podcasters, a lot of beginner entrepreneurs
22:39
as clients having podcasts to promote those businesses.
22:42
If someone's sitting here listening and hearing
22:44
how you have this multi -million dollar business,
22:47
but there may be in the multi -thousand dollar
22:49
phase right now. What advice do you have for
22:51
them starting out with their business to set
22:54
it up the right way so they don't feel overwhelmed
22:56
and in this prison? Yeah, it's never too early
22:58
to set up the proper frameworks, even if you're
23:00
just like a one person show. If your goal is
23:03
to eventually grow the business, which I believe
23:05
it's like every founder's desire to do, you're
23:07
never going to be stuck in that beginner level
23:09
or that's the goal. Then set it up in a way that
23:11
you can essentially just add people to the system
23:14
and the framework. frameworks because you don't
23:16
want to catch this late trust me you'll pull
23:18
at your emotions at your life and it doesn't
23:20
get you in a good place and i don't know sometimes
23:22
people just need to experience it to totally
23:24
get it i hope people can like hear this and say
23:26
i don't want to get to that point but yeah you're
23:28
never too early to learn the proper systems and
23:31
frameworks so that you have a foundation so that
23:33
you can have an idea of where it's going to go
23:36
and you can point it versus i'll just figure
23:38
it out when i get there and when you do it it
23:40
could be too late hopefully it's not but it totally
23:42
could be Yeah, that's great. Okay, last question
23:46
I have for you. What is a podcast that you've
23:48
been listening to lately and liking to listen
23:50
to? Podcast that I've been listening to lately.
23:53
It's a non -business podcast. His name's Preston.
23:56
It's a Christian -based podcast. It's just on
23:59
how to deal with adversities and anxieties and
24:02
just overcoming challenges. It's just a theme
24:05
that I just really enjoy getting deep into. I
24:07
find that a lot of people that I'm coming across,
24:10
in addition to their business challenges, bring
24:12
a lot of... personal challenges. And it's like,
24:14
okay, I thought I was helping people with business,
24:16
but there's an aspect of that where there's this
24:19
like personal and identity stuff to deal with.
24:21
And so I'm learning how other people are sort
24:24
of advising and working through those situations.
24:27
And, and even for me personally to deal when
24:29
those situations come up, because even though
24:31
I've established a framework that works and it's
24:34
working for me, I'm not perfect. I still find
24:36
myself kind of sometimes crawling back into those
24:38
things that I thought I left a long time ago.
24:40
I'll message you if I can find. Find it so we
24:42
can reference it. But he's got a podcast out
24:44
of Arizona and I love it. I hear it. I feel empowered.
24:47
I feel like I've got stuff I can share with the
24:48
people that I communicate with. Yeah, I wish
24:51
I had that name, but I'll find it. I'm sure I'll
24:53
be able to find it based on the context clues.
24:55
I'll make sure it gets in the show notes. Yes.
24:57
Awesome. This has been so much fun, George. Thank
25:00
you so much for your insight. I know it has completely
25:02
changed my mindset like I wanted it to. So mission
25:05
accomplished. Where can everyone get your book
25:08
and stay in contact with you? Thank you, Abby.
25:09
This has been awesome. It's been fun and I'm
25:11
grateful to hear that it's had a good impact.
25:13
Yeah, to find me, I just go to my website. It's
25:16
buybacktimeformula .com. There you could see
25:19
links to my book. You could see links to my socials.
25:21
I post every day. I host some events. I host
25:24
dinners at my house for local entrepreneurs that
25:26
want to come. and I will feed you in the Austin
25:28
area. I have a virtual event as well for those
25:31
that might not want to travel or can't travel
25:33
and another number of things that I do, but it
25:35
all starts at buybacktimeformula .com. Wonderful,
25:39
George. Thank you so much for your time today.
25:41
Yes, yes. Thank you so much.