Why Profit First Beats Chasing Revenue: Andrew Brockenbush's Playbook

You can hit every revenue milestone and still run a broke agency. I've seen it, and so has Andrew Brockenbush. Andrew is the founder of Beefy Marketing, creator of the AI-powered Wingman platform, and host of the Business Growth Hacks podcast. With 13 years in the trenches building a brand that clients have made their own — literally calling him "Beefy" — he's done the work, made the mistakes, and now shares every lesson without a filter. In this conversation, Andrew breaks down what it actually looks like to run a profit first agency, restructuring his finances in real time using the Profit First framework, learning to delegate through the lens of the Freedom Compass, and finally investing in coaching after 13 years of going it alone. He's transparent about a challenging Q1, honest about the vanity of revenue metrics, and clear-eyed about where culture begins and what it costs when it breaks. If you're done chasing the number and ready to build something healthy, this episode is your playbook.

Books Mentioned

• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• Who Not How by Dan Sullivan

Note: The Freedom Compass is a framework/tool from Michael Hyatt's Free to Focus, referenced by Andrew in the transcript.

Head over to mustbenicebook.com/catalyticleadership to download a free chapter of Andrew's upcoming book; it's waiting for you right now. You'll get early access when the full book drops later this year.

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

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Transcript

Meet Andrew Brockenbush

Dr. William Attaway 0:00

I'm excited to have Andrew Brockenbush on the podcast today. Andrew is the founder of Beefy Marketing and the creator of Wingman, an AI-powered marketing and sales automation platform. With over 13 years of experience, he helps business owners grow through branding, web design, automation, and targeted advertising. He's worked with clients ranging from small businesses to high-profile figures like Navy SEAL's David Goggins and Marcus Latrell. As host of the Business Growth Hacks podcast, Andrew shares practical strategies and candid insights to help entrepreneurs thrive. His energetic, no-fluff approach inspires action and equips audiences with tools to compete and win in today's marketplace. Andrew, I'm so glad you're here, man. Thanks for being on the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

So excited to be here with you. Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host, author, and leadership and executive coach, Dr. William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway 1:13

I would love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners. I hit a couple of the high points there, but I'd love to hear more about your journey and development as a leader. How did you get started?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Oh, yeah, man. That's a fun question. So I actually got my start. My first ever business entrepreneurial journey was actually my uh a recording studio. It was called Faith Recording Studios. I actually have a bachelor's in music production, which is not something that everyone knows about me. And uh I thought I was gonna be a famous music producer. That's what I thought I was gonna do for my whole life. And uh, you know, it was uh it was a fun thing for a fun time. And and uh my dad passed away whenever I was 20 years old. And at that time, I just felt like I needed to just do something else, right? I needed to um move on. And so I closed the recording studio. I went to work for Apple and became a corporate sales trainer, and I absolutely loved working for Apple. Um, learned a lot of life and leadership lessons there. A lot of business acumen was picked up there. And then I got a phone call one day from a childhood friend who I went to church with, and she said, Hey, I'm marrying this Navy SEAL. His name is Marcus Latrell. Do you know who he is? And I said, Nope, I have no clue who he is, you know. At this point, there is no Lone Survivor movie with Mark Wahlberg. It's all like, this is like early Lone Survivor book days. And so she she said, Hey, we we'd like to create a kind of a clothing brand, and you're kind of the creative person we know. Do you think you can help us out with that? And I was like, Yeah, absolutely. And so what started off as one t-shirt design kind of kept growing into more and more little creative projects. And I went to the leadership team at Apple and said, Hey, I think I want to open up a marketing company. I want to get into like more design and and more of this kind of stuff. And can't can I go? And they were like, hey, don't live with any regrets. Go do it. And if it doesn't work out, you've always got a job here at Apple. And so I said, see ya. And uh I left Apple, opened up my uh first kind of marketing agency that I called Andrew Brockenbush Creative Consulting, super original, and uh had a little, you know, two-bedroom apartment. And the second bedroom in our apartment was the the headquarters of this business where I would design t-shirts and logos, and it really started off early days like nothing but branding and brand focus. So that's the that's the start of it all. Wow.

Dr. William Attaway 3:30

And what a journey it has been since then. Yes. Yes, absolutely. I mean, you have served clients in so many different venues and places. You have served clients at a very high level with world-class results. And this is why people keep coming to you again and again and again.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, it's it's been amazing to be able to work with, you know, it's, you know, from an agency perspective and and you know, the outside looking in, it's like, man, I kind of wish I would have gone down one lane, maybe one focused vertical, um, you know, one or two core services. But I feel like I wouldn't have gotten the experience or or built the relationships I did had I done that. And so it has been really cool to work with everybody from your local med spa, restaurant owner, all the way up to, like you said, people like David Goggins, which is like, what? That's insane. And um, it's it's been a lot of fun to be able to do that. And I feel like it's because it's all about the personal aspect of it, like the relational aspect of it. For me, it wasn't necessarily, especially the early days, about what services I offered. It's just like, well, you guys are cool people and you're doing cool things and I want to be a part of that. And at that time, I was saying kind of yes to all of the different services. I mean, if they needed something done and I could figure it out, I was probably saying, yes, I can do it.

Launching A Scrappy Agency

Dr. William Attaway 4:47

I think that's how everybody starts at the beginning, right? Yeah. What do you need? Paying customer. What do you need? What do you need? What can I do here? So, so where did beefy marketing come from?

The Story Behind Beefy Marketing

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah. Uh fun story. Um, so I used to drive, oh, I say I used to drive, I kind of have always driven these really, really beefy big trucks. I mean, I'm down in Texas, so it's kind of on brand for us Texas boys to have big old jacked-up trucks. But I had this really big truck that I got after my dad passed away. And it was uh, it was excessive. It was a giant truck for a 20-something-year-old kid. And I remember me and my buddy Adam were upstairs in the apartment. We were kind of just shooting the breeze. And we were realizing that like I'm going into networking events, having to introduce myself as Andrew Barockenbush with Andrew Barockenbush Creative Consulting. It's just like, this does not feel legitimate. Like, this just feels like I'm talking about myself. And so we were like, we've got to come up with a different name like for this business that actually feels like it'll go beyond just myself and and can kind of grow. And so I remember we were sitting around, we were tossing out names, like, you know, candidly, we're like, what websites are available? Because that's part of it, right? Like, you know, there's the domain name available. And I remember like us just kind of looking out to the truck and they were like, man, that's that's a beefy truck, and you know, I'm a beefy guy. And and so we kind of just started joking about it at first, and then it became like, okay, this is actually this is fun. Like it's something about it is like resonating and it's sticky and we like it. And it kind of played, uh, you know, paid some respects to my dad who had who had just passed away. He was a rancher, and so it kind of like, you know, it was partially for that. And then there's the old Wendy's commercial, those three old ladies sitting down at the table, they put that really pathetic hamburger in front of them, and and the the kind of famous slogan is, Where's the beef? Right. That's right. And uh I felt like I definitely felt that in the early days of the agency of just like, where was the substance in marketing? At the time, you know, there wasn't nearly the amount of marketing agencies that exist, you know, today back then. Um, most of the people that I was kind of competing against were traditional PR firms and older ad agencies. And so I just felt like, hey, where's the substance? I mean, I felt like we were doing things service-wise that none of the other agencies in town were doing. We were venturing into social media while other agencies were still doing PR. And so it was just a fun time. And then the what's fun about beefy is just like it's become such a personified brand. Like to the point now people call me beefy and they they call the beefy girls beefy babes and the beefy boys, you know, beefy boys. And uh, you know, it's it's actually become fun because within our community, like I don't even think I get called Andrew very often. It's like, hey, beefy, what's up, beefy? And then you you've been with me at several uh events where people do the same thing in the events, in the event space. So it's it's really cool that the brand really did um, you know, grow and and become like this fun name that people like to say.

Dr. William Attaway 7:35

I love that. You know, one of the things that that I have appreciated most since I've known you, Andrew, is that you are not just content to learn. You're a learner. You're always learning, always trying to get better, sharpen your saw, but you're not content just to gather the information and apply it in your own business. You share it. And you share it very openly and transparently when you speak, when you coach, and in your new book that you're writing that's coming out later this year. I'd I'd love to hear a little bit about that journey because you know, there's a lot of people who are listening who have had tons of experiences. And uh one of the things that I teach is that the every experience in your life is not wasted. You know, it's either for you, for your journey, or it's for the benefit of others around you when you share. You were so generous with that. I'd love to talk about how that happened. When did you start feeling like, man, all this stuff that's happened, I want to share this so other people can benefit from it.

Why He Shares What He Learns

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like that was it, I think it came on pretty early for me just because of the fact that like I didn't come from like much. We we didn't have a lot of money growing up. Like we we kind of lived in shelters and and kind of bounced from one house to the next, you know, depending on which house got foreclosed on. So I felt like I was really blessed to be able to start my entrepreneurship journey pretty young. I mean, I was 18 or 19 years old when I opened up the recording studio, and that was totally a God thing in the sense that like my downstairs neighbor at my apartment comp my first apartment that I lived at by myself, he actually was getting mad at me because I was like being really loud and obnoxious at night. I was a 19-year-old kid, right? Like I had friends and we were partying and we're stomping around. And he had a young son. It was a single dad living with his, you know, uh probably only like six or seven-year-old son at the time. And he was not happy with me, right? Well, long story short, he actually realizes that I have a guitar. I find out that he has a guitar, fast friends, right? Like now we're best friends, and we start going to open mic night events together. So it completely changed like the dynamic of our relationship. Well, what I didn't realize was that he was a very successful businessman and he was only living in this apartment because he had just gone through a divorce. And so the timing and the season of this was just really, really bizarre. And he knew I was working for Chick-fil-A. At the time, I actually had applied to go be a sheriff, like to go work for the sheriff's office. And I remember him sitting me down one day and just saying, like, is this really what you want to do with your life? Is go be a you know a police officer? And I was like, Well, you know, like the service aspect of it seems really cool. And, you know, I think it would be good, but I don't know that it's what I want to do for the rest of my life. And he's like, Well, what do you want to do? And I told him, you know, I have a degree in music and I want to pursue this and I want to, I want to open a studio. And so he actually funded me to run this recording studio for an entire year. He paid my bills, he helped me buy the equipment. Just crazy. And so I felt like I was really given a really amazing opportunity and chance to, you know, do more than what I came from. And so I feel like from that early, you know, stage, I wanted to just give back and share. Now, I will be honest, like in the beginning, there was a lot of you know, ego and pride in the mix. You know, I was cocky, I was arrogant, you know, I thought I could do it all. I was a little bit more like protected and guarded with what I shared because I just wanted to keep it all to myself. Um, but I feel like the more every time you get humbled by somebody, you know, it's just like, oh, okay, I should probably just like let go of some of this ego. But I remember when I was working at Apple, um, we were talking to our senior leadership, and our senior leadership was actually getting training from the Ritz-Carlton team. And my senior manager, a guy named Frank, actually had gone to the Ritz-Carlton team and said, Hey, why are you guys giving us all of this training? Like, why are you guys giving away all your secrets? And they were like, because we've been doing it for years and no one takes our advice. And I was like, oh God, you know, and and so I there was something to that, I don't know what, that just like spoke to me in a way of like, I can share all day long, right? And the people that need it the most are gonna hear me, they're gonna take action from it, they're gonna do something with it. And the ones that don't care, either they're gonna become clients or they're gonna move on, right? It doesn't matter. And um, I don't know. I just feel like I had this real like calling to share what I've learned. And honestly, like I just love sharing. Like, I don't like keeping stuff to myself. I like I enjoy and kind of nerd out with being able to come to you know, you on one of our calls, you know, and be like, hey, I came across this really cool tool, you should check it out. It does this, that, and the other. And um, because if not, like entrepreneurship can be a super, super lonely, you know, place. And why not share? Like, why not open yourself up and be a part of a bigger community where you can learn and grow and be supported? And I think that's why I I share as much as I do, you know?

The Book Turns Into Leadership

Dr. William Attaway 12:33

Well, it's it's clearly resonating. You know, when you spoke at the Level Up Summit for high level last fall, uh standing remotely, you know, people are drawn to the transparency and the authenticity when you speak. Because again, you're not just telling them theory, you're not just blowing smoke at them. You're you're being honest. You're opening the book, so to speak, and saying, hey, look, this is this is who we are and what we've gotten right. And here's some things we haven't. You know, some of these things we can celebrate as wins, and some of these things, you know, we've swung and missed on. And I think that authenticity and genuineness is what draws people to you. Uh, you know, your new book that's coming out is so on point with that. Like getting to read a little bit of it early. I I have to say, I can't wait to read the rest of it. Uh, talk a little bit about that and and why you've written this. What was your goal?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

You know, the book has become something that I didn't know that it was going to become. When when I first started writing it, the book was actually gonna be titled WTF is Marketing. And I was writing it for I was I was writing it for the business owner that's just like, what is all this? Like, what is SEO? What is you know, Facebook advertising, inbound marketing, like all these terms that like in the marketing world we just throw around like so casually. I felt like business owners needed them broken down in a way that they could relate to and understand. And that was the book I set out to write. But then I hired a book coach, and this book coach spent two days with me in my office, full days interviewing me, getting to know my story, getting to know my heart, what I wanted to share. And then he came back with a book outline and completely flipped like the whole script on what I thought the book was going to be about. And the book has become much more of like this, you know, life lessons of a business leader and like faulty business models that we kind of put on ourselves because of these different things that we've thought or learned. I remember at Apple we always talk about learners versus learned. Learners are people who continue to learn and adapt and learned or people who think they know it all and aren't willing to change and grow and improve. So good. Yes. And I just I feel like that's what the book has become is this very, very vulnerable conversation around like, this is my story, but not in an autobiography way. Like, this is a real big screw up I made, but like look what all beauty came from it. I mean, even in the chapter that you got to, that you got to preview, I remember whenever I like I read it back for the first time after writing it. And I was like, dang it, why does some of this stuff still apply to me, you know, 15 years later, you know, in the business journey? And it's because I think that, you know, a lot of lessons in life are are like living, you know, like they're changing, they're evolving, they're growing as we grow. And and so the book is I'm really proud of it, honestly. Like I'm only halfway through, but I'm so I'm so proud of like what it is. Um, and it and I appreciate your your kindness and the words you said about you know, people being attracted to the vulnerability that I have. And I feel like that's something that like is really, really important to me. I feel like there's so many conversations nowadays that are just like surface level. You know, you you go meet someone in a networking event, and it's like, hey, how are you? Oh, I'm doing great. Good. I'm doing good too. And that's it. Like, no, like I want to be really raw and honest. Like, funny story. This morning I go get breakfast tacos, and the lady's like, you know, good morning, how are you? And I'm like, I'm exhausted. And she's like, I am too. I just didn't want to say it. And I was like, no, we can we can be honest with each other, okay? We can, we can be honest. And I think that that's what I want this book to communicate. That's what everything I do, whether it be working with a client or or coaching another agency, like I'm gonna be as open and honest as possible. Like, if I've got something that's a struggle right now, there's no sense in hiding it, right? Like everything is revealed in time. So I would rather just be transparent and say, hey, look, this is an area of an opportunity that we have, right? And this is what we're doing right now to work through this thing. And I want you to realize too that like a lot of this is shared experience. Like a lot of us are feeling the same pain on a regular basis, but no one's comfortable to say it. Nobody wants to be the guy who's, you know, maybe not hitting all the goals that they have for themselves or not performing at the level that they think that other people expect they should be performing at. And I want you to know that no matter where you're at in your journey, there's gonna be a time where things aren't gonna be going perfect, and there's gonna be other times where you think you're on top of the world. And it's okay to be somewhere in between all of that.

Dr. William Attaway 16:57

That is such a healthy perspective. Uh one of my favorite writers and has been for decades, is a guy named John Orburg. John talks about the dangers of image management and how we can be so focused on the image we are crafting for other people to see that can become such a focal point of our life that we're not actually dealing with reality as it is. Image management becomes the goal. And I and I think again, that's one of the things I appreciate about you, and what I love about this book is that this is not image management. This is not you creating a a carefully crafted and curated picture of Andrews that everybody can say, oh wow, you know, like this is this is real, this is authentic. You know, you're not you're not uh covering over the bruises or the cuts or the scrapes. I think that again is why people are drawn in because people people lean into authenticity.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when when the world that we're in right now is nothing but a highlight reel, I think people appreciate humanity and authenticity and soul because everything else just feels like noise, right? Yeah. And I'm I'm excited to not be a part of the noise, but to still be a part of the conversation and and and be just comfortable being vulnerable. And it's funny, somebody emailed me this week and said, Andrew, are you on track to be it, you know, hit seven figures this year? And I said, I paused and I was like, how am I gonna respond to this? Right. Because the reality is, like, again, like speaking to your listeners, like it's been a challenging quarter one in our sales this year, right? So my response had to be honest. And I responded, and I simply just said, you know, I don't know if we'll hit seven figures this year or not, but my focus is on making sure that we're a profitable agency this year. And that's fully true, right? Because I think that you could easily get caught up in the pride aspect, which would have been me five years ago. I've been like, absolutely, we're we're about to do it. We're, you know, it's like, why? Like, that's not like that's a vanity metric, you know? Like, sure, 100%. You want to hit these big milestones and these big goals, but like I would much rather have a healthy business with healthy relationships and a great culture and employees that are really happy and I'm happy and the life I'm living is great, way more than like a number at the bottom of a P.

Profit First And Better Habits

Dr. William Attaway 19:26

Well, and I and I think to your point there, I think, you know, running a healthy and profitable business as the goal, I think is very good. I uh, you know, having an insight into a lot of different agencies, I can tell you that, you know, some of the seven and multiple seven-figure agencies that people look at from the outside and like, oh wow, if I could only, you know, yeah, well, you don't want to run a three to five percent profit margin like they are. No. Yeah. You know, they have built in such a way that is not healthy and is not sustainable. And I think uh again to your point about the highlight reels, you know, we look from the outside and we fill in the gaps in our minds. And we always idealize the journeys of other people based on their highlight reel. Yeah. Whereas when we look in the mirror, we're like, oh, I'm only too aware of where all my scars flaw. Exactly. Exactly. And so I think, you know, that as a goal, I think is so good. So if that is the the one thing you want most for Beefy, what do you think would be different if a year from now you could say, man, we are dead center bullseye hitting that goal?

SPEAKER_01 20:34

You know, I think that for me, and I've shared this with you, you know, in past conversations, but I had to reread Mike Mikalowitz's book, Profit First, this year, because I felt like that was a that was a focus of mine, right? And if you're gonna, if you have a goal, then what are you gonna do to work towards that goal? And and I like jumped all in. I mean, he talks about setting up multiple bank accounts for, you know, the kind of the profit first framework, you know, your operating expenses, your profits, your earners, uh, your owners, you know, pay, all of these different accounts that you're supposed to set up. I like read the book, closed the book, opened the accounts. Like I was in it, right? And so for me, I think it will be able to go like for it a year and go, wow, look, that profit account that we created is full of profits. Profit is no longer something that's second to, you know, everything else we do. The spending habits that we have had, those will completely have to change, right? Which we're already, it's fun. I I logged into the to the new accounts this morning to just look at it. And it's like, ooh, there's not a lot in the profit account, but the profit account has money in it. And it's like, it's the profit account, which means it can't be touched, right? Yes. And that is so cool. And like I feel like a year from now, I'm gonna look into it and be like, look, there's money set aside for taxes, there's money set aside for profitability, there's money set aside for you know operating expenses. Like, that's gonna be really, really cool. And for me, like that will be a that will be the bullseye. Right now, sure, there's these other micro goals in between, hitting our quarterly sales goals. Continuing to develop our talent and our team and all these other like small micro goals, but really at the end of the day, will I be happy with the profitability that we've created and growing it? Like in Profit First, he talks about like, hey, be realistic about these numbers, right? Like, you know, if we're aiming for 5% profit, maybe start at three and then kind of work your way to four, five, six, seven and kind of reevaluate that every quarter. And that's exactly what I want to do. Every single quarter, as we add revenue, instead of continuing to spend money like we have historically, where it's like, oh, more money, hire more people. It's like, no, more money, more profitability, right? And we will scale that, you know, kind of equivalent equivalently, and then slowly start to say, okay, now can we afford to bring on more people or to, you know, buy more software, buy more tools, or more toys in my case, um, you know, but I think first we'll be slowly growing our profitability alongside of revenue that we we bring in.

Coaching Community And Better Decisions

Dr. William Attaway 22:58

And I think it's helpful too not to isolate yourself, but to be part of a community. You know, I've got a newer client that I'm working with. And one of the things that we talk about at the beginning is where are you now? Let's define where you are and let's define where you want to go, and then let's build the bridge from here to there, right? And so we we talked about the MRR numbers and all the things that you asked about. I said, so what's your current profit margin? And he was almost apologetic. And he said, Well, it's only at 37% right now. Only. Only 37%. And I was like, what are you comparing yourself to here, bud? What exactly are you comparing? Because the reality is, if you're not in a community, if you're not listening to voices outside of your own head, you can create pictures and goals that can be insane. I mean, I I know a lot of business owners who would be clapping like a seal over a 37% profit margin.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway 24:00

And in this case, it was almost apologetic. And I was like, okay, we need to we need to reframe this and right-size those expectations. That's one of the first things we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway 24:11

I mean, nothing wrong with shooting high, but uh, let's be clear.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, I I I love that you're you're making a point about like not being isolated and and surrounding yourself in a community. And that's something that I waited way too long to do. Um I I've talked about this before, but I think that I always avoided hiring coaches because I thought that I wasn't like ready for coaches yet. Like I thought that that was like too expensive, or like I wasn't at, I wasn't a seven-figure business, so I wasn't ready for an agent, you know, a coaching group or a mastermind. So I just isolated. And also, like I remember even my first ever agency mastermind event I went to, I was like, this is a room for full of competition. Like my guards were up a little bit. Like I didn't know what to expect. Like, are here, are people here just to like steal my good ideas? Like, you know, like that's what I was I was worried about. And by the end of the event, I was like, oh my God, these are my people. Like, where have they been all my life? Right. And um, I wish I would have done. I mean, I literally hired my first coach, like, I don't know, we probably met three or four years ago now. So roughly three, three or four years ago. That's crazy. I've been doing this business for 13, 14 years by now. And I waited that long. And I might, that would be my advice to any agency at any size. You should definitely consider coaching, mentorship, communities. And that might not start in a paid capacity. Uh, you know, I told you this morning, like I have a couple of, you know, other business owners in my own local community that I meet with once a month for breakfast, and they are far more successful than I am, but that's okay. Like, I know that I bring value to their lives, and they certainly bring value to mine. And that is one way that you can do it even before you have dollars to spend. But I can also say that the money that I've invested in mentorship, coaching, I mean, even working with you, has 100% paid for itself. Like, no doubt in my mind that it's helped me grow as a leader, that it's helped me make better decisions. Um, and it's not just like my own like subjective thought of, oh yeah, I think it was helpful. Like these are advice, like this is uh feedback from my team telling me like, dang, Andrew, like you have completely changed how you operate and how you lead because of these programs that you're in, to the point that it's like everyone knows, like, no, we don't stop spending money over there because like that's a good thing.

Dr. William Attaway 26:31

You know, that that is that is something that I have lived by for a very long time too. And like you, I waited too long, but for decades, I have had coaches who I invite to speak into my life to have visibility and to help me see what I can't see. And that way I can address it. You know, you can't see the whole picture when you're in the frame. And one of the things, again, I love about your journey is that you are not just sitting and soaking all this up, but you are being a conduit of what you're learning. And now you're beginning to coach and help other people and walk alongside them to help them move from where they are to where they want to be. You're carrying forward what you're learning. And I think that's so commendable.

Books Delegation And Lead Flow

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Well, thanks, man. Yeah. And I enjoy it, you know. So that's that's the best part of it all.

Dr. William Attaway 27:16

So a couple, a couple of quick hits. Uh, you know, is there a book or a podcast that you feel like has made a really big difference in your journey that you would recommend to the listeners?

SPEAKER_01 27:29

So many. I mean, I mentioned Profit First a minute ago. That was one that I read a long time ago that I reread this year. And it's just, I feel like if you're gonna start a business, that should be like a mandatory read. You know, like yeah, I agree. Like just because I mean, you know, just to tell the listeners, if you if you've not read Profit First, like just the quick synopsis is that most business owners hope that one day they can create profitability in their business, right? They say, once we hit this milestone, then I can pay myself. Once we hit this milestone, then maybe we can increase our profits to this. And so we're always heavy on the expense side and we're not heavy on the profit side. And the book is really kind of shifting the mindset of no profit comes first. So you already allocate that right off the top. And then what's left is what you're allowed to spend on expenses, right? And that just completely shifted my mindset around how we should structure our businesses to the point that not only did I roll this out in our marketing company, I own multiple businesses, and every single business that we have, I've set those accounts up. I've shifted the whole business to that because to me it's that important. So that's that's a mandatory read. Um, who not how was a great one. You know, for the longest time, I I've been the kind of person of like, I'm trying to be a better delegator. Even yesterday, I had a great call with my executive assistant. I was like, Laura, I'm not doing a good job delegating. Like, I know I'm not. Like I can feel I'm starting to stack up because it's like I'll delegate a bunch of stuff. And then naturally I just take on a lot more responsibilities. You know, it's like this endless cycle. And so, you know, reminding myself to reset with her once or twice, you know, per month to be like, hey, I've got this new list of things that I've started to do. What of those things could you support me on? Right. And so I think who not how was a really good one because I think a lot of times we get in our heads about what we can and can't accomplish based on the resources or lack of resources we have. And when you stop thinking about how you can get it done and who can help you get it done, it starts to become a lot easier to actually accomplish goals that you have. So good. Yep. So that's my books podcast. I'm trying to think if there's any like really, really um crazy. I mean, there's this great podcast called Business Growth Hacks. Yeah. That's my I like that one. That's a good one. Self self-plug, self-plug. Catalytic Leadership is a great podcast if you if you didn't know. Um I'm gonna just like that. I'm gonna just plug all of my buddies' podcasts at this point, right? No, I don't think that there's any specific podcast that I'm actively consuming. I think for me it is way more on the book side. Like I tend to go on a on a daily walk and I just drop an audiobook in my AirPod and just like soak it all in. So that's good.

Dr. William Attaway 30:03

Good habit. Uh last last question that I've got for you. Uh you know, I think people can look at you from the outside and they can say, oh man, Andrew's journey. I mean, starting with nothing, now he's just blowing and going. It's just been up and to the right. He's never struggled like I struggle. And you are so transparent and so authentic with this. But I think sometimes people can still look at the highlight reel and can get that impression. So in that vein, I ask you this question. If I had the ability to snap my fingers and solve one problem right now in your business, what would you want that problem to be?

SPEAKER_01 30:41

I would have an endless supply of highly qualified open wallet clients that are just throwing their cash at me, man, just wanting to give me the cards. Um, you know, that's that's that that's what I would ask for. You know, I think we have done a really good job of building relationships and, you know, closing business once the opportunities are in front of us and when we we've built that relationship. But I think that one of our biggest challenges, and you know, kind of outside of looking in, it doesn't always seem like this, but is just having that steady flow of leads that we can build those relationships with. And it's one of those things that, you know, some of it you have to build your own luck and you have to put yourself in the rooms and the positions to be able to, you know, get more of that. So it's not like this is an impossible feat, right? Like it really is kind of a snap your finger thing. But I think it's just the reminder of like, okay, well, if this is a problem for me and in my business, what am I actively doing to try to solve for it? And I think sometimes we're just like so narrow-minded or focused, laser focused on one or two things that we're like not paying attention to these little peripheral things that are like, oh, duh, if I started interviewing more people on my podcast, that might open more opportunities. Oh, if I, you know, go to more industry conferences where I've spoken in the past and gotten clients in the past, I'd probably get more opportunities. But I think for many marketing agency owners, we didn't get started because we wanted to sell or build business. Like most of us did it because we were creative visionaries and marketing was an outlet for that, right? Like I started doing this because I liked designing stuff and I thought it was really cool. The business part was just like an unfortunate part that helped me pay the bills. Like, oh, I got to do that to feed myself. But I'd also be cool just designing cool stuff and working with cool clients. And so I think that, you know, that's you know, a problem that many of us have is that we we like to kind of be in the weeds, even though we say we don't, like, oh, I don't want to be doing all the fulfillment. Mm-hmm. You do. You like doing the fulfillment. You've been doing it for a long time and you think that no one can do it better than you and you enjoy it. And that's the reality, is like many of us fall into that trap. Like I find myself building websites. I'm like, why am I building websites? There are people that work for me that build websites better than me, but it's because it's an old habit. It's something I kind of like doing. I love the um, I talk about this often, but uh, I think it's Michael Hyatt has the Freedom Compass, right? And Freedom Compass is one of the coolest freaking resources ever because you have to be realistic with yourself and say, okay, I am passionate and proficient, then this is where I should spend the most of my time. But there are other things that I am passionate but not proficient. And maybe I should start taking those things off my plate. Like, sure, I'm passionate about designing and other things, but there are people on my team who could do those things better than me. And so I think that that, you know, if you snap your fingers and it fixed one thing for me, it'd be a steady flow of leads so I could do more of what I actually love to do, which would be the relationships with the clients, creating content, sharing all the nerdy knowledge that I, you know, am constantly absorbing. Um, that would be that'd be the fix I'd be looking for.

Dr. William Attaway 33:42

Andrew, you as always have been incredibly generous and transparent today. And I'm so grateful for your time and your willingness to share on the podcast. I know people are gonna want to pick this book up when it comes out later this year. Uh, and you've got a a place they can go if they want to sign up to keep in the know on when that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Yeah, yeah. So I got a special gift for all your listeners. I'm giving them away a free chapter of the book. You actually got to read this, so you kind of got a little, a little teaser. But if they can head over to mustbe nicebook.com/slash catalytic leadership, and they can download their free chapter of the book. It'll be sent to you instantly. You can read it, and then once we actually release the book later this year, you're gonna get an early email to get it before anyone else does. I'm very excited about it. This chapter is kind of breaking down the gap between the culture that you wish you had and maybe the culture that you actually have in your organization. Um, culture is something that like I've learned a lot about. I mean working with you, Dr. Hadaway, working at Apple, working at Chick-fil-A. Like a lot of these companies are really respected culture-based, you know, companies. And so this chapter is all about really the development of Beefy's culture and the culture in our company and the failures that we've had in that, the wins we've had in that, and really more importantly, how culture in your organization bleeds over into your everyday real life. And I think it's so important that you realize just how important culture is in your organization as a whole. So good.

Dr. William Attaway 35:05

Well, thank you for the generosity and sharing that with our listeners. Uh, I would highly encourage you to go get this. Uh, it is going to be an encouragement to you and probably challenge you a little bit about the culture that you are intentionally building or not. So go check it out. We'll have the link in the show notes. Follow that, sign up, and stay informed on when Andrew's book comes out. I know I'm going to. Andrew, thank you again.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yeah, thank you, man. This is always I I love chatting with you, so this has been an honor to be on your show.