So today we're going to be talking about a winning business formula , a little formula that is our expert ownership formula that will help you experience the success that God really wants you to have . Now credit goes out to one of our coaches , richard Walsh , who came up with this formula , which I love . Do you guys remember being in high school , or whatever , and learning algebra ? Do you learn algebra in high school ? Yeah , you learn algebra in high school . You do Actually junior high school or whatever , and learning algebra ? Do you learn algebra in high school ? Yeah , you learn algebra in high school . You do actually junior high school . What's that ? The foil or whatever ?
Speaker 1First , outside , inside , last algebra thing where you've got , you've got like parentheses and you have to figure out something , and then you've got like multiplication and all that stuff to explain algebra . Dude , everybody gets it , yeah . Well , if somebody was doing this for me , I would need them to explain what they're talking about . So let me give you the formula . Okay , here it is d to the fourth power . This is in parentheses , so start parentheses d to the fourth power minus e , close parentheses , times lp equals success . How about that ? So if you could learn it again , if you could see this . It would . It would definitely help you . So d to the fourth power . So d is in doc , okay . So start the parentheses inside the parentheses d to the fourth power minus e . Okay , close parentheses . So you gotta solve that first times . Lp equals success . Now , what in the world am I talking about ? Let me give it to you . Determination and delayed gratification , minus excuses , times listening prayer equals success . That's good . The multiplication is the listening prayer . It's exponential growth . It's exponential results , equals success . So discipline , diligence , determination , delayed gratification that's D to the fourth power , minus excuses . Solve that first times listening prayer is going to bring you the success that God really wants you to have . Okay , so let's walk through each of these and we're going to give you this business , this winning business formula for you .
Speaker 1Okay , start with discipline . Discipline doing what you don't want to do to accomplish what you want . We should all have discipline , shouldn't we ? Yeah , king David had discipline . He was a man after God's own heart . We look all through Scripture . God tells us to have discipline . It says in the Bible , actually in the book of Proverbs the precious possession of a man is his diligence and his discipline . Yeah , we're getting to diligence in a minute .
Speaker 1But see , we think about Daniel in the lion's den , we think about the faith of so many of our heroes in the scripture and in the Old Testament , but we look at Daniel and David , and I wrote this book Living Among Lions how to Thrive Like Daniel in Today's Babylon and we broke it down into three things that we saw true in Daniel's life , in Shadrach , meshach and Abednego . It also applies to every other one of the heroes of the faith in scripture and those who actually accomplish things worthy of God giving us his applause , if we can say it like that . Those things are conviction , commitment , courage . So it starts with conviction . It starts with an inside conviction that you have , and then it's got to move into commitments , and those commitments are your commitment to God's word , commitment to purity , commitment to spending time in prayer . Just what commitments are they going to be ? And ultimately , if you have commitments , then that will lead to courage .
Speaker 1The bridge between conviction and courage is commitments , and those commitments require discipline for you to stay true to those things . Yes , so discipline is what it starts with . Do you have the discipline to do what you don't want to do , to accomplish what you want to accomplish ? Okay , so it starts with discipline .
Speaker 1Number two diligence . Diligence is the consistent application of discipline , even when you can't see the results . Think about discipline . You're doing what you don't want because you've got a vision for what you do want . Diligence is consistently applying discipline even when you can't see the results . It's all about surrendering to your process , just like investing .
Speaker 1If you're going to invest , you're not investing $1,000 into your brokerage account today so that you can have $10,000 tomorrow . No , you're investing $1,000 today so that you can have $10,000 three years from now . Well , that'd be a phenomenal return . How's that going to work ? It's little by little . Things grow . It's the cumulative value of small things over time . So if I eat a Twinkie today , I'm not going to be fat tomorrow . But if I do it every single day for 365 days , I will struggle with that . Yeah , but if I , if I run a mile today , I will not be in shape tomorrow . But if I stay consistent , diligent , with it over time 365 days I will eventually start getting in better shape . Yeah , it's the same same thing .
Speaker 1John maxwell , I love how he says it . He says that diligence is it's the axe at the foot of the tree outside your house it's a big giant oak tree and every single day you get up and you swing that axe three times at the foot of the tree , it's not going to fall tomorrow , it's not even going to fall the end of the year , it probably won't even fall in the next two years . But if you stay diligent , every single day , three swings at the tree , same spot it will eventually , over time , that tree will fall . Yeah , and that's what God wants for you . So it starts with discipline , then it moves into diligence .
Speaker 1Now I remember , when I'm looking at discipline and diligence , david and I building our businesses , and I remember thinking okay , so our , our niche was that David and I managed and sold foreclosed properties on behalf of banks . Okay , so that was a really cool niche for us in the real estate space and we bought some of those , but most of them we brokered and so we'd fix them up and then we'd turn them and put them on the market and sell them . So our goal was to get into as many banks as we could , to get in good with them and have them as clients . And I remember thinking I've got to get in with all of these banks . Our goal was to have like 200 banks . Of these banks our goal was to have like 200 , 200 banks and we ended up having , I think , like 220 banks . But by the time , you know , the market started to dry up and do all sorts of stuff and David and I got out of the business . We had about 220 clients , but we built that over a period of about 15 years .
Speaker 1And how we did it was I would go on Google and I would go and look up all these different banks and their contact information , I throw those into my CRM and then I would reach out to about 25 to 30 banks a day . And I would do it four days a week . I would do it Tuesday , wednesday , thursday , friday and I would just reach out to these banks . Now you know rule of thumb in business don't do prospecting on Monday yeah , just don't , nobody wants to Jack with that . And don't do prospecting after lunch on Friday Okay , like you know , for the most part people don't just don't bother people on Monday or after lunch on Friday . Everybody's already winding down . They don't want to , they don't want to do that . So every now and then you can land them . But so I did Tuesday , wednesday , thursday and the half day on on Friday where I would prospect and go after 20 to 25 .
Speaker 1And I would reach out to these banks every single day and you know what it took discipline to do that , because there was a lot of other things I wanted to do other than picking up the phone or sending out that email . And it really took diligence and I got to where I was hitting people like once a month . You know certain clients and then after time you know they say what's the rule of thumb after the seventh ? Yeah , they're , they're going to make a decision . So you know and and we we built up our little , you know , over 15 years , 220 bank clients and a bank client represented . I mean , some banks would send us five , 10 properties a year . Some banks would send us 500 properties a year to all of our franchisees and everything . So one bank client was like well into the seven figure in revenue for us and we had 220 of them and it all came , obviously God's blessing . But discipline , with some diligence in my prospecting , all right . So that's discipline and diligence .
Speaker 1And the third thing is determination , the sheer willpower to accomplish a thing , that determination that I had . I was like we are going to get our 200th bank client . We are going to get it . Nothing is going to stop me from it . This researcher , angela Duckworth . She identified grit as the number one predictor and factor of success . So they're like what's the number one predictor and factor of success ? This lady , angela Duckworth , in terms of business , she went out and did this massive research and she said grit , number one . She said it's not talent , it's not title , wealth or appearance , it's grit the ability to work hard for a long period of time toward a goal , to persevere , overcome and keep moving forward in the face of adversity , failure , rejection and obstacles . This is why Rocky is our favorite movie set . I mean , all of the rockies are amazing , except for rocky five . That was garbo , but it's grit .
Speaker 1And I remember in rocky chapter four , rocky chapter four , rocky four , um , hearts on fire when he would do what he did , the training montage , hearts on fire , strong desire , oh yeah , rages deep within , like I cannot tell you how many times I've heard that song when I'm exercising or whatever . We're going to be 50 years old next year , jason and me . That's crazy , but my heart is still burning . I want to be in shape . I do not want to go to my grave in terrible shape , but my heart's burning for it , but it's determination . Same thing . I want to hand something off to my kids because I realize that we have 34 plus trillion dollars in debt that we are handing our children in this nation . My heart is raging inside of me that , as for me , in my house , spiritually and financially , we want to serve the Lord . I want to hand them something that way they don't have to struggle like so many other people will have to struggle . I want , I'm , it's burning in me , it's the determination , the same things from a spiritual perspective . Are our hearts burning to expand the kingdom , to share the gospel , to make disciples , to stand strong for truth . That sets people free . It's the determination in . If you're going to have determination I like the word grit even better than determination , but it is . It's that determined . We want to accomplish a well-stewarded life in all areas for the kingdom . Yeah Well , you know we just celebrated Easter .
Speaker 1Actually , joe Biden changed Easter to the Transgender Day of Visibility . We just celebrated the Transgender Day of Visibility . You guys should go listen to our Living Among Lions podcast , because we smacked that right in the face . But anyway , that's not our goal here . We just had Easter and my wife and David's wife made sourdough cinnamon rolls , oh boy , and from scratch .
Speaker 1Let me just tell you , when I saw those , I had a real determination , a burning within for those cinnamon rolls . That wasn't determination , no , no , it was . That was just gluttony , see you're talking about . I got this determination to be in shape . Well , in that moment I had a determination to eat those . I don't think that's determination , that's not grit , it was a determination . That's the opposite of grit . Yeah , you gave in . Nothing was going to stop me from eating it . I tell you that much . Okay , all right , so anyway , discipline , diligence , determination .
Speaker 1The fourth D delayed gratification . If you've been on our podcast for any time , you've heard us talk about delayed gratification Putting off something good today so I can have something better tomorrow . Do you get the Dave Ramsey quote there ? He says if you live like no one else , eventually you'll live like no one else . Yep , that that is so good If you think about it .
Speaker 1I remember this early in our business , when my wife and I , jason and his wife , we all moved into one house together , which was crazy . Tori , jason's wife , was pregnant and they had Trey was too . Yeah , bailey , my oldest boy was four , ty my second was two and Lori was pregnant . So now we have two pregnant women and three kids in diapers Well , my four-year-old wasn't in diapers , anyway and running around the house . It was so hard , but we were living on envelopes , we were living out of our envelopes and I remember that Dave Ramsey quote if you live like no one else which we were living like no one else straight up out of envelopes , with your brother and his pregnant wife living like that , eventually I knew we're going to live like someone else , like no one else , and that's's it's true , because it's happened . Yeah , we were able to build our business and then transfer our active business income into passive investment income so that we could become see-a-preneurs . And we we built this in our book expert ownership we show the path , show exactly how you do it , exactly how we did it , and and now we live like no one else , like exactly , have have experienced that , and so it's just . And when you say live like no one else , now , for us , time was always more valuable than money , so now we have the time margin , that where we can really focus in on impact rather than just trying to figure out ways to make more income
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Speaker 1So delayed gratification is a very important thing Now . The key to delayed gratification is your vision . You have to have a vision for what you want to accomplish . If you don't have a vision , you will never delay your gratification for what you want now . So the clearer the vision I heard this in a book , I read it in a book the clearer the vision , the fewer the options , the easier the decision . So delayed gratification is all predicated on the vision that you have for what you want to accomplish .
Speaker 1So there are four D's discipline , diligence , determination , delayed gratification . Now we got to have those four things . Then remember , it's D to the fourth power . So those four things minus E , and the E is excuses . We minus excuses . Now I love this from Billy Sunday .
Speaker 1He said an excuse is a skin of a reason stuffed with a lie . So it's something that looks good on the outside , but it hides the true intention . And the true intention is what it's ? Laziness . That's right . Excuses are built on the foundation of laziness . I've raised my kids , always teach them this one little simple rule of thumb . Now , it doesn't always mean that this is true , but this is just a rule of thumb . I teach kids Procrastination makes you poor , proactivity makes you rich . Procrastination makes you poor . Proactivity makes you rich . You cannot make excuses .
Speaker 1What does Proverbs 22 , 13 say ? The slacker says there's a lion outside . It's saying the slacker is like , hey , there's a lion out there , so can't go outside , I can't do my work , I can't go to work because if I go outside I could die . But but a lion in the bible represents fear . Yep , and it's just . It's this whole covid nonsense and the masks and all this other stuff . It's just nothing . It's the fear , fear the number of public school teachers , especially in like chicago and new york . They don't want to go back , they didn't want to go back to work . So they're like well , covid's a thing , there's a lion . There's a lion , it's COVID . Yeah , well , that's just masking . Your laziness is what it is .
Speaker 1Here's a key when it comes to excuses Don't let the environment determine your effort . Environment should never determine effort . You give your best , no matter what . It's like well , it's raining outside . I don't really do things when it's raining , like , well , whatever , don't let the environment determine your effort . You do your best , period . Okay , no excuses .
Speaker 1And can I give one more little quip ? Yep , be a thermostat , not a thermometer . A thermostat controls the environment . A thermometer simply reflects it . So that's what you want . You want to control your environment .
Speaker 1In other words , eliminate all excuses . If your health is cooling , warm it up . You know , if relationships are getting hot , cool them down , right . That don't make excuses . Yeah , that's why Jesus , when he was at the pool of Bethesda , before he healed the man , he said do you want to get well ? Because some people will use their sickness as their crutch , like they don't really want to get well , because then they have an excuse as to why they're not able to accomplish certain things . Can I give you a pet peeve ? But hold on real quick . So , but Jesus had to say hey , do you really want to get well ? Because if you get well , you are now going to have obligations and responsibilities . You will have an obligation and a responsibility to work . Today you don't have that because you're sick , but tomorrow , if you're not sick , you got to get your butt up and go to work .
Speaker 1My pet peeve is seeing perfectly healthy people park in the handicapped spot oh , I want to . And they pull out their little sticker and then they go walking into the store and I'm like you are part of the problem , not a part of the solution . Yeah , I always point that out to my kids , I'm like , look at that , that's ridiculous . And laurie's like don't say anything to them , don't I want to ? So bad , so do I , but I never do . Yeah , but I'm judging them . I'm judging them in my heart . Yeah , so evil , all right .
Speaker 1So let's get back to our formula D , to the fourth power minus E . So discipline , diligence , determination , delay , gratification minus excuses . Okay , all of that times . Lp , which is listening prayer . Okay , this is the multiplier . God is not into addition as much as he's into multiplication . Okay , the listening prayer is the multiplier .
Speaker 1This is where you take time every single day to hear from your heavenly business partner . God knows what your business needs . I remember praying David and I would always spend time listening prayer as we're building our businesses , and I remember I don't remember exactly when it was but there was something God spoke to us about , a goal he wanted us to have . Our goal was to get our clients to a point where they would literally say I love you . That was our goal Get your clients to a point where they would say I love you , which means you can't just value transaction , you have to value relationship . You got to get to know who are their kids , who's their spouse ? How are they doing ? Is anybody in their family sick ? Get to know them and then you will hear at some point not from every one of them , but at some point I really love you guys , and we heard that from lots of different clients . Now , there were some that we didn't hear that from you know whatever . That wasn't their personality , but when we would hear that , like man , you guys are the real deal , like I love you guys . You know , like my wife was in the hospital and you guys sent flowers , like that . That's what I'm talking about . So our goal Now , where did I get that goal from ? Well , it was in listening prayer when , just one morning , one of us I can't even remember which one it was it's like your goal should be to get your clients to say I love you , like a legit , heartfelt love . See , you need to .
Speaker 1In listening prayer , you got to speak with God and listen to God as you would a business coach . What would you do with a business coach ? Well , you would ask certain questions , then you would let him speak and you'd write down whatever he says , because he's your business coach . It's the same with God . We have our little small three-step process of listening prayer , apw . Ask , pause , write , ask God , whatever your question is for your business , who should I hire ? Should I let this guy go ? Should I let her go ? Give me wisdom , yeah , should I open up this new vertical ? Should I partner in this , you know , with this other business ? Whatever , ask God . You can write down that question . Then pause and think , pause and listen , put some good music on or whatever . Start writing down Train of thought . That's your third step . So ask , pause , write and start writing it down .
Speaker 1Okay , when you have discipline , diligence , determination , delay , gratification you're not living in the world of excuses and you're multiplying that through listening prayer , guess what you're going to get Success . Now , success when we define success we're talking about like true profit is not money in your bank but peace in your heart . That's right . Now it's good to have both and as faith-filled entrepreneurs , we want both . That's right . Value the relationship more subconsciously . We've got to move that into the conscious and say what I really want is peace . What I really want is fulfillment .
Speaker 1When Adam sinned , the curse of work was that it would be difficult . When Cain sinned , the curse of his work is that it would no longer be fulfilling . That's a worse curse . That's terrible by far . We want fulfillment in our work and that is what true success looks like . So there's your winning business formula D to the fourth power minus E times LP equals success . Don't ever forget it . Write it down and it is yours for the keeping . It's awesome . That's good , jason , not a half bad formula . That , richard Walsh , we love , richard . Thank you , richard . Yes , he wrote that and he pulled it out of our book Expert Ownership .
Speaker 1If you ever want to get our book , send it to some friends . Hopefully it just blesses them . You can go onto our website , expertonershipcom Also , christian Healthcare Ministries . They're phenomenal , they've sponsored our podcast for many years . And expertonershipcom slash CHM . They're a phenomenal health care solution . Uh , they've been for our family . So , all right , subscribe rate and review . And next week ? Uh , what are we covering next week , jason ? Do you know yet ? No , oh well , you need to get that figured out . Okay , all right , god bless you guys . See you next week , see ya .