🔥 Hustle Culture is a Scam – Here’s What Actually Works!

We’re kicking off Bigger Than The Hustle with a hard truth—hustle culture is a scam. You’ve been told that working harder, grinding longer, and never stopping is the key to success. But what if that’s the biggest lie in business?

In this episode, Chris and Heather break down:
✅ Why hustle culture keeps entrepreneurs stuck and burned out
✅ The real difference between working hard and working smart
✅ Personal wake-up calls that forced us to ditch the grind and scale the right way
✅ How to escape the hustle trap and start leveraging your time

If you’ve ever felt like you’re working harder than ever but still not getting ahead—this episode is for you.

🎯 Action Step: Write down 3 things you’re doing right now that aren’t actually moving the needle—and commit to cutting or delegating at least one of them.

🎧 Next Episode Teaser: We’re diving into how to stop being the bottleneck in your own business—so you can actually get your time back.

🔥 Don’t forget to subscribe, share this with a fellow entrepreneur who needs to hear it, and DM us if you’re ready to ditch the hustle trap for good!

#EntrepreneurLife #WorkSmarterNotHarder #HustleCulture #BusinessGrowth #BiggerThanTheHustle

Transcript

Chris Benedict (00:01)

Welcome to the very first episode of Bigger Than the Hustle, the podcast where we challenge the idea that success is just about grinding harder.

Chris Benedict (00:35)

Today we're coming out swinging with a topic that might ruffle some feathers. Hustle culture is a scam. We've all been told that if we just work harder, put more hours in and grind nonstop, we'll eventually be successful. But what if that's the biggest lie in the industry? I'm your host, Chris Benedict. I've built financial freedom and now live the life most entrepreneurs are chasing. And I know firsthand the real goal isn't just about making more money. It's about making the money without being stuck in the daily grind.

Heather Boehme (01:03)

And I'm also your host, Heather Rose Baim, a process architect and business coach who's still in the trenches, helping business owners break free from the chaos of running their company so they can scale sustainably. And if you've ever felt like you're working harder than ever, but still somehow not getting ahead, you're spinning your wheels and making no progress, then this is the episode for you.

Chris Benedict (01:24)

So that's a good question. Where did the hustle equal success mindset come from? Do have any thoughts on that?

Heather Boehme (01:32)

So I know for me, I mean, it wasn't called hustle, but I was raised with the idea that work ethic was the utmost thing that you needed to have to get ahead in life. watching my parents growing up, they were both some of the hardest workers I've ever seen, and everybody praised them for that, right? They were always complimented and praised for how hard they'd work. But if you took a step back and looked at the results, I mean, they were really

working really hard and it was like trying to keep up with the Joneses. basically it was programmed into my DNA that you've got to work harder otherwise you're not working hard enough. And I think that's something that kind of goes into the psychology of it is if you're not working hard, you're not doing enough.

Chris Benedict (02:20)

Well, think there's that idea that somehow the grind has to be painful and I'm not saying that there isn't pain involved. And I think potentially the hustle kind of maybe trickled down originally from more of the sports industry because let's face it, if you're gonna be an athlete of the highest caliber in any sport,

Heather Boehme (02:38)

I know.

Chris Benedict (02:45)

There is typically going to be some grind there. I these are the people who are waking up at five in the morning to swim three hours before going to school all day and swimming another three hours. Just the thought of doing that every day is just beyond me. But again, that's a different kind of grind. I think what we're talking more is in the work mindset. But I think that trickled down and somehow we respected it. And there's nothing wrong getting up early in the morning, going to the gym, all that good stuff. But I think social media really kind of glorified it. And I think it glorified

Heather Boehme (02:48)

Yeah.

Thank

Chris Benedict (03:15)

the fake results if that makes sense

Heather Boehme (03:19)

And

that's a thing, like as a former athlete, and I'll be honest, like I never really like grinded because I wanted to, it was more like it was something that was expected of me. But there is satisfaction when you're doing like physical effort to kind of putting in that work, because you see the results, right? If you practice in a sport and you put in that effort, you're absolutely gonna get an ROI there because you are doing

what it takes to drive the result. But in business, it's almost an inverse, right? Because it's almost like instead of hustle, meaning the small actions that get you big results, hustle has become, you're miserable, but it's supposed to be worth it because the big payouts coming. But in business, that doesn't always happen. It's like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You can hustle in business and work harder and be miserable.

and still not have a lot come from it. Like if I lift weights every single day at 5 a.m. for three hours, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am going to get jacked. But that's not so much true in business, because you can run around in circles doing all the wrong things, but feel like you're working hard and still not get results.

Chris Benedict (04:21)

right.

Well,

you could make 100 cold calls a day. And yes, will that potentially lead you to more opportunities? And those opportunities could eventually get you that you don't have to make those cold calls. But at the same point, there's no guarantee you can make 100 cold calls a day and do nothing. So that doesn't mean just because you're working harder that there's guarantee success. think one of the reasons why I have a hard time gambling is because I already know the house wins. So I always want to be the house. When you know the house wins, be the house. You don't want to be the gambler.

want to be the house. So it's kind of the same thing. Like if you already know the expected outcome is that you potentially could lose, you don't want to play the game. So I only want to play games where I know I can win or I have a higher likelihood of success.

Heather Boehme (05:16)

Any?

think it comes

down to like, you know, if you're doing it purely for the result, that's one thing, but I think people have, the hustle culture is kind of broken because instead of thinking of hustle as like, I'm gonna hustle in something that I love, right? If you're painting hours and hours, but you truly love the process of painting and that's technically considered hustling, but you love it, right? It's like when I craft, I love crafting and I'll spend hours crafting and I'll get kind of like a mediocre result because let's be honest, I'm not the best crafter.

Chris Benedict (05:46)

Hahaha.

Heather Boehme (05:47)

But

I like the process, so it doesn't really matter that I'm not gonna be like Joanna Gaines at crafting. But somehow, somewhere in like the 90s and early 2000s, hustle has become synonymous with like, if you're not miserable, you're obviously not working hard enough. And if you're not working hard enough, you're not going anywhere. And I think that's where it gets broken.

Chris Benedict (06:06)

You didn't know you're not.

You're

not wrong about that. remember especially during like the Wall Street day like these guys were working, know, whatever God Number hours and they were out partying at night and then getting up and doing all over again It was like this idea that if you weren't working like a hundred and twenty hour weeks and I believe you mean there's nothing wrong with anybody who's run their own business Who's caught the bug of excitement knows that doing a hundred and twenty hour work weeks doesn't seem like a lot when you feel Compelled but that's a different momentum driving you then like

If I just put in more hours and I'll just make more money or I'll just make more success. I think that's the dangerous advice. Like just work harder and everything will fall into place. I think we had talked about that in other calls where the most of us, right, we just we need more money. So what else can I add to my day? What else can I take on? And that's a recipe for burnout.

Heather Boehme (06:56)

you

And I think it's kind of scary to like, it's...

It's almost easier to put your head down and work harder. But what's really scary is to take a really hard look at like, obviously all this effort I have put in is not working. So what am I really doing? And that's, that's a lot of like reflection. And it's scary to reflect because you have to admit that all this effort you've been putting in, I don't think it's wasted, but it's almost like your mind tricks you into thinking that it's like, well, you wasted all this effort doing all the wrong things and you got so burnt out. And obviously you wasted all

all

these years or all these months. So if you admit that, well, shoot, right? Like now I wasted all this time, but you gave me a great analogy. It's like you could be in the fastest Ferrari in the world, full tank of gas, but if you're heading in the wrong direction, driving faster will not get you in the right direction. You have to take stock and say, oops, I'm heading north and I should be going south.

Chris Benedict (08:01)

As soon as you realize that we often say that like yeah, it's it's true and we all do that that analogy is a great one I'm driving in the wrong direction great. Well, it's the sooner you turn the car around the sooner you're on the right track and There's no point in saying I just spent the last two hours driving the right we've all we've done this I don't know if anyone else has done this I've done it I've passed exits and been an hour and all of sudden realize man, I got to drive now all the way back, know, but what am I?

Heather Boehme (08:23)

Yeah.

Chris Benedict (08:30)

supposed to do just keep heading west? No at some point like okay I screwed up I gotta turn around drive back to the mountains east it's just the way we're gonna do it.

Heather Boehme (08:36)

Yeah.

And with the road trip analogy, it seems so logical,

right? Like, what am I gonna do? Like it sucks, but you gotta eat it and turn around. But it's like with our lives, the stakes are higher, the game is bigger, but it's like if we don't admit it, and that's where I get into. I always run into this problem where I'm like, I'm just gonna like put my head down and ignore the fact that things aren't going super well and it'll work itself out. And what I have come to realize is unfortunately it doesn't. It doesn't work itself out.

until you confront it, face it, and get really honest with yourself, and then take the sometimes painful steps to make changes, to turn around. And I think that's the point where people kind of psychologically avoid it, because it's like, don't want to actually face the truth that this isn't working.

Chris Benedict (09:26)

Yeah, I it's really hard to look yourself in the mirror and realize like I am the cause of everything good and bad in my life. I have to tell you when I started that seven or eight years ago actually wrote it on my mirror in dry erase market was like you are the cause of and solution to all your own problems.

Heather Boehme (09:41)

and

Chris Benedict (09:46)

And that was on my mirror for a good year. So I would see that every morning, every night. And when you take full accountability for everything good or bad, you might say, that's not fair. Why am I taking accountability for some asshole who cut me off in traffic? Well, the reality is it's still.

your responsibility, all of it. And the moment you start, I think that's what's been failing our newest generation. I don't think it's their fault they've been raised in a victim mentality generation. They've been told for 20 plus years they were victims. So in some respects, we owe that as the generation that raised them. It's not their fault, what we did, whatever happened to account, no one says.

Heather Boehme (10:03)

Okay.

Chris Benedict (10:27)

I could be wrong, I often am. And I heard that from a comedian 20 some years ago. And man, that has gotten me out of so many sticky, argumentative situations.

Heather Boehme (10:36)

Yeah. Well, and I think too, I mean...

you your brain doesn't

fully mature until you're 25, but you see so many people in their late 30s, 40s, early 50s that go on these self-reflective journeys. That's when a lot of people seem to come online. It's when you start reading the personal development books, you start listening to the podcast because all of us kind of are in our own world, and I think everybody has a different coming online moment. So that moment where you were like, I am responsible for everything good and bad that happens to me,

little bit about what led to that realization for you.

Chris Benedict (11:15)

Boy, that is a good one. think you reach, I don't speak for anyone but myself, and I certainly can't speak for women, I can only speak for men. I think for men...

We all mature at different rates. Some men mature very, very young. Others, you know, we have a tendency to take a little longer. We live a little bit more in boyhood fantasy. I didn't want to grow up. I never did. I still to this day say I want to live to be 150. I don't feel at 52 that I'm old. I feel I'm young at heart. And I think that's what has helped me. But sooner or later, you get to a point where you realize, man, I really am whining a lot, aren't I?

Heather Boehme (11:52)

Ha

Chris Benedict (11:53)

Thanks. And that's an honest, that's what I'm saying. It's and I would say for most men, it's probably gonna be their late 30s, early 40s, if you really want to know the truth.

Heather Boehme (12:00)

Well, and tell me like, cause you know,

there's that moment where you're like, ah, like why has this always happened to me? But usually there's something like, like we talked about yesterday, my moment where my boss sat me down and was basically like, everything's your fault. So do you deserve the bonus, right? So what was that moment, like the situation?

Chris Benedict (12:16)

So, yeah,

the most recent one, and I won't go too into it because I'm not here to bad mouth, but I was working with a business partner and I had chosen a bad business partner. That person wasn't a bad person per se. They were just a bad business partner. They really had no business sense. Therefore, I really brought a problem into my partnership because this person didn't have the skills or the mindset and the vision of where I thought we could take it.

And that was not this person's fault. In the end, it was really mine because I'm the one who sought this person out and said, I think this would be good. I'm the one who was the pursuer and all these things. So that was a wake up lesson. But I will tell you, if you've ever dealt with a narcissist.

Heather Boehme (13:03)

I feel like that's a hot button word now.

Chris Benedict (13:06)

Yeah, no and I'm not talking about like the like I'm talking about a true died in the wool like a narcissist who's like literally Unable to empathize with anyone else's problems, but their own including their own family You don't realize how destructive they are and what happened was

this person would throw shit bombs, excuse my language, in the emails. And it took me like two, three years of like constantly defending myself, constantly responding, trying to be like, no, you're wrong. And then finally one day there was like, you know, I am miserable. I don't want to work with this person anymore. I don't know out of it. And so I called another partner of mine who was a...

the time was more of a mentor for me and I said I don't know what to do and he's like yeah you do yeah you do and and he was right we didn't actually talk about the steps but he what I had to do is what I had to do and that was it I pulled up my big boy pants you know ripped off the proverbial band-aid as they say and I started doing what I had to do which ruffled all kinds of feathers created all kinds of chaos but within you know a couple of months it was over

Heather Boehme (14:11)

You

Chris Benedict (14:23)

So I could have gone on and on and on for years and years of more pain or I could have just accepted like, know what? I'm responsible for the fact that I'm responding to this person this way. They're throwing the bombs out. I'm being reactionary. Wait a minute. This isn't their problem. This is my problem.

Heather Boehme (14:42)

And I feel like the reactivity is such a contributor to that victim mentality because I lived in it for years. Why me? Why is nothing that I'm doing working? Why am I so exhausted? Why can't I find something that I like to do? And it's just because something comes up.

and it's like you react to it. There's no processing, it just hits you and you hit back. And then your mind is like, my goodness, why does this happen to you? You're such a good person, you work so hard. it's exhausting and it burns out your energy, but now looking back at it, I'm like, why does this happen to you? Because you put yourself in this situation.

Chris Benedict (15:09)

Right.

Well, that's

exactly it. And what I realized was that I had the wrong business systems. And what I was just doing was creating more work for me, more work for my partner, my wife Stephanie. And this was...

That was the impetus for change. So I'm like, okay that business I'm shutting that division down and I'm focusing on this one because this one is scalable and has systems which you know leading into your story of how we met which was the understanding that I was never going to grow my business off of people per se until I had systems. So Heather you've you know you've built and scaled multiple businesses. What was the point where you realized that working harder really wasn't actually

paying off or getting anywhere.

Heather Boehme (16:09)

Well, just quick correction, because I'm always going to be super honest. I have helped other people build and scale multiple businesses. Mine have only done a few. But the thing with the grinding harder, and I realize that it's a lot to do with the psychology of it, right? And then when we get into that reaction mode, our reaction drives what we do next. And some people just quit.

Chris Benedict (16:14)

out.

Heather Boehme (16:31)

We've seen that, right? You've got your people that something comes up and they're like, screw this, I'm out, which is not great. And then most of the people who are ambitious, they have big goals. That's not their reaction. Their reaction is, I'm gonna out earn this problem. I'm gonna outwork this problem. I'm gonna outdo this problem. And a lot of the times I started realizing, like, looking back, I didn't need to get out of that emotional about things. Like I would take on other people's emotions.

And like, you know, if a client of mine, would, you their house build got delayed by three weeks and they were gonna have to drop a thousand dollars on an Airbnb and I'm owning that emotion and I'm gonna work harder, but there's really nothing I can do. The builder's building the house, the lender's lending the money, the title company is processing the title. And so I'm owning all of this emotion and reacting when, let's be honest here, if you're a realtor, if you're in any kind of sales,

Chris Benedict (17:10)

Yeah!

Heather Boehme (17:27)

The builder's always going to delay the build.

And instead I could have said, when the builder delays the build, here's how I'm gonna react. And so I started learning that if I knew what was gonna happen beforehand and I've already had the steps planned out for how to handle it, all of a sudden, instead of reacting by just working harder, I started to be like, well, I know what to do, right? And a lot of us gain this experience just through sheer force, right? These things happen to you, you freak out, and then the next time it happens, you freak out less. It's like paying your anxiety dues.

realizing that I didn't need to pay my dues if I just wrote down what was gonna happen and decided how I was gonna deal with it before it did. And then I started realizing that you could do that for almost anything. Like instead of being overwhelmed and embarrassed when my kid has a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store and everybody's judging me and looking at me like I'm a bad mom...

that as a mother there is a high likelihood that my kid's gonna have a tantrum in a grocery store at one point in my life, what am I gonna do about it? Well, I have decided now that I'm gonna let her feel her feelings and I'm gonna plop her in the cart and she can have her tantrum while I walk around until she calms down and then we'll talk about it and they can judge me if they want. And so now if that happens, I don't feel embarrassed and that works.

for so many people. Leaders, if you know what you're gonna do, you don't get as freaked out. Employees, same thing. If they know what they're supposed to do, they don't get freaked out.

Chris Benedict (18:47)

Give me.

Yeah, I used to say, I used to say all the time like, oh my God, don't embarrass me in front of the strangers. And I'll say that usually out loud in front of the strangers, cause they get it. know, now there's now with the age of the phones and videos, maybe, maybe that's not always great that you could get yourself recorded in one of those spots. But the route is you're right. Look, first of all, everyone's going to judge you anyway. There's not a single parent.

Heather Boehme (19:02)

Yeah

Now that wouldn't have been a good TikTok clip.

Mm-hmm.

Chris Benedict (19:18)

in a grocery store with a screaming child that I have never thought, Ben, that kid's a pain in the ass. So it's okay, you're gonna get judged. And of course, it happened to my kids too. And it's a circle of life. It was my kids that were annoying the shit out of everyone at one point, now it's your kids that are doing it. It's just part of the circle of life.

Heather Boehme (19:35)

And that's the thing is

so like I started realizing this in my life and then I started applying it not just to mine though, because if I'm leading, if I'm showing the way and my clients are the drivers of their business, then they're the ones responsible for deciding how things should be handled in their business. If you want it handled a certain way, you need to decide that beforehand.

Chris Benedict (19:39)

Sure.

Heather Boehme (19:57)

which helps your employees. So you can tell your employees when a customer calls in angry, cause that's going to happen. Here's what I want you to do. And then it gets to a certain point where you need to just give it to me. And just by lining that out, all of sudden, instead of just like, I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to go to the boss, work harder. That hustle comes down because it's not hustle anymore. It's not reactivity that drives anxiety. It's a plan. And you can actually start to see in that plan, where does things go off the rails here? And how can we,

mitigate that before it happens. So just by putting something on paper, you start to see where you can stop hustling so much, where we could implement systems, where we can implement ways to make this easier, because let's just assume it's going to happen.

Chris Benedict (20:43)

Well, you know, and that's a...

That's a good point, because when you started talking about starting to focus on those processes and systems and leveraging time, instead of just adding more hours, I think we have been as a culture trained in this idea of how much my time is worth. Most people are working either an hourly or a salaried job. Most of the people who are probably listening to this podcast are probably someone who's in a job or doing something they don't want to be doing and wishes they were doing something else. Or they've just started or they're

young in business or they're newer in business or maybe they're struggling in business and they're trying to get out of being in their own business. But either way, if you're listening, this is because you want something more. And that's what we're here to talk about is the leveraging of time and success. I have said something. There were years that I felt really guilty about what I'm about to say, but I would often say, the less I work, the more money I make.

Heather Boehme (21:40)

And I think it, go ahead.

Chris Benedict (21:41)

Now this be this became

a mantra of mine Heather for years and of course the subconscious is going to Work that but when I stopped fighting when I stopped fighting the system. I started letting the system work for me And I let it started flowing. It's amazing how how my business and life have turned around since

Heather Boehme (21:58)

the TikTok I sent to you and Stephanie yesterday that was basically like, you know, the people who glorify the grind, they're the ones that are trying to beat the system. And you can beat the system, but it takes immense discipline, immense amount of work, and they're making it work for them, or you could go with the flow.

Chris Benedict (22:18)

Heather,

Heather, this is one of those movies where I'm hoping that the generations ahead will still watch it, but it's Groundhog Day. And if you ever watch Groundhog Day, like there's all, there have been college classes taught on the Groundhog Day movie, and they were basically wondering how many, how long had he been in there? To become a concert pianist and to do all these things, but what I always took away from that.

Heather Boehme (22:26)

yeah.

Chris Benedict (22:46)

was one he was trying to craft the perfect day, which I think there's a spiritual part of that too. But if you think about it, right, like every day from a hustle grind mentality, he would wake up knowing the chain of events that he had to go through to do all the things he had to do, to save the kid from falling, to help the people out, right? But you know, in real life, we would lead that to what? Burnout.

Heather Boehme (23:12)

Yeah.

Chris Benedict (23:13)

Right? And that's what I'm saying is like, you know, so, so I have a very hard time. I get very easily caught up in games and I have to be very careful because I'm a little OCD that way. because the games are designed to just keep you coming back and clicking for more. And, and, and you start to realize that they, and what happens is a game starts for me being fun.

Heather Boehme (23:29)

Okay.

Chris Benedict (23:36)

And then it starts to become a little bit of work and then I start to dread it. And when I start to dread playing it, that's when I knew it's over.

Heather Boehme (23:44)

Yeah, and I think that's the thing. So people find themselves caught in this trap and they want to get out of it. And then we hear stuff like, work smarter, not harder. Or the 80-20 rule is like one of the most popular...

principles in business. Pareto's principle says 20 % of the effort drives 80 % of the results. And I think people get, like those are nice flashy statements, but it's like a comedian. When you go up to a comedian on the street and you're like, say something funny. And it's like, okay, that's not how it works. So when people say 20 % of the efforts drive 80 % of the results or work smarter, not harder, I find that a lot of people

of do the freeze reaction of like okay but what does it mean? What is the 20 %? What is smarter?

Chris Benedict (24:33)

Okay,

so I'll give you an example of that.

you when I started off it was just it was just chasing the money right if I just earn more money if I just keep earning more money that like it was always like if I just could earn a little bit more money but what you realize is like as you expand your money so does your problems so in a sense it's like nature nature hates avoid as they say nature hates a vacuum so if you have extra money there's like okay well let's fill that space that could be with increasing your lifestyle or it could be that your kids are getting older have new expense it could be anything but the point is you know very

Heather Boehme (24:41)

Mm-hmm.

you

Chris Benedict (25:08)

rarely does finding more money ever resolve people's problems. So what I realized when you talk about the 80-20 rule what I really realized is when I started teaching time value

And this was a big one. I'm not the first one to teach it, but I certainly was like trying to get my clients and property management to understand like what they were getting for their monthly fee was far less than what they would spend in the mental mind time and energy managing for themselves. And so when you talk about the 80 20, what they mean by that is just think about your own.

life right when you start off as a new homeowner let's just say you're a new homeowner and you don't have a lot of money right so you're going to do everything you're to mow your own lawn

You're going to clean your own house. You're going to be your own handyman. You're going to be your own painter. You might even be your own contractor and electrician for small jobs around the property. Well, as you start to grow and your time value becomes worth more, what you realize is like, OK, well, now I'm making more money per hour than what it would cost for me to hire the plumber. So I'm just going to hire the plumber now and leverage. So now I'm making more money and I'm leveraging. But here's what happens.

who particularly people who have grown up in in poverty situations who do not and that's no fault of their own but there's typically a lack a fear of lack and a fear of loss and what happens is even though their income goes up they still feel like well this is how I'm saving money so I'm taking care of the plumbing and I'm mowing the lawn on the weekend so think about it right from an 80-20 right they're not making any money

doing the 80 % of the chores around the household. If they spent 20 % of their time working an extra shift or an hour or two at their job, they'd probably earn the money and leverage the other 80 % of their time they could have used freely. So that's what they mean by the 80-20. It doesn't mean like all businesses should only run on the 20%. It's just that you realize in your job as a business owner, in the job that you're doing, what you have to ask yourself is,

man, how much of this is really going to affect my day and potentially bring me more income versus which is just me dotting I's and crossing T's because it feels good.

Heather Boehme (27:30)

Yeah, and I think it's really important to know, because in real estate, it's really clear. What is your dollar productive?

activity? What is the stuff that is bringing in revenue? Because ultimately leverage, that's what money pays for. It pays for employees to do things that you can't or don't want to do. And it pays for systems, tools, things that you need to get your employees to actually function. So really identifying in your business, in your job, what are the dollar productive activities that you contribute to? And you do really well. And I think this is something I've seen

to disconnect into. What is it that you do really well? It may not be the thing that you love most in the world. I love crafting. I kind of suck at it. That's not a dollar per octave activity. That's a giving myself energy back. But what do do that people comment on? And especially for women, it's like, we're almost afraid to acknowledge what we're great at because we were supposed to be humble. We're supposed to be, you know, oh, no, it's not that big of a demure. Yes. But

Chris Benedict (28:33)

Demure, demure.

Heather Boehme (28:38)

you look at it and it's like, what's your 20 %? And you're like, I don't know. Okay, well, that's where you start. You start by finding your 20 % and you find that by A, just logic. What's your dollar productive activities in your business? If you're a plumber, it's finding people who need plumbing needs. If you're a business coach, it's finding business owners who need processes in their business. And...

That's one thing, right? That's just a thing. But then it's figuring out what are you awesome at? What do people always tell you that you're doing great? And how do you marry those two things? So like for me, for years, people would tell me, I love your energy. I love your energy. And I was like, great. I would love it if you paid me for that.

Chris Benedict (29:21)

Right?

That doesn't pay the rent. Sure.

Heather Boehme (29:22)

I don't know how to monetize my energy, right?

So I did a lot of work. I was like, what does that energy mean and how does it relate to my 20 %? And I started to realize, well, if people really love my energy, well, then I can use that to drive the dollar productive activity in my business. And the dollar productive activity for me is meeting with people. So if I can make people want to meet with me by sharing my energy, then I will get more meetings and I will get more business. So really, what is your dollar?

productive

activity and what are you awesome at and then figuring out a way to make those one in the same thing that you do consistently all the time and that's where you're gonna find your 20 % and if you lean into it it's gonna lead to way higher results.

Chris Benedict (30:06)

Well, and it is true because of, you know, that and everything you're doing, you find your niche and that's what you work on.

And you start to really learn that the people who who actually make it aren't the ones who work the hardest They're the ones who work the smartest and you're going to constantly feel Like almost like a fraud because of it because it doesn't seem to make sense that if I work less I somehow make more money But think of it from a business owner perspective, right? If i'm constantly being bombarded 80 of my day putting out little fires How am I focused on growth? How am I focused on the connections? How am I focused on the big vision?

Heather Boehme (30:42)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Benedict (30:46)

And so part of my goals for 2024 to 2025 working with the team was that guys I'm stepping way back from the daily operation on this like I'm empowering you as all business owners should to let their people make mistakes and I've said this time and time again I did not hire you to be perfect

I understand, I prefer if you don't make mistakes, but mistakes are going to happen. All I ask is if you make a mistake, you own it immediately. Figure out what you've learned from it and give me a solution to how we're going to rectify it. And so what'll happen is old habits when you make a mistake in business, like I'll get into a conversation with an employee and you'll see that natural defense of like, I don't want to admit that I F this up.

but then they understand who they're talking to and they know that the punishment will be far worse if you avoid ownership of the problem. So it's like, just take it. Yeah, you know what, Chris? And I'll get the call now. Chris, I want you to know I really screwed this up. This is the mistake I made, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is what I have for me and here's how I'm gonna fix it for you. Okay, now how am I gonna be mad at that call? Even if it cost me money. I mean, even if it cost me money, it sucks, but okay. You took ownership.

Heather Boehme (31:44)

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

but it's a lot less likely to

happen again if you're not piling guilt and shame. I feel like too, a lot of business owners, glorify the fact that they're doing so many things. Like I know when I was in the thick of it in real estate, I'd be like, yeah, I worked 90 hours a week this week. As if it was a point of pride, right? Exactly. And it's like, we feel like we're doing something, we're building something, so we're working 90 hours a week. But then it's also like hard to let go of anything because they lack the trust in their team.

Chris Benedict (32:08)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pfft. Pfft.

Yeah.

Heather Boehme (32:34)

that giving autonomy to the team and trusting that they're gonna come back and own it when they make mistakes. So we really need to stop glorifying that busy and focus on where am I stuck in this mud and where can I start pulling myself out and handing it over? And I think that's the first step is if you're constantly too busy and you don't have enough time a day, it's not a workload problem, it's a clarity problem.

Chris Benedict (32:59)

Think of it

this way, we'll call it the dead man switch, all right? And I don't know if you know this or not, but on trains, there's something called a dead man switch. And basically you have to push this button like every 60 seconds or every two minutes, because if you don't...

the train computer says, well, okay, so the train conductor must be dead and therefore we're gonna start the auto stop systems. In fact, when we were just on the cruise ship last month, we did the bridge tour and like every two minutes all the side here is beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep and the guy would have to walk all the way over and push the button. The third time it happened, I kinda said, hey, is that your dead man switch?

Heather Boehme (33:18)

I died.

Chris Benedict (33:40)

And he was like, yeah, he was like kind of impressed. I knew I'm like, yeah, that's to say if this ships on autopilot is anybody on board. If not, it'll go through the shutdown. Well, guess what? In life, if you have a business that requires you to keep hitting that dead man switch, then now you have a job. And so what I looked at it was like, think about those games, The ones where you're like the burger makers, right? know, make the burger, make the fries, make the drinks. It's fun in the beginning, but eventually you get too many customers.

Heather Boehme (33:43)

You

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Chris Benedict (34:09)

And then you start to swamp and drown trying to make all these orders in the game. Now the game's no longer fun.

And I'm like, what the hell? I've become a mechanical burger maker on this game. What am I doing with my life? Get back to work, Christopher. But my point is like, it's just like in real life, people just say, well, I'll just take this little extra job on here and I'll take this little extra job on here. And I had to have a very tough conversation with my wife and partner because she doesn't see the vision that I have or think the way I think, which is fine. I didn't marry her to be just like me.

But I was like finally about a year and a half ago I finally say you don't understand like I I have to work less So that we can make more

Heather Boehme (34:56)

exactly the good one.

Chris Benedict (34:56)

Because

it's the only way for me to grow is for me to literally step out of these systems. And I always went off that line, like, if you can't walk away from your business for three months. I'm pretty close at this point.

I'm pretty close at this point to be able to walk away for three months and come back and everything is running, if not as good, it should be running better. And I know that's such a proverbial thing to say, but it really is there. I can't believe I'm almost at that point. From a legal perspective, I'm still needed. got to kind of, I don't really have those systems set up, but I'm one broker of record away in PA from legally being able to say, okay, I'm hands off, 100%.

Heather Boehme (35:20)

Bye.

Well,

I think that's impressive. And the thing is, like, you know, there's no autopilot forever in business. Like there's a point of diminishing return. You've got to keep an eye on things, accountability and right stuff, right? It's fine. But checking in for a few hours a week is so different from jumping in and having to take the reins and get it back on course and spend all that energy and effort. So I think that's super impressive. When did you actually define that?

This was your definition of success, was having a business that could run without you.

Chris Benedict (36:07)

Boy, I gotta tell you, that is a good one. I will often tell people one of my childhood memories being at the Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute, it's a science museum and my dad would take us a lot when we were kids and I was a little nerd. But up on the fourth floor, I think it was, in this one corner, they had this physics demonstration and it was a big steel I-beam and you would walk on one end of it and there was a big three inch gym rope hanging down.

and you could just kind of pull on this thing and thanks to leverage the way the lever worked over on the other end where the beam went to it would lift like a pallet of sandbags weighing like whatever 800 and 1,000, 1200 pounds. And I was like, this is my dad, like this is leverage. Look, you look, just, just with your hand you can just gently pull on this rope and look what you're doing over there. And that stuck in my head. was like, leverage.

Heather Boehme (37:00)

You

Chris Benedict (37:00)

Okay, and I was also a math kid. I always knew like, okay, well math. And so what happened was like, you you read these stories and you're like, well, Henry Ford understood it. Like if you can maximize efficiency. So in the back of my mind, I always knew that.

The only way I would ever truly be successful is if I figured out a way to leverage my time. But I also then was fighting societal desires and norms and standards to say, no, no, no, go get your nine to five, work Monday through Friday, enjoy your weekends, because that's what life means. And believe you me, when you're part of the 10 to 20 % versus the 80 % who are doing W2 life versus the 20 % who are out there slinging on their own, it's tough.

Because eight out of ten of your friends work for a job so it's hard to To work at so when you say when did I finally realize that I would say that I have probably known my entire life and

Heather Boehme (38:03)

wow. See that,

like I don't relate to that because I was ready to be that eight to five-er. I wanted stability and just consistency.

Chris Benedict (38:11)

Will you remember?

Don't you remember,

yeah, do you remember the story of the grasshopper and the ants when we were kids? And they would talk about the, was it the lazy, was it the lazy grasshopper while the ants worked, worked, No, no, the tortoise and the hare was...

Heather Boehme (38:18)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

think it was like the turtle in the hair. Are you talking about? No. yeah, that lazy grasshopper

who just plays while we work.

Chris Benedict (38:29)

It was like, yeah, the lazy grasshopper.

I was the lazy grasshopper. Like, you know, he was upset because the ants toiled all summer putting their food stocks away and the grasshopper didn't. And the moral of the story, I think if I remember correctly, now I feel silly, was like, I think in the end it was like, the ants were happy and the poor grasshopper. And I was like, if the grasshopper just goes over, you know.

Heather Boehme (38:45)

Yeah, the ants survived the winter and the grasshopper died,

Chris Benedict (38:54)

kills a few ants or takes over a mound. so here's the point. If you can imagine this little son of a bitch, like I'm being serious, Heather. I never saw the story that way. was like, that's a smart grasshopper. Okay? I'm being totally, Heather, I'm telling you something I've never admitted out public in my entire life. When I'd read that story as a kid, I'd be like, grasshopper seems pretty smart to me.

Heather Boehme (38:55)

you

And I was like, I'm an ant. I'm going to survive the winter.

That's so funny.

Chris Benedict (39:24)

And here's... Go ahead.

Heather Boehme (39:25)

You're sitting here

living the life, having created a perpetually food generating winter storage unit like.

Chris Benedict (39:34)

It's just a money, the way I said it was it's a money wheel guys. That's all we're doing is creating a money wheel. Just create a money wheel that just keeps spitting more money off. The real questions are, know, could I have had it sooner? Probably.

What obstacles did I put in my way that prevented it? And that was me creating my own obstacles. Whenever I started deleveraging myself, my life got harder and more difficult. And then I have to remind myself it was time to reengage. And it is very difficult because you don't want to...

First of you have be careful because society does not like someone who makes money without a lot of effort or something like psychologically. They're happy if you win the lottery, but God forbid you create a system that pays you money while you sleep. yes, yes, I create jobs, I pay taxes. Like, you're just the evil man. Like, dude, I create jobs.

Heather Boehme (40:21)

Yeah, you're the evil landlord slash property manager.

Chris Benedict (40:30)

There's two people in this world. There's makers and takers. You either make jobs for people or you take jobs from people. That's it. And I've always rather be on the maker side than the taker side. And so, so for me, my whole life, I just kind of knew from a very young age that I felt that the standard life path that was being sold from the time I was in junior high to high school was bullshit.

Heather Boehme (40:39)

Mm-hmm.

And see, I'm the opposite, but that's, think, the interesting thing, because we've got so many people out there who, like, always have it in the back of their mind that things are bullshit, but they still end up.

somewhere they don't wanna be, right? They end up in a job that they hate or in a business that's running the Moraggan. And then you've got people like me who like, we're completely happy to live in the system. We're completely happy to have the stability and be a taker. And then something happened that kind of jarred us off the rails. And now we're like, oh crap, I have control of our life. So it's like two very different ways to come about it. But that's the funny thing is like,

you gotta start when you realize it. I think really just redefining, because if you had made that realization and decided you were gonna be Grant Cardone, you would still be chasing that because he has to work a ridiculous amount. I mean, yes, he probably has leverage now, but like that's just not.

Chris Benedict (41:49)

Yep.

Heather Boehme (41:56)

a vision of success I'm interested in and you got really clear like my vision of success is you know living in Florida having a pool being able to have the time freedom that I want and

Chris Benedict (42:07)

time to do

you set it right there that's the number one right there time before all other before everything else I wanted my time I am greedy for my even if I'm wasting it it's my time to waste and I hated being told sit in this chair the thought that I was in high school goddamn near 18 years old I could go fight in a war for this country but I got to sit there and hold my hand up to ask permission to go take a tinkle like come on

Heather Boehme (42:15)

Mm-hmm.

Let's take

a tinkle.

Chris Benedict (42:38)

Come on like this is what I'm saying you expect that you're generating you're creating adulthood here And this was my this was why I started to realize like the system was messed up. But the point is the system is where

People are, so it's, and by the way, I wanna say something when I said about the makers and takers, there's nothing wrong. The world needs the 80%. Lots of people wanna work these jobs and there's great satisfaction in having a job. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm talking to the people who are on that blend that are like, I know I'm in the 80, but I'd really rather be in the 20.

Those are the people I'm talking about. There are many, many people that will, it doesn't matter, man. They're like, don't, but I wouldn't, how many times have heard it, Seth? Like I would never want to run a, I would never want any of that. I'm happy. Yes, I know I can lose my job, but I'm okay with that. And that is fine. But I'm talking to the people who are on that cusp or they're in that business and they're going, and we've seen this. I don't want to say the kind of people, but it's like, I'll watch them. They'll grow a business in five years. They might sell it for pennies on the dollar. They just wrap up and call it a day. It wasn't a business. It was just a job.

Heather Boehme (43:38)

Well,

and there's so many, mean, Cody Sanchez's whole platform is about this, about how many boomers are out there that are getting to retirement age and they're either gonna sell their business or they're simply going to shut the doors because they created businesses without the idea of leverage in mind. It was like, I'm gonna.

open a hotel, live in it and run in it kind of run it kind of thing instead of opening a hotel, hiring someone to manage it, scaling it up, getting another one and being able to be separated from that. And but that's the thing, these boomers were business owners, but they were just like business owners that kind of did it because they were supposed to back then and there was really no freedom strategy to it. And I think that's the biggest takeaway here is grinding harder isn't the strategy.

In order to have a strategy, need to just have that clarity on what is success? What is the result I'm driving? And what are the things that...

have the most impact on driving that result. That's what's gonna get you to where you are, Chris, versus just ending up in, and you're in property management. A lot of property managers find themselves at 100, 150 units and they're swamped, they're exhausted, they can't find good people. They never go out to lead generate because they're way too busy managing the 150 properties that you have.

Chris Benedict (44:58)

Well, not only, but not only that, now

they've, but now they've created a business where they need to feed off that income. So what they would normally do is leverage their time and hire people to do it, but you can't do that because you become so accustomed to eating everything. Like now you're eating the kill. And I've said that I said, if I, if I could go back and do it all over again.

Heather Boehme (45:15)

I'm going.

Chris Benedict (45:19)

I probably would have encouraged Stephanie to stay in the workforce for the health insurance because that is super expensive. Created the business that we're doing now, but I would have invested 100 % of it right back into the business. And we probably would have grown a lot faster. Now, shoulda, coulda, woulda. You know, so easy. It doesn't matter at this point. Yeah, exactly. But you know what? And I said to lot of people, look, I put a roof over my head, it paid for vacations, it kept my kids in sports. So like, did I live a good life from that with my kids? Yeah. And I think that...

Heather Boehme (45:34)

Yeah, 2020 hindsight.

Chris Benedict (45:50)

you had the nail on the head which is you know understanding what that definition is and I want to remind people that like if you really had your idea that you're going for freedom stop thinking about the big luxury homes or the fancy sports cars or the I'm saying like what you want to buy first and foremost is your time and if you want to buy your time freedom then that's where you have to calculate what does my life cost me if I don't even show up for work

Heather Boehme (46:19)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Benedict (46:19)

Mortgage

rent utilities car payments add it all up and hopefully you do and that's the number Let's say that number is eight thousand dollars a month. Well, it's like, okay. Well now, you know, that's your passive number you need to get

Heather Boehme (46:31)

Yeah, it's very basic, rich dad, poor dad, Robert Kiyosaki. But at the end of the day, if we recap kind of the most useful information that we've got here, it's that...

Chris Benedict (46:35)

Yeah.

Yes.

Heather Boehme (46:42)

Working harder is not the answer. It's not. The most successful people don't grind endlessly. And in order to start breaking free from this hustle mentality, you need to do two things. You need to get really clear on what your version of success is. What is your priority? What is your freedom number? What is your five years from now if everything went right? What does that look like? And then getting really clear on what are the actual dollar productive activities that drive that.

those things well defined then you can pour into the dollar productive activities that'll start giving you progress toward where you want to be.

Chris Benedict (47:20)

Absolutely. Listen, final thoughts coming up here. You know, if your only strategy is to grind harder, you don't have a strategy. And we all have seen those scenes in the movie where it's like, can you give the engine just a little bit more captain? And we all know what happens, right? At some point the engine explodes because it can't. And that is you, that's your time, that's your life, right? You can't grind harder. There's only so much of you to give and don't make your life and health the first thing that's gonna break when you over.

Heather Boehme (47:32)

Thank

Mm-hmm.

And I would challenge everybody listening to know what that number is. Know how much money you need to be bringing in on a monthly basis without doing anything in order to meet your basic needs. Pay your mortgage, pay your food bills, pay your electricity. What's your freedom number? And it doesn't need to be $2,000 a month. It can be $10,000 a month. Yeah, it's going to be a little longer to get there. But if you know that number, all of a sudden it gets easier to define your dollar productive activities.

Chris Benedict (47:50)

That's it.

Meet basic needs.

Heather Boehme (48:20)

build a plan. So that's what I would challenge people today to do is calculate it. Figure out what your average monthly expenses are going to be and that'll start giving you the clarity to figure out how you're going to go about building that.

Chris Benedict (48:35)

Good

stuff. I love this. So,

Heather Boehme (48:38)

Well, next time

we're talking about how to stop being the bottleneck in your own business so you can actually start getting your time back. I'm excited about talking about that.

Chris Benedict (48:46)

All right, well sweet, subscribe, share this with a friend who needs to hear it. DM us if you're ready to ditch the hustle trap. Always happy to talk to other fellows out there who are looking to get in and out of the hustle. Remember, your time has value. Don't ever forget that. See you guys on the next call.

Heather Boehme (49:01)

Alright, have a good one guys. Woo!