How Do I Create Time Freedom in My Business – Ask Clay Anything

Audio Transcription

We now have a hot and fresh question from a business coaching client thriver listener. I don’t know. I want meet. Let me do it again. This justin, we have a hot and fresh question from a thrive listener. Okay. That felt better. So the question is who? This is what nate writes the email to info at thrive time show the following verbiage he writes. I remember hearing you say during a conference, a conference that even if you have an established business that when you move from me to we, you should consider yourself a new business. Could you expound upon that? Okay. I will. I will. Well, here’s, here’s what I was explaining. I view every business as a startup or, or, or new business until the business is 95 percent dependent on systems and only five percent dependent on people with unique skills with, um, unique and hard to find a skills.

So what happens is, and I’ll just give an example, I’ll give example of a of a bakery gone bad. Years ago I was working with this bakery, right? This bakery down in Dallas and the bakery was doing really well. The owner of the bakery was known for being one of the top wedding bakeries and on the planet. She was winning awards and she says, could you help me scale my business? I said, sure. What? We have to start doing those. We have to start thriving nation. You could probably tell me, you could probably say to bore me. We need to start the group interview, right? We need to start big start the group interview. Why? Because of eventually you’re going to need to replace everybody. Why? Eventually you’re going to need to replace everybody.

Hello? Eventually you’re going to need to replace everybody every day. And the old people you don’t need to replace. You want to put them in a golden handcuffs where you’re making a deal for them that is so sweet, so sanctimonious, so beautiful that they don’t want to move on because the deal is hot, right? They don’t want to move on because the deal so hot, but unless you have your key people locked in with golden handcuffs, they’re. They’re eventually gonna want to move on. So we continue growing this bakery. She thinks she has a marketing problem. I continue to stress. You have to do a group interview every week because you’re eventually going to need to replace people, hire people, whatever. So we get into may maze. Busy season for weddings. I don’t remember the specific date. It was early May. This would be around 2008. Does nine and we are booked out.

I mean we’ve got a 10 wedding cakes we’re delivering on the same day. We’re doing almost $30,000 of sales because we’re doing wedding cakes, but we’re also doing like dip strawberries. I mean the average ticket, you know, over $2,000 for this beautiful fondant wedding cakes. Buttercream cake is every gonna kick you could possibly think of. I’m, I’m learning way too much about crumb coating and decorative font and the day. The point is decorative fondant, but the point is that the business was really getting a lot of customers. Well then it’s probably like a Wednesday or a Thursday before all the weddings cakes must be delivered and one of her key people doesn’t show up,

so we call the key person. We call him on the phone and we say, hey, keep person. What’s going on? What’s going on? When are you? And they say, I just don’t feel good. I don’t feel very good. I just can’t come that day. Well then on facebook, there a different story going on. You know, on facebook it’s like there’s a festival of some kind happening. Having a great time. Yeah, on facebook, but you know, on the phone there, I just felt very god, could they be recovering from a long night of drinking? Probably. So this owner slaves away making all those cakes slaves away the next day calls them up. Hey, are you going to come in today? Oh, I can’t make it. I just kept making point is she ends up having to deliver all the cakes herself on a Saturday. She calls one of her friends and she’s been pulling her friends with these last minute or emergencies for, I dunno, a seven years in a row, six years in a row, every single weekend, having an emergency right every single weekend, so we’re friends are not available this weekend, and so as somebody who is coaching her, I said, look, I’ll have one of my teammates help you.

You can have one of my staff members do it, but we’re not doing this again. So one of my teammates helped her deliver the cakes. Long story short, the next week there is another series of calamities and emergencies and after we got through the summer season, I let her know, here’s the deal, if you’re going to refuse to do the group interview and refuse to build checklists and processes that would make the business coaching systems not dependent upon the unique skills of one or two people. I can’t coach you. I can’t work with you. I’m afraid you can’t be around you because you always have an emotional emergency. Always. Every, every week you go out there and you have an emotional emergency. Every week you have an emotional burden, so there’s always a crisis, there’s always a problem and it, but you have to build the systems as you go. So Michael Gerber, the best selling author of the emyth revisited rights. What does he write? Oh, you see, got that kind of as a kind of a cliffhanger there. He writes, if your business depends on you, you don’t own a business, you have a job.

It’s worst job in the world because you’re working for a luna lunatic. Let me repeat again here because I personally have a hard time reading English language. Michael Gerber rights.

If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business, you have a job, and it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for lunatic. I don’t think it’s. It’s this idea sinking into the head of somebody. Someone. I’ll repeat this again. Hopefully the more memorable tonamah more memorable. If your business depends on you. One business, you have a job and it’s the worst job because you’re a lunatic,

right? Me, come on, man. I mean, you’ve got to hire people and build systems, so that’s what I’m talking about. Now. Michael Gerber goes on to write, organize around business functions, not people built systems within each business coaching function. Let the systems run the business in the people, run the systems. People come and go, but the systems remain constant. So many people feel like the people that worked for them today are going to be there forever. They built systems based upon the people. They, they say, these people are great. Oh, these people are great until they get married, till they move on, until they get pregnant. So they have a disease. So they have a dysfunction until they changed their mind until they started coming to compete with you, until they’re contractually obligated to roll with you. People are going to constantly come and go. I’m the best selling author Robert Greene piles on here.

I love Robert Greene’s writings. He wrote 48 laws of power mastery. Uh, he just, uh, just my Robert Green is a best selling author of books that most people won’t read because they are about how successful people master a craft. And most people can’t pay attention that long because they’re there on facebook, you know, look, oh my gosh, there’s a picture of my food. Oh my gosh. Like it. Comment on it. Oh No, I’m offended about a bomb. I’m offended about trump. I can’t pay attention. Oh, there’s a new conference this weekend over here. There’s a party over there. It looks. Someone tweeted me, Oh, instagram, should I do it? Oh, what’s the new APP? Is there a new app that will allow me to get reviews? Can I automate my leads? Is there any way I could calm down? Listen to mastery by Robert Greene. It’ll change your life.

But Robert Greene writes people around you constantly under the poll of their emotions, change their ideas by the day or by the hour, depending upon their mood. You must never assume that what people say or do and in particular moment is a statement of their permanent desires. So my friend, you need to consider your business. It’s very fragile and renew until you have systems that work without you doing everything. Michael Gerber, bestselling author goes on to write. Wow, you’re quoting a lot on Michael Gerber today. Yeah, his books are great. EMF is great. He says the difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively. The difference between great people and everyone else has that great people create their lives actively while everyone else has created by their lives passively waiting to see where life takes them. Next, the difference between the two is living fully and just existing. Wow. Gerber goes on to write with no clear picture of how you wish your life to be. How on earth are you going to live it? What is your primary aim? Where is the script to make your dreams come true? What? What? What? What? What is the first step to take and how do you measure the progress? You’re saying it weird saying, well, weird. What is the first step to take and how do you measure your progress? How far have you gone? How close are you to getting to your goals?

Gerber goes on to write. Most people, most entrepreneurs intoxicate themselves with work so they don’t want to see because they don’t want to see how they really are. Most people intoxicate themselves with work so they won’t see how they really are. Oh, oh, Michael Gerber not great, nice to and our wireless Internet goes on to ride. This is his question. He writes also while in the big push to expand an existing business coaching program working 70 hours in the business, what is the path to eventually only work on the business? Elan Musk says, work like hell 80 to 100 hours a week with Tim ferriss talks about the four hour workweek idea. How do you know you need to keep working like hell and when it’s time to move to the four hour work week? Well, it’s once you get to a place where you can afford to hire a team of people who can deliver the product or service without your direct involvement, then you can afford time freedom.

You have to get the business to a size. You’ve got to get the business to about one and a half million bucks a year of revenue so you can afford to hire good people that will do the systems and the products and the services will. They will deliver that. Again, they can do the system, they can take and run the business. They can get it done without you doing everything, so the business has to get to about a million and a half bucks a year, ish. Okay. I know every industry is different, but you’ve got to get to a certain size where you can then afford to hire a team of people that can implement the systems and processes without your direct involvement. Once you can get your business to a place where you can, according to Michael Gerber, organize around business functions, not people and build systems within each business function and let those systems run the business and the people run the systems.

Then you’re in a great spot, so that’s what you gotta do, but you, you, you, you have to build systems that aren’t dependent upon individual laser shows and talent festivals that you might have currently working for your business name. The Great. Hopefully that question answers. Hopefully that answers your question. Hopefully I’ve answered your question with the great a clarity and detail it deserves, but if you have any additional questions, please, please feel free to email us. Thrive nation to info at thrive time, show.com [email protected], and because I want to encourage a nate and all the listeners out there, I want to play an audio testimonial from a thriver out there just like you, somebody other just like you who listened to our podcast just like you, but who decided to actually implement the systems that they were learning and they were so kind as to record an audio testimonial sharing about the success that they’re having. So without any further ado, this is a thriver out there just like you sharing about the successes that he has had in his business. I’d say, well, just to make it extra special, I’m going to include two testimonials from thrivers out there, just like you both are in the automotive repair industry. So then he further, I do testimonials from thrivers, just like you.

What’s up? Thrive nation. Eric Chop here with Roy. We have a little bit of news for you guys and stuff. It’s now what? May 31st at six. Twenty one. You’ve been closed for 20 minutes right now. It’s. Now let’s run the numbers for me. Let’s see what total one. Oh, two, eight, 37. What’s the last year to date? One or two? One or two? Eight 37 this year. And last year was 60,006 67 out the weeds I’m going to play with.

I’m good. Shepherd was shepherd automotive here in Oklahoma City. I just want to thank Eric Clay and the whole thrive team for all the help that I received for my business coaching. Uh, I was in a really tough place when I found thrive. Uh, I wasn’t making money. I was working as hard as I knew how to work, just not on the right things. Business coaching has changed in the last several years and I had not kept up. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what to do. So, uh, I’m, I’m, I’m on a good track now. Eric is doing a great job of coaching me. I’m real excited about all the stuff that we’re doing and uh, I, I have hope. I have hope again for my future that I can and will succeed and, uh, get back to making money, getting back to a more pleasant place in life and being able to continue to provide the service that a I love providing with my customer. So thank you Eric Clay and all the thrive team for all your help. You guys are awesome

nation to ice cube. You can do it. Put your back into it. We’ll see you next time. Three, two, one. Boom.