WS1254: Getting The Winning Mindset with JM Ryerson

EPISODE 1254

[INTRODUCTION]

0:00:00.0 JM Ryerson A large part of what I do, Whitney, is I just say, “Hey, who’s running your agenda? What are you doing to feed your mind?” And often, I get a blank stare because they don’t have a plan for what they’re doing for their mindset.

[INTERVIEW]

00:00:15.000

Whitney Sewell: This is your daily real estate syndication show. I’m your host, Whitney Sewell. Today, our guest is JM Ryerson. I enjoyed this conversation with JM at GoBundance, and he is a mindset coach, he’s a host of the Let’s Go Win podcast, the author of the Amazon best-selling book, Let’s Go Win: The Keys to Living Your Best Life, and champions daily playbook. He coaches leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams on peak performance and how to live their best lives. His passion as they help others succeed at work, home, and in life by offering simple tools that provide a work-life balance. I just enjoyed this conversation a lot, and mindset is so important, and I think it’s talked about so often, right? That a lot of us just kind of gloss over, glance over, just ignore it when people talk about it, but man, if you do not have your mindset right, you’re just not gonna go very far as an entrepreneur more times than not. He’s gonna go through many things today, but I loved our conversation too around culture. 

If you are an entrepreneur and you’re building a team, you’re hiring people, you’re gonna have to worry about culture. You know, early on I just didn’t even think about it, right? I didn’t think about the culture that I was building, but man, it’s so important, and I think about it quite a bit now, but we think about our teams and all these team members, but we get into today talking about core values also, and even that’s something that early on, you just don’t think they… you know, I don’t have to think about that right now, but pretty quickly, you’re gonna have to think about it. And pretty quickly as you grow and build a team, it’s gonna become something that’s very important, and those core values are gonna be something that you hire by, that you fire by, that you score, you know, your employees on. All of those things, it’s gonna be very important, but he goes into that today, and I just thought it was a great conversation. And he goes into some different things he’s learned from different entrepreneurs that… I mean, even how to get the most out of your coach. If you don’t have a coach, I just encourage you to think about that, like think about the people who are doing big things that are where you want to be a few years from now, and I guarantee you, they have at least one coach and maybe even three, for maybe different things, maybe some of the same things. I was that way, I was kind of against having a coach early on, very early on, and I quickly realized, “Hey, I need a coach. I need somebody that’s gonna help me to stay on track and help me to stay motivated and give me some guidance every once in a while,” you know, that’s kind of been there and done that. And it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in business, and now I’ve had numerous coaches for different things, so I encourage you to just listen to JM today, you’re gonna learn a lot. I enjoyed these interviews at GoBundance and Jim was one of those. 

Back at GoBundance, I’m so thankful that I was able to come to this event. I’ve heard so many great things about GoBundance but have not joined yet, have not come, but I was invited as a guest and asked to do some interviews, and I’m so thankful ’cause I’ve made so many great connections. One of many is JM who is with me today. Pleasure to meet you and have you on the show.

00:03:15.000

JM Ryerson: Brother, thanks for having me. You were awesome, dude. I’m excited to be on the show and I’m so glad you’re here at GoBundance, am definitely grateful to have you here and I hope you remember soon ’cause I think you’ll get a lot out of it and they will, too. 

00:03:28.000

WS: Thank you, thank you so much for that. Well, JM, I wanna get started a little bit about who you are, right? The listeners are probably are not familiar with you but you are helping so many, whether I mean in business, whether it’s from mindset to leadership, to inspire their teams, and I wanna get into some of that because I’ve personally benefited from great coaching in those areas, and I understand how important it is, how it can speed the process up for you in so many ways having somebody that’s on your side that’s been there, done that, and just the experience of working with so many people as well, right? So give us a little bit about your background so they can have a better understanding of who JM is, and let’s dive into some of those topics.

00:04:05.000

JR: Yeah. Thanks, man. So this is my fourth company, Let’s Go Win is the fourth company that I’ve been a part of, and the first three I was really in financial services. I built teams and I love working with teams, men, so you’ll probably… If we talk about culture, we talk about entrepreneurship, that stuff that I definitely enjoyed, but this fourth company happened because I wrote a book and I wrote a book for my two kids, and it’s called Let’s Go Win: Keys to Living Your Best Life. So the idea was if I got hit by a bus, you know, tomorrow or whenever that they had lessons that I believe from my parents, grandparents, authors, mentors that have shaped my life, I wanted them to have these lessons, the philosophies, and things so that if Dad’s not here, they have an idea of kind of some things that worked for him. And so that’s how the whole thing started, and then it just morphed into doing a podcast and then coaching and, I love it, man. I get to… literally Let’s Go Win exist to inspire people to live their best lives. I get to work with people that wanna live their best lives. They wanna get better every single day. That’s who I get to work with. It’s awesome.

00:05:12.000

WS: That sounds so exciting, like, I would love to go to work, I can probably do that. Alright, I love what I’m doing now, but that sounds amazing, right? Getting to help these really high achievers, right? I mean, guys and gals who are probably very motivated and you’re getting to go through that process with them in a big way. 

Well, let’s jump into a couple of specific things, and I don’t wanna spend the majority of the show on this, however, it’s so important not just because we talk about it often, but I do want to hear about it from your perspective, just the mindset, right? And I think you’re talking about it, it’s not a result, like winning is a mindset, right? It’s not a result. So let’s talk about mindset a little bit, talk about maybe a couple of things that you see that is consistent amongst the people you work with, common struggles, and then how you help them or what you see that changes in their mindset that ultimately then results in winning whatever that may be for that individual?

00:05:59.000

JR: Sounds like a good question, because the mindset is ever-evolving. Now, so often people don’t think about their mindset. Why do you think the way you think? What limiting beliefs have been given to you? Right? So for instance, maybe you have a limiting belief when it comes to money. I did… I inherited thoughts from my dad and from his dad that weren’t necessarily beneficial, so when I made a lot of money, like when I made seven figures, I felt terrible because I felt like I was now part of the pretty boy club, is kind of what… how is specific. Now, I’ve grown since I’ve done a lot of work on it to realize, “Look, making a lot of money, that’s a good thing.” If you do good things with it, right? You can help so many people. 

So that’s one of the things that with mindset, why do you think the way you think? Now, as we watch the pandemic and so many people, I ask them this question, “Who’s driving your agenda? Who’s feeding your mindset?” And if you answer social media, you answer the news, if that’s what you wake up to and look at every single day, I promise you it’s not gonna be real positive because that’s not what sells. So a large part of what I do, Whitney, is I just say, “Hey, who’s running your agenda? What are you doing to feed your mind?” And often I get a blank stare because they don’t have a plan for what they’re doing for their mindset, what are you doing to really grow your beliefs and really being able to believe in whatever you wanna accomplish, so… So often, it just comes down to what are you doing to feed your mindset? Is it good, is it bad? Is it nothing at all? Because I believe that there are two stages, you’re either growing or you’re decaying, and there’s no middle ground, it’s not like you just hang out here. So when it comes to your mindset, I wanna grow every single day. I don’t know at all… I don’t know all that much, but I’m willing to learn.

00:07:52.000

WS: Yeah, I love that. I love the focus on mindset, but I love the questions, right? And I hope the listeners are really thinking about those questions ’cause you said, “Why do you think the way you think?” And I think… have you ever thought about that? Like, what has encouraged these limiting beliefs? Oftentimes, it’s the way we were raised, right? The way we were taught to, what are our parents thought about money or thought about business, or thought about having a secure j-o-b even, or whatever that may be. I mean, I was extremely guilty of that, and good coaches help me… I think differently, right? And that there are other ways to think, right? Who’s running your agenda? What’s feeding your mindset? And I’ll give the one example here, and my wife helps hold me accountable to this, like leaving my phone on airplane mode first thing in the morning, right? Because I went out that quiet time is so important to us, you know, in that morning routine and that educational time in the morning, or even time with my wife, you know, just a time to talk or time to pray together, a time to read and those things, but I can turn my phone off airplane mode, I see a few emails and I’m just derailed, right?

00:08:52.000

JR: Right, and that’s the first thing that you’re starting with, that’s not necessarily positive. Your wife’s brilliant, by the way.

00:08:58.000

WS: And I agree.

00:09:00.000

JR: So, I will tell you this, brother, one of the things when I work with females because this is not common, most of the time the biggest challenge I have with my female clients is getting them to take care of themselves first. Because so often they’re so maternal, they wanna take care of the kids, the house, the spouse, the husband, everybody else before themselves. And I’m like, “That’s the most selfish thing you can do.” They don’t like when I say that, by the way. They’re like, “Well, forget you, man,” but the truth is it is because there’s a shelf life, so your wife is absolutely brilliant, I hope she hears that because, yes, good for her to say, “We’re gonna take care of us first, we’re gonna do our prayer, our meditation, our grateful practice, we’re gonna take care of us first so that we can go help so many people” as you already do.

00:09:43.000

WS: While we’re on that, what do you see some of the most successful ways that, or that people are feeding themselves to their mindset?

00:09:48.000

JR: So I’m a big reader, so I’m gonna go there because I, unfortunately, do not have that many people read anymore, and it drives me crazy because if I have a question in life, I go to a book. So, that’s one of the first ways, finding just something motivational, something that inspires you. This is where social media can actually be beneficial. If you are very strategic in looking up something motivational, something inspirational, not just what’s going on in the world, or politics or something like that, if you’re very strategic, you can utilize this world. Technology is not a bad thing, it’s the way we use technology that can be bad. So to answer your question, books is a huge one for me, being around the right people, that’s probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from my second company into my third company when we were really exploded. It was when I was clear on who I was gonna be around. So that old adage that you are a symbol of the five people closest to you, it’s true, and when I looked in that mirror a couple of… now, about 15 years ago, I didn’t like what I saw. I didn’t like that, and so, I had to re-establish some of those relationships. So to answer your question, that would be the three ways that I feed my mind.

00:11:01.000

WS: That’s incredible. It’s just great to hear real examples, things that you’re doing specifically because I think sometimes it’s hard for us to figure that out, but we learn from others that are making it happen, right? So let’s jump to a couple of other things, ’cause I wanna use our time the best we can just to pull as much out of you in the short time that we have you, but you’ve been big on leadership, right? And team building, those things. In our business, I mean it is a team sport, and I often say, “You know what? The fastest way to get into this business is to be the best you can be at one thing, or maybe two,” and then find the other team members, right? That is really good at those other things, and that’s gonna be the fastest way typically to make a deal… a large deal happens. Very few people syndicator purchase a $30-50 million- project the first time by themselves, right? It is a team sport. I know I couldn’t do it without our team, but I love that you focus on empowering and inspiring your team. Let’s talk about that, more in-depth. What does that mean? How do you encourage people to do that? How do you see successful teams work together where they’re empowered, they’re inspired, and making it happen?

00:12:00.000

JR: I look at it this way, if you try to do everything on your own, you are limiting yourself right away, right? So if you have those control issues, which by the way, most of us do, just know that you’re limiting your growth immediately. The moment that you can say, “Look, who else can I find that can help this vision?” The moment you do that, here’s what’s cool, you’re creating an opportunity for someone else. It becomes bigger. And so I believe everything rises and falls on leadership. Now, the biggest thing as a leader for me that I learned is being authentic, being me, not hiding, not looking a certain way talking to someone, just being me, because that would find people that are attracted to who I am, the true JM, not some, you know, version of JM. 

The moment you’re able to create a vision and say, “Here’s what I’m good at, here’s what I’m not very good at and what I don’t wanna do,” and you say, as you and I talked off-air, you found someone like that, they’re good at maybe your weaknesses, and look at what you’ve been able to create because you can’t do it all. And by the way, you don’t want to. There are so many things that I really am not very good at, guess what? I outsource that, create another opportunity for someone else, and I give them what I wanna see happen, and then I let them be. Knowing that, guess what? They will figure it out, and more than likely, if I give them enough autonomy, they’ll probably figure it out far better than I ever could.

00:13:24.000

WS: Yeah, love that. Giving them autonomy, letting them really… I mean, you’re empowering them, right? You’re saying, “Hey, you are responsible for this thing, just go make it happen. This is what I want it to look like, go do it” like that. I guess, how do you lead them well in that wall, not micro-managing, right? 

00:13:39.000

JR: Good question, and it’s not an easy one to answer because, once you sit down and set expectations and you say, “Okay, so, I don’t know, we want to grow sales by 30% in the next 90 days,” cool, and now we know our metrics, how are we gonna do that? And then you formulate a plan, so you say, here are some of those structured ways it’s like, we’ll have one-on-one meetings, we’ll have a sales meeting and you set it up and then you get out of the way. If you set the expectations, let them run. 

Now, that doesn’t mean hands-off, don’t ever check-in, that means let them run with it and then check in every week. “How are we doing? Is there anything I can do to support you?” Not berating them and saying, “Hey, you’re not doing this, this or this, sales are not…” Now, give them the chance, give them the chance to make mistakes because the best way to learn is by making those mistakes. But if you’re constantly in their micro-managing, a) you’re gonna be tired, b) you are not helping them grow, which ultimately is not helping you grow.

00:14:38.000

WS: What are your thoughts around those sees that same example that employee, you’re trying to empower them, and you’re setting those standards that you’re hoping their meeting or whatever, maybe talk about that, but then you just say, “You go make it happen,” right? And so, what’s your thoughts behind, you know, KPIs and maybe bonuses or incentivizing them, you know, even financially with bonuses to hit certain, maybe metrics of some kind?

00:14:59.000

JR: So I’m a 1099 guy like I have been an entrepreneur all my life. I never wanted a glass ceiling, okay? That was one of the most attractive things about when I became an entrepreneur, no one can dictate how much I can make, I get that opportunity now. Now, is that always the case? No, of course not. But what I do, what I’ve always tried to do, Whitney, is I ask “What would really fire you up?” And let them answer. How would I know what’s really gonna do it for you? I can’t read your mind, but if I ask you some questions and you say, “Hey man, man, if I could get 10% commission on this” and I was gonna give him 20%, well, that’s a win for me and the business because I can reinvest the other 10%, but if I had put out 20%, maybe they are… maybe it’s too much for them, so I let them. I talk through it with them. And it’s funny because when I first started in my business talking about commissions was like a no, no. I’m the opposite, man. 

Again, I’m an open book, I wanna talk through it because I don’t want any feelings of like, “Oh, you’re hiding something for me.” We’re gonna have a very open dialogue and you’re gonna tell me what’s gonna motivate you, we’re gonna build that compensation plan, let’s go. And that way if you don’t make it, it’s not on me. I didn’t set the expectations, you did. And typically what you’ll find is they built it for something and they’ll go hit it, and they’ll be extremely appreciative. Now, next time they may jump it up a little bit, which is fantastic, but it’s asking questions.

00:16:28.000

WS: I think it’s a great example and it’s great advice to go ask them and think through that, what doesn’t motivate them because what I’ve learned is different employees are motivated by different things, right? And so, I was gonna do an annual review with a specific employee who’s just top-notch probably a month or so ago, and so beforehand I sent her a list of questions, I said, “I’d love for you to fill these out for us to discuss” and gave her maybe two weeks to do like I really want you to think about it, you know. But during that, I asked her that, I ask her, you know, “What motivates you? How can we establish a plan for you to make more money?” Like I want you to do well. They don’t want that feeling, right? And so, I ask her to just think about that, come back with some examples of something, right? I didn’t know what would happen to that. 

Well, at the end of the review, just we went through all these questions, she said, “Well, I have something I wanna present to you,” and I said, “Okay,” you know, so she shared her screen and she put together a PowerPoint presentation of how I could incentivize her and certain KPIs hit and I was so impressed, I was so impressed, we’ve motivated a little bit and we aren’t moving forward to something like that, but I was… Anyway, I was so impressed. But yeah, I think you hit the nail on the hedge, just like ask them.

00:17:33.000

JR: One of my best friends who worked with me for 15 years… 17 years, oh my goodness, it was that long. Anyway, I always… again, I told you I don’t want a glass ceiling, I don’t want anybody to tell me how much I can make. He was different, he wanted a guaranteed draw, and I told him, and again, this is my best friend, so I’m like, “Hey man, no, I’m putting a ceiling on you at that point,” he’s like, “JM, listen to me. It makes me uncomfortable if I don’t have a base… a draw to go from,” so I was trying to force my emotions, my feelings for the betterment of him, but it’s not what he wanted. The moment we put the draw in place, he far exceeded whatever he was doing before when there was no ceiling. So it’s funny, everybody’s different, everybody is either risk-averse or maybe they want that risk, but we don’t know, we gotta ask.

00:18:25.000

WS: What about just in our current climate with so many people quitting their jobs, right? Last month and most employers are afraid of losing, right? Their top-notch people and because other people are offering big incentives, right? For top… because it’s hard to find people right now that want to work. How have you seen the people you’re mentoring, coaching, to retain, right, their best players? What have they been doing to say, “You know what? Hey, I want you to stay. I want to know if there’s a problem,” right?

00:18:50.000

JR: It’s such a brilliant question. So, you’ve watched, or me personally, I’ve watched three big crashes through my professional career, and every time the companies that retained those people, they were clear on one thing and that’s culture. They knew exactly who they were and they know the vision. So you’re right, people are offering more, they’re dangling this carrot, but here’s how you wanna retain your great people, you talk to them, you say, “Hey, remember, this is why we’re doing what we’re doing. This is my vision for the business and for you.” 

So, even if I’m, let’s say I’m paying 25% less than the guy down the street, but they are completely aligned value-wise, I know their family, they can trust in who I am, they’re not going anywhere because they can trust, they know where it’s going. In the short term, yeah, you can go get 25%, but you’re not gonna be happy, or you perhaps you’re not happy. So, if you’re clear on the vision and the culture, you won’t lose people.

00:19:46.000

WS: I love that. Clear on the vision and the culture. Speak to being clear on the culture a little bit, ’cause sometimes I think that can be hard to… well, what is culture? What does that look like? How do I instill that in our team, right? How have you seen that done well? 

00:20:01.000

JR: Man, you ask a good question. So my second company, we had six core values, and I’m on stage in front of about 1,200 people, and I’m telling this, I’m going through the values, and I get to the fifth one and I draw a blank. Now, I had to ask the audience for the remaining two. It took a while, brother. Now, the sad part about that, and I promise I’m getting to the answer to your question, I was one of the guys in the room that wrote the core value. We had six. It was too much. Guess what? I was so smart that day I added a seventh core value on the stage. So I can’t remember six, I’m gonna add seven. What I learned is I’m like, it’s just too much, so we reduced it down to three core values. And what I noticed the next year when I went 90% of the people knew our core values. 

There’s something about the rule of three, and if they don’t hear… if your audience hears nothing else and you’re an entrepreneur, hear this, be clear in your core values, your culture, and make it simple. Three is what I suggest up to five, but just know that every time you go above three, you’re really running the risk of people not being able to remember your values, yeah including yourself. So it was a lesson I have to learn and, every company since the remaining two they have three core values, and everyone in the organization knows them.

00:21:19.000

WS: On that note, we’ve been going through that as well and even revamping our core values, so I’m gonna ask a couple of questions about that. Do you prefer a one-word core value, maybe with a description, or do you prefer a statement? What have you seen there?

00:21:31.000

WS: For me, it’s two things. I prefer the words and every single meeting, every time we meet, so if you and I were sitting down on a one-on-one, the first thing we’re gonna do is typically a mantra, and our core values. The mantra is to kind of explain what the core values are all about. Now, if that’s funky for people, I understand, ’cause what is a mantra? It takes a while and we don’t have time on the show to really dive into that, but every single meaning we are gonna talk about the three core values. Through sheer repetition, it’s gonna be ingrained into your head. Now, the best part, if you have, whether it’s a W-2 employee or a 1099 consultant, if they’re outside of those core values, that’s how you address it. 

So, if they’re not showing up, let me see, courage, fun, and love, that was core values for my third company. If you’re not showing up in a courageous manner, I get to a chance not to say you’re a piece of garbage, or you’re lazy or whatever, no, you just weren’t showing courage, it makes that conversation so much easier because I can point right to a core value and say, “Hey, Whitney, do you see how you weren’t acting in a courageous manner?” “Oh yeah, man, actually I was because blah, bLah, bLah, bLah, bLah.” Cool, we agree that you were outside of our core values and that’s not okay, right? Yes, and then we talk through it.

00:22:46.000

WS: Great, I love the example too, I appreciate that very much. I think that’s helpful to the listeners ’cause it’s difficult, right? I mean, at first, we all know we need them when we grow on a business, especially when you try having employees, it’s like man, ’cause you’re gonna hire by them, you’re gonna fire by them, right? By those core values. So, one other thing that I’ve noticed is like you talked about you have to ask some questions, you have to talk to them, was it you said you have to talk to them to keep them. It’s so true, so true. And I know for the longest time I would meet… I meet with every employee in the US, like every, every week. We have a one-on-one, right? But I have 10 people in the Philippines, and first I was meeting even with each when we had like two or three, I was meeting with them also, maybe every other week, but now they’re just like a dozen there, but I enjoy those relationships and caring for those people, but I can’t meet with everybody, right? 

So what about that growth? Is it another team member that’s coming in might be on a management position, and it’s hard to transition that relationship, too, right? How have you seen that done successfully?

00:23:44.000

JR: Yet again this is something that everybody’s gonna go through as you grow. They’ve done studies. The most you can really effectively manage on a team is between 9 to 12, and that’s stretching. Twelve is really a stretch. Now, empower again, I’m gonna go back to it because if I can effectively work with you, so let’s say Whitney you’re number 15 that I’m responsible for, guess what? Whitney’s not getting the attention or support that he really needs. Cool, I need to bring somebody else up, maybe it’s Whitney, maybe it’s somebody else to say he needs more attention, more support, to know that we’re there, we care, and so that’s where you bring somebody else in to say “This guy is a superstar. This is what we’re working on, but I just don’t have the time or attention to do it.” Now, I will tell you this, and I love that you are committed to meeting with all your people because that’s something that you put out there, they know it, they can hold you accountable to it, right? 

The CEO of Costco goes to every store every year, it’s remarkable, and he is known for this, it’s truly fascinating. Now, does he meet every employee? Of course not, but every store has been touched by the CEO. It is something that when I heard that, it told me everything I need to know, which is to commit to your people, show them the love and support that they need, and if you’re unable to do it make sure you let them know, right? If the CEO were to get sick for three months, I’m sure he would have said, “Guys, this is why I can’t do my CEO tour.” But anyway, to answer your question directly, it’s literally put somebody in a position so they can give that support.

00:25:16.000

WS: What about the leadership qualities that just that we must have? Right, I mean, all of us as we’re starting a business or growing to a team or an immediate leader, right? Whether you like it or not, you need to be leading well, but what are some of those qualities that we must have or at least be improving and learning and working on?

00:25:35.000

JR: Yeah, so the first one is vulnerability. For me, it’s the most profound lesson I’ve learned in my professional career as a leader. I used to wear a three-piece suit and tie and I was really uncomfortable, but I thought I had to wear that, and then I would sit there and talk a certain way because I thought that’s how it’s supposed to be. The moment I choose, this is pretty similar for me, right? Like a polo, maybe it’s a teacher, but I’m a teacher kind of guy, I feel more comfortable that way. 

Now look, if you’re better is being in the suit, cool, do you, but be you. So being vulnerable is one of the biggest ones. Having courage, the courage to have that real conversation, you don’t have the conversation because that is going to have resentment. The last one, actually, I’m gonna give you two more. I’m sorry, I usually try to stay with three, which would be confidence. You have to have confidence in your people, in yourself, in your decisions, knowing for what you’re gonna screw up. I feel probably more than I succeed but I’m confident in my decision that I can come back from it. And the last one is empathy. So often we will judge people based on their numbers solely when the truth is, there’s probably more going on. If your sales guy or gal isn’t performing, you might wanna ask some questions before you say, “Why aren’t you doing this? Your numbers are down.” 

Maybe they have a sick mom at home, sick child at home, maybe they don’t feel good. People want to perform, but there are other things going on in life. I have had people literally paid time, go ahead, go take care of that for three months, and they were with me for over a decade. Was it worth paying three months to have an amazing person, an employee for 10 years? Absolutely.

00:27:14.000

WS: Talk about loyalty. I mean, they knew you cared about them, right? 

00:27:18.000

JR: Yeah. Well, so one of my favorite quotes is, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” I think that was Teddy Roosevelt that said it, but it’s true like if somebody gets up there and has all the answers but they don’t genuinely give a care about the person across, they’re not gonna listen to you. So you have to care about your people and typically, you do but be willing to show up.

00:27:37.000

WS: Do you recommend, and I hear more and more people talking about this like stand up daily meeting in 15 minutes, and sometimes for different people say different things about it, they may have a dozen people in the room, but the meeting is 15 minutes, everybody’s gonna say, maybe a high and low, you know, and maybe they say their core values, high and low, everybody, around the room and maybe you connect with somebody. What are your thoughts about that versus, you know, the one-on-ones frequency of those things?

00:28:01.000

JR: So, I adopted… Michael Hyatt, I gotta give him credit ’cause I use it, but A-E-I-O and that’s… every meeting is achievements, expectations, issues, and outcomes. That has saved me thousands and thousands of hours of planning some agenda that was probably wrong anyway, and it also made my meetings so much more concise, people didn’t feel like they were wasting time, and it also allowed everybody to be a part of it. 

Because of the most effective teams, Google did a long study on this, the most effective teams are when people have psychological safety, they feel comfortable to talk and also an equal amount of speaking time. If you typically go to a meeting and it’s just one person droning on and on, and we’ve all been in those meetings, I’ve given them, they’re not effective. But when you use A-E-I-O, I think it’s brilliant. Hyatt is an absolutely brilliant businessman that has saved me thousands of hours. So, that’s how I do it personally, every meeting, core values, A-E-I-O, and we’re done.

00:29:00.000

WS: Is that something the employee is coming up with? Are they preparing for that meeting or provide the A-E-I-O, or is that something you’re just discussing open during the meeting?

00:29:09.000

JR: Well, here’s a beautiful thing because we already talked about the expectations and any issues they may have, and here’s the outcome, here’s what I expect or we expect as a company, you don’t have to talk much about it because you set the expectations, we check in on the outcomes, and if there’s an issue, cool, you have support. So, to answer your question, it’s already been laid out. The employee is bringing the wins and the issues, but the expectations really haven’t changed, maybe the outcome needs to change because a timeline got screwed up, COVID happened, therefore, trucks are sitting in a port in LA, you know things do happen, so maybe you have to extend the outcome that way, but it makes it so easy. So to answer your question, it’s already been laid out. 

00:29:50.000

WS: Awesome. I’m gonna change gears for a moment because I know you are an expert in this field, and I get this question so often, and even at this event somebody stood up last night and ask about coaching or ask about why I needed to coach. And so, just from your… I mean, you’ve worked with so many people now in coaching, so many leaders, entrepreneurs, why do they need a coach? And I hear that like, “Whitney, I don’t want… I don’t want to spend that much money on a coach,” all these limiting beliefs, right? “You know, I just can’t see it being worth it, you know, that guy’s only gonna spend an hour with me a week, or a half-hour with me a week, and it’s cost this much,” you know, why do we need a coach? And I just want… why did you… how… because I’m a believer but I wasn’t always, but I’m a believer in having coached for lots of things.

00:30:27.000

JR: Well, let me just say this first and foremost, there is no amount of investment in yourself that’s not worth it. You invest in yourself, no time, should you ask how much it was because it’s an investment in you, that is the most important investment you can make so I’ll put that out there first. Listen to yourself on a voicemail or an answering machine, do you sound the way that you think you do? I don’t. That’s the reason you need a coach because we think we sound or look or do certain things, we are terrible at knowing what we do. I don’t show up in the world the way I think I do. I need a coach to tell me, “Actually, JM you’re showing up kinda arrogant here,” and it’s like, “Really? I didn’t know that.” And so with the book, the gal said, “Look, if you only share this with two people, you’re selfish,” I wouldn’t have seen it that way. I thought I was being generous to my kids, she saw it differently and said, “You are being selfish. Stop it,” and I needed to hear that. So it’s just we have blind spots, man, and we don’t mean to, but a coach can see it from the outside looking in.

00:31:27.000

WS: I love that, ’cause I remember my coach that I hired about four, is about four years ago, it was like $12,500, and honestly, at that time my wife and I were like, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I should do this.” You know, I was like, “This is a lot of money,” you know, but it’s the best decision I ever made. Now I’ve had other coaches for different things, you know, whether it’s speaking or whatever it may be, you know, on accountability. So I could not agree with you more. Tell me a little bit about the best ways that maybe to hold people accountable, you know, maybe even as a leader in our business we’re coaching people, how do you hold those people accountable?

00:31:58.000

JR: And so, A, set the expectations and write them down. One of the things that we do is we assume. So, I said that I assume that, Whitney heard it and now we’re clear. Look, if you’ve heard it before, if you assume you make an ass out of you and out of me, don’t assume. So, set the expectations, write them down, make them visible, and then be clear on the timeline by doing the simple act of writing it down. It’s called cascading communication. So, let’s say I say something too, and it wasn’t written down at the end of a meeting, I reiterate my expectation and make sure, “Hey Whitney, are you clear on what I was asking of you?” And Whitney says “Yes” or “No, I didn’t hear that.” I can tell you so often, I think I’ve said something, but it wasn’t received that way. Remember human beings have less than a 12-second attention span, do you think they hear everything? In this interview, your listeners have gone in and out as I’m talking, that’s cool. That’s clear on that. But you need to go back and say, “Am I clear on what I’m asking? Yes or no? Let’s write it down. Let’s be clear on the outcome.”

00:33:06.000

WS: What about how to get the most out of a coach, or maybe they have a coach in mind, maybe they’re considering you now, and I hope they are, but depending on what their… what industry they’re in or what they’re needing coaching for, how do they get the most out of that coach?

00:33:17.000

JR: You gotta tell your coach what you’re looking for, and don’t be shy. Remember, it is so often we’ve been conditioned to tell people what we think they want to hear. This is your coach, tell them exactly what you want, this is my expectation, this is what I want out of it. And allow them, give them permission to hold you accountable, one of the biggest things, and we do this as parents all the time, we forget to seek permission. I know they are kids, but whenever you say, “Because I told you so, ’cause I’m your dad,” how well has that received? It’s not. But if you say, “Hey, can I give you some feedback? Can I talk to you?” 

And they say, “Yeah, okay,” and then you give it to them, guess what? It’s better received because you got permission from them. The same thing with a coach, I give all my coaches, “Look, you have full permission radical transparency with me. If I screw up, you get to tell me.” Now, I’ve wanted to eat those words so many times, brother. Trust me, it’s a slippery slope, but you know what? Every single time it’s what I needed to hear, I needed them to… That’s why I hired them, so give him permission. 

00:34:24.000

WS: When and what? What for the coach, when should we consider the coach, and is it a coach for our life, is it a coach for business? Maybe it’s the listener’s first time, they’re thinking about hiring their first coach, what should they consider may be the type of coach or who this person is?

00:34:39.000

JR: What do you want? What is the result that you want? And if you’re not obtaining it and you’re struggling, you probably need a coach, right? Or if your own head is getting in the way so often, again, whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right, that’s Henry Ford, man, like he said that. So if you stop and you’re like, “Oh, I don’t know if I can do it,” hire a coach. Like, “I don’t know if I hire a coach,” so that’s the win. That’s your why. Just being clear on why, why do I want it, and why is this coach? And I do believe the coach has come just like people do, and for a reason, a season or a lifetime. It’s rare that you find that coach for a lifetime, but when you do wrap your arms around them, give them love because that’s an amazing human being you wanna hold on to.

00:35:20.000

WS: I can relate so much to what you said. I mean, there’s so many times throughout my entrepreneurial journey. I’m usually like, okay if I made my mind up, I’m gonna do this. I’m good with… I’m gonna keep charging forward, however, even doing the daily podcast, and listeners have heard me tell this, but two people, before I started that are very big names in our industry, I met with him, I had a conference and I was saying they should be on the show, and they were like, “Whitney, you’re crazy. Why would you do a daily podcast?” And normally I would have just… I’d already been called crazy many times before that, right? 

So, normally I would just shrug that off, but considering who these people were, I thought, “Wait a minute, maybe I should consider this,” right? Talk to my coach about it, he’s like, “Whitney, that’s why you have to do it because it’s too much work for most people,” and that’s all it took. And so I think about how that would have changed my entire business, you know if I had taken the advice of those two if I didn’t have this person in my corner just to kind of vent to a little bit. And that’s all he had to say, and then I was like, okay, I’m back on it you know. Now, I’m still ready to go. So, we just have a few minutes left, but I wanted to highlight that ’cause I could not agree with you more about having that person in your corner. And so, what about some daily habits that you are disciplined about that have helped you achieve this level of success?

00:36:24.000

JR: Yeah, to keep it simple, I want everybody to take care of their mind, their body and their soul every single day. Now, my morning routine is significant, as in its lengthy. Way longer than… my wife thinks I’m crazy because she’s like, “Really, you go through this all?” But it’s what makes me whole. But what I coach on is to take care of your mind, your body, and your soul. Set your intention for the day. What do I wanna be? So today, I wanted to be radically optimistic, open, and loving. That’s what I wrote down. So that’s my goal. 

I hope I was radically optimistic today, open to new ideas, and loved by the people I’m spending time with. So I set my intention, three things I’m grateful for, and take care of the mind, the body, and the soul. Of course, I meditate, you know a journal, these are all things I do, but to simplify it, those are kind of the key three things.

00:37:10.000

WS: Is that like every morning thing, I’m up at this time, I’m exercising and meditating?

00:37:15.000

JR: Gosh, you know, yes, for me, but not for the majority of the people. Don’t put that much pressure on yourself because, okay, let’s say I have to get up at 6 o’clock, but I got up at 6:30, so now I’m not gonna do anything. No, stop it. That’s terrible. And a great example, my goal used to be to meditate for 10 minutes a day, and if I didn’t have 10 minutes, I chose not to have 10 minutes, I just wouldn’t do it. That is insane. That’s actually stupid. So if you wake up a little late, so what? Modify, make it happen on your own time. So, yes in a perfect world, wake up at the same time, make sure you do the same, but that’s not… our world is not perfect. Just make sure you do those couple of things to take care of yourself.

00:37:56.000

WS: Tell us of the people that you have mentored, coached that are the most successful, maybe the top one or two habits that they exhibit.

00:38:03.000

JR: With journaling for sure. So often we get stuck in our own heads and I want people to release whatever it is onto paper. The best form of therapy is literally that. So that’s number one, and that’s a requirement if you work with me, you are going to journal because how can I coach you? How do I know what was going through your head on Monday or Tuesday or whatever? So, that’s number one. Man, the other one’s tough, you know what, I’m gonna go with gratitude, and I know people hear that, and I had… one of my coaches one time said to do 10 things you’re grateful for every day. That was overwhelming to me. Ten things is a lot, so I just break it down to three. What are three things? And you know what? There are more than three I can come up with every day, but it makes the world seem a little better, which fires and (inaudible) off which gets the whole thing going, so those would be the two ones. You guys for two, so I’ll go with gratitude and journaling.

00:38:55.000

WS: That’s great, that’s great. How do you like to give back?

00:38:58.000

JR: Oh, man. So I love to get my kids involved with charities, that’s a big part of… what my wife actually just started a non-profit, so that is something that we are passionate about, but I don’t wanna just give a check. I want my kids to be involved. So whether it’s at our neighborhood, my wife’s charity now, we just like to be involved, and so a lot of it has been through youth sports because cause both my boys played pretty competitive sports, a lot of our givebacks happen to be through that, but anything we can do because we’re blessed men, and I want other people if we can raise them up. That’s what we hope for.

00:39:33.000

WS: JM, it’s been a pleasure to meet you and has you on the show. I’m thankful to have been at GoBundance just to have met you and to be able to do this in person, it’s incredible. And so just the way you go through the mindset, the leadership, our team building, empowering our team, the importance of those things, even the A-E-I-O with Michael Hyatt, I’m gonna look up the person. I want to learn more about that. I think that that’s great. Importance of core values and is very clear, right, on those and culture, and then just more… tell us more about coaching. I just think, man, if you don’t have a coach, why not? You know, of some kind, you need somebody on your side that’s helping hold you accountable. But how can people get in touch with you and learn more about you?

00:40:08.000

JR: Now, thank you, brother. I appreciate that. So letsgowin.com is my website, letsgowin365 on any platform, and then the Let’s Go Win podcast. Everything’s Let’s Go Win, ’cause I believe in manliness. To win this day, let’s go win these interviews. Let’s… let’s just go win, man.

00:40:23.000

WS: I love that. I appreciate that so much. I love the name as well. Again, a pleasure to meet you. Hope you have a blessed day.

00:40:28.000

JR: It’s my pleasure. Thank you, Whitney.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[OUTRO]

0:40:30.0 WHITNEY SEWELL Thank you for being a loyal listener of the real estate syndication show. Please subscribe and like the show, share it with your friends so we can help them as well. Don’t forget, to go to lifebridgecapital.com, where you can sign up and start investing in real estate today. Have a blessed day.

[END]