January 16, 2023 • 26 mins
A 6-Part Series about growing your business in 2023 and beyond. Josh unpacks what he learned at two major marketing conferences recently. On this episode, Josh gives his "Reader's Digest" notes so you can learn fast and prepare for the future. Listen to this episode and learn more about all of the ways Josh and his team can help you. Then you should connect with Josh at GoSocialExperts.com
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
And welcome to the Ghost Social Podcast with Josh high Tower.
Go Social is a relaxed and unedited conversation with marketing
expert Josh high Tower. Josh is an author and the
owner of multiple businesses, including Go Social Experts. Josh can
help you create a thriving business using the wisdom, strategies,
and experience he's gained through the years. Prepare yourself to
(00:24):
enjoy the next few minutes as we chat with online
marketing expert and business growth strategist Josh high Tower. Well,
good morning, Josh high Tower. How are you, buddy?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Great? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I am really really well today. Super excited to be
here because we're in the tail end. I guess of
a six part series. This is episode number five and
we came out of the last one was really cool.
Encourage people to go back and listen to that. It
was Outwitting the Devil. You talked about that, We talked
about being a drifter versus being driven, and just some
(01:10):
things you learned at a couple of recent conferences that
are really really important as far as entrepreneurial mindset and
how do we use our gifts, how do we encourage people,
and how do we get things done. So go back
and listen to that one. Go back and listen to
the beginning. This is again episode five of a six
part series. So go back and start at one and
walk through. And there's tons of gems here and I'm
(01:33):
just going to open the floor for gum number five
of episode number five of this this series around what
you must do in order to continually grow your business? Josh,
what do you have for it that?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yep? So yeah, last episode, last episode, we got a
you know, kind of strategic and a little you know mindset.
It's a huge one that not enough people talk about,
I think. But today we're going to get back to
a little bit more strategic and tactical for the audience.
So the big question at a recent conference, this was
a Scalable live with Ryan Dice and Rolling Fraser and
(02:11):
Richard Linder. The big question in the topic and as
the event was in early November, was are we headed
into a recession? And it ties in with our series
here of how do we plan for twenty twenty three
and beyond with the current economic client. So the big
topic and the kind of rumblings and at the time
(02:32):
of the event, it was the week before the midterm elections,
so it was still are we headed to the recession?
And it was kind of an informal poll. You know,
who do you think? Are we hitted a recession? Are
we not? Nobody knows, right, I mean? And then it's
all relative too, because if your business and you've seen
(02:53):
this and I have two, the businesses that aren't well
positioned to succeed or they have other problems, they're the
ones that go away when times get tough, whether it
be two thousand and eight or twenty twenty or whatever,
it kind of kills off the ones that probably are
hanging on by thread anyway. So the biggest question is
(03:18):
not are we headed into a recession? The better question
is if we're moving into a recession, what am I
most excited about? Or what am I a little nervous about?
And so here's a couple of a few things in each.
So first of all, you know what am I excited about? Well,
(03:38):
there's going to be a little bit less competition because
most people, when in recession or the talk of a recession,
most advertisers kind of rein in the marketing budget. Yeah,
they pull back. And that's the last thing you should
do is scale back in marketing because marketing is the
lifeblood of your business. And I'm not saying you'll go
(04:02):
full boat and just turn up the volume unnecessarily. But
the one of the top three things is that there's
less competition. There's gonna be less noise in the marketplace,
particularly on social media. We already talked about the mailbox
on a preface episode, like the mailbox is empty, you know,
it's there's nobody there. So there's a lot of opportunity
(04:22):
to drug mail. But certainly on social there's gonna be
less competition and a less noise. The other thing is
there's gonna be more available talent. Companies that are downsizing,
uh you know, a couple of weeks ago, recently, big
social media companies, big tech companies, they let go of
(04:43):
a bunch of people, and you know, there's a there's
a talent, and that's the whole episode in itself of
going and finding that talent. And uh, you know, we've
talked about that in the past, because you can't. You
always have to be recruiting, right, and they're not going
to come and find you. The people that you want
to come work for you probably already have jobs you
(05:05):
got to go methodically seek them out and get them.
The third thing that I'm most excited about is potential
deals and acquisitions because you have these businesses that are
waning or the business owners like I can't go through
this again, right, and they are ready to move on
one way or another, either by selling their business or
(05:28):
looking for a partner to come in and help with
the business. So those are three things that as you're
looking at potential recession or downturn in the economy, three
things you should be excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yep. And all three of those things are found when you,
as an entrepreneur, do not have your head in the
sand like an Ostrich. Right, You've got to keep your
head up, and if anybody should be positive and encouraging,
it should be entrepreneur yours. We should be looking at opportunities,
we should be finding that talent, we should be marketing,
(06:05):
we should be life is grand, right, because just like
in the last episode, a lot of your competitors are
in that ninety five, they're drifters. They're listening to the
news and they're walking around like e or oh it's
the older. No, get your head up and get going
(06:25):
with faith and go back and listen to that last
episode and get your head screwed on straight, because life
is grand, the future is glorious, especially through a recession.
When you've got the right perspective, you're going to come
out on the other end really really well.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Look for other opportunities, look for you know, potential acquisitions,
strategic partners. There's all kinds of stuff out there. And
the people that are also looking for that type of
situation are probably people that are like you and want
to partner, and they'd be good to add to your
team in either as a as an employee or even
(07:03):
as a strategic partner. And so a couple of you know,
here's a few things that not to be nervous about.
That's not the right word, but just be aware of
moving into this you know, uncertain climate or whatever. You know.
First would be make sure you look at your spending
(07:25):
and you you you're aware of where every single dollar
you're spending is going. And I kind of after I
went back and uh came back from the conferences, I'm like,
I need to look. It was good. It was like
a reminder like the you know, I'm overdue for let
me go back through the credit card savements, let me
see where things that and marketing was not one of
(07:48):
them that I cut by the way, but it was like,
are we really using this software or I have two
instances of the software that I could consolidate down to one. Uh,
just a constant review of that. So it's a good
time to be looking at that stuff. The other one
would be like, if you are looking to sell your business,
you're not going to make as much money from selling
(08:08):
your business. The multiple that you're going to get is
probably not going to be there at the moment. So
that would be one thing to be aware of as
we move into this uncertain climate. But nothing to do
about it except prepare.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yourself, right, yeah, and accept it for what it is today,
knowing it's probably going to change in the future, maybe
for the world at some time, but down the road
it's probably going to pop back up.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yep. It's all cyclical, right, it's all cyclical. So here's
a few things on how to prepare for it and
what to do. So first is really double down on
your systems. Get your systems in order. It's a good
time to look at everything that's going on in the
business and optimize it. We use that word a lot.
(08:55):
You know, are we are we really doing the best
we could do with the system that we have. Is
there a way that potentially we could you know, invest
in fewer people but have better systems and don't necessarily
hire for headcount. Be smart about who you're hiring, how
many you have. And the biggest one is are we
(09:17):
really are systems working the way that we intend them
to work. And that could be your marketing systems, your
cell systems, your you know, fulfillment systems, the stuff that
we don't talk about. You know, when you get a customer,
how optimized is that?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Without a question? And so many times we put systems in,
we forget and we don't go back to tweak them.
And that's what that's exactly what you're talking about right there,
is you have to tweak your systems. And sometimes we
have systems that we just need to jettison and be
done with to go. You know what, it's not it's
not serving our purpose anymore. Our business is growing or
change or whatever. What's kill that system and save those resources,
(09:52):
tom but somewhere else, yep.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And and we're not talking about getting rid of anybody.
That's not the first you know, but but if you
could reallocate them and ease some pressure off of and
I've been going through that since I came back. I'm like, well,
you know, I got I got a lot of work
to do, and I have somebody that may be not
as utilized. How can I add that onto their plate.
(10:17):
So when you when you have some kind of challenge,
typically you have two choices. You either solve it with
a better system or with people. And our first inclination
is like, I'm gonna throw a person at this. They
have no idea what to do. Good luck.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that is unfortunately how most people do it, and
you can't do it that way.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You can't do it that way. And so the rule
is no system, no higher.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You don't you don't have a system, then you really
don't have You shouldn't be prepared to hire because you're
not ready to onboard them or even begin to tell them. Hey, Michael,
here's what I need you to do today. I don't
know what it is, but here's your log in. And yeah,
so no system, no higher. So it's a good time
(11:16):
to review those systems. And then now you take that
system and you throw good people onto that system, and
that good person is that good team player is going
to improve that system and really optimize the way that
business works.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yep, and I'm glad you said that. And one of
my mentors talks about building systems all the time. He's like,
build the system yourself up to forty percent. Then bring
somebody who's going to run that system. Teach them what
you've done, why you're doing it, what the result should be,
and say, now go and make it better, because they're
probably better at building the system once they understand what's
(11:51):
in your head. But as entrepreneurs, many times we need
to get it going and say here's the direction, here's
what I'm trying to accomplish, Come in here, and now
you take it. I'm here, you need me, but good
and make it, make it better.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yep. You almost think that you get a startup, You
take that consultant role. You let that person, that a player,
take it and run with it and give them the
flexibility because you're right on because there's stuff that that
we don't like doing and we're going to build it,
build the system based on us not liking to do it,
and that's not the right way to look at it.
But finding somebody that does like to do the stuff
(12:24):
we don't like to do is the right answer and
to help bridge that gap. So one metric that I
think that we all need to really start as business
owners start looking at, was a revenue and profit per employee,
not number. What is that metric? So that revenue and
(12:46):
profit per employee, and you begin to really see how
efficient the business is running. And that's a metric that
I really hadn't thought about. And you know, you always
heard kind of like some generalations about how much money
you should make based on how many full time employees
you have, but I don't char chart it. And as
(13:07):
soon as I heard that, I'm like, well, duh, you
know that's that's an important number. Yep. So and going
back to you need that system, you need that system.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
To have you do Yeah, And and incentives. I've got
One of my clients is the top relator in Dayton, Ohio,
and every person on his team has a sales goal.
Even the front office receptionist. She part of her compensation
is how many people she can bring into the office
(13:39):
that can buy your cell houses in the course of
a year. She's always looking for friends, neighbors, relatives, right
and she pays for her salary through that. So he
set up this whole system very much like what you're saying,
but he's compensated his people to be able to do it.
Even somebody who say, well, they're not a salesperson, and
his answer would be, well, they should be. If they're
(14:00):
working here right right, Yes, their livelihood depends on us
buying and selling houses, they should be. So he's done
exactly what you're talking about, just in a kind of
different way. And I thought, well, that's really intriguing. So yeah,
at a gym, how do you get your people to
understand that that this is all part of us growing
as a business and it provides more revenue for all
(14:20):
of us when we're looking at that, because some people
bulk at that, they're like, I don't know how a salesperson.
I don't want to be judged that way. No, it's
a good thing.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It is a good thing because you still count as
an expense, and so for the greater good, you have
to be supportive of the people that are fueling the
business with cells. You know, if you're behind the scenes,
you're not customer facing, you're still ahead. And I'm assuming
you like to eat, so you should probably be aware
of that number, you know, and be aware of like
(14:51):
the greater picture of are we driving revenue? Are we
driving profit? And you know, how can I better support
that you in the system that I'm using right now
and improving that same system to better help be revenue
generating or profit generating activities. So that was a big,
big first step. So next one would be double down
(15:13):
on cash, you know, keeping that cash, almost become methodical
about hanging on to that cash. And for a few reasons.
First of all, emergencies, you know, looking in early twenty twenty,
I would never have guessed and nobody would have ever guessed, like, hey,
we're going to shut down everything, you know, and having
(15:34):
that lifeline of how do I survive and how do
I survive? So the other one the emergencies is obvious
and generally I like, you know, six months of operating expenses,
it's probably a nice little get me through six months
of rough period. The other reason cash is be aware
(15:57):
for opportunities. Yes, so when everything did shut down, I
took the opportunity. In my gym, for example, we remodeled
the inside of the gym because for the first time
in eighteen years we were closed, and so we reorganized,
we remodeled, and when so everybody came back, it was
fresh and updated. The other thing that I also took
(16:20):
advantage of were other gyms that were closing. Well, I
bought some of their equipment and upgraded. But I had
the opportunity and the cash set aside to do that.
So not only for emergencies most people deferred to I
got to have this as an emergency, like absolutely you should,
but you also be looked for opportunities.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, because that's a great time to buy at a
discount too.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
They need the cash and so they're willing to part
with that equipment at a much reduced rate, which helps
at the at the end of the day, now you're
in a position to generate more revenue for your business
because you save some cash. And it's a mentality because
you saved that cash in a safe needs account or
a checking account which is not earning interest, which goes
against our blood. But there is a purpose around that money, right,
(17:08):
and so you've got to you just you have to
think through these things and then take action to make
sure you're thinking lines up with what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yep, yep, And because you never know when those opportunities
are going to comeome become available, and at least you
have the you you and this this is part of
the reason like I love being a business owner is
the optionality of the choices. I have choices. I can
either say yes or no. I have the money to
do it, but I have the option to make that choice.
(17:43):
Whereas if you aren't planning ahead, you don't have the option, right,
you only have one choice and you have to say
no because you don't have the option. So optionality is
a business owner for the opportunities, I think is always
something to be aware of. So having that security you
talked about earlier is right on. You got to have
that security, but you also have the options and the opportunities.
(18:05):
So the third one is the third thing and really
to be prepared for leading into recession ties back to
what we teased about the previous episode was doubling down
on your circles. And there's two of them. So first
circle is your circle of competence, and here's what you
(18:26):
know and do really well. That's your circle of competence.
Just beyond that circle of competence is what we think
we know, also known as trouble. Right, So we think
we know how to do something, but it's outside of
our inner circle of competence. And then we have that
(18:46):
outer circle is we kind of know how to do it,
we know enough to be dangerous, we probably shouldn't be
doing it. That's what leads to trouble. So the first
circle that you really want to focus on and improving
is expanding that inner circle of competence. How do I
get a little bit better at some of the things
I'm already good at, or how do I take on
(19:08):
a new skill and improve that inner circle of competence.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, and that's huge, especially you know when you think
about what you do and one of the things you're
famous for is the go social experts helping people with marketing,
especially online marketing things. That's an area where a lot
of business owners can do it. They can take this,
you know, but most of the time we get into
trouble because it's not our area of expertise. Whereas you know,
(19:35):
hiring somebody like you go social experts as a team member, right,
it's a different investment than hiring somebody, but you become
a partner, but you have expertise there, which is going
to help my business grow. I as a business owner,
I get to stay in my area of expertise, for
my area of competence. I'm hiring somebody who's in who
(19:59):
let's see, you have competence in an area I have trouble, right,
it's outside of me. I could I learn how to
do it. I could, But I'll make a whole lot
more money if I just stain in my area of
competence and hire somebody like Josh to come in and
do that part, hire somebody else to do something else,
and build my team that way. But staying true to
(20:19):
that area of expertise, area of competence, that's where you're
going to make your money. That's where you're going to thrive.
That's where you're going to be driven. As we talked
about in an episode or two ago, that's where the
money is man, that's where the joy is found. And
that's how we keep our head out of the sand
and stand of trouble. Really, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, And it's where those those circles overlap. You know,
your your circle, your outer circle of what you think
you know, it's all it's dangerous, you know, you can
because Facebook will take your money and they are happy
to take that donation. Uh, if you don't know what
you're doing, and there's something to be said about learning
by doing. But at the same time, you have somebody
that has that that inner circle of their inner competence
(21:02):
overlaps with your outer competence and that's where the two
can join and collaborate. It goes back to that strategic partnership.
So the second circle is to improve your inner circle,
your inner circle of people. And that's the people that
you surround yourself with. And I know you're a big
(21:24):
mastermind person, and so am I because you know it's lonely.
I got nobody to talk to you, and on a
regular basis. I can't really talk to my team members
about it because they don't have the entrepreneurial mindset, otherwise
they would have their own business. So surround yourself when
(21:44):
with that inner circle, and look to improve your inner
circle of people that you surround yourself with and you
can collaborate with.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Absolutely can't can't say enough about that putting yourself around
other people.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, So one another rule, and really, when you become
trying to thrive through a down economic term, if you
think that's going to be the case, any challenge you
really come across should really become a who problem, not
(22:19):
a how problem. Meaning if I have some kind of
challenge like learning to smartly advertise on social media, you
could go learn how to do it, or you could
find somebody that already knows how to do it and
solve it with a who. So it becomes a who problem,
(22:40):
not a how problem. And so there's a project I'm
working on right now where part of it is in
my inner zone of intercompetence, much of it is not,
And so I'm partnering with somebody who overlaps that and
bridges that gap for me. Because marketing and digital marketing
(23:01):
there's stuff that I don't I don't do, and this
guy does exactly that. So that's who I'm talking with,
and that's who you know. There's we're not we're not
exceptions to that rule either, And so now he becomes
part of my network of how I can better solve
a solution not only for me, but for other clients
(23:22):
because he's got his innercompetence and it's that inner circle
that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, And so you find that just by keeping your
eyes up looking for opportunities, being driven towards a towards
a result, and you realize you don't have what it
takes to get there in and of it yourself. So
you bring somebody along the journey and you're both going
to grow. Your clients are going to grow, and it's
going to be a great.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Thing, better results ye for everybody. So, yeah, those are
the three really key things as we You know again,
who knows about the recession? Who knows doesn't really.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Matter, It really doesn't. Yeah, I title this you know
how to get excited about heading into a recession and
if you have, if you have that mentality, you're probably
not going to hit a recession in your in your business,
in your mind because you're always going to be looking
for how do you do marketing better? How do you
find teammates better? How do you look for opportunities? How
(24:21):
do you put things together? And you use the phrase earlier.
It's one of my favorite questions is how can I
dot dot dot? And when you ask that question, your
brain goes into problem solving mode. It's like, Okay, how
can I do this? Because there's there is an answer,
there's a solution somewhere. Can I how can I figure
this thing out? And sometimes it's zone of genius. Sometimes
(24:43):
it's bringing people in it. It's a thousand different things.
But taking that time to think and not get overwhelmed.
We talked about overwhelmed an episode or two. I don't
do overwhelmed. I do thinking and I do partnerships. That's
how I do think.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Done. It's how can I take it advantage of this
or or how can I solve this challenge? But also
who can I talk to that solved this challenge already?
Yeah they can, like I can buy that speed?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yes, yeah it's got Yeah, you're not the first one
dealing with this. Go find somebody who's done it, ask
them some questions and pay them some money if you
need me. Good golly, you get it, dude, beggest best
investment you'll ever make. So I love it. Good stuff.
How to prepare for a recession? And as I think
(25:32):
as a business, who was it? Was it? Amazon? Every
day is day one? I think as a business owners,
you know, every every economy is a is a recession economy?
How do I plan for it? How do I grow
through it? Because if you have that mentality, you're always
thinking and you're You're lean and running a good, mean
machine that's going to serve people and your family. So
(25:54):
good stuff, Josh high Tower.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I love it, cool, appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
We'll be back and to finish this series of six
on our next episode. Social media marketing should be part
of your overall business growth plan. Josh high Tier can
(26:19):
help you leverage the power of online marketing without wasting
your time or money on hit or miss tactics. Learn
more about how Josh and his team can help you
by reaching out to them at gosocialexperts dot com. Be
sure to subscribe to this podcast so each new episode
will be sent to you automatically when it's released. Thanks
(26:39):
for listening to the Go Social Podcast with Josh high Time.
And welcome to the Ghost Social Podcast with Josh high Tower.
Go Social is a relaxed and unedited conversation with marketing
expert Josh high Tower. Josh is an author and the
owner of multiple businesses, including Go Social Experts. Josh can
help you create a thriving business using the wisdom, strategies,
and experience he's gained through the years. Prepare yourself to
(00:24):
enjoy the next few minutes as we chat with online
marketing expert and business growth strategist Josh high Tower. Well,
good morning, Josh high Tower. How are you, buddy?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Great? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
I am really really well today. Super excited to be
here because we're in the tail end. I guess of
a six part series. This is episode number five and
we came out of the last one was really cool.
Encourage people to go back and listen to that. It
was Outwitting the Devil. You talked about that, We talked
about being a drifter versus being driven, and just some
(01:10):
things you learned at a couple of recent conferences that
are really really important as far as entrepreneurial mindset and
how do we use our gifts, how do we encourage people,
and how do we get things done. So go back
and listen to that one. Go back and listen to
the beginning. This is again episode five of a six
part series. So go back and start at one and
walk through. And there's tons of gems here and I'm
(01:33):
just going to open the floor for gum number five
of episode number five of this this series around what
you must do in order to continually grow your business? Josh,
what do you have for it that?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yep? So yeah, last episode, last episode, we got a
you know, kind of strategic and a little you know mindset.
It's a huge one that not enough people talk about,
I think. But today we're going to get back to
a little bit more strategic and tactical for the audience.
So the big question at a recent conference, this was
a Scalable live with Ryan Dice and Rolling Fraser and
(02:11):
Richard Linder. The big question in the topic and as
the event was in early November, was are we headed
into a recession? And it ties in with our series
here of how do we plan for twenty twenty three
and beyond with the current economic client. So the big
topic and the kind of rumblings and at the time
(02:32):
of the event, it was the week before the midterm elections,
so it was still are we headed to the recession?
And it was kind of an informal poll. You know,
who do you think? Are we hitted a recession? Are
we not? Nobody knows, right, I mean? And then it's
all relative too, because if your business and you've seen
(02:53):
this and I have two, the businesses that aren't well
positioned to succeed or they have other problems, they're the
ones that go away when times get tough, whether it
be two thousand and eight or twenty twenty or whatever,
it kind of kills off the ones that probably are
hanging on by thread anyway. So the biggest question is
(03:18):
not are we headed into a recession? The better question
is if we're moving into a recession, what am I
most excited about? Or what am I a little nervous about?
And so here's a couple of a few things in each.
So first of all, you know what am I excited about? Well,
(03:38):
there's going to be a little bit less competition because
most people, when in recession or the talk of a recession,
most advertisers kind of rein in the marketing budget. Yeah,
they pull back. And that's the last thing you should
do is scale back in marketing because marketing is the
lifeblood of your business. And I'm not saying you'll go
(04:02):
full boat and just turn up the volume unnecessarily. But
the one of the top three things is that there's
less competition. There's gonna be less noise in the marketplace,
particularly on social media. We already talked about the mailbox
on a preface episode, like the mailbox is empty, you know,
it's there's nobody there. So there's a lot of opportunity
(04:22):
to drug mail. But certainly on social there's gonna be
less competition and a less noise. The other thing is
there's gonna be more available talent. Companies that are downsizing,
uh you know, a couple of weeks ago, recently, big
social media companies, big tech companies, they let go of
(04:43):
a bunch of people, and you know, there's a there's
a talent, and that's the whole episode in itself of
going and finding that talent. And uh, you know, we've
talked about that in the past, because you can't. You
always have to be recruiting, right, and they're not going
to come and find you. The people that you want
to come work for you probably already have jobs you
(05:05):
got to go methodically seek them out and get them.
The third thing that I'm most excited about is potential
deals and acquisitions because you have these businesses that are
waning or the business owners like I can't go through
this again, right, and they are ready to move on
one way or another, either by selling their business or
(05:28):
looking for a partner to come in and help with
the business. So those are three things that as you're
looking at potential recession or downturn in the economy, three
things you should be excited about.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yep. And all three of those things are found when you,
as an entrepreneur, do not have your head in the
sand like an Ostrich. Right, You've got to keep your
head up, and if anybody should be positive and encouraging,
it should be entrepreneur yours. We should be looking at opportunities,
we should be finding that talent, we should be marketing,
(06:05):
we should be life is grand, right, because just like
in the last episode, a lot of your competitors are
in that ninety five, they're drifters. They're listening to the
news and they're walking around like e or oh it's
the older. No, get your head up and get going
(06:25):
with faith and go back and listen to that last
episode and get your head screwed on straight, because life
is grand, the future is glorious, especially through a recession.
When you've got the right perspective, you're going to come
out on the other end really really well.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Look for other opportunities, look for you know, potential acquisitions,
strategic partners. There's all kinds of stuff out there. And
the people that are also looking for that type of
situation are probably people that are like you and want
to partner, and they'd be good to add to your
team in either as a as an employee or even
(07:03):
as a strategic partner. And so a couple of you know,
here's a few things that not to be nervous about.
That's not the right word, but just be aware of
moving into this you know, uncertain climate or whatever. You know.
First would be make sure you look at your spending
(07:25):
and you you you're aware of where every single dollar
you're spending is going. And I kind of after I
went back and uh came back from the conferences, I'm like,
I need to look. It was good. It was like
a reminder like the you know, I'm overdue for let
me go back through the credit card savements, let me
see where things that and marketing was not one of
(07:48):
them that I cut by the way, but it was like,
are we really using this software or I have two
instances of the software that I could consolidate down to one. Uh,
just a constant review of that. So it's a good
time to be looking at that stuff. The other one
would be like, if you are looking to sell your business,
you're not going to make as much money from selling
(08:08):
your business. The multiple that you're going to get is
probably not going to be there at the moment. So
that would be one thing to be aware of as
we move into this uncertain climate. But nothing to do
about it except prepare.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yourself, right, yeah, and accept it for what it is today,
knowing it's probably going to change in the future, maybe
for the world at some time, but down the road
it's probably going to pop back up.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yep. It's all cyclical, right, it's all cyclical. So here's
a few things on how to prepare for it and
what to do. So first is really double down on
your systems. Get your systems in order. It's a good
time to look at everything that's going on in the
business and optimize it. We use that word a lot.
(08:55):
You know, are we are we really doing the best
we could do with the system that we have. Is
there a way that potentially we could you know, invest
in fewer people but have better systems and don't necessarily
hire for headcount. Be smart about who you're hiring, how
many you have. And the biggest one is are we
(09:17):
really are systems working the way that we intend them
to work. And that could be your marketing systems, your
cell systems, your you know, fulfillment systems, the stuff that
we don't talk about. You know, when you get a customer,
how optimized is that?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Without a question? And so many times we put systems in,
we forget and we don't go back to tweak them.
And that's what that's exactly what you're talking about right there,
is you have to tweak your systems. And sometimes we
have systems that we just need to jettison and be
done with to go. You know what, it's not it's
not serving our purpose anymore. Our business is growing or
change or whatever. What's kill that system and save those resources,
(09:52):
tom but somewhere else, yep.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And and we're not talking about getting rid of anybody.
That's not the first you know, but but if you
could reallocate them and ease some pressure off of and
I've been going through that since I came back. I'm like, well,
you know, I got I got a lot of work
to do, and I have somebody that may be not
as utilized. How can I add that onto their plate.
(10:17):
So when you when you have some kind of challenge,
typically you have two choices. You either solve it with
a better system or with people. And our first inclination
is like, I'm gonna throw a person at this. They
have no idea what to do. Good luck.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, that is unfortunately how most people do it, and
you can't do it that way.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
You can't do it that way. And so the rule
is no system, no higher.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You don't you don't have a system, then you really
don't have You shouldn't be prepared to hire because you're
not ready to onboard them or even begin to tell them. Hey, Michael,
here's what I need you to do today. I don't
know what it is, but here's your log in. And yeah,
so no system, no higher. So it's a good time
(11:16):
to review those systems. And then now you take that
system and you throw good people onto that system, and
that good person is that good team player is going
to improve that system and really optimize the way that
business works.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yep, and I'm glad you said that. And one of
my mentors talks about building systems all the time. He's like,
build the system yourself up to forty percent. Then bring
somebody who's going to run that system. Teach them what
you've done, why you're doing it, what the result should be,
and say, now go and make it better, because they're
probably better at building the system once they understand what's
(11:51):
in your head. But as entrepreneurs, many times we need
to get it going and say here's the direction, here's
what I'm trying to accomplish, Come in here, and now
you take it. I'm here, you need me, but good
and make it, make it better.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yep. You almost think that you get a startup, You
take that consultant role. You let that person, that a player,
take it and run with it and give them the
flexibility because you're right on because there's stuff that that
we don't like doing and we're going to build it,
build the system based on us not liking to do it,
and that's not the right way to look at it.
But finding somebody that does like to do the stuff
(12:24):
we don't like to do is the right answer and
to help bridge that gap. So one metric that I
think that we all need to really start as business
owners start looking at, was a revenue and profit per employee,
not number. What is that metric? So that revenue and
(12:46):
profit per employee, and you begin to really see how
efficient the business is running. And that's a metric that
I really hadn't thought about. And you know, you always
heard kind of like some generalations about how much money
you should make based on how many full time employees
you have, but I don't char chart it. And as
(13:07):
soon as I heard that, I'm like, well, duh, you
know that's that's an important number. Yep. So and going
back to you need that system, you need that system.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
To have you do Yeah, And and incentives. I've got
One of my clients is the top relator in Dayton, Ohio,
and every person on his team has a sales goal.
Even the front office receptionist. She part of her compensation
is how many people she can bring into the office
(13:39):
that can buy your cell houses in the course of
a year. She's always looking for friends, neighbors, relatives, right
and she pays for her salary through that. So he
set up this whole system very much like what you're saying,
but he's compensated his people to be able to do it.
Even somebody who say, well, they're not a salesperson, and
his answer would be, well, they should be. If they're
(14:00):
working here right right, Yes, their livelihood depends on us
buying and selling houses, they should be. So he's done
exactly what you're talking about, just in a kind of
different way. And I thought, well, that's really intriguing. So yeah,
at a gym, how do you get your people to
understand that that this is all part of us growing
as a business and it provides more revenue for all
(14:20):
of us when we're looking at that, because some people
bulk at that, they're like, I don't know how a salesperson.
I don't want to be judged that way. No, it's
a good thing.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It is a good thing because you still count as
an expense, and so for the greater good, you have
to be supportive of the people that are fueling the
business with cells. You know, if you're behind the scenes,
you're not customer facing, you're still ahead. And I'm assuming
you like to eat, so you should probably be aware
of that number, you know, and be aware of like
(14:51):
the greater picture of are we driving revenue? Are we
driving profit? And you know, how can I better support
that you in the system that I'm using right now
and improving that same system to better help be revenue
generating or profit generating activities. So that was a big,
big first step. So next one would be double down
(15:13):
on cash, you know, keeping that cash, almost become methodical
about hanging on to that cash. And for a few reasons.
First of all, emergencies, you know, looking in early twenty twenty,
I would never have guessed and nobody would have ever guessed, like, hey,
we're going to shut down everything, you know, and having
(15:34):
that lifeline of how do I survive and how do
I survive? So the other one the emergencies is obvious
and generally I like, you know, six months of operating expenses,
it's probably a nice little get me through six months
of rough period. The other reason cash is be aware
(15:57):
for opportunities. Yes, so when everything did shut down, I
took the opportunity. In my gym, for example, we remodeled
the inside of the gym because for the first time
in eighteen years we were closed, and so we reorganized,
we remodeled, and when so everybody came back, it was
fresh and updated. The other thing that I also took
(16:20):
advantage of were other gyms that were closing. Well, I
bought some of their equipment and upgraded. But I had
the opportunity and the cash set aside to do that.
So not only for emergencies most people deferred to I
got to have this as an emergency, like absolutely you should,
but you also be looked for opportunities.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, because that's a great time to buy at a
discount too.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
They need the cash and so they're willing to part
with that equipment at a much reduced rate, which helps
at the at the end of the day, now you're
in a position to generate more revenue for your business
because you save some cash. And it's a mentality because
you saved that cash in a safe needs account or
a checking account which is not earning interest, which goes
against our blood. But there is a purpose around that money, right,
(17:08):
and so you've got to you just you have to
think through these things and then take action to make
sure you're thinking lines up with what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yep, yep, And because you never know when those opportunities
are going to comeome become available, and at least you
have the you you and this this is part of
the reason like I love being a business owner is
the optionality of the choices. I have choices. I can
either say yes or no. I have the money to
do it, but I have the option to make that choice.
(17:43):
Whereas if you aren't planning ahead, you don't have the option, right,
you only have one choice and you have to say
no because you don't have the option. So optionality is
a business owner for the opportunities, I think is always
something to be aware of. So having that security you
talked about earlier is right on. You got to have
that security, but you also have the options and the opportunities.
(18:05):
So the third one is the third thing and really
to be prepared for leading into recession ties back to
what we teased about the previous episode was doubling down
on your circles. And there's two of them. So first
circle is your circle of competence, and here's what you
(18:26):
know and do really well. That's your circle of competence.
Just beyond that circle of competence is what we think
we know, also known as trouble. Right, So we think
we know how to do something, but it's outside of
our inner circle of competence. And then we have that
(18:46):
outer circle is we kind of know how to do it,
we know enough to be dangerous, we probably shouldn't be
doing it. That's what leads to trouble. So the first
circle that you really want to focus on and improving
is expanding that inner circle of competence. How do I
get a little bit better at some of the things
I'm already good at, or how do I take on
(19:08):
a new skill and improve that inner circle of competence.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, and that's huge, especially you know when you think
about what you do and one of the things you're
famous for is the go social experts helping people with marketing,
especially online marketing things. That's an area where a lot
of business owners can do it. They can take this,
you know, but most of the time we get into
trouble because it's not our area of expertise. Whereas you know,
(19:35):
hiring somebody like you go social experts as a team member, right,
it's a different investment than hiring somebody, but you become
a partner, but you have expertise there, which is going
to help my business grow. I as a business owner,
I get to stay in my area of expertise, for
my area of competence. I'm hiring somebody who's in who
(19:59):
let's see, you have competence in an area I have trouble, right,
it's outside of me. I could I learn how to
do it. I could, But I'll make a whole lot
more money if I just stain in my area of
competence and hire somebody like Josh to come in and
do that part, hire somebody else to do something else,
and build my team that way. But staying true to
(20:19):
that area of expertise, area of competence, that's where you're
going to make your money. That's where you're going to thrive.
That's where you're going to be driven. As we talked
about in an episode or two ago, that's where the
money is man, that's where the joy is found. And
that's how we keep our head out of the sand
and stand of trouble. Really, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, And it's where those those circles overlap. You know,
your your circle, your outer circle of what you think
you know, it's all it's dangerous, you know, you can
because Facebook will take your money and they are happy
to take that donation. Uh, if you don't know what
you're doing, and there's something to be said about learning
by doing. But at the same time, you have somebody
that has that that inner circle of their inner competence
(21:02):
overlaps with your outer competence and that's where the two
can join and collaborate. It goes back to that strategic partnership.
So the second circle is to improve your inner circle,
your inner circle of people. And that's the people that
you surround yourself with. And I know you're a big
(21:24):
mastermind person, and so am I because you know it's lonely.
I got nobody to talk to you, and on a
regular basis. I can't really talk to my team members
about it because they don't have the entrepreneurial mindset, otherwise
they would have their own business. So surround yourself when
(21:44):
with that inner circle, and look to improve your inner
circle of people that you surround yourself with and you
can collaborate with.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Absolutely can't can't say enough about that putting yourself around
other people.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, So one another rule, and really, when you become
trying to thrive through a down economic term, if you
think that's going to be the case, any challenge you
really come across should really become a who problem, not
(22:19):
a how problem. Meaning if I have some kind of
challenge like learning to smartly advertise on social media, you
could go learn how to do it, or you could
find somebody that already knows how to do it and
solve it with a who. So it becomes a who problem,
(22:40):
not a how problem. And so there's a project I'm
working on right now where part of it is in
my inner zone of intercompetence, much of it is not,
And so I'm partnering with somebody who overlaps that and
bridges that gap for me. Because marketing and digital marketing
(23:01):
there's stuff that I don't I don't do, and this
guy does exactly that. So that's who I'm talking with,
and that's who you know. There's we're not we're not
exceptions to that rule either, And so now he becomes
part of my network of how I can better solve
a solution not only for me, but for other clients
(23:22):
because he's got his innercompetence and it's that inner circle
that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, And so you find that just by keeping your
eyes up looking for opportunities, being driven towards a towards
a result, and you realize you don't have what it
takes to get there in and of it yourself. So
you bring somebody along the journey and you're both going
to grow. Your clients are going to grow, and it's
going to be a great.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Thing, better results ye for everybody. So, yeah, those are
the three really key things as we You know again,
who knows about the recession? Who knows doesn't really.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Matter, It really doesn't. Yeah, I title this you know
how to get excited about heading into a recession and
if you have, if you have that mentality, you're probably
not going to hit a recession in your in your business,
in your mind because you're always going to be looking
for how do you do marketing better? How do you
find teammates better? How do you look for opportunities? How
(24:21):
do you put things together? And you use the phrase earlier.
It's one of my favorite questions is how can I
dot dot dot? And when you ask that question, your
brain goes into problem solving mode. It's like, Okay, how
can I do this? Because there's there is an answer,
there's a solution somewhere. Can I how can I figure
this thing out? And sometimes it's zone of genius. Sometimes
(24:43):
it's bringing people in it. It's a thousand different things.
But taking that time to think and not get overwhelmed.
We talked about overwhelmed an episode or two. I don't
do overwhelmed. I do thinking and I do partnerships. That's
how I do think.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Done. It's how can I take it advantage of this
or or how can I solve this challenge? But also
who can I talk to that solved this challenge already?
Yeah they can, like I can buy that speed?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yes, yeah it's got Yeah, you're not the first one
dealing with this. Go find somebody who's done it, ask
them some questions and pay them some money if you
need me. Good golly, you get it, dude, beggest best
investment you'll ever make. So I love it. Good stuff.
How to prepare for a recession? And as I think
(25:32):
as a business, who was it? Was it? Amazon? Every
day is day one? I think as a business owners,
you know, every every economy is a is a recession economy?
How do I plan for it? How do I grow
through it? Because if you have that mentality, you're always
thinking and you're You're lean and running a good, mean
machine that's going to serve people and your family. So
(25:54):
good stuff, Josh high Tower.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I love it, cool, appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
We'll be back and to finish this series of six
on our next episode. Social media marketing should be part
of your overall business growth plan. Josh high Tier can
(26:19):
help you leverage the power of online marketing without wasting
your time or money on hit or miss tactics. Learn
more about how Josh and his team can help you
by reaching out to them at gosocialexperts dot com. Be
sure to subscribe to this podcast so each new episode
will be sent to you automatically when it's released. Thanks
(26:39):
for listening to the Go Social Podcast with Josh high Time.
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