1 (2s):
Boom, shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Sales Evangelists. Today, we'll be breaking down why most entrepreneurs struggle to get growth profit and the freedom they want. To drop these value bombs, I brought Clate Mask into EOFire Studios. He's a NY Times bestselling author and CEO of Keap, the small business automation leader. Keap is an 8-time Inc5000 winner, serving 100k users, with $1 billion in revenue generated. Today, we'll be chatting about small business chaos, the dark side of entrepreneurship.

1 (43s):
We'll talk about better life balance and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today’s episode goes to Clate and our sponsors,

Marketing Made Simple hosted by Dr. JJ Peterson (52s):
Marketing Made Simple hosted by my friend Dr. JJ Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen, listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

Thought-Leader by Taylor Conroy (1m 14s):
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1 (1m 35s):
Clate say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

0 (1m 43s):
You bet. Shout out to Fire Nation. So great to be here with the gd I, what I would say is any business can double or triple their sales with proper follow up

1 (1m 52s):
Fire. Nation, follow up. It sounds so easy, but the execution level on that is so small of a percentage and we're gonna talk about why most entrepreneurs struggle to get growth profits and freedom. 'cause I know you want Fire Nation, we're gonna talk about that today 'cause chaos is all around us plates. But what exactly is small business chaos?

0 (2m 17s):
Yeah, you bet. I've been, I've been steady and living teaching this for over two decades and it's the small business. Chaos is sometimes referred to as growing pains. Sometimes it's referred to as dropping balls, sometimes it's referred to work life as, as work life imbalance. You know, it's, it's the systems that are inadequate that are causing issues in your business. It's the breakdowns between team members, the missed handoffs, the the egg on the face with the customer because something didn't work out quite right. Frustrated employees, partners, customers, family members, friends, because business and entrepreneurship can take so much from the entrepreneur. So it's all of those things that's the small business chaos that prevents businesses from and, and their, you know, businesses from achieving the Profit growth and freedom that they want.

1 (3m 5s):
Two decades. Fire Nation just let that sink in. And on Entrepreneurs, on Fire plates, we mostly, not always, but we mostly focus on the light side of entrepreneurship, the light, the positive, the awesomeness. But there is a dark side of entrepreneurship as well. Can you speak to this?

0 (3m 26s):
Yeah, I, I will. And by the way, I'm right there with you. I love, I love entrepreneurship. I love the light side, I love the, the triumphs and, and, you know, successes. And as Entrepreneurs, we're a sunny bunch. You know, we, we typically are saying, yeah, things are great, you know, we're talking, you know, anybody asks you about your business and you're gonna say positive things. And there's a dark side. And that dark side is actually the, the extreme end of the small business chaos I just mentioned. And it's where, it's where the business owner begins to really make the, the kind of sacrifices and trade-offs in their life that begin to have long-term consequences. And so it comes from the, the pressure, the overwhelm, the, the imbalance of work, work and life.

0 (4m 9s):
And it, it creates, you know, really some, some ugly things from, from depression and, and drugs and, and addictions to, you know, sometimes things as as rough as divorce and death and, and, and things we really don't like to talk about. And so I, the reason why I think it's important to at least acknowledge it is that sometimes is the business can require so much of us that if we're not careful, we get outta balanced in an extreme way. And, and that dark side shows up. And I've seen it with struggling businesses. I've seen it with successful businesses. This isn't something that is unique to those that are trying to make it, it sometimes the dark side shows up in the most successful Entrepreneurs lives.

0 (4m 50s):
Can

1 (4m 50s):
We get specific on what a dark side of entrepreneurship could look like? We don't have to use names or like real situations, but I want Fire Nation to be able to see or have a picture painted for them of that in real life. I'll

0 (5m 4s):
Give you a couple examples. $10 million business owner on the outside, everything looks amazing. He's, he's been growing the business about 25, 30% per year for some time now. And his health is, is in a bad place. His marriage is is on the rocks. He's, he's dealing with some addictions and things that are just really eating him up. And you wouldn't see it from the outside, you wouldn't notice it, but it's creating sustainability in the business that is a question mark at best and is doubtful, you know, more likely. And so that's one example. Another example, you know, I talk about this in, in the book, conquer the Chaos, very opening story.

0 (5m 50s):
Business owner is, is doing great in his landscaping business. Feels like he's on on top of the world. The family, you know, friends and family are no longer worrying about him because he's, he's actually now successful. But his, he comes home and his, his, his new wife is frustrated and saying, look, you're, you're putting too much into the business. He tries to get the balance right. Can't quite get there. On Valentine's Day, she breaks the news to him that she's, she's gonna divorce him. They divorce, he's frustrated, sad, heartbroken, and then has an amazing bounce back story the second time around with his business where he learns balance in a better way. Those are two examples of the dark side.

0 (6m 30s):
Now

1 (6m 31s):
You've seen people get stuck in the chaos and of course we've been talking a little bit about chaos with the dark side, but let's Keap talking about this. 'cause this is obviously an issue getting stuck in the chaos. Like what does that look like? How can we pull ourselves out? What lessons can we learn from you today?

0 (6m 48s):
There are a lot of causes of the chaos. Part of it is, like I mentioned, is the, the personal habits and practices of the entrepreneur. And there's a lot to be said for that. But where it really, where it really manifests itself in the business is in the systems and processes of the business. When, when those systems are inadequate, when tools aren't talking to each other, when there's, you know, there aren't clear SOPs, standard operating procedures and processes that people are following, what ends up happening is there are breakdowns and things slip through the cracks, whether it's leads or customers, projects, deadlines, and, and customers get frustrated.

0 (7m 28s):
Team members are are, you know, feeling stretched thin and overwhelmed. The business owner is saying, gosh, why are we making these mistakes? And, and it causes the business to plateau or to slow down in its growth. And sometimes we call these things growing pains, but really it's just a matter of getting the systems right. And so if, if I had to put my finger on one thing and say, What, what is it that that causes and perpetuates the chaos within the business? It is inadequate systems,

1 (7m 60s):
Systems, processes. I mean, these are things that people struggle with their entire time running a business. I mean, the people that really succeed at the beginning and continue that success have nailed it at the beginning. And of course they continue to iterate and pivot and adjust as they need to going forward with that process. But it's really interesting that you're pinpointing that. So if you were to talk to Fire Nation are listeners right now who are running businesses, who are small business owners, entrepreneurs, side hustlers, what would be A step they could do this week, this month to really get prepared for their business to take the next step?

0 (8m 38s):
The first thing is to recognize that I'll, I'll just say it this way. JLD, the, the, a lot of times as entrepreneurs we, we kind of, we, we, we love the rush, the fun, the excitement, the, you know, the thrill of the deal, the serving the customer, the impact we have on, on clients. We love all of that. And, and sometimes the systems and processes are just like, blah, you know, we just like, we don't wanna think about that. But that is what, that is. What Keap you from having those, those firefighter drills that you deal with and the late night calls and the weekend issues and as a leader getting pulled back in and as your team members, you know, having to constantly be in reactive mode. And so the very first thing I would say is recognize that systems are the way, I mean, this is how you avoid that, that frustration that you deal with as an entrepreneur.

0 (9m 28s):
And I think it's a mindset, JLD as as much as anything else, it's just to, you know, like some people have a math block and they're like, oh no, I'm not good at math Some people have like this systems block and they think, oh no, you know, we don't want, we, let's let's have somebody else do that. But I would just say recognize that the system's the way, I mean, look at McDonald's. They create an amazing system whether you like your their food or not. The fact is, when you systematize things, it changes everything. And you can, you can build an amazing scalable business that runs without you. And so I think if you, if people stop and think about the freedom that they really want and the reason they started their business in the first place, then they can change their mindset too. Oh man, we're building, we're gonna build an amazing system.

0 (10m 11s):
We're going to, we're gonna do that work. And so honestly, it's, it's the mindset of is is the first thing

1 (10m 17s):
Fire Nation. This is just the beginning of the Value Bombs that Clate will be dropping when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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1 (13m 31s):
Clate, we're back and you have worked with tens of thousands of Entrepreneurs and you have seen a lot of commonalities as well as a lot of shared traits with those entrepreneurs. A lot of commonalities with those who have succeeded. And A, lot of commonalities with those who have failed. But I wanna talk about the specific success factors that you've seen.

0 (13m 53s):
I just rewrote Conquer the Chaos and, and it's, it's, it was so fun because it ended up being almost a complete rewrite after 14 years when I, when I wrote the initial, you know, the first edition. But I break it down to the six keys to success For entrepreneurs, there are three personal keys, three business keys. the personal keys are mindset, life, vision, and a rhythm of execution. And those are the personal things that entrepreneurs do to create balanced growth in their life. Not just, you know, not just in the business. The, the business side. And I think this is a little more of what you're asking. You know, I I break it down to strategy, automation and leadership. And you know, I think for purposes of what I consistently see and where we spend most of our time, what we see is successful businesses create a process that their customers follow and then they automate that process.

0 (14m 47s):
And that is, that is, if I, if there's one thing I could just put into Fire Nation, I would say, look, you know, at the very beginning I said, look, if you, if you follow up properly, it will double or triple your sales in any business. Well, what, what what's required is to actually map that process that needs to be that, that a that a customer goes through. Sometimes it's called a customer journey or a customer life cycle. But the short of it is what successful businesses do really, really well is they know their customer and they know the journey that that customer goes through in order to become a raving fan of your, your business. And they not only map that journey, but they automate it. And that's what I would, you know, I'd love to, if there was something I could just say, look, Fire Nation, this will, this will supercharge your success.

0 (15m 32s):
It is map your customer lifecycle and automate it.

1 (15m 35s):
Fire Nation, you heard mindsets, you heard life vision, you heard balanced execution. And then on the business side, we're talking strategy automation, leadership. We've talked a lot about the automation side of things, but if you could just give one quick tip for Fire Nation on leadership, what would that be?

0 (15m 54s):
We like to say All problems are leadership problems. When you look at almost anything you're struggling with in the business, it comes down to leadership, either yourself or the leader that you have over that function. And you know, I think just recognizing that As the leader, the buck stops with you and taking accountability and saying, okay, we're gonna go address this issue that we're not happy with the result. All problems are leadership problems,

1 (16m 21s):
Fire Nation, All problems are leadership problems. And Clate, you believe that entrepreneurs can achieve a better life balance than they're probably experiencing right now. How the heck do we do that?

0 (16m 33s):
You know, it's about getting more hours in your day when you get right down to it. We, we all are wishing as entrepreneurs, we had more time. So how do you, how do you change the equation from trading hours for dollars, getting more hours in the day You do it with automation, you know, that this is what we've, we've done for years and years and years. And the thing that I see that smart entrepreneurs are doing is they're recognizing I need to clone myself. I need more of me, I need to get more, I need to do more with less. It is the great game changer for small businesses. And when you do that, you have more hours. You can go to your kids' soccer game, you can spend time with your family, you can actually show up with your friends and have them look at you like, hey, great to see you.

0 (17m 14s):
Instead of, instead of like, Hey, wow, where have you been? You know? So it's, it's that entrepreneur, you know, I'm such a fan of automation because it changes the game For entrepreneurs and enables work-life balance.

1 (17m 27s):
If there's one thing that I love, it is a foolproof strategy and you have one plate that literally works every time For entrepreneurs. And since Fire Nation are entrepreneurs, we need to hear this.

0 (17m 40s):
It's so simple and yet so controversial and emotional, but raise the price. It works every time.

1 (17m 47s):
Let's hear a real world example where this strategy just blew the roof off of a specific client customer business.

0 (17m 56s):
Yeah, we had a customer that was, you know, I I I, I'd shared this with him and I, I saw the person at an event and he, he was saying, Hey, I just, I, I know you've said this before, but I, I can't bring myself to do it. And I said, look, you're, you're spending a bunch of your resources on customers who are not appreciating the value that you actually offer. And so he went away, raised the price, and when I saw him at the next event, he said, I, I raised the price 20%. And I was so nervous because, you know, I, I just thought it was gonna cause all kinds of problems. And he said, I, I lost a few customers and I was able to get more, better, more customers and better customers.

0 (18m 42s):
And then the customers that I had, they had no problem with it because they, they recognize the value. And so I just think, you know, so sometimes it's a 5%, 10%, 20%, sometimes it's something much more, much more radical. I, my my friend Donald Miller just spoke at our event and he told a story of a guy that was selling an, an offering to churches for his services. And they were, they were just really struggling to pay the PR to pay. He increased it from hun a hundreds of dollars solution or hundreds of dollars offering to a $10,000 offering and changed his target audience and his business exploded. And so it's sometimes it's actually recognizing it's not just changing the price, but it's also not, you know, giving your solution to the right audience who appreciates the value.

Keap (19m 28s):
Fire Nation, there's one thing that I've talked about a couple times on this show that I wanna bring up now, which is raising your prices, lowering your prices. A lot of people are like, well man, if I was just a little bit under my competitor, then I'll win more business. But that's what's called the race to the bottom. And as a great, Seth Godin said, the problem with the race to the bottom is that you just might win. And guess what? That is a race you don't wanna win. Let Walmarts let Amazon, let Costco let them win the race to the bottom because of their scale. They can do that. Not you Fire Nation. Not what you're building, not what you're doing. Clate, we've talked about a lot of awesome things today. What is the one key takeaway you want to make sure our listeners gets from our conversation today, which is all focused around getting growth, getting Profit, getting freedom. Yeah. You know, if you're, if you're feeling that frustration and that chaos that I talked about and you're like, gosh, I I want to, I want to change this, take you talk to one of our experts, we have experts that will take you through a, a, a free one hour consult that will show you in your business where the, that that customer journey is, where the opportunities are that you can automate, we'll give you three things to automate. It will transform your business. As you put that automation in place, you'll want to consume more and more. So for, for people that want, want to do that, that you'll get a, a a a one hour consult and then a customized guide of the three things to automate in your business growth and freedom plan. They can just go to Keap.com/fire and we've created something special for them that they can take advantage of that. And One more time, just get a little deeper into that call to action. Yeah, you bet. It's Keap.com/fire and what, what our experts do, and these, these folks have spent, you know, the better part of 20 years working with small businesses and identifying they'll, they'll take you through that, that, that mapping of your customer process, which, which can be kind of intimidating and people don't quite know what to do. They'll make, create that clear map for you. They'll identify the three areas, the top three areas for your business where there's, where there's loss and waste and, and inefficiency. And they'll identify these three things, the the three things that you can do, and it's different in every business, but they'll tailor it for your business. And then you'll actually get a, a, a tailored business growth plan that we'll send to you. And you can use that plan, you can implement it yourself, you can take it to somebody else, a consultant to help you do it, or we'll be happy to help you do it. But basically it's, it's, you know, this is something that's got a $500 value to get that consult And A tailored plan for you. But we love your Nation, we're excited to help you guys in any way we can and that's how they can do it. Keap.com/fire That is such a fantastic call to action Fire Nation. I hope you listening right now are saying, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity Keap, that's Keap.com/fire 'cause you're the average Fire Nation of the five people you spend the most time with and you've been hanging out with cm and JLD today. So Keap up that heat.

1 (22m 34s):
For links to everything we talked about, visit eel fire.com, type Clate, C-L-A-T-E in the search bar, the show us page will pop right up. And Clayt, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

0 (22m 51s):
Sounds great. Thank you, JLD.

The Common Path to Uncommon Success (22m 52s):
Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and I've created a revolutionary 17 step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the Step-by-step guide that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. Visit uncommonsuccessbook.com and I'll catch you there. Or on the flip side,

Marketing Made Simple (23m 31s):
Marketing Made Simple hosted by my friend Dr. JJ Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work. A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must. Listen, listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

Thought-Leader (23m 52s):
Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. In four time TEDx. Speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought-Leader can help you get there. Visit Thought-Leader.com/fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions.