EP64: Stop Chasing Revenue. Start Building a Life You Respect

Everybody loves to talk about revenue.

How much they make per month. 
How fast they are growing. 
How big the business is getting.

And revenue matters. Profit matters. The numbers matter.

But revenue is not the only scoreboard.

In this episode, I talk about why the people you surround yourself with will shape the life you build, the standards you keep, and the ceiling you eventually hit.

I share the story of a decision I made back in 2015 to connect with 52 people in 52 weeks. Not just people who were making money, but people who were building lives I respected. Better leaders. Better spouses. Better parents. Better business owners.

Because the goal is not just to make more.

The goal is to become the kind of person who can build something meaningful without losing the things that matter most.

If you are in a season where you know you need to raise your standards, change your circle, or think bigger about the life you are building, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

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This is the Austin Cohen Podcast where we talk real strategies for chiropractors ready to grow beyond the adjustment. If you're building a business, developing your leadership, and trying to build wealth without burning out, you are in the right place. Let's get to work Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Austin Cohen Podcast. Man, I got a good one for you today. Hopefully everyone's having a good start to their summer. Oh, man, I love this time of year. 85, 95, baseball fields, pool, weeknights hit different. Man summer rocks. Summer's awesome. And so I live for summer. I could definitely see myself somehow living in the Keys at some point in my lifetime. But I, it's also one thing that's been hitting hard as well recently is just, man, for those of you guys that are in Empire, in Ascent, in Growth Summit attendees, in upcoming Adventure Summit attendees, and my Chiron80 clients you guys are kicking freaking butt. I've been hearing so much that's been happening in this profession recently about people feel like it's down, the economy, and the stuff I see online, I try not to chime in that much online, just trying to stay away from some of that false belief systems. But what you guys are talking about and what's happening inside beyond your practice and your four walls is awesome. 'Cause your four walls are crushing it, but you're understanding a lot of the concepts, and some of those concepts we're actually gonna talk about today. Because a lot of... as much as negative I see, I also see a lot of people in our space, and not even just chiropractic space, but some of the entrepreneurial world, and all they're talking about is how much revenue they make per month. And I'm not against revenue, 'cause it does matter, and so does profit and so does business, but when I was in chiropractic, it st- everything started off as all the seminars talked about your weekly visits. And then I remember going to a seminar and all they talked about was monthly revenue. And then no one ever talked about margins and some of the other concepts I wanna talk about today. 'Cause I think if we talk about the conversation that we're gonna have today who cares how much money you have at the end of the day, like revenue per month? There's so much more to life than that. And everyone's caught up on this because it looks great online, but they don't know what's going on beneath the surface. There's other questions I think people should be asking. And I'm not saying, like I said, numbers matter. You gotta know your numbers, and you gotta track them, and you gotta know what's coming in and going out. So I'm not saying money doesn't matter. It does. But I think we have started making revenue the only scorecard, and I understand it looks sexy when you look at people posting about it on social media, but I don't think that is healthy. And I do also do not think it's the full picture. You don't... I'm not online ta- I know what I know how much we do per month in revenue on all of my businesses when you combine the chiropractic, software, coaching, real estate, my wife's very successful real estate business. You're not gonna hear me talk about that. That, that doesn't even... it's irrelevant. When I look at someone's life, I don't just wanna know how much money they make per month, nor do I care. I wanna know the life they're building. I wanna know what kind of team they have. That matters actually a lot to me. I also wanna know how long do people stay with them for. I just celebrated a 10-year anniversary on May 2nd, and just yesterday I celebrated an eight-year anniversary That matters a lot more to me than somebody just sharing how much revenue they make per month. I wonder how they treat their employees. What do their employees say about them when they're not in the room? And what does their marriage look like? What does their relationship look like with their kids? Do they have peace actually in their life? Are they proud of the life that they're building when nobody is watching? When it's just them in a room and they're by themselves, are they proud of the life that they've built? And are you proud of the life that you've built when nobody's watching? And if you are, then stop comparing yourself to these people. This stuff matters way more than some monthly revenue screenshot. And I think the reason it's been on my mind is because, I look back at 2015, and for me, that was a season where I knew I wanted to change my life. And some of you are in that moment right there. You're at that pivotal moment right there. Some of you guys started coaching with me because you were ready for it, and I love reading so many testimonials of you guys from that first month, and hopefully so many of you are gonna be joining me for cohort two, which starts in September. But I knew that I wanted to grow, and I knew I wanted to think bigger and raise my standards. And I remember I made a decision in October because as for me, October is when I set my goals. And I made a list of 52 people that I wanted to connect with over the next 52 weeks. One person a week. That was the goal. And the list was not just the richest people I found, but it was not... and definitely not people who were making the most amount of money, but it was people who I wanted to learn from. And some of these people were great business owners, some were great fathers, some were great husbands, some wives, some leaders, some had amazing teams, some had incredible businesses, some had a way of thinking that a certain level of thinking that I just wanted to be around, and that was the point. And I read this book by Keith Ferrazzi, it was about, called Never Eat Alone, and that book allowed me to start thinking about life a little bit differently and who was in my circle. Because I knew if I wanted to change my life, then I had to change the rooms I was in, and I had to start changing the conversations I was having, and I had to change the people I was learning from, right? It wo- it had to go beyond just my chiropractic group. It had to go to actually having real friends, like people who I could call and that would raise up my thinking. Because the thinking that you have can only grow so much when you stay in the same environment, and the standards can only rise so much when you're around the same conversations all the time. And I knew that I needed to put myself in situations where my thinking could expand, where I could see myself at a higher level. That's where I had to put myself. And one of the biggest pivotal moments for me in 2015 was joining EO, Entrepreneur Organization. Completely shifted my circle. And I was around a group of seven other guys, and all of them fathers, husbands, entrepreneurs, leaders. What was cool about these guys is they all had big businesses And, but each one of them had grown something meaningful that was more than just the revenue, and it was the life that they were living. And, listen, these guys are great husbands, great fathers. Obviously, a lot of them are great friends of mine. They challenge me. They push me. They've done hard things, Ironman, marathons. They show up for their families, their businesses. I've watched some of them sell businesses and then give a ton of money to their staff and the people that got them there. These people think different, and you start to see what's possible when you put yourself consistently around people like that, and you just start realizing that you don't have to choose... you don't have to re- choose between being successful in business and being intentional at home. I've talked to so many people, mothers and fathers, who think that they can only have one. "I can either be a successful father or I can only be a successful business person, and I can't have both." And what I've learned is that I don't have to choose between building something big and being a present father, and I don't have to choose between having strong ambition but also friendships because I've learned that those friendships are people who have high ambition. And I've never had to sacrifice my values to have high level of growth, which is a huge limiting belief that a lot of people have. You can build a business. You can be a great spouse. You can be a great parent. You can have deep relationships. You can do hard things. You can live a life that is bigger than just your total revenue. That was a huge shift for me because when you're in the right circle, success becomes more complete, not how much money I make per month. I- it starts to revolve around and the questions start to become like, how are you leading your team? How are you showing up at home? How do you handle stress? How are you taking care of your body? How are you doing hard things? How do you serve your friends? Which, by the way, takes time. It was not easy for me to start building some friendships and relationships. I had to call people regularly when I built out this week of 50... this list of 52. This is such an important distinction because some of the most valuable lessons I've learned did not come from someone teaching me how to make more money. They came from watching how someone treated their family, how someone led their team, watching how someone carried themselves, watching how some of my friends have handled pressure in their business when they've been stolen against, and watching how someone showed up for their friends when something happened to a friend watching how some of my friends push themselves to do hard things. Those lessons shape you differently because you start asking better questions instead of asking, "How much revenue do you make per month? How many weekly visits do you see?" You start asking better questions. "Hey, how long have your employees been with you? How well do you pay your team? Do your people trust you? Hey, what kind of relationship do you have with your spouse? What kind of relationship do you have with your kids? Are you proud of the business you're building? Are you proud of the person you've become? Hey, are you becoming more patient, more generous, more present? Are you actually enjoying the life that you said you wanted?" Those are the questions I think more people need to be asking. Because I know people who make great money, and they are freaking miserable. And I know people that have built companies that look impressive from the outside, but they are trapped. And if they bragged about their revenue, you may get excited about that, but they are trapped, and they're not present in family, they don't build memories, and they can't lead themselves. And I know people who have a lot of revenue who have no peace. They have no friendships. They may have a lot of followers on social media, but they don't have any friendships and real relationships Listen, I'm not judging any of this. I want you to just start understanding, I think, what some of the best questions are to be asking. So many of you said to me after Growth Summit, and I'm only sharing from my own experience, but it was cool to hear so many of you share from experience about how you said, "Austin, the way you showed up on Friday and Saturday morning you didn't tell us what to do in the lessons that we learned at Growth Summit. It was more so watching how you showed up, and it was watching how you interacted with your family." And that to me is the stuff that matters the most. And, I think in this business space, a trap that can happen is you start chasing the scorecard so hard, you forget the game that you actually wanna win. I don't just wanna win the business game. I wanna win the life game. I wanna build this business where I show up because I want to, not because I have to. And I wanna build teams that feel valued. I wanna have a great relationship with my wife. I wanna have a great relationship with my kids. I want someone... I want a team that trusts me, friends that can count on me. I wanna be someone who does hard things and people that wanna be around. I wanna be around my friends because if I ever complain about something, they will call me out on that. Or if I ever have a limiting belief, they will call me out on that. And that is why the people you surround yourself with matter so much, because your circle changes your ceiling. The people around you will shape what you believe is normal. And if everyone around you is only talking about revenue, you start thinking about revenue as the whole scorecard. But if you get around people who are building great families, great teams, great friendships, strong, healthy bodies, meaningful businesses, and they live lives you actually respect, then your definition of success starts to expand. 'Cause you start realizing that the goal is not just more, the goal is better: a better life, better relationships, better questions, better friendships, better environments. And here's one thing that's cool, and I wanna finish with this. In 2015, one of the people I wrote down on that list was Jesse Itzler, and at that point I had no idea how I was gonna connect with him. I just knew I wanted to learn from him, and I wanted to be around his level of thinking. I knew he built things, experienced things, and thought about life in a way that was different. And here we are years later- 11 years later, and I get to adjust him at his house on a regular basis. And I don't say that to name drop, but I say that the point is that something that started as a name on a list became part of my actual life. I made a decision to pursue bigger rooms, bigger conversations, and bigger thinking. And this is what I want people to understand, is how much your environment matters. Your list matters. The people you pursue matter. The people you follow on social media. One of the best things I ever did was removing all the people on social media that didn't serve me. One of the best detoxes I ever did. When I look back at joining Entrepreneur Organization that was a big room for me to join. I see a different standard, not for business, but of life. And this is what I wanna challenge you with you today. If you're listening to this, I want you to ask yourself who's on your list? Who are the 52 people that you would wanna learn from in 52 weeks? Who are the people that make you think bigger, that raise your standards? Who has marriages you respect, parents that you respect, friendships you respect, leaders you respect? And I don't think it happens overnight. I had to start with friends, then I was focusing on people who are great husbands, then I focused on people who are great fathers. Who are the people whose life you actually wanna study? And then ask yourself, what groups do you need to be in? What rooms do you need to get into? What other conversations are you having? Who are the people who are living a life that you respect? Not just building a business that impresses you, though. If you want a different life, you cannot keep consuming the same conversations. You just can't you cannot just keep measuring the same things and keep asking the same questions. Better questions create a better life. And I think one of the best questions somebody could ask is, who do I need to be around to become the person I say I want to become? Who, not how. That is the real game. Who do I need to be around to become the person I say I want to become? This is not about how much money you make. It's who do I need to become? What standards do I need to raise? What rooms do I need to enter? What conversations do I need to have? What type of life do I actually want to build? So yes, grow your revenue, build the business, track the numbers, know your metrics but do not let revenue be the only thing you measure. Measure your relationships. Measure your peace. Measure your team retention, quality of friendships that you have, the experiences that you get to create every year the way people feel around you. And the goal is not just building a bigger business. The goal is to become the kind of person who can build a bigger life and doesn't even have to brag about it on social media. And sometimes that starts with one simple decision. Make the list, find the people, get in the rooms, and ask better questions. Doing hard things with people who hold you to a high standard because the circle changes your ceiling. And if you change your ceiling, you change what is possible for your life. I hope you guys enjoyed listening to this one. This was a heartfelt one because over the last couple weeks, I've been just seeing so much posting on social media about what I just shared. And I really want people to start identifying what they want for their life beyond just what on social media. Hope you all have a great day. I'm gonna start talking about this soon, but Growth Summit has very limited seats left available. That is a signature event I do every February in Serenbe, which is a self-sustainable community. So I'm gonna start talking about that event now, but you do wanna be in... That is a room you wanna be in. The max amount of people I can take is 100. And I know this is gonna maybe surprise you and think this is a sales tactic, but it's not. But I think right now we're already over 80% sold out. The reason why is because of last year, in February this past year basically almost everybody who came is coming back. So I would highly encourage you, if you wanna get your ticket, go to cairo180.com, click Attend Growth Summit. I will see you there. That will be a life-altering event, as many of you already know. Hope you have a great day. See you next week to learn more about building your business, leadership, and life on purpose, visit chiro one eighty.com or follow Austin on Instagram at Dr. Austin Cohen.