0:00

I want to encourage you if you are someone right

0:03

now who wants to put things out

0:05

there, but the production value of it

0:07

causes you to just not even create

0:09

Dial it back, go to the

0:11

absolute basics, and remind

0:14

yourself that it's not about the

0:15

method, it's about the message. Hey.

0:17

My name is Kutcher, and I am obsessed

0:20

with all things business, marketing numbers,

0:22

and helping you to navigate both the SE

0:24

and the magical seasons of this thing called

0:26

Life. I'm a small town mama who took a

0:28

three hundred dollar camera, grew a successful

0:30

photo biz, and now I work from home and run

0:33

seven figure online

0:34

business. I teach you the tried and

0:36

true secrets to building a career you adore.

0:38

Sh shy away from the real talk? No

0:40

way. Money, hardship growth, loss,

0:42

and marketing are all topics we discuss

0:44

here. Think

0:45

of this as your one stop shop for happy hour

0:47

with a Gal pal mixed with business school.

0:49

Pull up a seat, make sure you're

0:51

cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged

0:53

while

0:53

you learn. This is the gold digger podcast.

0:57

I was recently reading a post

0:59

online about Barbara Walters, who

1:01

was arguably one of the best

1:03

interviewers in all history.

1:06

And one of her favorite questions to

1:08

ask people was, what is an unpopular

1:11

opinion that you hold? And I

1:13

kinda loved that because I think

1:15

it's a really fascinating opportunity

1:17

for people to share about maybe

1:20

a counter cultural or counter intuitive

1:22

belief that they hold, that they believe enough

1:24

to proclaim. And it kind of got

1:26

me thinking like, where in my business

1:29

do I hold unpopular opinions

1:31

or do I have maybe not

1:33

so normal business practices that other

1:36

people might judge? And

1:39

I actually started creating a list and

1:41

the list started to grow. And so today,

1:43

I'm gonna break down the six

1:45

unpopular opinions or business practices

1:48

that I hold with confidence things

1:50

that I often get teased about

1:53

or I talk about with others

1:55

who kind of scoff or

1:57

maybe look at me with disbelief. And

1:59

I'm gonna break down why I stand

2:01

behind the methods of

2:03

my madness. So thank you Barbara

2:05

Walters for this prompt, and let's

2:08

dive on into some unpopular opinions

2:11

and why I hold them.

2:13

One of the best things about hosting the gold digger

2:15

podcast is getting to chat with people who are

2:17

experts in areas that I'm not, like

2:20

the area of product based businesses.

2:22

I got to host a conversation with Jacqueline

2:24

Schneider and Nina Koulosi Depp from the

2:26

product box podcast last year. And

2:28

now I am so excited because they have

2:31

joined me on the HubSpot podcast network,

2:33

the audio destination for business professionals.

2:36

Take your physical product sales and strategy

2:39

to the next level to create your dream life

2:41

with a workshop style strategy hour

2:43

of social media and marketing strategies so

2:46

that you can up level as the boss of your

2:48

business. If you love gold digger,

2:50

I know you'll love the product boss, so tune

2:52

in wherever you get your podcasts. When

2:56

I graduated high school, one of my

2:58

all time favorite teachers, miss

3:00

Martha Vetter, who was my

3:02

English teacher, gave me

3:04

this little plaque and she had the most beautiful

3:07

calligraphy writing and she

3:10

wrote that quote about marching to the

3:12

beat of your own drum. It's always

3:14

been something that I've done. It was something

3:16

I was known for even back in high school.

3:18

Just kinda doing things in my own

3:20

way and unapologetically. And

3:23

it was crazy because when I was packing

3:25

up our house to prepare for our move,

3:27

I found that little plaque. And it just made

3:29

me smile of like, I've kind

3:31

of always been someone who

3:33

does things maybe a little bit differently or

3:35

maybe a little nontraditionally. And

3:38

that way of doing life has

3:41

really helped me move through business

3:43

in a way that might not be normal.

3:46

So let's talk about some of these things

3:48

that I do, some of these unpopular opinions

3:51

or business practices. So the

3:53

first one is this, not trying to be on all

3:55

of the platforms or jumping onto the next

3:57

new thing. It's really funny because I've been

3:59

around the Internet world long enough to watch things

4:01

like Vine and Clubhouse and What

4:04

was that one live oh, Periscope,

4:06

that live video streaming platform, it

4:08

came and it went. Right? And a lot

4:11

of times, I resist I don't even join those

4:13

platforms. I don't jump on them. In fact, my book

4:15

publisher is very annoyed that

4:17

I am not present on TikTok. Or

4:19

that I'm not prioritizing YouTube. And

4:21

it's really interesting to me because I

4:23

love those apps. I think they're great.

4:26

But I just know that, like, it's

4:28

not a place where I feel inspired

4:30

to create. And if I'm not inspired to create

4:32

in a certain space, it's not gonna be work

4:34

that I love, and it's also not gonna be work that

4:36

I'm consistent with. I genuinely

4:39

want to be really good at a few

4:41

things and I personally know where

4:43

I've built my loyal audiences And

4:46

I also am super conscious

4:48

of what my bandwidth is. Just yesterday,

4:50

I got a DM in my inbox and it was like,

4:53

some girl was, like, hired this business coach

4:55

and they're telling me, I need to get on TikTok and I need

4:57

to create YouTube shorts and all these things. But

4:59

I thought you just said, like, you just

5:01

do, like, Instagram and Pinterest and your podcast

5:03

really well. And that works for you, and that's

5:05

how you grow your email list. And I was like, okay.

5:07

And I just wanted to remind her, like, you cannot

5:10

be in all the places and do it well unless

5:12

you have a massive amount of support and

5:14

a massive amount of content you

5:16

know, people often try to be in

5:18

all the places, but they usually end up

5:20

burning out or doing work that

5:23

isn't actually tied to a direct result. If

5:25

you think about it, And you think about the

5:27

fact that every single

5:29

platform that you're on that you

5:31

do not own, so it could be Instagram or

5:33

Pinterest or TikTok or even a podcast,

5:36

they all have these different algorithms.

5:38

And if you want to become really masterful,

5:41

you have to kind of understand what

5:43

it takes to create and get your work

5:45

seen and noticed. And as a

5:47

reminder, we're not in control of those algorithms

5:50

or there's platforms, which is why it is

5:52

so important that in the process

5:54

of creating your thinking about how you're

5:56

leveraging these different platforms, to

5:58

get people to a place where you do own

6:00

and control, which could be a blog

6:03

or a website or an email list. And

6:05

so it's interesting and it might

6:07

be unpopular, but I am just not

6:09

someone that is going to jump

6:11

to every single platform and try to master

6:14

them all. I know that's not gonna work for me, and

6:16

I know that's not where I shine best. And

6:18

so instead, I've always done things in

6:20

a way of like, I want to get really

6:23

monisterful. I want to be super intentional.

6:25

I want to be inspired. I want to

6:27

have a strategy beyond just

6:29

beating the algorithm. And

6:32

that's how I wanna show up. And

6:34

so while, yes, I know that

6:36

maybe I could have success on TikTok

6:38

or maybe I know that

6:40

I could get subscribers on YouTube right

6:43

now. I'm not called to create

6:45

in those places, and I'm not gonna

6:47

jump ship on what has been working

6:49

and what continues to work for me. And so

6:51

maybe this is just your reminder of like

6:53

you do not have to show up in all the places.

6:55

I would way rather have you show up in one

6:57

or two places with intentionality,

7:00

with creativity, and with a strategy

7:03

that guides actual results

7:06

beyond things like likes and followers.

7:08

And so that's unpopular opinion

7:11

number one. Unpopular belief

7:13

or business practice number two is that I

7:15

don't create a million new products every year.

7:18

You know, it's really interesting. was at a

7:20

recent mastermind with my peers and

7:22

I stood up in the room with

7:24

all these brilliant people. And one of the things that

7:26

I shared is that I

7:29

want to go deep. I don't want to go wide.

7:31

In friendships, in relationships,

7:34

and also in business. In

7:36

fact, I am kind of on this mission right

7:38

now of, like, I wanna simplify even

7:41

more, which is saying a lot because I'm narrowing

7:43

my offers even more I'm getting crystal

7:45

clear on what it is that I want to be known

7:47

for, how I want to make an impact. Like,

7:50

I have not created a new course

7:52

in three years. Because I

7:55

want to focus on keeping my current courses

7:57

up to date and fresh and transformative. I

8:00

do not want to always be on the hamster

8:02

wheel of making more. I want to make

8:05

less but with more intent, more

8:07

strategy, more optimization. More

8:10

personalization. Entrepreneurs

8:13

often can create and launch, and then

8:15

they just start creating the next thing. Instead of

8:17

looking for opportunities to optimize

8:20

and to impact. I see it all

8:22

the time too, where people, they

8:24

get so obsessed with the actual creation,

8:27

that they don't actually take a minute to

8:29

say, okay, what worked here? What didn't work? How

8:31

could I make this better? How could I do this differently

8:33

next time? And maybe their

8:36

launch didn't go the way they thought it would.

8:38

And instead of actually inspecting the

8:40

launch, they just grab the product and

8:42

move on to the next product. When lot of times,

8:44

people don't even get to experience how incredible

8:47

your product or your service or your offer is

8:49

because they're the marketing behind it. And

8:51

so I was asking my team. I was like, what

8:53

are the things that we do that might be different

8:55

than other businesses? And one of the first things

8:57

they said was, we're not constantly

8:59

creating new products. In fact, we

9:02

rarely create something new. We are constantly

9:04

looking at how we can

9:07

create a better flow and

9:09

invitation to get people to enjoy the

9:11

actual products. A lot of times the problem

9:13

is not with product, It's with the process

9:16

around that product. And as

9:18

entrepreneurs and multi passionate people

9:20

and creative people, we often forget

9:22

that, like, we can look at that process and

9:24

not wrap the product. And so for

9:26

me this year and for the years past,

9:29

I am not on a mission to create a bunch

9:31

of new things. In fact, I will create very few

9:33

new things. If any, I just

9:36

wanna keep making what I've already

9:38

got even more epic and awesome

9:40

and impact and so hope that encourages

9:42

you. Go deep, don't

9:44

go wide. Another thing

9:46

that often surprises people and it's

9:49

actually quite hilarious when

9:51

I share about it is I have very

9:54

limited production value in

9:56

my business. Very limited.

9:59

For a reference point, I started

10:01

my business about

10:03

twelve years ago, and I've never really

10:05

had like a dedicated office

10:07

space. I've never had a studio for

10:09

my podcast. The other day,

10:11

I was recording a podcast with a guest.

10:13

And in the email, we send out, we tell them,

10:16

hey, like, it's audio only for the podcast,

10:18

but they missed that part. So we log on

10:20

in and get ready to record it, and they were shocked.

10:22

They were shocked that I don't do video. They're like,

10:24

I've never done it this way before. And let

10:27

me say it here first. I really

10:29

actually want to start doing things like

10:31

video. Like, it is something that

10:33

I would love to do now that

10:35

I have a quiet office space, but

10:38

in the six years since I started my podcast,

10:40

I've never done video interviews. My show

10:43

has been recorded in closets and cars.

10:45

Like, I don't wanna be on video sitting in the front

10:47

seat of my car. I don't wanna be on video sitting

10:50

in a closet with, like, boxes that are titled,

10:52

like, random crap that I never unpacked from four

10:54

years ago. And so my

10:56

show has always just been an audio

10:58

first show, and I actually just

11:00

love the simplicity around it. I'm

11:02

not worried about what I'm wearing. I'm

11:04

not having to get all dolled up. I'm not

11:07

worried about what I look like. Like, I

11:09

have realized for me it is not about

11:11

the method. It is about the message. And

11:13

if I get caught up in the method and the

11:15

production value, I will never

11:17

create anything because it's never gonna look

11:19

good enough. And it's interesting

11:21

because I think that when I share about this,

11:24

I have such conviction in it because

11:26

I know that I can easily

11:29

get caught up in the perfection of something

11:32

to the point where that desire for

11:34

perfection caused me to procrastinate in procrastination

11:36

just means I'm never gonna book anything out there.

11:38

And so what I love about my podcast and

11:41

the success that it's seen is that

11:43

it is come with a very

11:45

low production value. I

11:47

do not have a producer sitting on my interviews

11:49

with me, I have a very minimal

11:52

podcast set up right now. I literally have

11:54

a microphone and a phone box that I bought

11:56

on Amazon. And it has never been

11:58

about having this perfect production

12:01

value. I was talking to a friend

12:03

who, for literal years, she has

12:05

told me that she wants to have a podcast. However,

12:08

she wants it to be like a talk show.

12:11

She wants to have the perfect set.

12:13

She wants to have camera guys there.

12:15

She wants to have an audio engineer, all these

12:17

things. And guess what? She's never once

12:19

recorded a single episode because of

12:21

the production value. And so I want

12:23

to encourage you if you are someone right now

12:26

who wants to put things out there, but

12:28

the production value of it causes

12:30

you to just not even create, dial

12:32

it back. Go to the absolute

12:35

basics and remind yourself that it's

12:37

not about the method, it's about the message. In fact,

12:39

something that's interesting is I've had

12:41

courses that have sold I've

12:44

sold thousands of them. I've taught thousands

12:46

of students online and never

12:49

once in my course you actually see my face.

12:51

It's not about me. No one needs to watch

12:53

me sitting in a chair talking. I want

12:56

to deliver the content. My courses are

12:58

fluff free, through and through. And

13:00

when I tell people that, they're like, wait, what?

13:02

Like, you don't get, like, a whole team to come into

13:04

your house. Like, you don't have a whole set. You don't

13:06

have a script. You don't have a teleprompter. No.

13:09

I don't do any of that because if I would've done that,

13:11

I would've never created the course. And it's

13:13

not about any of that. It's really not.

13:15

It's about getting people the systems and

13:17

content that they need to get the

13:19

end result. It also has

13:21

given me this freedom to constantly

13:24

be updating my courses without requiring

13:26

an entire team of people to have to come

13:28

in order to update it. So it's kept everything

13:30

super simple and streamlined for me

13:33

which is something I love about how I

13:35

create. I've always been this way.

13:37

And so I have very

13:39

limited production value through and

13:41

through. If you want to learn how to do things

13:43

simply, learn from me.

13:45

Because I am the person that is, like, keep

13:47

it simple stupid. Like, that is how

13:49

I have created over

13:52

the last decade and how I continue

13:54

to create. And while I am excited

13:56

to maybe explore different opportunities now

13:58

that I'm actually going to have a quiet

14:00

office that I can access anytime of

14:02

day. There's a part of me that's

14:04

like, hey, why change? It's

14:06

worked this far. And it has

14:08

kept you in your lane of really

14:10

focusing on the message and not the method.

14:13

And so I just wanna encourage you there.

14:15

It's not about the production value, baby, get

14:17

your content out there and change world with

14:20

it as simply as you possibly

14:22

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14:24

and I absolutely hit the ground running in

14:26

twenty twenty three, and I feel like we're going along

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at a pretty good clip to start off the New Year.

14:31

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14:33

owner and a leader of this small Mighty

14:35

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14:38

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16:16

Kutcher unpopular opinion

16:19

belief business practice is that

16:21

I am not someone who is always striving

16:23

for more. In fact, I am, like,

16:25

on a year of less and I have been

16:27

for the last few years. Last

16:30

year, it was interesting I

16:32

did not set these massive targets

16:34

for myself or for my business to hit.

16:36

One of my best friends in business you might know who

16:38

I'm referring to we talk daily.

16:40

That's we always giggle because she

16:42

could tell me down to

16:44

the last sale, like, where she's at

16:47

in terms of their goals,

16:49

their projections, their profits.

16:51

I could not tell you a damn thing about that.

16:54

I love it because we balance each other

16:56

so well. And oftentimes I'll just

16:58

giggle because I'm like, I am

17:00

not someone who sets these

17:02

really rigid goals. It just it doesn't

17:05

inspire me. But it works for

17:07

her, and I love that for her. You

17:09

know, last year when I kicked off the year, I was on maternity

17:11

leave. So I kind of missed that whole, like,

17:14

annual planning energy And

17:16

what was really interesting is that we kind of moved

17:18

through the year in a peaceful

17:20

way in a way that felt good. I

17:22

didn't enter the year saying, like, q one

17:24

is this q two is this q three is this q four

17:27

is this. It was a very, like, organic

17:29

approach to the year, and it was exactly what

17:31

I needed as a mom of two. I didn't know

17:33

what being a mom of two would be like. Right?

17:36

And so I had given myself kind of this

17:38

like year of less and this year

17:40

of like, yes. As in, like, what is

17:42

my best yes? And how do I wanna move

17:44

through that? And that might be some

17:46

of the worst advice I could give some of you

17:48

out there. Maybe you need that structure.

17:51

But for me, it was beautiful.

17:53

And what happened is at the end of the year, I was

17:55

actually blown away to

17:57

see what we had accomplished especially

18:00

because I had moved through the year

18:03

in this pretty part time way,

18:05

like, I had a three month maternity

18:07

leave I took a month off

18:09

after my book came out, and I kinda

18:11

took December off in terms of

18:13

packing for a house and we did, like,

18:16

a little family trip before the big move.

18:18

And so when I looked at it, I was, like, holy

18:20

cow, like, I had over third of

18:22

the year off, and yet we accomplished

18:26

so Kutcher. But was even

18:28

more proud that, like, last year was,

18:30

like, this kind of peaceful pace. It was

18:32

this very organic unfolding.

18:35

And when I asked my team, again,

18:37

like chime in, like, what are some things that we do that's

18:39

different? Like, I am not someone

18:42

who is never satisfied. I

18:44

am not always on this journey of more.

18:46

I am not constantly competing

18:48

with myself or others. Like,

18:51

I am good and it

18:53

feels so good. And

18:56

sometimes I question, like, is

18:58

my ambition broken? Like

19:01

like, did the achiever and me die

19:03

at some point? But I have

19:05

learned to, like, love this

19:07

feeling of enoughness and peace.

19:10

And I think that what often accompanies that

19:13

is this ability to be present for

19:15

my life, to be awake, to my life that is

19:17

unfolding, and it's just different. And

19:20

I used to always be someone who wanted

19:22

more and more and more and when I look at like

19:24

what that historically brought me, was

19:26

burnout. And I just am

19:28

in a place in my life where I don't do

19:30

burnout anymore. I can't afford

19:32

to do burnout. I can't be burnt out

19:34

for you, for my business, for my

19:36

family. So, like, I just don't do that

19:38

anymore. And if we talk

19:40

about that rat race for more, like,

19:42

what I want more of is peace and

19:45

ease and presence, that's what I'm after.

19:47

It's not more things or

19:50

more money. And so what's

19:52

really interesting is from a business standpoint,

19:55

I've intentionally built my life in my

19:57

business in a way allows me to not

19:59

always have to be chasing. And

20:01

it's just brought this like level of

20:04

abundance in a way that

20:06

maybe isn't as impressive in

20:08

terms of spreadsheets or numbers

20:10

in a bank account, but it is

20:12

this feeling that

20:15

is so invaluable that I wish I

20:17

could bottle up and give to everyone out there.

20:19

And so my unpopular belief

20:22

that I hold is that it's not hours about

20:24

more, that less has unlocked

20:27

a different sort of life for me, and

20:29

that I'm not out there competing with anyone.

20:32

Or myself in who I was.

20:34

I am out there just in

20:36

pursuit of a life that feels good.

20:38

And so my business these

20:40

last few years, specifically, especially

20:42

as a mom of young kids. It's just like

20:45

this more organic unfolding because

20:47

I want my business in the way that I approach it

20:50

to feel good and not just look

20:52

good or not just produce well. The

20:54

fourth unpopular opinion,

20:57

miss Barbara Walters, is that

20:59

I do not and

21:01

have zero desire to have

21:03

an enormous team. I do not have

21:05

an enormous team of full time employees. I

21:08

will never forget this moment. It was

21:10

a couple years ago. I was in this really

21:12

unique place. I was achieving this kind of

21:14

different level of success. And

21:16

I was sitting with my friend, Russell

21:19

Brunson, who I adore. He's like

21:21

my marketing brother. We have this really

21:23

cool relationship. I remember

21:26

we're sitting at one of my favorite restaurants in

21:28

my favorite hotel and I was eating my favorite

21:30

pancakes. And him and I were talking.

21:32

He's like, tell me about your team. And I was like, oh,

21:34

you never believe this. But we have, like,

21:36

four employees. Maybe, like,

21:38

ten people total when I look at contractors

21:41

and he's like, what? And

21:43

he was telling me about how he had this, you know,

21:45

he had this whole call center at one point. Like,

21:47

he had hundreds of employees, he was

21:49

like, man, like, I missed those

21:51

days. I would give anything to, like,

21:53

go back to, like, the simplicity of

21:56

that, like, I love that. He's like, there's

21:58

so much, like, pressure of, like, knowing

22:00

that. Like, you have to pay, like, you

22:02

are responsible for feeding these people on their

22:04

families and, like, man, like, there's so

22:06

much beauty in the simplicity of

22:09

how you're doing business, and I will never forget

22:11

that because it often reminded me

22:13

of, like, how the grasses I was greener. Right?

22:15

And it's funny because I have a lot

22:17

of peers in my industry and they'll tout that they're

22:19

leading teams of like sixty or two hundred

22:21

employees and they're proud of that and I love

22:23

that for them. But it is

22:26

not for me. So

22:28

my team currently is super

22:30

small, but mighty. We have four

22:32

employees on payroll, like, on

22:34

salary. And we have about five to six

22:37

contractors that work on or in the business

22:39

on a weekly or monthly basis. I

22:42

honestly do not have any

22:44

desire within me to create this massive team. In

22:46

fact, it's like we're kinda looking at some

22:48

new hires that we're gonna be doing because we're kinda

22:50

shifting some positions around

22:52

on my team. And there's a part of me that's

22:54

like, I don't want more people. I don't want

22:57

more people, but I know it's the next right thing.

22:59

But, like, what is crazy about

23:01

my small team is that everyone

23:03

has been with me for years. For

23:06

years, So, like,

23:08

I have people that have been on my team, I think,

23:10

for, like, seven or eight years, and

23:12

then, like, my most recent hire

23:14

was, like, three years ago. And

23:17

so it's crazy because

23:20

we have built this, like, family unit.

23:23

And being the small and mighty force,

23:25

it is wild because people are just blown away.

23:27

Like, we are incredible executors. Our

23:30

implementation skills are bar none. But

23:32

the other crazy thing about this is

23:34

I have literally not gotten to

23:37

be with my team in person since

23:39

twenty twenty. When

23:41

I look at it, there has always been,

23:43

you know, obviously, the pandemic. Then

23:46

I had a baby. Then life was busy. Then

23:48

we're moving. Then there's all these things. So,

23:50

like, it has been forever since

23:52

we have actually been in a space together.

23:55

And in the whole history

23:57

of my team, we have only been in person

23:59

twice. In the whole history

24:01

of my entire team, so in a decade. Now,

24:04

do I wanna change that? Absolutely. But

24:07

I wanna give you some confidence that, like,

24:09

you do not have to have this massive team to run

24:12

a very successful company and

24:14

you also don't have to be

24:16

in the flesh to do

24:18

big things. It's so

24:20

wild because we all work remote. We're

24:23

spread out all over the country. And the fact

24:25

that we are able to get so much done

24:27

while also having so much peace and flexibility

24:29

in our lives, it astonished as me.

24:32

Something that's been really cool with my team is

24:34

that we are a team of women

24:37

and we have been, like, walking through

24:39

life together. So literally, the day on Slack, we

24:41

were sending pictures of our babies and talking

24:43

about different child care needs and talking about

24:45

family and life and all these different things and it's

24:47

like we have moved through life in

24:49

different seasons of life and Honestly,

24:52

the season of life that a lot of my team

24:54

is in is that we're in those early child

24:56

rearing days. Like, we are walking through

24:58

the thick of raising young children

25:01

And so what's been really interesting is

25:03

I've really opened up these

25:06

conversations with my team of, like, hey,

25:08

like, if your needs change or if you need

25:10

different level flexibility or something comes up

25:12

with childcare, like, how can we move

25:14

through this in a way that

25:16

allows the piece that we all desire? One

25:19

of my team members who's been full time,

25:21

about six months ago, we got on the phone.

25:23

I remember this conversation. She was like, you

25:25

know, I really love being a mom.

25:28

And I really love the work I do, but, like,

25:30

the dream would be to go part time. And I was like,

25:32

alright. Let's dream it up. What does it look like? How

25:34

do we do it? And now we're actually in

25:36

this transition of getting her into a part

25:38

time position and transitioning her role.

25:40

Because to me as a leader, I'm like, If

25:42

there's way to keep you and keep you happy

25:45

and fulfilled and excited about the work you're doing,

25:47

I'm willing to work with you

25:49

to make that happen. Another team member who's been

25:52

on salary was like, hey, I have this

25:54

dream of becoming a contractor because I wanna

25:56

I wanna have this vision. I'm like, let's talk about

25:58

it. Let's talk about it. What does this look like? Like,

26:00

I, as a boss, like,

26:02

I wanna be there to support my

26:04

team on this human level, not just on business

26:07

level. And so it's wild to me because

26:09

I'm like, I would not have the capacity or the

26:11

ability to do that. If I had a

26:13

team of sixty or a hundred employees.

26:15

Right? And so it's just beautiful. I

26:17

adore my team, you know, being

26:20

with a bunch of my peers in the industry just

26:22

kinda hearing some of the struggles that they have with their

26:24

team. I just feel so fortunate

26:27

because I genuinely love my

26:29

team and, like, we bring our best gifts to

26:31

the table, but we also sign off and

26:33

live hard. And I just love that about us. And

26:35

so, you know, what we do running

26:37

a multimillion dollar company with

26:39

four employees and about five to six contractors,

26:42

it's pretty astonishing. And I just want

26:44

to share this unpopular opinion because

26:46

I want you to know that it's possible. Right?

26:49

Speaking of possibility, the final

26:51

unpopular opinion that I have or

26:53

maybe business practices that I

26:55

do not keep money a secret from my team.

26:57

When we launch or sell something, they

26:59

know every digit. They know how

27:02

sales are going. They know what the business is bringing in.

27:04

They know that where we're at financially. I

27:06

have always been a super

27:08

open book, and I love that. I love that

27:10

about myself. In fact, sometimes I'm probably

27:13

too much of an open book. was on the plane

27:15

the other day. I sat next to this random guy we

27:17

got to talking and pretty soon I'm telling him

27:19

this story about how when we were twenty five

27:21

years old, we drained our bank accounts and here's what

27:23

we bought this condo in Hawaii. here's what we did

27:25

in all these things, and I'm sharing all these details

27:27

about my life and finances. But, you

27:29

know, to me that when we have these

27:32

conversations, We unlock

27:34

what's possible for people. We give them

27:36

perspective. We paint the picture in a different

27:38

way. I'll never forget one of my

27:40

dearest friends, Amy Porterfield, years

27:42

ago, she did this podcast episode

27:44

where she dissected one of

27:46

her launches on air. And

27:49

I will never forget that episode

27:51

because she had done a million dollar

27:53

launch. And I remember listening

27:55

to that and I was in this place in my business

27:58

where I was like, you know, a six figure

28:00

launch was just mind blowing

28:02

to me. The fact that I hadn't even

28:04

dreamed that seven figures was possible,

28:07

was just a symptom of

28:09

me not even being exposed to the possibility.

28:12

And I remember when Amy did

28:14

that podcast episode. My

28:16

mind was blown, but the bar was raised

28:18

not by, like, what I needed to achieve, but just

28:21

knowing what was even possible. It's,

28:23

like, the four minute mile story. Right?

28:25

You've all heard that story where it wasn't

28:27

even possible. People didn't think it was literally

28:29

humanly possible to run four minute mile.

28:31

And someone did it. And once people saw that

28:33

it was possible, all of a sudden, a bunch of people

28:35

broke that record in the next year. And

28:38

so I do not believe that

28:40

keeping money a secret whether it is

28:42

in a relationship with your team or

28:44

even with your peers in the industry. I am

28:46

very open about sharing numbers

28:48

because I wanna be a possibility painter

28:51

for people. And I feel like being more

28:53

transparent when it comes to that can

28:55

really do that for people. I get in

28:57

trouble sometimes for that because I

28:59

love to share those types of details.

29:02

Sometimes I'm like, oh, I didn't realize that was a taboo

29:04

thing to say, but to me, it's like if

29:06

I can unlock that possibility for someone

29:08

else just to know that maybe they can dream a little

29:11

bit bigger, I will do it all day every

29:13

day. I love sharing those

29:15

details. And I love specifically doing

29:17

it with my team internally. Like, literally today,

29:20

we have in our team Slack a rundown

29:23

of where we're at in the launch And I

29:25

don't wanna hide anything about our goals.

29:27

I also don't hide our expenses. So

29:29

I want my team to know, like, okay, yeah,

29:31

you see this really big number, but also here's

29:33

what cost us to do this. And here's what this looks like

29:35

for the business. And here's where we're reinvesting into

29:38

what we're building. And I just think it's

29:40

important as a leader to do that. Like, I

29:42

want my team to buy into the goals and the

29:44

vision. And if they don't know the outcome, it's really

29:47

hard for them to get behind it. And

29:49

I also want them to know what's possible and

29:51

the role that they're playing in helping us reach those

29:53

goals. And a couple things that this

29:55

is unlocked for us as a team, I

29:58

love to, like, give my team random bonuses.

30:01

I love when I know that maybe like

30:03

a team member has something going on in their

30:06

life. And I can add a little bit extra to their paycheck

30:08

to help support it, or I love

30:10

when I can dream of ways for my team

30:12

to collect a commission on something, or get

30:15

a revenue share or spontaneous bonus.

30:17

Like, if I want this

30:19

success for me, I also want it for them.

30:21

And I think that that is just the theme

30:23

when it comes to team. And so

30:26

my team was like, we love that you don't

30:28

keep those things as secret because

30:30

it really helps them buy into the vision,

30:32

and get excited about the end results

30:35

and also see how those end results impact

30:37

them on a personal level. So

30:40

Barbara Walters, if you ask me my

30:42

unpopular opinions, those

30:44

would be it. And obviously,

30:46

just I love those things about myself.

30:48

I love that that is how I move through

30:50

life and business, and it works for me, and it might not

30:52

work for you. And I I think that's awesome too.

30:55

But I challenge you to think about how

30:57

you can march to the beat of your own drum

30:59

and listen to that rhythm of your own heartbeat

31:01

and follow that. Because

31:04

when I think about true

31:06

alignment and excitement when it comes

31:08

to business. So much of that

31:10

is based on you doing things in

31:12

a way that doesn't just look good to the

31:14

world but in a way that feels

31:16

good for you. Thank you

31:18

so much for listening to another episode

31:20

of The Golden Eagle Podcast. Until

31:22

next

31:23

time. Keep on digging your biggest goals,

31:25

and I hope you enjoyed today's show. I'm

31:27

over here giving you a virtual high

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