Episode 76
How to be the CEO of your life with Adam Hurd.
Today, we’re diving deep into the world of automation and entrepreneurship with the fabulous Adam Thomas, who’s all about helping you become the CEO of your life and business.
Forget the fluff; this episode is packed with real talk about simplifying your operations and embracing the chaos of starting up. Adam's journey from finance to coaching is a wild ride that’s going to inspire you to trust your gut and listen to that inner voice telling you to pivot.
We’re shedding light on how belief and behavior go hand in hand when it comes to achieving those lofty goals, and trust me, you don’t want to miss these practical tips that’ll have you saying goodbye to burnout and hello to a balanced life. So grab your favorite drink, kick back, and let’s unravel the secrets to making your business work for you, not the other way around!
Automation isn't just a buzzword; it's the lifeline for entrepreneurs looking to streamline their operations and gain back precious time. In this episode, we dive deep with Adam, a leadership coach who brings a wealth of experience from the finance world into the realm of coaching and entrepreneurship. He shares his journey from building a successful financial planning company to realizing his true passion for helping others become the CEOs of their own lives and businesses.
It’s all about moving from just surviving to thriving in your professional life, and Adam’s insights are both enlightening and practical. He emphasizes that being a CEO is about more than just the title; it’s about taking charge of your life and making intentional choices that align with your values and goals. We explore the concept of intuition versus intelligence in decision-making, and Adam reveals how tapping into your gut feelings can often lead to the best outcomes.
He discusses the importance of believing in yourself and finding meaning in your work, which is crucial for achieving your dreams. This episode is packed with humor and relatable anecdotes, making it both an entertaining and informative listen for anyone looking to take control of their business and life. Plus, you'll learn how to simplify your operations without losing the essence of what makes your business unique. Tune in for some laughs and a lot of wisdom!
Takeaways:
- In today's world, embracing automation and AI can streamline your business operations, making your life a whole lot easier and more productive in the process.
- The journey of becoming the CEO of your life and business begins with understanding your passions and aligning your daily actions with them.
- It's crucial to differentiate between a lifestyle business and a legacy business, as each serves different purposes in achieving your personal and financial goals.
- Listening to your intuition can guide you; it whispers the right decisions amidst the chaos of external influences and societal expectations.
- Creating a fulfilling life means prioritizing what truly matters to you, whether that’s family, freedom, or financial independence, rather than just chasing arbitrary numbers.
- Incorporating vulnerability in business interactions fosters deeper connections and trust, ultimately leading to more meaningful outcomes.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Atomic Business Coaching
- Danny Del Vecchio
- Nat Berman
- Darren Mass
- Tom Marino
Transcript
Listen up, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker B:It's the clean of automation.
Speaker A:Megan Donley here to give you inspiration.
Speaker A:Founders and business owners, gather round.
Speaker B:I'm gonna show you how to build systems that I let sound streamline your processes.
Speaker B:No need for complication.
Speaker B:Hey, everyone.
Speaker B:Welcome back to the Queen of Automation podcast.
Speaker B:I'm your host, Megan Donnelly, and on this podcast, we talk about all things, work, life, balance.
Speaker B:But we really talk about operations, automation, AI.
Speaker B:And how all of these things are only good when they work.
Speaker B:Leads me to my favorite guest.
Speaker B:We'll say favorite guest.
Speaker B:Adam and I have known each other now, what'd we say, two years, right?
Speaker B:Is that what we said about two years?
Speaker B:We met on LinkedIn.
Speaker B:You know, it's this thing that we're all obsessed with for whatever reason because we don't have enough things to do in life.
Speaker B:And he's a really cool guy and a really cool coach.
Speaker B:He's a leadership coach, I guess, self help leadership, that kind of thing.
Speaker B:But I'm gonna let him introduce himself because you're gonna give you yourself way better.
Speaker B:You're gonna introduce yourself way better than I will.
Speaker B:But I wanna hear all about what you're working on now too, because I'm really excited.
Speaker B:You've had this coaching business for a while, but I love the new tagline of the be the CEO of your life and business.
Speaker B:I know it's been around for a little bit now, but I haven't had the chance to talk to you since you've put it up and kind of made it your mantra.
Speaker B:So tell everybody where you're calling from and say hi.
Speaker B:And then of course, introduce yourself.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So thanks, Megan, for having me on.
Speaker A:You know, I not only am glad to be here, but I. I love consuming your podcast.
Speaker A:Like, you do such a great job.
Speaker A:There's so much information and new personalities that come out of them.
Speaker A:So I appreciate you having me.
Speaker A:Yeah, this, this has been a quite an interesting journey.
Speaker A:Like you said, not sure what he does, leadership coach or this or that.
Speaker A:It's because I'm like an amalgamation of many different things.
Speaker A:You know, I've been in business for 26 years now.
Speaker A: Started back in: Speaker A:And I built this incredible financial planning company and it turned into where I was advising business owners on their business, not just their money.
Speaker A:And I was really, really good at it.
Speaker A:And I got paid a exorbitant fee to do so.
Speaker A:And I realized, like, I just don't love it anymore.
Speaker A:And there's something Missing.
Speaker A:And the thing that was missing was my partner Tom.
Speaker A:So Tom Marino, you can find him on LinkedIn as well.
Speaker A:But Tom Marino, he was a physician assistant.
Speaker A:And then what he did is he went into C suite operations and C suite of a medical company and he had all this free time on his hands and he decided to get certified to be a life coach.
Speaker A:He and I were networking one day and I got to know him really well and I'm like, man, you're really good at getting inside the brains of people.
Speaker A:I'm really good with the tactics and the operations and the systems and like drive and those things.
Speaker A:I said, maybe you can help some of my clients out.
Speaker A:And what ended up happening is we sat down at a lunch, to make a long story short, and I was going to refer him my clients, and he's like, all my clients need you too.
Speaker A:And we said, let's try doing it together.
Speaker A:So we tried that and it actually worked very, very successfully.
Speaker A:The first person we tried it, many of you watching this will know him.
Speaker A:His name is Danny Del Vecchio.
Speaker A:So we basically gave this to him before he had a business and we helped him to launch his business life and how to become a CEO before we even know or knew we were helping people become a CEO.
Speaker A:So what happened is we, we turned this into kind of like a project that we were helping people.
Speaker A:And yes, we charged, and we charged a very high fee and people kept paying us and kept getting success and paying us.
Speaker A:And about a year later, Megan, we looked at each other and we're like, I think we have a business here.
Speaker A:So that's when we established the business and we said, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna help these people who are self employed and have had some success, but they've hit this kind of bottleneck, this capacity.
Speaker A:And yes, sometimes it's systems, sometimes it's mindset, it's a variety of things.
Speaker A:And what happened is we said, well, what, what are we really doing here?
Speaker A:We're helping them to be the CEO of both their life and their business.
Speaker A: t this stage of the world, in: Speaker A:Like, we can literally work for ourselves.
Speaker A:I'm so excited for my kids that they will have this opportunity to create whatever they want in the world.
Speaker A:And go make revenue from it.
Speaker A:And we just wanted to help people do that to the best of their abilities possible.
Speaker A:And we've had some great success doing it.
Speaker B:It's so fun to watch your content online because you and I are kind of cut from the same cloth in the sense of how we handle operations.
Speaker B:And it's funny that you talked about your kids, because I always tell my kids, find something, you're passionate about it, and then just go figure out how to make money doing that thing.
Speaker B:I mean, you can pretty much make money doing anything these days, right?
Speaker B:Like, there's.
Speaker B:There is an opportunity to make something your own and build a life out of it.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker B:It's crazy the era in which we live, because when we were growing up, I think we're roughly around the same age.
Speaker B:We won't divulge any ages or anything like that, but when we were growing up, that didn't exist.
Speaker B:Like, you had to go get a job.
Speaker B:You had to, like, drive.
Speaker B:Like, as a teenager, right?
Speaker B:I worked two jobs.
Speaker B:I worked in the fine Nightingale restaurant and I worked in a pizza place, right?
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:It's just funny how now they want to be influencers and they want to build YouTube channels and they want to do, like, all of this ridiculous stuff, and we look at it and we're like, that's how you make money.
Speaker B:Like, this is how you're making money anyway.
Speaker B:I think that's crazy.
Speaker B:But what I love about your content is because we talk a lot about work life balance.
Speaker B:Work life balance is how I say it, because we have one life.
Speaker B:You can't actually.
Speaker B:I mean, there's no splitting it, right?
Speaker B:Like, you're either working on personal things or doing personal things, or you're working on business things, but it's still one life.
Speaker B:So when I read your content, what I love about it is that you're talking about building a lifestyle, right?
Speaker B:Like, don't just build a job or a career that you're ultimately going to end up hating like we did when we were in corporate America, because I hated corporate America as well.
Speaker B:Now, granted, yours was a little different.
Speaker B:You built your own company and you know that kind of thing.
Speaker B:But corporate sucked for me, right?
Speaker B:And we are in this amazing time where you don't.
Speaker B:If you hate it, don't work on it anymore.
Speaker B:Like, if you hate doing it, don't do that.
Speaker B:Go find something else that you like to do.
Speaker B:Is it easy?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:So I do want to remind everyone out there, yes, you're listening to Adam and I talk about this.
Speaker B:Oh, you guys can say that because you've done it.
Speaker B:No, no, no, no.
Speaker B:Like, we're not.
Speaker B:We're not giving you the fluff.
Speaker B:We're not.
Speaker B:We're not here to make this all look fluffy and awesome and like, oh, we hit the magic button and like, it.
Speaker B:No, it didn't happen that way.
Speaker B:It's never going to happen that way.
Speaker B:You do have to work for it, but you get to pick and choose what you work towards.
Speaker B:And I think that's the best part about all of these people that I've started networking with, like yourself, you know, in two years.
Speaker B:Luke Matthews, Nat Berman, Darren Mass, all of these people.
Speaker B:Danny Develchio.
Speaker B:He's actually in our.
Speaker B:In our community as well.
Speaker B:Like, all of these people are pick.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker B:And they're all totally different, right?
Speaker B:Totally different walks of life, totally different mindsets, totally different niches, if you will.
Speaker B:But we're all doing the thing that we like to do the best, the thing that we're passionate about.
Speaker B:And that's what your content is.
Speaker B:For me, when I read your content online, like, both you and the.
Speaker B:And your business partner read it, and I'm thinking, yep, like, this is.
Speaker B:This is the way to do this.
Speaker B:So I wanted to know a little bit more about.
Speaker B:I mean, because finance, that was the other thing.
Speaker B:I was going to almost stop you.
Speaker B:Like, does every person in finance say the same thing?
Speaker B:Because I feel like they do.
Speaker B:Other than Mondo, who is just awesome, right?
Speaker B:Like, everybody in finance is like, I hated it.
Speaker B:So I left, and now I'm doing X, Y, Z.
Speaker B:That's, like, the story that I hear.
Speaker B:And I would love to know the transition, like.
Speaker B:Cause it's.
Speaker B:That's a big transition, right?
Speaker B:From finance.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was.
Speaker A:It was a transition to make the jump and make the decision to try something new.
Speaker A:It was a much heavier transition when I sold the companies.
Speaker A:You know, I had seven different companies, and I sold them.
Speaker A:The problem is I still did love it.
Speaker A:So it wasn't I hated it.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It came to its natural end.
Speaker A:It was like, all right, this is kind of all my heart and soul I have left to give to it.
Speaker A:And now I'm about to just go through the motions for money.
Speaker A:So here's the thing.
Speaker A:I'm rich.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:And what I mean by rich, just for any of you watching this is I define rich by, if I make more money next year, will it change my life?
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And my life will not change the more money I make.
Speaker A:I have A very happy life.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:There is no Ferrari in the garage, okay?
Speaker A:But I am rich to myself.
Speaker A:And that was.
Speaker A:The point, is, like, anything I'm doing is no longer for the money.
Speaker A:It's for fulfillment.
Speaker A:It's for impact.
Speaker A:It's for.
Speaker A:For making a change.
Speaker A:It's for showing my children this is what you can do in the world.
Speaker A:And the relationships that I build through my clients are more important than the money that they pay me.
Speaker A:Believe me, I'm very, very happy for the money they pay me.
Speaker A:But the idea was I got to that.
Speaker A:I got to that point, and I'm like, well, why am I doing this anymore?
Speaker A:And, you know, I built a team, and I had great people working for me, and all these things were happening, but it was still.
Speaker A:There was an emptiness inside of me.
Speaker A:So when I started advising through my financial planning company more on their lives, I was like, okay, something here is.
Speaker A:Is getting me energized again.
Speaker A:Something here is making me aware.
Speaker A:I can't wait to wake up and see that client where I'm gonna help them make this drastic change, not just make more money or protect the downside or all these other things.
Speaker A:And that was really.
Speaker A:The thing is, I didn't choose it.
Speaker A:It chose me.
Speaker A:The thing is, I was willing to listen, right?
Speaker A:So I always talk the difference between your intuition and your intelligence.
Speaker A:So as little kids, everything's kind of intuitive.
Speaker A:You just feel like I should do this, right, or you feel like you shouldn't do this.
Speaker A:And as we mature, as we get educated, as we have more experiences, our intelligence starts to direct us.
Speaker A:And then we look for this validation of, like, okay, is there evidence that I could say this is the right way to do things?
Speaker A:The right choice to make the right thing to say no to?
Speaker A:And our intuition gets kind of squashed down.
Speaker A:And what happened is I chose at that point to really listen to my intuition.
Speaker A:It was speaking to me through me from somewhere, whatever you believe in.
Speaker A:And I said, okay, I'm gonna listen to this.
Speaker A:And I took the actions.
Speaker A:Cause that's what intuition really is.
Speaker A:It's a moment telling you something is right about doing something else.
Speaker A:And nine out of ten times, when you just do that, it's the right move.
Speaker A:Yeah, you're still gonna screw it up here and there, but it's the right move.
Speaker A:It doesn't mean you have success.
Speaker A:It doesn't mean you get the result you want, but you get the information you need back from taking that action.
Speaker A:And then, yes, after you take that action, you may need to Use your intelligence to start doing certain things.
Speaker A:But I find that when we are driven through that intuition, the best things happen.
Speaker A:Because nobody knows you better than you, so why not listen to yourself when you're speaking to yourself?
Speaker A:And that was how I was able to make that jump.
Speaker B:I tell my kids all the time because I absolutely love that.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:You know, when I have three teenage boys, right?
Speaker B:Or three boys now, my oldest is 20, so he's not technically a teenager anymore.
Speaker B:I still call him teenager.
Speaker B:But I always tell them because, you know, like, you watch kids get angry, right?
Speaker B:And they.
Speaker B:And they react to situations, and they get angry, and then they, you know, and then they.
Speaker B:Then you hear them blame the situation or blame something or someone for how they're reacting.
Speaker B:And I'm like, nope, absolutely not.
Speaker B:The only person that can control how you react to a situation is you.
Speaker B:Nobody can physically make you be angry at a situation or physically.
Speaker B:Like, you know, there's just.
Speaker B:Yes, obviously we're all human, right?
Speaker B:So we react to things.
Speaker B:But you still are in control of your emotions and how you react to things.
Speaker B:And it's the same way in business, right?
Speaker B:And it's the same way when you're picking and choosing what you want to work on.
Speaker B:And people are like, well, I can't just stop working on the things that I hate.
Speaker B:Why not?
Speaker A:Of course, I think that when it comes to the emotions, Megan, this is how I feel about it, is we're not really in control of our emotions.
Speaker A:We're in control of how we react to those emotions, right?
Speaker A:That the amount of stimulus that comes from the outside world into us is going to trigger a certain sadness or happiness or excitement or depression or anything.
Speaker A:It's how you react after that.
Speaker A:And this is the moment that most people, they have this emotion that comes to them, and they don't take a moment to listen to how they actually feel about that.
Speaker A:They just react and they're like, well, I'm supposed to react this way because my experience is my intelligence have told me I'm supposed to do this thing.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:I. I'm sad.
Speaker A:I'm supposed to hide because I don't want anybody to know.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Maybe you're like, it's.
Speaker A:It's okay to be sad in front of this other person right now because inside you felt something that said, no, I. I can cry in front of Megan right now because it's okay, and I trust her, and I feel right.
Speaker A:I know I shouldn't.
Speaker A:My intelligence saying, don't do it.
Speaker A:Hide the tears.
Speaker A:But for some reason, I feel okay to be vulnerable in front of you.
Speaker A:And when you let yourself do that, that reaction is true to you.
Speaker A:And that's the thing, is we're always fighting against our own emotions.
Speaker A:And what I've said to many, many people is, your emotions are your advisor.
Speaker A:When you're feeling that emotion, whatever it is that is advising you to something needs to take place.
Speaker A:Now.
Speaker A:When you're angry, there's a reason.
Speaker A:When you're sad, there's a reason.
Speaker A:When you're excited, there's a reason that if you can stay, stay for a second, quiet and listen and actually feel it instead of squash it down, say, I can't have this emotion, the truth will come out and it will probably direct you in a place you needed to go, which is why you had that emotion in the first place.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's kind of crazy because I think we all get trained from a very young age about how we're supposed to react to things in society.
Speaker B:And, you know, like, and you don't want to get judged by society.
Speaker B:So you have to do this.
Speaker B:You have to go to college, you have to, like, all the things, right?
Speaker B:Like, from a very young age, you get trained that way.
Speaker B:Not anymore.
Speaker B:That's what Adam and I are here to tell you.
Speaker B:Not anymore.
Speaker B:That's what is great about right now in the world.
Speaker B:Is the world a crazy up place right now?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I don't care what side you're on, it's a mess.
Speaker B:Great, moving on.
Speaker B:It's still the age of opportunity.
Speaker B:It is still the age of.
Speaker B:You get to listen to your emotions, you get to listen to what you're saying, like what you're saying to yourself, and then you get to go and be whatever you want to be.
Speaker A:Well, that's the thing.
Speaker A:You can direct it, right?
Speaker A:So you can direct this life, this business, your income generation.
Speaker A:Even if you're an employee, this works for anybody.
Speaker A:And that's why we talk about be the CEO, right?
Speaker A:Be the CEO as you deciding.
Speaker A:I'm going to be in the charge of my life and my business.
Speaker A:Even if you're an employee, I'm going to be in the charge of my employment.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's difference between being in charge and in the charge, right?
Speaker A:When you're in charge, I'm telling you to do this.
Speaker A:I'm telling you this.
Speaker A:When you're in the charge, meaning you're there to take care of it, right?
Speaker A:We are in the charge of our children, right.
Speaker A:We have to give them all the resources Support the loves, the kisses, the discipline, the money, the everything else that they need to survive.
Speaker A:Well, you get to do that for your own life, not just your children.
Speaker A:You get to do that for your own career, for your own business.
Speaker A:And what most people don't do is they don't give themselves the opportunity.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They should all over themselves.
Speaker A:I should do this, I should do that.
Speaker A:I should do.
Speaker A:Well, hold on.
Speaker A:What do I want?
Speaker A:What do I want here?
Speaker A:You know, and that's.
Speaker B:And then they start feeling depressed, and then they start feeling depressed and they start getting down on themselves.
Speaker B:And then, like, you know, people are so afraid to be vulnerable, and people are so afraid to, like, unmask and just be right?
Speaker B:Like, just be you and screw what everybody else says.
Speaker B:And that is really, really hard to do.
Speaker B:Like, I'm not saying it's easy, but that's why people like Adam exist, because they're there to help you.
Speaker B:Just be you.
Speaker B:Be your own CEO.
Speaker B:Like, do the thing, right?
Speaker B:And for me, I do it through technology and automation because you know what?
Speaker B:My ADHD brain, oh, I'm me.
Speaker B:Like, I'm 100% me all the time.
Speaker B:Like, you get me no matter what, whether you want it or not.
Speaker B:Like, here I am, coming in hot, right?
Speaker B:But the reason that I can do that is because I leaned into the technology and AI side of the world, right?
Speaker B:And I've made it because I don't want to work 72 hours a week, right?
Speaker B:So you have to make big adjustments.
Speaker B:You either have to accept technology or you don't.
Speaker B:If you don't want to use technology, then you're going to have to figure out a simpler, simpler business model, right?
Speaker B:Like, there's all.
Speaker B:All these types of things that are all possible.
Speaker B:And you know what?
Speaker B:Just because I do something doesn't mean it's right for you.
Speaker B:And just because Adam's sitting here telling you to do something doesn't mean that's right for you either.
Speaker B:What we are saying is be you figure out what you are, listen to your emotions and go do that thing.
Speaker B:It's so simple at the end of the day, right?
Speaker B:Just break it all down, strip away all the shit that's out there.
Speaker A:And that's the thing.
Speaker B:You're the morons.
Speaker A:You have to go do that thing.
Speaker A:And you're.
Speaker A:And you keep using the word simple.
Speaker A:So our.
Speaker A:Our tagline at Atomic Business Coaching is business and life are simple.
Speaker A:It's just not easy.
Speaker A:And the thing is, it could be very, very simple, and we complicate everything.
Speaker A:To feel like we're busy.
Speaker A:But what happens is then when we complicate this, we have all these things to do, and it feels like we're productive, but we're really just busy not getting anything done, looking like we're doing a lot of things.
Speaker A:But when we finally simplify something, whether it's systematically, whether it's using AI, whether it's even saying, I'm not going to do any of that, and I'm just going to have a list of phone numbers, pick them up and call them, and see if someone will work for me.
Speaker A:However you simplify your thing, as long as you're owning that, you have to recognize it's going to be hard.
Speaker A:Business is simple.
Speaker A:It's just not easy.
Speaker A:Nothing you're going to do is going to be easy.
Speaker A:And as you said before, you know, it's easy for you guys to say, you've been there, you've done that.
Speaker A:No, it's still hard for me.
Speaker B:No, it's still hard.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:The difference is I'm.
Speaker A:I'm willing to go through my hard now.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:My hard to you may seem impossible because you're just getting started, but every year that goes by, it gets harder for me.
Speaker A:And I realize how little I actually know because I'm opened up to a bigger world of opportunities and possibilities and issues and situations.
Speaker A:And that's what happens is you're building on the foundation of who you are becoming, and that's why we want to help people become the CEO.
Speaker A:Yes, in the beginning, it's hard, and at the end it's hard.
Speaker A:It's just.
Speaker A:At what point are you saying this?
Speaker A:This, I'm good.
Speaker A:It's good enough here.
Speaker A:I don't want to go any further.
Speaker A:And that's what happened to me in my career.
Speaker A:I was like, I'm good enough here.
Speaker A:I don't want to go any further.
Speaker B:And that's not to go any further.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's two things that I always love to say.
Speaker B:One, if you're the smartest person in the room, you need to find a new room.
Speaker B:Go find a new room.
Speaker B:Go find a new inner circle.
Speaker B:That's why I love where I am right now, because I've meeting people like yourself and all.
Speaker B:Like, my inner circle of people right now is insane.
Speaker B:Like, the people that I get to talk to on, like, a daily basis, you know, it's crazy to me.
Speaker B:And these people are, like, asking for my advice.
Speaker B:I was like, you sold a $40 million company, and you want me to advise you on something?
Speaker B:I'm like, like, this is crazy to me.
Speaker B:And it's so much fun because even though I'm not where they are or where they've been, they trust me.
Speaker B:And it's very, very cool because I'm learning so much, right?
Speaker B:Like, I'm learning every day I learn something new.
Speaker B:And two, I'm a super.
Speaker B:We all know this, right?
Speaker B:The queen of automation.
Speaker B:I'm a super data nerd, right?
Speaker B:Like super data geek.
Speaker B:And what I love to ask people is when they tell me what their business goals are or like their revenue goals, right?
Speaker B:Because you have to have a number goal, I call it.
Speaker B:I think that you should build your revenue number around your life goal and then reverse engineer it because, like, that's the lifestyle you want to build.
Speaker B:That's a whole nother episode.
Speaker B:But I love when people tell me, like, when you ask their revenue goal and they're like, oh, that's 5% more than last year.
Speaker B:And then you go, why?
Speaker B:And they're like, well, because it's, because it's more.
Speaker B:That's not an answer, is it?
Speaker B:Cost of living increase, There has to be a reason.
Speaker B:And then you start having the conversation, which we were literally just talking about a few seconds ago, you start having the conversation.
Speaker B:Do you actually need $1 million a year to live your lifestyle?
Speaker B:Where do you want your lifestyle to look?
Speaker B:Like, how much money do you need to make that happen?
Speaker B:And like, if you only need $600,000 a year, why the heck are you busting your ass and miserable to try to get to set?
Speaker B:Like, just so that you can say I'm a millionaire.
Speaker B:Like, you can be a millionaire by investing well and getting in an inner circle with people who are going to tell you how to deal with your money.
Speaker B:Like, you don't have to bus.
Speaker B:But to me, like, it's just, well, the problem, it's simple, but it's not easy, right?
Speaker B:Move the needle, move it over here, move it over here.
Speaker B:Rearrange the shell game.
Speaker B:Like, come on.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Most people that, that set those arbitrary numbers and they don't have a reason to the why they actually won't achieve it.
Speaker A:And the reason is it's not meaningful to them.
Speaker A:And you know, one of the things we do with new clients of ours, we go through this month onboarding with them and we this in the second meeting, we asked them, what type of business are they building?
Speaker A:And we say, you only have two choices and you only can build one at a time.
Speaker A:And we say, are you going to build a lifestyle business?
Speaker A:Or a legacy business.
Speaker A:And to define these two terms the way we do, because you can look them up and I'm sure they'll look different, but the way we define them at Atomic Business Coaching is a lifestyle business.
Speaker A:Is all the money this business makes is to fund the lifestyle of me, the founder, the owner, the CEO.
Speaker A:I don't care if your lifestyle is $50,000 a year or $5 million a year or a hundred million dollars.
Speaker B:Whatever it is, that doesn't matter.
Speaker A:But it's what is the purpose of the money that's being generated.
Speaker A:The other option is I am building a legacy business.
Speaker A:And what that means is there's enough money that comes out of this business to fund my existing lifestyle.
Speaker A:I have no desires beyond that.
Speaker A:And every dollar beyond that goes back in to grow it to a point of either exit or turning that, that spigot on to give you more money and go ahead, you can say something.
Speaker B:No, I just love.
Speaker B:No, continue.
Speaker B:Because I, I have a follow up because I learned when I met Darren one of the most amazing things he said to me as we started going through all this stuff from building Brand Belt and I'll be better and all this stuff.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:He's like, well, what's your exit plan?
Speaker B:What are you talking about?
Speaker B:What's your exit plan after kids want, like what are you going to do?
Speaker B:And he's like, Megan, you have customers.
Speaker B:Like you have people that are reliable.
Speaker B:When you decide that this is a thing you don't want to do anymore, then what?
Speaker B:And I was like, it was like deer in the headlights.
Speaker B:I was just like, like nobody had ever asked that question.
Speaker B:And what you were just saying, that is also one of the questions.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker B:Build your lifestyle.
Speaker B:Figure out whether it's legacy, figure out whether it's lifestyle business.
Speaker B:Figure out the money that you need.
Speaker B:But you also have to figure out your exit plan at the beginning so that you know how you're ending.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I, I always say it's blew my mind you're picking one of them.
Speaker A:And I love Darren.
Speaker A:Darren's great.
Speaker A:And his partner Nat, they're just fantastic people.
Speaker A:So me and Nat have become close friends now because I, we grew up in the same timeframe.
Speaker A:We used to play basketball against each other in high school, but we didn't know each other really.
Speaker A:Now we're a part of.
Speaker A:Yeah, we're a part of a CEO mastermind together now, which is really, really cool that we do in person.
Speaker A:These private little dinners to know better people just like doing this.
Speaker A:So I told Him.
Speaker B:I was talking to you before we move on.
Speaker B:I told him I was talking to you.
Speaker B:He's like, wait, you're just now talking to him?
Speaker B:And I was like, well, you know, we got busy and he rescheduled, and I rescheduled, and I was sick, and I was like.
Speaker B:He's like, oh, my God, how long has it taken you?
Speaker B:And I'm like, about a year to get up on the podcast.
Speaker B:He was like, good Lord, Megan.
Speaker B:Nobody's like, well, you know.
Speaker B:Anyway, continue.
Speaker A:The thing is, is, like, you can want an exit and desire an exit, but if you don't first make your business fund your lifestyle, you're never going to be able to have that exit.
Speaker A:And that's why we tell clients, you can only run one of those businesses at a time.
Speaker A:But it doesn't mean during running it, you can't say, okay, I've gotten to the lifestyle I want, and this is good enough.
Speaker A:Now I can change and go to the legacy business.
Speaker A:When we go to that legacy business, Darren's 100% right.
Speaker A:That's where you have to actively pick your exit.
Speaker A:But the exit goes the same way.
Speaker A:Like, I had an exit of my other companies of $8.3 million.
Speaker A:And the reason why is if you take that money and you put it in at 5% interest forever, that generates about $450,000 of income per year.
Speaker A:And that's what I needed.
Speaker A:So it was like, okay, if you calculate these numbers, that's the life I want to live.
Speaker A:I didn't need 20 million.
Speaker A:I didn't need 5 and an 8.3.
Speaker A:And that.
Speaker A:That was the goal, right?
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:But this is what I mean.
Speaker A:When people say, I'm going up for 5%, they're not going to do it because there's no meaning behind it.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:There's a phrase we use, actually, I have it written on my board here today, because it's for a client later.
Speaker A:There's a philosophy that Tom and I have tried to have our clients embrace, and it's believe, behave, become.
Speaker A:You have to believe it.
Speaker A:You have to truly believe this thing, which most people miss.
Speaker A:And when they say, I'm going up by 5%, they don't really believe it.
Speaker A:They'd like it to happen, but they don't truly believe that.
Speaker A:And then once you believe, you have to behave like that.
Speaker A:So if someone's going to say, I want to have an exit at this time for this much money, they have to behave that way.
Speaker A:They have to build their company to sell and exit and those things.
Speaker A:Because if you truly believe something and then you behave in that manner, you will become it.
Speaker A:Okay, so it's believe.
Speaker B:And some people.
Speaker B:What I love about that, I mean just all of that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Because it's true.
Speaker B:And sometimes I'll hear when.
Speaker B:When people like yourself say that, then you'll hear the little people, you know, in the back of the room that you want to slap upside the head sometimes.
Speaker B:Because they're in the back of the room and they're like, you can't.
Speaker B:Oh, so you're gonna fake it till you make it.
Speaker B:No, that is not.
Speaker B:That is completely different than what he's saying.
Speaker B:If you don't believe in yourself and you don't believe that you can be a CEO, you don't believe that you can make a million dollars or $500,000 or whatever the number is.
Speaker B:I don't even care.
Speaker B:If you don't believe that you can do it.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You won't ever do it.
Speaker B:You have to.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:That is completely different than fake it till you make it because you still have to go out and get a skill set and you still.
Speaker B:Skills.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that the piece of believe in yourself.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:People miss this one thing and the believe it and that fake it till you make it.
Speaker A:You know, that was a big Trend in the 80s, right?
Speaker A:It was fake it till you make it.
Speaker A:It was a Wall street type thing.
Speaker A:You know, wear the suit, have the Mercedes, you know, wear the Rolex and do the thing.
Speaker A:And then one day you'll make it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And it's like, okay, what we mean, what we mean by the believe it is.
Speaker A:You have to believe why you are doing something.
Speaker A:Not necessarily like believe that I'm going to be a millionaire.
Speaker A:No, no, no, no.
Speaker A:It's believe that I'm the type of person that's gonna put the necessary work in to become a millionaire.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And if you believe that and you have a real reason to believe that, like if I do this, this changes the course of my children's life.
Speaker A:If I do this, this allows me to get out of debt and just live a normal life.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:The thing is, if I do this, it'll impact the world.
Speaker A:Like what you and Nat and Darren are doing with.
Speaker A:With the whole new program, it'll impact and change the world.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:You have to truly believe that you can't hope it happens.
Speaker A:And then because is you will not behave in the manner to become that thing.
Speaker A:That's what I mean behind that belief.
Speaker A:Not fake it till you make it, it's, I believe that I truly want to do this thing or hit that precise number or have this impact on those people.
Speaker A:Because the moment you truly embrace it and it's meaningful, you will start behaving that way.
Speaker A:And this is one of our other phrases.
Speaker A:CEO, CEO for us stands for commitment, effort, obsession.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Not Chief Executive Officer.
Speaker A:Commitment, effort, obsession.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's right here on my sleeve.
Speaker B:See, there you go, there you go.
Speaker B:So nice.
Speaker A:That's what we mean by be the CEO.
Speaker A:Because when you finally become obsessed about something, like I'm obsessed with making $837,000 this year because it's going to change the life and I'm going to buy the car and pay the mortgage.
Speaker A:And you're like, oh my God.
Speaker A:When you, when you're obsessed about it, you push everything else out of the way.
Speaker A:It's no more noise, it's just signal and you're focused and you're doing the thing as you said before.
Speaker A:But what happens is then when you're obsessed, it's very simple to give the next thing effort, right?
Speaker B:How do you give the effort described?
Speaker B:You have literally.
Speaker B:So everyone always talks to me about my adhd, right?
Speaker B:Because for me it, I was totally different, right?
Speaker B:Like I was diagnosed when I was 15, so I've been living this for way longer than most of my peers in the business world that I've met, right?
Speaker A:It's only been nine years, come on.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've figured out how to like deal with it and manage it, right?
Speaker B:But what you just described, for all of you listening that, listen to me and you, you always ask me what hyper focus means and you always ask me, he just described hyperfocus better than I could ever describe it myself because that's what exactly what happens to me is I become so obsessed and hyper focused on the thing, whatever the thing is at that moment.
Speaker B:And then it's like you're not pulling me away from that thing until it's there and it's done and it's accomplished and I can go woohoo, high five.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:Like that's what it is.
Speaker B:And so we all have a little bit of this adhd.
Speaker B:I swear, you know, there's, you have to become hyper focused.
Speaker B:You have to become so obsessed with the thing to make it happen.
Speaker B:You just do through all the stages, through the startup stage, through the, you know, okay, now we're scaling, now we're automating, now we're doing all the system and the operation and all this stuff.
Speaker B:Every step has to be hyper focused.
Speaker B:Right now I'm hyper focused on cold prospecting, right?
Speaker B:Like the most boring thing in the world.
Speaker B:And I'm like, it's gonna work because I don't want to spend money on ads, right?
Speaker B:Like, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's these different things, but it's the only way it truly works.
Speaker B:It's the only way that you're truly going to get the outcome you want and deserve.
Speaker A:And that's all of our work of what we do is even the first program that people go through with us is called Simple Focus.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:It's called the Simple Focus program.
Speaker A:It's a four week program where we help people to really understand why they are choosing to be focused on certain things.
Speaker A:Because as we expressed throughout this podcast is you get to choose and most of the time you're not, you're not choosing.
Speaker A:It's, it's choosing you and you're going down a path and then you're doing all these things because you did them yesterday.
Speaker A:That's just what we do.
Speaker A:This is just what I do.
Speaker B:I feel like you read my post today.
Speaker B:I'm just kidding.
Speaker B:So I had a post today about busy being busy versus productive.
Speaker B:And so I always tell everybody, you need to automate, delegate, or eliminate people who complain to me about not being able to like, get rid of the things they hate.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:You can take 10 minutes, create a loom video, create an SOP, pay somebody else to do it.
Speaker B:Done.
Speaker B:Takes like 20 minutes.
Speaker B:You can do this, delegate, automate, like, yeah.
Speaker B:And if you can't talk to somebody like Adam, talk to somebody like me.
Speaker B:Go find somebody who is smarter in that area than you are and listen to them and follow their advice.
Speaker B:Find a mentor.
Speaker B:Find the room to get into where you can actually ask questions.
Speaker B:Give your, give your services away for free to that next level.
Speaker B:Make it.
Speaker B:That's exactly what I did with Darren and Nat.
Speaker B:I knew that I wanted to be in that room.
Speaker B:I knew that those are the guys that I wanted to work with and talk with and be the room with.
Speaker B:So I started just fixing ops for them because Darren was frustrated.
Speaker B:I'm like, hey, I'll just fix it for you.
Speaker B:And now you fast forward two years and these are my business partners now.
Speaker B:And it's the most amazing.
Speaker B:It was the best decision I ever made.
Speaker B:That's what you do.
Speaker B:You just have to hook yourself to the right.
Speaker B:What did, what did Danny used to say?
Speaker B:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:He was like, hook yourself to the right wagon or something.
Speaker A:To the right wagon.
Speaker B:And something like the wagon wheel analogy.
Speaker B:And I was like, what?
Speaker B:I was like, that is such a dad metaphor.
Speaker B:And he's like, oh, man, this is such a good conversation.
Speaker B:I really, really appreciate having you on here and I'm so glad that you said yes.
Speaker B:And I know it's taken forever, but this was a fantastic conversation.
Speaker B:And I can't wait for everybody to go check out your stuff on LinkedIn.
Speaker B:But tell people, before we sign off, tell people where they can find you the best way to contact you if they have more questions or they want to ask, or they just want to pick your brain and, like, reach out to you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So be the CEO.
Speaker A:That's how you find us.
Speaker A:And for any of you don't know, it's BeThe CEO, it's like BeThe.com but be the CEO.
Speaker A:So if you go to that URL, that's awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you go to be the CEO, you'll find us.
Speaker A:But yeah, the way if you really want to communicate with me, go to LinkedIn.
Speaker A:It's Adam Thomas.
Speaker A:Heard you'll find me.
Speaker A:I'm wearing a hat.
Speaker A:Very thoughtful in the picture and all that.
Speaker A:But you'll see be the CEO right there.
Speaker B:We're going to drop all your info in the show notes too, so they'll.
Speaker A:Be able to click in on LinkedIn, I'm the only one communicating there.
Speaker A:While I don't think anyone should stray away from VAs or people engaging for them, I don't do that on that platform.
Speaker A:On other platforms, I have people doing work for me.
Speaker A:But on LinkedIn, I want to speak.
Speaker A:I want to be the person there.
Speaker A:So you will not get anybody but me there.
Speaker A:It may take a little bit of time for me to get back to you, but I will get back to you.
Speaker B:Exactly right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But thanks to being CEO and on there, you know, we have, our podcast is on there.
Speaker A:We've authored multiple books.
Speaker A:They're on there as well.
Speaker A:So you can learn a lot.
Speaker A:We have a.
Speaker A:We have a weekly newsletter that's just our thoughts and lessons, which we guarantee we will not sell you anything inside of our newsletter.
Speaker A:So there's, there's plenty of ways.
Speaker A:You know, we are expensive.
Speaker A:We charge 30, 40 grand a year, you know, 4,000 to start with us.
Speaker A:So it's not right for everybody and everybody's not right to pay us even if they could, because they're not in the fees.
Speaker A:You know, you can explore a little bit about who we are, what we do.
Speaker A:Always willing to talk, chat, give you some information, especially if you know Megan or Nat or Darren.
Speaker A:You can reach out to me almost any time, and I'll help you out.
Speaker A:And I won't charge you if it gets to a point where you really need us ongoing.
Speaker A:Yeah, of course we will.
Speaker A:But this is what it is.
Speaker A:It's about community.
Speaker A:It's about helping one another.
Speaker A:And that's why I like you so much, Megan.
Speaker A:You've always.
Speaker A:You've always been willing to help, whether it was a question.
Speaker A:I reached out to you about a funnel thing one day, and you helped me like that.
Speaker A:Like, you've been very, very helpful.
Speaker A:But I don't think, you know, Nat and Darren would.
Speaker A:Would be in business with someone unless they were like you.
Speaker A:Unless they were like me.
Speaker A:And this is just the type of people you want to surround yourself with.
Speaker A:So thanks again for.
Speaker A:For having me.
Speaker A:Is there anything I could do for you?
Speaker A:What I would say is, anybody who's watching this, subscribe to her podcast.
Speaker A:Like, make sure you share it and follow, because that's the way she can get this message out to many, many people.
Speaker A:So do that because you don't realize for creators like Megan or myself, how valuable that is when someone just either subscribes or shares or puts a comment like, it means the world to us, because otherwise we're just sitting here talking into the void.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's it.
Speaker B:And you just did it right there.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:That was a very nice plug, and I love it.
Speaker B:I will obviously send you a bunch of social clips so that you can share on yours, and we'll share on LinkedIn when we.
Speaker B:When.
Speaker B:When you edit the EP, edit the app.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:All of this stuff that we talked about.
Speaker B:All of this stuff is great when it works and when it doesn't, it's frustrating.
Speaker B:And that's when you reach out to people like us to help you get through it.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, operations is incredibly frustrating because there's so many different levelers that you have to push and pull money.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:You know, we talked a lot about money and how to deal with, like, revenue.
Speaker B:And you know what?
Speaker B:If you're not great with money, you're not great with math.
Speaker B:You can pay somebody to do math for you.
Speaker B:Like, you really can.
Speaker B:So take Adam's advice.
Speaker B:Go check out his content.
Speaker B:Go and follow him.
Speaker B:Go sign up for his newsletter.
Speaker B:His newsletter is awesome, too.
Speaker B:And that's the wrap.
Speaker B:So we will see you guys all next week.
Speaker B:Thank you so much, Adam, and bye, everybody.
Speaker A:Bye.
