Latest / The Uplift- with Luke Pollock / #34 - Solo Pod - Building a Business vs Leading A Tribe
Transcript
- Luke Pollock: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Uplift. This is episode number thirty-four, another solo podcast. And I'm gonna be talking about my business primarily today and the plans I have for it going forward, where I'm at with things and a few other thoughts I've been having along the way. So yeah, if you're into that sort of stuff, then stick around. This week has been really, really good. Been loving my work this week and loving learning abo about my work a little bit more. I shared a post earlier in the week, maybe it was actually end of last week, about imposter syndrome and struggling with a bit of imposter syndrome, which I believe is completely normal. And that came from a conversation I had with PE Performance, which was the last conversation on the on the podcast series. So go have a listen to that if you haven't already. If you're d if you're dealing in or struggle with any groin or yeah, athletic groin pain, then definitely, definitely. listen to that episode. It's sort of the episode I wish I had back this time last year when I was starting to experience some symptoms of my growing. But yeah, I I released well put out a post about imposter syndrome and I got quite a lot of good feedback on it. people all of course we do because we're humans, but we all feel the same, don't we? That when you hit the next stage of of your career, when you're seeing more and more people, the pressure starts to rise. So for me, when I'm seeing more complex ACL cases when I'm seeing more ACL cases in a week, suddenly it it dawns on you, like these people are are short of my responsibility and the exercises I give them can really make or break their rehab. And obviously as physios, we probably put too much onus on ourselves like we do in most things. a lot of stuff is outside of our control, like I talked about in essay number one. But yeah, the pressure does ramp up a little bit, you know, this is not like We're not just fooling around, we're not just trying to get people to lose a bit of fat here or there. Like this is a serious work and I take my work very seriously. And hence the the pressure does ramp up a little bit and hence the little bit of imposter syndrome. But I I've come to terms with the fact that it's just a really good sign of growth. And yeah, if I wasn't having that a a little bit of fear, a little bit of imposter syndrome, I would probably not be in the right area. And That's when I get bored. And when I get bored, I have to leave. And if you're the same, you'll know exactly what I mean. If I'm like bored or feel stagnant or feel like I'm not moving, I will just want out of their ASAP. Like it will be viscerally painful. Like my last job, it was viscerally painful for me to go into work in the morning. Like it felt like physical pain, not just and I know this sounds traumatic, but it's so true. If I feel like I'm not being fulfilled or challenged or I don't align with the the work. I just can't do it. It's it's difficult for me. So sort of I suppose hitting a new revenue goal this month, which I'm on target to hit, haven't hit it yet, is a sign that things are going and moving in the right direction. Because normally if you focus on the product and service, the revenue will come. And that's what I've tried to do from the start. Obviously I've learned what I can about marketing techniques and sales and trying to set up a business. as well as I can, but if the product or service is good enough, then the revenue shall come. So hopefully September will be a record month for me, which is a sign that things are moving a little bit in the right direction. And I'm gonna a little bit in the right direction. Things are moving in the right direction. They it feels like they are and the revenue stuff is kind of meaningless on until you're not making any money. Then it it very much means some something. But when you're getting over your your basic means and you're getting by revenue doesn't actually make you any happier, but what it does is give you reassurance that you're on the right track. And that is what I find that the money itself doesn't make you feel that happy and what you spend on. but it's reassurance that you're on the right track and it's helping it's helping things out and it's making me feel like I'm less of a dread to my wife and that I am actually working in a month which which makes me feel very good. But yeah, I'm gonna be talking about a book called Expert Secrets a lot today. from Russell Bronson. It's been something that's on my mind. And on this topic, Russell Bronson says, No matter what you do, in the beginning, it's gonna suck because you suck, but you'll get better and you'll suck less. And if you keep doing this, eventually you'll suck so little that you'll actually be good. And that's the stage I feel like I've been. I feel like I've gone from sucking in content in visioing. to sucking a little bit less, to sucking a little bit less. So now sometimes I look at myself and be I might should be all right at this. but it is you do follow that pattern, whatever you're doing, whether it's you're in your new you're in a new job or you're starting to make content or you've just started a business, like you're gonna suck at the start, and it's just how much can you ignore the the feedback from others and how much can you sort of with withstand a bit of the embarrassment of sucking until you get enough reps in that you're actually good and I would actually say that I'm starting to see some of the rewards of that, which is really, really cool. So the main concept of today's podcast is going to be about leading a tribe over building a business. And that is sort of what Russell Bronson's book is about. And I actually haven't read this book recently. I read it like three years ago, two and a half, three years ago, and it just came to the top of mind today because I was consuming from a creator on Instagram called Jordan Stanton. And I just love his content. I've been watching anything he puts out. I've been listening to his podcast today. or he was on a ge a guest on a podcast. And pretty much this guy is just n an Aussie guy who runs around Battersea Park, but he is he keeps saying he's doing it for the heavyweight. So for people that for blokes that are a hundred kilo plus. So he's very, very specific on his message. But I've done a little bit of a deep dive in this guy. He used to be a sleep coach like back in January. And then he he realized that he appealed to a certain particular group of people and they're loving him. So he's got like 25k followers, but it feels like he is really, really making a big movement in the surrounding area and just online in general. And it is the finest example I've seen recently of leading a tribe. Russell Bronson says in this book, people are silently begging to be led. And I think that's the difference between someone who has a really strong personal brand and business and someone who maybe will do all right but then will fizzle out and they'll get tired of it because they're not leading someone. And it's a challenge for myself. Am I trying to lead the way for my ideal client? Am I trying to bring these people along with me rather than just saying, yeah, I'll treat your ACL and you won't relate to me on any other level. I want to relate to my clients on lots of levels so we can build a really good connection. And it can be an enjoyable experience beyond just the physical aspect of the rehab. I think that's my challenge for myself. And yeah, Russell goes on in this book to say that the goal with this or any kind of business is not to lead with how can I sell my product, but instead you want to ask, How can I best serve my people? And I just think Jordan, this creator I'm talking to, talking about, go look him up on Instagram and you'll you'll see what I mean. He is talking to one specific person. and Ultimately it's a group of people because we're not that unique, but it's a real challenge for me. I want to talk to my p specific athlete that I work with on a a much deeper level than maybe I do at the minute. At the minute I'm just talking about quite surface level ACL, this is what you do with injury or this this is how you rehab at this certain stage. I wanna get a little bit deeper and hopefully you notice a change in my content and I want to Yeah, talk some of the the problems those people will have outside of just their knee rehab. And some people might say, Well, surely that's going beyond your means, but is an it is ultimately, and that's what I want to do because I want to create a strong business and a strong brand that goes that isn't so transactional that it's just a product that people can fleck off. I want them to be bought in and then the best results will come. Another person I I think of when I think of this is Cayenne Fit. who is yeah, lives in the Welsh valleys and I watch him and he subtly gets across that he is for the people who are not in like the influencers who are not living in big city life. And that is what I love about Khan. I watch his videos all the time. No and it used to be like I just watched them 'cause they were funny, but now I watch them because they remind me of home. They remind me of being the countryside. And I love how much he loves his home. I think that's so cool. He's like the niche the least nonchalant person ever about living in the valleys. He just loves it and all he wants to do is run in the Welsh countryside. And I think that's really cool because if you give anyone else four hundred thousand followers, chances are they would go to London, try and grow their brand a little bit more, try and like get in more brand deals. But he's just chilling, stomping the mountains in the Welsh valleys, and I love it. He's speaking to a very specific person and he's doing it quite subtly without putting in your face, which is really, really cool as well. So yeah, how do we do this? I suppose is is the question I want to ask. And I think the answer is just being unique and being ourselves. Like the guy Jordan I'm talking about is himself. He is a hundred kilos plus so he is talking to himself a few years ago. I am a rugby player who is injured quite a lot. So I need to do a better job of talking to myself. But I'm also with someone, someone with interest Outside of that of just rugby. And it's very clear to me that I don't want to just be, this is what the research says on this specific point. I want to be sharing a little bit of my personality as well. Because I think that's what I would want if I was seeing a physio for a long period of time. I wouldn't want it to be a very boring transactional conversation. I would want to know a little bit more about that person. Made me think of a book Garden City. John Mark Homer, Christian author, he says calling is not something you choose like someone you marry or a house that you might buy or what car you buy. It's something that you unearth, you excavate it, you dig it out, and you discover it. And that's ultimately what this podcast is. You'll see how the range of episodes might be difficult to listen to at times. And people have said that they can feel my brain working as I'm talking. And that's because I do not have it worked out. I want to say that very clearly. Sometimes it will sound like I'm being boastful or this is what I'm gonna do, this is how I'm gonna do it, but I do not have a worked out. This podcast is for me trying to figure it out along the way. And this is the work of trying to ask excavate it, to discover it, to do the inner work, to get on a mic once a week and check in with myself, okay, how's it going? Is it going the direction I want it to go in? And what do I need to do in the meantime to change that direction? And this week I've been loving those two content creators and it's made me think, why do I love them so much? Why do I love their content? Even though they don't have the biggest follow-way nor they're not the most well known. And it's because of those reasons. They're themselves and they're built they're building a tribe and leading the way. People are silently begging to be led in more w in more ways than one. and Naval says in his book, I've got loads of quotes written down on this topic. It just it was exciting me earlier. So he said, Go experiment with a ton of stuff. Identify things that spark your interest, engage deeply with those things. As you engage, it goes from interest to true fascination. Go down the path of gaining mastery. Fascination and mastery equal passion. And sometimes I think, why do I not enjoy reading studies more? Why do I enjoy reading books about writing or about creativity more than I enjoy reading a paper about SEL rehab? And quotes like this really help me process that. Go experiment with a ton of stuff, identify stuff that sparks your interest and follow that interest. Don't shut it off. Don't close myself off. And that's what I'm trying to do. And try to share more and more of that side of me. But also not let the business fall down because if I was just to talk about creativity, people might might not want me to rehab their ACL as much. So I need to strike that balance. But yeah, it's definitely a balance I'm willing to to explore and try and strike. I think The the biggest example I can think of this when I was you know, obviously we've got the Molron content creators, but I remember I read a book called The Splendid and the Vile and it is about Winston Churchill's time during the the Second World War. And yeah, let me just read the quote from Churchill, the famous quote that you've heard a million times before. And if you're not a Churchill fan, we're not friends because he did so much good. But anyway I know obviously he was a product of his time in many ways, but yeah, I'm a big Churchill fan. But he says, We shall go on to the end, he said, in a crescendo of ferocity and confidence. We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. And we shall never surrender. Russell Bronson says in this book, Expert Secret, people will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, ally their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies. And I just put those two things together and I was like, that is what makes Winston Churchill's speech so gripping. He is doing all those things. He's inspiring people. He's allying their fears. He is helping them through rocks of the enemies quite literally. And he's encouraging their dreams. That their dreams are we we shall never surrender. We shall protect, we shall defend our island, protect our island, we shall never surrender. And it's just such a good epitome of what Russell's saying and we're backdating it to someone who delivered the most powerful speech. Now, I'm not saying that I want to be Churchill, but obviously we can learn from this, can we? We can learn that there are ways we can get people more interested in what we have to offer, more excited about what we have to offer that goes beyond just this is my product, this is what I sell, either tech or don't. And that is my challenge to myself and to you, the listener. Can we go one step further? Can we get our people to be raving about our sa our stuff that we're talking about and selling, can we get them excited about it? And if you're not selling anything and if you don't have a product or if you are maybe you feel like none of this relates to you, then I would say go and find your passion. Go digging in the weeds. Go look at a ton of different things, whether that's gaming, whether that's reading book, whether that's writing, go explore your interests and explore them deeply and allow yourself to get a little bit lost in them. Enjoy that creativity of getting lost in your interests and try not to put the boundaries up being like, this is weird or maybe I shouldn't like this interest. Obviously within within healthy reason. But allow yourself to get lost in it a little bit and explore how that might translate to maybe other people like this stuff. Maybe I should start talking about the stuff and sharing the stuff and you'll find people who are more similar to you than you think. I think about those of my friends who read and those who don't. And those of my friends who read, we have a better connection on on some levels because we can share books that we've we've both read and we've both talked about. And that was quite an early realisation for me when I was like twenty. I started talking about books to some of my friends and we like, no way, you've read that too and it really yeah, you're like you can develop a bit of a deeper connection and that's what I would love to have with my clients as well. attract the type of people who are saying, no way, you struggle with that too, or no way like I l I really like what you said about not getting picked in selection or being injured during this period of time. I want to connect with people on a slightly deeper level. Obviously, this podcast has been top of mind. Okay. So I've got some quotes on the F4 page beside me and I'm just rambling on. But I really hope that I look back on this podcast in a year or two years and start to connect the dots. That is the plan. Because right now I have I have something that I'm enjoying, but yeah, I want to find out. my calling. It's not something that you choose, but it's something that you dig out. You excavate it. And that's what I'm in the midst of doing. And I feel like I'm massively on the right path of of doing that. And yeah, like I say, imposter syndrome is real. And that is also a sign that we're on the right path. That we're digging we're in unknown territory when we're digging like literally we're we're we're on we're on covering new soil. We haven't seen it before and it can be scary and You can have a little bit of imposter syndrome, but that's a good sign that you're right where you should be. You're on the precipice of where you should be. And normally it's because you are you're actually excited and you know more and you know your service is maybe there's a gap between where it is and where you want it to be. And I think these are all really, really positive things. So that is what I'm gonna try and do to take my service and my business and my page to the next level. I hope that. in a few years' time when I'm listening to this back. I've done that. And shout out to Jordan and Kayan, those guys who whose pages I've been really, really enjoying consuming from lately. And yeah, I thank you so much for listening to this podcast as well. It really means a lot. Like the people who listen to the podcast, I can't describe because the podcast for me is my creative outlet right now. the the Instagram page is very much how I drive business. The podcast is definitely my creative outlet. So people who listen to the podcast and talk to me about the podcast, you're the real ones. And yeah, I I connect much deeper with those type of people. Or with with the people who do that, I suppose. And yeah, I I really appreciate you. So thank you. I am not taking any of my life for granted these days. I think I have yeah, a really, really nice opportunity that I want to take with both hands. And I really hope that I don't sound like I've got all together because I majorly don't but we're trying to figure out one step at a time. So thank you for listening. Please follow, leave a little five star review and please message me as well about how you find this episode. How if you've got any thoughts on any of the the things I'm talking about. If you've got any things that could any little p piece of advice that could help me 'cause this is a two way street as well. but yeah, have a really good evening or good morning whenever whenever you're listening to this and I will catch you next Wednesday on the uplift. Thank you.