Business Coach : Improve Your Skills
-And I think that one thing you can do is if you’re working within an organization, if you make yourself irreplaceable– I know that this is just in my life, what I’ve done. When I see an employee who is– typically, I’m always– there’s a guy, right now, at work who beats me every day.
And so if he’s watching there, you are beating me every day. And today, I beat him though. I felt good about that. But normally, he beats me now. He’s the new guy. He wants to beat me to work. And very few people have done this though. And so when people beat me to work, and you start looking around going– and I start to say, what does he do?
Caleb, one of our guys, says, well, he writes all the search engine articles, this guy. I’m like, really? Is he good? Oh, he’s good. And so I start, over time, going I need to find opportunities for this guy because he’s a hard worker. So you definitely can show your value there, but at the same time, you can’t really get mad if your pay isn’t at a certain level because it is just determined by the market value.
And so you really have to just know what that value– and if you’re in an industry that has a low market value for what you’re doing, maybe switch industries or–
-That’s right. And I’ll– a very quick story. I had an employee that worked for me early in my career who would come in periodically with job offers that he was getting from other banks. I didn’t think they were probably real job offers, and knowing the individual, I really doubted it.
I really, actually, didn’t even mind if the individual took those job offers, so about three offers in, I accepted his resignation. There was no job offer. It was a strategy to get me to pay him more over time.
And so he had to go home and tell his family that he had just resigned from his position because he presented a fake job offer. Job offers, on the flip side, if they’re real, and if you are a pro, and you’re the best at what you do, they are the way to set your market pay.
I mean if you get a real, legitimate offer over here that’s $15,000, $20,000, $30,000 higher than where you are, then it’s going to force your employer to set your market pay. And it is a real legitimate, but you better make sure you really have the offer before you do it. And you’re willing to take it.
-And I want to bring up this little example though for you. If you’re somebody who owns a business, you’re probably going to make far less than anybody else. So if you’re an investor in a business, you’ll probably make far less than anybody else for a long, long time. If you have considered becoming an investor, get a business coach for advice.
But then the theory is, on the upside, you’d make vastly more. I think where you get in trouble is if you’re not an equity owner, if you’re not an investor, and you’re getting paid less than your market value, and you have no opportunity, at any point, to make a big leap there, you really just– you have to understand you’re a free agent in today’s economy. And you really do have to look for the best opportunities for yourself and for your family. A business coach can help encourage you in the area of balance in your life.
Now, life lesson number 10, be patient. Life is a marathon and not a sprint. Now, this right here– this cuts me– it cuts to my 19-year-old soul. When I was 19, I remember, man, I thought I’m going to buy that first sweet DJ system. I’m going to buy those speakers, those lights. I’m going to get six systems, pa dow! Bam! It’s going to be awesome. Take note for the best business coach advice.
And not knowing that I’d have to build pro formas and fire 25 people to find my top 10, and all this stuff. And so I was going in burnout mode. And so– and I’m not exaggerating. I, literally, Shawn, about every three months, would end up sleeping in the closet for a 24 hour period because I would tell my wife– I’m like here it comes. I’m getting stressed.
And my wife would just say, you got to pace yourself. What are you doing? And so part of that entrepreneurial bug is we like to rush at it. Talk to me about how you’ve been able to– because you’re ambitious, and I know you want to grow fast, but you also want to grow in a sustainable way and maintain that family balance. How are you able to do it? What advice would you have for us on that?
-Well, you hit the nail on the head. I think patience is important for two reasons. I think, one, it’s important because of balance. I think that you have a great family, so you’ve been able to balance the two. Many people cannot. So they go at burn out pace, and all their relationships are forgotten. And so all of a sudden, they wake up, and they’ve been very successful financially, but they have no family. Nobody’s around them.
And so I don’t think that’s a good outcome either. So I think that is one reason to be patient and move at a reasonable pace. However, I think the bigger reason to be patient is because you need to develop certain skills. You don’t– we’re not born with certain skills. We learn them over time. If you want to learn faster, get a business coach.
I would argue that my ascent within the banking industry has possibly been too fast because, even today, there are certain things that come up. Thankfully, I have a very strong executive team, and they’re trustworthy. And I can believe them, and so they fill in the gaps that I have. But I would argue that I would have been better off doing this– buying the bank now rather than six years ago, so that I would have had six more years of growth and development as a leader, as a banker.
I think we would have been more successful. So I think the patience, for me, really comes from allowing your skills to develop. And the opportunity will come along when it’s right. You don’t have to force opportunities in this life. When you become the best, the opportunities will avail themselves. Learn from a business coach… patience matters!