ATG 271 | You Don't Have to Be the Smartest Person in the Room, Just the Bravest: 3 Soundtracks for Entrepreneurs

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Hey everyone and welcome to the All It Takes is a goal podcast.

I've spent the last 15 years helping more than a million people achieve everything from their

smallest first step to their wildest dreams. Building a remarkable life is actually simple.

Great thoughts, turning to great actions, great actions, turning to great results.

That's what we explore on this podcast. I'm your host johnacuff and today we're talking about

soundtracks for entrepreneurs. If you're an entrepreneur, you are going to love this episode.

Today is going to be a fun episode because it's part three and a five part series.

If you haven't heard the other two, don't worry. These are standalone. They're linear in the

sense they go one by one by one by one, but you don't need to have heard one and two to get number

three. They're all standalone. So if you want to go back and listen to them last week and the

week before, you've got two other episodes. Today's episode we're going to cover a special card deck

for entrepreneurs. So if you haven't heard the other episodes, here's the quick summary.

A few years ago, I wrote a book called Soundtracks about the repetitive thoughts we all listen to

and how to change them because mindset impacts every single thing you do. It's one of the best

parts about mindset. When you change your mindset, your marriage gets better, your health gets better,

your business gets better, your job gets better, everything gets better because you think about

everything. So we had this book come out called Soundtracks and a few years in, we created Soundtrack

Cardex and there are 52 cards in a box and on one side is a soundtrack and on the back side is

a question and a lot of teams, a lot of companies, a lot of couples use them to start conversations.

So the first episode we covered couples, three different soundtracks of the 52 for couples.

Second episode, parents and kids. If you've got a kid and you want to figure out how do we create the

kind of culture in this family? How do I teach them the kind of things I want to teach them?

Check out this card deck. That was our second episode. Third episode is a special one. It's for

entrepreneurs. If you are an entrepreneur, you are going to love this episode. If you are like a

non-married, no kid person, you've been like, I've been waiting. I have a small business. I want

to scale a business. I have a side hustle. If you've been waiting, this is your day. Congratulations.

You made it. You made it to the episode you were looking for. So, entrepreneurship. Here's my

entrepreneurship background. I started my side hustle officially in the early 2000s in Atlanta.

So I lived in Atlanta and that's when I first started to freelance. I was a copywriter at Home Depot.

I did advertising for Home Depot Corporate. I started the freelance copyright, which meant,

if case you're wondering, John, did you write radio jingles for laser hair removal? I did.

I did, actually. That's a thing I did. I wrote them for tire companies. I did an ad campaign

for a dog spa. If you had money and needed words, I was your guy because I did not have money

and needed more money for my young family. I was trying to raise. So I started my side hustle.

That was kind of my first foray into entrepreneurship. Then I spent three years working for Dave Ramsey.

That's an entrepreneurship culture. Their whole company is run like it's a group of entrepreneurs.

I learned so much there. Then I got the bug so bad, the start your own business bug that I just

did that. I left the Dave Ramsey team, started my own company that was 13 years ago. So for the

last 13 years, I've been a full-time entrepreneur and wow, I've learned a lot in that time. I've

learned a lot of different things. Then I took 52 of the best and I turned them into soundtracks

and I put them in this card deck. So if you're an entrepreneur and you need some encouragement,

and by the way, you need some encouragement because being an entrepreneur is challenging,

pick up this card deck. You can get a copy at johnacup.com slash cards.

J-o-n-a-c-u-f-f.com slash cards. Buy them for one person on your team. We had somebody a company

there the day by a bunch of these because they wanted their team. It was a big company. They

wanted their team to have the mindset of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. So that's what we're

going to cover today. I'm going to pick three cards at random. We're going to talk about it.

That's what we're going to cover. All right, let's jump into the deck. This is me picking a card if

you're listening. Ooh, okay. This one says, buh buh bum. Relationships, get me the first opportunity,

skills, get me the second. Relationships, get me the first opportunity, skills, get me the second.

The back says, what relationships are you not nurturing that you should be? When as knowing the

right person opened a door, you thought was closed. So this is kind of a trooper because it covers

two things you need as an entrepreneur. You need relationships and you need skills. So when they

say it's not what you know, it's who you know, that's true to a degree. Friends hire friends.

People work with other people that they enjoy working with it. Relationships matter. So often,

you'll get to skip the line. You'll get to jump to the front of the line if you have a relationship.

If you have a relationship with a person, they will take a chance on you. So yes,

what you know matters, but who you know really matters to. But then here's the critical point.

Your skills are going to get you the second one. People will not refer a business, a side hustle,

a small company that is not excellent. It doesn't matter if you know everyone in your town,

but you don't have the skills, it doesn't matter that you know everyone in your town.

If you know everyone in your industry, but your work is kind of average, that just means a whole lot

of people will not be referring you. So you have to focus on both. That's one of the challenges

of entrepreneurship. You often have to focus on a bunch of different things at the same time.

It feels like balancing like a bunch of spinning plates. It matters who you know. You need

relationships. You need lots of connections. You need to be plugged into communities and plugged

into industries. But you also better be awesome. You also better have the skills because the relationships

will only go so far. The relationships will only get you a first couple opportunities. It's skills

that'll get you the next one because then that person you super served goes, hey, have you worked

with Tina? Wow. Have you worked with Jeremy? Whoa. Have you worked with David? Wow. They can't

wait to refer you because here's what you need to know about relationships. When somebody

refers you, when somebody brings you forward to a different company, a different, you know,

opportunity, they're putting their neck on the line. When somebody books me to speak, say it's a

big company, thousand person company. And one person there saw me at another event and they really

liked what I did. And then they suggest to their CEO, we should hire John. They have taken a risk

and is my job to honor that and exceed that. I want that person to look like a superstar.

I've done my job if their phone is blowing up, not mine. I'm only there an hour. I'm there an

hour. I'm there two hours. They are there all year. So I need to honor the relationship they just

built for me with that company. And then I need the skill to absolutely crush because then it's

just happened the other day. I was in Santa Barbara and somebody booked me for the event and they're like,

oh man, I'm so glad you did that because I was the one who really fought for you. I was the one

who really encouraged them to hire you. I got that opportunity in part because of the relationships,

but I'll get the next one because of the skill. So think about both of those things. How do you build

relationships? How do you build skills? Card number two in the deck. Let's see what we got. Number two.

All right. Dreaming requires optimism. Planning requires realism. Use both.

That's the soundtrack. Dreaming requires optimism. Planning requires realism. Use both. In the back

of it says, are you better at dreaming big or planning the details? Which one do you need more of

right now? What skill are you lacking that someone else on your team could bring to the table?

This is actually an interesting one because I wrote about this one. I have a brand new book coming out

called Procrastination Proof and it teaches you a success formula, a really simple success formula

called Dream Plan Do Review. Four different steps done in that order. Dream Plan Do Review. You

should pre-order the copy of the book. You get the entire audiobook for free if you do. That is

amazing, by the way. Pre-order copy of the book. It's JohnnyCuff.com slash go. Geo. Whole audiobook.

My voice, me doing this and there's bonus stories. Pre-order. If you're like, I'm not really a

pre-order guy, do it. You're going to want to be the one that has the free book, free audiobook when

you buy the print book. Anyway, between dreaming and planning, people get stuck because dreaming

does require optimism. Dreaming, you've got to be pying the sky. You've got to be like anything

as possible. This is amazing. Oh my gosh. We could do anything. You dream and you dream and you dream

and then planning requires realism. You have to ask some hard questions. You have to start

figuring out costs and timeframes and deadlines and resources and sometimes people get stuck there.

So you can't just do one or another, especially if you're an entrepreneur. If you're an entrepreneur,

you have to be good at all four. You have to be really good at dreaming, really good at planning,

really good at doing and also really good at reviewing four different things that you need to focus

on if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. So right now, if you thought to yourself, oh,

I'm a great dreamer, but you're right. I'm not good at planning or maybe maybe you're the reverse.

Maybe like, oh, I'm great at planning. Boy, I struggle with dreaming. Like the question,

what do you want to accomplish is paralyzing to me? I'd encourage you to lean into one of those

dreaming or planning. Last one, last card of the day. Let's see what we got. What do we got? What do we got?

I don't have to be the smartest person in the room just the bravest. I don't have to be the

smartest person in the room just the bravest. And this one says on the back, what opportunity

scares you but could be huge for your business? What opportunity right now? Is it hiring somebody?

Is it getting an assistant? Is it getting an office space? Is it investing in Facebook ads?

There's something on your plate right now that's scary. What scares you? And here's what you need

to remember about scary things. Bravery is a choice, not a feeling. It's a choice, not a feeling.

How could you choose it today? If you're looking across the things that are on your desk right now

as an entrepreneur, the opportunities, the challenges, the obstacles, where do you need to be brave?

Because here's what I found. Often, I get into rooms and the people that are ahead of me in

revenue and size and all the things. Any metric you measure a business by, the people that are ahead

of me do not have secrets I don't possess. They often do not have intelligence I do not possess.

What they do have is gobs and gobs and gobs of bravery. They're very, very brave people.

I talked to my wife about this just yesterday. She has this theory that part of being successful

at anything in life is the ability to not be embarrassed. That you just can't be embarrassed.

That you do the thing that other people go, well, I couldn't put myself out there like that.

That would be, if it didn't work, that would be embarrassing. That would be so embarrassing.

A big part of excellence is the willingness to be embarrassed. And it takes bravery to be embarrassed.

It takes bravery to show up. It takes bravery to ask for the opportunity. It takes bravery to charge

what you're worth. It takes bravery to work on the idea longer than the other person. That all

takes bravery. So you don't have to be the smartest person in the room. You really don't. You often just

have to be the bravest. The one willing to try. The one willing to risk. The one willing to fail.

The one willing to try again. The one willing to be clear about their intentions and clear about

the plan. That's what it takes. As you focus on making the right decision, making the smart decision,

don't forget to also say, how do I be brave in this situation? What does bravery look like?

What are the things that I'm afraid of right now? If I'm honest about the company I'm building,

am I afraid to invest? Am I afraid to fire somebody? Maybe that's it. Maybe you have a couple

employees and right now you've been putting it off. You kind of hope this person becomes

magically amazing just on their own. The last year was tough. They weren't great, but man,

I hope that for some reason they just become a completely different person in the next six months

on their own. What are the things like that that you're putting off and then how do you be brave

about them? Three different soundtracks for entrepreneurs. Let's do a quick recap.

Relationships. Get me the first opportunity. Skills. Get me the second. Focus on both.

Is it who you know or what you know? The answer, the answer is yes. It's both of them. You got to

know a lot of people and you got to be really good at what you do. Second one. Dreaming requires

optimism. Planning requires realism. Use both. A lot of being an entrepreneur is holding two

opposite things in your hand at the same time. So the power to dream and the power to plan.

Third one. I don't have to be the smartest person in the room just the bravest. What if you look

that bravery as a skill you could acquire? A skill you could sharpen. A skill you could practice.

Not a personality trait. Not that there's some people who are brave and some people who are not

brave, but actually something you could work on and get better and better and better and better.

What if you looked at bravery that way? What would that change about your business? I bet it would

change an awful lot. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you want a card deck,

you can get them at johnicof.com slash cards. It's j-o-n-a-c-u-f-f.com slash cards. We've got two more

episodes. Two more episodes coming up. You can go back and listen to the other two. This is the

middle episode. In a five episode arc, this is right in the middle. Thank you for writing reviews.

Those are so kind. When you do a podcast, it's a bit of an echo chamber, meaning you can just

hear your own voice bouncing back on yourself because it's not like a live event where there's

real people in the room, but the reviews you write give me a chance to learn what's really working,

what you guys will change, what you're excited about. So thanks for writing reviews. Please make

sure you like, subscribe, or follow whatever it is the kids are saying these days. I'll be back

next week and remember all it takes is a goal.