Elevate The Hustle

How to Build a Business That Runs Without You | Liz Mershon

• Elevate Teams • Season 1 • Episode 20

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 59:50

Most people build a business to find freedom. Liz Mershon built five and was still a prisoner.

In Episode 20 of Elevate The Hustle, hosts Stanley Meytin and Dom Piccirillo sit down with Liz to unpack the unfiltered story of how she sold her car at 22 to fund her first business, built Miami's most iconic production studio where Shakira, Oliver Stone, and Paramount Pictures all worked, scaled 5 behavioral health clinics, sold to private equity twice, and still couldn't take a vacation without hiding in a bathroom to take calls.

This isn't a success story. It's the real one: the grind with no foundation, the exit that broke her identity, and the operating system that finally gave her and the founders she now works with their lives back.

Episode Highlights:

  • The moment she sold her car at 22 and went all in with no plan B.
  • How working 24 hours for free on a film set opened every door that followed.
  • Why scaling fast without a system is just a faster way to crash.
  • The truth about selling to private equity that nobody prepares you for.
  • The business framework proved to be 35% more effective than any other system.

Whether you're an insurance agency owner, an entrepreneur, or a leader who's built something great but lost yourself in the process, this episode will show you what freedom actually looks like when it's built on a system, not a hope.

Subscribe, drop a comment, and share this with a founder who needs to hear it.


📩 Want to be on Elevate The Hustle or collaborate with us? 

Apply or connect here: elevatethehustle@elevateteams.io


✅ Connect with US

Instagram: instagram.com/elevatethehustlepodcast/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/elevate-teams/

Stan's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stanleymeytin

Dom's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dominicpiccirillo

Liz's email: liz@theprofitrecipe.com 



Real talk, real stories, and occasionally real bad language.


🌐 Website: elevateteams.io
📷 Instagram: @elevateteams
🔗 LinkedIn: Elevate Teams
🎙️ YouTube: @ElevateTheHustlePodcast

SPEAKER_00

I think some people are wired to be doers and I've seen it. And I think every you need it I you need both. I don't think everybody's wired to be an entrepreneur. Like it's hard, guys, right? Like I don't have to tell you. Like it it's a lot. There's a lot of more to lose and going to a job and having the, you know, the comfort of a paycheck. I don't think everybody's wired to to take that kind of lifestyle. I mean, to to live that kind of lifestyle and take that kind of risk. I really don't. Elevate the hustle.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to Elevate the Hustle, where we break down what it actually means to build teams, scale companies, and lead with intensity. I'm your host, Stanley Mayton.

SPEAKER_05

I'm Don Picharillo. And today we are lucky enough to have a guest that's done what most people only dream of doing. Uh, she has 30 years of experience building and exiting several businesses. So without further ado, we'd like to welcome Liz. Liz.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_04

30 years. Oh my gosh. I hope that hurt.

SPEAKER_02

We have a lot to talk about. We do know Liz personally. Liz is our EOS implementer, and we're gonna get into that. But let's start it off the right way. You sold your car to fund your first business straight out of college. Is that your first entryway into entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_00

It was, honestly. And my parents thought I was crazy, but then again, like they knew I was pretty stubborn, and whatever I set my mind to do, I'd do it. So yeah, I sold the car. I moved to Miami Beach so I could ride my bike because I didn't have a car, obviously, to get to work. Um, and I invested it in a retail store because that's was a dream at the moment.

SPEAKER_05

What kind of car was it, Liz? Was it like uh yeah, please tell us.

SPEAKER_00

It was actually my very first serious car that I that I invested in, which was a Honda Civic CRX. And it was like the coolest car at the time, so it was painful, but it was worth something. So, you know, gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_02

So let's take you through that mindset. What prompted that? What made you decide? You know, what made you go all in at such a young age? Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? Was that were you selling, you know, lemonade at seven years old, door to door? Where where did the the itch first come from?

SPEAKER_00

All of that, right? Um honestly, I I knew I was wired a little differently because I I always just wanted more, right? I just got excited about trying new things and, you know, yeah, I was selling lemonade, you know, I was like doing all those things. But I also I think there was part of it was in my DNA. My grandfather was, you know, he was a you know business owner, and I saw my parents, and it was just part of my DNA too. So I think that even though they came to this country and they had to get jobs, they both were raised in entrepreneurial households. So they I I don't know if that just kind of translated into me and they had to skip it because I didn't have the resources as immigrants initially. But um, yeah, I think part of that and then just being wired a little differently. Like I had no my tolerance to risk was like unex. I was very high, I guess.

SPEAKER_05

I think it's interesting. Like you come from an immigrant family, right? And being in EO, you know, there's a lot of immigrants that are in entrepreneurs' organization or like kids of immigrants or whatever. Do you find that, or do you think there's correlation or do you see like similarities in the risk that you have to take to like drop everything that you have and move to a new country and like the risk that you have to take starting a business?

SPEAKER_00

100%. I think that you know, I think about my parents and they had to leave everything, everything, and start from nothing, right? It takes a certain kind of courage to do that. Obviously, there was a good reason to do that, but still, you leave without knowing if you're ever gonna see your failing. You have to rebuild your life. And it, you know, it builds this grid in you that you just have to figure it out. You have to reinvent yourself. And that that alone is it's a certain kind of individual that you kind of just you know sets you up for that kind of lifestyle where you know fear is not the thing that drives you. You're you're less worried about what the worst that could happen, you just gotta make it happen. I think that's part of it.

SPEAKER_02

What what were what were some of those side hustles growing up? You said lemonade.

SPEAKER_00

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_05

So funny one were you selling green plants to the other kids in high school?

SPEAKER_01

This is a beautiful one.

SPEAKER_00

Those are good girl boys. Come on. No, but this is funny. I so I lived in a city and you know, I did not grow up with money at all. I mean, my parents, again, like they had to rebuild my dad had working in a factory, my mom was cleaning hotels when I was little, but they bought me a bike. I was an only kid and they got me a bike, and not a lot of kids had their bikes, so I used to rent my bike. You want to ride my bike, sure, but it's gonna cost you. So I would rent my bike, and I made some candy money that way. That was uh that was another early, early Dave hustle. And uh, hey, they paid for it. So and taught me like people will buy anything.

SPEAKER_05

Supply and demand.

SPEAKER_00

Supply and demand. There you go.

SPEAKER_02

So let's fast forward. You you you go to college. What point did you get this idea to start this business? How did that come about? And you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I started working very early on and loved money. I like not money. That's I that's not true. I love the idea of that independence of like having my own stuff, right? That ability to just call my own shots. And I think when I thought about creating my life, I thought I want to have maybe that's the control freak in me, but I it's like I want to have control of my own destiny and decide if I'm gonna make, you know, if I'm gonna make a lot of money, a little money, or do it because I love it, whatever it is, it's my decision. And so I think it was really from that. So a little bit is maybe like the little bit of that control. Another part of it is just that independence. It's like wanting to not rely on anyone, right, to to define who and how I was gonna live.

SPEAKER_05

How did that segue into like starting your own business? You said you're not driven by fear. So, like, what is it that drives you other than you know, I guess the independence and I I'm, you know, I I mean, maybe it's a Latina.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I'm pretty passionate and I just, you know, when I I get excited and energized by something, I just want to go all in. And at the time, that was what excited me. The idea of having my own store, like a brick and mortar, and just, you know, just saying I have my own business and and getting to build it and decide what I want to sell and who I want to sell to. That just excited me. And so the idea was more than just a business, it it was something that I enjoyed because it was fashion, there was beauty products, so things that I could relate to, right? So um what yeah, I think you have to you have to want to you have to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02

So let's walk through the first business. So it was a retail store, you were selling fashion items, what were you selling? Who's your clientele base? What what what's that experience look like?

SPEAKER_05

How many hours are you working? Yeah other than like taking out the trash and cleaning up, like what are you doing there? Are you doing sales?

SPEAKER_00

Uh so it, I mean, honestly, I I've also part of it is I think I've just been really lucky too, because um, I had a friend who knew the owner, the founders of this product called Keels, which is now owned, I think, by L'Oreal, one of those name brands. And so they introduced me to, you know, to the founder, and they let us put Keels, that let me put Keels in the store, which was a great product because it was an anchor product that drew people that would not otherwise stop at my store. And at that time, this was in the early 90s where the fashion and film world were really hot in Miami Beach, particularly. And so all the, you know, all the um modeling agencies had satellite offices there. And so that became my clientele. So that immediately just put me on the map. And that was really just a lucky situation. And I just happened to be at the right place at the right time with a with a good product. And honestly, that was that was the the thing that transformed the business from just a little shop to actually being a place that became known because nobody else was carrying it.

SPEAKER_02

Do you believe in luck or or did you make your own luck by uh well, I you know, I think it's a little bit of both, right?

SPEAKER_00

Because I was very fortunate to meet this person that, you know, opened that door for me. And then of course, then it I had to go through that door and do the rest. But I was fortunate enough to have this contact, and that one conversation led to another. And you know, like again, going back to I I didn't know what I didn't know, and and like I didn't have any fear, like, oh, what are they gonna think of me? I just like like who cares? What do I have to lose? I just it's like that naive thinking of like, what do I have to lose? Like if they say no, they say no.

SPEAKER_02

So what happens next? You you you close the store, you sell the store.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so that introduced me to the world of film and television, and I really fell in love with, you know, just the must, the hustle of it. It's just like it takes so much, you know, there's there's just so many moving parts. And with retail, I was just like sit, you know, sit and wait for business. And I just knew that that wasn't for me. And so I sold my store. I was very lucky I was able to sell it. I mean, I didn't walk away with a big profit or anything, but you know, I made my money back in a little bit, enough to fund me being able to work in the in the industry for peanuts, right? I was like, I don't care, I just want to learn. And again, it was something that energized me. I could see myself in it. And so I'm like, I'm just gonna learn. And so I just jumped in, took any job, worked 24 hours if I had to. In fact, I did work 24 hours on um on a on a shoot. And I'll never forget it was uh like an indie film, and we just shot for 24 hours. You know, it was gorilla filmmaking, but it was exciting, right? Because I didn't care if I didn't make money, but that opened doors. I met people, right? And I was willing to do the things that other people weren't because I wasn't driven by just, you know, what are you gonna do for me? It was like, how can I show you that I'm worth you giving me more work? And so one thing led to another. And again, met people, wound up in um in post-production. I was working in a big post-production house out of Manhattan, based out of Manhattan, and then opened up an office in South Beach. There I met a guy named David Geisler, who his father was a pioneer in the in the in the industry. They uh built the first satellite trucks that, you know, the that cover the NFL and the Academy Awards. And David was a very behind-the-scenes guy. And he and I made friends, you know, we we build a friendship. And fast forward a couple years, he reaches out to me. He goes, Hey, how would you like to start a studio? And I was like, start a studio. And he's like, Yeah, you you got, you know, you've got the contact, you're the front of the, you know, front person, and I'm all the technical. I think we'd be great. Again, I was like, what do I have to lose? So I was like, okay, David, let's do it. We started with a little studio in Miami Beach, like in this off of Bay Road, which is now like a funky little area. Um, and we built from there and then we took over these large spaces. It used to be called Limelight, where all the features used to come, but it was just a shell, 175,000 square feet of just like big studios, but no equipment, nothing. And we took it over and slowly we we brought it to life, and it became the premier place to shoot anything. Television, film. We had we had full services, we had a catering company in there, we had um all the equipment, we had a post-production house, we had offices for people to rent space if they were shooting films. So it became like a real like serious like opportunity that started as nothing, you know, started as a leap of faith.

SPEAKER_05

What were some of like the big TV shows or films? Like, is there anything people would know?

SPEAKER_00

It was so long ago that I mean, we shot, uh gosh. I mean, first of all, every uh MTB was a was a um was a client, so they shot Unplugged there. The Latin America division here was um, so they'd shot like there's a very like even Santana shot and uh did uh MTV there, Mana, all these like big names. We did all these, you know, videos, um like Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, all these like Latin artists, uh Shakira, all these people came. And then as far as films, I mean we did we did episodics with Columbia TriStar, Paramount Pictures, Oliver Stone shot movies there. I mean, Clayton Townsend was a client, you know, every time they did anything in town, they'd come to my studios. So it was it was the only like game in town, to be honest with you, that had the size studios that we had for film. And then separately we had televisions with multi-unit cameras. So Discovery Channel was an anchor client. Um, you know, Viacom, like I said, MTV, Nickelodeon, um, Telemundo, NBC Telemundo shot a show there that was really famous. It was a talk show that was hosted by a priest, which was really weird.

SPEAKER_02

I I have a question because I think this is very interesting. And I mean, I'm a big pattern guy. I'm starting to see a pattern. You're like, hey, what do I have to lose? Right? You're willing to put in the work, and it seems like relationships is something that you value, and people value you because you keep providing value to them. Um, which kudos to you, by the way. And for those of you guys watching, watching or listening to the podcast, I mean, business is kind of simple. If you really break it down, people are just sometimes afraid, right? But yeah, you gotta put in the work. If you're sitting on your couch and you're like, I want to be an entrepreneur and a business owner, you're probably not gonna be an entrepreneur or a business owner. Uh, you're probably not gonna get really fit either, right? You're gonna have to go, you have to go put it in the work. You gotta get off your ass. You gotta go grind and hustle. But the interesting part is so you didn't you do not have a business degree, right? Like, how do you how do you know how to run these businesses? How do you know how to grow them? Like, where did you get all that information from? How did you figure shit out for lack of a better word?

SPEAKER_00

You know, good question. I don't know. Some of it is uh I I like just instinct, I guess, you know, a little, I'm a little scrappy, right? I was, I've learned a lot, you know, over the years, but I was very scrappy. And I think if I look back, what's called soft skills and EQ, I had, I think I probably had a good soft skills and and high emotional intelligence. So I could just, you know, relate to people, and then I had the confidence, right? I really got to know what whatever it is that I was doing. I wanted to be the best at it. I wanted to really know my service product. And so when I was in a room, I I think people initially would look at me a certain way, but then I had to earn it, right? And I how do you earn that? By showing up, really knowing your stuff and and and gaining that trust. So I think that I just had to teach myself these things that didn't come naturally, and then the things that come naturally to me really just lean in on them, you know, and not be again. I think my biggest thing is like I had never let fear dictate any of my decisions. I think that is probably the number one thing that has led me to trying so many different things and some succeeding, some failing, but honestly, like just and I I don't know if it's naive or it's definitely not cockiness because I'm not cocky at all. But I just I figured what's the worst that can happen? I can move back with my parents. You know what I mean? It's like seriously, like I just had this mentality that I didn't have money to lean on, but I had family, I had support. That gave me a sense of confidence in doing these things that I don't think I would have had otherwise.

SPEAKER_05

And so you're you're dealing with these like major businesses, right? Like these discoveries and MTVs of the world. And like, how do you how did you find these people as clients? Like, did they just come to you? And then like what was it like to, you know, negotiate deals with them and get them in the door?

SPEAKER_00

And yeah. Um I didn't have to find them, thankfully, because like I said, we had a very unique, very fortunate that we had a very unique pro, you know, like our stages were you couldn't find stages like us anywhere near us. You have to go outside of South Florida. So we had that. And then David, you know, David's background, he had expertise. We had all this tech, you know, we had crews and and technical equipment and just so thankfully, answer, no, I didn't have to find them. But then I had to negotiate and make that the negotiation, right, and making it making sure that we we were getting the best deal possible was the part that was the hard part. Because now you get them, but these are people that are way smarter than you, and they've been in many more negotiating tables than you ever have. So how do you leverage what you have, right? Without so it's kind of like how do you create a in a a scenario where it's a win-win? Because I didn't want to have them take advantage of me because they could have easily, because we wanted them desperately. So it's just holding that space where you have to just be confident enough to not be a, you know, not allow them to bully you, right? And and make you feel like you're they've got something over on you because they need you. So it's just leveraging that. And and again, I think this is where you know having some of those soft skills really helps. Reading a room, knowing what to say, when not to say it, right? Um, and that's something that I think came a little more natural to me.

SPEAKER_04

And that helped me.

SPEAKER_00

Do you do you think you have to be a little bit diabolical to be an entrepreneur? I mean you have to be a little crazy.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, you're like I think it's like the glass half full, half empty, right? You're you're just looking at it from a different viewpoint, you're looking at it from a different lens, and you see it, right? Like you're like, like I could see this, and sometimes shit falls and crashes, and but but you do see it, right? Like you're you're you're you're you're looking at it and you're like, I I could see how we could make this work.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, this sounds a little woo-woo, but I I swear this is so true. I could literally visualize it in my head. I would visualize the outcome I wanted. I was so like, I would go in there just like so confident, I'm like, this is what's gonna happen. And I would psych myself out in my head. And again, like maybe it's my naive thinking, but I would already play it out in my head how I wanted it to end up. And you know, it didn't always go as smooth as I wanted to, but I think that helped me tremendously. That visualization, I I started doing that very early on. I didn't even know what that was, I was just doing it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, I don't think it's over at all. Like you look at the best athletes in the world, right? Tiger Woods, like Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, they talk about visualization as they see, you know, they're they see the shot they're gonna hit, they believe in it, they convince themselves that no matter what, they're gonna be able to do it. And I say this all the time I'm a really bad athlete, right? But like entrepreneurship is our game. We see shit that other people don't. We you know, the ner like I do not get nervous when it comes to business. I get excited, right? Where standing over a golf ball and I'm like, police don't yeah, it's true though.

SPEAKER_00

It's like it's exciting and that the idea of building and like I don't know, it's just it it gets that's the stuff that gets your adrenaline going. It's not it's not the sports, right? I I'm not a sports person either. So um, but yeah, that gives me that rush.

SPEAKER_02

But I think everybody has do you think everybody has it in them? Do you think that no, you don't.

SPEAKER_00

You think you think some people just don't have it and and no, I I honestly I think some people are wired to be doers, and I've seen it, and I think every you need it, I mean you need both. I don't think everybody's wired to be an entrepreneur. Like it's hard, guys, right? Like I don't have to tell you, like it it's a lot, there's a lot of more to lose and going to a job and having the you know the comfort of a paycheck. I don't think everybody's wired to to take that kind of lifestyle. I mean, to to live that kind of lifestyle and take that kind of risk. I really don't.

SPEAKER_02

But do you I mean, you have you know hundreds of clients that are entrepreneurs and you help them through their journey. Are you sitting with some of them and you're like, these guys don't know what they're doing?

SPEAKER_04

Well, they well, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_05

She's like, yeah, the last time I saw you guys, that's that's exactly what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, but you know what? Look, there are people that are really great at what they do, right? They they've honed in a craft, whether it's a doctor or a lawyer, they're great at what they do, but they're not necessarily, there's a difference between that and being like wired to be an entrepreneur like you guys are. And I think those people, right? They they've had the courage to start their business and they that takes courage, right? So that is an entrepreneur. They're missing sort of that that natural instinct, which is where it's harder for them because they they're really good at their craft, but they're missing that natural instinct. So they it's harder for them. So I I guess there's skills that can be learned, but it's as far as like there's certain people that are just wired naturally to just have that instinct, I guess. I that's what I think. I don't know. I could obviously, what do I know?

SPEAKER_02

You know more than we do. You know more than we do, so we'll we'll we'll we'll go with that answer. Let's fast forward to your next business venture. So what what happens next? How how do you how do you find the next business?

SPEAKER_00

So, you know, none of this was just like I it's funny because it seems like I just jumped from one place to another, but it really wasn't. It's just like one thing led to another. Because once that whole um, you know, the film and television, I was in that space for a very long time. And it got to a point, I was in, you know, it was a different, I grew into a phase in my life where I had young kids. I now was only not running the the studio, but I was also decided to get into content and creating content. So now I was working ridiculous amount of hours. I would go into the studio, leave, put my kids to bed, and go back into the studio. And that burned me out. And so I took a hiatus for a few years, and I was thinking, I gotta do something next. And I was talking to a friend of mine, and she was telling me about this venture that she was thinking going into in behavioral health, and I knew in my head, I was like, I want to do something different. I want to do something with purpose, right? I want to work with in a different space. And so when we started this conversation, like I could just feel it. I was like, you know, I want to know more. And so it all kind of lined up again, like, I don't know, you know, whatever you want to call it. But I was actually, my husband was there on a contract. We moved out of state, and um, the timing was perfect because I was moving back to South Florida, and we're talking about opening up a place here. And so that just, I was like, you know what? Let me all come in and consult. I'm not ready to commit to anything because I gotta get my kids situated. Like it's a big transition. But, you know, you saw the story. I started with 10 hours and it went and it became like, woo! It was 24-7. But that's kind of like how I operate. I went all in and uh, and that turned out to be an amazing, oh, what a great experience. That was one of the one of the most profound and I think uh where I grew the most as as an as an entrepreneur. It's really was my best education, honestly.

SPEAKER_02

Share that with uh with our little viewers. What what was the business? How quickly did you guys grow?

SPEAKER_05

What were the biggest pain points? What were you learning? What's the biggest lessons you learned?

SPEAKER_00

So we grew very fast. I mean, it was a behavioral health uh clinic. We've treated women with eating disorders very niche, very, very niche.

SPEAKER_02

We love niche.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yes, and so I know is to like elevate the hustle.

SPEAKER_02

Niche.

SPEAKER_00

So um, yeah, we started with one center. We we said we're gonna take in six women, right? Residential 24-7. And then before we knew it, we were on a wait list. And it was like open up a second center and a third center and a fourth center and a fifth center. We were just like boom, boom, boom. And so it was just, I mean, flying by the seat of your pants because you're just moving so fast. And, you know, in retrospect, it's like that that what you what you know, what I tell people during my 90s, it's like you're successful despite yourself. Because we just everything was reactive, everything was a fire. We were stepping over each other. We had no real foundation to for that growth. We were just the money was coming in, and so we were just growing, but we did not have any discipline or any real accountability. So it was hard. And and that caused burnout too. I mean, for the first five years, I didn't take a vacation. I even if I did go away, I was literally hiding in bathrooms taking business calls because if I feel I felt like if I didn't take the call, like the sky would fall, right? So it was, you know, those moments, right?

SPEAKER_02

So um let's talk about let's talk about that because I think that is important, you know. Yes, I I've been there, I know Don's been there. Like you're in that point where you're like, if I don't do this, I I'm gonna go out of business, right? Or like or like this is gonna break, and you tell all these stories to yourself in your head, which are obviously not true. But is that do you get addicted to the grind? Do you get addicted to the hustle? Is it is is there, you know, a little bit of that, or is it like what is it? Well, I mean, now you're looking at it from a different perspective, sitting in the implementer seat where you're and we're gonna get into what Liz actually does. She's a traction US coach, but she's consulting for businesses and helping them structure their their their year, their quarter, and and and watching them grow, right? She she's she's a coach, a consultant that is helping them grow in a very like foundational formatted way. So now looking at it is like you see it all the time, I'm sure, of all the people that are like, I know exactly where you are in your journey. Is it are they a little bit addicted to that grind or they just don't know better?

SPEAKER_00

Uh, I think it's a combination of both, right? Because I know personally there was a part of me that thrived in that environment. Like I kind of love the, I don't know, a little bit of that crazy, if you will, at that time in my life. It was like, it was both like this love-hate kind of relationship with it, but it it it it just got that the juices flowing, right? But it that at the same time, um, it was hard. It was very, very hard because it had an impact on my life, my family life. And so that wasn't a great thing. And honestly, that's what really caused me to want to make a change. And I had, I knew I had to do something different because that's not sustainable. You can't that, you know, as an entrepreneur, you know, you want speed. Everything is speed, but speed without consistency and clarity is just like it falls apart, right? Like you like you guys are laughing, right? Because we want everything fast, but the truth is that if you don't have a solid foundation and you're just growing, at some point, when there is some kind of stress or some kind of friction, something will break because you're not, you just you just built this on very that the foundation is not. That's house of cards, exactly, right? And so it's it's it doesn't take a lot for the house of cards to fall apart. You know, the market changes, you lose a big client. Like, and if you don't have those that infrastructure really solid and you're like working efficiently and and really disciplined, it's this is a very vulnerable time that business owners are in. And so I saw that. I saw that um not that I I saw the the risk that I was taking, but I didn't know how how to be different, to be honest with you. And that's when this, that's when EOS came into my life. It it really gave me a different perspective. It was like, you guys know it's not rocket science, but it's just the way that the framework creates an opportunity to work smart and just get everybody on the same page with clarity and alignment. And these are things you want to do as an entrepreneur, you just don't have the time. And so, and you just don't prioritize it because you're too busy wanting to just build the business, build the revenue, you know?

SPEAKER_02

So Liz, let's slow it down a little bit because for those people that don't know what EOS is, even though we talk about it on the show all the time. Like everyone like a really quick summary. What is EOS traction like?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, for how did you find how'd you find it? Did you read the book? Did someone like introduce you to this? Like what got you started? And and yeah. We call it entreprene entrepreneurship for dummies, but you you know, that might be insulting to you.

SPEAKER_00

No, but it's but honestly, no, but it really is because it's so basic and rudimentary, but yet we don't do it, right? And so, um, yeah, so Fred introduced me to it and actually said, you know, read this book. And I kind of laughed because I was like, read. Who has time for that? So she introduced me to someone that um that just shared with me what the business model was, right? It's like we talk about really three key areas that we focus on, which is crystallize vision, which is crystallizing where you're going and how you're gonna get there, traction, which is about instilling discipline and accountability so that everyone's executing on the vision, and the healthy, which is about building a culture of people that actually like working together. And we do that through six components of the business, because if you if you strengthen those six components, you just run a better business. And each of those components has these simple, simple tools that you use to run the business with these tools that make everything not subjective, but objective, concrete, black and white. You're you're not like I think, I feel, like you're working with tools that are are the that make it easy for people to understand, for employees to understand what the expectation is, right? And and and make it very clear what you know, good looks like from behavior, what good looks like from productivity, what good looks like from from roles and responsibilities. And that is something that a lot of entrepreneurial companies don't put the time in to do. And so we blame the people, we blame the market, we blame all these things, but the truth is that we just haven't done the things that that work, that work, that help us just make life easier, work smarter, not harder.

SPEAKER_02

I I I like to call it like a transparency roadmap, right? Because anybody that's coming into our organization and could look at our BTO, you know, also hold could hold us accountable for what we're saying, right? So if we're saying, hey, our vision is this, here's our core values, here's what you know our goals are, here's what our marketing plan is, all these things, and then they come in and that's not accurate, they could call us out on it and say, This is bullshit. You guys are not being true to what you're saying that you're trying to accomplish. Um, which I think is like a very powerful tool for somebody, you know, to come inside an organization and really get a snapshot of what they're trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_00

And and that's huge because most of the time it lives right here in the founder's right head. And so to be able to get all that out of your head and have a leadership team and that everyone's aligned and then sharing with the rest of the organization, it would creates what we call that rowing in the same direction. And that accountability that you're you're meant you're talking about, right, is across the entire organization, including the founders. And it just it levels everybody up and those who won't level up will fall off.

SPEAKER_02

They they they will.

SPEAKER_00

They will.

SPEAKER_02

I mean or you'll or you'll kick them off, but or you kick them off, right?

SPEAKER_00

Because well, and that's the thing, right? You now we're dealing with facts, not feelings. So all these tools we're working with facts so we can give people the opportunity to correct themselves and and do the thing that they need to do that in their in their role. And if they don't, then it's on them because we've we've we've set the stage, we've given them you know everything they need to succeed. Most of the time we don't. I I always say people don't typically mean to disappoint. It's usually a lack of clear expectation. And let's face it, look, any business, the hardest thing of any business is the people. And if we don't stop and we put these things in place, we're always going to be going through that people issue, right? And and that's caught that that costs money.

SPEAKER_02

The most amount of money.

SPEAKER_00

The most amount of money, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

So going back to your previous venture, at what point did you just decide? Was it burnout? Was it like I've had enough? Or, you know, was the number so good that private equity came in and offered you, and you're like, I just have to take it and leave?

SPEAKER_00

So honestly, what it was is like everything else in private equity, they the the space was, you know, just very hot. And all our competitors were jumping on that bandwagon, and we just didn't have the capital to fund the growth that we needed to, if we wanted to compete in this space, we needed to grow. And we just didn't have the money to do that. So that's when we said, we got, we gotta, we gotta take some money and we if we want to scale this business the way that we we say we are, right? And and stay and stay competitive. Um, and so really that was the driver is we decided that we wanted to continue to grow. We wanted to stay in business, and the only way we could do that is by taking in a partner.

SPEAKER_05

What was that experience like? Did you vet multiple partners? Did you run a process?

SPEAKER_00

Did you uh yeah, yeah. It was um so the first old WhatsApp?

SPEAKER_02

Did you buy a big boat when you sold?

SPEAKER_00

No. My husband says the best boat is somebody else's boat.

SPEAKER_05

Did you go get a retro uh Honda Civic?

SPEAKER_00

There you go. I bought that car back, dang it. It's mine. Anyway, no, but you know, the first round was very different. So the first round um was very easy because they they didn't get involved. They were, they let us operate uh exactly the way we were. They just gave us some resources to, you know, um do things that a couple of things that we didn't have, including EOS implementation. Um, but the second round, that's when things went different in a different direction, right? This was a second, a second sale. And we went through, so we had an investment banker, and I kid you not, we sat in uh, we we rented a room at um at the Ritz uh conference room. We must have seen 14 different PE firms, like literally dog and pony show every few hours. It was like the most exhausting experience. It was very cool though, learned a lot. Um, but yeah, it was exhausting. And then we finally landed on the one that, you know, we thought was the best and had the best deal. But that came at a price for sure. Because that second deal was very different than the first one.

SPEAKER_05

Was it was it different financially? Was it different in terms of like control of the business? Because it sounds like you you sold a chunk for growth capital, maybe you took some money off the table, but you may and I'm correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming you rolled a percentage of what you sold in stock, and the idea was like you were gonna multiply that stock over the as like over the next however many years. Like what did it actually look like? What was different from what you expected versus what happened?

SPEAKER_00

A little bit of all of that, right? It was a much different deal structure, stayed in, had, you know, um the first one was just like honestly, like they they just infused some some money, but nothing changed. It didn't feel like anything really changed. We were just operating and growing in a way that was um felt a little bit more, you know, um manageable, right? Because we were allowed to, we were, we were, we had the money to hire a couple of key roles that we couldn't otherwise do. But the second sale just changed everything because it was a bigger deal, different deal structure, didn't think about what life was going to look like afterwards, right? And so you're used to being a builder, you're used to be having control, you're used to being nimble, and that didn't change during the first time. The second time, all that was different because now the decisions no longer were in our court in the same way. Um, so the decisions took much longer, right? And I couldn't make a decision quickly anymore. Um it just, you know, I was an operator, I was no longer building. And the, you know, the intimacy that you build with your business, knowing every part of it starts changing as you grow, grow, grow. You get more, you know, you get further away from it. And that I realized I wasn't cut out for that. Like I don't, that's not my jam, right? I don't love that. And so I was like, eek, uh, this doesn't feel some people might love that, and that'd be okay, that's okay. And it's not that it's a bad thing, it's just like the exit is not the end, it's a transition, right? So you gotta be prepared for that transition because it's gonna look different. Your identity as you saw that you saw you how you saw yourself changes. And so that's something that I did not anticipate, and it it hit me hard.

SPEAKER_04

So what happened?

SPEAKER_00

So I stayed on for a year and then left.

SPEAKER_05

You didn't see that coming though. I did, but I just figured, you know, she might as well say it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, listen, I it's not that it was bad, it just wasn't it wasn't aligned with who I was anymore, and I didn't want to, I didn't, it's not what I wanted anymore.

SPEAKER_05

It wasn't, yeah. I it's you know makes sense. I have a bunch of friends and people who sold to private equity, and you know, they go from being the final decision to having to run it by a board, and there's death by committee, and there's all these different players with different egos and different agendas, and it just becomes for like an entrepreneur who is an entrepreneur because they're unemployable. You now essentially have a job, and that's pretty much the worst thing that you could possibly have. You're better off on employment. I go into the corporate world for a reason. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, think about why I started this whole thing. I said I wanted independence, I wanted to be make my own decisions. This is like the total opposite of that, right? So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Let's fast forward. You are now an EOS traction implementer.

SPEAKER_04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02

What does that actually mean? How many clients are you working with? And and tell us some some. And who's your favorite client?

SPEAKER_04

You guys are, of course.

SPEAKER_02

By the way, for those of you that don't know, so we we we actually recently hired Liz and uh we flew her out to the Dominican Republic and she arrived. We had this really nice villa for our entire league. She arrived, and and she was like, I don't think it was what she was expecting, right? It was a bunch of crazy entrepreneurs and this big villa, and she's like, You guys are pretty cool. You guys uh these are my people, these are my kind of people. Besides us being your favorite clients, what uh what's the better like you talked about your juices flowing, right? And and and obviously we've seen you in action. You enjoy it. You enjoy helping businesses, you're really, really great at it. What is it like? What what why do you do it? And what satisfaction does it give you?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I honestly this is gonna sound super corny, but I honestly love it's so rewarding to me to see founders actually get their life back, right? Because I was there. I know what it is to have to be a prisoner in your own business, right? And so loving it, but at the same time having this love-hate relationship and impacting your family life, your own personal life in terms of how you take care of yourself and all that. And so when I start seeing, you know, people that have that have been in that place start having some of that freedom and the trickle-down effect of the entire organization and what that does for the culture, and it just it has impact on so many levels and so many people's lives that that's selfishly extremely rewarding for me. Like I'm truly so passionate about that. And I think it's because I was there and I I look, I could have stepped away and not done nothing, but I love what I do. I really truly love going. I'm gonna start a new client tomorrow. This guy is sitting in so many seats. He's already called me four times. Uh, his you know, right hand is sending him text messages about she can't be there the whole day and, you know, like that. No, exactly, exactly. And I'm like, I'm just like, my heart bleeds for him because he's, you know, he he's he's trying so hard, right? So he can't see the forest for the trees right now. But I know, I know that if we if we, you know, if we put the right things in place and start decentralizing him and thinking about things, you know, long term, right? Because this is not a sprint, this is a marathon, he'll get some of that sooner than he even thinks, probably, right? So, because he probably can't, I know he can't see it right now. It's like he told me, he's like, I cannot see a world where I don't it, I don't, I'm not putting out fires and I'm not delivering my own merchandise sometimes, you know. So that's super exciting to me.

SPEAKER_02

Firsthand experience, and I'm sure Dom could comment on this as well. Uh new traction has been the biggest, the most important thing we have done in this business. Uh and probably the number one thing that has continued to help us grow in the level we've been growing at. Uh it just it just simplifies everything. Obviously, we had a head start because Dom and I both ran traction in our previous businesses and we lived it, and a lot of our employees are coming over from previous businesses, so they understood the impact of it. Um, but I don't like I don't see a way, right? Like of how this business would be able to function without it.

SPEAKER_05

And it it would be way more dysfunctional than it is.

SPEAKER_00

And you guys have an amazing team, honestly. Like, you are I mean, I'm like, I was so impressed the first time I met with you guys that I thought, shoot, this guy's so young in terms of the age of your business, but yet the maturity, it it's clear that you've been there done that. But even the rest of your team, like you honestly, like it it shows. And I I've told you this when I when I met with you guys, there's a certain level of maturity that you've brought with your experiences, but then you've surrounded yourself with great people. So you just you know that makes such a difference. And and you're you you know when to let go, right?

SPEAKER_05

That's we love to let go, Liz.

SPEAKER_04

We're currently hiring.

SPEAKER_02

Um but but I think that like that, like sometimes I'll I'll meet with other entrepreneurs or business owners, and like the book of traction comes up, or and and I'm just like, you know, just do it. Like it it's gonna 10x, 100x, whatever, whatever the like, yeah, and it's expensive, right? I mean, it's not expensive to read the book. The book is 20 bucks. I think for anybody that wants to learn how to have a foundation for their their business, they need to go. We'll put the link in the description, go buy Gina Wickman traction. It's the easiest read in the world. It's like literally third grade level.

SPEAKER_00

Like, oh my god, this is even an eat um a more watered-down version, which is the what the heck is EOS. So if you don't want to even read that, you can do what the heck is EOS. So by the way, fun fact, right? This is this just came out. Um, EOS just shared this with us implementers that there was an independent study done um of I think a dozen or so um operating system. And out of all the operating systems, EOS was 35 more percent more effective than any other system and helped companies move like three and a half times faster than they normally would. And I think that's pretty conservative, to be honest with you. Um, but I thought that was pretty cool because there's a lot of frameworks out there, but I think the beauty about it is just the simplicity of it. It's so simple. It's like business for dummies, right? But it's just it works, guys, right?

SPEAKER_05

It does like business for dummies. We would we'd never start a business without like EOS. Like that's that's the foundation from like day one.

SPEAKER_00

I think it was you talk about not you know, not having a business degree, like talk about that's to me. That was like my MBA. It that is the easiest way to learn how to operate a business. If you could do that, you're good. It's it's true. And I I tell, I mean, I gave it to my kids.

SPEAKER_02

I love that. I mean, I know a lot of people that use, you know, the VTO for their family lives, right? They're different ways to absolutely start incorporating their personal lives.

SPEAKER_00

Even solopreneurs, even solopreneurs, I give them the VTO and I said, listen, just start getting it out of your head and create that roadmap. And it's easier to take little by little, right? Because when you when you think about all the things you want to accomplish, it becomes like an overwhelming amount of things you want to achieve. But when you start breaking it down and create that roadmap where it's like smaller bytes, all of a sudden it's like, oh, okay, this is doable. Like I can see, I can see how this could happen. So it's a great tool. It's called the Vision Traction Organizer. It's free on the EOS worldwide um website. So your your audience can access it.

SPEAKER_02

And and just I guess to simplify it. So the way the system works is you read the book, right? Most people try to, you know, they get inspired and they're like, including myself. I'm gonna do this myself.

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna do this myself. I'm gonna figure out because you have so much time to do with that too.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna figure out and and they all well, I most of them fail, right? Like 90.

SPEAKER_00

Or just you just go very slow, or you just do like uh I call it the EOS light because then you don't really apply the tools in the same way. You're kind of doing a version of it, just doesn't have the same doesn't have the same impact.

SPEAKER_02

Or they could hire you. Here's your time to pitch yourself. What what what happens? Walk us through walk us through how that works.

SPEAKER_00

Um, well, you know, we connect and I like to learn about, you know, the the individual, what they're struggling, and then we do like a 90-minute session with their leadership team because it's important for everybody to be on the same page and aligned on is this the right thing for us, right? We have to see if we're a fit. Um, I joke around and say, this is like um, you know, therapist, right? Where there's a lot of us, there's a lot of therapists out there, but you're not gonna click with every one of them. So it's important to is the experience that I bring important to you? Is you know, my energy and my style click with yours. Like us, we clicked, right? Not everybody's the same. And I might refer them to another implementer if we're not the right fit. So I think that's the first step is just learning about what the EOS journey looks like, what the process looks like, and saying, is this right for me? Right? If it is right for you, am I the right person for you? Are we right for each other? If we are, great. Then we move on to the next thing. And I think one of the things that I really that spoke to me about the EOS, um, the way that the business model is set up is there is no contract, right? We're all about giving value. If I'm not giving you value, you're not even obligated to pay me, which is that goes for all implementers, which is really, you know, we need to show up. Yeah, don't get any ideas, Dan. I see your face.

SPEAKER_04

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00

So I said, you know, it's a mental commitment because you do have to commit mentally, but it's not, there's no contract, there's nothing that binds us session by session. So, you know, like three sessions in, you're like, hey, I'm done. We're good. Like, I want the best for you, right? And so I love that because I don't want anybody to feel any sense of obligation. This has to work for you. And if it's not, then it's okay. We can move on. So that's something that I think is unique. And to be honest with you, it's like, what do you have to lose? A session, two sessions, three sessions, and you still, no matter what, you learn a lot.

SPEAKER_02

Right. And and so the first, just to wrap it up and summarize it, the first, what is it, a two-day session, the first initial session? Is it three days?

SPEAKER_00

No, it's no, the so the first three sessions are foundation building and they're 30 days apart, right? So we we're building foundation, but from day one, we hit the ground running. I introduce all the tools, I get them to schedule their level 10 meetings, which you know you know, we call it level 10 because we want to level up to from a scale to one to 10 to like run very effective meetings. Yeah. There you go. And those meetings, right? When you when you get really good at it, they feel great because you're it's all about, you know, getting things off your list, executing, moving towards, you know, hitting those goals that you have. Um, but we build a scorecard, right? We we we build the accountability chart. And then the next two sessions are building the vision, like answering those questions on the vision traction organizer, your values, you know, who you are, what you do, why you do, what success looks like five, seven years from now, what you know, what does success look like in three years? And then what are the things we have to do next year? What and remember in EOS, if everything's important, nothing is important, so less is more. We never get more than seven goals. Seven is the the most, because we want to be super focused. And then, and then we go into living in the 90-day world, right? And then we just meet every quarter. Meet with the leadership team, we revisit the goals. Do we get that do we hit them? Do we what do we have to learn? Do we have to reset or pivot? And then we, you know, that's our north. What do we need to do the next 90 days to continue on that path? And that's it. It's that simple. And then once a year we do our annual, which is the where I met you, which was the most awesome annual ever. It's a two-day annual where we first day we work a lot on reflection, celebrating, you know, team health. And then the next day is all like looking forward. What are we building for for the future?

SPEAKER_02

It works for anybody that has any doubts. I mean, what first step, read the book. Uh, I know a lot of nurses read the book, but then they don't follow through. But I think reading the book and then speaking to an implementer, it it does work. And obviously, Dom and I are in the EO ecosystem. Most of the people we know that are we drink the Kool-Aid, baby. Most of the people in EO run EOS. Some sort of version of it. Some version of it. But uh Liz, we we appreciate you coming on. Uh you are and you know, and and I think one of the reasons like we hired, and I'll tell the story real quick before we wrap up. We hired Liz. She was introduced to us to by another US implementer, and we couldn't, you know, find somebody to come for the two days we needed. We called Liz, she was available, she's like, I'll I'll I'll be there. But like we didn't know Liz, right? So, like, you know, are we gonna gamble? Yeah, she was available, that's it. But and one of the biggest things, which is important to us, is and there's we've we used a few different implementers, is there's like a lot of natives, right? Where they're like, gotta follow it step by step by step. And you know, I think Liz brings that entrepreneurial grit, somebody who's started companies, you know, sold companies, built companies, and you know, she'll call you out on your bullshit. And we kind of told her like we want that and need that, right? We don't want somebody to just you know check a box and cross it off the list and keep it moving. Uh so for us it obviously worked, but like you said, right? Sometimes it might not work, and they need somebody that is more structured and really, really get deep down into it. Um, but it worked for us, and uh, we love Liz. And you know, now that we've got a podcast, maybe she'll reduce her fees a little bit. Why to what? We don't even have to pay her. We don't have to pay her. She told us.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, geez, I'm so I wish I had said that.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. But we appreciate you coming on, and you know, I think like your prime example of hustle, right? Everything you shared with us today, you you you you went through it, you hustled, you you could see it in your energy. And that to me is exciting as an entrepreneur, listening to your story and hoping other people take things away from that and are able to, you know, like because I didn't have that growing up, right? When I was starting my businesses, I was just like, I don't know, I'm just gonna try to figure it out. I wish, you know, obviously now with social media and podcasts and you know, you have a lot more access. I hope people are able to take away from that and and apply to their business. But uh Liz, where can people find you? How can people find you?

SPEAKER_00

So they can find me on either like Liz at the Profit Recipe. So I'm part of a firm. I mean, I'm independent, but I'm part of a group, which is great because if it's not me, I'll I'll steer you in another direction. So I run on EOS, right? So the firm, talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. We run on EOS. I do level 10 meetings every Monday. I do quarterly and I have a quarterly on Monday. So um, because iron sharpens iron. So yeah, Liz at the Prophet recipe. There's uh my information, my bio is there, my contact information. It was easy to find. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. Liz Mershawn, you know, my name is on. You are not that I ever look at it, but yeah, I'm on it. I'm terrible.

SPEAKER_02

Um, well, we hope you guys enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Liz, thank you once again. And uh, we'll see you guys again next week.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. You guys are awesome. You made it so easy. Elevate the hustle. Yeah.