Part 4: Business Building Secrets

Alex Charfen: This is The Momentum Podcast.

Jeremy Bergeron: Hey everybody, this is Jeremy Bergeron, business strategist with Alex Charfen's team. I'm super pumped to wrap up this conversation that Alex had with a few of our members. They start talking about how they now are able to consistently analyze their business in a way that yields true momentum for them and anyone in their company. You are going to love this episode because here's where they talk about the final piece of the puzzle, which is how do you really build infrastructure? This one's going to be epic. Check it out.

Alex Charfen: I'm Alex Charfen and this is The Momentum Podcast made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers, and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution.

Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop, and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future.

Instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution, and we always will be.

The last thing we feel like we help businesses do is to consistently analyze the business through the same lens so that you can consistently get the same types of answers and know where to build. We use the five core functions as one of those major lenses of lead gen, nurture, conversion, delivery, retention, resell. I often share with people that if you start analyzing your business through a consistent lens, you will automatically make better decisions in the business. I'll start with you, Andrea, what has having that process of analyzing the business to understand what to do next done for you?

Andrea: It opened my eyes not to how the clinic was running because the clinic is running great, I just need to step out of it, but for the online business. I was just like this is an epic failure and no wonder the results are so sporadic. That's the biggest reason why Laura is on is to completely restructure and rebuild that.

So, right now we know that our lead nurture is failing the most. We're not getting consistent leads. So therefore we're not going to move up the billionaire code ladder until we get that taken care of. All we've been focusing on is how we can build the business to get consistent leads. We're not focusing on the delivery, we're not focusing on the content, we're now saying, "Okay, for the next 90 days, this is all we're working on." Once that feels a little bit better, then the next 90 days we can work on the content, but it's keeping us so compartmentalized and so focused on the goal that we aren't deviating and going all over the place and scattering our energy.

Alex Charfen: Yeah. Prior to having this system, Andrea, can you remember points where you were like, what do I do next?

Andrea: Oh yeah. Even still, I'm like, "What should I be working on today?" And then I'm like, "Oh right, go back to our plan." You know? That will never go away, but now I don't feel overwhelmed by not knowing what to do next. Even this week, if anyone's been following me, I don't know if anybody follows me, but you should because I'm amazing.

I've been waking up now at like 5:00 AM and before that would have been like the stupidest decision ever, but now I'm getting up with a purpose. Getting up earlier and enjoying that silence while the rest of my family's usually sleeping has also... that never would have materialized if I wasn't feeling so calm with how my business is running.

Alex Charfen: I love that, Andrea. And I saw the story with you up at 5:00 AM. So this is what 5:00 AM looks like.

Andrea: This is what 5:00 AM looks like and what a natural path looks like at 5:00 AM. There's a few things going on there.

Alex Charfen: It's possible there. It's totally possible. So, if you guys aren't following Justin, Wallace, Andrea and Amanda, you totally should be. So Amanda [inaudible 00:04:33] same thing, in a law firm, having that consistent analysis of the law firm to know where to allocate resources. What has it done for you?

Amanda: Well, attorneys are very stuck in their ways, especially the ones who've been around for a long time. My partner that I work with, he has been doing this for over 25 years. So, there's always a little bit of challenge of getting people to make some adjustments and changes to the way they're doing things. But when you sit down together as a team and talk through, you know, how is our lead generation doing? How is our nurturing doing? How are we taking care of our clients?

We've just spent the second quarter of the year working on delivery. And that was probably the most challenging to get things to change. But I see a difference already in the clients being more happy. It was about learning how to teach them expectations. You know, I can't make the VA do anything, but I can argue and I can push where I can, but I can't make things magically happen. So we were getting clients that were getting upset with us. And because of not setting very good expectations.

So once we really looked at that and started communicating that as part of the analysis of our delivery process, I see it changing already with our clientele. So now we're back in lead generation. We figured out that we turned the faucet on and we're getting hit like crazy with leads right now, which is awesome.

One of my team members that I sat down with yesterday was in overwhelm and it's like, "Okay, this is a good problem to have," but I understand that it's a problem and we just need to figure out how to manage that. So, that's what we're focusing on this quarter.

Alex Charfen: Yeah, that's awesome. And so, even in a law firm with people who've been around for a while, once you start looking at this through this lens, it really does just make everybody focused in the same place.

Amanda: Right, exactly. And everybody buys in this whole thing of everybody on the team is a true believer and they have bought into this is what we're doing. And so, the whole team is moving forward together. And I wanted to mention real quickly, you mentioned the masterclass, the momentum masterclass. Probably the biggest change that I've seen in working through this program is in me, is in my life being better, and me being happier, and healthier, and all of those things that don't... I know you talk about the business growths, but you should really tell that as well because quality life is... I'm way better than what I would say a year ago.

Alex Charfen: Yeah. You personally, right? So people often say, "You know, Alex, I gave to you to fix my business and I feel like my marriage and my life have benefited the most."

Amanda: Yes, exactly.

Alex Charfen: So that's awesome. Thanks for bringing that up, Amanda. I appreciate you making the distinction. Justin, same thing for you. What has having that consistent analysis done in a retail business?

Justin: I'll be honest, the five core function exercise is my least favorite thing to do. It's hard for us to do just because it's been... It's one of those... so you do every month, you do every quarter, you do every year, right? Well, one of the things we noticed is we've had two points on there, right there. Retention and resell. And then the, oops, sorry. [inaudible 00:07:52].

Nurture have been our biggest weakest points for most of the year. And we work on it and we analyze it and it'll go up and then the next quarter comes and it falls right back down because when you do this analysis, you have to really ask yourself objectively what has changed?

And one of the things we found out in the beginning is we were just taking the ones that we did from the month prior and just recycling it and then we found out that was not the best way to do it. So it takes us a while. We argue a lot as a team trying to, I mean, just arguing our points or like, "No, I think we're doing this. This is improved or no, like we kind of drop the ball here."

So I say it's my least favorite just because it's time consuming for us, but it is incredibly effective because it tells us exactly what's wrong. And it's things I think we intuitively know but we don't know how to put it on the waterfall unless it goes through that process. Right?

Alex Charfen: Yeah.

Justin: So yeah, again, I don't like doing it, but it works out really well. And we've been able to use that every quarter now, every month to just get a good feel for, okay, this is where we were, this is what we tried, here's the results. It worked in this way. It didn't really work in that way. But without that lens, I have no way to judge. It's absolutely necessary.

Alex Charfen: So Justin, let's just get real with all four of you. I'm going to finish after this question. So one is I want you guys to just speak to what Amanda said. Have you had a personal effect coming out of this program, but also just this other thing? So Justin, has there ever been a time in your career where you loved planning?

Justin: No.

Alex Charfen: No. You know, and I always tell this to entrepreneurs like, "Hey, your apprehension around planning is very natural." Let me tell you why. When you look at all four of you who are on this call, I look at people... I can see just by how you talk, how you hold yourself, the things you say, the language you use, you are always moving forward. You're always doing something. You're not comfortable standing still. You're not comfortable in stasis. Things have to be growing.

And here's what happens. When we acknowledge that we're planning, we are in a moment where we are acknowledging we don't know where we're going. Because in the fact that we're planning, we're acknowledging we don't know the destination. And that creates this precarious feeling for our entrepreneurs, for people like us, for evolutionary hunters who always want to be on the hunt chasing something down.

However, if we're willing to lean into a process, we can get to the other side of it. I always tell people, you will be excited about some of the meetings you have with your team, but you're never going to be excited about all of them. We're going to help you get through it in a way that they're actually productive. So Justin can you answer or speak to what Amanda mentioned. How has this program benefited you in your personal life?

Justin: Well, I just carried the cadence over. I don't keep two separate waterfalls or anything, but my personal stuff ends up on my business waterfall. And it just makes things a lot simpler. It's a lot less crazy because before, like I said, I didn't have a calendar. So I had stuff on my to-do list, I had stuff on this other to-do list, I had stuff in the project management software. And there was just stuff everywhere and now it's just in one place.

So it feels like I can breathe and I just feel like, okay, if I need to go look somewhere, I look at the calendar, I look at the waterfall. If something's missing, I just put on the waterfall. So from that perspective it's just been a lot easier to just deal with everything, both business and personal. I'll just leave it at that. It's just things are a lot easier to be [crosstalk 00:11:19].

Alex Charfen: That's awesome. You guys, it all sounds like you have the same habits I do. Like when I get uncomfortable, I go look at the waterfall. I'm like, "Oh, okay, we're good, I'm good." I have a sign on my wall that says "no random ideas" to keep me from like calling my team and telling them random stuff. And when I think about sending over something random, I go look at the waterfall and I'm like, "This is what you're disrupting." So same question for you Wallace, has this program had a personal effect on your life?

Wallace: Oh, a huge one, Alex. I remember when we were talking about starting up, you talked about a unique burden that I had on me because not only am I running, honestly a fairly complicated company, but [inaudible 00:12:01] my wife Ashley and I work together and we also are raising eight children together.

Alex Charfen: Yeah, let's just let that sink in for everybody. You said eight, not eight children. Not if we're not ready children. Eight.

Wallace: So we have a lot on our plates and life, it was easy for things to be overwhelming. And I don't function well in overwhelm. All the things you talk about that happens to us as entrepreneurs as we get into overwhelm. I could probably be your poster child for all those, sort of just shutting everything down. And frankly have too many people business-wise and personally relying on me to allow what used to happen with all of that.

And coming in and getting the cadence in place has given me absolute freedom to be able to do all the ambitious things that I want to do in my life and actually be able to show up and be good at those things. I've made a note, I'm glad you asked Wallace because I made a note before we got on of one thing that I really wanted to share from my experience for anybody that is in this or is thinking about getting into this and that is I had some hesitation when we first started where you were really preaching on the importance of self-care for the entrepreneur, of us using this program to help take care of ourselves.

And I balked at that a little bit. Self-care seems so selfish when you have so many people that are relying on you to do something. But I have been taught this lesson again and again that it is beginning with ourselves as the entrepreneur that makes all the rest of this work. And I like that I have to keep learning this lesson because a couple of times things will get big, they'll get stressful, I'll drop off the self-care and it's like everything starts to fall apart until I remember I need to come back and get me in line because everything flows from me as the center point in my business.

And so, reconnecting with that has changed everything because I put myself in a healthier place. I put myself in a happier place and all that puts me in a place where I can show up for my team, I can show for my wife, I can show up for my kids in a better way that will be possible in any other way. And that really is only the structure of the system that helps keep me there rather than I get lucky every once in a while, I can continually repeat that again and again and again now. I'm extremely grateful to you for that. It's been [inaudible 00:14:35].

Alex Charfen: Thanks Wallace. I appreciate you writing that down and sharing it. That's awesome.

Justin: Can I speak on that, a minute, Alex.

Alex Charfen: Yeah, please Justin.

Justin: I totally forgot about that whole aspect of everything. This past December I was going through a really rough spot just personally and just freaking out. The business was growing, but I was having a really hard time. And I was just, it just like Wallace said, I was in a state of just overwhelm. I was just shutting down. I didn't want to talk to anybody and just having a rough time.

And I remember, I think it was Deanna who told me, she was like, "Look at what you have going on. You've been traveling. It's the holidays. You're not eating right. You're not exercising anymore. And look at your state of mind and how it is." So just going back on the topic of healthcare, I was like, "Okay, that's a good point."

So this happened again to me a couple months ago and I just, I remember having that conversation with Deanna and I was just like, "Well, if I can't make it all work, I can at least make one thing work. And it was like the most consistent I ever stayed actually at the gym. I just made sure if I can't make my business run the way I want to at this present moment, then I'm going to make sure I'm going to make (beep) sure I get to get to the gym every single day.

It was like the one thing, it was like the anchor that had kept me sane and kept me from going to that state of full overwhelm. So, I guess just from a personal perspective, like Wallace said. That has absolutely been the case for me as well.

Alex Charfen: Yeah. And it doesn't feel selfish once you get to that other side and you see the effect, right?

Justin: Exactly.

Alex Charfen: Wallace does it feel like... Doesn't it feel like here's where I am now. I'm at the point where if I'm not taking care of myself, I feel guilty, not selfish. I feel guilty that I'm going to abuse my team. I feel guilty that I'm going to snap. I feel guilty that you know what? And it's something as simple as like if I get on the huddle and everybody's watching me, and everybody's watching all of you and I'm the slightest bit reactive, here's what everyone on the team thinks. I wonder what I did.

That's how it is being on a team. And so, when you get out of that reactivity, everybody's in a different place.

Wallace: Yeah. Alex, you mentioned something about an entrepreneur really should treat themselves as a professional athlete.

Alex Charfen: Yep.

Wallace: Because you are the linchpin, the keystone in your business. And when you do that, it is the most responsible thing you can do for your team because everyone and everything relies upon you showing up the right way. And that ensures that you can.

Alex Charfen: Yeah, that's awesome. Thanks Wallace. Andrea, now let's take this question to you. Sorry about that. So, same for you. Has it changed your life personally?

Amanda: You know what, I'd say the biggest thing that hit me even before I joined was I remember my... because I have a five year old and a three year old at home and my husband. And he was just like, "You just can't be in front of your computer all the time." The girls can't constantly see you in front of your laptop all the time.

So now creating this strategy, I feel less that I'm having to constantly hammer workout or be a slave to my business all day long. I can come home and most nights I don't even pull out my computer again to do more work. And the other thing that it's really helped me do that I've noticed the most since onboarding other people is I'm communicating better and communicating when I need help. I'm communicating when I'm not showing up well. I was always afraid to like I have to be the face of the business and make sure everything looks good.

And I'm showing up more authentically being like, "Guys, Brooklyn kept me up all night. I'm not a hundred percent. Just give me a pass today. I just don't have anything for you." And same with my husband. So when I come home, I'm like, "Babe, I need an hour of time where I can be not distracted and just focus so that I can be present for you guys the rest of the time. And if you can't give that to me, then we have an issue here. So we have to find a way to resolve that."

So I would say just communicating with humans as needed [inaudible 00:18:30] everything like that's the biggest thing because I didn't realize how many times I either miscommunicated something or I misinterpreted what somebody said to me. And so, I haven't been afraid to walk through that and make sure that I'm very clear and understanding what they're actually saying.

And that has happened everywhere, with my patients, in my personal life, with my employees. That's been huge. Really huge.

Alex Charfen: Oh, that's so awesome. Thanks for sharing, Andrea. Adam Lloyd said, "Love that entrepreneurs should live more like professional athletes. I always share that. I ask every audience of my entrepreneurs, if you're not treating yourself like a professional athlete, why? You have the earning potential, the influence potential, the affluence potential of any athlete out there, you should be treating yourself like one.

And like Wallace said, "You are the most important person in the building and so the more you take care of this, the more you're taking care of the team and everything else. You can give yourself leverage in your business by taking care of you. Everything gets better. My whole life, what I've always wanted to do is work with people who are changing the world, and help, and support, and create the systems, and the process, and the structure, and we couldn't do that if we didn't have incredible clients like all four of you.

And to come on and share such different views of what we do has been really enlightening for me. I hope everybody who's been here with us enjoyed it. Please go to billionairecode.com, answer a few questions for my team. Sign up for a call and I can't wait to see the four of you in our event.

So hopefully you're coming next week and you'll be here. Can't wait to give you guys a big hug and see you in person. Thanks guys. I really appreciate your time today and your sharing from a very transparent and real place. Thank you. We'll see you soon.

Jeremy Bergeron: Hey everybody, it's Jeremy again. Thanks so much for listening again this week. You know, one thing that I get the privilege of doing is connecting with entrepreneurs across the entire spectrum of revenue. Folks who are just getting started, folks who are well into their seven, eight plus figures. And one thing I've noticed is the folks that come into our programs, it seems to be game-changing for them because once they implement it, it gives them an entirely different control system for the business.

It allows them to set their outcomes and get their teams out in front of them so they can start a cheating on a daily basis like they never have before. If you want to solve the issues that most entrepreneurs have of not knowing where they're going, how they're going to get there, and what they should do next, then head over to billionairecode.com/apply-now. That's billionairecode.com/apply-now.