28
Jan
2021
The two reasons you don’t have the wealth you desire

The two reasons you don’t have the wealth you desire

The relationship you have with money will directly affect your wealth.

The fundamental flaw of our modern education system is that we were raised and primed to be employees. Once upon a time, this wasn’t a bad thing. Those who influenced us to pursue traditional education paths wished us no harm. More than anything, they wanted us to be secure, in the best way they knew how.

Our post-depression era parents and grandparents saw our American economy in collapse and sought job-security, defined benefits, and government jobs for stability and safety. For decades, this logic was sound. Go to school, get a job, work 30 years, get a gold watch, and retire comfortably. Things have changed and this is no longer the case.

Employees trade time for money

employees trade time for money. Big business owners earn money from others

Most employers have reduced their defined benefits plans to defined contributions and have removed any guarantee as to how much income employees will have when they reach the other end. Worse yet, the employee path pays you the employee less than your worth. Think about it this way, if you work for someone else, you are an investment. Your employer is getting at minimum a reasonable return on their investment and you are earning less than you are worth. This is the cost of “security.” At the end of the day, you are trading your time for money and are lucky if you can retire at close to the same standard of living as your working years.

What about small business owners?

Small business owners trade time for money and often become too vital to grow out of their roles

Some employees seek more control over their time and their earning potential and make the decision to start their own business. The drive is commonly to increase earning potential, set one’s own hours, and to have more control over their job. The trouble most small and startup owners face is that their traditional education governs their mindset. The new business owner has already been conditioned to equate dollars to hours. They will find themselves in a different landscape yet still trading time for money. The small business owner is at the greatest risk of making themselves the product of there business, in an inescapable job.

Those who plan appropriately and think big have the opportunity to limit their stay in small-business land to a brief layover in their career as they aim to build systems for their businesses. The smart business owner systematizes their job so that they can give it to someone else. They raise other leaders to carry out their vision. The smart business owner makes money from other people.

If you are unclear what type of business you are in, the test, as described by Robert Kiyosaki in his book Cash Flow Quadrant is: If you took a year off from your business, would it grow while you are away?

Making the switch to wealth and financial freedom

Financial freedom is attained when your passive income from businesses you own and your investments exceeds your expenses and liabilities. Following the thread from Kiyosaki’s book, the person who earns this passive income earns it either as a big business owner or as an investor.

Big is not bad

Big business owners develop leaders and build a wealth pipeline for themselves.

Big business gets a bad rap. These owners, often the millionaires and billionaires are vilified for their success. Those with employee mindsets often accuse them of being greedy and perhaps their feelings tie to their own realization (conscious or not) that their boss was earning a profit on them.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Think of that big business owner not as greedy, rather as giving. Business owners create jobs and opportunities and the best want to raise those they lead into leaders themselves. This is because a big business owner must develop leaders and systems to remove themselves from the operation and to keep the business growing.

Take action!

You’re ready to get into business for yourself and you want to avoid the pitfall of dead-ending yourself in your own company. Maybe you’re already in business and realize you have become too essential. It doesn’t matter where you are. What matters now is that you do not wait to build the systems you need to grow your business to the point that it outgrows you.

  1. People – You cannot be a big business without others. Even if you are the only member of your company at this point, here is your four step process for assembling the right team:
    1. Write your own job description and all of the roles you currently have.
    2. Choose the roles and tasks which are not your strengths or which would best be served by someone else.
    3. Develop your organizational chart and assign roles to the future people who will take on those tasks. This will inform your next hires.
    4. Develop a path on your org chart for your growing organization so that as you grow you can assemble the leadership team which will grow your business and pushes you out the top.
  2. Systems – The only thing a skill which you are uniquely qualified to perform guarantees is that you will forever hold that job. If your desire is to grow, you will need to empower others to do what you do best. At a minimum, you will multiply your own efforts. Document processes, bring others in, and you are likely to find that their unique perspectives bring even more innovation to your already great product or service.

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Leadership, Life, 0 comments
21
Jan
2021
Are you winning or losing? Why you need to know your Net Worth

Are you winning or losing? Why you need to know your Net Worth

Your Net Worth is your financial health barometer and not knowing it will cost you!

When I coach business owners and leaders in achieving their goals, we look beyond the business. Business success is merely a symptom of the habits you’ve formed and your holistic success in life. The most common cause I encounter of poor business performance is physical health. The next is financial uncertainty.

When clients indicate that a physical health habit would improve their lives, we have several measurable ways to track their progress in achieving their goals. We can track:

Net worth is a measurable goal which focuses on the most important financial number... your wealth!
  • Weight
  • Body fat %
  • Cholesterol
  • Daily caloric intake
  • Hours of daily exercise
  • Waist Size

It seems so simple to set these goals and then to take action on them. Some combination of diet and exercise will achieve the desired outcome and measurements are fairly easy to take and to see.

The financial challenges most of my clients bring to me relate to their income, their spending, and their savings. It is common to see financial goals of an anticipated gross revenue or a savings goal for a planned purchase or investment.

One very astute and wise beyond his years client of mine recently asked me for help setting a goal around his net worth. He didn’t know his net worth and only knew it was important for it to grow.

What is net worth?

Your net worth is the balance sheet for your life. The scenario I like to give is that you have been summoned to leave earth and rise to the mother-ship, move to Eden, or to join John Galt. You have one day to sell off every asset and valuable you own and settle all of your debts. Once you’ve liquidated your belongings and made right your creditors, the balance remaining is your net worth.

Why is net worth the most important number on your financial bill of health?

If you are playing the short game, income goals can help you live comfortably and achieve your goals of recreation, lifestyle, and even investments. The trouble with income alone is that it does not care how much you spend along the way.

There is a reason many high earners and CEOs file bankruptcy as soon as their business suffers a bad year or closes their doors. Despite the fact that they saw tremendous incomes last year, their Mercedes is being towed away by the repo man. Their liabilities exceeded their assets.

What you focus on expands!

Two factors increase your net worth… 1. An increase in assets and 2. a reduction in debts. The core tenets of increasing your net worth are to save more and borrow less. The lowest risk means of doing so is to put your savings into a safe vehicle and to pay down your debts as quickly as feasible.

Some choose a higher risk option of leveraging their investments by investing their assets in real estate, the stock market, businesses, collections, and more. These investment vehicles, when carefully selected can dramatically increase the rate at which they see a return on their capital investment.

How do I determine my net worth?

As I mentioned, the most simple means of determining your net worth is to add up the value of everything you own and subtract all of the debts and liabilities you have. The next is to use a tool designed specifically for this purpose. I have you covered! Read on.

Checking your net worth is not a “one and done” process. It changes each and every day. If you are invested in the stock market, your net worth changes continuously from the opening bell until the close of the market. Each time you make a purchase or the value of your home rises, your net income changes.

The process of updating your net worth is fairly simple and takes little time. Growing your net worth on the other hand requires intentional planning and focus. You can accelerate this growth with lessons learned from others and a high level of accountability.

My invitation to you!

If you are serious about growing your net worth, I have a group for you. I am passionate about wealth building and I have a lofty net worth goal set for myself. I want to make as many millionaires as I can along the way. My group is called Wealth Watchers. We currently meet on the first Thursday of each month at 6:00pm (Mountain Time), online.

I share an intuitive and simple net worth tracking tool with all Wealth Watchers members. Sign up below for our next meetup and we will get the tool to you. Our group is committed to helping one another achieve higher net worth values through education and accountability. Not to mention, we are a social club, connecting growth mindset leaders with one another. Sign up now by clicking here:

Join Wealth Watchers
Wealth Watchers: Net Worth Growth Club

Once you’ve joined, we have a private Facebook community where Wealth Watchers can ask questions, share wins, and offer strategies to one another, between Meetups. Find us on Facebook here:

Wealth Watchers on Facebook
Posted by Adam Lendi in Budget & Finance, Goal Setting, 0 comments
15
Jan
2021
Success is a symptom of the habits you form

Success is a symptom of the habits you form

The habits you develop today will determine your outcomes tomorrow.

It was F.M. Alexander who coined the phrase “people do not decide their futures. They decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” This couldn’t be more true. Your outcomes do not happen overnight and waiting on luck is a risky maneuver.

As I coach my clients on their goals, which are secondarily important in our relationship only next to their “why,” I encourage the development of action-based goals. While it’s fun to say you will earn $1 Million this year, it is also not something you can guarantee. I say this as a statistician of conversion ratios and if you think of this as blasphemy or me a hypocrite, please stick with me. Outcome goals have their place, however, they must be supported by action.

Know your numbers

I coach my clients on knowing their numbers and calculating conversion ratios. Believe me, I’m the first to reverse engineer your success, celebrate your 25% appointment close rate, and put a dollar amount to every phone call you make. It’s fun knowing that even though someone said no, you still made $50 for calling them to get that answer. The trouble with strictly setting outcome-based goals is that missing your target a few weeks in a row when you worked hard, is likely to affect your mindset and your commitment to your goals. Why would you keep giving it your all if you feel your actions will not help you achieve your goals?

Pro tip: Set the results goal at the top, support it with activity-based goals, and check in regularly. Which of the goal progressions below looks most attainable?

  • Annual Goal: $1M in Revenue
  • Monthly Goal: $83,333.33
  • Weekly Goal: $20,833.33
  • Daily Goal: $4,166.67
  • Annual Goal: $1M in Revenue
  • Monthly Goal: 10 Sales closed
  • Weekly Goal: 10 Hours Lead Gen
  • Daily Goal: 20 Outbound Calls

When you focus on the activity, you control your success. When your goal for the week is to complete 10 hours of lead generation or to make 100 outbound calls, you can control the measurable results and you confidently know who to blame if the activity is not performed.

Real-time Adaptation

your success is determined by the habits you form. how long does it take to form a habit?

In the second example above, a business owner who knows her numbers and that 10 sales per month would achieve her yearly goal no longer needs to focus on the annual goal. She can focus on the activity which supports the monthly result goal and scale accordingly. For example, if she finds at the halfway point in the month that her 200 outbound calls and 20 hours of lead generation have only produced 4 sales, she can scale her activity for the remainder of the month and add either 50 calls or 4 hours of lead generation to the second half of the month.

Form a habit around it

Once you are clear on your activities, you can build habits around them. The University College of London conducted a study on the time it takes to form a habit. What they determined was that it takes on average 66 days of consistency to form a new habit. Once you determine your new habit, it’s time to commit yourself to its formation.

3 Tips to Successful Habit Formation

  1. Make your habit measurable – You should easily be able to answer the question “how will you know when you’ve completed it?”
  2. Get accountability – Enlist a friend, trusted colleague, or coach to hold you accountable for completing your mission.
  3. Track your progress – Download your own 66 Day Challenge habit tracker. Hang it somewhere you can see it when you are likely to complete the task… or better when you’d be tempted not to do so.

Bonus! Check out this episode of The One Thing podcast where Gary Keller shares his experience with habit setting and host Geoff Woods shares tips for identifying the habit you choose to form.

Get the 66 Day Challenge habit tracker!

Posted by Adam Lendi in Coaching, Goal Setting, Habits, 0 comments
07
Jan
2021
Overcome your limitations and never get held back again!

Overcome your limitations and never get held back again!

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve likely set your own governor and throttled your ability to live to the upper-limit of your potential. It’s time to release your governor, overcome your limitations, and explode to be your very best!

I was recently interviewing a candidate for hire in one of my businesses. To get to know him better and and to dig into his “why,” I asked him questions about who he wanted to be and what impact he wanted to make. I really want to know what motivates people and how big they are willing to dream. It’s not uncommon to hear some pretty big visions here and few limitations.

When I asked this same candidate about his financial goals, he asked me what would be “reasonable” to expect. What he didn’t see was the twinge in my neck upon hearing the “R” word. When asked about ethereal and in-concrete goals, it is easy to throw out big things, as we often don’t even believe nor see the possibility in achieving them. It’s when asked for quantifiable performance measures that we all of a sudden throw extreme limits in the mix.

We all want to win

Who can blame us for wanting to set goals we know we can achieve. If the target is well within our current capabilities, we are almost guaranteed to accomplish it. The trouble is that we will not challenge ourselves to grow if we don’t stretch our abilities.

If you earned $50k in your business last year and set this year’s goal to be $50k, you’re likely to accomplish it. You will quickly become an expert at earning $50k. It’s human nature that we don’t want to fail and that we do not want to miss our goals. When we don’t challenge ourselves to grow, we impose limitations and set the governor.

The 40% Rule

Goggins is the epitome of overcoming limitations!

In his book Can’t Hurt Me (buy this book!), retired Navy SEAL and hardest man alive, David Goggins, argues that most humans are only accomplishing 40% of their potential. He characterizes the limitations we impose as the governor on a car. The car is capable of going 130 mph yet it is governed to 92 mph. You can tell the car is capable of doing more, but the governor won’t allow it. Where does this governor come from? Goggins says it best:

“Most of us are extremely motivated to do anything to pursue our dreams until those around us remind us of the danger, the downside, our own limitations, and all the people before us that didn’t make it. Sometimes the advice comes from a well-intentioned place. They really believe they are doing it for our own good but if you let them, these same people will talk you out of your dreams, and your governor will help them do it.”

As you get to know David Goggins, as you read his book, you realize he is a most uncommon person. What he is not is genetically advantaged and he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Goggins came from an abusive childhood and poverty, overcome tremendous adversity, and developed a mindset which detests mediocrity.

We are all capable of greatness. You are capable of greatness! It starts with the mind. How do you talk to yourself? Do you respect yourself?

How do you overcome your limitations?

When was the last time you set a goal for yourself, didn’t share it with anyone, and didn’t accomplish it? We’ve all had them. I’ll be the first to tell you that I have had years of “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow” and “I will get up earlier.” The trouble starts the next morning when we wake up late and don’t go to the gym. The damage comes when we accept defeat. Our self-respect slips and the limitation bar lowers.

Missing our goals hurts and causes depression. Our minds, eager for a dopamine hit, will go looking for a win. They’ll accomplish this by setting the bar lower and imposing greater limitations. Your goal of becoming a triathlete has now resolved itself to putting the gym off to tomorrow. Where else does this show up in your life?

Get real with yourself!

David Goggins is very raw and each time he’s faced his own limitations, he turns to his “accountability mirror” to overcome them. The accountability mirror is where you own your truths, you don’t sugarcoat anything, and you call out the realities of your situation. Quit making excuses!

If you didn’t lead generate today, take a look at yourself in that mirror. You can list off all of the reasons you didn’t pick up the phone and the person staring back knows the truth. If you’re scared to make a call, call it out. Look yourself in the eye and say “you’re scared.” If you opted to binge on Netflix instead, since your home office is in the same room as the TV, then COVID didn’t cause your business to dry up. You were weak and lazy!

Get uncomfortable!

Overcome your limitations and challenge yourself to grow to the next level.

Each time we get uncomfortable we grow our abilities. I’ve never been a consistent runner and I’ve found each time I re-commit to the sport, it proves challenging. Anytime it’s been a long while since my last run, one mile feels unbearable. My knees hurt, I get side-stitches, and my brain tells me to quit. A funny things happens as I continue running regularly. One mile gets a lot easier and two miles causes pain and side-stitches. Then, the pain comes at three miles and the first two are a breeze. Before you know it, it takes double-digits to activate the pain. Glad I didn’t tell myself one mile was the limit!

Where are you setting your governor? Maybe it’s running. Perhaps it’s lead generating. If you get uncomfortable making calls, you need to make more calls! If you can’t hold yourself accountable, call it out for what it is. You’re not incapable of doing the work. Someone else out there with an ear, a mouth, and opposable thumbs is crushing it on sales calls right now. Enlist support if your limitations are too great to overcome on your own. Be real with those you bring in and be careful who you bring in. If the thought of telling them you didn’t do what you said you’d do doesn’t make you want to run and hide or be invisible, you’ve picked the right person!

Take Action!

  • Write down your top goal. If you aren’t clear on yours, follow my intentional goal setting series for help on making yours SMART
  • Identify the things you are good at and the strengths you bring to the challenge ahead.
  • Identify the challenges ahead, the skills/habits you must develop, and the limitations you must overcome.
  • Enlist support with a trusted accountability partner or hire a coach. I am interviewing new clients now and promise to hold your feet to the fire.
  • Check in regularly. Build a habit around evaluating your wins and your goal progress.

Posted by Adam Lendi in Coaching, Habits, Life, 0 comments
31
Dec
2020
Never ever eat from the community fish bucket again!

Never ever eat from the community fish bucket again!

Live your life without safety nets, set bigger goals, and overcome limiting beliefs

On a recent trip to the Caribbean with my family, I spent a lot of time beaching it, as one would when they have two young kids. The other thing I spent a great deal of time doing was reflecting on the year. What went well? What didn’t go well? What did I learn? How will I show up next year? These were all questions I pondered as I listened to the waves crash and watched the kids play.

One of my favorite sights quickly became watching the local birds of prey fishing. I am not a bird watcher, by trade, and I owed it to you to identify my favorite as the Brown Booby (not that we should hold its name against it). As I watched the booby, sometimes solo, sometimes in pairs, and at greatest in groups of four take to the beach, what quickly became apparent was that they had a strong work ethic.

The brown booby has no limiting beliefs to overcome. He fishes relentlessly to catch his meal.

These majestic sea birds would swoop down low, their bellies barely off of the surface of the water, and hunt for their meal. They would pulse their wings just enough to keep themselves mere inches from the water and respond quickly as the water would rise. They systematically passed back and forth over the water until they spotted the shimmer of a fish below at which point they would abort their thirty or so miles per hour flight in exchange for an abrupt dive into the water to catch a fish.

More often than not, the booby would emerge empty-beaked and would quickly resume flight in search of the next shimmer. I watched these birds perform tirelessly for hours as they hunted for fish. What occurred to me after some time was that I was not merely seeing work ethic. I was seeing survival instinct.

No free meal

These birds knew that their survival hinged on them finding their next meal. Their young relied on them to return to the nest with enough fish to feed them. If these birds gave up, they died. Where in our lives does this show up? Would you agree that your job is mandatory for your survival? Why then is it so easy for us to fall into the trap of not working and avoiding the tasks which lead to our success?

One night on our trip, we stopped at a seaside restaurant for dinner. As we ate, I noticed a congregation of small birds, resembling sparrows. In the spirit of this post, I attempted to identify these birds, however when I searched the internet for “sparrow Caribbean,” I was returned Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. I cannot confirm with any degree of certainty that this particular species had any relation to Captain Sparrow.

These smaller birds were incredibly comfortable with people and it was apparent they’d eaten at this dining establishment before. They came right up to my feet and even hopped on the table next to ours looking for a chunk of bread to be tossed in their direction. These birds patiently awaited and I never did oblige. They clearly knew that they did not need me to survive and that it was only a matter of time before someone else did toss them some food or leave extra fries on their plate.

The stories of these two birds of paradise taught me a great lesson. When survival is at stake, it seems we’ll do anything it takes to keep ourselves and our young alive. The trouble comes when we know there is a safety net in place. If the brown booby knew that if it didn’t catch a fish one day it could just go to a community bucket of fish and grab one to take home, it would quickly learn to take the path of least resistance and start its day at the bucket.

The path of least resistance

Humans and birds alike, we are all susceptible to taking the easy path. Often this comes at the cost of our dreams and our goals. Why do we accept mediocrity when we have the potential to be great? Why can’t we approach life like the brown booby and see our mission through to completion? Is it that we know that when we fall someone will be there to pick us back up?

Especially in developed nations, such as the United States, we don’t have many people dying in the streets of hunger. Does this mean that they all go out and catch their fish every day? Often, no. Remember, like all other creatures, we are always looking for the path of least resistance. When we know we can grab a fish out of the community bucket versus working tirelessly to catch one, we will opt for the easier route.

The community fish bucket isn’t going anywhere. We must set goals so big that the thought of community fish seems like death and the taste repulses us. How do we train our minds to think so big? How do we overcome the limiting beliefs which allow us to continue accepting mediocrity?

Someday starts today!

Start with the end in mind. The greatest, the smartest, the strongest, and the wealthiest don’t have superior genetics to yours. They are not super-human and even if they did have a leg up from their parents, their parents had to create their wealth somehow. We all have the opportunity to be our greatest selves. It begins with your allowing yourself to dream bigger.

The first time I had my limiting beliefs challenged, I was going into business for myself and I was asked how much money I wanted to earn. My response was “$100k.” For me, it was more than I had ever made before and would certainly cover my survival. It also meant that I would be accepting of $90k, the last amount I’d made… $80k, which I had survived on comfortably as well. The point being, I also likely would have been accepting of a community fish. Once I was challenged to expand my thinking, I looked at where I wanted to be, someday, and the legacy I wanted to create. What I learned was that my first goal was selfish and my second was more selfless.

Overcome limiting beliefs

When you overcome limiting beliefs, you realize that you can hustle hard, build wealth, and still remain humble and focused on being your best self.

In our society, there is often some amount of shame in wanting to build wealth and the wealthy are often vilified. I remember, in my own youth, uttering the words that I wanted to make “enough to pay the bills and be comfortable.” I was afraid that if I stated I wanted to be a millionaire that I would be shamed. As it turns out, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. My “noble” limiting beliefs were completely selfish and were entirely about me.

If we believe this rhetoric, we will limit our own beliefs, put a governor on ourselves, and even start believing the dangerous narrative that the evil wealthy elites should be filling the community fish bucket for us. Don’t be fooled, this only perpetuates the reliance on the community bucket and is hypocritical.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change

As you challenge yourself to dream bigger, think beyond the dollars alone. What would you accomplish as your greatest self? What impact would you have on the world? Sir Richard Branson, one of the wealthiest people in the world is a shining example of those using his success to make an impact on the world. Branson has amassed great wealth and has also made it a mission of his to save the ocean from human impact.

Oprah Winfrey’s personal mission statement is “to be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.” She has used her wealth to build schools and to create opportunities for underprivileged children.

A new year. A new you?

As we enter a new year, what will change? As much as many of us would like to wish away the old year with the turning of the clocks to midnight, it is up to us and us alone to create our own destiny. Someday starts today. Build a future vision and reverse engineer your goals to the things you must do today. Determine who you must be and the habits you must build to achieve the success you’ve always wanted. Identify the limiting beliefs you must overcome. Most important, never eat community fish again!

Top resources to start your year right!

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, 0 comments
17
Dec
2020
3 Secrets to Stress Less this Holiday Season

3 Secrets to Stress Less this Holiday Season

‘Tis the season… How you finish this will say a lot about how you show up for your family and loved ones for this year’s holidays. If you’ve crushed your goals this year and are finished planning your business for next year, odds are good you will rest easy this holiday season. For the rest, the holidays may bring a dose of stress and angst. It’s not too late! If you are in the latter group, you can still make yours merry and stress less! Follow these simple tips.

1. Look forward

What happens when we haven’t seen the results we hoped for or when we miss the mark on a goal or an expectation? Our minds naturally slip on their Sherlock Holmes caps and begin investigating. It seems so logical to investigate the cause of the failure so that you can avoid repeating the error. The trouble is, we have a hard time leaving it alone once we’ve discovered the cause. Our minds are bullies, constantly reminding us of times we weren’t successful and have trouble leaving this loop.

If you enter the holiday season stressed about the things you have no control over, these negatives will undoubtedly spill over to your loved ones, which will perpetuate your stress. Take this tip from therapist Emily Garcia on disqualifying the negative:

Ignoring a negative comment is easier said than done. Instead of repeating the negative comment in your head, try repeating all of the comments in order to give yourself perspective. Focus on what you did well and allow yourself to feel proud then consider how you can improve on what is already good.

If you can focus on your successes and those things which went well, you will find yourself not only in a better place to enjoy the holidays, but also to begin planning for next year.

focus on the plan, not the problem. Stress less this holiday season

2. Have a plan

If you haven’t yet made a business plan for next year, it isn’t too late. While I highly recommend a full day off-site business planning and goal setting retreat, simply starting a plan now may be enough to let your mind relax and stop racing.

If the holidays sneaked up on you and caught you with your pants down, so to speak, you can make your very own One Page Business Plan in just an hour or two! Get it out of your head and organized on paper. Then schedule a call with me for right after the New Year to put this into action.

3. Stop working!

I really do embrace technology and appreciate how it has changed the face of business. We continue to improve it and make it more efficient. Just this year we all learned another meaning for the word Zoom. Now, especially with the increased number of remote workers, we find more Americans are over-working themselves and working longer hours.

Set expectations with your clients and with your team. Teach people how to treat you. What would happen if that client who called you on Christmas day while your kids were opening presents had to wait until the next business day? In most lines of business, at worst the problem will remain the same. At best, it may have worked itself out. What would you really gain from jumping on that other person’s priority? One thing is certain… you would affirm for them that you have no boundaries and are available to their beck and call.

stress less this holiday season with a digital detox

Get rid of your digital crack! When you are with your loved ones and with your family, be there for them. That buzz in your pocket and that text message ding release dopamine which is addicting. Once you know there is a message or an email, you’ll have a hard time focusing on what’s important and you are more inclined to place your work before irreplaceable memories. Turn your notifications off, leave your smart phone and laptop in your office, and be there for your loved ones. As Gary Keller says in The ONE Thing:

Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls– family, health, friends, integrity– are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.

Share

‘Tis the season of giving! If you know someone in business who could benefit from a less stressful holiday season, please share this post with them. If you know someone who is on the verge of their next breakthrough or who could use a rebound, give the gift of coaching!

This month, I am offering a 50% discount on your first month of Mastery Coaching. This special expires when the ball drops on the New Year. Sign up today or give the gift of coaching to someone you care about.

Give the gift of coaching, for a happy and stress less holiday!
Posted by Adam Lendi in Coaching, Goal Setting, Life, Tools, 0 comments
11
Dec
2020
Your Big Rocks need you to say ‘NO’!

Your Big Rocks need you to say ‘NO’!

When you say “yes” to one thing, you must say “no” to something else. If you don’t prioritize your big rocks, you may saying “no” to yourself?

This week I had several meetings with referral partners and conversations with clients who said some variant of “it’s been a busy week and I feel like I accomplished nothing.” This is not something new and unique to this week. I’ve heard it before. Is it that these people I spoke with had no plan and were consuming themselves with busy-ness? Perhaps not.

It’s been said that it takes one-thousand “no’s” to defend a single “yes.” What are the things we are obligating ourselves to which are not our priorities and which do not support our goals? One of my conversations this week was with an insurance broker who aside from being an expert referral connector and a master of his craft is also one of the nicest people I’ve met in recent months. He shared a story about a client of his who was moving out of state. In addition to asking my insurance broker friend to move his insurance policies to his new property, his client asked him to help him move and to drive a truck.

My friend willingly agreed, without hesitation, because he is that kind of person. He admitted after the fact, when we spoke, that it was not the best use of his time and that he has trouble saying “no.”

Put your oxygen mask on, before helping others

It’s human nature that we want to help those around us and it is the reason many of us got into business. I would prefer to surround myself only with those who have servants’ hearts and who embrace the spirit of giving. I’m not advocating for anyone to be cold nor callous to others. I am advocating for you to put yourself first. Remember that safety speech on the last flight you took? The same one they’ve given forever? You put your oxygen mask on before helping others.

If you neglect your own values, goals, and priorities, you may regress in your own growth and development and this will eventually impact your ability to show up for and to serve those around you. If you want to help others, you must put yourself first!

Start with your schedule. If you have followed me for any amount of time, you know I am an advocate of focusing on your plan and living by a schedule. Go ahead and open your calendar. Take a look at the things you’ve obligated yourself to. How many of them will further your goal progress or directly support your values?

I’m not here to tell you which calendar tool is the best to use, nor to criticize your choice. There are a lot of great options out there and the decision is entirely personal. I will however make a case for paper planners and schedules and then share a tool for my digital friends, to help you put yourself first. So what’s up with “big rocks?”

Big Rocks

A high school teacher stood before his class and placed a large glass jar on a table. He grabbed several large rocks and placed them in the jar until they reached the top. He asked his class, “is the jar full?” In unison, most of the class exclaimed “yes.”

The teacher then reached beneath the table and lifted out a bucket. He poured from it small pebbles which tumbled over the rocks and filled the space between them, all the way from the bottom to the top of the jar. He then asked the class if the jar was full and a few responded “yes,” while many remained silent.

The teacher reached under the table again and arose with another bucket. This time he poured sand into the jar. The fine particles of sand flowed through the pebbles and the rocks filling all of the cervices and eventually reaching the top of the jar. The students who were now wise to the exercise were prepared and when the teacher asked this time if the jar was full, many exclaimed “no.”

Get your big rocks in first and prepare to defend them by saying no to things which do not support your values.
Image Credit: http://www.integrativenutrition.com/

The professor then reached beneath the table and grabbed a pitcher of water. As he poured the water into the jar, it saturated the sand and filled all of the remaining space. Surprisingly, the entire contents of the pitcher fit into the jar. This time when the teacher asked “is the jar full?” the entire class return a harmonious “yes!”

When the teacher asked the students what the exercise symbolized, one student shot his hand up and offered “if you do it right, you can fit more things in the jar.” The teacher replied “perhaps more important, if you don’t place the big rocks first, you won’t be able to fit them in.”

Put your big rocks in your schedule before you say yes to anyone else, or you may not fit them in.
Image Credit: http://www.integrativenutrition.com/

Which is mightier? The pen or the PC?

We have access to a lot of great tools today to increase productivity and expedite communication. Some of our scheduling tools like Calendly save an incredible amount of time in the scheduling of meetings and appointments within the availability of multiple people. These tools, in all of their strength and convenience have one major flaw… They allow the priorities of others to consume our time, without our saying so. If we haven’t already placed our big rocks in our calendars, we may not be able to fit them in amidst everyone else’s sand, gravel, and water.

I promise to keep my soapbox speech for paper planners to one sentence. Here it goes: No one else can put their priorities in your paper planner, unless they pry it from your hands and write it in with a pen.

That wasn’t so bad. Right? I keep both a digital calendar and a paper planner. My business does require the ability to receive calendar invitations which have links to Zoom meetings (which would be awful write out in my planner and then to type in at the time of the meeting) and to allow for tools like Calendly to set appointments with potential clients. While I embrace this tool, I live by my Planner Pad.

2 Quick tips to put yourself first and to ensure your priorities are met, each week:

1.Place your big rocks first.

Plan ahead at the year first, then at the start of each month, and finally at the week level. Place these big rocks in your calendar at the start of each period and block them out before the pebbles starts falling. Determine your own level of priority, however, yours may look something like this:

  • Long vacations
  • Time off
  • Time with loved ones
  • Planning time
  • Personal development and training
  • Your ONE Thing

2. Build guard rails around your life

I promised a trick for you digital calendar folks. Bonus… You get two!

  1. Whether you use Google Calendars, Outlook, or the like, browse your settings. You’ll find you have the ability to set a few things like office hours and the ability to have all appointments and invitations by others placed as requests, not as calendared appointments. You do not need to RSVP “yes” to everything that comes through just because you don’t have a conflict!

    If the request is not the best use of your time, give “no” a try. On this topic, many of these calendars have default meeting times of 1-2 hours. If someone sends you a one hour meeting request, before you accept it, ask them for an agenda and if it really requires a full hour. Remember: Work expands to fill the time allowed.
    1. When I first started using Calendly, I synchronized it with all of my Google calendars and watched it build out my availability around my scheduled appointments. While it did a great job of not creating conflicts with my scheduled appointments, it did a terrible of disrupting my day. I found myself with meeting requests at 8:00am, noon, and 4:30pm. There was no consistency. I quickly learned the settings and I built two time blocks each afternoon for these meetings.

      Now, if you would like to schedule a 30 minute call with me, you will find my availability is from 1:00-3:00pm and from 3:30-5:00pm, Mountain Time. Click here to see what I mean.

Posted by Adam Lendi, 0 comments
03
Dec
2020
Why would anyone want to buy YOUR business?

Why would anyone want to buy YOUR business?

To sell your business for top dollar tomorrow, you must start planning today!

Everyone knows the benefit of owning their home. You do it so that you pay a lower monthly payment than you were renting a similar place. Then, after thirty years of ownership, once it’s all paid off, you bulldoze it. Right?

If you wouldn’t treat your largest personal asset this way, why on earth would you treat one of your largest professional assets the same? You didn’t build it brick-by-brick (metaphorically) just to dismantle it when it was your time to move on. Sadly, this is the number one, most common mistake I see business owners make. Here’s how you can prevent it from happening to you:

1. Let it grow, let it grow, let it GROW!

Grow your business so you can sell your business at its peak!

I was recently meeting with an RV park owner who told me “when I was younger, it was all about the money, but as I’ve aged, my priorities have changed.” This was his justification for stagnant growth in an industry which just this year saw a 25-50% explosion in some parts of the country. Sadly, his flat line growth cost him, substantially! It changed my offer price to buy his business by 50% of what it could have been.

I will not judge anyone for their priority of friends, family, and relationships over their businesses. I advocate for this and would do the same. That does not mean your business must also suffer. You can grow while also taking a step back. It takes the right people in the right positions. “Mom and pop” operations have a tough time with this one. They often see this as adding one more headache to their lists… managing someone while still running their business.

In reality, the right people, who fit your culture and fit their job will allow you the freedom to move beyond your day-to-day while the business grows. If you missed my article on cultural misfits, I shared a great tool to help you do just that!

2. Don’t put short-term gains over long-term growth

Short sightedness will cause you to sell your business for less
Image credit: Loss Prevention Media – https://losspreventionmedia.com/employees-busted-for-theft-of-cash/

It’s all too tempting to stick it to the man. After all, aren’t they just out to get you? Resist the temptation. The few bucks you’ll save now by writing off your family vacations and paying yourself under the table in cash are not worth it!

I recently analyzed a business I was considering buying and the owners made several comments about how “it’s a cash business.” I could almost hear the wink coming through the phone. Here’s the fatal flaw… No one can buy your business for what it’s worth! Put it this way:

If you own a business that generates $500k in gross income (after cost of goods) and you have an expense ratio of 60%, you are making a cool $200k per year and living well. If you were to sell your business to someone at a 10% capitalization rate, your business would be worth $2 Million! Congratulations!

Let’s say you decided to stick it to the man and you siphoned $20k in cash revenues out of your income and wrote off another $30k in non-business expenses. You may have seen a $50k raise, bringing your annual income to $250k. That’s great… isn’t it? Here’s the problem… that $50k will not reflect in your net income, since some of it never existed and the other was a business loss. Not to mention, your core business expenses didn’t change. It still costs you $300k to make this money and now you can only report $150k of net income. Those cooked books devalue your business by 25% and you are now sitting on a $1.5 Million business. Your break-even point comes at 10 years. Is it really worth risking a tax audit and having to look over your shoulder for a relatively small short term gain?

Be evergreen and live forever green!

With the right people and the right plan, your business will continue to generate income for you long after you have left. I am willing to bet at least half of you reading this right now are thinking that you have nothing to sell and that there is no way your business could go another day if you were gone. Keep reading and send me a message if it still doesn’t apply to you.

Just because you’ve sold it, it doesn’t mean you are gone. You might think you’re just selling some equipment, tools, and maybe even a piece of real estate, but that is not what you’ve spent your years building. You’ve built a client database, systems and processes, and a reputation. These are worth more than all of those tangibles, by far!

Okay, so now you’re going to tell me that your clients have no reason to work with the new owner and so your database really isn’t worth anything. Take real estate agents, where the National Association of Realtors reported that 91% of home buyers stated they would use the same agent again; yet less than 15% actually did. In his book, The Golden Handoff, Nick Krautter leaves a procedure for real estate agents to step out of their role, sell their businesses, and generate passive income. If real estate agents who have atrocious return client rates and no assets can do it, you can too!

Posted by Adam Lendi, 0 comments
20
Nov
2020
Beat the best: Standing on the shoulders of giants!

Beat the best: Standing on the shoulders of giants!

It’s that time of year where we build our plan for next year. We set bigger goals and build strategies to reach them. For those of us who are really intentional about it, we ask, “who must I become to achieve my dreams?”

This topic is top of mind for me as I build out my 2021 growth plan. The growth plan is where the rubber meets the road and you set milestones in your calendar for growth and development celebrations. There are a lot of ways in which you can accomplish this and for me, as I observe my goals, I ask:

  • What books must I read to become the person who achieves these goals?
  • What podcasts will help me grow into that person?
  • Which people do I want to model my success and growth after?

People with Giant Shoulders

That last one really stood out to me this year and it just might be the change you need in your own playbook for an explosive year ahead.

Goals are targets, and if you followed my intentional goal setting series, you know we can make them crystal clear and reverse engineer their inevitable success. What’s even better than a clear goal? How about a real life person who is already doing it?

Goggins

One such person who came up for me this year was David Goggins. If you don’t know Goggins, do yourself a favor and watch this video. David Goggins embodies a mindset I want to emulate, embody, and enhance… in that order.

The best part, I don’t have to suffer through some of the hell David Goggins experienced and which he put himself through to become the man now know as the “Hardest Motherf*cker on Planet Earth.” I can instead listen, read about, and study David Goggins, where he came from, where he is now, and how he arrived. I can shave years off of the clock, if I’m willing to be as hard as he is.

One thing I admire about David Goggins, above most else, is his determination. He talks about his inner-voice who he’s just named “Goggins.” Goggins is that voice that will not let him quit. He describes hitting that governor, the point where our brain throttles us backward, to keep itself comfortable, and continuing to mash that accelerator until the brain finally realizes you’re not going to quit.

Idols so you don’t idle

Who will propel you forward in the next year? Will it be someone who is doing well in your field? Your sport? Family life? Whoever you pick, make sure they are the pinnacle of success, in your eyes. Do the things they do and do your best to think like they do. They already put in all of the hard work. You simply need to imitate what they are doing to reach their level.

Once you’ve successfully modeled your idol and achieved their level of success, you earn the right to apply creativity to make it your own and to take it to the next level. The fact that someone else has done it means it can be done better.

“Can’t be done”

Once upon a time, it was thought that the human body could not possibly run a mile in four minutes. In the 1940s, the closest anyone had ever gotten was 4:01. No one had done it and everyone doubted it. That was until 1954 when runner, Roger Bannister, achieved one mile in 3:59.4.

After Bannister set the new one mile record, a funny thing happened.. twenty-four more people ran one mile within four minutes in the year to follow. The point being: once someone has accomplished your own goal you can quickly reach their level by avoiding their pitfalls and focusing energy on the things which did work.

As you look ahead into your 2021, who will you become to do the things necessary, to achieve your goals? Who will help you get there faster?

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Goal Setting, Life, 0 comments
12
Nov
2020
What you focus on expands! Intentional Goal Setting Series (3/3)

What you focus on expands! Intentional Goal Setting Series (3/3)

Are you setting goals which make their achievement inevitable?

If you’ve been following thus far, you’ve set ludicrous goals for yourself, you’ve made your goals SMART, and broken them down to a one year playlist for a monumental year! Take a minute to celebrate your accomplishments thus far! Those who simply write out their goals are 39.5% more likely to achieve them. Those who add accountability increase that likelihood by 76.7%. Are you focusing on the right things when you set your goals?

Where do we begin? At this point, you have seven really big goals in front of you. I strongly encourage you not to attempt undertaking all seven at the same time. How do you gain even more perspective on what the time commitments of these goals will be and ensure that you are in the high-achieving group of goal-getters?

Just Two

Your next year is a marathon. You have twelve months in which to become the person you need to be to achieve your goals and realize success and transformation, unlike any you have achieved before. As you review your goals, look for those which will have domino effects in your life. If you see one which will make another goal easier or unnecessary, move it up the list. Find the goal which above all others will have the largest ripple and move it to the top. This is your one thing!

Next, pick a second goal which will have another effect in another area of your life. If you picked a job or business goal for your first, pick an area of your personal life to complement your first. Finance is the wild card on the board and is the conduit between your business life and your personal life. If you picked finances first, pick your next priority in either area.

Go Small

Focus the goals you've set and go small.

Remember the clarifying question from installment two, which took your someday goal all the way to your one year goal? We are going to continue zooming in with our microscope to go smaller. Using your one Thing, ask yourself…

“What must I accomplish in this month to achieve my one year goal?”

When you write your answer, use the name of the month for which you are writing your goal. If your one year goal was to sign 48 contracts, your one month might read: “In December 2020, I must sign four contracts.” We’re not done yet! Go smaller still…

“What must I accomplish in this week to achieve my one month goal?”

Write your weekly goal as you did your monthly goal: “This week, I must sign one contract.” As you get into relationship with your goals and develop a daily habit of reviewing them, you will keep your goals with your planner and ask yourself each day:

“What must I accomplish today to achieve my one week goal?”

You must earn the right to add more goals!

Once you have mastered the process of accomplishing your first goals you can consider adding more goals to the mix. Don’t rush into it too quickly. Even if you only accomplished these two goals this year, you’d be a massive success when compared to the majority of your peers.

Once you’ve developed success habits which make your goal accomplishment inevitable, you’ll know. You will be making steady progress toward your goals and still wanting more. If you are feeling overwhelmed or maxed out, it is not the right time. You will know when you’ve earned the right to add one more goal to the mix.

You’re bound to let yourself off easy

Coaches and accountability partners will help you accomplish the goals you've set!

Self-accountability is a myth. How many times have you felt in control of your impulses when you passed over the tempting dessert options a restaurant, only to go home and indulge on junk food to reward yourself for being good? Willpower is not on will call!

Whether you hire a coach or find an accountability partner, an objective outsider can easily tell if you did or did not do what you said was important to you. Set yourself up for maximum success and join the group achieving their goals 76.7% more often than those who do not.

Take Action!

1. Pick your top personal and business goals (2 max, 1 per area)
2. Continue goal-setting to the now.

One year > One Month > One Week > Today

3. Use the 411 to track your goal achievement. Download yours HERE
4. Enlist support! Hire a coach or get an accountability partner.
5. Share this with a friend who could use help achieving their goals.

Prior post:

<– Your future in focus! Intentional Goal Setting Series (2/3)

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, Tools, 1 comment
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