Ep.052: "Make It My Business, To Know My Business" - Part Two

This episode picks up part two of the topic Benji and Brady's dad, Mr. Wilson, repeated for years: make it my business to know my business. Last week covered the origin and the leadership application. This week digs into the biblical foundation and what it actually looks like in practice.

We start in Proverbs 27:23, know well the condition of your flock, and talk about what it means to have intimate knowledge of what God has entrusted to you. We pull from Nehemiah surveying the damage before rebuilding and Luke 14:28 on counting the cost, connecting Scripture to real planning, real accountability, and real decisions.

Then we get practical. We talk about why most businesses stall at the million dollar mark, why you can delegate tasks but not understanding, and why reading a profit and loss statement is a leadership skill, not an accounting hobby. We also get into one of Mr. Wilson's habits: asking questions he already knew the answer to, not to catch you off guard, but to make sure you knew it too.

The goal is not to know everything. It's to know enough to ask the right questions.

We close on legacy: the difference between building content for quick attention and creating stories and systems that still matter decades from now.

Transcript

Two-Part Series Returns

SPEAKER_01 0:14

I Benji Brady, we are back for another episode part two of In My Business to Know My Business. Yep. So Adam, I'm making my business. Know my business. You got it wrong. Weren't you just here last week? I understand the slogan, but you also have to think when I title this episode, that's a really long title. So I have to figure out the first time. But it's the right title. You're 100% right. Is it too long? But it'll be too long for the thumbnail that I make, I said, I don't know if I can fit that much on the screen.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

SEO won't like us to do the accent.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

So yes. But we're we're jumping back in. Um we're getting back into some two-parters. So glad to be back in two. I don't like the two parters. I'm kind of partial to the two part. Yeah, I'm kind of partial to the two parts. I like them. It's a lot of good information. So um, so what we're gonna do is just kind of jump right back in um to where we were on the last episode. Uh it's it was such a great topic. We had a lot of good uh talking points, things that we kind of went through that you guys

Why A Biblical Foundation Matters

SPEAKER_01 1:14

were sharing. Um, but what we want to jump back in right in today is we're talking about biblical foundation. So a little bit about that. So kind of jump in, Brady. Let us let let listeners know a little bit about what that means in terms of this topic that we're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Yeah, so just a very quick recap. I mean, you know, we've the this whole series is about our dad and father who passed in in 2017. He was our hero, you know, he was our mentor in so many different areas, but uh, you know, we wanted to kind of dedicate a series of our podcasts to him. And um, so we've come up with like all these phrases that we remember. I mean, we were just talking about it before the show, but Adam and I were meeting about something yesterday, and one popped in my mind. I said, I gotta I gotta write that down.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Well, there's so many you can't remember all.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

So this may be multi series.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

I don't know. No, this may be three seasons. Maybe. Hey, it's great information for sure. Good for people to hear.

SPEAKER_03 2:12

So what we talked about last last episode was I make it my business to know my business, you know. And our dad was a student of what he did. There was never a time that I can remember that you wouldn't ask him a question and he would say, you know, oh yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, how do you know that? And that's what he would say is, son, I make it my business to know my business, you know, which we kind of we kind of dove into this was a a John D. Rockefeller quote, and um, you know, he was uh one of the titans of America and oil business and started standard oil and all these things, and he bec he was just a student of his business, so he made it his business to know his business and didn't really not necessarily didn't rely on other people because you have to when you're in a leadership position, but you don't want to be so far removed that you become unaware of you know what what the business is actually doing. So it's kind of a tension we live in as leaders because we've got to keep growing, we've got to keep learning, we got to keep adapting, we gotta continue to be agile, but we don't want to remove ourselves from the the information. So if we don't understand it, you know, one of our core values is data wins, which is used to be data drives decisions. But if you don't have the right data, then you could make a bad decision. So I think it all ties into um I'm making my business know my business, even though that won't fit on the episode title.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

That's probably worked, just trust the process.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Okay, all right, trust your process.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

I'm not involved in that part of it, but coming in hot with Claude.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

Yeah, there you go. Uh so what we want to do is is take a step back. And in this episode, is, you know, we talked about our father, we talked about the origin of the quote, but like what is the is there a biblical foundation to what this phrase means? I'm making my business to know my business. So we're gonna look at a couple verses today, and then we'll we'll kind of talk through that and and then wrap wrap the episode

Know The Condition Of Your Flock

SPEAKER_03 4:03

up. But first one, it comes out of Proverbs 27, 23, and it says, know well the conditions of your flock and give attention to your herds. Okay. So it we we talked about last time, this is this is about stewardship. Like a lot of a lot of the things you see in the Bible, I don't know that I mean I'd have to go back and look, and some of our pastors maybe listen to me, oh you know, maybe we'll get some comments, but how much does he talk about ownership versus management or stewardship? You know, and so when we when we look at this, if we're gonna become a good steward of our business or our family or our finances, then you want to become a good student before you become a good steward. And so that helps you know, you know, what what these these businesses are and it helps you understand it better so that you can make you know better decisions. Yeah. And you know, you when you look at the Bible, and I don't know the Hebrew word for you know what this is talking about, but the understanding of the the meaning of it is having really an intimate knowledge of what God has given you. So just think about that for a minute and maybe ask yourself the question, you know, do you have an intimate knowledge of your your business? Do you know or your organization? Could be a church, could be a 501c3, whatever the case may be. But what what what do you guys think about that? Like knowing your flocks and and and what this verse is kind of telling

Scaling Requires Knowing The Numbers

SPEAKER_03 5:29

us. I think you gotta, I think you have to know, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Um if you the I remember Brady one time he showed us a stat in a meeting that most businesses never get past the million dollar threshold in in revenue. Yeah. And the reason why they don't is because it's usually a single operator who, you know, had a job out in the workforce and uh they wanted to be an entrepreneur and they wanted to try to, you know, own their own company. But what happened was as they grow their company, they get to that million dollar mark and they don't want to relinquish some of the control or duties, so to speak, of their team to their team and bring on people because that's additional expense, that's additional overhead, that's additional you know, insure, whatever those things are. And he showed us that stat and he said, now if if a company can get, I don't know where he got this chart from. By the way, he didn't come up with a lot of this stuff himself. He studied, he he like you said, he knew he made his business to know his business. There was a study that showed if you want to get from one to three million dollars, I want to say it was, then they brought on this specific role in their company. If they went from three million to ten million, it jumps quick. That's right. And then when you get to the say $10 million revenue company, uh, it starts to level out again until you bring in main leader, like additional leadership roles in your company. And then it goes to 20 million, it it just continues to grow. And so I think that, you know, to your point, with how does this calling work, you have to know not only your business, you have to know your people. You have to know your processes, you have to know your financials. I mean, we we've we have done a lot of profit and loss and balance sheet review with franchise, you know, teams, company. And honestly, I've done them, I'm sure you have, done them with companies outside of even the industry that we're in. Yeah. And most of the people don't even know what their profit and loss statement or balance sheet even shows. That's right. You know? And so you got to know what you're doing. How do you pay down your debt? How do you go out and become more profitable? How do you add additional service lines? So make it your business to know your business is not just, you know, learning the trade that you're doing. It's all the other things that go with it. Not that you can be a master of everything, right? You know, uh, there's another quote actually. There you go. Not that you can be a master of everything because you can't do everything at the same time, but you can have enough knowledge to know enough about the company that you can be effective to those around you.

Stewardship With Someone Else’s Money

SPEAKER_01 7:51

That's right. Um, I think it's also a mindset thing. You have to think through that. Something that I share with our team all the time at the church is be respectful of the things that we that we have, not just the equipment, the things that the church purchases, but the opportunities we have for here. And so one of the things that I bring up to them all the time is hey, when when you're on the clock and you're here working, like I I understand that we have community, we talk, we do things, but be mindful of that. Be mindful of when you're clocked in, be mindful of when you're when you're there, when you're not. Because you also have to be very considerate to think about when you're here working, that's someone's tie. Absolutely. And it's our job to do exactly what you're talking about, is to steward that. And always want them to be mindful of that and say, think about those things. Like when you're like, oh, I want this and I want to, I want to do that, or you know, even those moments where you know, maybe you're you're you're kind of just sitting around and you're taking a break for something, or you clock in early, clock in late, like just small things. I'm like, be mindful that that could have been someone's last tithe for the month. Like that that could have been someone that they gave when they didn't have anything to give. And so just always be mindful of those things when we're doing that at the church. And I try to be very, I try to keep our team have that on the forefront that when you're doing the work you're doing, you have the opportunity to do it because someone believed in the ministry and the the purpose and the principle and the mission of this church. Yeah. And it's coming from their own pockets to say, all right, I'm going to fund to give the opportunity to do this. And I think that could be the same thing for employees. Something that I always tried to do when I work with the two of you guys is be mindful that it's not my money, like, yes, I'm there and we buy equipment and we've done things. But at the end of the day, you guys are entrusting us to spend the money that you're making as owners to make the company continue to work. We have to be mindful of that. It doesn't matter if that's what we're spending when we're on a trip or you know, making sure that we're we're choosing the cheapest flight or different things, just being mindful of that and not taking advantage of that opportunity. Because I feel like a lot of corporate worlds you see where like, oh, it's just corporate money, spend it. Yeah, yes, but also it's coming from someone who's invested not just financial time into that. So that's good. I think that's what God calls us to do, and we have to be mindful of that when it comes into stewardship with those things.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yeah, because when you're when you're managing something for somebody else, you just treat it different.

Nehemiah Surveys Before He Builds

SPEAKER_03 10:15

You really do, you know. And I think, man, I'm about to go on a soapbox here, but not off script a little bit, but you know, we have we have so many people that feel like they're entitled to things. And so when you when you get into that entitlement mentality, it's like, oh, it's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. It's just different. That's not really what what God called us to do, even as Christians. But well, one example we can pull, you know, out of scripture is which uh one of my favorite leaders in the Bible is Nehemiah. And uh, you know, the the Israelites were in captivity, and and um, you know, he he was called to go and rebuild the wall. Well, you know, when you look at the scripture, when he went out, he God actually asked him, like, when you you go, you go survey the damage, you know, and he actually went out at night, you know, with himself or with a few people, but he actually looked at, you know, okay, what is it that we have to do? And when and I need to come up with a plan and then gather the people around that plan. So he was he was one that really modeled, you know, what it what it means to make it my business to know my business. And then uh obviously the greatest leader of of all time, uh Jesus Christ. Yeah.

Count The Cost Before You Commit

SPEAKER_03 11:26

But um, you know, in Luke 14, 28, he says, For which of you desire desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost. Well, how do you count the cost? You have to understand what goes into the the cost, you know. And uh, and there was there's so many different areas that that this verse could go, but I think from this perspective, you know, from a leadership perspective, you know, we we need to understand what it is before we kind of go into it. So, you know, really the the the key thing here is um think about and and maybe this is something even for for me, I know speaking of specifically, but think about the business that that God gifted you 100%. This business. He gave you this business. It's not something that you did, you know, it's the abilities and the talents, or position that you're in.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Or position that yeah, I mean you I was just about to say, I'm glad you said that. I was gonna say like your skill set. Like the the the things that you have to do, there's people uh around you in your circle, they're like, Man, I wish I had the ability to do that. Or and it's not your gifting, but yeah, I mean, even just your skill set that allows you to be in that position to work for that kind. So it's just this never-ending circle.

Teaching Through Better Questions

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

I remember it's funny, you you have on here, Brady, you're talking about how did dad handle these situations. Um he would always ask us a question that he already knew the answer to. Oh, 100%. And he was like That sounds so familiar right now. Yeah, he he would say he would say something like, Hey, what does that say our cost should be in that category? You know, making this up. And I don't know. He'd go, $100. Where'd you come with that? He said, I already looked it up. I already knew. So to your point, he already knew the answer. He just wanted you to know the answer.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

That's exactly right. How many, how many times yesterday in our meeting when we were sitting there talking about just some of our Google strategy? How many of those questions that you asked me did you already know answers to? You know, I literally thought that. Well, I'm glad you said that because I thought that during the meeting yesterday, I'm like, he already knows the answer to this.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

But but the but the the the reason for that is, and I think we learned this from our dad, is it's great that he knew the answer. Yeah. But if he was the only one that knew the answer, yeah, that's not really good for the organization. No, you know. Me and my wife are having this conversation right now with with one of our kids, is like, if if I just give them the answer, you know, then how is that really teaching them as opposed to helping them to discover? It's okay that because I mean, I've been through a lot of life, I've been through a lot of circumstances, I've been through a lot of, and I and I mentor several people. But if I just say, you know, well, here's what you need to do to fix it, you know, are they really going to learn from that? And that, you know, so that I think that's one of the reasons he did it. He's like, yeah, he knew it, but he wanted to, he wanted to teach you how to not only to know the information, but where to go look for the information.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

And I and you guys tell me if you disagree. I I I feel like it's okay to not know the answer. I know for me as an employee of the two of y'all, and then having people that work for me now, I get stressed when I get asked a question that you know the answer to that I don't know the answer to. But working with people, I don't I I'm trying to help those individuals that work for me now in our creative department. Like, I just want you to think a little differently. Like, think outside the box. Because yes, it's okay. I'm with them. I'm like, it's okay if you don't have the answer to this, or that you may say something different. I just want you to think more than just like you're just posting or you're just snapping a photo or getting a video, or however we're presenting. Yeah, I I want I want you to think through it as a team so we can work this together. So the next time when this comes up, you're like, I already know the answer to this.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah. No, that's good.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

So just kind of close out this this particular uh uh section, but you know, it's kind of a weird question to ask, but you know, I think it's good to take and take an inventory or take an account. But if God asks you today to give an account for the for the health of your organization, the people, the culture, the finances, all that stuff, how would your scorecard look? Yeah, that's a good notion. Kind of kind of an open-ended question. It's kind of humbling, actually. I need to go back and do that for us and and and see what that

Practical Ways To Inspect Reality

SPEAKER_03 15:35

looks like. But where we want to kind of shift gears a little bit is you know, we we talked a lot about this this topic last week, kind of dove into it this week, but now how do we how do we actually get a practical application? You know, uh we record this on on Wednesday. Um the episodes typically come out on Monday. Yeah. So on Monday morning, like when you're listening to this, how do you actually take this and and put it to work? And so we're gonna just gonna give you some some good practical steps, and there's probably more that we could talk about, but these are just some some that that we kind of came up with. So, excuse me, how can you know your business? You know, and for some sometimes like me, I need to to get out of the the quote unquote ivory tower and go walk around, go, go talk to some people, like go sit in a meeting that maybe 10 years ago I actually led that meeting, but I don't lead that meeting anymore. So I've got a and maybe there's an expectation of what that meeting should look like, but if I haven't been in that meeting for a while, I I don't know, you know, uh for us and maybe go and look at the warehouse, you know, just seeing how the place looks or so what is it for the practical, you know, what is it for you as a maybe a business leader to go and and not a hundred percent of your week, because you we've got other things to do, you know, leading an organization or leading a team, but what does that look like? You know, if if you're a if you're a pastor, maybe that means go be a part of a small group, you know, see what the actual small group is doing. I mean, you've got expectations of what that looks like. Yeah, yeah, you know, but there and I'm sure there's some other ways or you know, get go go have some coffee with some folks and how's it going and and you know, things that that we can do to improve. But what what do you guys see? Like give us some practical application of make it my business to know my business.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yeah, I would say, I mean, exactly what you said, you know. Um, I think this is probably another quote that he got from someone, which again, it's interesting we talk about these quotes. We may have 50 episodes on this at some point, but you can't inspect what you don't expect. Yeah, you know, and it's like write it down. How how do we yeah, I mean, you're right. You you think you think you go back, leaders, as you've been growing in your um your journey at your wherever your job is or what have you, that did I do it? Are they as it's the is the person that I pass this down to doing it the way that I did it, or are they doing it within the same framework that I did it, putting their own twist to it, or are they just doing it their own way, you know? Yeah. So you gotta you have to be able to go out and uh it's hearing you say that, kind of thinking to myself, I wonder if we do it that way anymore, you know? Um so yeah, I think that it it um sometimes we get stuck in habits, sometimes we get you know, just same old, same old. I was talking to a an an owner outside of our industry the other day, and they were like, Man, they I'm just I'm struggling with my company. I'm I I need some help. Would you give me some coffee time? I'm like, Yeah, and it was 2 30 in the afternoon. He was like, That's a good time for coffee. Yeah. You know what, you know what's once a coffee day person. Hey, I got a dad joke from Brady. Uh oh. Oh gosh. You know what, you know what uh the Chinese man, what time he went to the dentist? Oh, I know. I don't, and I I wish I did.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Can I answer? Go ahead. 2 30.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

But um two. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Anyway, uh People listening are gonna be like, what just happened?

SPEAKER_02 19:03

That's a dad joke for Adam. So um you get in that, you get in that uh that that framework, that mindset, you know, of of trying to figure out are they doing it the same way that it's always been done, or do we get stuck? I was talking to this guy and um he's like, Yeah, I'm struggling with my company and I can't figure out why my revenue won't grow. And I was like, I hear a lot of noise in the background. Where are you at? It's 2 30 in the afternoon. He said, I'm at the gym. I was like, Well, that's part of that. Is she telling that right then and there? No, I was thinking it's in my mind. I was thinking it's my mind. I was like, well, it's part of the problem right there. I mean Bro, you might need to be at the office. I get I get now. Are you wait a minute, do you have a client with you you're working out with? I mean, that's you know, that's one thing. So you're a great marketing plan right there. To your to your point, it's like work out of the gym with a client. Just just you're not gonna change things just because I mean you gotta you gotta go inspect it. You gotta expect that have expectations, hold people accountable. Um, you gotta know the business. If you don't know the business, you can't know how to respond. If you don't, you can't you can't grow your business if you're not trying to act on growing the business, you know. So that that'd be what I would say.

Delegation Without Losing Awareness

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

I know that's I'm in a season right now where I'm trying to figure out where that line is on hand and stuff. I've got um a girl that works for me as my my social media coordinator. She does a really good job. She's very good with social. Um, she I just watching her progress in her photography. She's trying to start to do a little bit of video. We work together, and she tells me all the time, let me edit the let me edit this, let me edit that. And I try to tell her, I'm like, well, I I still, I still want to do some of it, so I keep that up. Like I want to make sure, you know, keep it fresh. Keep it fresh. Like, I want to be inside. Yeah, if I don't, I don't want to step out of something and then not get contact. Because we're kind of moving into that situation now where things are growing. Like, am I about to start taking over communications, you know, because we don't have anybody that's handling that, and that's an important thing. Emails are being sent from five different platforms. Yeah, all right, we got to hone this in. So there's a lot that's going on from an administrative side, and I don't want it to pull me out of the hands-on side, but then also I'm trying to think through being in being in my department and knowing my department. I also need to realize, too, I've got to relinquish some of those things because there's no way she's going to learn to do them. Like our recap reels. We do something a little different. We we post message recaps every Monday, but we don't pull it from the live stream. We film them um from the ground. So we actually go with the pastors kind of mark in their message. We talk about it on Sunday mornings where they preach, like, hey, this is a place that I would think would be good. A lot of times it's like, how do we want to communicate to our congregation? Like, what's a point this week I want them to think about? And so we actually record those moments from from the ground, and then we later edit those together. And she's like, Hey, I want to learn to do that, I want to learn to do it. And so I'm it's one of those things where it's like I you 100% built a c build a Claude code for that. Well, no, no, no. I did it. I promise you, I just what's nice is I hone we hone it in. So I record, they tell me kind of where. Where they want it. So I record a few minutes before, a few minutes after, and then I go and I can trim it down instead of doing the whole message. It's just been much better. Yeah, it looks like quality, it's cleaner. But she wants to learn that. And there's a part of me that wants to teach her that, but then also I don't want to relinquish that. But I also do it because it allows me to still be in. Right. Be doing those things. But then also it's like as well as telling you, that's where I figure that line is like, all right, where do I relinquish some of those things so she can now learn? And because she needs to be in it as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah. No, that's good. Good stuff.

Legacy That Outlives Social Media

SPEAKER_03 22:31

So as we kind of as we kind of wrap up today, you know, what what is the I mean, when we when we think about our dad, we think one one word comes to mind, this legacy, you know. Um, I think it's in Proverbs 22, it says a a good man leaves a inheritance to his children's children. And that doesn't necessarily mean financial inheritance, but that means wisdom and knowledge and uh example and and and things of of that nature. But, you know, when we when we think of uh this principle of I'm making my business to know my business, it's not that we're saying know everything. That's that's not really the point of this whole thing, but it's know enough it's kind of like know enough to be dangerous, you know, to some degree. And I'm not saying that in a bad way, but you know, know enough to where you can ask the right questions. Yeah, that's a good, you know, because if you don't know the right questions to ask, like if you don't know your business, then you're not gonna know those questions that you need to ask to dive in to discern what is right or wrong or good or or bad, or you know, you may just be getting fed information and go, yeah, that sounds good, you know, and and not really go, whoa, no, no, no, no. Because I, you know, I do this all the time. It's like, um, I don't know about that. Something doesn't, you know, I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

All too well.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

I don't know what it is, but it just it feels off, you know, and so if you don't know your business, then um then and it's hard to do that. So what what we're asking, and this will be another another episode, lead leaders or learners, but um at some point in time, 28 weeks down the road. But you know, the the the wise if we have 15 parts to us. Well, that's true. But the wisest people in the room are the ones that continue to learn. Yeah, yeah. The the wisest people in the room are the ones that continue to study. Yeah. And so be all we're asking you guys to do is is be a good, you know, student of your business. So you know, here's kind of the challenge, and I'll I'll let you guys wrap it up. But you know, the challenge for every leader, and I'd use that very specifically because all of you guys are leaders. Okay, you you are a leader. Every every place that you go, everything that you do, whether you whether you think so or not, you are leading something. You're leading yourself, you're leading others. But decades from now, what do you want people to remember about you? Yeah. You know, what kind of legacy do you want to leave? Do you want to do you just want to be a a blip, you know? Or do you want to say you want people to remember you as, man, that person was a godly man, a godly woman, you know, somebody that was a student of what they did, and and so that that's a challenge for me, is to, you know, decades down the road, at least for my family and and who whoever else, but you know, what kind of legacy am I leaving?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah, I said that to somebody the other day, and I understand a lot of the things that I do when it comes to creative media is built for socials, but I told somebody the other day, and I was like, I I don't want to say this the wrong way or make it sound like I hate what I do, but I I don't want to I don't want to create social media my entire life. Like I I don't want social media to be, I want to create stories and impactful or capture impactful stories and create pieces, whether that's for what we're doing here at SurPro or for the church, that have a shelf life. Yeah. That sit that it's like the video that that you talked about last episode for your dad and that um that corporate made for him. And think about how impactful it doesn't matter how long ago it was filmed, you can still watch it today and feel an impact of his legacy. And when he left, whether that's from the interview from you guys, the interview from the people at corporate office at the time, those for me, you're just talking about legacy. I literally put that on our my eval the other day is I don't want my legacy to be what I created for socials. I want my legacy to be the stories that we tell the people at the church. And because those stories have an impact, and when those stories have an impact, it helps bring people to Jesus or it gives them involved. Like even doing things that whether it's your next steps classics or something like that, I just want to create pieces that connect people to Jesus and create a lifelong relationship with them. To me, that's much more impactful than a post that goes viral for a little bit. For sure. Yeah, that's good.