ISI Brotherhood Podcast

102. 4 Must-Have Traits Every Solopreneur Needs

• Aaron Walker & Kevin Wallenbeck

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Do you have what it takes to be a solopreneur? Distractions in this day and age can derail your progress more than ever, and if you aren't practicing the right traits, you'll soon get burned out. So how do you do maintain a successful business as a solopreneur?

If you've ever wondered what is truly necessary to make it successfully as a solopreneur, take it from two guys who scaled their companies from the ground up to multi-million dollar companies: these four must-have traits need to be at the top of your list.

Key Takeaways:

  • Why businesses are much harder to maintain than ever before
  • 4 must-have traits solopreneurs possess in order to succeed
  • How to maintain self discipline in your daily life
  • Grow a successful business that scales with these main tips

Drawing wisdom from our mastermind group, we highlight the value of setting boundaries and prioritizing family time. Sometimes, stepping back to take care of your health and relationships can actually propel you forward faster. We'll also show you how a strong support network can keep you on track and help maintain your focus.

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LinkedIn Group: https://www.viewfromthetop.com/group

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome back to View From the Top podcast, where we help growth-minded men who desire momentum in their business, their family and their finances get through those valleys and up the mountain to their very own view from the top. Hey, I got a question this week again for you listeners out there you guys listening out there in the audience as a solopreneur, if you're a solopreneur today, that means that you're the guy that's kind of like doing it yourself. Maybe you have a contractor or two helping you, maybe even have an employee, but you're kind of like that guy. It's like you're on that solopreneur journey. How many decisions do you have to make today? Like how many you have to make this week, this, what about this month? Right, as a fellow business owner, husband and father, investor and friend to you guys, it seems I'm making those decisions, tons of them all the time, especially when I was a solopreneur. So I actually an HBR.

Speaker 1:

So a Harvard Business Review study reports that we make 33 to 35,000 decisions per day. I don't know if I agree with that completely. That's a lot, but, man, I know we make a lot of decisions. So even if it's half of that 15,000 decisions a day while some of these decisions are minuscule and they really don't matter that much. There are enough of them that have had a huge impact on my marriage, my children, my business, my finances, my spiritual journey, and I need other men that I trust, a tribe to belong to and for myself, I choose Iron Sharpens, iron ISI community. If you want to be connected and engaged with a growing group of growth-minded Christian businessmen and leaders who are also making informed, vetted decisions through a biblical lens, go check out the ISI community for yourself at isibrotherhoodcom. That's I-S-I brotherhoodcom. You can use code POD30, p-o-d-3-0 on the payment screen and we'll give you access free for 30 days. All right, so we've covered that Without further ado. Let's get the guy that doesn't have to comb his hair every morning in the studio.

Speaker 2:

Welcome, big a you know how much I've saved on haircuts and shampoo? Uh, that's the reason I bought my new boat I just spent 40 bucks on a haircut yesterday I know I used it as an excuse. I said, robin, look at the money for 25 years I've saved. Let me just buy a new boat. She goes, go buy it.

Speaker 1:

So I said, there's, there's my haircut so if I shave my head off, I can tell, tell my wife, I'm going to buy a new bow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can get a new bow. That's not a bad deal $40. I don't know, wally, did you get your money's worth there? Maybe you did. Oh, oh, oh, that's rough. Hey, I put a post out on Facebook not long ago and it was just saying that question like what do you pay for a haircut? And I was amazed, like I haven't had a haircut in 25 years. They're paying $50 to $75 for a haircut and I'm like, are you kidding?

Speaker 1:

me. I paid $20 for the haircut and then I tipped $20. Oh yeah, that's generous. Yeah, they did a great job.

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't know, that's up for debate. But anyway, no going good man, been a good week. You know we're heading into fall here in Tennessee.

Speaker 1:

That's a whole different experience than Michigan, but I'm getting to like it. It's growing on me and I'm looking forward to some cooler weather, though.

Speaker 2:

You said earlier that the decisions that we have to make 35,000 decisions. Is that crazy? I can't believe in make 35,000 decisions.

Speaker 1:

Is that crazy? I have a hard time believing that, but man, it's a lot regardless. Well, I don't know. But if you think about.

Speaker 2:

Well, here's the thing. You're not factoring into that. You just think about big decisions, about what I'm going to do on this project, but it's like going like it's every move, like where do I go here and pick up this and take that? We probably do if we could calculate it. Here's what I want to talk about, though.

Speaker 2:

When I was putting together the notes for our show, thinking about that just a little bit, robin and I kind of get into these disagreements oftentimes about making decisions, and I'm not dogging on her, because we all make decisions differently, but I've been in business for 46 years and so I have to make a decision pretty quick. When we were a retail business, we had numbers of locations and you're answering questions all day long, every day, and so now we get into this disagreement between Robin and I. She'll ask me a question and I'll immediately just answer, and she's like you didn't even think about that. And then I thought about thinking about it and I'm like well, it's not that important to me that thing. Like, if it's something that's really you know, I'll get the consensus of others.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know, and I was careful even when I said it to her. But it was like now, if you want to talk about something different, like maybe we'll require more. But it dawned on me, as being a small business owner, how we have trained ourselves over the course of our careers to make decisions faster and we're going to dive in Our filter muscles up a lot faster. Yeah, it is, but you also prioritize the things that are important, that are going to move the needle, and things that are not important.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think there's a lot of skills.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I hope we do too. I hope I have over the past.

Speaker 1:

I've had some challenges myself, done well at times and met some other people that haven't too. I hope I have. Over the past I've had some challenges myself, done well at times and met some other people that haven't too.

Speaker 2:

Well, there's a lot of important variables when it comes to being a solopreneur. We're going to talk about that today, but I really think that this episode is pretty important because it highlights the traits that can really make or break your journey as a solopreneur. There's things that we want to talk about today, and I thought it would be helpful to provide some practical tips to help you thrive in this demanding, ever-changing business environment that we find ourselves in now. It's like I'm just going to say it straight up I think it's harder now to do business than it was 20, 25 years ago. I don't know if it's the amount of competition or technology. Technology can make it simpler, but can also make it more difficult.

Speaker 2:

But I think if we can master these traits as a solo panneur, I think we'll be better equipped to overcome any obstacles. It'll help us stay focused and we can achieve what we all want to do and get that long-term success. And so, yeah, I just want to dive into a couple of things and talk about them today. Before we do, before we dive in. I just want to dive into a couple of things and talk about them today.

Speaker 1:

Before we do, before we dive in, I actually want to challenge you on something that I disagree a little bit.

Speaker 2:

I love it when you disagree, wally, yeah, yeah, disagree with me.

Speaker 1:

I think I hear what you mean when you say. It's like, if I'm thinking about the solopreneur right now and we're going to cover these four traits today that are paramount, yeah Well, I think about that solopreneur and thinking, oh man, it's harder to start a business today or launch a business or grow a business today than it was so many years ago. I don't know if I agree with that.

Speaker 2:

It's easier to start the business, but to have a successful business, I think it can be more difficult. There's more competition today.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's also more opportunity.

Speaker 2:

No, there is no. I'm saying I agree with you completely, I agree with you.

Speaker 1:

I hear the heart of what you're saying. I think there's pros and cons. I'm not pros and cons, but like there's things that maybe were easier and harder.

Speaker 2:

You know 30, 40, 50 years ago, right, right, right, and so I think they balance out.

Speaker 1:

They're just different. That's a good point, and so I think about that. Yeah, you won me over. That's rare, but you won me over.

Speaker 2:

You disagreed and then you've presented a different light and I agree. So take it as a win today, because I don't normally agree.

Speaker 1:

But I agree. All right, that's fair, I think you're right.

Speaker 2:

That's fair. I think you're right. Listen, I think, first and foremost, self-discipline is paramount and I'll be honest with you, that's a challenge I don't know about for you. For me, certain things are not that difficult, like, I've been a small business owner my whole life, since I was 18. I'll be 64 this coming birthday and staying on track can really be tough until we really structure our day and you've got to be really good at that, and I wasn't good at that and I had to get help, I had to get coaching, I had to get mastermind guys to help me, I had to enlist people to help me get better organized. So where do you fall on that spectrum? Like self-discipline, like how are you and I know it's different for different people on different things but overall-discipline, like, how are you and I know it's different for different people on different things, but overall, how do you rank your self-discipline?

Speaker 1:

Well, I think, when you're first starting out and we're talking primarily to solopreneurs today, but there's obviously carryover, right, and these traits and disciplines of running a business they're not exclusive to being a solopreneur, but we're talking to you guys today as solopreneurs. So you know, probably more than likely, if you're a solopreneur, you're in what I would call the earlier stages of your business development. Not that you can't be a solopreneur and be doing it for 20 years. You can. It's unlikely, right. Normally you're going to have a team member somewhere along the way, where that introduces, you know, other challenges and other opportunities. But today, as a solopreneur, you're in the beginning stages of your business primarily, and so you probably have a lot of passion already, right, that passion and that excitement for what's possible Carries you for a period, does drive self-discipline.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Right, but here's, I want to read this. So here's a definition of self-discipline. Yeah, right, but here's, I want to read this. So here's a definition of self-discipline. Self-discipline is the ability to control your actions, decisions and behavior and to make yourself do what you know is right, even when you don't want to.

Speaker 1:

So I was talking to a guy this week and he we were actually it was coming off of our coming off of our round table call in the ISI community yesterday. So we do some teaching on a topic during this call for, like you know, 30, 40 minutes, and then we break out into smaller groups of eight to 10 guys, like in smaller mastermind groups. We just have that once a month in the community. It's pretty cool. But so I broke out into a smaller group for, you know, 30 minutes, with, I think, there was eight guys in there and we have some questions that we work through based on what the topic was we were talking about, and this particular thing was on, you know, going next level, and it was around this idea.

Speaker 1:

This one particular topic we're talking about was self-discipline and one of the things the guys are struggling with. He's a solopreneur, has a three-quarter time job and then he works like 50% on this startup right, so he's a solopreneur getting going and he's talking about this is to your point of that. It's harder today. There are more distractions today than there ever have been.

Speaker 1:

And that's where a solopreneur with self-discipline can get really in trouble. Like, if you think about it, I think it's like this here's the math If you watch TV, be on your phone, let's just, let's just watch TV right. Streaming TV three hours a night and do that five days a week. It takes you 13.8 years to become a 10,000 hour expert TV watcher. 10,000 hours over 13, almost 14 years. Now that doesn't seem like a long period of time.

Speaker 1:

But you look back on your career, I look back on my career, I look back at the businesses I started and like all of a sudden, dave Ramsey's famous for saying this that people came to him and was like, oh man, you crushed it.

Speaker 1:

He's like, yeah, it was a 25 year overnight success. So it took self-discipline at some level for all of us, and I think the more self-discipline at some level for all of us and I think the more self-discipline that we can have, especially around those distractions that don't contribute to the goals that we have and the goals that we have as a small business owner and as a solopreneur. Yes, the goals in the business are super important, right, but self-discipline also carries over into our family the time with our wife, the time with our kids. If I could carve off an hour each night and go back from myself when I first started, right, if I could just carve out a little more time, I would going back now and I would do it, even if even if it pushed me to take a little bit longer right, not much, but just a little bit longer to start getting more momentum. If I could go back because there was things that I know I missed because I didn't have the self-discipline right.

Speaker 2:

I wonder why we can't see that as intellectual beings. Now, when we have young families, just intellectually sit down and go. You know what. These kids are only going to be here 15, 16 years, they're going to get their license. Why can't we discipline ourselves and say you know what? I'm going to build those boundaries, those guardrails, I'm going to have accountability. I only get one. Go through with these kids. I don't get a second chance. I need to make it count.

Speaker 2:

And that was really heightened my awareness when I came home with that pocket full of money to a house full of strangers and Robin goes. I don't want to be a single mom, I want you to help me, I want you to be here. It's like if you guys hear anything, reorient your thinking to prioritize what's important in life and go hey, my family's important. That's the reason I work is so that I can go have an amazing life. But if you're using relationship capital to grow your business and then you're going to have successful company and no relationships, you still go home a loser.

Speaker 2:

And so I want to encourage you, the listener, right now, to listen to what Wally is saying and go. You know what he's right, even if it takes me a little bit longer, man. I'm going to have dinner with my family. At night I'm going to sit with my wife and kind of debrief for the day. I'm going to put my kids in bed. I'm going to go to baseball practice when I can there are seasons I'm not to do things, but don't make it the consistency of your life being away from the family, and so we always are huge family first folks and really pay attention to your time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and don't misunderstand what we're saying, because I know this to be true. Like we've talked about this and you think what are you guys talking about? Self-discipline? You're talking about growing a business and you gotta do what you know is right, even when you don't want to. Here's also my experience, and we actually heard this a little bit from our guest last week, seth Buwekli. He mentioned, you know, often and you guys have read this in books as well If you actually have a network of other guys you can talk to, that are life aligned with you, that are going through living life in a way that you're striving for, then you hear it as well. And what we hear is this that sometimes you actually slow down to go faster. When you slow down to eat right, eat better, have a correct amount of physical activity, have strong relationships at home. I've talked about this before An episode that just came out recently.

Speaker 1:

It was about how our marriage affects our business and how I didn't pay attention to my wife, my relationship with my wife, the way I should have sometimes in the beginning, and that caused all kinds of stress because I wasn't self-disciplined to do what I should have done first. And so, man, like doing the things that matter most to us are going to help us have that self-discipline and it's going to open up other doors for us. As solopreneurs, we grow our business and it's going to open up other doors for us as, as solopreneurs, we grow our business. Your wife having a wife that's a cheerleader for you because you, because you, pay attention to her and house.

Speaker 1:

We're doing it right, oh my gosh, like you want to, like having other guys around you that you know are cheerleaders for you because you've made that. You've made connecting in an appropriate way with other men that are going through similar experiences, that can speak into you and challenge you and encourage you and support you. Like talk about energy that that just like it's like fuel to drive you and you are so much more productive right when you focus and do the things that you should do.

Speaker 2:

Wally, where do you lack discipline?

Speaker 1:

Anyway, you ask these questions. I'll start off with this week. So the past few weeks I've struggled self-discipline again, like I know it's right that I need to have a correct amount of physical activity. I know it's right that I need to put good fuel, good food, in my body. And so this week I got you know, you've heard that phrase nothing changes till you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I was sick and tired and so this week actually it had been about a month and I was doing okay, but I really wasn't committed, I didn't have self-discipline to do what was right because it was hard.

Speaker 1:

And so this week I made a commitment that I'm going to walk three miles every night and I'm going to be intentional, more intentional. I'm intentional, but more intentional about what I eat, more about portion control. This week, and so it was about eating for my meals at night I've been eating three quarters I'll put on my plate three quarters of what I would normally eat. So we've gone out once and I just ate three quarters set aside and that works out great. At physical activity. I just said I'm going to do it every night and what I had to do, the thing that makes the difference for me. I'm discovering and we, you know, we all, we all know this. Just I don't know, it's a shame to say it that that it's accountability, showing ourselves accountable, is important. So the key has been I forced myself to text one guy. I told him I was going to do it. I said I'm going to text you every night after I eat and every night after I walk this week, and so we need that accountability.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, cause you think about that, you're like hey, billy, I got to text him and if I don't, he's going to be on me tomorrow. My mind is changing and I didn't see this coming. What do you mean? It's like my discipline is changing in areas Like I don't need any self-discipline to work. Zero, I love to work. I need discipline. Quit working. I don't need discipline to work.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned about being like a dig dig to activity.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love to work and like I'll work around the clock, but the place that I lacked discipline was the physical exercise working out, and so I hired a trainer two years ago and I pay money and that forces me to go. It's like I'm going to get my money's worth. But I discovered about a month or six weeks ago that I'm starting to enjoy it. I was like where did that come?

Speaker 1:

from you turn the corner and your body's like woo. You know why I saw some improvement and when my trainers you see some improvement, or does your wife see some improvement?

Speaker 2:

Both, and that's really motivating. But here's the thing my trainer told me the other day. He said do you realize? In this exercise we've increased the weight 35%. You're getting the same amount of reps 35%. But what I'm saying is that's motivating, that's my point 35%. But what I'm saying is that's motivating, that's my point.

Speaker 2:

In the people that need a sense of discipline in your life, the thing that tags along with this self-discipline is consistency. And see, now, I've done it three days a week for a couple of years and because of that I'm switching my mindset. And there's an area of consistency and when we're building a business, it requires all of us to be consistent over a long period of time. And a quick little story I had a guy call me I don't know, it's probably been a year ago.

Speaker 2:

Those that have followed us for any length of time know that I do a lot of podcast guesting. And he called me and he said hey, big A, I'm thinking about doing that and will you teach me how? And I did, got him all set up and then about six weeks later he called me back and he said I've stopped. And I said what do you mean you've stopped? And he said well, I've done a dozen episodes and I'm not seeing any growth in my business and I'm like six weeks Are you kidding me? I got all over him. I was like I've been doing podcast guesting for 10 years and he's like 10 years and I said yeah, man, it takes time and you got to do it, even when you don't want to do it, and that was what you said earlier, wally, about the consistency.

Speaker 2:

If you go on your feelings, you're never going to be successful at anything, because I don't always feel like doing podcast guesting, but I know they're effective, hopefully they're helpful. And if you do it repetitively and I just use that as an example there's so many other things that we need to be consistent on. I promise you, if you will do it for a period of time, you'll see the results. And so self-discipline, man, it is paramount. Consistency is something that we've got to do. And second thing I wanted to discuss just a little bit today was the determination and resilience that we're required to do. Dr Andy Garrett in our Mastermind group has got a great program out. We've talked about it two or three times on View From the Top podcast, but that resilience is paramount. We've got to have that resilience. We've got to have determination. Wally, when you think about that, what comes to your mind when you think about having a level of determination? Is there an example for you in your life where you're like, hey, I'm determined, we're going to make this work?

Speaker 1:

I'm actually going to look up the definition of determination real quick.

Speaker 2:

You're a wordsmith. I've learned that about you. I love this Words matter.

Speaker 1:

They do, they do. It's interesting I love this word resolute Like I resolve to do something. I've used that a lot in my life and essentially I mean that's deep, that's a.

Speaker 2:

when you said it like that, I felt it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. It means something like yeah, I'm going to resolve to do this. Wow Right, it's unwavering. It's. It's admirably purposeful. No-transcript. There have been times in my life like you use this question a lot. You know what do you want and, frankly, it's a question that most guys have a hard time answering. Yeah, and there's been seasons of life where I've been able to be like, okay, here's what I want, I know, here's what I want. And then there's other seasons where I'm like, ah, like ah, I don't know what I want. You just went through one of those seasons where you're like I mean, you've been doing this for years and you're like I should know the answer but it changes, right, it does change.

Speaker 1:

And um, and so there've been times in my life when when I I've been clear and had some clarity and and that takes time Um, it's one of the things I'm learning later in life is that it's okay for things to take some time. As a solopreneur, you don't feel like you have time.

Speaker 1:

It's so easy to feel like the world's crashing down on you and like, yeah, like you know, you've got invoices coming in, you know hopefully you're sending them out and you're getting payments in and expenses are going out and and often you're trying to balance that and it's like sometimes you feel like it's two steps forward and, and you know, one step back, or sometimes it's two steps forward and sometimes it's three steps back. But if you're resolved, like if you know what it is you're wanting to achieve and why it's that important, I was so resolved at different points in my life that I had a problem that I've been struggling with the last couple of years that on the end of that, is that I knew what my purpose was. I got to the end. I'm not talking about spiritual purpose. I'm talking about like from my work and even my family as becoming empty nesters at the same time of selling a business and all that.

Speaker 1:

Like all of that created a moment in time where I had basically like plateaued and uh, but it took a while to get there. But, going back to the beginning part, it took a long time to get plateaued, but the in the beginning it was like I had to know what I wanted. I had to know what my purpose was, and often we mentioned passion earlier. If you're determined, it's usually because there's something that's driving you right and it's got to matter enough. Your why has to be big enough for you to have that sense of determination and resilience following through that resolve. It's got to be big enough. You've got to know what that is, because if you're a solopreneur and you're starting a business and your sole reason is you want to make more money, that's probably not a big enough why. Actually it could be important.

Speaker 2:

Wally, I was going to say that I'm glad you said that. I was waiting on you to pause for a minute to say that very thing, Wait wait.

Speaker 1:

you just said that you were waiting on me to pause. I did, I did. Oh my goodness, the tables have turned. I know they have.

Speaker 2:

That's great. The thing is money so important and we need it and I want to make more and I want to be very intentional with what I do with it, but if that is the only reason, you're going to get tired eventually.

Speaker 1:

Do you know people like?

Speaker 2:

that, oh, 100%, yeah, 100%. Their sole focus is on making X dollars. How does it go?

Speaker 1:

for them.

Speaker 2:

I can tell you I X dollars. How does it go for them? I can tell you. I can tell you I'm glad you asked, wally, I can tell you. So I've coached a lot of these guys over a period of time and they get to a place where they go I can buy anything I want. And I'm like, well, what do you want now? And I'm not sure. And then they think through it and they go, hey, I think if I get it to this level, then I'll feel that sense of contentment and I'm just telling you it's not going to happen, it's just not. You're going to keep moving the bar. You've got to have a greater. Some guys I'm coaching a guy right now he said I'm making more money than I know what to do with, like literally, and I don't know that it's worth it. I said, well, we've got to have a greater, why Everybody else?

Speaker 1:

the solopreneurs thinking what in the world? I'd love to have that problem.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, sure they would, Everybody would right. I would love to have that problem as well.

Speaker 1:

Your point is valid though.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but what I'm saying is is that we've got to really figure out the greater why. What are you going to do with it? You're going to buy a nice house I like. I like a nice house. You have a nice house, you know. We got nice cars and boats and we got all those things. But at the end of the day it's like, okay, if I'm using these skills and talents that God's given me, is there a greater purpose? Is there a greater why? Can I help some charity that I've got a passion with? Is there some nonprofit organization that I want to walk in alignment? I want to do some things for my grandkids and for my kids.

Speaker 1:

Does being a solo creneur allow you freedom in your schedule at all to minister in a way like you've never been able to minister before? Well, you can make your own choices right, you can set your own schedule right.

Speaker 2:

You've got the freedom to be able to do that. But back to we have to be clear on our vision and we have to have other people around us that can guide us and hold us accountable and direct us and be those trusted advisors and say, hey, am I missing anything? And you've got people around you that you can throw it out to and you can go. I'm resolved, as you said. I love that. I love that. You've made me feel good, I feel warm when I say that word. Now I'm resolute, that I'm going to accomplish this thing. That's where that determination kicks in and you go. You know what I'm going to accomplish this thing because I feel passionate about it. I know that I'm going to be able to help other people. I'm going to help my family go to the next level. I'm going to create a space that is really comfortable to be in. But see, here's what we have to have. We have to have the vision, we have to have the roadmap.

Speaker 2:

You're not going to get anywhere without some sense of vision and I encourage everyone to write it down, to be very clear, and it doesn't have to be for eternity. It can be for two to five years and then reassess. You said something earlier, and you even said it on the last episode that we did that. Things change and I want to make that crystal clear for those that are listening today. We think that we're going to establish a pattern and we're going to do this for the rest of our life and then we're going to quit. And I just want to be the first to tell you, if you've never heard it things change and they seem to change more often than I remember preparing for, and it's like life throws you curves and you have children and you move and your job gets canceled or you change your passion. So focus two to five years and really establish a good plan for that.

Speaker 1:

That's kind of the third. I think it's the third trait is embracing change it is.

Speaker 2:

It is, yeah, preparing to adapt.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're spot on that, we you know. God says in Proverbs 16, 9,. It says man makes his plans and God directs his steps. Yeah, man, that has been one of my life passages of scripture that I keep going back to, because it tells me, right, that I need to have determination. Right, I need to have self-discipline. God calls me to have a plan. Right, he calls me to work. Maybe it's for a topic for a different day, but, and maybe I'm weird, uh, I know I'm weird, but maybe you think I'm glad you clarified that before it was my turn.

Speaker 1:

So like it never occurred to me to like the last couple of years that uh adam still worked in the garden before sin yeah we think of sin as a curse.

Speaker 1:

I said said, if you think of work, that work is a curse, is a part of the curse, right? Well, I know that there's weeds and the Bible talks about those kinds of things, but there was still like beneficial work that God designed us as humans to do. So that that's been a simple like in my work that I'm called to do and I make plans because God tells me to do that. But then I really look to him for wisdom, for understanding. I need to have knowledge of scripture, I need to get with the wisdom of counsel of those around me and through that I can discern. And so the application of knowledge is wisdom and knowing. That has helped me a ton as a solopreneur to be able to, because things do change so rapidly.

Speaker 2:

Wally, I like change. A lot of people are like I don't like change, I like listen. The thing that's helped me the most in my career is I embrace change. I do, I like it. I'm like what is this going to make possible? You just don't like going to the gym, I don't like. No. Well, I've learned to, I've embraced it right and I've been consistent, so I'm starting to change.

Speaker 2:

Good job, ben, and so yeah, here's the thing we got to get used to trying new tactics because there are so many opportunities out there today to do things different. It's not the same, because most markets always change. They do and we've got to stay on the leading edge of that. Technology is happening today faster than ever before. Like used to and I don't know the stats, you probably know them better than I do Like used to when I was young, it was like every 20 years. Now it's like every six months. It's fast.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if it's six months fast. Yeah, I don't know. It's ridiculous how fast things are changing now. But then the other thing is is customers' needs are always changing right, and so if we embrace the idea of change and adapt and be willing to pivot, really the most growth has come at a time of change. Normally I stayed in things too long when I was younger and it was like, man, I'm missing out here. There's other, better ways to do this. I need to adapt and some of it can be exhilarating, some of it's kind of frightening, to be honest with you. But this is a journey. Being a solopreneur is fun and you're able to adapt and pivot quicker than if you had a larger team. And so, yeah, don't be afraid to embrace change.

Speaker 2:

And then, final, before we end today, is vision. We talked about it just a little bit earlier. But without vision, scripture teaches us that the people perish, and I've had a vision over the course of my life, but never structured like I have in the past 10 years, and numbers of guys, and Wally primarily. You have really helped me articulate that and get it in a written document so that we can share it with the team, so that we can share it with the people that follow us. The vision is really really helpful. And what experiences, wally, have you had with vision and with the lack of vision?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think the thing that I don't actually I don't know, I kind of feel a little weird saying this but the last probably few years, even at View From the Top and IS ISI that there's been an evolving vision and at times just again, being frank, right, because we all experience these things there's been times where there's been a little lull in the vision and we've had recent, close to my vest right Experience with with vision. As you know, you're looking at from your seat the organization that you've built and I think even in a previous podcast, you know, I think with Seth last last, last last episode, think with Seth last episode you just alluded to over time how things that get you somewhere, to a certain point in business, aren't the things that get you somewhere else, and so you had a vision to get to a certain point in business, and now you've had to rethink that, what that vision looks like for the future and get the resources and people around you to help you accomplish that. I think that was, you know me, when I started out as a solopreneur all the way back in 2001,.

Speaker 1:

One of the very first books I read was the E-Myth and I was kind of a kind of grew up with in business. You know, for four or five I said grew up, my experience with business was really in multi-level. What do you call them? Not pyramid schemes, but a lot of people have heard them as that way. But what do you call them? Multi? What?

Speaker 2:

Multi-level marketing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, multi-level marketing. That's it why I couldn't think of that. So, anyway, my experience with that early on, you know, in health products and Amway was one of them and phone cards I don't know if you remember when phone cards were a thing I do remember.

Speaker 2:

I hadn't even thought about that until you just said it, but I do remember those. Yeah, it was crazy, that is crazy.

Speaker 1:

But there was multiple marketing companies that were around those products and some of those products were really good. Matter of fact, one of those products is still used today as a health product and I enjoy that. But they had a ton of like helpful materials, like in those businesses, about vision and growth, and so I got a taste of that there and that helped me as I went into being a solopreneur taste of that there and that helped me as I went into being a solopreneur. So my point is for the solopreneur that's listening, reading books, getting it, you know, in around now today, back then there wasn't organizations you know, like ISI community. They didn't exist, they just weren't around.

Speaker 1:

And so really, as a solo entrepreneur today, you have no excuses right to be familiar with what vision looks like and goal setting looks like. And there's plenty of tools out there. We have one in the community, the ISI membership, called Come as you Will Be, and that's been developed over the years. But basically what it is is it helps you identify what we call the ISI five pillars of the ISI man, and those revolve around personal and spiritual and relational and financial and professional, and so we cover those five areas and we draw out like what it looks like A goal is good to have to look forward, but most people say I want to. But we've taken that a little bit further and we've written it out Like when we write out according to our companies, you will be rated out. It's like it's already happened, like a year or two or three years down the road, yeah, and it just gives you a whole different perspective on how you go about accomplishing your goals.

Speaker 1:

It gives you ownership, right and they still, you know, going back, they still a lot of our goals. We've seen with the guys you know, you and I, and we've experienced that they change Like, as a solopreneur, a small business owner, you're going to have to pivot, you're going to. I'm not talking about like the guys that just follow like the squirrel and the rabbit trails, right, they're just like following the next thing, right, change here, change here. You're not. When you say, when you talk about pivot or change your tactics, you're not talking about that.

Speaker 2:

No, not the vision, not at all, just the methodology.

Speaker 1:

Right. One of the things that's helped me in my business over time as part of my vision is we actually have a set of criteria that we use, that I've developed over years. We use it in ISI today. Basically, it's our business decision criteria, and I think there's eight questions on there that we have to ask if we're going to make like a pivot or a big tactic change and so we're not 100.

Speaker 1:

We don't ask ourselves all the questions all the time, but often we do and it's very helpful. Yeah, it is very helpful, and so those types of things have been, have been very good, you know to to help get that vision established, get those goals established, not be afraid to change and just be mindful of pivoting, not following the squirrel right and kind of staying on track. We use the words. One of ours is we don't follow fads, we follow trends. That's like one of our principles.

Speaker 2:

I think one of the most helpful things that I've personally done over a 10-year period is writing the vision down, because it's jumbled up in your head and you can't articulate it clearly to your spouse or to your team members or to your colleagues. But when it's written and you can go back and revisit that and say, hey, I'm on track or I'm not, this has changed, and it's okay to change this thing, but it's ever before you and you can see it, and so it's just been really helpful to me personally. Hopefully it will be to you. As we wrap up today's episode, I want you to really think about these four essential traits that every solo entrepreneur should embrace.

Speaker 2:

First of all, there was the self-discipline, and I personally think that's paramount. We've got to have the self-discipline in our life in order to be successful. If you structure your day and you stay consistent and you find some level of accountability in your life to keep you moving forward, just like I've done since I was 18 years old, I promise you you'll have a measure of success. The next thing is think about your level of determination and resilience, because I think these are required. I think we've got to have a level of determination, resolve, and we talked about that earlier. Hopefully it made you feel as convicted as it did me to think about am I resolved to the thing that I'm doing today? And then we just got to know that we're going to expect rejection. It's going to happen. There's going to be challenges that come up in our life, but let them fuel that growth for your perseverance, for that vision that you've established, that we've been talking about.

Speaker 2:

And then, third, be ready to adapt. We want to be agile, we want to be able to move, and you can do that as a solo panneur. Nothing works exactly as planned. There's just no way that you can lay it out clearly, and it happened exactly like that. So embrace the change and keep learning to stay competitive. And then, finally, never lose sight of your vision. It's your guiding light, there is no question about it. Keep it before you at all times. Create a vision board if you need to, but have it in your office, have it in your home, have it at a place that's easily accessible, because it helps you set those goals and maintain that passion that will drive you to have that sought after view from the top.

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, thanks again for listening in so much today. I hope that you were able to take away something. That's, whether you're a solopreneur, whether you're a small business owner, these principles are solid for you, so follow through on them. Man, we'd love to have you as part of the ISI community. If you're a solopreneur, a small business owner, a business leader and man, you're out there working hard to figure it out on your own and you really need somebody. You know being at the top of the food chain and as a leader is tough, so you need people around you. So I encourage you to go check out the ISI community. You can do that by going to isibrotherhoodcom, find the community in there, and we're happy to give you, as part of being a listener to this group, just of this podcast, to give you 30 days free just to check that out. So you can use pod30, that's P-O-D 30 as your code when you check out and you'll give you those 30 days free. So hope to see you there and we'll for sure see you next week.