0 (2s):
Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like Salesmen. Today, we'll be talking about no more excuses. It's time to find your way forward to drop these value bombs. I have brought Brett Oubre into EOFire studios. Brett survived a brain tumor, a plane crash in debt to become a CEO owner-operator of six top performing dealerships and creator of 300 jobs today. Fire Nation, we'll talk about the detriment of excuses. We'll talk about how we can disempower our reliance on those excuses. And we'll talk about proven and practical steps to conquer excuses and take action and so much more.

0 (45s):
When we get back from thanking our sponsors, looking for another great podcast to add to your up next list. I'm excited to tell you about work check and original podcast from Atlassian. Listen to work, check on apple podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Business made simple hosted by Donald Miller, takes the mystery out of growing your business. Recent episodes, like how to attract and retain top talent and how to make more money with your current products are straight fire. Listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts. Bret say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1 (1m 28s):
Well, good afternoon, Fire Nation. Probably the biggest thing that I would say that the thing that comes to being successful that most people disagree with is that just when you think your biggest failure is about to take you out, success is right down, right around the corner. The difference between people who achieve success. And I don't mean, you know, people look at success and they say they gotta be well-known for it. They have to be popular for it. I mean, there's people in the smallest areas, in the smallest towns and the smallest type of situations that are achieving success, but right, when they get to the end and they're almost there, they get discouraged, they lose their hope and they give up.

1 (2m 13s):
And if they would have walked two more fee, there was their mountain.

0 (2m 16s):
Is there any self-sabotage happening there? And you, when people are so close as access, or even when they finally achieve success, I've seen this before self-sabotage happens. Do you have any opinions about that?

1 (2m 29s):
Yeah. My personal blend, a belief on self-sabotage, it's all how you, how you start the conversation in your mind. What I mean by that is in order to be successful, you have to first fix the mind because most people, when they wake up in the morning, they know what they're capable of. When they go to bed in the evening, they know what they did. And the opportunity gap is in between the difference between successful people and people that are not experiencing success is successful. People will review that in their mind and go, okay, I missed here, here, here, and here, but I'm not going to internalize it.

1 (3m 10s):
I'm going to sit down and write. There's an opportunity for tomorrow or people that are self-sabotage and to use your language, they make excuses as to why that those things happen to them rather than it stuff that they just get called.

0 (3m 23s):
So Brett, the title of today's episode is no more excuses. It's time to find your way forward. So I want to start by talking about the detriments of excuses as we go along our path to success, and specifically, what can we do about it?

1 (3m 42s):
Well, I think the detriment to excuses is number one, it gives life to them. So it's easier to give, give myself a pass and say, well, tomorrow I'm going to do that next week. I'm going to do that next month. I'm going to do that. Well, you just don't understand. I walked in today and I got busy and my boss wanted me to do this, or my boss wanted to do that. Or maybe it's a house project that you're trying to accomplish. And you saying, well, you just didn't understand the phone rang. And you know, then I saw this mess over here. And then I had to take care of that before you get to the end of the day, what you set out to be was not what you did. And so that is the detriment of excuses.

1 (4m 23s):
To me, it's the detriment of excuses to anything you want to accomplish, whether it's health, spiritual, mental, physical, financial, or social,

0 (4m 33s):
Can you give us a specific example of something you've seen in that with maybe yourself, somebody that you've worked with, something along your journey in life, like a real world example, we don't need names. We don't need real specifics that would give away the whole kitten caboodle, but let's get real here.

1 (4m 54s):
Well, I mean, I'll, you know, rather than bring somebody else up, the best way for me to do is just to tell you in my own life, I may not. I had a successful sales career and then morph that into a successful leadership career and now a president of a company career, but it could all end it in this one. Respect is I went through several sales jobs, even though I had the training, I had the background and I knew the sales presentation. I knew what to say. And I knew what to do when the customer talked back so to speak. And I had to overcome the objections. I knew how to technically so to speak.

1 (5m 36s):
I knew how to answer the close. However, the self-confidence was so thin that where I would do is I would give up by not making any, I would sit down and I'd do what's called get ready to get ready. I would sit at my desk. I'd make lists, I'd make target lists. And then I'd start reasoning out in my mind, how Joe Sally Sue, Mary, Billy Bobby was never going to do what I was going to, what I was going to ask him that day. And I had failure after failure. After failure, after failure, you see success has never taught me anything.

1 (6m 16s):
Success is just makes, makes us to become arrogant. Cause we, it makes us think we're better than we are, but failure, if you evaluate it is the best teacher. And for me personally, I just got to the point where I knew I was better than that. At this point, I had obligations with family. I had obligations with personal and people that relied on me and I said, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm going to give it one last chance. And I went in and I started doing what I knew how to do, and the man wasn't fixed yet, but the confidence was built. The first time I made that call and I didn't close that customer that day, but I got it a little further down the road.

1 (6m 58s):
And before you know it, by the end of that experience, I was one of the top salespeople in

0 (7m 2s):
So far nation. I hope you really resonates with that specific personal experience. And you can kind of look at how your life has maybe mashed up that way at some point, because let's be honest, Brett, we've all gone through difficult times. So let's get real about how we can disempower the reliance on excuses in these specific moments. Go there.

1 (7m 25s):
The way to disempower the reliance on excuses is to number one, believe in yourself, but to believe in yourself as kind of a generic situation, you have to do a 360 walk around inside and figure out what your talents are, what your hopes, what your dreams or your aspirations. Because number one, a lot of people lose confidence and lose hope because they're not in their area of strength when I'm not in my area of strength. When I try to execute and actuate on something, I experienced mediocre results and maybe every now and then I do well. Like for me personally, I'll give you a story.

1 (8m 4s):
Okay. I was not very good in sports as I was growing up, I can do it. Okay. But I was not very good at sports. So every time I went out and they had great people that were better than me, it became a low self-esteem event. Every time I went out there because I was missed slotted into something that wasn't my talent. And so the first thing you have to do is you got to figure out what it is that you were uniquely designed for. Not the test. I always use this when I'm talking to folks who sit down with a piece of paper, spend some time thinking and think about the last time that you worked on something that at the end of the day, even though you put together a full day's work, you had more energy, even though you were tired, you had more energy at the end of the day than you did at the beginning of the day.

1 (8m 53s):
And that's a towel. Then think about the last time that at the end of the day, even though you got the job done, you were literally worn out. Couldn't keep your eyes open. Didn't want to talk to anybody anymore. And that's the difference between a talent and a non-talent. If you stay in a non-talented role long enough, you were literally start making excuses as to why you can't be successful. Does that make sense today?

0 (9m 18s):
It makes sense. And I love that last phrase. The breadth use. If you stay in a non-talented role, long enough, you will start making those excuses Fire Nation. That's going to be a slap in the face for some people that have been there for a long time. And we have a lot of value on this topic coming up. When we get back from thanking our sponsors, I've found out about some of my favorite podcasts from advertisements on other podcasts. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about work check and original podcast from Atlassian. Our workplaces today are changing fast, but what changes are actually going to serve us best or check takes your most pressing questions about the ways we work together and hashes out the best arguments on either side Kate and I just listened to the episode on whether you should connect with your teammates on social media.

0 (10m 6s):
While we were driving through the mountains of Yosemite. Now those views are some steep competition, but we loved hearing the arguments from both sides and also had fun sharing our own 2 cents. A couple of episodes. I'm excited to tune into next. Our could the four day workweek be a game changer for your team. And should you only give your coworker feedback to their face? Listen, to work, check on apple podcast or anywhere you listen to podcasts. We'll also include a link in the show notes, shout out to work, check for their support. This year feels like the official return of conferences and in-person events. And I'm very excited to be speaking live onstage at this year's Inbound 2022 events in Boston. Inbound 2022 is happening in person and online September 6th through the 9th.

0 (10m 56s):
And K, I would love to see you there this year. The in-person experience will include festival style stages, including the podcast age what's next stage. In the main stage, aside from hosting a live interview on the podcast age for Entrepreneurs On Fire, I'm fired up about the connections and inspiration. That'll be all around us at this year's event. If you can't join us in Boston this year, there are several other pass options available like the startup pass, which is your free ticket to the spotlight talent prices are increasing and there are only a limited number of VIP tickets available. So be sure to check out Inbound 2022 today. Inbound 2022 was built by you powered by HubSpot. Learn more or get your tickets now at inbound.com.

0 (11m 40s):
Hey Brad, we're back. And we've been talking a lot about the excuses in this world and how it's time to find our way forward as humans as entrepreneurs, because it's really easy. It's really comfortable to rely on excuses. It's just like, it's just easy. How do we stop accepting this action and do the hard work to actually get results in our life.

1 (12m 4s):
For me personally, I think the only way to stop accepting excuses as to hit the wall long enough. Number one is you have to have a identified thing that you want to accomplish. Number one, we talked about it before the break is you have to find your talent. You have to have enough passion to say that I want to go after that. And then you have to review that on a, on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis and see where you're trying to go. What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to bring along with you? And you gotta see what kind of accomplishment you're happening. You're having, because if at any point there you get off of the visual, the visualization and the focus of what you're trying to accomplish.

1 (12m 50s):
You're going to fall into those excuses. Number two is you have to be prepared to be ridicule. You have to be prepared to be trying to be pulled down because most of the people that are going to be around you are going to try to be mediocre. When they see you trying to accomplish more than them, they're not going to give you encouragement. They're not going to give you the, the pat on the back that you're looking for. In fact, if you need the encouragement, the pat on the back for others, it's probably going to take you a long time if you're ever going to get there.

0 (13m 21s):
So, one thing that I've been looking forward to this entire interview is the fact that you have some proven and very practical, by the way, steps, there are going to allow us to conquer our excuses and actually act break down these steps. Now,

1 (13m 37s):
My step for doing every thing, number one, it starts with the person, right? So if I, if I have the person I've got to figure out, cause I think everybody was designed and created for greatness. But when you start out as a kid, we have these there's tremendous amount of hope. And then as we go through life and people say, don't stop, quit it. Don't do that. Watch this, watch that over time. And then just, I think kids are naturally develop low self-esteem because they're seeing people around them accomplish and nobody's giving them the coaching and the guidance that, Hey, I need to find the area of my strength.

1 (14m 19s):
Does that make sense to

0 (14m 20s):
You?

1 (14m 22s):
And so what happens over time is that if that continues to happen, they get into a role down the road and they, they, their self doubt grows so great. It's almost like they become paralyzed. So I think most folks, and that was including me. I felt like I had tremendous talent. I have felt like I had tremendous things that I could offer, tremendous talent sets that I could, that I could apply. But deep down, I had this burning of my head saying, you're not good enough. You're not great enough people like you don't do what those kinds of people do. You understand? You don't have the pedigree they have.

1 (15m 2s):
And so the first thing you have to do is you have to do a 360 walk around of yourself. You got to figure out what your goals, your talents, your aspirations are. You have to write those things down. And again, what I said last segment is you got to go back and think about the times where you experienced this was, it was some kind of energy. Although you given a work, a full day's work, and then you have to go back and figure out where it zaps your energy. And then you have to start lining that up to what you see yourself being, and doing and growing and trying to match those particular career goals into that, into those things that are talents.

1 (15m 46s):
Now, that being said is, I can't tell everybody on this podcast specifically what they should do, because I don't know their individual situations or what they want to do. But if you take that generically and apply it to your situation, it's practical steps to try to figure it out.

0 (16m 1s):
Now, Brett, before we close with a bang, is there anything else you want to talk about these proven and practical steps that you've created this going to allow us to conquer these excuses all time?

1 (16m 13s):
Well, for me, it's just been a lifetime of lessons. I mean, I've, I've been, you know, my goal behind speaking and, and training and, and, you know, having a book come out at the end of this year is to find people like me that felt stuck in the middle. Cause you know, it's easier. It's easy to idolize big names. It's easily. You don't go find the folks that are on TV that are on the, that have the big splash on the internet and, and say, well, I'd like to be like them. And then immediately the self-doubt comes in and says, wow, I can't do that because I'm not that person I'm not as good as those person. I'm not as famous as that person.

1 (16m 54s):
I don't have the talent set because we all fall into this comparison trap. As we compare ourselves to others, if you don't believe me, sit down with a group of people that are neighbors and one, one person will get a job. They all sit there and talk about the job that that person got. And then they, you know, the whispers behind the walls or, oh, he's not so great, but she's not so great and blah, blah, blah. And that's not really the trying to ridicule that person. What they're really doing is having the self conversation with themselves is I don't feel adequate. So I'm going to try to pull them down. So for that being said, as me personally, as I had to take responsibility for every single thing that happened, even if it was out of my control, does that make sense today?

0 (17m 39s):
It makes a lot of sense. And I feel like that leads us perfectly into the grand finale. So take a step back. Think about everything we talked about here today, about the no more excuses about finding our way forward. What is the one thing that you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today?

1 (17m 57s):
Well, the one thing that I would, that I want Fire Nation to understand is no matter how dire your situation is, no matter how desolate you feel, no matter how lonely you feel, no matter how unsuccessfully you feel, there's always a way to go forward. And you have to sit down and start thinking about the people that are less fortunate than you that have less resources than you that have less opportunities that you, the new to better creating more that are going further because they refuse to accept those handicaps.

1 (18m 38s):
And they go, anyway, there's many times through, I had a brain tumor, I had business failures. I had sales failures that I could have said, oh, woe is me. I'm so terrible. I didn't get the talents that he did or she did, or they did. And what I did was I stopped or reversed and said, okay, now that I've fixed the person from a self-esteem standpoint, now they've got to fix the person I can say, okay, well, here's where I missed here. Here's where I missed there. Here's where I missed here. Now, how do I find that information? I may not be able to get on the phone and talk to you as a person that's on this podcast.

1 (19m 18s):
I might not be able to, you know, I've always heard, find a mentor, but if you want a great mentor, I mean, how good, how easy is that going to do? Unless you have some kind of accomplishment at a national level and you can go sit down with a John Mack or you could go sit down with some other big name. The reality is this for 20 bucks, you can go on online to any bookstore in the country. And you can start selecting mentors that are some of the top of the country and spend time in your living room and mentor yourself for an hour. A day. When I started having the biggest failures in my life, a guy challenged me to start educating myself. And he said, if you read five years in one subject, you become an expert of it.

1 (20m 1s):
And so I sat down in the four areas as I did my 360 walk around and what I want to do accomplish in my life. And I started purchasing those books and no matter rain or shine, one hour every day, mine specifically in the morning. And some of that information that I have gathered is the information that I'm using today, that I read seven or eight years ago. And I wasn't even ready for today, but I was equipped for today because I equip myself with that information

0 (20m 29s):
Brett way to take it home strong brother, give Fire Nation the best way they can connect with you. If they want to learn more, see more, do more, give us any call to action. You might have anything you want to say here and then we'll say goodbye.

1 (20m 43s):
The best way to connect with us is to our website, which is BrettOubre.com. We're also on Facebook, under my name, Brett middle initial K, last name is O U B R E. We're on Twitter. We're on TikTOK. It's all under the same name. We also have an Instagram page. You can send us direct messages on any of those things. And what I would say to everybody on Fire Nation. If you feel like you're stuck in the middle, if you feel like you started strong and for whatever reason, you've kind of wavered and you're willing to do the work and you're willing to say, okay, I don't have this whole thing figured out.

1 (21m 24s):
I need to bring other folks into my life. I made to get a, a circle of influence around me. Then there's a way there's a chance and there's hope follow us, message us and we'll help any way we can

0 (21m 39s):
Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with BKO and JLD today. So keep up that heat, head over to EOFire.com and just type breaths. That's B R E T T in the search bar. His Shauna's page will pop up with everything that we've talked about today. Brett, thank you brother, for sharing your truth, knowledge value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

1 (22m 5s):
All right. Thank you guys.

0 (22m 8s):
Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Brett and Fire Nation. Are you ready to rock your very own podcast? We'll check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free at freepodcastcourse.com. That's freepodcastcourse.com and I'll catch you there or on the flip side, looking for another great podcast to add to your up next list. I'm excited to tell you about work check and original podcast from Atlassian. Listen to word, check on apple podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Business made simple hosted by Donald Miller, takes the mystery out of growing your business.

0 (22m 50s):
Recent episodes, like how to attract and retain top talent and how to make more money with your current products are straight fire. Listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts.