You're listening to brilliant breakthroughs. Episode Number 20 with Mike Raber
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 1:hey, small business owners. Welcome to the brilliant breakthroughs podcast where we focus on brilliant breakthroughs for the small business owner. This is also the name of the number one best selling book for Small Business and entrepreneurship that you can find on Amazon in written work form as well as an ebook. Just so you know which one it is on Amazon. The title is really in breakthroughs for the small business owner, fresh perspectives on profitability, people productivity, and finding peace in your business. Hi everyone. My name is Maggie Manga and I am the anthology leader of this great book and today we're honored to have Mike Raber, number one bestselling author with us to talk about your businesses, people per people performance being supported by understanding the power of community and systems and what it really takes to make your business successful. So Mike's Chapter is the fifth one and it is titled how do avoid the three most common challenges every small business owner encounters? Mike, you've covered a lot of ground in your chapter while at the same time really only scratching the surface and the challenges that small business owners face when it comes to things that hold them back from succeeding. So the question I have for you besides welcome, welcome, welcome Mike, is what are the one or two things that every small business owner needs to know about their business?
Speaker 3:Okay,
Speaker 4:one, two things. I would say I did the first and most important and I touched on it a little bit in the chapter. So I'll go into the more detail on this conversation or in this conversation. And that is building out our value proposition, becoming the grant. And as entreprenuer newer spot business owners, we hear all live with these people talking about creating your brand, be the brand, branding this or marketing lab. And the thing, the one thing that Austin people get away from is the why. What will the a is the brand? Why are we in business? Why are we doing while we're doing business? And being an entrepreneur is very, but it's also very challenging at time. And the strength of our Y or commendment behind our business or determine how often and to what degree of success we will be able to ultimately experience. One of my favorite things is if our value was clear, we can surpass any obstacle. So it's keeping that why keeping that value of who we are as an entrepreneur or as a small business owner clear in front of us, but then also looking at, okay, now we know who we are, we know why we're in business, but really why are we different than anyone else out there? What is it about our business that truly sets us apart? Why should people do business with us? And then building out a sense of community from that. And kind of interesting cause I had been an entreprenuer off and on and fascinating in business most of my life ever since I was like young kid. And one of the things that surprised me was my wife was pregnant with our first daughter and she was working in the corporate world and reached the point of or level of success or success that she wanted to reach at that point. And I was the general manager of real estate office and having a great time doing that. And now we're have this child along the way, we've talked about how we could put her in daycare part time or full time and all this stuff that young parents talk about. I bring this up now was when it came time and actually yesterday was a birthday. So that gave me some kind of time to the last 23 years. And when she was born, the doctor hammetry to me and I looked down at her and my whole world flipped upside down, radical paradigm shift. I looked at her and said, no, she needs someone around 24, seven. Yes, we will utilize the um, benefits of a daycare when necessary, but it's going to be on power costs and not on the call and employer. And I got up and basically resigned from my job. And ultimately that was the beginning of my walk in. And not only the things that was really cool was I had started a limousine company back then. I them as a company, I used the real estate office and that became my business. And in the process of building up the company, I was fortunate because I had my clients is CEOs, CFOs, high producers in the business, new corporate world. And they ultimately became my teachers. But one of the things I found was what about all the other business owners that don't have such an opportunity presented to them? And what is it that I as a limousine company hasn't had fewer what sets me apart? I knew what my brand was. I knew what my why was, but I didn't really know what set me apart from every other music company out there. And that was when I looked back and kind of reflected on what my company was about. And the, um, biggest goal that I had, not the goal, the biggest, um, asset that I had was I knew a lot of business owners and became the connector between the business owners in each other and my, and their clients. Well, ultimately I would tie it to the time my clients, you can be as, Jeez, your concierge, you can choose a high end hotel and starting to come back to not the, so people think of me when they need a limousine service. They often thought of me if they needed a painter, a plumber, a candlestick maker for that matter, and through the that collector they used to build the limits being organically 100% by referral and ultimately was able to sell the company and open up other businesses. Since then. And the key, and the reason why I share that story is the underlining theme was even to this day, my business today is being that connector. I don't, yes, I want to serve my clients in what it is that I do lay is that they pay me for. But my ultimate value to them is to be that person that they need the needs of another professional to refer that you can recreate that introduction so that I'm able to show them at a far deeper lever people deeper level. And in doing so, my business has continued to grow. And I guess the ultimate point for that is in business and what is it that you do? Why does what you do sets you apart? But then also how can you utilize your own resources, your own community, build that community around you so you're not having to do everything yourself. But B, you can now be for other people that you do with other people who has the ability to help your clients help them. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:It makes perfect sense to me. And I want to take a moment and say congratulations on understanding the power of parenting.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's a phenomenal story about as soon as you hold your daughter, your whole world changed. Uh, it's, it's cliche in one aspect, but you brought it to life in another and you did change your whole world to take care of your daughter and, and that's a big congratulations to you. Um, thank you. Yeah, it's, it's speaks volumes. I want to talk to you for a moment about some of the things that you said, if you don't mind.
Speaker 3:Sure. Um,
Speaker 1:you know, you were talking about the purpose it when you were discussing becoming your brand. Why, why, why, why, why, why. Um, you know, we have a number one bestselling book out there by Simon Sinek that talks about, you know, understanding your why and really driving that. I just blogged last week about purposes. Great. But understand the intention behind it. It's the month of January right now and everybody's talking about losing weight, getting to the gym. Well, that's not the purpose. Um, the reason why they're really doing it has nothing to do with that, but it has everything to do with their intention. You know, losing 10 pounds or 20 or 50 pounds is great, but that's not really why we're doing it. We're doing it because we see ourselves and a different way of behaving. One have better physical fitness, whatever that vision is. And that's the intention. And I've seen that when times get tough. Like you said, you know, small business is exciting and challenging that it's when we remember our intention that we are able to move through the difficult things. Do you see that being true?
Speaker 4:Yes, definitely. Pulling on that. Why don't, what is it gets up the morning. One of my favorite, um, kid books is the little engine that could you a classic example of that. Any of us that we reach an obstacle and we are almost ready to throw in the towel, but we know this just a little bit more, just a little bit more. We push that extra 10% 5% and we reach success. And then hopefully we celebrate and then we stepped out on to the next ledge or step up to the next sledge hopefully, and continue to climb forward. But ultimately being able to hang on to that. Why when we need it to feel us, but also we need, if a clarity again of why is it that we do what we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And you were talking about that, like why, why are we doing this? What sets a small business owner apart from another one who appears to be doing something similar? And you said it's, it's really about what our ultimate value is. And I thought that was very fascinating because I don't think enough people really think about their ultimate values. So can you dive into that a little deeper?
Speaker 4:Sure. And actually you when you made'em in the disappointing as far as the parenting and how that can often trying to balance our personal life with our business life in the lab times, the why behind the business. And again, using myself autobiographically I started the limousine because one that I could drive cool cars. He too, I love to meet cool people. Why did they have the flexibility to take care of my daughter? And then I hired Nick's two kids after that. But ultimately the why was while serving my clients while being that connector, being that trusted advisor to my clients that would cause them to come back and tell their friends and family about my company. But really my ultimate why was I want to be able to continue to grow as an entrepreneur because I knew at some point I want to then teach others how to do that. But also I wanted to be able to bring my kids along for the ride. And it'd be fun because we'd pull up into please, I'd be dropped off a preschool, I think apple and limousine and parents would ask the teachers, whose parents are those kids? How can they afford to send a limousine to take them to preschool and back? Well, easy. When you want the company's pretty cheap and you drive the limousine. I bet everyone who had envy that your kids are being picked up in a limousine, but your children were probably like, oh Geez, here we go again. Right? Yeah, they do. In fact, one time they promised my daughter I'll take her to her mom's office on on the city bus and the bus was late and we missed the bus, so it's like 20 minutes into a fanfare talking to, come on. We have a brand new limousine, a block away from here at home. Let's go.[inaudible] no, you told me that she threw a term of challenging because you want to take the past. Finally took the bus, but the point of that was it helped me, brings them Milan and teach value, business values, the value of being in that to yours. To them for the now Aussie kids have businesses or have um, fact over Christmas we're talking about kind of what two of them are in college and the third is in graduate school. And it was interesting of the, all three kids are at tickle points in their life and they have certainly different goals, but all of them, they're primarily why is to impact society and make it better at the same time teach others how to do the thing. So again, that's the why. My why was to have flexibility to take care of the kid, to drive school cars and to make a lot of money which I was able to accomplish. But ultimately because I continued to grow myself and bring the kids, I started attending business seminars from when Sabrina was six and I brought her with them. So by the time she was nine, she started her own business doing her own seminar because she learned the value of learning tooling and the sharing or teaching what it is that we learned. And without having that business, if I would continue to manage the real estate office and send my kid or send of off to preschool or whatever and there's a time and place for that, I certainly am not knocking it. But because I was fortunate enough to be able to make that choice and bring her along with me, it gave me the benefit to continue to grow. I gave her the benefit to continue to grow and without making that choice, without again pushing and stay true to the why and pushing through there. Lot of times I wanted to give up but I knew the alternate reward but worth the pain that was going through at the time to persevere through whatever obstacle or challenge that was. And ultimately that really was the reward. That was my why.
Speaker 1:Well right, because you, you took the time to stay with it instead of just throw in the towel and find innovative ways to um, continue to evolve it to become successful. I hear one of the stories that you shared about your daughter in jumping on the city bus versus the limo ride is fascinating to me because here, here she is in a school, everybody on this planet I believe wants to be a little different then everyone else and to all the kids she's in school with being different would be getting a limo ride to and from school, but to her different was jumping on a bus, which just goes to show that everybody has a different need that they may see as valuable. And you, you talk about this very eloquently, you sort of brushed over it actually you were talking about how we need to set ourselves apart and understand we are a resource as well as how to utilize one another as resources and that's another great way that we add value.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely. Let's see, what are my favorite things is by ourselves. We can do great things together. We can climb the highest mountain.
Speaker 1:Oh I think it's in the book, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is. And as entrepreneurs, as business people, we have the ability to, through the community of working with other business people to not only help each other and write each other up, but to also serve and riots our clients or customers. I go come the other, the op at the same time, but it's the together thing. It's not about myself thing.
Speaker 1:Right, right. And you know, gee, do you see, when you're talking with small business owners, do you see them thinking about their business as a community?
Speaker 4:Not really. Most small business owners I talked to and even that I've had that benefit of tend to start out with they want to serve the community. They want to serve the general public, but they often try to do it or the style or they think they have to keep an eye. I finally had to try to learn everything, hence going to all you took the seminars and tried to do all these different things myself and spend hours and hours and hours doing things I wasn't good at and I shouldn't have been doing because I thought I had to until I was fortunate enough to have a mentor that, that, that to on that find other people whose skills are your weaknesses and our skill sets, work together and do what you're good at. Do what you enjoy and delegate all the rest. And that one lesson saved me thousands and thousands of dollars and tens of hours of time that I was spending beforehand trying to do it on myself.
Speaker 1:Right. And you talk more about that in the book. That's the second common challenge, right?
Speaker 4:Yep. Definitely
Speaker 1:planning for success and um, what that really means on a couple different levels. And one of the things you talked about quite a bit was, um, people and the power people. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And I agree with you. I think, um, when we hear about bootstrapping businesses or even the word Solo entrepreneur, it gives the impression that one must do everything themselves. When in reality that's not the best approach. And, and as soon as somebody can figure out that, you know, what their strengths and weaknesses are in delegate appropriately, as you said, utilizing other people and doing an exchange with them, um, you know, which in today's society in business is financials. So paying somebody to do the things you don't want to do. If it's accounting, then it's accounting. If it's marketing, it's marketing. It doesn't matter what it is, get the help so you can let your genius shine through. You're right. Right. I see it all over the place too. And, and you know, you talk a lot about no what you're really doing and make sure that you have your systems in place to do it because there's power in that. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. And it's kind of funny too, because our clients already expect that our customers already expect that. I mean, one of the biggest ego shifts I had, I sold the company was I had show crews that drove from me by also drove a lot of our more regular customers, myself, a clients breaths out. So I would always tend the phone power. Okay Mary, I'll see you Monday or okay mark, I'll see you Wednesday and was always, I will see you. If I was picking them up and they would say, okay, Mike, see you Monday or c, y, z or what have you. And when I sold the company for six months after selling the company, I still answer the phone because I wanted to make sure that we had a seamless transition. And for six months, I know how Wisconsin, the limousine companies in Seattle I would feel, and the colic, I'll see you Monday mark, I'll see you Monday Mary or Wednesday and we're six months, never one to the clients they like, where were you? So in my mind, I heard myself again trying to do it all myself. Say, Okay Mary, I'll see you Monday. Mary heard Monday morning, 7:30 AM there'll be a town car front of her house with the professional show for driving it,
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 4:She pick great messages and when I realized that it was like such a paradigm shift that wait a minute, I don't have to do it all myself. They don't expect me to do on myself. Why am I trying to so funny or in 2010 the flip side of that, in 2007 a friend of mine who ran a mortgage company in California and now keep in mind 2007 the real estate market and the rock economy went bad very quickly. A lot of lenders went out of business. Not only did the economy go sideways, but he had a motorcycle accident, ended up on his back in the hospital for seven months. He couldn't move. He could kick up the phone and call his client and he could study, he could read, he could use his mind, he could use his hand. And that was about it for seven months because he built such a strong value proposition community with skin to client base within his mortgage reps that worked for him, etc. His business doubled while he was in the hospital now because it wasn't about him, it was about the mission of the business. It was about the chameleon as you built it. His clients didn't want him to fail his lenders, mortgage reps, they're only line to keep their jobs. Everybody worked together in spite of him being on his back to ensure that when he got out of the hospital, he had a business to leave and he did. And you'd be had a very good one. After that, he actually said, you know, I wouldn't want to live to six or seven months over in Ken, but it's probably best business move I ever made.
Speaker 1:That is just too funny. Uh, you know, you speak a lot in the book about lead generation, planning for success and financial planning. And Wow.[inaudible] and and it's, it's powerful because these are three common challenges that small business owners face and I'd love to talk to you more, but our time is running short. So I guess I have one last question for you Mike.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay. What's
Speaker 4:the one thing you want our listeners to remember and apply to their business? The one thing, remember too, it's not about, it is about us. It's also called our client. It's about our employees. We have employees. It's about the local community around us and keep that community focus. The biggest value proposition is new. We're just not business owners that we have is we're leaders in the community. Maybe small, maybe medium size, maybe lunch or have ability to become influenced as a community. But ultimately someone somewhere is watching what we do. So let's make sure that we walk the walk and our story tells or delivers. The message. Story has been the way we will conduct our day to day. Business delivers the message that a we want and hope our clients will follow. We fire them to the degree that if something hadn't proven were to happen to us, they would keep the message moving without us as part of it. And C is in a systemized approach across Tesco that someone else can step in behind us. If you want to take a trip, someone can step in and do what we're doing because it's a system at the following, it's not us.[inaudible] you think you have it systematized so that again, when the great, no, the great thing that I like is the value of our business is what we do is without us in it. Yes, you might be very important part of the business, but ideally it should be with a punch out class in it each and every day. And having a system that will allow that to happen is probably, if not the largest asset you can have on your business. Tip McDonald's for example, McDonald's gets, are teenagers that won't clean their rooms. They run the restaurants for them. And it's the system that does that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is a system. Um, and you just, I think you gave everybody a very good goal to always be moving towards more and more every day. It doesn't matter how successful you are, um, how long you've been in business is how do you get your business to function more and more every day without you showing up in it and actually serving hands-on. Correct.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely. Kind of funny cause we started the conversation with talking about my daughter and how I made a huge paradigm shift when she was born. And yesterday her and I were talking and the second paradigm shift I made what I spent the last 23 years learning how to be an entrepreneur, becoming one and am now, can we the next 25 years of my life teaching others how to do the same,
Speaker 1:ah, being the leader in walking the walk. Yes ma'am. Beautiful Way to go. There's nothing like somebody who's living their own lessons. You're pretty awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Mike. I'd love to have us continue the conversation, but I bet our listeners need to get on with their day and get busy doing some of the things we just talked about here, so I want to thank them. I want to thank you for sharing the importance of understanding. We need to show up a little differently to add the value that really makes the difference in our businesses and in one another's lives. Thanks, Mike. You're welcome. Thank you for that. Between the shifts. Great. Well, listeners, you can learn more about how to engage with number one best selling author Mike Raber by reading chapter five in the book, brilliant breakthroughs for the small business owner and gift your businesses performance by accepting the invitation that Mike actually is offering you on his authors page at the end of the chapter. You want to check that out and you can also get ahold of Mike by going to our app. Brilliant. His book. I'll say that again, brilliant his book, and Click on ask an expert. You'll see my Graybars name there. Type in the question, your contact information. Give him a little time to reply back to you and he will. It's a really cool feature. You can ask any one of our authors any question that you have, and they'll follow up with you on the app. I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the brilliant breakthroughs podcast where you learn more about how to create more brilliant breakthroughs for your small business. Thanks for joining us today, Mr Raber.
Speaker 2:You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Alright, everybody shine brightly until next week's episode.