#332: How To Use Superfluous Rules To Your Advantage w/ Max Traylor
SUMMARY
Max Traylor is the author of Agency Survival Guide: How to Productize Consulting Services and Do Other Things Better Too Vol. 30, B2B Marketing Advisor, Inbound Agency Coach, Strategist, and host of Beers With Max podcast. Hit him up at MaxTraylor.com Max returns to the show to talk about the potential next edition Vol. 31, The Gap theory by Dan Sullivan Strategic Coach, Celebrate Your Achievements, Measuring Your Progress, Vendor Evaluation, Be An Indispensable Partner, Hedonistic Treadmill and more!
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people book talk called drink thinking slack podcast fucking client hangover business spend progress max work visionaries solopreneur wrote vendor
SPEAKERS
Speaker 2 (48%), Law (40%), Speaker 3 (9%)
Law Smith
0:00
A sweat equity podcast and streaming show hosted by Alex Jones. What are your number one? comedy business podcast in the world pragmatic entrepreneurial advice with real raw dog talk fucking think sucks. Voice 2020s best small medium enterprise business visor podcast the United States 2021 we already won this one best podcast in streaming entertainment studio, Eastern USA media innovator awards. 2021 hosted by, you guessed it, corporate vision magazine. We all listen to us on Apple podcast, iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, and as on music, Amazon podcasts, whatever it is. Vimeo, Rhapsody, all that stuff. Subscribe rate review layer. That's like if you're listening to this and you don't do anything. Do this pause. hit the share button send this to a friend that's trying to start their own business and need some good advice. We got max trailer on and he's giving out dines from his strategic book. Where is it? How how to survive an agency Survival Guide is the title of agency survival guide so what is it? Great strategy book. This episode is sponsored by Express beat p try expressvpn.com forward slash sweat pitch up three months free off an annual plan a virtual private network computer in the sky don't get your IP tracked by big data. You want to watch Netflix in another country DO IT pro try expressvpn.com forward slash swet gets you three months free off of being tracked by big government data data. intergalactic child molesters in the White House drive expressvpn.com forward slash lead free months free Let's get this party started on HRT about my sweat equity
2
Speaker 2
2:05
sweat equity you know the beers man they get me bloated so I'm just gonna I'm gonna drink one of these I'm gonna drink one of these high newnes which I've been coming you know increasingly fond of because it's basically just vodka with like a flavored seltzer water and doesn't make you hate yourself the next day Oh by and play a lot of guys
Law Smith
2:45
yeah do you think we live in Florida and don't know what these are about? Well
2
Speaker 2
2:49
No I do I'm just giving you like an interview show my opinion
3
Speaker 3
2:54
I've been recording I hit the record button hard
Law Smith
2:57
seltzer nation down here I mean that
2
Speaker 2
2:59
is yeah hard seltzer big thing and you know in hard seltzer has got the whatever that other crap is by by miles the sea Yeah, right the
3:17
so it's not bubbles.
2
Speaker 2
3:18
I don't even remember I've left it so far in the past the other crap that's stuff that started this zema
3:23
beer not Sima.
2
Speaker 2
3:25
Capri white claw claw my eyes out yeah yeah the claw my eyes out or the truly awful huh yeah so can't do can't do that stomach ache I get stomach ache accelerant I see
Law Smith
3:41
you sitting on a porch or your back patio. Just thinking of dad pawn names for all these hard seltzers
2
Speaker 2
3:49
Yeah, my dad like he really instilled me with that. Yeah, so so there's definitely some there's definitely some the truly awful in the claw my eyes out are really the two that I've mastered.
3
Speaker 3
4:07
Truly is so wide open. Truly bad, truly awful. I
2
Speaker 2
4:11
mean, yeah, but you're right. Just truly, truly these should never be drank. But I had I put I put with Japanese whiskey into a high noon the other day. And I called it a rising sun. And I was really proud of myself. It was pretty darn good.
Law Smith
4:27
Is that? Is that one of those ones where you're proud of yourself? And then you have to repeat it to everybody?
4:33
Yes, exactly. Like I have to. I have
2
Speaker 2
4:35
to tell people, right? Yeah, get it. I knew we're gonna do that. And I made another one. jack daniels and chocolate milk called a blackjack or roulette.
Law Smith
4:46
blackjack.
4:48
blackjack. Yeah, chocolate milk and jack daniels.
Law Smith
4:50
Is this what one does out in the country, man?
2
Speaker 2
4:53
Yeah. No, that one happened when I was studying abroad in Italy. I was an alcoholic for like three months. Yeah.
5:03
Three months.
Law Smith
5:04
Can you tell us about those days? What did you learn out of that experience?
5:08
That livers should not be taken for granted?
Law Smith
5:12
Yeah, I feel like everybody's got like I'm friends with a lot of comics that don't drink anymore. There's like a good good percentage of them now that I feel like you You have kind of a finite amount of drinks and like you can you can use them up a lot in the beginning of your life. Yeah, like a
3
Speaker 3
5:32
quota. Yeah, like yeah, like a quota drink tickets literally. Yeah, and then ticket human like life drink tickets.
Law Smith
5:37
So I've always been good about because hangovers are so bad for me. So that's self regulating. But like I would always be like alright, I party for a while I got to cool it off or I'm not even gonna like this anymore. You know? I feel like that with any altering kind of thing.
2
Speaker 2
5:56
Yeah, but it's like you know, it's like women and having babies like they could have the worst pregnancy and then the second that baby pops out they're like I want another one.
Law Smith
6:03
Okay, yeah, recency bias sure
2
Speaker 2
6:07
the heart No there's a heart There's got to be like a hangover hormone. You see horns really intense like that a but then there's like a surge of like the anti hangover hormone which is like you know, the the hangovers like evil twin that like makes you need, you know,
3
Speaker 3
6:26
good twin. Once it's Oh, what's the hangover good. That's the problem so much better than normal. Well, I'm not hung over anymore. I'm Superman.
Law Smith
6:35
This show is better. The show is at its roots about pragmatic advice. And I'm going to I'm going to send some overalls way from former comedian and good friend of mine, Brendan T. Gleason. The only way to get out of a hangover is to start drinking again.
6:53
I don't think that's
6:55
not that's not true. I could simply you could simply wait.
3
Speaker 3
6:57
You could wait. You could you know, rehydrate.
Law Smith
7:01
Now, I'm I'm trying again, I'm kind of in between both of those mindsets. So Saturday night saw NAS was drinking a lot of hard seltzer because they ran out of other stuff. So it felt like the whitest guy watching in the widest crowd watching knows what the
2
Speaker 2
7:19
fuck it was awesome. Depends on what flavor truly you are drinking.
Law Smith
7:22
It was funky Buddha hard seltzer and it was like I did all the flavors until I had to have grapefruit no one. My theory on grapefruit is everybody wants to have grapefruit. Yeah, but you don't really like grapefruit on its own.
7:38
I picked it out specifically I have a I have a variety pack.
Law Smith
7:41
He just did it. You knew this would bother mocking you. Yeah, he knows what you're doing my don't Dude, I did a couple of interviews and now you know this is going to perturb me, but I felt horrible all day Sunday. And I remember that advice. Because if I don't drink after all day drinking all night kind of thing. Especially now I'm 37 you know, I had to have about nine Stella's while watching the Bucs game to Sunday Night Football that's how
8:14
you recover wow okay.
Law Smith
8:16
fell asleep like a baby felt great Monday morning. I don't know what that is about but
3
Speaker 3
8:21
I was gonna say what happens when you have to cash it all in so that
Law Smith
8:25
no I may be trained I might I might be on a Silver Streak and I want to just I need you might be on today's baby um no but I two
8:36
is a strategic as a streak one is a flute
8:39
three is a streak
Law Smith
8:40
what's the quote from major league
8:43
one three is a winning
Law Smith
8:48
it's called a winning streak. Yeah,
8:50
I don't have my sound effects I'll just do
Law Smith
8:52
it now do you change the podcast to hard seltzers with Max please do
8:57
not No, no.
Law Smith
8:59
No market boss
2
Speaker 2
9:02
well I you know I'm not prejudice so I got my globe bar you know, I got my globe bar on standby.
Law Smith
9:10
bar so
2
Speaker 2
9:12
I want it Yeah, the bar is in his love left tenant and or any and so I just I just you know on the cat, I'm like, I'm like water. You know, like Bruce Lee. I just I just adapt to what everyone else is drinking. And you know, it's an adventure.
Law Smith
9:29
Bruce Lee you're really bringing up all the things I kind of hate Bruce Lee is a policy.
9:34
I don't like Bruce Lee there I don't get it.
Law Smith
9:35
I Bruce Lee
9:36
I've never met never met him. So
Law Smith
9:38
I've never met him. I'm making my bed. I'm making. I'm painting with some broad strokes here. But, uh, you know, actors in general, you already start out with, you're already you're already at like a b minus at your highest basically. You're an empty vessel.
9:53
You mean mentally and interesting?
Law Smith
9:55
Yeah. Just to hang with. Yeah. Well, I
3
Speaker 3
9:57
don't know Bruce Lee actually did anything through Really, you know, perpetuate this like he's about like he's just an actor. I don't know if he was out telling everybody how badass he was.
Law Smith
10:08
Oh, he definitely went around it. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then he's parodied in once upon a time in Hollywood if you haven't seen that I did. Yeah. So I mean, obviously that's an exaggeration have
10:18
to know. So when I say fuck that guy, I'm so good.
Law Smith
10:20
Yeah, he's a
10:21
pussy, saying it for years. But I
Law Smith
10:23
really next next Max is gonna say he loves Jim Morrison. And he could do no wrong. And then I'm gonna fucking fume. No, I'm okay. Good. Good, good. Um, so, I want to get I want to get to the second half of your book that we didn't get to last time.
3
Speaker 3
10:42
Oh, when I got the book, Max, thank you. He read it not. I moved it from the when I got it to my desk. We've had
2
Speaker 2
10:53
a lot of light rallies to truly is. And it's and it's gone. I didn't even realize it was this. I
10:57
know. I know. It's like I really wrote half a book in no time.
Law Smith
11:03
There's a couple blank pages in there. So
2
Speaker 2
11:06
it's I had to put blank pages at the end, because Amazon would only print something that was 100 pages long.
Law Smith
11:11
And I'm dude, if you don't think I'm copying this as a formula of how many like, I'm just blocking of stuff.
2
Speaker 2
11:17
Let's talk about this for a second. Okay, the amount of people that have said, Max, I love your book. And the reason I love it is because I could actually get through it. Yep. Because it's basically the equivalent of like the first two chapters of every other business book that nobody gets through that I've never gotten through, right. So like, at the end of the day, just shut up and say something like, whatever you got to say, and then people just like, people just like put shit around it that doesn't matter. And so it's just like, tell me what Tell me what you got to say. That's why I don't even read these books anymore. I just interview the authors. And I'm like, Bro, I don't have time to read your 500 pages Just tell me what I need to know about what's going on in the world.
11:51
For those listening I was thinking
Law Smith
11:52
for those listening Mac's trailers agency Survival Guide is on Amazon how to productize consulting service and do other things better to volume 30 witty
2
Speaker 2
12:04
circle gets the square you know done phonics worked for me.
Law Smith
12:08
That's I can't read out loud. That's why I'm such a good listener. Huh? Practice why last time you're on you're like we've been listening to the last thing I said was like, Fuck, I got caught. Whoa. Um, so anybody wants to go back and listen to that episode. I definitely had. I was definitely not actively listening. I was definitely thinking about the next thing I was gonna say, which is a bad, bad thing. with yourself. Yeah. Yes. So page 100. I'm gonna start from the back.
3
Speaker 3
12:41
You have an incredible ability to say things without like, your mind is doing other things, but your mouth is doing the work. Kinda Not really I had to think about I don't know, as you said, You're like, able to just throw out all these filler words. And then and then brain comes back around. Yeah, here's the point.
Law Smith
13:00
Oh, no, there's like, the best way I can do it Nick coffees to talk about it like a bunch of kids and dodgeball that didn't want to get picked. Like two captains in the PE class
3
Speaker 3
13:10
right now, aren't you? Yeah. You don't know what the hell? No, no, I got this. Yeah, not real.
Law Smith
13:15
Nick. He's been on the show. I know. He opens for Larry, the cable guy. He just, he just shot his first special in Hastings, Nebraska. birthplace of Kool Aid. Yeah, yeah. And what's it called? So he talks about, like, when you're on stage when you're out of it, too. And you're bombing. So you're thinking about what's going on, and you're not thinking about the words. That's why you're bombing. But also, he's talking about, like, all your jokes are like in dodgeball, and there's two kids picking in the class. And you don't really want to go for one of the kids that's picking like a shitty kid. And all your jokes like don't pick me. Don't pick me. Don't Don't ruin me. Don't pick me. Don't put me on this team. Yeah. So it's kind of a long way to get them to not a lot of pay off on that one. I'm with you. Last call. Don't forget to put your personal life first. charge for strategy. be intentional with your pipeline, create repeatable systems, celebrate progress, relax, have a drink.
2
Speaker 2
14:21
Yeah, like they wouldn't let me print a book with just that page. So I had to write the other pages.
Law Smith
14:26
Well, so is this how you still live your life? Wait, how long ago did you write this book?
2
Speaker 2
14:33
Uh, it was my it came out of my 31st birthday, hence the hence the volume 30. I'm 32. So it came out last year in May,
Law Smith
14:44
when you wrote so you just put it right to print as soon as you wrote it,
2
Speaker 2
14:47
or Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, I had to pay somebody to make it look good.
Law Smith
14:51
So anything you would add to that list if you're going to do an updated version? You know, you go for agreements now there's Yeah,
2
Speaker 2
14:58
yeah. You know, I was thinking Today I, you know, I thought maybe they're gonna ask me a question at some point. And I need to have an articulate answer. And the thing is I made it volume 30, because it was difficult for me to finish the book, because I keep I keep coming up with new, you know, concepts. And so it was like, never finished, I was like, Should I add this and so one day, I just cut myself off. And I said, You know what, every year, you can do a new volume. And that's where the volume 30 came from. And I was just like, perfect, it's fucking done now. And so I've been keeping track of things that I want to add, that I want to add to the book, but there's one that I think is worthy of that back, you know, last call things to remember. And that is, if you don't enjoy working with somebody, if you don't enjoy it, stop working with them. And I think that is the core that is that is what I have come I've come to the conclusion that that is the core of you know, the payback of being a solopreneur we we go through so much stress, we take on risk. But at the end of the day, it's the only thing that will guarantee that you get to pick who you work with. And it's sad to see so many people that don't get that and and continue to spend time in toxic relationships or with or with relationships in you know, client relationships with people that don't respect. You know, your boundaries or your work life like that is the reason we do it is to be able to say I'm done with this or to be able to say no to clients. And so at the end of that book needs to be you know, I don't know I don't have like a witty really quick way of saying it, but I'm working on it. Be careful who you work with.
Law Smith
16:49
Hmm, okay, that's valid look that works in all relationships that, you know, it
2
Speaker 2
16:56
doesn't work in a full time gig does not work in a full time gig. You ever got sat next to a Karen?
Law Smith
17:01
Oh, no. Yeah, but you did rogic apply the logic is the one to go drive for that. Yeah, go be either surround yourself with people you will avoid like
17:08
Karen's Right,
2
Speaker 2
17:10
right. Oh, yeah, yeah, but people. But look, this is a really good time to talk about this, because we got the great resignation going on. More so than ever, we're seeing a shift of the really senior talent, go from corporate positions to doing their own thing, they're doing that for a number of reasons, one they getting laid off to, they're realizing that that company really didn't give a shit about me, and I don't want to go back to that office, it's completely useless. That doesn't make any sense. So I'm going to go do my own thing. Plus, they were violently exposed to life doing their own thing. And guess what, it ain't that bad world didn't catch on fire. Maybe it kind of did. But anyway, so you got all these people going and doing their own thing, but they're bringing with them some of this legacy corporate culture of like, Oh, this person is gonna pay me money. So I have to work with them. Or like, I have to, like, there's like these weird set of corporate rules that people are bringing into their, their personal careers. And you know, they can jump 10 years in the learning curve by just following some of these directions, like, at the first sign of disrespect, get out, get out, give them a refund, whatever you need to do, it's worth the money, get the hell out, go find sell, go find yourself, somebody that believes what you believe that you really enjoy doing your best work for.
Law Smith
18:24
I believe you mentioned this in the perceived value. Part of the book somewhere, I want to say middle of the book, it's, you know, you talk about, you find yourself. Like, almost like I found myself doing this a lot like you, you would here's the plan. Here's the strategy. Here's the actionable items. Here's the project management, here's a sexy Gantt chart, Ooh, yeah, here's everything you need to do. Here's everything you need to do. And then you get down to the wire to start implementing. And they're like, well, we want kind of like some of this, but not all of it. We've got someone here that can handle this. So we don't need you to do that. And then you mentioned, you start negotiating your own plan. And this isn't where you need to be. You need to have that kind of set from the get go that it's your strategy, this is how to do it. And part of that is the perceived value coming into it right?
2
Speaker 2
19:27
You want to be perceived as an indispensable partner. And, you know, I take this I have to give massive credit to a mentor of mine, Steve Liszewski wrote the book ultimate sales revolution. But the concept of an indispensable partner is that your clients perceive you understand what's most important to them. And number two, that they believe you can facilitate what is most important to them? It has nothing to do with doing the work you need to be perceived as a facilitator. And the more you get in and do things yourself identity will shift from Wow, this is somebody that can help me gain clarity in my business understand what's most important to facilitate that, that will disappear as perceived value. And it will reappear as, wow, you're a great social media button pusher guy, or like, you need something, you know, changed on your website, Max is the guy to talk to guess what they're replaceable? There's 1000s of them. And you can only charge what Joe Schmo the freelancer is charging on Upwork.
Law Smith
20:31
Right, right. And that can happen on the entry that can happen during it, right? So we used to have people that go, Hey, I need social media help in your life. I would think I could talk them into going like, well, they're gonna need everything, they don't even have a brand. So let's start there. The fact
3
Speaker 3
20:49
that they set it that way is like, gosh, it's right, you have no idea what the hell you're talking about? Well, yeah,
Law Smith
20:54
I mean that, you know, that, that sort of that's me not setting myself up, setting up the agency at the time sure to target better people to, to have as clients. So we're taking on these kind of shift things coming to us instead of us pulling it in mind, you know?
2
Speaker 2
21:13
Well, you know, I, I think I think I said it pretty well on the decision makers and order takers. You're either an order taker, and you know that when somebody comes to you and says, here's what I want, and you say, Great, do you want fries with that that's an order taker, that means your clients are in control. And they can shop around and probably are right for what they're asking for. You want to be in a position where a client comes to you and helps you make a decision. Now, it could be the same process just happens much earlier in the process. Hey, Max, I'm thinking about doing some social media work. But since you're the expert, and everybody says that you've helped them turn their business around, and improve their personal lives. I just like what do you think, am I am I headed in the right direction if you're being invited to help them make serious decisions? Like how to spend money? How much with whom, which I think are the I think those are the two biggest things when you know you've arrived is when people are taking your advice on how much money to spend and with whom. You know, you're That's it, and and you got to be really aware of the signals that you are becoming an order taker. And you gotta you got to get out of those relationships.
3
Speaker 3
22:23
I it's funny you say that? I mean, I didn't even think about it until until you said it. But I have found myself having meetings as of recently that were more like that where I was just like, I'm not, I'm not going into this, like, oh, man, this has to go grab, like I just need to talk to this person about their expertise in it and whatever comes of it fine. Like, I don't even realize that was the max trailer cannon to follow. As I was doing it. Just
Law Smith
22:54
read your book, dude. No, I
3
Speaker 3
22:55
Well, first of all, there's not interview. There's man's right. No learning magically.
Law Smith
23:01
There's no Ernest Hemingway like kind of writing style short sentences. Yeah, it's in the book.
2
Speaker 2
23:08
Well, look, there's not an original thought in that book. I'm, like, I just have talked to people for the last six years.
Law Smith
23:17
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot just farted. Sorry, I saw you made a big show of it, too. I just leaned over, you could have not brought it up. He didn't hear it definitely hurt. It's
2
Speaker 2
23:30
not original. There's not an original thought in that book. I mean, I just told her that I got the whole idea. Like
Law Smith
23:35
you didn't hear us talking. Back to the book. No, we talked about that, too. We're a vessel for smarter people on this show. That's why we have you on
23:45
wisdom is that wisdom is the curation of knowledge,
Law Smith
23:48
knowledge times experience, that's what I believe. Yeah,
2
Speaker 2
23:52
well, there's a ton of knowledge out there, but somebody wise can help you navigate the knowledge out there. I've been spending six years gathering knowledge. And I organized it in a way that I wanted to that's all that's all that book is, I think, I think people you know, are frozen in time, like oh my god, I don't, I don't have enough information to write a book that that book is just like a golden business card. It's like the Golden Gun of business cards. It's unreal, it's an unfair advantage. And all I had to do was capture my learning experiences, delete, like most of the content, draw some funny pictures and make sure it reflected my personality and my view on the world and and that's it, and so everyone should write a book. And it should start at volume, whatever the whatever the hell and they should just and they should just update it from time to time.
Law Smith
24:44
No, I agree. I mean, look, it's it's like, it feels like a blog. Well, I was
3
Speaker 3
24:48
thinking, you know, you and I, we don't text ever. But we talk on slack and like two
Law Smith
24:57
little girls, right, but that have their side phone line. And I mean,
3
Speaker 3
25:01
I know that I've thrown out a plus material at you on slack that I knew would never see the light of day and probably shouldn't for whatever reason, man, we pronounced that slack conversations that could be a book in itself. That's
2
Speaker 2
25:16
what Yeah, you could call it you could call it sweaty slack.
25:23
There's a nut sack reference in there somewhere,
Law Smith
25:25
right? Put a dig tie right over a wedding nut slacks.
Law Smith
25:30
Did tie logo right over that? Yes.
25:33
Okay, well, I'll get to work on that.
Law Smith
25:36
I had a hot box, boxers and
2
Speaker 2
25:38
10% 10% of the royalties. That's all I ask for as long as you're marketing.
Law Smith
25:42
What's the percent zero?
25:44
It's a you owe us money.
Law Smith
25:46
You can talk about indispensable partner you talked about when the client started asking you for advice on how to fire someone or if they should fire someone I believe I'm gonna I'm going off memory. Yeah, I would. So when you talk about celebrate will progress, right? It would that be a girl that talks about this on his podcast, you shouldn't have your birthday, everybody has birthday says fucking kind of worthless. But you should have an achievement day you hit a goal. And that's when you should have like, that's when you should celebrate something about your life.
2
Speaker 2
26:24
While you're throwing, you're throwing multiple concepts at me. Number one, you guys got about? Right? Well, we'll get to maybe we'll get to that one. But before you were saying that you were talking about vendor of being a vendor? reified? Yeah. So when a client when a client asks you who if when a client brings you into a decision again, you're an indispensable partner. We talked about really important decisions how to spend money with them. So when a client asks you Hey, I'm thinking that this person is underperforming or this vendor is underperforming? Do you think I should fire them? That's a very strong indication that they do not see you as a vendor because a vendor cannot advise an organization on how to spend their money because their bias naturally they're going to say yeah if you have a website vendor or web services vendor and you say How should I spend my money they're gonna say I think you should spend more money on your website so vendors and decision makers there's a very there's there's a wall in between vendors and decision makers and what clients will try to do incessantly is vendor of phi you they will try and take you out of the category of decision maker and make you a vendor and you should you have to be aware of some of these signals. But that is one question that I love to get reinforces that yes, I am in fact a trusted adviser of these folks. Because they're trusting me with that with that kind of advice. The second thing you were talking about is what the hell's
Law Smith
27:58
going on celebrate your progress. I was trying to tie it into the last page of your Yeah,
2
Speaker 2
28:05
but but they're not really tied in so you're talking about a concept called the gap and and that comes from Dan Sullivan. He's a brilliant he runs strategic Strategic Coach program, which I've been in for five years. And so Dziedzic coach, Strategic Coach, yes, highly recommend for any liquid for any entrepreneur. solopreneur he's a he's a he's a brilliant he's a he's a brilliant guy. But But the problem is people you know, when they get into their own head they first of all visionaries have like an incredible vision of the future and and often it means it's unattainable because they are they are visionaries. If they're visionaries, and their visions are attainable, then they're not, you know, they're not dreaming big enough. So the problem is, they measure themselves their self worth based on their ability to capture these incredible visions, which should never be discovered or else you know it then they're not being creative enough so he talks about that's the gap and it's depressing and it sucks and we all fall into it. And so much better mindset when you're doing your own thing is to measure your progress because you'll always be making progress and it's not like my grandfather would always say it's not in the end result it's enjoying the ride it's enjoying the progress that you make so it's a much it's it's a totally different mindset. And there's you know, different apps for different different people say at different ways it's not you know, dancehall this isn't the only one talking about this, but you know, solopreneur running your own business, the challenge is not getting people to pay you the challenge is not going crazy. While you do it, it's a it's a mental marathon. And and these are some of the concepts that people should be aware of, when, when they're feeling low on energy or when they're feeling like you know, they're totally moving in the Wrong direction it's like hey look look look at where you were a year ago and and use that perspective instead of like I'm not making millions of dollars like I thought I would right
3
Speaker 3
30:10
at least you're not working with Karen anymore at least I'm not exactly that progress that's the thing it's like that that might be my number one thing is that you don't you get to pick who you're around all the time because it really that's there you go kind of a big deal in life she's
Law Smith
30:26
yeah she's talking about her cool new CRV right that that's the car people don't like it either gets
3
Speaker 3
30:34
carline the delay like oh god yeah, that's the best part of it. Yeah, I agree. Yeah,
2
Speaker 2
30:42
my first my first professional experience was rejecting an idea that was an awesome idea. And like so my first rule is like I don't want to I don't want to work with people that reject my ideas for no good reason. I'm open to feedback but if you're just like yeah, I can't do that because yeah, I'll just get through that then I'm just like, well, you're a giant waste of fucking creative energy.
3
Speaker 3
31:01
Yes, I've already made up my mind before you even opened your mouth.
2
Speaker 2
31:05
Exactly. This was day three of a three month internship yeah and then like a month a month and they're like yeah, we would love to have this is my only corporate job by the way I only lasted three days mentally I lasted three months because I signed a contract but I started a whole business while I was there anyway, I realized I realized that you know, corporate is just my opinion, waste of time.
Law Smith
31:27
Well you know yourself some people like the security of it, you know, you know, is it secure?
2
Speaker 2
31:35
Is it secure that one person can take away 100% of your income and given time to that secure Yeah, it's
Law Smith
31:42
a it's a Trojan horse. I agree. It's Yeah,
3
Speaker 3
31:44
we talked about secure work. We got fired from the same company.
Law Smith
31:48
Yeah. Yeah. Secure after I forgot
31:51
a reason to both after
Law Smith
31:54
I failed a culture I
31:56
still have a job. I don't know what you're talking about security.
Law Smith
32:00
Yeah, well, it wasn't like we weren't working on the side anyway. But the the you had as from Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach, the space between where you are, and your unattainable vision is the gap. Yes. Yeah. And, and
2
Speaker 2
32:16
it's the Achilles heel of visionaries. Right? Because if you're a visionary you come up with ship it's unattainable.
Law Smith
32:21
Well, what I wrote was like, This is why celebrities are miserable when they get famous because they got there and they got to this thing that they thought they they
3
Speaker 3
32:31
would all that energy they use to get their amazing is now and that's why they go nuts. Yeah, well, that's why Tom Cruise is jumping off the side fucking buildings. Without You don't have to do that shit, dude. Yes, he does. What he does,
Law Smith
32:44
or I've called I've heard it called the aim to be the only guy that
2
Speaker 2
32:46
jumps off. Exactly. the only actor doing this Jackie Chan's already got there. But
Law Smith
32:51
yeah, but the difference with Tom Cruise is he keeps moving. So that's the other part, your vision. And your vision needs to change the position, your POV of the vision. That's what you're kind of saying.
2
Speaker 2
33:03
Right? Well, that's, that's, that's the other thing. You said, visionary? It's You're right. You're always you're always expanding it. So it's like it's like you're it's like you're beating yourself up for not being able to touch the sun or reach the horizon. Like it's the horizon, it's always out there. You're forever You never get there.
3
Speaker 3
33:21
So the real skill is being able to push that horizon no matter what.
2
Speaker 2
33:27
Well it but when it comes to measuring yourself, measure yourself based on your progress, measure yourself backwards, not forwards.
Law Smith
33:33
Yeah, and it's that thing, like we've, we've talked a lot about smart goals this year, because I've set it out at the beginning of the year. And it actually has been interesting that I have been monitored, not monitoring the progress of like, attainable goals. They're measurable. So that the fact that they're measurable, I spent, you know, a five minutes a day typing in all the shit that I'm doing to see if I'm hitting it. So it's been interesting to do that and it has been satisfying to
34:03
see those records.
Law Smith
34:05
All right, it was just Yeah,
34:06
and if you're attaining if you're
Law Smith
34:07
a T shirt, push ups one.
2
Speaker 2
34:09
If you're attaining your goal, then push it but the thing is, if you're attaining your goal than my own wasn't the right goal.
34:17
Right? Yes.
Law Smith
34:18
34,000 push ups 34,000 setups this year. I'm at 29,000 push ups prison workout
34:24
yo 30
Law Smith
34:25
yeah three lose that's the ray lose workout when he was in prison. Yeah, wrongfully accused might I say 30,000 to keep you got to keep yourself busy 30,000 setups and then I want to get 2000 miles walking or running and I'm at 1600 for the
3
Speaker 3
34:41
year so damn good, nice you know I'm gonna have to pull mine
Law Smith
34:45
but for me I know that goal is about being more consistent because I can be really good for three weeks and then a shit ball for one and I that's what I realized about myself trying to make these goals is I want to be more consistent. I know I need to be so that That was like a little little thing there But back to the gap thing not talking about the store the hedonistic treadmill is the way I've always heard that right you get up to this you're always it's always another thing the next thing Ilan Musk has the next thing I'm gonna do I'm going to take people to fucking space that's that's what we're doing man you know I'm gonna have six companies that are super ambitious but I know myself and I know the people that are hired
2
Speaker 2
35:31
but the point of that the point of a goal is it forces you to have plan right and you know because the
Law Smith
35:37
as you said strategy is just to plan right? We create you
2
Speaker 2
35:41
know somebody that's brilliant their best friend is his focus because if you're not focused then you know your your brilliance gets divided up into all these you know, freakin ideas and none of them ever happened. So I'm a big fan of setting goals. But when people say okay, I have a goal and they don't commit to a very specific plan on how to get there they're only shooting yourself in the foot and they're setting themselves up for failure. The point is not to achieve that goal The point is to give yourself permission to focus on the things that you've identified to reach that goal Yes, you might exceed that goal you might come short of it but the the mental anguish that business owners people that make their own agenda suffer is Oh no, I'm paranoid. I feel guilty that I'm not doing the right thing that I'm not doing enough work. Because in every other situation somebody tells you what to do they tell you how you're going to be measured, but when you're doing your own thing you have to make that shit up yourself and without objective criteria. You're gonna tell yourself that you're a piece of
Law Smith
36:42
shit. Yeah, you're gonna beat the shit out of yourself.
2
Speaker 2
36:46
Exactly. So you got to you got to switch into like I'm going to give myself a plan and I'm going to give myself permission to follow that plan, right wrong or indifferent. And it frees you up from a lot of guilt
Law Smith
36:59
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um I definitely went through that for sure because I felt like I wasn't doing enough but then my not doing enough at home and then everything else and then it kind of spirals into that and then
2
Speaker 2
37:12
we have a culture that yeah culture that celebrates working yourself to death.
Law Smith
37:16
Yeah, hustle cultures fucking that's it's a it's a Trojan horse as well. I think I think yeah, I mean, well, we I think a lot of people push it because a lot of us aren't our proclivity isn't to have a good work ethic. So I think a lot of people that push that I think is just kind of motivating themselves, but
2
Speaker 2
37:37
I have the I have the world's lowest work ethic. Every time I'm faced with a task my brain immediately goes to how do I get how do I get the best result with the least amount of effort? Well, yeah. Sufficient and in order to do that you got to build a system there's a moon planets,
37:54
NASA deficiencies
2
Speaker 2
37:57
right you're not gonna have you're not gonna have every individual on earth you know, stand on each other's shoulders to get to the moon. You got to figure out your way but people are sitting there and hustle culture guy just work harder.
38:07
Yeah, you know math harder.
Law Smith
38:09
Yeah, sleep when you're dead. Yeah,
2
Speaker 2
38:11
yeah, you know, and another and another thing i don't i don't know if I'm allowed to just go on on rants. But you know, another thing that I noticed leave
Law Smith
38:18
on this rant How about that? Because we got we got a bounce we're keeping we're keeping the time. How we you know, that 33 minute mark?
2
Speaker 2
38:26
Yeah, yeah, well, hey, um, that you know, on the weatherman, you guys can have me back next month, we talk about weather out there and entrepreneur world, but I'm, I'm slowly starting to feel stronger that the worst thing that you can do as a solopreneur, or a consultant is to charge hourly for your services. Great. Oh, yeah. And it's not because you make less money. Yeah, that's not the reason. Reason is, the reason is simply because you are incentivized to do more work. Hmm, yeah. To take longer the same result. Yeah, so that doesn't help anybody. So the it's the, it's the core of the incentive structure of hourly. And I, you know, I remember when I charged hourly, the first time I went out and did my own thing, this is before I even you know, this was like, right out of college, I was like, 19 or 20 years old or whatever. And I was all proud because I did like 20 hours of work for this client. And they were like, Hey, dude, we didn't we didn't think you do that would take that long, right? And I'm like, Whoa, shit. So here, here, I you know, so that the incentive structure is to do more work, it doesn't help anybody.
3
Speaker 3
39:39
And on the flip side, you know, if you're really good, and you're fast, and you're efficient, and you spent years and years and years, honing that and you do something and it only takes two hours. It's weird to be like it only to be like, okay, so yeah, two hours at this rate there, boom. It's like, Well, no, yeah. You're only able to do that. Sure, but I mean, you know, it Yeah if you're doing it and you're experienced and you're good at it it's it's a weird way to charge it should look
2
Speaker 2
40:05
like you know it should go what's the what's the martial art where, you know, Judo Aikido Judo? Yeah Judo takes no effort it looks like you're doing nothing the other person My dad always said I love it we're
40:16
just guessing yeah zero clues
Law Smith
40:18
I didn't I didn't know that was good I knew we
2
Speaker 2
40:21
were we have like a mind we have like a mind meld if you read the book we'd have my knowledge too but it's just me
Law Smith
40:26
shouldn't read the book no big deal so look
2
Speaker 2
40:31
so I'll leave you with I'll leave you with the mindset shift we are you know, doing your own thing or being a consultant is not about charging for your time. It's about charging for access to a lifetime of knowledge that you've accumulated,
Law Smith
40:42
right? Yes. Yep. I've always said be resourceful you know, similar kind of thought process and there's just better
40:51
max you have another rant so we don't finish it on that.
Law Smith
40:54
Yeah. How about a silly rod?
40:57
I always say be
Law Smith
40:58
resourceful you got any parenting tips? I always like don't say anything entrepreneurs that parenting hard Yes. Okay. Oh he's still recording no yeah, we can cut it off I I plead the fifth we got to get you down I have this I can
41:17
honestly say I love you now we got to
Law Smith
41:19
get you down to Tampa one time party down here we'll take you to the finest strip club buffet
2
Speaker 2
41:26
well look what watch out because you know I grew up in I grew up in Jupiter I sled family there I
Law Smith
41:33
take yeah
2
Speaker 2
41:35
you know sometimes I know it's not right next to Tampa but you guys could send a car to pick me out sure sure that works yeah strip clubs have those right? They got little they got little cars
Law Smith
41:45
and they're called bang bus.
41:49
No way. No way. You know that one drive sucks. Honestly, literally.
Law Smith
41:56
We'll figure it out. Man. We don't believe in last year our governor slaps people when they put them on but uh alright man. We'll have you on soon I had more there's so much in this book literally every page is a good topic to discuss so we'll bring that weatherman
2
Speaker 2
42:12
like I by the time by the time we talk again I'll have I'll have new ones I had like I've like I had like six of them we got to two of them today. Yeah, I got a whole I got all the new stuff I got all the new fixes you got some new material All right. Let's make all the new I got all the new material.
Law Smith
42:26
Let's try your new material night out. Yeah, I like it.
42:29
new material night on on sweaty slacks.
Law Smith
42:35
sweaty sack in slacks. Alright, buddy. Appreciate you coming on. out. We'll send you the calendar for the next next one. Yeah, cheers. tag me.
