[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:04] Welcome back to the Blessed Business podcast where we empower Christian business leaders to launch and grow blessed businesses so together we can advance the Kingdom of God. If you haven't already, subscribe to the podcast and check out the online courses and
[email protected]. that's ww.theblessedbusiness.Com and if you're looking for ways to increase your income, check out the Income Accelerator course now available@the blessedbusiness.com income now let's dive into today's episode.
[00:00:35] I have a question.
[00:00:37] I have pondered this many times and I look at people that have achieved a level of entrepreneurial success. They own a business, they have employees, they're making good money, but they are still trying to chained to their desk. They show up day in and day out and they just created for themselves a job that is more demanding than the one that they left to start this business that was supposed to buy them freedom. And the question I asked myself is, when did your dream become another job?
[00:01:15] And I think a lot of entrepreneurs fall prey to this trap, but not intentionally. It just kind of happens that way.
[00:01:22] The business will always want to eat. That's what I tell people that are looking to launch business or that have been somewhat successful in business and start complaining about this or have this issue or like, oh man, I need to do this for my business or I need to spend this or I need to, you know, do this, that and the other. It's like all these different things. I'm just going around with my hair on fire.
[00:01:42] The business will always eat more if you will let it, it will take more of your life, more of your energy, more of your finances. And you, you have to put the reins on will not do that naturally because, you know, most entrepreneurs didn't set out to build a business that consumes their life. I mean, who would do that intentionally, right? It just happens one small decision at a time. And so a lack of intentionality actually creates an outcome you never intended, but you are on track for all along because you failed to be intentional about it.
[00:02:17] And I remember my business mentor, he or one of my business mentors, he told me early on, he said, hunter, you want to build a system where you don't have to be present to win.
[00:02:27] And at first it felt a little bit like a cop out or like a, you know, one of those crazy schemes. Like there's a get rich quick schemes and there's like all these different, like you know, floating around the Internet. There's all these little wisdom quotes and like, you know, little catchy things that it's like, okay, retire early and do this. And a lot of those things are hyperbole. They don't really work. Or it's just trying to get you out of doing actually the hustle and grind that it takes to be successful. But what he said, he said several key things there. He didn't say, hey, you just want to lay on the beach all the time and you just want to be able to make enough money to survive and retire early. He said, you want to build a system where you don't have to be present to win. And that was powerful for me because I realized it's going to take a system.
[00:03:17] I don't actually have to achieve a certain dollar amount. I have to build a system so I don't have to wait until a certain age or a certain dollar amount per se, to quote, unquote, retire and then just sit around and do nothing. But I can build a system where it wins without me, where I'm not the. I'm no longer the bottleneck, where my business operates without me being the operator. So I'm not an owner operator. I'm an owner.
[00:03:43] And so that was a fascination for me early on. And I saw people that, you know, again, that were super successful, but they had less freedom than the employees that work for them. And I just would scratch my head. I'd say, you have every opportunity to build the systems, you know, hire the people, create the frameworks, like, do what you have every tool and opportunity to do what you need to do to buy back your freedom. But instead you've just, like become consumed with this business. And I think sometimes it becomes, if you're not careful, you're part of your identity. I am a successful business owner. My business is a success. So therefore I'm a success. But your success is totally different. Personal success is totally different than business success. And that's a deeper topic we can get into later. But I think it goes back to the dream of why did you start your business? What was the passion behind it? Most people didn't start it because they just love payroll, HR and paperwork and dealing with customers and those late night phone calls and emergency meetings and things like that.
[00:04:48] The dream, right? Those were the necessary things it took to achieve what you actually wanted, which was, I want to spend more time with my family. I want to be able to provide well for my family. I want to be a giver to the kingdom of God. I want to be blessed. I want to help people. I want to solve problems, I want to fill in the blank. So it was more aspirational and inspirational, not just getting sucked into the everyday grind of the minutiae of what it is takes to run and start, start and run a business. Right? And so when you first become an entrepreneur, that early vision is what drove you. But it, it, you almost came, became a victim of your own success. If you're listening to this and you're like, man, I make six figures or seven figures or whatever and I can't go on vacation for two weeks, right? Otherwise my business burns to the ground.
[00:05:39] But that's not how it should be, right? I had lunch with an entrepreneur a while back and we had an extended lunch. It was an hour and a half, two hours and I was sitting there calmly because everything was running smoothly back at the office for me. I mean, God had blessed me and I intentionally built a system and hired the team and empowered them and had processes in place where I could take a six hour lunch. I mean, that'd be a really long lunch, but it wasn't going to change the, the output for the day, if that makes sense, a whole lot.
[00:06:15] And so, but that person, after about, you know, 45 minutes, he's like starting to look at his watch, he's like, this is very important, I need this meeting. But like, I'm kind of worried that everything's burning to the ground back where my employees are working and everything like that. I was like, man, you're trapped. You're trapped. So we shifted the conversation and started talking a little bit about what it takes to, to start buying back your freedom. And again, it's not a certain dollar amount, it's not a certain level of success because you think, okay, when I get to this point, it will automatically, the business will automatically create freedom for me. That is a false mindset. That is a myth.
[00:06:52] But really, success quietly starts changing the rules on you. You know, so early on. You know, wearing every hat is necessary, okay? So it's important. I mean, you're going to have to hustle and grind. You're going to have to, you know, wear all the hats, you're going to have to do all the things you're gon to be the janitor, the, the sales guy, the marketing guy, the invoicing, the doing the QuickBooks late at night guy. I mean like when you're starting, or gal in this case, depending on your case, I guess, but that you're going to have to do all the things early on. But as the business grows. Many owners never graduate past that. They feel that in order to run their business effectively, they still have to wear all those hats.
[00:07:33] They don't know how to offload those and.
[00:07:36] Or at least offload them effectively. You know, I've seen people that'll get really flustered. They'll get totally overwhelmed, and then they're like, okay, I'm gonna hire somebody. And then they try to dump on somebody in the middle of, like, a big client project or they've got a lot of overwhelm, or they're, you know, personally just, like, at their max. Well, they don't have systems in place. They don't have process in place. They just are trying to invite someone else into their chaos and say, let's ride together. And the other person's like, I can't get inside your head. I don't know how to do what you're asking me to do. And it's like, well, I don't have time to explain it, but, like, I just need you to do the things. And it's like, well, I don't know how to do the things. And so it creates this, you know, frustration. And so many, you know, the entrepreneurs will get frustrated with their first couple of hires and then just either a shrink back and say, well, I'm not going to hire, you know, people because, man, I can't get good people. Well, if you had good systems and processes and training and recruitment practices and you had a way of systematically onboarding them and empowering them and enabling them to do the things that you need them to do, it would be a totally different experience, I guarantee you. And so a lot of businesses fail early to grow because of that. Their first couple hires are just like, don't go well, because they just never can get past the point where they can offload to somebody else because they're so busy surviving that that they don't know how to step back and be more strategic instead of tactical and actually build the things, the systems and processes to be able to hand off to people. Right.
[00:09:05] But then also, I've seen it later on where the business grows. You've got employees, but they've hired for some positions, they've offloaded some hats, but not the right ones. Okay? So they're still doing the payroll, they're still doing the accounting, they're still doing the main sales calls. They're still doing the, you know, name whatever the task or the item is, and so they can get past that first hurdle of like, okay, I've got a Secretary. I've got someone who's doing invoicing now. I've got technicians in the field. I've got those type things. But then they hit another level of block where they're still wearing too many hats. It's just the hats look different. So they feel like they've graduated, but really they're just creating more and more stress for themselves.
[00:09:46] And I remember that when I was the first part of that, I got trapped in when I owned my marketing and web design agency for a number of years, about a decade. And I never could grow past a certain point because I felt like I never could truly release a project to somebody else because I never one had systems and processes in place. It was all in my head. And I had the relationship with the client. I had a vision for what needed to happen, but I never could seem to translate that to someone I trusted to actually deliver.
[00:10:16] And so I tried to do it all myself. And I remember the. I think I've told this story before, but I remember the first project. I mean, the last project I did when I had started into the land business, the real estate company I have now, and I was very intentional. I was going to build it differently. But what really solidified that was when my last project, I had someone who wanted me to build them a website. And I was kind of like, you know, I'm kind of burned out. I'm kind of done with this. And so, I mean, I'll do it, but, like, it's got to be worth it to me. And normally I charge, let's say, $3,500 for a website, may maybe four or five thousand.
[00:10:50] Then I was like, you know what?
[00:10:51] I want to make $3,500 off this. And I found a company that I can outsource it to.
[00:10:56] The problem is they charge $3,500 because that's what it actually takes to build one.
[00:11:01] And so I was like, you know, I'm going to have to bid this at like 7 or $8,000 to make what I would normally make and to be able to outsource it. And they're probably not going to take it. There's just no way. So I get in the meeting and we start talking. And they loved the ideas I sold them on, the vision of it and everything. And the whole time in the back of my head, I'm like, this is a. You know, their current website wasn't very expensive, probably, and, you know, what I'm selling them is gonna be a, you know, big upgrade. But, like, it's not, you know, I don't know that it's worth 7,000 because it wasn't worth 7,000 to me. But I was like, okay, we'll see. Well, we get into the meeting and we get to the point where, you know, they pretty much liked my ideas, they wanted to move forward. I could tell that they were really liking it. And I said, well, what's yalls, you know?
[00:11:46] Or they said, what is this going to cost and how long is it going to take? And I said, well, I almost just gave the number, but I was like, well, what's your timeline? And they gave the timeline of when they wanted to be done by. And I was like, okay, if we could do it by XYZ date, would that work together? They're like, yeah, that'd be perfect. I said, okay, I think we can do that. And by that time, one of the key owners or founders of the company had actually left the room. I was like, that either means they're definitely not going to use me, or they're already committed to using me and he's just leaving it to the underlings to kind of wrap up the details, right? And so I was like, okay, this is. This is either really good or really bad when he left. And then so I. They asked again, well, how much is going to cost? I said, well, what's your budget? And they said, I don't know if we have a budget. They said, what did the last one cost? And they're like talking amongst themselves, like 22, 24. I was like, yeah, like 2200, 20, 400. Because I had looked at their website and it was terrible. And I was like, man, they got someone cheap to buy it or to build it. And I was like, man, they're not going to go for 7,000. But the more they talked about, I was like, wait a second, 22? Maybe they're. Maybe they're talking bigger numbers than I thought.
[00:12:50] So I just went out on a wild limb.
[00:12:53] Crazy wild hair here. And I said, so if we could do it for $20,000 by XYZ date, would that work for you? And they're like, yes. Oh, wow. That's definitely a couple thousand dollars cheaper than the last one. And we could totally roll with that. Yeah, if you can do that, we'll just sign today. I'm like, I literally got onto the elevator out of that meeting and I'm like pinching myself. I was like, is this real? And like, that project, I ended up handing it off to that other company.
[00:13:20] They white labeled it for Me, which means they handled everything. They even gave me a dedicated project manager and I gave her an email address for my company. And basically from then on until I got the last check, they handled it. So I walked away and made multiple, multiple times what I would have if I'd have built it all myself and charged $3,500 and I didn't have to touch it. And that was a huge aha moment for me where I stopped caring about I have to do it all.
[00:13:47] I realized that I'm here to build a business that buys back my freedom, that provides an income for my family and that helps me to achieve my goals, not to just micromanage every aspect of the project. And honestly that they built a way better website than I did, than I could have. And so the client was pleased with the project, everything went well, we got paid. I mean like it was like a dream come true. And so I was, I literally was kicking myself. I was like, I've ran a marketing web design business for 10 years and this was my, one of my last projects. Cause I'd already planned to sell the business and I was moving on to real estate and I was like, why haven't I been doing this for 10 years? I would be so much further along.
[00:14:31] And so I intentionally from then on started building differently. Like the real estate company I built, I built differently where I wanted to build a system from the beginning where I had systems and processes and I was enabling team members. Eventually when we got to the point where we needed to hire people, we've now got several employees. Where it was able, I was able to hand it off to them in a manageable way to where now it's a fine tuned machine where like I can literally leave for six months and my real estate company would, I'd come back and it'd be pretty much the same as it is today. Actually it probably running a little bit smoother because I tend to create a lot of chaos for the team. And so it may actually be running, humming along a little bit better. And so I don't say that in a bragging way, but I'm saying I failed to do that the first go around in my first venture in the marketing web design business, I really tried to learn it on the second go round. And now that the main part of our real estate business has been able to be basically managed and handed off like that they do, my team does a fantastic job managing it. So now I've been able to actually expand our business. We did a lot of, you know, Buy raw land, subdivide owner, finance it out, built a portfolio, things like that. But now I've actually got the energy. I'm launching two or three other different divisions. We've got a dirt work and excavation excavation business that's tied to that real estate company now. And a we're building a couple of spec houses like barndominium style houses for our some of our rural clients. And so like we're starting two different divisions that would were just a dream before that are going to potentially within the next one to two years could double the profitability of the company because I had now have the time to focus on that. But I'm building those new divisions with putting the right people in place where it's taking even less time to build these new ones because one, cause I have a team in place that's handling all the backend stuff because of the core business. But secondly because of how hyper intentional I am about building it from the get go. Each of those divisions where it's like I am hands on them, I'm having to build them. But one, I have the time because I've offloaded the first business. But two, everything I'm building has systems and processes and ways to develop people to be able to hand it off to them so they can run with it. And so I'm like hyper focused on this now and, and so it's like man, what all can I do if I'm able to do this. So yes, the point is not to you know, work yourself out of a job to where you can sit around and twiddle your thumbs, right? The point is you can be more involved in ministry, you can be more involved in your family, you can be more present and you can actually grow and be do more strategic things where you're working on your business, not just in your business. If you're intentional about this instead of just letting it just like become just another job that you're anchored to where you own the job or maybe the job still owns you in this case. But build a business.
[00:17:32] A business is a system and a structure and assets and a process and a team that works for you instead of you working for it. And so that's what you have to do. And the truth is though, this happens, this trap that people get caught up in happens slowly. I mean I've experienced it myself. No one just wakes up and is like oh, I'm going to go trap myself today and I'm going to become the bottleneck for my company. But every little small dependency it seems reasonable at first. Well, they need my approval on this, or they need my signature on this, or they need my perspective in this meeting. I got to show up for that, or I need to go smooth over the ruffled feathers with this client or I've got to do this. No, if everything flows through you, you are the bottleneck as the owner. And again, you start that way because you have to when you're beginning, but you have to intentionally start retooling your mind and reframing yourself to say, okay, do I have to do this? Can this be automated? Can this be delegated? Can this be eliminated? Can this be handed off to somebody else? Can we create a system and a process around this? Can AI handle this for me? Is there a better tool or software or system that would minimize the time required to do this? And even optimization like we've been optimizing, even on our accounting side, you know what, credit card, company credit card with employee cards that we use, where they snap a picture of it and it automatically Syncs up with QuickBooks, that not only is optimizing my life, but that's also optimizing the guy that does all my books for me. Right? And so by making hyper intentional systems and processes and optimizations, we minimize the workload for everybody, including. But it starts at the leader level, right? If you can optimize yourself out of a job, so to speak, then you can work more strategically on helping all of your employees be highly optimized and efficient. And then everyone is more productive, but it also doesn't have to steal their life as well. And so it buys back so much more time. And everyone feels the difference when you're operating that way.
[00:19:35] And a good metric to think about is like, okay, are you going on vacation and taking work calls? I've done that for years. I mean, I still struggle to. I mean, I love doing the business things that I do. And so there are times I still would, but I've been trying to be hyper intentional about can I avoid this? And there's been times when I'll get an important call, I'll listen to my voicemails at the end of the day, if I'm on vacation or traveling or with my family or whatever. And I will actually just send the voicemail to an employee and say, hey, go tackle this. Hey, this person needs you to follow back with them. And in five minutes I'm done, instead of spending six or eight hours interrupting my time with family and friends. And again, I'm not perfect at this because you have to intentionally focus on this and go back to this principle over and over again. Because like I said early on, the business will always eat. And if you love what you do and you're passionate about it and you're called to it, that's okay. But you have to keep it reined in and keep it in balance because it's not your entire life, it's just a part of your life. And so you have to keep it inside the box that it should live in so it doesn't erode away your family, your ministry, you know, your health, things like that. And so you really need to, instead of just letting it just happen a little bit at a time, you need to get out ahead of it and start being intentional. Because the real cost of, of allowing the business to consume you isn't just financial. Okay, because like, like I said, there is a financial aspect. Because now that I'm being more strategic, I'm launching, I'm literally in the process of launching two new divisions and two other companies that I would not have had the time if I did not have these other things in place. So I will make more money.
[00:21:20] I took a paycheck, a pay cut to hire some employees and to put some of these systems and processes and invest in tools and things like that initially. But it's going to double or triple the output in just one to two years that will be sustainable without me going forward. And so by doing that, I've been able to buy back my freedom. So yes, there is a financial cost to you being tied to the day to day operations of your business and not being able to be strategic and being solely tactical focused. But the biggest cost, it isn't even the stress, it's not the financial gains that you're missing out on, on being able to, to grow your business. But it's your family, it's your peace, your health, your creativity, your ministry, the margin in your life. It's all the other areas they don't cry as loud. And the squeaky wheel gets the oil. And a lot of times the business feels squeaky and you justify it saying, well, I'm doing this to support my family. Or I've got employees, paychecks depending on the line here. I mean, I've got families depending on. You can build yourself a golden prison where you're being held by golden chains, where it's like, this is so wonderful, this is so important. This is my calling, this is what I'm supposed to do, this is important.
[00:22:36] But then you use that to ignore the Other areas of your life that are equally, if not more important. That is really what you built. That was your dream, to be able to be better at those other areas of life, not just at business.
[00:22:52] And so you have to be careful about that. This is important, and I'm talking to myself here because it's important that you have to manage the outcomes for yourself and your business.
[00:23:08] And some of it may be that the scorecard is just wrong. I've talked about the measuring stick before, probably on here, but for a long time I was measuring myself and my success and everything from the wrong perspective, from the wrong measuring stick, where I thought that if my business was a success, I was a success.
[00:23:29] Revenue was a scorecard. But really, you know, it's not just about dollars and cents. It's not just about profitability. It's not top line or bottom line revenue. It's about freedom. Does this provide an income that gives, allows me to pay my bills and live the life we want.
[00:23:44] But once we've achieved that and we're giving, we're being a blessing, we're being good stewards. You know, all those things we talk about business as mentioned here all the time and the purpose, beyond just profitability, just for yourself, but beyond that, even giving, even being consumed by your business so you can give more is unhealthy. It's based out of an honorable desire to be a blessing to the kingdom of God. But God does not expect you to be consumed to the extent that you have to sacrifice your health, your family and your personal relationship with him just to be a giver. So that's a false paradigm if you're thinking that way. But the true metric of success that I've started measuring myself more by is like a freedom score. Like how more, how much more freedom does this buy me to be able to do xyz, to live xyz? Because there's. The blunt reality is there's some business owners, if you're not able to get over the hump, so to speak, where you create these systems and processes and hire the people and get to a certain point, you might would be better off selling off the business and going work somewhere and clock in nine to five and just invest. I mean, to me that feels almost sacrilegious to say that because I'm like, everyone should own a business, everyone should be an entrepreneur. But if you aren't able or you aren't equipped or you're not willing to, or just your opportunities aren't there to be able to grow to that Level.
[00:25:14] Just be warned, if you don't put healthy boundaries around it, you can be consumed by your business.
[00:25:21] And that's not healthy. And that's really. The business should serve your life, not require you to sacrifice your life for it.
[00:25:29] And so revenue is an easy thing to measure. Freedom, personal freedom is a harder thing to measure. But if you have a spouse or if you have kids, you can probably ask them. And I remember one time my wife told me, she was like, I would rather have a smaller house or a less nicer car, or go out to eat filet mignon a couple times less a month or a year, whatever, and have more of your time, have more of you present, not just your time sitting in the home, but where you're not totally consumed in your mind.
[00:26:07] Even when you're with us, you're not present. And that was a big wake up call for me because again, I used all the same justifications I used earlier. This is for you guys. This is what, this is for us. This is for the kingdom of God. I used all those excuses, but I realized even, you know, good intentions does not justify a life that becomes consumed with the wrong things, even the wrong good things.
[00:26:36] And so that could be applied to a lot of other things other than just business. But in this case, we're talking about your business. So I think that kind of one of my takeaways here for this episode is I want you to start evaluating, okay? Is if, if you're in living in the trap that I'm talking about, when did your dream become another job? When did it start? When did you start allowing it to consume you? Okay? When did you get to where you couldn't sleep at night? When did you start thinking about it? At the, you know, all the time when you're on vacation and when, like, you're at the dinner table, you're taking phone calls, you're answering emails, when you're trying to calendar things for clients over time while your, your son or your daughter or your kids are trying to have a conversation with you, wake up and realize that's not how. It doesn't have to be that way, and that's not how it's supposed to be. And so this week, you don't have to change anything. Okay? You're just gonna. My challenge for this week is you don't have to change anything unless you already know what to change and start doing that. But start observing. Pay attention every time you stop what you're doing because only you can handle this or I have to be involved in this or I become the bottleneck or I have to sign off on this.
[00:27:52] Ask yourself, is this a temporary necessity, or have I accidentally designed my business this way? Because your business is built by design. But but it's either intentional design or unintentional design.
[00:28:05] And so I think that if you can start doing that, you're going to see a great increase in both your personal freedom. You'll start thinking in terms of systems and processes, you'll start thinking in ways of how can I offload this, how can I delegate this, how can I eliminate this, how can I simplify this, Et cetera. And that will start to buy back your freedom and you'll be a much happier person.
[00:28:32] This concludes today's episode and we trust you were able to walk away with something of value from the content that you heard. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. Be sure to share this episode with a friend. Sharing is caring after all, and check out the resources available on our
[email protected] we have a lot of goodies out there for you, like the Income Accelerator course that teaches you the five keys to unlocking your earning potential or the Launch course, which is a step by step guide to help you launch your own business. Thank you for your time and attention today and until next time, be blessed.
