BCS 278 – Overcoming Business Obstacles with Purpose and Planning

Business Coaching Secrets with Karl Bryan

Exciting New Episode Alert! 

Hey network! Just dropped a brand new episode of the “Business Coaching Secrets” podcast, and this one’s packed with gems for anyone looking to level up their business game.

Karl Bryan and co-host Rode Dog dive deep into practical strategies and philosophical insights that can help you overcome business hurdles and achieve sustained success.

Meetings with Purpose:

Inspired by Dan Martel, Karl emphasizes that meetings should be meaningful. If it’s not adding value, feel free to leave. Time is your most valuable asset, so ensure it’s well spent!

Embrace Challenges:

Every level of success brings bigger challenges. Karl highlights that the key to growth is to face obstacles head-on, using the example of Elon Musk’s ambitious goals. Overcome them and bigger, more rewarding challenges will follow.

Effective Problem-Solving:

Shift your focus from problems to solutions. Write down three solutions for every issue you face to foster a problem-solving mindset and drive your business forward.

Don’t miss out on this episode! It’s a treasure trove of actionable advice, philosophical reflections, and motivational insights.

Tune in to hear more about Karl’s journey, key entrepreneurial lessons, and practical strategies for achieving business growth. Plus, Karl shares a unique job experience from his backpacking days that shaped his public speaking skills!

Karl Bryan helps business coaches get clients. Period.

For more magic on how you can grow a coaching business by attracting small business owners, filling local live events, and closing more high-end coaching clients… go to focused.com

For a free subscription to my magazine, The Six-Figure Coach go to thesixfigurecoach.com/get-it

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Episode 278 Transcription

Intro [00:00:00]:
Welcome to another episode of Business Coaching Secrets, where we decode the art and science of building a thriving coaching business. Let’s see what’s in store today with none other than the legend himself, Karl Bride, and of course, yours truly, the Rode Dog shoots.

Karl Bryan [00:00:20]:
Yo, yo, Rode Dog. You’re getting more and more formal every week.

Rode Dog [00:00:26]:
Yeah, it’s. It’s all happening, but I. I guess it only took about, what, 500 episodes to.

Karl Bryan [00:00:34]:
Comment. Dude, no comment. There you go. Perfect. Finally getting it. Finally getting it. I haven’t got it, so let me know how. Let me know how it goes as you work it out.

Karl Bryan [00:00:43]:
Shades.

Rode Dog [00:00:43]:
No, the only thing you’ve got is this horrible cough. I don’t know what’s going on with you.

Karl Bryan [00:00:48]:
Oh, buddy, it’s. I told you. After the podcast last week, it started, man, halfway through, I was like, oh, my God, what is happening to my body right now? I am at a rough week. I gotta pride myself, you know, like many out there pride myself on not being the sick dude, but I’ve had a hell of a week, man. I’ll give you the red hot tip. But that’s okay. So we soldier on, my brother. Which.

Rode Dog [00:01:13]:
Which, by the way, I guess would explain why you didn’t take the quick trip up to see our good mutual friend in. In Miami this week.

Karl Bryan [00:01:22]:
No, I did not.

Rode Dog [00:01:23]:
No matter how relentless he was being on the messaging thread. You back to your cats.

Karl Bryan [00:01:30]:
Yeah, it’s for everybody listening. If you haven’t been to South Beach. Excuse me, Miami. Oh, my God, South Beach. It is something to see. So anyways, that’s where my buddy, Our buddy was, and the Hunsy, the legend himself, but not happening. Not happening. So anyways.

Rode Dog [00:01:49]:
Well, there you are, bud. There you are. Hey, listen. Kind of a weird segue because you and I were kind of talking before the show and you were. You, you talked about the two rules, and I, I, I actually thought really good stuff that, like, let’s bring it onto the podcast and not just, you know, save it for the, the pre show. But can you explain the two rules, please? And I guess maybe tell the folks what they are and then kind of go into some detail because I thought they’re excellent.

Karl Bryan [00:02:20]:
Yeah, you’d be. Good call. Good call. And I agree. Okay, so, well, it stems from. Here’s the genesis of it, what you would have heard. Warren Buffett says he’s got two rules of investing. And as you listen to this, what are they? Hopefully, you know, by the way, and if you don’t, you should.

Karl Bryan [00:02:38]:
So the two Rules of investing. I’ll the one and only Warren Buffet. Rule number one, don’t lose money. Rule number two. See, rule number one. Now, most people hear that and they think of it as like a throwaway line, as though he’s like, ha, ha, ha ha. Don’t lose money. Right? Let me tell you, that is a guiding principle.

Karl Bryan [00:02:58]:
And we talked about it last week. What is net worth? You know, whatever he’s worth $150 billion, let’s say, hypothetically, an insane net number, right? Insane number for an IND individual to be worth that kind of money. So basically, it’s working pretty well, let’s put it that way. But again, investing, bunch of rules, A bunch of reasons around it, some of which are painfully obvious, many of others that are not. Bottom line is, don’t lose money when you’re investing. The end. So that said, so I created two rules. I don’t know if I created them, but I got to tell you, I’ve heard.

Karl Bryan [00:03:34]:
I don’t know that I’ve seen anybody else talking about this. Maybe I have. Can’t remember. The bottom line is that there’s only two rules of business. What are they? Rule number one, get a client. Rule number two, keep clients. That’s it. Rule number one, get clients.

Karl Bryan [00:03:51]:
Rule number two, keep clients. It’s that simple. It is. That is Amazon. That is Tesla. That’s Ford. That’s Coke. That’s Pepsi.

Karl Bryan [00:04:01]:
That’s. That’s the digital marketing agency. That’s the business coach. It’s the landscaper. It’s the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. It’s all you got to do. And then, by the way, so then there’s two rules of coaching, which would be a fan of the podcast. You’re going to know this one.

Karl Bryan [00:04:16]:
You could probably say them for us, but I might. But I, I don’t think I’ve been delivering them, calling them rules. Right? I mean, just, you know, two points. But rule number one is, where are you? Establish. Rule number one is establish your destination. Establish your little red arrow. You are here. And then rule number two is, establish your point of destination.

Karl Bryan [00:04:41]:
Am I saying that? Well, I don’t think so. Get to the date. Where are you? Where do you want to go? That’s it. Okay. Two rules of coaching. Establish those two points. And basically the coaching is the line in between. Which, by the way, truthfully, I’m thinking, I think that needs to be a third, third rule of coaching.

Karl Bryan [00:05:00]:
And I think that would be, why do you want to get there? Right? So rule number one. Where are you? Rule number two, where do you want to go? Rule number three, why do you want to get there? Right? So I, I gotta think that through. But the end of the day, two rules. Where are you? Where do you want to go? The destination, in between that, that’s how you know your ABC, your 1, 2, 3, the step by step process you’re looking for. Which by the way, though very importantly and what Rode Dog and I were talking about and what I think the takeaway for you, the most important, it’s the rules of business. Get clients, keep clients right. Knowing it was Alan Sultanic, I believe that. I read this on Facebook, very smart guy, unbelievable marketer.

Karl Bryan [00:05:40]:
And he said that knowing who your clients grow into is knowing what your company needs to grow into. So knowing what your clients grow into allows you to understand what your company needs to grow into, right? So like with us, one of the things, like we can help you find your fees up front. What does that do? That helps you get a client, right? So I built the profit acceleration simulator. I use marginal utility theory and the process of profit acceleration that we created, you know, 12 specific areas. And those 12 specific areas are the exact same ones that Pepsi, Subway, McDonald’s and others are using to basically grow their businesses. There’s 12 fundamentals. Real simple, McDonald’s. Just think bundling is one of them.

Karl Bryan [00:06:30]:
You ever been to McDonald’s? They say, do you want a happy meal? That’s bundling. Upsell, cross sell. You ever been to McDonald’s? They said, you want fries with that? Do you want me to supersize that market dominating position? Most people don’t know that McDonald’s invented the word fast food, right? So fast food. And then they invented the drive thru, by the way. Okay, so Anyway, so the 12 areas, I’ve gone over this at different times, may or may not be familiar, but feel comfortable that the 12 areas are the exact same 12 areas and more to the point, fundamentals that any big company grew off of, right? Okay, so you find your fees up front, but now on the back end. Now all of a sudden I can go and get you 10, 10 clients. What’s your new problem? What does your company grow into? What do you grow into? And that’s somebody that needs to move into grow. Rule 2.

Karl Bryan [00:07:19]:
And now you got to keep your clients. So we have got implementation steps that’ll blow your mind in terms of, well, how do you raise prices? How do you cut costs effectively? How do you legitimately create a market dominating position that could legitimately help them dominate Their local marketplace. How, how do you create a bundle, the equivalent of the Happy Meal that’s incredibly sexy and like, you know, brings people in on mass. Well, we’ve got all of those implementation steps and those, you know, the step by step, four levels deep in the implementation. We understood that. We took, you know, we’ve got coaches and all of a sudden they go, they, they meet us and they go, we need to get clients. And then they segue and do call it at 90 days. All of a sudden now they’ve got to keep those clients.

Karl Bryan [00:08:03]:
So that allows us to understand what types of things that we need to create. So I built a coaching portal and group coaching software and a bunch of other tools to make sure that your existing clients stuck around for a long time. So, so the get clients, keep clients is kind of the, the magic of that. And as you. Yeah, hopefully that’s making sense. Two rules of business. What I really want you to take away is that it’s, it’s can be really, really easy for your clients when you dummy down their entire business to say, well, like a really good example of this is if I was assessing your P and L, your client’s P and L. Call it the landscaper, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, right? Call it a landscaper.

Karl Bryan [00:08:49]:
When I went through their P and L, which basically an itemized list of their expenses. Okay, so forget any fancy accounting jargon. I’m looking at. I’m going at their credit card statements where I’m going through their P, L, the expenses. And the more itemized they are, which they’re normally not very itemized. Problem. The more itemized they are, the easier it is and the more value that I can bring. But the acid test is as I look at an expense, say it’s Rode Dog’s landscaping company.

Karl Bryan [00:09:19]:
I would say Rode Dog. Does this get you a client? And then I zip it and I let him answer, says yes or no. I said, does it help you keep a client? He says yes or no. I zip it until he gives me the answer. And then if the answer is not yes to either of those, it’s like, okay, can we do away with it? And the answer, a good percentage of the time is yes. Think of the magazine subscription as an example. Like, is this really providing any value? Because remember, when I save, when I. When Your clients got 20% net margins and I earn them a dollar, they keep 20 cents.

Karl Bryan [00:09:53]:
When I go to the magazine subscription and they’re paying X amount per year, every dollar that I save them, they Keep a hundred cents, not 20 cents. They keep a hundred cents. And if I’m two grand a month, 24 grand a year, and my MO. My mission operandi is to be able to. Mission operandi is to basically find my fees and make myself a free resource as quickly as possible. Saving them some money is a better roadmap, but it’s insanely less sexy. So it’s, it’s Moneyball. It’s.

Karl Bryan [00:10:26]:
It’s Moneyball, ladies and gentlemen, for business, right? It’s singles over home runs. Anyways, that’s my answer. Shoots. Those are the two rules. And then I believe that there’s, I’m playing with one around business models. I’m not going to bother you with it today, but that’s what I got.

Rode Dog [00:10:43]:
Nice. When you’re, when you’re, when you’re talking there just in terms of, when you, when you back it up, right? And you’re just like, well, basically where are you and where do you want to go? Where do you want to grow? I guess, right. When you’re putting that in that context, I guess the question really comes down to is there. I’m trying to, I’m trying to think of like, how many coaches actually do that? And then we’re. When it comes to products and stuff like that, I’m just trying to think of like, if I’m positioning myself as a coach, is there like a best product, you know, to help your client sell? I guess, right? Like if I’m, if I’m coaching a business is out. You understand what I’m saying? Like, I’m making a meal of this, but I’m sort of going point A to point B. Is there a best product to help them sell that or just sell in general? They’re not. Am I even using product? Is that even the correct thing to say?

Karl Bryan [00:11:43]:
Yeah, I think I know what you mean. And I look at, you know, and so it’s Christmas time coming, right? I got an 11 year old daughter, okay? And I’ll tell you this, you know, guess like I could, you could almost guess the things that she wants, right? She wants an iPhone, she wants a TikTok account. You know, like it’s insanely predictable things that an 11 year old would desire, right? None of which are happening, by the way. But like, so the, the, the best products, you know, for me to sell, for you to sell for your high end coaching client to sell would be like, how am I going to word this? A product that they’re not allowed to have. Okay, so this thing wouldn’t they, they ban a book, they ban a song, they buy a, ban an album. It 10 x’s in price, popularity and value immediately, right? So the product they’re not allowed to have. The product they can’t have. Okay? So think of the.

Rode Dog [00:12:44]:
It’s too pricey, it’s out of their, you know, it’s the Ferrari, it’s the Louis Vuitton bag, right? So the product they can have too pricey. Limited supply. No matter how much money you do have, if you didn’t buy last year’s Ferrari, you’re not able to buy this year’s Ferrari. Right? You just got to wait in line until you’re. Your name gets the front of the list, which will be no time soon. You know, it’s the, the way to what is Elon Musk says he sell the, don’t sell the product, sell the waiting list. Which incredible marketing genius in that, by the way. And it’s the nightclub from back in the day with the line outside.

Karl Bryan [00:13:21]:
So the product they can’t have. Right. So what do you do with that? You know, you want to walk up and you want to, you know, basically offer the bouncer X amount to walk right in this type of thing and then the product. So that would be two, I think and then the product they want to have and then within their graphs, right. Just of all these things, you know. So that is the new iPhone with the fancy camera. Okay. So that is like a possibility.

Karl Bryan [00:13:48]:
It’s something they can get access to. They do need to act quickly if they don’t have want to have to wait in line or have delays. But that’s the one they can. So what did I say? So the product they’re not allowed to have, the product they can’t have, not available and the product that they want to have. So I guess maybe like all these things. Think of the, the line outside the bar. I remember last. I don’t even know if this is a thing.

Karl Bryan [00:14:14]:
It’s been a long time since, I don’t know, been a while since I’ve been at a nightclub. I may or may not have gone to one in Colombia. But anyways, last call awards at a, at an award show, right? A driver’s license, Taylor Swift tickets. I see she’s in like Vancouver either now or coming or whatever. Right. It’s the sold out product. It’s VIP access. Something like cigarettes or chewing tobacco or alcoughol or drugs.

Karl Bryan [00:14:45]:
Right. So again people just want to get their hands on them. Motorbikes, right. When I was a kid, I wanted to move mountains, to get my hand on a motorbike. But my mom was very, very, for very good reason, a little nervous on my behalf that motorbike and I might have had a reasonably poor ending. You know, it’s backstage pass to meet the speaker. It’s the backstage pass to meet the band. Back in the day.

Karl Bryan [00:15:12]:
I don’t even know that’s still a thing. Opportunity for us. It’s the opportunity to be the one on stage, right? Like when you go to like Tony Robbins, right? He does like business mastery and all these people get up and speak. Those are all his clients, right? When I say all his clients, that’s an exaggeration, but. But not far off, right? Those are all people paying, you know, six figures plus, plus, plus with the Tony Robbins. And that’s, you know, because he’s got to choose who’s going to go on stage. And who do you think he chooses from? He chooses from his list of clients, right? Which is totally fair and understandable. But, you know, like, think in solving problems too.

Karl Bryan [00:15:48]:
Like, I mean, so here’s actually like something, hopefully I don’t make a meal of this, but solving, like you want to think in terms of solving a problem for a business owner, right? So like, you can teach them how to solve their own problem, you can solve their problem with them, you can solve the problem for them, or you can distract them from the problem. And I’ll let you guess which one is most profitable of the four, right? But number one, teach them how to solve their own problem. That’s a course, right? Solve their problem with them, right? Done with you. Coaching, consulting, right? Solve the problem for them. More of like a consulting gig. Getting involved, showing up and solving the problem right there, real time. And then four, distract them from their problems, right? Little, you know, wave of the hand up above. Anyway, so that’s the way I’d be thinking about it.

Karl Bryan [00:16:51]:
Shoots. But, you know, you want to build something, you want to be selling something that’s desirable. Let me tell you that you want to. You want to be filling a hole, not digging a hole. As a powerful metaphor in the sales and business game, that’s my answer. Shoots. What do you think?

Rode Dog [00:17:06]:
I like. I like, I like, I like. Speaking of, of marketing and philosophies here, I literally just came up the Apple marketing philosophy as written by Steve Jobs. And who’s this Mike Markula in 1977. Shoots. 77. We will truly understand their needs better than any other company. In order to do a good job of those things, we decide to do we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.

Rode Dog [00:17:40]:
People do judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software, etc. If we present them in a slipshod. Is that how you say that? Manner. They will be perceived as slipshod. If we represent them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired quality qualities.

Karl Bryan [00:17:59]:
Wow. Say that last. Say that last sentence again. That’s where all the magic issues.

Rode Dog [00:18:04]:
If we present them. Hang on. Yeah. If we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

Karl Bryan [00:18:15]:
Absolutely. Like when you present a solution in a creative way, it’s just taken more seriously. It’s got a better chance of getting fulfilled with your client. So meta hours, examples, analogies, etc.

Rode Dog [00:18:29]:
Just went to dictionary.com slipshod I. That’s. That’s a new one for me. Careless, untidy or slovenly slipshod work. There you go. Shoots. I’m, I’m. I’m just here to educate some dictionary words for you.

Rode Dog [00:18:45]:
It’s, you know, just from an ESL guy like myself. But anyways, so there you are. There you are. Hey, speaking of learning, what did Karl learn? What the Zen thought of the week. I can’t believe I didn’t start the episode with that. I’m slipping.

Karl Bryan [00:18:59]:
Yeah, Shoots. What’s going on? I gotta tell you, lying on my deathbed, I’ve had a couple of the Zen thoughts. Oh my God, I tell you. You know, so here’s. I don’t know, it’s a sabbing. I call it a quote that. But again, only thing is I don’t can’t quote it because I don’t know it off top of my head, but I’ll do my best here. But it like it’s common to hear of man talking about miles covered that day, but it’s weird, it’s rare to hear them boast about what they saw that day.

Karl Bryan [00:19:36]:
Does that make sense? So men boast about the miles covered, but they don’t boast about the things that they saw. I think that there’s. I think that there’s some value in that. Shoots. I think people like a translation. 10,000 steps. 10,000 steps. I got my 15,000 steps.

Karl Bryan [00:19:54]:
And that’s great, by the way. That’s way better than not getting your 10,000 steps. But again, you don’t see them posting about, you know, the mountain, the sunset, the sunrise, etc. I say the more, the more seriously you take yourself, the less happy you’ll be. Generally speaking, right. Actually, this shoots. You might like this. But a masculine man, A masculine man becomes his father or the masculine man becomes the man his father should have beaten.

Karl Bryan [00:20:29]:
And I think that there’s incredible power in that. Of course, always exceptions, but. But yeah, anyways, a masculine man either becomes his father or becomes the person he should have been. And I think that’s just like crazy, you know, and it’s like, just like, what was your father or somebody like, you know, what do they say? Weak people seek revenge, strong people seek forgiveness, but wise people seek to ignore. And then like, I would question, like, which one was your father? Right. Was your father the person seeking revenge? Was he strong and seeking forgiveness, as was your dad? The guy water off a duck’s back, didn’t get bothered by anything. And then I think again, as you’re reverse engineering that, thinking it through, just think through again, you know, and it might be in the interest might be your husband and it might be your son, and it might be different males in your world that you’re thinking about. Incredible power in that notwithstanding, knowledge is power.

Karl Bryan [00:21:27]:
So understanding that I think might give everybody, you know, a direction. So a very, very close friend of mine passed away not long ago. Johnny T. May he rest in peace. Beautiful, beautiful human like such. This just the best guy. Two kids to do. To do, to do just.

Karl Bryan [00:21:47]:
Oh, man. Sorely, sorely miss hundreds of people at his wedding. But anyway, so our. So there’s three of us, Johnny Mo, Johnny T. And myself. We were very, very close for a long, long time, like the three amigos. And so Johnny Moe did the eulogy and just one of the things I send. You can imagine how painful the experience was.

Karl Bryan [00:22:08]:
But I just said to Johnny Moe that, you know, you want to become. This is Jordan Peterson, by the way. But a good game plan for your life is to become the guy who everybody relies on at a family member’s funeral. And especially in a family member’s sad funeral, which this was a sad one, right where gone too young. And then that was John Emo, by the way. And that was my message to him that he’s become that guy. And so anyways, so what am I saying that could be a good, you know, become the. I don’t know, I think that, you know, the groundedness of a grandfather, all that, you know, falls under the same umbrella.

Karl Bryan [00:22:53]:
But I think, you know, becoming that wise man to ignore. I think we’re this Zen thought that shoots, you know, you throw at me every week, which I’ve come uberly unprepared.

Karl Bryan [00:23:04]:
For some crazy reason, but you know what I mean? I think it’s very, very powerful to understand. And, And. And the genesis of it a lot is that I, you know, I’m trying to become. I’m not pretending to be the guy that ignores everything, water up a duck’s back, and that stoic individual that just cruises through life just so easily. Because that’s just not my. That’s not my reality, I can tell you. But I am a work in progress. And I can assure you that today versus 12 months ago versus 3 years ago versus 10 years ago, I am significantly closer and getting closer every day.

Karl Bryan [00:23:40]:
So, anywho, that’s what I would say. Shoots. I’m going to leave you with that. That’s.

Rode Dog [00:23:47]:
It was. It was an awkward pause at the beginning. He said, I think you’re going to like this one. A masculine man. And then you paused. I’m like, why would I like a masculine man? That’s an awkward pause. Shoots.

Karl Bryan [00:23:58]:
There you go.

Rode Dog [00:23:59]:
Speaking of stoic wisdom, I. I just. I’m on fire here today.

Rode Dog [00:24:04]:
I. I just.

Rode Dog [00:24:05]:
I remembered the Bezos quote, and this. This reminded me so much of you when I saw it. Because, you know, what do you say? It’s like, if you have too many staff, you don’t have a business, you. You rent. HR firm or something like that.

Karl Bryan [00:24:17]:
Yeah.

Rode Dog [00:24:18]:
Basil’s quote of if two pizzas can’t feed the team, it’s too big.

Karl Bryan [00:24:23]:
Nice. Yeah, I know that one. Yeah, that’s good. Bezos spits out. See, Bezos will say something in a sentence. It’s a bit like Warren Buffett is two rules. Like, people think that’s a throwaway line, too, right? Like, oh, yeah. Ha.

Karl Bryan [00:24:37]:
No, no, he’s dead serious. Right? I believe the number is seven. Might be where Bezos felt like it hovered. But, like, he’s like, just look, you need tight, small teams, and they become bloated teams, they become ineffective teams, and we all pay the price. So not happening.

Rode Dog [00:24:55]:
But. And that’s the thing, because then you start having meetings for the sake of meetings. It’s funny because then there’s. I don’t know where Dan Martel took it from, but Dan always says, if we have a meeting, and if you feel that it’s not adding any value to. To what job you’re doing, you can get up and leave any time. Yeah, I love that.

Karl Bryan [00:25:14]:
Right?

Rode Dog [00:25:14]:
It’s like, okay, like, all of a sudden, there’s no one left. It’s like, yeah, okay, why are we having this meeting? Right now it’s pretty crazy.

Karl Bryan [00:25:21]:
Shoots. I look. Yes, I like that.

Rode Dog [00:25:25]:
All right, I got a question here. So one, one of our coaches wrote in and said, Karl, I keep hitting obstacle after obstacle. How do you overcome this?

Karl Bryan [00:25:39]:
Good question. That’s it. Obstacle after obstacle. Let me give you the bad news. Overcoming obstacles translates to more obstacles are coming. So bad news.

Rode Dog [00:25:53]:
Thanks for listening folks.

Karl Bryan [00:25:56]:
Show’s over. Drop the like, everybody go home. Sucks. Sucks to be you, man. Sorry. Me too. Anyway, so that, yeah, that’s it. And like, like, everybody, like, okay, so instinctively, oh, your client is trying to get big so that they can get rich and that is not the way that it ends up happening.

Karl Bryan [00:26:18]:
Okay, what ends up happening? So, because they think that they have like a $500,000 business and once they get to $2 million, their problems will go away. And then what happens is they, they grow to $2 million and they find out what they up significantly, not a little, a couple more problems, but significantly more problems. And why. It’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a function of reality. And by the way, could you give me the anomaly? Could you give me the exception to the rule? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we don’t, we don’t do that in business, right? You play percentages, always go to the average. Don’t go to the anomaly. And that’s not that you can’t become the anomaly. And I’m not saying, okay, don’t grow a kick ass, huge business.

Karl Bryan [00:26:59]:
Not what I’m saying. What I am saying though is to think that when you grow from $500,000 to $2 million, and believe me, they instinctively, subconsciously believe this, that their problems are going to go away is just like, it’s wholly laughable. But anyway, so, yeah, so look, what’s the, this is a stoic quote that I’m going to try and spit out. But your death doesn’t, your death doesn’t make your life pointless. It makes your life purposeful. Right. Okay, translation, you ever had that health scare where you’re waiting for the results of the blood test or you’re waiting for the results of the blood test for a, a loved one and then by the way, they come back positive? Well, what I want you to do is pretend that they don’t. Like, like pretend like that result hasn’t come back and tap into that, you know what I mean? Like all of a sudden it’s like that, that makes your life.

Karl Bryan [00:27:54]:
What Tony Robbins will say is you haven’t faced, you haven’t lived until you face death, right? And I. The reality of that or the power of that, in my opinion, is huge, right? All of a sudden you start, you know, you start seeing the color of the flowers and the smell in the air and the fresh air and the beauty of the sky and the beauty of the clouds and the beauty of the sun, etc. So. And you need to focus on solving problems rather than reacting to problems. I think I would say that too, right? Like it, it becomes psychos. Like it’s a psychosomatic. It’s a flywheel where as you’re. You’re concentrating, like you’re giving something energy and it just becomes worse and blows up.

Karl Bryan [00:28:43]:
It’s like procrastination. And when I get this new master class I’m doing and I show procrastination as a flywheel, where it just goes around and around and around. And much like a business, you understand a flywheel in a business. And now Amazon gets to, you know, some insane number like $2 trillion, you know, $2 trillion just doesn’t happen without a flywheel where your procrastination is the same when you don’t grab a hold of it, right? So rather than focusing on the problem, you got to focus on solving the problem, right? So take. For every one. Here, here’s a solution. For every one problem, write down three solutions. Every one problem, write down three solutions.

Karl Bryan [00:29:22]:
Suddenly what’s happening is you’re becoming significant, more. More dialed in. Speaking of problems, significantly more dialed in on the solution as opposed to the problem. Right? And I think maybe just what do I want to say? Like, resignation, like the obstacle. I kind of started with this tongue in cheek, but not really. Like, obstacles are coming, so it doesn’t matter if it’s fair, it’s unfair, and a staff member leaves and steals your stuff and steals your IP and steals your course and seals your clients and seals your staff like, like they’re coming for you, right? Guess what? Dust yourself off and keep going. Like the ultimate. The ultimate payback is your own success, right? So your job’s just to keep your composure, not beat yourself up about it.

Karl Bryan [00:30:08]:
Just keep moving towards your end goal. But that. I just said something very, very important. If you don’t know what that end goal is and it’s not tight and it’s not defined. Members, two rules of coaching. Where are you? Where do you want to go? You’ve. The hardest thing you’ll ever do is define that. Where do you want to go? That’s the truth.

Karl Bryan [00:30:26]:
I know it. Rode dog knows it. We’ve mentioned it many times on the podcast. Defining what you want is like one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. Guess what? Also one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. And quite frankly, establishing your little red arrow, it’s not that much easier. It’s significantly easier, but it’s not that easy either. So you got to set up those points.

Karl Bryan [00:30:47]:
These things, these aren’t throwaway lines. These aren’t kind of rules for your clients. These are rules for me, rules for Rode Dog, and rules for you and rules for your clients. Right? We all get to abide by. It’s like fitness. Right there is my diet and then the amount of exercise I do. That’s it. And that’s the same for the fattest man on the planet.

Karl Bryan [00:31:05]:
It’s the same for, you know, the. That, you know, trying to think of Dave, you know, Dave Goggins has said it. You know what I mean? Like, you know, David Goggins. It’s the same for, you know, the fittest guy in the world, right? So anyway, so you, you just gotta keep pounding and. And I would just come back to. Overcoming obstacles means overcoming obstacles. Like more obstacles are coming. That’s where I started.

Karl Bryan [00:31:29]:
That’s red finish. You know, you don’t become successful and then no longer have challenges. You become successful and have more and bigger. You want to know the. The value of a man, see the value of his problem.

Karl Bryan [00:31:42]:
Problem.

Karl Bryan [00:31:42]:
So this. No, you want to see the value of a man, have a look at the size of his problems, right? And believe me, Elon Musk has got some absolutely monster freaking problems. In fact, I wrote this in an email not long ago, and then somebody tagged me on Facebook. I think it might have been Dale Gibbons. Can’t remember. Sorry. But so anyway, so it’s like the business coach, Elon Musk is. Is working on colonizing Mars, right? And again, understand that Elon Musk is just.

Karl Bryan [00:32:15]:
He’s got, you know, he’s six foot one, whatever, you know what I mean? Like, he, he does this 24 hours in a day. He’s got certain amount of blood going through. He’s got to. Takes a certain amount of breaths per day. He’s got the same amount of teeth as you. He breathes roughly the same amount, you know, during the day. Doing a really bad job of just describing that. Elon Musk.

Karl Bryan [00:32:36]:
And you know, me and you were kind of the same in many, many ways, right? Same with Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, right? They put their socks on one at a time. The difference is the man is solving massive fricking problems. So translation. And here’s what I said to an email, in an email, Elon Musk is trying to colonize Mars. And then the business coach bitches and moans at me about how difficult it is to put 10 people in a room every Tuesday at 7am and by the way, I don’t say that, you know, I don’t say that the judgmental way. Like, I get it, I’ve been there, done that, got the postcard. But I will tell you that I was doing it. I mean, I didn’t.

Karl Bryan [00:33:10]:
We were filling three a day multiple times per week, right? And that’s not, I guess, what my problems were. Significantly. They, I had problems and, oh, you know, we were doing all kinds of, you know, crazy marketing here, there and everywhere. And I had boiler rooms and staff and people not showing up and headaches and dramas and follow up campaigns and emails that didn’t go out and people not on, you know, the, the guys who ran the chamber weren’t there on time for the session. I mean, it was just, it was, it was crazy. Lots of problems, right? So, and in no way am I saying, you know, oh, you know, I’m doing a better job than you’re doing or whatever. It’s just irrelevant. The bottom line is that Elon Musk is trying to colonize Mars.

Karl Bryan [00:33:55]:
Very big problem. And we are trying to put 10 people in a room every 7am at the chamber of commerce or your choice of venue. I promise you, when you think about it from that standpoint, you kind of laugh at yourself. And that when you think that this is, you know, really, really challenging, right? Anyway, shoot. So that’s when I would, I’ll leave it there, man. I don’t know. Obstacle there, there ain’t no getting past it. The obstacles, the only bad news is you become more successful, the obstacles become bigger, the monsters become bigger, the challenges become bigger, the, the, the rewards become bigger.

Karl Bryan [00:34:34]:
But also the potential hurdles, drawbacks and penalties become bigger as well. So that’s the way it is, man.

Rode Dog [00:34:44]:
But isn’t that sort of the way though, dude? Like, at the end of the day, it’s like you, as you grow as a person, the problems that you used to think were monstrous, now you look at and go, man, those are nothing. Right? Like, it’s, it’s, it’s pretty, pretty impressive. Like, I’m sure if we rewound 10 years, we could go 20 years. When you started this and the problems that you thought were big, then you would probably laugh at now. So just real quick on a, on a quick note here, I just want to ask you when it comes to, because we always talk about, you know, little red arrow, you are here and then you know, what do you want sort of thing and it’s like that’s where you’re building the gap for clients. Can, can maybe you talk about that just sort of as a positioning thing. Like if we’re saying look, this is, this is what you want and do, do coaches, how am I going to say this? Do coaches make the problem big enough? Like if they’re saying this is what I want, are they, are they helping them craft that well enough to create a bigger gap to then, you know, I guess create more of a sense of urgency for them to act and take action? Does that make sense?

Karl Bryan [00:36:10]:
Okay, so what you’re saying is I’m working with a client and my job is to help the client create a bigger vision for themselves and a subsequently bigger problems to solve. Is that right? And by you be a really good coach by. When you’re helping the landscaper, helping him think her, her think bigger and creating a vision beyond just themselves and their company. What you’d be doing is building a bigger space for you as a coach to settle into, to help them grow to what they could. You’re helping them create a vision bigger for themselves than they could ever create for themselves.

Rode Dog [00:36:46]:
And can you get out of control with that though, Karl? Can you almost at times make that vision too big where it just becomes.

Karl Bryan [00:36:54]:
Unrealistic for them and answers? Absolutely. But I don’t if done properly. So what I do is create that monster vision. Like remember, okay, so here’s the solution. You create the 20. We’ve talked about this for years, right? You create the 23, 25 year vision and then you create the 20 year vision and then the 10 year vision and then the 5 year vision and then the 3 year vision and then the 1 year version vision, the 9 month vision, the 6 month vision, the 3 month vision, the 1 month vision, the 1 week vision, the 1 day vision, right? And then they all need to coalesce. They all need to, you know, rhyme or reason into one another. And if they don’t, then there’s a disconnect.

Karl Bryan [00:37:39]:
But you start with that massive vision. So they start to go, wow, you’re right. Like I can be the person that can create, you know, modular homes. I’m the person that can create these, this container combat an idea of any container community. I got no idea what, whatever it is It’s a construction company, it’s a roofing company that’s going to invent a different way of doing it, or, you know, solar company, you know, changing the game. But then you got to be able to bring it back to today, tactical. In fact, you know, I literally sent that an email today. That was just what you really got to do.

Karl Bryan [00:38:14]:
In the first 30, 60, 90 days, strategy eats tactic for breakfast. We all know that. But in the first 30, 60, 90 days of my client, what I would generally do is get a lot more tactical and strategic because I want to put some runs on the board. I want to put some money in bank accounts. I want to be able to prove my worth. I want to be able to give them the high ten and say, congratulations, I’m two grand a month, 24 grand a year. The money’s already in your bank account. I’m free for the rest of the year.

Karl Bryan [00:38:41]:
Let’s keep going. Let’s go.

Rode Dog [00:38:44]:
Do you think, Karl, when people are doing, like, the planning and stuff, like, let’s say as a business coach, right, they’re doing their planning for 20, 25 as an example, it’s like, okay, I’m gonna grow. I want to have 20 coaching clients or whatever, and then all they do is go, okay, well, now I’m gonna do five a quarter. And then. But like, they’re not doing the action, the tactical, the planning of it. Like, you get what I’m saying? It’s sort of like a business will just have revenue goals but have nothing behind it in terms of how. What the actual things they’re going to do to make that revenue. I think that’s probably a big gotta build.

Karl Bryan [00:39:30]:
Okay, so the value is not. I think this is Eisenhower. The value is not in the plan. It’s in the planning. Right? The same way that Mike Tyson says everybody’s got a plan. Until when? Until you get punched in the face, Right? Well, the value is not in the like. So you, you know, you get in the ring and you’re fighting Tyson, the only protection you got from getting punched in the face is your training. And that your training was so good that you get punched in the face, you just got to be able to maneuver your.

Karl Bryan [00:40:05]:
You know what I mean, get your bearings again and get back to the plan. But because you were the one that built the plan, you’re going to be able to adjust the plan on the fly. But if you get this, this is where somebody else, you know, buying a plan from somebody else could be a pretty bad idea. Because if the you know what I mean? The value being in the planning. That’s where profit acceleration software, it’s all built around, you know, Q and A process with the client so that the client’s always got ownership over it, which I believe to be very, very important. Right. So you get what I mean though, right? So the value is not in the plan, the value is in the planning. So then when you get punched in the mouth, you can fall back on it and adjust on the fly.

Rode Dog [00:40:50]:
You think many people get stuck on their, their plan as well. They don’t, they don’t pivot.

Karl Bryan [00:40:56]:
Not flexible enough. Yeah, exactly. You’ve got, you got to be dog. So what I would say to that is be, if you created the right destination, remember little red arrow, you are here and then, you know, target of where you’re trying to get to. If you do step two properly, it doesn’t matter what happens on the line in between. So just look, your gps, you’re going from LA to New York, you’re driving along and all of a sudden there’s a forest fire, there’s a massive accident, there’s a, you know, a mudslide, there’s whatever. What do you got to do? You got to take a detour. And sometimes that detour can take you two hours out of your way and all the way back.

Karl Bryan [00:41:34]:
But because you know your destination, you get back on track, right? It’s the old metaphor of the, of the plane flying from LA to New York. The whole. When you’re flying, the. The flight is literally off course 95% of the time. The pilot’s job is just bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back. Right? Because of wind and all different con, different, you know, the wind and whatever else, right? So that’s. Think about your business. Your business is going to be off track 95% of the time.

Karl Bryan [00:42:07]:
Your job is just to get it back, get it back, get it back. But if you know where your destination is, honest to goodness, I don’t want to sound trade here, but it kind of becomes remarkably easy. But no one ever freaking does it, right? No one ever creates the I’m here and then I’m going to get here. Like they don’t create the Uber. Uber built like a 250, whatever. I have no idea what Uber is valued at nowadays, right? But let’s call it hundreds of billions of dollars. They did that off of two points. One, where yet two, where do you want to get to value of that Is insane.

Karl Bryan [00:42:44]:
You got to do the same damn thing with your business and. And your client’s business. And it kind of becomes easy because you know where the hell you’re going. You didn’t then you got to just agree to pay the price to do what you got to do to get there. Which by the way, is more about things you say no to and things you’re saying yes to. Right. So people think about focus. The.

Karl Bryan [00:43:08]:
The real secret of focused, the real focus of. The real magic of being focused is eliminating distractions versus really dialing in on the thing. Right. But by dialing in on the thing, it allows you to know which to say no to. Huge value in that.

Rode Dog [00:43:30]:
How might. Yeah, good. I think we’re going to wrap here. I just wanted to drop a little nugget. I know, you know, we don’t like to timestamp things too much, but it is the end of the year getting there. And something that I. I was listening to a podcast and they talked about. I’m not sure if you’re on Spotify shoots, but Spotify I’m not, but apparently do this thing every year where it’s Spotify wrapped.

Rode Dog [00:43:58]:
Have you heard of this?

Karl Bryan [00:43:59]:
No. No.

Rode Dog [00:44:00]:
So what they do is they do a. Basically it’s just a recap of your year of listening. Here’s what you listen to, here’s how many podcasts, here’s your most listened to songs, here’s your. All that stuff. Right. It’s just a recap. And. And they said the, like people are using that.

Rode Dog [00:44:21]:
Like imagine you as a business coach could recap with your clients, their highlights of the year, the number of coaching sessions you had with them, the amount of additional revenue that you helped them do all this stuff. And then you can even take that and now use it as marketing and go on average, you know, or, or to. To the listeners. We could do this for our podcast shoots where it’s like, hey, you listen to, you know, 36 episodes, here’s two that you missed that people loved, and just stuff like that. So what are you doing in terms of a recap for your clients and how can you implement that in your business? When I heard that, I was like, man, that is. That is freaking genius. Because it’s. It’s personalized and just a beautiful thing.

Karl Bryan [00:45:10]:
So look like it, I like it. And just think of. So I’m doing a master class anyways as part of it should. So I use Bachelor and Bachelorette as the example. Right. But like a really good way. How do they start every episode. And that is a recap of last week.

Karl Bryan [00:45:29]:
And then how do they end every episode with, you know, a bit of a role of what’s to come. Right. Well, guess what a really good way to start your coaching call is. And guess what a really great way to end the coaching call with Keep some. You know, it works for a Bachelor. And Bachelorette Nation might work.

Rode Dog [00:45:49]:
Well, you know what folks do you. You show me another podcast where they’re teaching you business lessons from the Bachelor and Bachelorette. Okay, I’ll. I’ll. I’ll wait.

Karl Bryan [00:45:58]:
Anyways.

Rode Dog [00:46:00]:
My God. Want to close us out with the one thing. I have a feeling I know exactly what it is, but that somebody can take from today’s episode and start implementing their business right away.

Karl Bryan [00:46:11]:
It’s got it. Well, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but the overcoming like over. Somebody wants to overcome obstacles and kind of get away from them. It’s like here, here’s your. The. The reward for good work is more work. As they say. The reward for overcoming obstacles is more obstacles.

Karl Bryan [00:46:30]:
And the only. And then the little X there, bigger obstacles, more meaningful obstacles with, you know, bigger, bigger potential penalties, but also bigger rewards. So. But. But that’s just life. If you don’t have. Yeah. If you don’t have problems, you’re dead.

Karl Bryan [00:46:47]:
So you just got to embrace it. Right? You just got to embrace it. So yeah, that’s. That’s my one thing. Shoots.

Rode Dog [00:46:54]:
I guess, I guess based this piggybacking off your one thing, then if you’re out and you’re planning your 2025 in terms want to achieve in your coaching business next year, are you also factoring in the obstacles that you need to overcome to achieve those? And then I would challenge everyone to go, who is the person that I need to become? Those are no longer obstacles. They’re just little things in the path. I think that would be a good way to view that. So there are folks so obstacles in the threat. But listen, thanks for tuning in to another episode of listening to Karl Kof and the Business Coaching Secrets podcast. Here’s hoping he’s on the men, folks. That’s Keep him in your. In your thoughts this week as I’m sure Robitussen is going to do a good job for you as well.

Rode Dog [00:47:41]:
Shoots. Hey, listen guys, if you’re not on the inside and you’re not getting access to the pre show or you’re not getting Karl’s daily emails or just want more information on how to build, grow and scale your coaching company, visit focused.com and subscribe today. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, please like and subscribe and also share with a fellow coach as we’re trying to make our impact on as many coaches as possible. And while you’re at it, please feel free to leave us a review. That is it for another week. We will see you all in the next episode. And remember folks, progress equals happiness. Take care everybody.