0 (2s):
Light that spark Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like business infrastructure. Today, we'll be focusing on business 3 0 1, breaking through plateaus to drop these value bombs. I brought Tony Petkovich and the EOFire studios. Tony is an experienced deal-maker expert negotiator known problem solver who has owned over 23 businesses over the course of a 20 year career. Today, fire Nation, what we're talking about roadblocks, do they apply to everybody? What do we need to do to get past speed bumps and how to clear your road to success?

0 (42s):
When we get back from thanking our sponsors, if you're feeling like you wear many hats in your business, then you're not alone. Great news is just works. It makes it easier for you to start, run and grow your business. By relieving you of some of the administrative work you don't love. Find out how JustWorks can help your business by going to JustWorks.com. That's JustWorks.com for more info. Have you gotten serious about scaling up your business, looking for tips and strategies that some of the fastest growing companies are using. Join Trainual, the software for documenting and delegating for a free virtual event. On September 30th, you'll hear directly from Gary Vaynerchuk, the founders of Bombas healthy kombucha, Coco kines, and more register for free app PlayBook2021.com.

0 (1m 23s):
Tony say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful. That most people disagree.

1 (1m 32s):
What's up Fire Nation, hope you guys are doing well and hope that you get something out of this podcast and look forward to answering any questions that John might have, or you guys might have. And as far as to answer that first initial question, I would say that the biggest thing that I think people get wrong with success is that you can have it all. And I don't believe that you can have it all. I think you could have most things, but I think you have to really look at what are you willing to give up to become successful?

1 (2m 14s):
Not necessarily to be happy, not necessarily, you know, for, for others, but, you know, strictly just with the, with the inclination just to become successful. And you know, for me, you know, throughout my 20 year career, I would say, you know, I realized many years ago that I was willing to give up everything to, you know, become successful. I mean, that was partying with my friends, you know, going out, having a good time when I was younger, you know, and when I started my first company, when I was 19 years old, you know, everyone was out there partying and getting drunk. And I was like, that ain't that, ain't what I'm trying to do for myself.

1 (2m 54s):
And I don't see myself, you know, reaching my goals. If I, if I, you know, do everything that everyone else is doing. So I felt like I had to do my own thing. And I said to myself, I'm willing to give up everything to, to get to my, you know, reach my goals. So I think that you have to have single minded focus and really not worry about the, I guess, the status quo in terms of, you know, at 20 22, 23, 24, you gotta be partying, you know, and live in life. I feel like I live a really good life, but I really pretty much gave up everything to become successful. And, and, and I definitely feel like I've achieved that.

0 (3m 34s):
You're speaking my language brother, focus, follow one course until success. It's not follow every course until success. If you have FOMO Fire Nation, if you have a fear of missing out of what your friends are doing and what this person is doing, that you're not having your eye on the prize. And that's why we're talking today. Business 3 0 1, this isn't business, 1 0 1 or 2 0 1. This is business 3 0 1 breaking through plateaus. And let's start by talking about roadblocks. How can we identify when it's time to move past a roadblock,

1 (4m 8s):
Make a decision to make a distinction. One I've never really believed in roadblocks because I feel like that's a mental barrier that is very hard to, to cross over. So I've always felt or looked at them as more like speed bumps. And I think when you look at it from that perspective, I feel like they're really easy to, to go over, you know, a speed bump. You can easily, you know, walk over. It might slow you down. You might have to, you know, maybe even change cars. If, if, you know, if, if your sports car is too low to the ground, but, but if you look at it strictly from the standpoint, look, it's not a roadblock. It's a speed bump.

1 (4m 50s):
I think that really puts you in the right mindset to be able to overcome any adversity that, that comes your way. And, you know, for the people that are not ready to make that distinction, then you gotta say to yourself, well, look, I'm going to find a way over this. Whether I have to kick it down, climb a wall, throw a rope on the other side, but there's always, you know, a solution to every problem, you know, and, and I, and I firmly believe that sometimes they might take, you know, a few days to, to process, you know, what the problem is and be able to identify it. But, but I mean, I think if you're motivated and you have the intellectual horsepower, I think it's, it's, it's, it's easy to find a solution.

0 (5m 35s):
Well, every solution starts with a first step. So what is that first step that comes when you want to crush the speed bumps,

1 (5m 46s):
The first thing really, it needs to be able to be identified to see exactly what it is that you have to, to cross over, you know, so it could, it could mean several different things. And, and, and I've used this, these, these methods for quite a long time. So I feel like I th I feel like for me, it's, it's more of one identifying the problem. And then to moving forward, in terms of possibly looking at, you know, do we need to hire a specific person that has a specific skill set that you don't have, it could be augmenting your marketing.

1 (6m 32s):
It could be creating a new division. It could be, you know, maybe something a little bit out of your comfort zone and maybe, you know, making a new acquisition with a company that compliments what you're doing, but it can augment, you know, a certain area of expertise that you possibly don't have. So I think that's really kind of like the first steps, if you will, to really, you know, break through these barriers that we all have to go through to really reach the next level. And, you know, for me, I've, I've never, you know, been happy with, you know, just growing a small amount over time.

1 (7m 18s):
I mean, for me, it was really just, you know, crush every single speed bump that that comes my way. So that's the kind of the way I've always looked at it

0 (7m 27s):
Apply to everyone and all businesses, or is this just in specific test cases

1 (7m 33s):
Right now, currently I own five different businesses in different industries, and I've used the, you know, pretty much the same set of skills to, to, to augment my business and really grow them, you know, with these principles. So I really, you know, to say that it can work for every single business. I, I don't want to reach that far, but, you know, in, in a 20 year career owning 23 different companies, I, I've never seen a business that it hasn't worked for. So I feel like it's, you know, I'd be comfortable to say that it works with most businesses.

0 (8m 7s):
Can you give us an example that you've used at some point over the last handful of years that you think really will show Fire Nation? Our listeners, a great example of these concepts. You're talking about

1 (8m 20s):
One company that I started about seven or eight years ago. I felt like we kind of reached a plateau after about, I'd say about three years or so. I mean, we had year over year growth, and I was like, I identified that we kind of hit like a stagnant, I guess, period. So I said to myself, what do I need to grow? So, one thing that I did was I hired someone that had expertise that I really felt like I probably lacked a little bit, and it was really centered around a marketing, a stronger marketing campaign.

1 (9m 7s):
And I felt like I was spread so thin wearing so many hats that I couldn't focus. So I did a, a presentation that I was asked to do at a college and long story short. There was a, I met someone there doing a presentation as well, and we start talking and, and I said, you know, I basically told him, you know, we really need us really strong marketing person on our team to really get the word out. And after talking to him, I felt like intellectually, you know, they were an equal and I didn't feel intimidated or, you know, I, I feel like I feel like that, that, that is a problem with a lot of hiring managers today.

1 (9m 55s):
That's why I try to hire directly because, you know, it's kinda like what they teach in business school. A level employees typically hire B-level employees, see, you know, B levels, higher C level C-level hires D level, and, and, and your company really just gets watered down. So I try to do all the hiring myself when I can. And, and that was just kind of, you know, one example of, you know, how we, we grew, I mean, you know, within weeks, you know, I felt like we had a lot bigger reach and it was really, you know, one of the, one of the stories that, that, that I feel like took us, you know, to the next level.

0 (10m 38s):
And is she ever going to figure out if you're on the right track, some other things we may need to be doing, and is it likely you'll experience this stuff on your road to success? When we get back from thanking our sponsors, if you're in the midst of scaling your business and I mean, really scaling your business, then listen up, train you all the software for documenting and delegating is hosting a free virtual event on September 30th, aimed at helping your business grow. Playbook2021 is a completely free virtual event for entrepreneurs, just like you. When you sign up today at playbook2021.com, you're saving a seat for live Q and A's with Gary Vaynerchuk plus sessions that will unpack the scaling stories with the founders of Bombas Health Aid, Kombucha, and Cocoa kinds, O and talks with the leaders of some of the fastest growing startups around.

0 (11m 27s):
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0 (12m 8s):
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0 (12m 52s):
That's just works.com for more info. So Tony, we're back in, as I teased before the break, how will we know when we're on the right track? What are the clues we're going to see? What are the successes we're going to have? How do we know if we're on the right track

1 (13m 9s):
Numbers don't lie. So, I mean, you really need to look at the numbers, you know, sit down with your accountant and, and go through the numbers and see, you know, areas of weakness, areas that, you know, possibly need improvement areas that you might have grown or augmented, and really, you know, look at it strictly from, you know, what I would call a science point of view in terms of, you know, the numbers. The other thing is, you know, I would say that most high-level business owners have have a fair level of intuition and kind of just can feel things out. So I think it's like if you're able to mesh both together, you can come up with a better answer and kind of just feel out where, where without even looking at the numbers, you know, where you're, you are maybe weak and then, you know, try to augment those areas and see where you're strong and continue to, to grow those areas where you're strong and, and, and, and even put an emphasis on the areas that you're weak.

1 (14m 15s):
Cause it's kind of like, you know, people that are, you know, let's just say a power lifter, for example, they want, they're only strong at bench press, but they don't want to practice squats. You gotta, you know, work on your squats a lot more, you know, even though you don't like to, and then as you get better at it, you're going to not only want to do it more, but you're going to get stronger and, and businesses really the same way, you know, really to focus on your weak areas,

0 (14m 43s):
You shared a lot about what we would have to do and you know, what the correct steps would be when we encounter certain, you have vast experience. I mean, you've been doing a lot or the 23 business you've businesses you've owned over the course of over 20 years. So take a minute here. Like, what do you want Fire Nation to know from what you've learned? Like, what else do we need to know about moving past these speed bumps?

1 (15m 12s):
First thing is you gotta believe in yourself that you can do it. I think a lot of people, sometimes when they reach a, a speed bump, they, as I mentioned earlier, they look at it the wrong way and they're liking it. You know, it's a roadblock. You really gotta believe in yourself when no one else does because no, one's going to believe in you until you already made it. And it's not going to be, you know, it wasn't any different with me and it's not gonna be any different with you. And, you know, history always repeats itself. So if you kind of want to know what's going to happen, you know, in your career or the first time you go through these plateaus, as you're growing a business, you know, it's, it's, it's better to listen to people that have already been there and done that.

1 (15m 54s):
So believe on yourself first, before, you know, anyone else does. And, and, and then just move forward, you know, from there with, you know, some of the points that were brought up earlier,

0 (16m 7s):
Well, our listeners experience this cyber stuff along their road to success.

1 (16m 12s):
I hope that they do, because if they don't, then that means that they weren't growing. And they were okay with the status quo. I really hope that they all experienced this so that they can keep growing. And, you know, I think that at this point in my career, you know, if I can give back and help people grow, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's a really good feeling. You know, I feel like, you know, I've, I've already made it and it's kind of like time to give back

0 (16m 40s):
And I'm going to give you the microphone right now, speaking of giving back, and I want you to take this mic, take this platform, take this stage, make sure you share with Fire Nation right now, the one takeaway that you really want us to understand from this entire theme, this concept, these words that you've been sharing with us today, tell us how we can connect with you. If you want Fire Nation to follow up or to connect her, anything you may have here any further call to action. And then we'll say goodbye,

1 (17m 10s):
Takeaway to believe in yourself and to really just try to become a better version of yourself every single day, you know, spend time reading as much as you can, regardless of what it is and learn from everybody, even people that you think that might not necessarily be in the position that you're in, you know, they might have a, an experience they might have, you know, come across something that, you know, maybe you haven't learned yet experienced yet. So really just try to learn from everybody. So that's, that's, you know, the best piece of advice that I could give right now, you know, for people that want to reach out to me, or if they have any questions or, or anything that they, you know, maybe didn't get answered on this podcast.

1 (17m 58s):
I mean, they're definitely free, you know, feel free to reach me at TonyPetkovich.com and, and also my Instagram page, which is Tony Petrovich on Instagram. And that's T O N Y P as in Paul, E T K O V I C H

0 (18m 20s):
Fire Nation. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with TP and J L D today. So keep up the heat and head over to eofire.com type Tony in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with everything that we've been talking about here today, links to everything that Tony just mentioned. Of course, you can go directly to TonyPetkovich.com. Find him on Instagram as well. Tony, thank you brother, for sharing your truth, knowledge, and value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side.

1 (18m 55s):
Sounds great. Take care of Fire Nation and keep up the good work

0 (18m 59s):
Fire Nation, today's value bound content was brought to you by Tony and Fire Nation. What can 3000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book of The Common Path to Uncommon Success is a revolutionary 17 step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle that you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs. And you can get it all in one place. When you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side. If you're feeling like you wear many hats in your business, then you're not alone.

0 (19m 40s):
Great news is just works. It makes it easier for you to start, run and grow your business. By relieving you of some of the administrative work. You don't love. Find out how JustWorks can help your business by going to JustWorks.com. That's JustWorks.com for more info. Have you gotten serious about scaling up your business, looking for tips and strategies that some of the fastest growing companies are using. Join Trainual, the software for documenting and delegating for a free virtual event on September 30th, you'll hear directly from Gary Gary Vaynerchuk, the founders of Obama's healthy kombucha, Coco kinder and more register for free at playbook2021.com.