Play First, Work Later ft. Max Traylor

Whoever said you have to “work first, to play later,” never met Max. Imagine planning your vacations and days off first, THEN figuring out how you will make your business work…

Yes, it is possible!

Max Traylor is a fully rehabilitated, short-lived workaholic. He tells his clients to put their personal lives first, and helps them figure out how to live their lives that way.


Key Takeaways

• There is no better time to enjoy your life than now. If you set up your business to be able to enjoy personal time, you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of rewards.
• It’s important to surround yourself with like-minded people to help you achieve what you are pursuing. In order to do that, you have to talk to people. Expand your network. You won’t know if someone is interested in what you are offering, unless you get to know them. 
• Get uncomfortable. Practice new skills and become good at them so that you can fully succeed. You have to shoot your shot!
• If you are operating your own business and trying to succeed, track your time. This will help to find areas of improvement.

Key Moments

{4:09} “I started thinking about the type of dad I wanted to be.  And the thing that I knew I wanted to do no matter what, was be around.  And if I stayed at that agency, I was never gonna be around. And if I was, I wouldn't be present.”

{7:35} “You have to exercise different muscles, you have to be uncomfortable. And so I'm willing to be uncomfortable in the working environment so that I can fully enjoy the rest of it [life].”

{12:14} “Having a delegation partner was a life changer for me. A third party was aware of what you were trying to accomplish.  I speak out what I'm committing to, and if something's on that list three times in a row and it's not done, it's either gone or they take it from me.”

{13:59} “If you really want a sobering lesson in how much time you're wasting, track your time.  Cuz the other thing we'll do is we're good at lying to ourselves about how much time we spent on things.”

{20:25} “One of the keys to moving forward is finding people, and you said, ‘who are as crazy as you,’ (which I love), but people who want the same things that you want so that you can co-create a world in which the things you're pursuing are reinforced.”

{24:59} “If I have to put thousands of people on the back burner to have a conversation with you to help you, I'm gonna charge you for that.”


More about Max

Max helps consultants put their personal lives first and build a business that works for them, not the other way around.


Get in touch with Max

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxtraylor/

Share your Story

Send it to us at podcast@jennylynnerickson.com

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Transcript

Jenny Lynne: This is Jenny Lynn and I am so excited to be here with Max Trailer. 

Max Traylor: That's my hand signal for I'm ready. . You've selected the right person, Jenny . 

Jenny Lynne: Well, I am so excited to have you here, max, because, I got to know you. Gosh, it's been a little bit ago. , but one of the things I've always been fascinated about is that I have never seen someone who's been able to accomplish so much. And yet work so little . 

Max Traylor: Well, it's the art of, uh, . Yes. The art of appearing that I have accomplished. . 

Jenny Lynne: No, you really do. I've seen your work product. I've seen what you do. I've worked with you. I've had clients work with you. You achieve some amazing flip and results 

Max Traylor: My wife still has no idea what I've accomplished. So if [00:01:00] you guys ever want to hang out and you can let her know . 

Jenny Lynne: thank you. for being here, max. 

Max Traylor: Cheers. 

Jenny Lynne: So I wanna start at the beginning, which is, have you ever been a workaholic because I have never met a max Traylor who was a workaholic.

Max Traylor: Um, yes. Yes. Uh, but you know, it was against, everyone has to go against their parents. And my rebellion was a short stint as a workaholic because I actually grew up with my dad telling me to put my personal life first and build a business around my personal life. And he would always say that meant digital scalable residual.
But I was five. I didn't know what that meant. So, uh, I went to high school, like other people I went to. College and I even went to the number one school in the world for entrepreneur, entrepreneurism, whatever, Babson. And, uh, [00:02:00] even with that, I still went out into the working world. I was running my own agency, but I prided myself on, um, effort.

Jenny Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Max Traylor: I, uh, assumed. That if I was putting in an unsustainable, unhealthy amount of effort, it meant that I was getting ahead. It meant that I could hold my head high in pride.
Yeah, I did that. I ran an agency who, who has anyone that's ever ran an agency is and is now currently a workaholic. . 

Jenny Lynne: Yeah, . I've got a few of those in my roster. Yes. . 

Max Traylor: But unless you have like a general manager that calls you once a week and they're like, it's crazy down here. Like then maybe . 

Jenny Lynne: This is so interesting to me because most of the people that I talked to had those voices in their head from the time they were very young. Their parents, their school environment saying that if they work harder, they're gonna get further ahead. And it sounds like you didn't have those same [00:03:00] influences around you.

Max Traylor: Um, my parents divorced when I was four or five. . . My dad was the first one out of three generations to put his personal life first. Um, he spends a lot of time playing tennis. It's actually hard to get 'em in a scenario where he's working.
Uh, so he plays tennis almost all day, every day. And, on my mother's side of the family, she grew up very differently. She didn't grow up with anything really. And so she went back to college at an older age and, , got her degree, went into corporate and worked her butt off. , and my stepfather, , amazing guy. He was all corporate as well. So, you know, split custody on the weekends. I was an entrepreneur and on the weekdays going to school it was like, you gotta work hard. And, and so it was a really cool hybrid of I got to feel both sides. And I got to see both sides , but, uh, you know, you get outta college and you do what everyone else does, I think was the default. Mm-hmm. and it just mm-hmm. , [00:04:00] it just didn't take me that long to decide that , it wasn't for me. And the defining moment was when I met the person, I was pretty confident I was gonna marry.
And, uh, I started thinking about the type of dad I wanted to be. And, , the thing that I knew I wanted to do no matter what was be around. and if I stayed at that agency, I was never gonna be around. And if I was, I wouldn't be present. 

Jenny Lynne: Mm-hmm. . 

Max Traylor: So I decided while I was still young and had the energy, I would figure out how to, uh, do my own thing, work from home. That was eight years ago. And, still on the learning curve, but I'm here, 

Jenny Lynne: which is amazing. . 

Max Traylor: Beer in hand. , yes. Ready to rock and roll. 

Jenny Lynne: for everyone's reference, max hosts a killer podcast called Beers of Max. So anytime you get Max in a great conversation, you're probably gonna be enjoying a beer as well.
Cheers. Cheers. . So it's interesting because. I definitely, and a lot of the people that I talked to missed moments of our kids' lives like we did. We missed moments, and even when we were [00:05:00] physically there, we were on the phone. So you managed to sidestep that.
You managed to sidestep that altogether, it sounds like. 

Max Traylor: No, on the phone a lot. , it tears me apart when my son's like, daddy, can we play? And then I'm like, no, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna go to work buddy. and my dad was always on the phone. but when I grew up, I realized that so many things that I picked up of when he was on the phone. Um, I learned from that. So I learned a ton about selling. I learned everything I know about selling from just listening to him. Five years old, sell people on the phone, but we were driving to Disney World while he was on the phone. , mm-hmm. . So, like, you know, it's never perfect. we created some barriers and the barriers were, we always went to Disney World every couple of weeks he'd take me outta school. Mm-hmm. So there was some defined things that, became like a predictable system that told me like I was the priority. 

Jenny Lynne: Yeah. 

Max Traylor: And so yeah, you gotta do your thing, but if you have definable barriers around your personal [00:06:00] time. Like, I plan when I'm gonna golf. My wife makes sure that there's some things on the calendar where I'm taking the kids to do something. Because I can't wiggle away from that , so I have to contribute at some point . Um, and they're there, you know, and, , if she asked me to do more, I would do more and I can do more. And that's the point is that , I'm not beholden to the work and I do as much as I want. , but it's a conscious decision to put the personal stuff first and make business decisions based on that and not the other way around . 

Jenny Lynne: Yeah. So how do you know which of , those voices or those areas of your life to listen to at any point in time? , how did you develop that sense of judgment and discernment? 

Max Traylor: I've always been a shoot first, ask questions later. I don't know. , I, you know, , if there's sun outside, I'll generally play golf if my wife says yes, and she says yes a lot. So if it's sunny, I'm generally playing golf.
if it's not sunny or I've just played golf, I will work , , and when I'm not golfing and working, [00:07:00] I'm with my kids cuz I don't like commuting. So it generally falls into place. 

Jenny Lynne: So you've made it such that you can shoot from the hip and, and pretty much hit what you want. And what is it that you want?
Max Traylor:  If I was gone tomorrow looking down, I'd be like, I couldn't possibly have had more fun during my working years. I didn't sit there sacrificing, waiting for a moment in the future when I could enjoy life.
, I prioritized the fun stuff. I made difficult business decisions and created uncomfortable new behaviors. Not that I was working harder. You have to do different things. You have to exercise different muscles, you have to be uncomfortable. 
And so I'm willing to be uncomfortable in the working environment so that I can fully enjoy, the rest of it. And, you know, I prioritize that. And so yeah, I, I guess that's what I want is, is never to regret that I didn't take that golf trip or I wasn't around to bring my kid to the trampoline park.or whatever the heck he's into. Yeah, I haven't been asked that question. [00:08:00] 

Jenny Lynne: I don't know what that says about me . 

Max Traylor: It's a deep, it's a deep interview. 

Jenny Lynne: I am guilty of that, . I am guilty of that. 

Max Traylor: Uh, first question, we'll start with a softball. What do you want outta life? Oh, Jenny. 

Jenny Lynne: Well, you had a really, really interesting nugget there, I wrote down is really the importance of being uncomfortable in work in order to be able to accomplish this life.
This life is not necessarily one that just falls in your lap. It's one that you've gotta stretch and push yourself. So how did you develop that muscle and that ability to know where and how to be uncomfortable and work?

Max Traylor: Well, , I suppose it starts with the way that I, plan things. So I have a me first planning policy. My dad always said, , protect your quarterback. What he meant was like, make sure I'm good. Make sure you take care of dad so that he has the energy to bring you to Disney. And all these things 

Jenny Lynne: wise, man.

Max Traylor: So I take care of myself first. I plan the fun stuff, and then I plan working on the business. , which is some of those uncomfortable things, like support roles [00:09:00] to do the things that I actually don't like doing. Different from the things that make you uncomfortable.

Jenny Lynne: Mm-hmm. , 

Max Traylor: I find that some of the best uses of your time are the things that make you uncomfortable. For example, the first time I did a workshop with 10 people, I didn't know I was uncomfortable. But I know, like I am meant to be in front of people like the energy, the, facil. It's one of my unique abilities. So perfect example of embracing the uncomfort about it. The last thing I do is I plan my client work, , because I know that I will never let my clients down. But I also know that if I put my clients first and I do that first, I will have no energy to play golf or for my kids. I will be tired. Mm-hmm. and I will want to watch a show on Netflix when I'm done. So I digress. I think the question was, 

Jenny Lynne: I think you answered it. It was really about , the sense of being uncomfortable. So sometimes we run into these situations where we know to get to the next level, we have to get uncomfortable.
And when I talk to a lot of people trying to get [00:10:00] beyond workaholism, they're stuck. And they're stuck because it requires them to get uncomfortable to operate at a different level, to charge a different price, to sell a different way. To set boundaries to be confident they can replace clients if people leave, 

Max Traylor: I guess the answer is when you do put your personal life first and you make that a priority and you take away the possibility of not doing it, which is something I learned from a Hall of Fame motivational speaker, Jim Cathcart.
 He says the secret to his success is he figured out the ideal for him, and then he took away the possibility of not doing it. And when you do that, all the challenges just become a part of the plan. Hmm. There are no longer reasons to procrastinate or not do it or be afraid that they now need to be planned out as part of the solution.
 So anyway, you are forced to be very clear about what needs to happen in your business in order to accomplish those personal things. Last year I decided I wanted to take every fourth month off . It was uncomfortable to tell my paying clients that I'm not gonna be [00:11:00] around for a month . And they're like, well, what do we do?
I'm like, uh, you pay me in advance for when I get back. . . That's uncomfortable. . Uh, it worked out fantastic. , I took every fourth month off and then some.. but it's just one of those things of like, I put myself first and then you have to have some uncomfortable conversations mm-hmm. to make it work for you, let alone some different behaviors that and skills that you might need to develop.

Jenny Lynne: Is there anything in that moment when people are procrastinating and pushing off, is there anything that you would recommend that they do to get through that? Because for a lot of people, this is a new muscle. 

Max Traylor: Well, I mean, it depends on what they're procrastinating. There was a great book on procrastination. It was like the art of procrastination or something like that. And, he explains that there's a reason you're procrastinating. Sometimes you procrastinate on something because it's actually something that isn't important.
And doesn't need to be done. And a lot of the times I figure that out. Like I have something on my,, plan that I need to do, and then I just don't do [00:12:00] it. And three weeks go by and I'm like, actually everything's fine. I just cross it out and I'm like, eh, I'm not gonna do that. it could also be something that you naturally avoid for whatever reason.
Uh, probably a little bit of, it's not valuable. Probably a little bit of you don't want to do it, and in that case, having a delegation partner like was a life changer for me. A third party was aware of what you were trying to accomplish. I speak out what I'm committing to, and if something's on that list three times in a row and it's not done, it's either gone or they take it from me.
and by taking it from me, they create a system for it. They say, great, max, you're gonna sit down right now and you're gonna create a video on what needs to be done. That video, goes to somebody that creates a process around it, and then it goes to my VA or somebody that's specialized in that thing and it just gets taken from me.
Mm-hmm. . And if it's something that I wanted to do too bad, like this happened with like my podcast post-production, I thought that I was the only person that could listen to a [00:13:00] max trailer interview and pick out the important stuff. . Boy was I wrong. In fact, I was too close to it. I would pick out the nerdiest things that no one understood.
And I was just like, that's the key to the universe. . No one . They were like, you didn't say anything. like, yeah, but look at my eyes. . Uh, 
you just, you kind of have to distance yourself from some of this stuff. Anyway. 

Jenny Lynne: No, I completely agree. That was one of my commitments when I started my podcast.
As I have, it's all done by someone else. I'm like, someone else pull out the nuggets because I just wanna sit here and have a great conversation with Max, and then I want someone else to look at it and say, when I listen to it after the fact, here's what I took away. 

Max Traylor: Yeah. So, , long story short, , there's things that make you uncomfortable. That are a priority, and there are the things that, hey, if you're procrastinating on some things that aren't the number one thing, like, you know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it. 

Jenny Lynne: Mm-hmm. . And how many things are we all doing that we shouldn't be doing? . 

Max Traylor: Well, if you really want [00:14:00] a sobering lesson in. How much time you're wasting track your time. Cuz the other thing we'll do is we're good at lying to ourselves about how much time we spent on things. 

Jenny Lynne: Yes, we are. 

Max Traylor: And it's like there's no rhyme or reason to it. Something that is terrible that we shouldn't be doing. We could lie to ourselves and tell us that we didn't do a lot of it to make ourselves feel better.
We could lie to ourselves and say we did too much of it, cuz we just wanna be pissed off. And have someone to blame. So like it's. Complete nightmare. You have no idea what you should even be delegating unless you track your time. And I'm not talking about client hours, I'm talking about all the time in your business.
Innovation, marketing, sales, consulting, and administrative. Those are the five categories of contribution. If you're not tracking your time, you're probably spending 80% of your time on consulting, 10% on sales, 10% on administrative. And you do nothing for innovation, nothing for marketing until you completely change your business or you're starting a business, in which case you have an influx of, , innovation. 

Jenny Lynne: Yeah, time tracking has [00:15:00] been one of the cores of recognizing every time I'm off track and getting back on you and I are very much fellow time tracking, , nerds, , 

Max Traylor: we should have like a a time tracker's guild because the data doesn't exist.
Like now we have real data. And again, I'm not talking about client hours, I'm talking about like we could figure some stuff out cuz I've done deep, deep thought. And I have years of data of like really well organized and categorized time tracking. 

Jenny Lynne: Oh, that's a brilliant idea. Now, for those people out there who are struggling to track time, because that is something I hear a lot of pushback on from a lot of people.
, what are the things that people tell..... 

Max Traylor: no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. For that, I have zero tolerance. Be an adult . Track your ti. Like no for that. No. . Look, right now I have a timer going because I pressed the start button. And I, I clicked marketing man. I can't do it. No, you can do it. Yep. [00:16:00] People just have limiting beliefs about it. Like you're running a business. I'm sorry. Like for all the, for all the fun I like to have, like you do need to run a business. . And if you do not track your time, it means you have zero understanding of your cost structure. Because your cost structure is your time. 

Jenny Lynne: So what is your time telling you right now? You look at it all the time. I know you do. What is it telling you? Right now? 

Max Traylor: So for, three years, my marketing category has been less than 10% of my time, which is unhealthy, if you're gonna run a business by yourself, you gotta be balanced, right?
Mm-hmm. . So 20% innovation, 20% marketing. Those are the two things that generate profit. They're one to many activities. Very very good. Mm-hmm. . Uh, then you've got, consulting and sales. They generate revenue, but they're not gonna help you charge a premium or be more sought after in the marketplace.
It's just trading time for dollars, but you gotta do it 20% in each of those categories. Administrative is the cost of doing all the other things you have to create. Systems, you have to do billing and, and that sort of thing. And, , I have always, [00:17:00] neglected marketing probably because I ran a marketing agency and I was just so sick of it.
Um, so it was less than 10%. So this year, because I am dedicated to growing, My client base numerically, I need more clients paying less money. Which means I need to market myself,
And so, uh, I am, happily six weeks in to, waking up every day and doing at least an hour of marketing myself. That that's why. You see, I've, I've posted on LinkedIn every day. So my time is telling me that I am successfully creating a new behavior that I can rely on. And, I feel like I'm growing up in a sense. 

Jenny Lynne: That's amazing. And I love what you said.
When we look at the past, it doesn't only tell us what's broken. It also tells us what we're doing really well and what we're developing. And it's so important to see both of those things at the same time. If we're gonna grow as people. 

Max Traylor: Yeah. So really I've traded, uh, sales and innovation [00:18:00] time for a little bit of consulting and marketing.
But really it, the whole marketing thing is the new muscle, step one is do you have a reliable behavior? Can I count on you to spend time doing anything? Mm-hmm. , I have that I can, you know now, and now I can start to really look at what I'm doing in that category that's creating the impact. Create some systems around that. Cut the fat.

Jenny Lynne: It's a great space to be 
So you talked about the hardest part of moving beyond workaholism as being guilt.

Max Traylor: Yeah. 

Jenny Lynne: How does it show up?

Max Traylor: How does it show up? How does it, how , does guilt manifest, itself? Yeah. Well, I must say I am, fully rehabilitated when it comes to workaholism. . So , I am now thinking back to the days when I felt guilty. About not, working as much.
 For the space you have created in your life, you'll see work creep in, if I'm sitting and watching a movie with my kids, or I'm sitting in bed. , , you'll open your email or, you'll do something innocent, like read an [00:19:00] article.
Mm-hmm. , , but that's your brain going, I need to contribute, , I'm searching for an idea. Mm-hmm. and, for me, I would always write myself emails in the middle of the night. I would've had those ideas. some other time. So I think that's how it comes through. It was the way work creeped outside of those barriers and ways that were seemingly innocent. And then you can justify it to yourself. That you know, everyone around me is working 12 hour days. They're commuting to work and every time I talk to them, they say how miserable they are.
I'm not miserable, so let me go the extra mile to get some of that misery, to feel like I'm a part of the clan. I'm a part of the. You know, let's sacrifice, , let's work hard. . And then, when I would be excited about something like, Hey, I work 20 hours this week.
I closed all this business. You know, you'll get the, well, it's nice for you, max, you know, whenever you want to come back to the real world. So you know, we're influenced by our peers in a lot of ways. And until you directly seek out a peer group of people that are as crazy as you [00:20:00] are, you know, doing your own thing. You're constantly influenced by, we'll call it , the dark side, the corporate side. Mm-hmm. the sacrifice until you, , can no longer sacrifice. And then, , you take a flight to Mexico with a wheelchair cuz you can't play golf anymore, but you're on vacation, you're retired.
Mm-hmm. . 

Jenny Lynne: I've been hearing a theme for a lot of the interviews and you just hit it on the head, which is one of the keys to moving forward is finding people, and you said, who are as crazy as you, which I love, but people who want the same things that you want so that you can co-create a world in which the things you're pursuing are reinforced.

Max Traylor: Yeah. Simon Cynics, uh, your strongest relationships are with people that believe what you believe. . 

Jenny Lynne: How do people find those people? How did you find those people, max? 

Max Traylor: Oh, I'm so glad you asked, because they don't advertise themselves. , out there on the internet.
No. You have to talk to people, ladies and gentlemen. My father, , would [00:21:00] always say the greatest secret is the telephone. And so like people, like I don't wanna make cold, like shut up. Don't like just the concept, like there is no cold call. There is talking to people that don't know you and you have to talk to people that don't know you cuz how else are you gonna know if they believe what you believe, how else are you gonna know if you enjoy talking to them? You gotta get out there and talk to people. And there's a lot of ways to do that. I created the Beers with Max podcast, which used to be a networking thing cause I like talking to people. And so I talked to people for eight years and they talk to people and your network expands.
And so, I'm a big fan of focus, but you can only identify so many characteristics. that should lead to somebody that you like hanging out with, like industry where they are in their business. Things that are publicly identifiable, great, but at the end of the day, when you have a conversation with somebody, do they also feel that they should be putting their [00:22:00] personal life first and that they can build a business around their personal life?
You can't tell that without talking to somebody. So you gotta talk to people, . 

Jenny Lynne: And in the process, it sounds like you've made some really cool friends. 
Max Traylor: Yeah, and I've met people that I know I never wanna talk to again. 

Jenny Lynne: There you go. Which sometimes has its own value. 

Max Traylor: equally valuable. That's what I was gonna say. Equally valuable. There's a, there's a bunch of books on, the most valuable skill you can have as a salesperson is determining when someone is not a fit. Not a fit because the people that are a fit, you have to spend a lot of time on. So if you're confused about who's a fit, if you don't have like a sharp bullshit radar, you're gonna be spending a lot of time on people that are never gonna convert.
Mm-hmm. . And that will be your demise. 

Jenny Lynne: Yeah. And it's okay to have a great conversation and walk away and say, that's the last one. It, it does not have to be an insult. It does not have to be a personal thing. It can just be simply that 

Max Traylor: it's a part of meeting people. It is. [00:23:00] They're not gonna be everyone's cup of tea.
They're not gonna be your cup of tea. But if you are gonna be willing to say like, Hey, I feel it. Do you feel it? You wanna go on a date? i e pay me $500 to do a workshop or whatever it is. And they might say no, and you gotta be vulnerable. 

Jenny Lynne: Mm-hmm. , we all love being vulnerable, don't we? .

Max Traylor: Yeah. Nobody like, nobody likes that. . People that do adopt this con I need to talk to people. Great. They're very, Purpose driven. And so they have an emotional connection to the people that they talk to. Mm-hmm. . And so they are terrified to bring that into the professional realm.
They are terrified to ask the question, do you want to pay me for help? Mm-hmm. , a they're afraid of sacrificing a new personal relationship. Mm-hmm. . Because let's face it, if somebody says, no, I don't wanna work with you, that's probably gonna be it. Uh, unless you got other cool stuff going on, um, . And so , they just don't do it.
And so they make a lot of [00:24:00] friends, but, friends don't pay the bill. So I enjoy the mindset that selling is helping for a profit. My dad always said, if I can't pay the cell phone bill.
I'm not gonna be here when you call me . I love that. I'm obligated to charge you . 

Jenny Lynne: I love it. I went to something the other day and, , he said, you're not paying for the classes. You're paying for the building. You're paying for the teachers and the staff. You're paying for the bookkeeping.
 He's like, don't think about it as you're paying for the classes. He's like, all this stuff costs money for me to deliver this to you, so you're paying for all of it. And I was like, oh, it's another way of looking at it. . 

Max Traylor: Mm. Yeah. David Baker said to me, in an interview, we share our opinion that no one is charging enough. . And he said, I, I charge people when, I have to spend time on them that I would otherwise spend helping everyone else. , and what he meant is like, he writes books, he does big seminars, he does all these talks , and that helps, you know, thousands of people. Mm-hmm. . So if I have [00:25:00] to put thousands of people on the back burner to have a conversation with you to help you, I'm gonna charge you for that.

Jenny Lynne: Yep. Oh, what a good way of looking 

Max Traylor: at it. Yeah. 
Well, I thought it was a very like, objective, like cut and dry, like, 

Jenny Lynne: Yep. And I think a lot of us can say that's true. A lot of us are working on projects that will help with the masses will help at larger scales. And so we are putting aside that time if we take on additional clients.
It's a good way of looking at it. 

Max Traylor: Yeah. Like nonprofits have to pay their employees . Mm-hmm. . Yep. Because someone's got. Eat . 

Jenny Lynne: Hopefully you and I are gonna eat Max . 

Max Traylor: I'm gonna play golf first. 

Jenny Lynne: And speaking of that, , a lot of your philosophy centers around having a really clear vision, a really clear reward, a really clear set of things that you want to enjoy in life.
What was the way that you figured out what those things are? They're golf for you. It's your kids. It's what you want your legacy to be. For people that are struggling to figure out what [00:26:00] that is, how do they find it?

Max Traylor: I feel blessed, to know. , what I wanna do. I always was super competitive and I got that from my dad. , so I played hockey. I'm, uh, five seven, so that didn't work out when college came around. And so I got into paintball.
. Now I'm into golf, so like I just need something. I'm so into what I do. I need something that is completely immersive that will take away my focus no matter what. Hmm. That's what those things, have been.
And I don't know what it is about golf, but wow. , it's something about something that you can never master no matter how hard you work. That's cool. For people that haven't found that because they spent five days a week or six. You know, the reality is that you've never been given enough space. To figure it out. Like , my mother retired maybe four years ago. She just started playing pickleball. She fucking loves pickleball, man. What is pickleball? ? 

Jenny Lynne: I just started playing that last month for the same, yeah, so [00:27:00] like, I think I need some hobbies and someone invited me to play pickleball at another.

Max Traylor: I'm like, sure. Yeah. So I think the answer is you just gotta create some space and just try some shit. Oh, you just gotta go, you just gotta try some stuff. Now there's a reason she didn't pick up pickleball when she was working. There was no space for pickleball. ? Oh, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe the answer is go play pickleball.
I, I guess it's catching on, but , you know, we're so indoctrinated, like even somebody that's, , done the corporate thing or even done your own thing and, and you've never re, like you haven't taken a month off, right? I wouldn't even trust you if you said, I really like to go bowling on the weekends. No. Like what if you had 30 days off? Like what? What could you just immerse yourself in that you would just be incredibly thrilled to wake up every single day and do. . I don't think people have enough space to figure that out yet. I think the first thing they needed to go do is go figure out the answer to that question.
Hmm.
Did that sound preachy? It sounded preachy. 

Jenny Lynne: No, it's so true. . But here's what I heard today. Your advice to [00:28:00] everyone is get uncomfortable in your work. You're gonna be pushing yourself. It's to create space to find what you like to do, figure out what matters. Pick up the phone and find people as crazy as you who are gonna help compel and drive you towards this end.
Protect the quarterback. You know, make sure you take care of yourself first. 

Max Traylor: Me first planning, 

Jenny Lynne: yes. And then plan for your client work so that you are still making sure that none of those balls drop, but that you are coming with a full, 

Max Traylor: my dad would say be selfish on behalf of your clients. 

Jenny Lynne: Oh, I love that.
Be selfish on behalf of your clients. 

Max Traylor: I'm doing it for you, Jenny . 

Jenny Lynne: Thank you. 
And most importantly, effort does not equal results. So that voice in your head telling you that the harder you work, it is not telling you the truth. 

Max Traylor: Yeah, and never, ever, ever charge hourly. Yeah, yeah. Because of that last point.
Mm-hmm. , if ever, does not equal results. Charging hourly incentivizes you to do more work for the same result you want to be [00:29:00] in the business. The best skill for a solopreneur is to get better results with less effort. 

Jenny Lynne: Yes. To be in the market of innovating. 

Max Traylor: Yeah. And, and if you charge hourly, that will put you outta business.
I create life-changing results in an hour. , well, sorry. You have no electricity. 
Jenny Lynne: Do you have any final other words of wisdom for people? Max? 

Max Traylor: I hope not. I hope not , but I hope I didn't get too preachy. There's a lot of other things to talk about. We could do, we could do episodes. I could have a residency at death of a workaholic, uh, incorporated.

Jenny Lynne: I love that. I'd love that. 

Max Traylor: I could just be in, in a back room somewhere and like when it gets real tough, you just pull max out in chains. , you know, 

Jenny Lynne: and Max can pull out his box of tissues. He sends his clients to make sure that they have something to. To cry in on those tougher moments. Right. , 

Max Traylor: that's what I'll, you know that.
So I'll end with that. I literally do send my clients boxes of tissues. Two people have cried today, just today. Uh, On, , my calls. I had three last week. But, [00:30:00] this advice is simple. The challenge is the emotional and the psychological roller coaster that you go through when you start to do these things. That is the challenge, and I don't know if I can help people with that other than there are other people out there, they're going through the exact same thing.
Mm-hmm. . And so hang out with those people. Be vulnerable with those people. And, there's people out there that'll help you get through it. 

Jenny Lynne: Thank you for being my kind of crazy, Max. 
All right, everyone, if you wanna catch up with Max, max is a consultant's consultant and he helps consultants put their personal lives first and build a business that works for them, not the other way around.
I am so glad to have you here, max. Thank you. 

Max Traylor: Lot of fun. Thank you. 

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