Why Your Brain Has Secret Super Highways!

Episode Transcript
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Melissa Ortiz (00:00):
Basically, the idea is that we all have
these super highways in our brains, our
natural talents, and if I try to travel on
your super highways, it's going to feel
like a gravel road because my brain didn't
develop the way yours did.
Yeah, trust me.

Mark Haney (00:11):
You don't want to try to drive on my.
I wouldn't even call it an interstate, it's
not even any kind of highway.
Yes, this is the Mark Haney Show on a
mission to ignite the entrepreneurial
revolution right here in the hometown.
We love to ignite the entrepreneurial
revolution right here in the hometown.
We love and we do that by sharing the
stories of entrepreneurs.
And the show really was started so that if

(00:32):
you heard a story about somebody who was
successful, it might inspire you to take a
leap of faith and maybe try
entrepreneurship or maybe try to grow your
business a little bit more.
And today on the show we have Melissa Ortiz.
So today we are going to be inspired, but
you're also going to be educated.
So she is an entrepreneur, she also helps

(00:53):
other entrepreneurs and we're going to get
to know her because she is delightful, she
is energetic and I don't know how she has
as much energy as she does, but we'll see
if she can match my energy today on the
show.
That's a serious challenge man Melissa how?

are you doing?
I'm great.
Thank you for having me, okay.

Mark Haney (01:12):
So let's just get to know you a little bit.
So maybe just an overview of the business
and then we will go.
I'll probably just jump around on this
because this is gonna be fun.

Okay, great.
So in a nutshell, I help people do better
at their jobs okay and do better at the
jobs.

Mark Haney (01:27):
They don't have to be an entrepreneur.

They could be somebody working for big
business, small business, whatever, yeah
basically, the idea is that we all have
these super highways in our brains, our
natural talents, and if we try to if I try
to travel on your super highways, it's
going to feel like a gravel road, because
my brain didn't develop the way yours did.
Oh yeah, trust me, you don't want to try to
drive on my.

Mark Haney (01:46):
I wouldn't even call it an interstate, you
know, it's not even any kind of highway.

But it's interesting because by the time
we're about 15 years old, those super
highways are developed and our job, as we
mature and gain professional maturity and
sophistication, is to find those highways
and use them.
Instead of trying to emulate people around
us who are really good, we have to find our
own path to success, and I think that's
maybe the most beautiful thing about
entrepreneurship is it's these people who

(02:11):
often have tried in the normal structure of
the workplace and been like I can't do this,
this is too constraining, this is too
whatever, and they exit stage left and go
try something else.
And they find their highway of the best
flow or what have you Turns out, we can do
that within the workplace too, and often
there are employers who are excited about
that.
And so, helping the right people, friend

(02:33):
the right seats in the organization that
are using their talents, make sure they're
engaged in their work and that we keep them
and keep helping them perform at higher
levels, because I think the thing that you
probably it would resonate most with you
about the work that I do and it certainly
resonates most with me is when we get those
conditions right, it turns out employees
can perform at higher levels.
We, as entrepreneurs, can perform at higher

(02:54):
levels.
But oh, by the way, we go home after doing
better work during the day for our
teammates, for our internal and external
clients.
We go home with more energy for our family,
for our faith, for our physical well-being,
for our community, whatever is important to
us.
There's gas in the tank left.
But if I'm in the wrong seat, if I am
working for a bad manager, if my job is

(03:14):
draining the ever-loving life out of me,
what do I do?
We come home, I crack a beer, I chill out
and I've got nothing left for anybody,
including myself, and so that's huge for me
Interesting.

Mark Haney (03:24):
Well, I have this.
I'm wearing my shirt today.
Everything is figureoutable and I feel like,
if I'm an employee and I'm not quite
satisfied with the direction that my job is
taking me, I want to tell you, everything
is figureoutable If you, regardless of what
you want, if you have enough imagination

(03:45):
and enough inspired action, enough
stick-to-itiveness, you can figure out
anything you want to do within an
organization, or maybe it's something
outside the organization, but you can
figure it out.
And I think it's incumbent on us, as let's
call it, the leaders of the business, or
maybe the managers or the founders, if you

(04:06):
will, the owners to listen to what our
employees want in their lives, so that we
can help open up some of those doors or
maybe apply some extra imagination to the
challenge.

Yeah, I call that owning your own
engagement, because I think too many people
decide things aren't figureoutable and so
they are stuck.
And they need to be stuck because they're
supporting their families or their elderly
parents or these people are depending on
them and I can't figure it out because it
will jeopardize this stability and all that
does is drain their life force.
And it breaks my heart because just there's

(04:44):
too much.
One of my core values is I hate waste.
I hate wasted time, energy, talent,
enthusiasm, money especially.
But when you decide in your brain things
aren't figureoutable and you're stuck.
There's nothing more heartbreaking and so
we have to take ownership individually and
as leaders.
We need to encourage people to be like okay,

(05:05):
what is it?
Where are you at, where do you want to be?

Mark Haney (05:07):
We do, and so if you're one, let's get
inside this employee's head at this stage.
I'm working in an organization.
I feel unheard, I feel unnoticed, I don't
see opportunities.
I'm starting to lose desire because of just
where I'm at, but I'm, you know, I'm maybe

(05:29):
procrastinating on the couch with a beer
instead of dealing with it.
What do you?
What's the first step?
Is it talking, you know, communicating with
somebody in the organization, what matters
to you and what you, what you'd like to see
for yourself.

Maybe, Okay.
Maybe it's something in your personal life
that at least gives you a little extra
juice to then go back to work and start
looking around, because if we can't find
opportunities to do better at work, I'll be
shocked.
Because what I find in the employee
engagement space is often the most
disengaged employees have the best ideas.

(06:08):
They are just terrible at communicating
those ideas.
They're frustrated and they vent and they
complain instead of bringing a couple of
workable solutions to the table and be like
I'm frustrated and I'm going to do
something about it.
And here are my four ideas.
And when you bring it to the table that way
and it's partially our ability to listen as
leaders like what are they really saying
here?
But it's also our responsibility as

(06:30):
employees to own our own engagement and say
I'm frustrated, here's what I think is
broken.
And sometimes the owners or managers aren't
willing to fix it.
And sometimes that's your turn to exit
stage left.
Yeah, but try.

Mark Haney (06:43):
Yeah, but try yeah.
No, I like how you uh began your step with,
not necessarily because if you are, really,
if you have a victim mindset, uh, and you
can't uh get your, get your head right, and
that might happen at home, right?
So what do you need to do?
Potentially cut out of your life so that
you have enough time to be a little bit

(07:03):
solution oriented on how you're at least
going to start the conversation with your
supervisor or with the owner of the company.
You need to carve out a little bit of time
for yourself to develop a workable plan,
workable vision for where you want to take
that conversation.
And you got to cut out, maybe you know you
got to put the bad, get some of the bad

(07:24):
stuff out of your life and put in some
downtime for yourself.

Stuff and or people.
So often we surround ourselves, the people
that I see in victim mentality.
They surround themselves with willing
listeners and people they can commiserate
with, and if you start to separate yourself
from that and make space for people who are
the doers and like, oh, that's a good idea,
you should go do that, all of a sudden
there feels like a path forward, and so,

(07:49):
whether it's activities you know, so many
people just get sucked into this social
media chamber and they just then time just
disappears, instead of going for a bike
ride, going for a walk, doing something to
physically get an outlet, because so much
of our good thinking comes when we're not
working well.

Mark Haney (08:06):
It's amazing on social media because when
you, when you scroll through, chances are
you're gonna see uh kind of a combat zone
is the only way I can think to say it at
the moment is like there is people tearing
down one side and tearing down the other.
There's a lot of criticism depending on
what channel you follow, but the main media

(08:29):
it's pretty negative and so it can make you
want to just poke holes at the other side
or, you know, kind of get yourself in the
mode of blaming others for where you're at.
And really it's like my wife and I love
Chris Stapleton and he's got this song.
I Got Nobody to Blame but Me.

It's a great song and I really have lived
by that.

Mark Haney (08:49):
My parents beat the victim out of me when I
was a kid Don't hit your kids.
But they just didn't let us be that way.
So, for whatever reason, my mind has never
clicked over that way.
So I don't ever find myself with that
tendency to.
I look at myself first.

It's just I can literally pinpoint the
lecture where that was beat into me, oh
really.
And I remember the chair that I was sitting
in.
Oh goodness, it was something about a
softball game and I was mad at a ref or
something my dad just railed on me.
It must have been 45 minutes that I sat
there and took it about.
Everything's your fault, Everything you are
responsible for.
I'm like that's a little extreme, but I get

(09:24):
the message and so I feel the same way.
I feel the same way.
I have nobody to blame for me, but me for
everything Good, bad, indifferent.

Mark Haney (09:32):
What is your dad like?
What's your dad?
He sounds like he's.
Is he old school type mentality?

Super old school he my favorite story about
him is my kids.
His rule at home growing up was all the
horsepower, no horses.
So if you have to feed it, we don't need it,
but it was like go karts, four wheelers.
I grew up on a farm um he flew airplanes
and helicopter and race cars for fun, and

(09:59):
so there was a lot of horsepower around in
addition to the tractors man's man type guy
and um.
So my favorite story is my kids are out.
We we live on the Sacramento River up in
Colusa and my kids are out with him and
they're riding side by sides.
And my dad is having a ball he's 72 at this
point, I think, and he's spinning donuts in
the gravel and just having a great time.

(10:20):
And pretty soon my kids are screaming Papa,
you're on fire.
And he's like I know.
And they're like no, no, you're on fire.
Oh my, no, no you're on fire.

Mark Haney (10:27):
Oh my gosh.

This goes on two or three rounds and
finally he realized that the side-by-side
that he's driving is on fire and he drives
it into the river.

Mark Haney (10:35):
Oh, my gosh Fire round.
Oh, and it started the fire from all the
different donuts and stuff he was doing got
too hot.
I don't know, I wasn't there, but this is
like the best quintessential story.

I mean he didn't quit racing amateur scca
sports car club of america cars until he
was 73.
He still flies fixed wing and helicopter.
He's just on fire.
He loves what he does.
He's a farmer, he's really damn good at it
and he's super intense, super competitive
and there's just no room for excuses in his
world.

Mark Haney (11:05):
Wow I love that uh approach to no excuses
Work hard, play hard guy.

Yeah, the quote I think that makes me think
of him is don't tell your kids how to live.
Let them watch you do it and learn.
That way I'm like, yeah, check that box.

Mark Haney (11:21):
Well, and I'm deviating from the employee
thing a little bit, because I do think that
our value systems they begin at home.
I know that they can change later in life,
but if we do a good job as parents, I think
it's more easy to uh when you're older if
you, if you find yourself being a victim,
to change back to the way dad used to like
you have a solid yeah, yeah, you do so,

(11:43):
even though everybody, virtually everybody,
might act like a victim uh occasionally, or
blame a ref occasionally.
But you know, we can always revert back to
you know a principles that your dad taught,
taught you and of course, I had some
similar stuff, but knowing this, okay, so
you and I have some things in common.
So I had the same sounds like a lot of the

(12:04):
same values taught to me as parent as uh as
I had when I was a kid, to me as parent as
uh as I had when I was a kid.
Um, but you also, you live near your
parents today and you guys are talking
about maybe building homes on each other's
property.
Would that be?
You build a home on their, your parents,
property?
so they actually gifted us uh 40 acres,

(12:25):
which is amazing, oh my gosh and um we're
building, so they're generous.

So okay, that's uh, that's cool you work
for it yeah there's a there's no free ride,
but yeah, they've been extremely it's.
We moved back from texas.
My husband and I both built businesses
there.
We finished school at texas a&m and when I
got pregnant with the second baby, I looked
at my husband and I said you knew this was
coming.
I want to go home I mean my mom dad.

(12:50):
It's like this family core that they, if
you see them on, you know holidays.
It's very different than this.
My mom calls it kid taxi.
She'll show up for four minutes for
breakfast, whisk the kids off and they get
these little tiny interactions to see yeah,
see their values at work.

Mark Haney (13:07):
Do you have brothers and sisters?

I have one brother, yeah.
Is your brother here as well?

Mark Haney (13:12):
Yeah, he's full-time on the farm.
Okay, so he lives out there with your mom
and dad now and then you've moved back near
and you're going to build something on your
40.
How many acres is the whole thing?

About 3,500 acres we farm oh my goodness,
and it's 15 different crops spread over a
20 mile radius, and it's guys and equipment
and non-stop oh, my goodness, okay.

Mark Haney (13:37):
So it's like, is it kind of like a family
business?
Then your, your dad, obviously, uh, sounds
like he's the initiator of this whole thing.
Does your brother work in the business?

okay, he and I are fifth generation on the
ranch, my dad's fourth generation and my
brother has uh more stamina than I do.
There wasn't a right seat for me, so I love
the people, business and what's the name of
the company?
What is it?

Mark Haney (14:00):
river vista farms river vista farms and is
it uh?
Is that brand uh available?
Out you sell just wholesale, or is it
available?

it's not a consumer brand, so it's all it's
all commodity agriculture and then we also
have a fruit drying facility that has a
consumer brand attached to it.
It's called sunrise fresh.
So are the largest um cherry dried cherry
brand on amazon is probably the best place
to find them.
They're amazing.
They don't have any additives.
We dry about 10 million pounds of cherries
a year, okay, so what's the name of that

(14:31):
brand again?
Sunrise Fresh.

Mark Haney (14:32):
Sunrise Fresh.
You can buy local dried cherries Dried
cherries, blueberries, apples, I think some
strawberries.
Wow, I'll have to check it out.
Yeah, so I have seven grandkids two kids

(14:54):
and seven grandkids and we all live on 74
acres a lot smaller, but uh, you mentioned
the you know two minute away thing.
So my little granddaughter uh, one of the
granddaughters is almost three but for the
last six months she's been walking from my
son's house we're probably 500 yards away
just show up and she's just like she's on
our back patio and say, hey, how you doing
bradley?
yeah, and I just wanted to come see what
was going on.
How's your day?

I'm 500 yards away.

Mark Haney (15:09):
Just show up and she's just like she's on
our back patio.

I was like hey, how you doing.

Mark Haney (15:11):
Brittany and I just wanted to come see what
was going on.
How's your day?
I'm like, come on in.
You know, Does your mom know you're here?

The freedom of country kids, you just can't.
It's incomparable.
Yeah, and that have the confidence to just
go at that age.

Mark Haney (15:28):
And well, you have daughters right, one of
each.
I have an 11 year old girl and a nine year
old boy, have they?
Now?
You're not living on the property yet, uh,
but it sounds like there's a lot of great
interaction between your, uh, family
members.
Is there, um, like people, uh, your, your
grandpa, or your dad or your dad, or, uh,

(15:50):
you know, the grandmother or their
grandfather?
Is there one that the kids are more like,
drawn to the dad or your mom?

I mean my mom's the most approachable.
She's so fun, she's so engaging.
My dad's doing his own thing.
He's busy.
If you want to hop in the truck with him,
great.
If you want to go golfing with him, great.
But he's doing his thing okay and so my
mom's probably the most mom's kind of a
confidant, maybe, maybe.

Mark Haney (16:12):
Uh, I've seen that co-conspirator.
She's pretty fun so that sounds a little
bit like my wife is.
She is, uh, I don't know, co-conspirator.
I've never really thought of that term, but
I'll come over like one of the grandkids is
going into freshman high school and so you
can imagine.
You know she's kind of popular but there's
girl drama and boyfriend drama and all that

(16:32):
and so I get because I'm probably less
approachable but I'm tight with my wife and
I'm always around um, I get to hear all the
uh, you know what it's like to be 14 years
old.
I'm not ready for that yeah, it's fun, uh,
so, but I I say that as being I think it's
like I it's the thing that I've never lived.

(16:52):
I never knew that.
You know like what we're describing what it
would be like or how it might exist, until
you're living it and I can tell you I love
it and anybody listening I mean it can be
great, so it's nice.

My mom did this great thing with my husband
because he doesn't come from a family
business or have everybody intertwined and
she said we, we got married in 2011 and he
needed to go to some meeting in Fresno or
Bakersfield or somewhere.
And she says you can use my new Porsche to
go on this trip and in exchange, you're
going to give me three years of you can't
talk trash about me as your mother-in-law

(17:28):
at all and he's like deal, I'll take that
deal.

Mark Haney (17:31):
So she drove his car he drove her car, he
drove her car it's her porsche.

Oh god, okay, got it, it's her porsche okay
he's like okay, deal, that's awesome.

Mark Haney (17:40):
So it's pretty uh yeah, it sounds like
she's got a good sense of humor and a good
uh.
You know, I don't know way about living
life, so that's awesome.

She's amazing.
It's if we come back to my daughter for a
second.
I think one of the most professionally
rewarding things that has happened to me
this year by far is I've worked with the
Gallup.
Strengthsfinder is one of the tools that I
use with clients and my daughter says to me,
11 years old, she says to me on a Sunday
mom, can I find out what my strengths are?
And I was like, girlfriend, I have been
waiting for years for you to ask me this.

(18:10):
I'm going to get a cheer.
It was awesome and I was like, of course.
And so their Gallup has a tool for younger
children called the Strengths Explorer, and
so we got her the code and we sat her down
at the laptop and she went through the
assessment.
Then we printed her report and we went
through it with a highlighter and made
notes and it was like the coolest parenting

(18:31):
moment, because she knows what I do for
work, she's interested and, of course,
everybody's interested in what makes them
special and fantastic and want to do more
of that.

Mark Haney (18:35):
That's are you?
She's well.
Kids get asked all the time like what do
you want to be when you grow up?
You want to do what your mom's doing.
You want to do what grandpa's doing.
You know that type of thing.
And uh, are they starting to imagine what
their I guess might look like?
I don't think so.
They don't know what they want to be when
they're a girl.

I think they're just present in their
little lives.
And I'm on the school board in Colusa and
one of the stats when I first started I
don't know, 10, 12 years ago was the kids
that we have in school.
Right now, half of the jobs they will have
don't even exist yet.
Yeah, it's amazing.
So we can't prepare them for careers.
We have to prepare them as learners to
understand who they are and what they bring

(19:13):
to the world and how they take in
information more than anything.
And so I, probably having inherently
discouraged, what do you want to do when
you grow up?
Because I think it's a bogus question in
general.
What do you want to do?
You don't know.
None of us know.
We're still making it up on the fly yeah.

Mark Haney (19:28):
So a lot of times kids will look at um,
like my daughter is in real estate, and I
remember when probably when my daughter
granddaughter was about 11, she would say
things like I want to.

You know, I want to be a realtor like my
mom, or that I want to be a garbage man,
yeah, yeah, which is a ridiculous
aspiration for a little girl, but that was
well, that job, well, that job might still
exist.

Mark Haney (19:49):
I don't know, maybe.

I mean it's gotten a little bit robotic my
kids still get excited on thursday morning
when the garbage man comes through the
alley.

Mark Haney (19:55):
Yes, well, my dad uh really respected our
garbage man because they were friends when
you know, growing up our garbage man, so we
were growing up to respect the garbage man,
and because, uh, of a guy named Frank
Cervantes.
So it is kind of an interesting thing to
think about.
What jobs are going to go away?

(20:18):
First, and I would imagine in your line of
work you're seeing this begin to change
right before our very eyes.
We can see, you know, 15,000 layoffs at
Microsoft.
We see all kinds of jobs that are now AI
enabled and you know, if you're not engaged

(20:38):
and understand the job the mundane jobs,
the monotonous jobs most of those are going
to go away.

And most of those suck anyway.
Yeah, so aspire to be a driver of uh
something yeah, and so how do we as
individuals both business owners and
employees how do we keep leveling up, how
do we look around and figure out how we
kind of stay on top of that shifting sand
that's beneath us and it's pretty daunting?
I mean, in my eo group there was a guy the

(21:07):
other day who's super whiz kid on AI and he
was kind of schooling our group and I went
I'm a moron compared to this guy.
I have so much to learn and it was in a
deflating way, it wasn't empowering, it was
just like I think I'm so far behind already.
And then the reality is you know that even
if you're using it at any capacity, you're

(21:27):
ahead of some of the people, and so we have
to find some foothold.

Mark Haney (21:31):
You're probably okay, yeah for sure, but
25% of today's job openings require some AI
experience.
That's an amazing stat and we're not even
in the I mean, we're still in the first
inning, if even that, in this AI thing,
because what we do is we invest into
startups and virtually all of them have got
an AI component of some sort running

(21:53):
through it.
We just announced the exit of one of our
robotics companies and it was AI driven,
but basically it replaced the people that
walk around and monitor solar panels, solar
farms right, these gigantic solar farms.
It's been very labor intensive, so these

(22:13):
robots go out there and make sure
everything's running right, write the
reports and do it all and it's all driven
digitally and it eliminates.
You know it makes things better, but you
just don't need people doing those boring
jobs or driving 500 miles into the country

(22:34):
go check out the solar panel.
So it's good, but that kind of things
change, do you in talking to employees and
employers?
Are people fearful of this kind of thing?
It's like my job's going to get eliminated.

Some are.
And some are excited, some are and some are
excited.
It's never been a better time to be a
learner, because you don't need a fancy
college to learn things.
Learning has never been more accessible,
and it is fascinating for me to think about
the kids in school today and will a college
education?
Aside from a medical doctor, a professional
engineer?

(23:07):
Some of these roles really do require this
specific training, but so many of them just
require you to be a really good learner,
and so it's kind of amazing to know there
are all these avenues and all these experts
that are willing to share for little to no
money, and that's pretty exciting.
I think, if we're willing to take ownership

(23:28):
of it.
And I have some questions about our society
and our motivation to keep up, yeah but the
ones that are, I think will be just fine.

Mark Haney (23:39):
I think so, and I think there's um.
At one point I was, I had sold my companies
and was trying to decide you know, what am
I going to do?
Am I going to wait for my non-competes to
go away and kind of get back in the same
space?
And I did an exercise called an ikigai.
Have you heard of that?

exercise before yes, yeah.

Mark Haney (23:55):
So for our listeners it's a Japanese term
that kind of means something like finding
your calling, and it's the intersection
between four things what you're good at,
what you love, what the world needs and how
can you make money doing it.
How can it be financially sustainable?
And you can.
I did it in the form of like a almost like
a brainstorming session.
I got a big dry erase board and just

(24:16):
started throwing ideas against the wall and
was looking for commonality around.
You know what that meant in terms of
finding my calling and my.
I decided at that point it was really
around.
I enjoyed creating opportunity for people.
That's kind of like what I've been working
on for the last 10, 12 years and it really

(24:37):
acts as a North Star.
Even though I didn't know what I wanted to
do when I grew up, I knew I liked creating
opportunity and I could figure out a way to
make some money doing that and have some
fun doing it.

Yeah, I've got like three pillars that I've
kind of come to the same conclusion.
So I've got kids, so school board, swim
team, all this stuff that I'm involved in,
and then there's entrepreneurship um a
girlfriend of mine and I taught an
entrepreneurship kid for kids class in
summer school this summer.
So then that covers two of the buckets.
Neither of those, unfortunately, make any
money.
Um, and then my other pillar is strengths

(25:08):
and engagement.
How do we leverage people's strengths,
figure out how to engage them for the
benefit of the individual in the
organization?

Mark Haney (25:14):
and so they all are the I see them
intersecting, though, even though maybe, uh,
school board doesn't pay any money.
Um, you are helping develop strengths, you,
and same with the swim team, and so on.

So there's a lot of clients that are school
districts that are not the district that I
volunteer for, so that I have lots of
insight into that space.
But it's just like I think that's kind of
my those pillars, that you're talking about,
but it's a great experience and I would
definitely recommend, if you're going to go
down that path, find somebody who knows you
really well, because we all do this thing
to ourselves.
We're we're like well, what am I good at?

(25:46):
Well, everybody's good at that, everybody's
good at that.
And to have an external person who knows
you say, no, I don't think you understand.
You're really really good at this.

Mark Haney (25:56):
You think it's weird.
But that weird part of you that's, there's
something there.
Yeah, that's where the value is, that thing
you're kind of like obsessive about.
You know that might be something.

Yeah.
So I think that that separate set of eyes
to push you to acknowledge some of the
great things about yourself we all just
it's.
It's why it's hard to write your own resume.
I do quite a few executive resumes every
year because they don't know how to tout
their own expertise.
They're like, well, I'm really good at this.
I'm like, oh, you're like industry expert
level and that your metrics in your resume

(26:27):
indicate that and so.

Mark Haney (26:29):
Yeah, A lot of times we don't necessarily
see that in ourselves.
So who?
When you, when you want to find somebody
like that, somebody who knows you well, but
don't you think it needs to be somebody who
will give you candid feedback?
Yeah, like somebody who knows you well, but
it's not going to be a yes, ma'am, or.

I know and hopefully you have those friends.
Yeah, exactly Because, yes, ma'am, or yeah,
I know, and hopefully you have those
friends.
Yeah, because not everybody does, but
someone who can be and giving them a
permission slip to be just brutally honest
with you, like I'm trying to make some
major life decisions here.
Direction, can you just call it like you
see it, who would you go?

Mark Haney (27:02):
to for you.
Let's say you were had one of those big
things, you would you go to your mom, or
dad would you go to your husband?

no, I have your children, a really good
friend named sadie.
She and I've worked on a hundred non-profit
projects together.
We've been friends since we were knee-high
to a grasshopper and she and I are really
comfortable shooting each other straight
and we've worked together professionally
and personally.
So she sees this well-rounded picture that
so few, I mean, think about our lives.
So few people in our lives see personal and
professional.

(27:27):
That's probably my favorite thing about
living in a small town is the doers are all
the things.
They're on the boards, they're doing the
work and you get this overlap.

Mark Haney (27:36):
Well, that's the one thing we talked about.
I'm kind of bouncing around on this
conversation but touching off this, you're
in the Entrepreneur's Organization.
You started an EO chapter in Texas right.
Yeah, in College Station I was a fellow
member, so I thought I was kind of into eo.
I've been a member for, I think, since 2012
and the entrepreneurs organization.
For somebody who may not know, it's a group

(27:57):
of entrepreneurs, it's like a club um, I
call it aa for entrepreneurs.
It's where we share everything with other
entrepreneurs and it's, you know, maybe
your deepest, darkest secrets about you
know, the personal life or the family stuff
or the business stuff, and then you can use
that these people as a sounding board in
many cases and they, uh they, they want to

(28:20):
help you.

We you become friends, they're living the
same life.
If you're trying to talk to a friend of
yours who's a W2 wage earner and has great
benefits, they have no idea the struggles
that you're facing, and I love the.
The way I describe the entrepreneurs
organization is like swimming in the deep
end with people.

Mark Haney (28:37):
If you only like to swim on the surface,
it's probably not a really good fit for you,
because the the deep end is where the meat
is at and where we learn from each other
and learn from each other's mistakes and
yeah, and when you say swimming near the
deep end, you're saying I'm rephrasing this
to make sure I understand You're saying
talk about the stuff that may be a little

(28:58):
scary to talk about, or even stuff that
feels like bragging outside this circle.

It's both.

Mark Haney (29:04):
Yeah, when you're talking about selling
your business for a lot of money but you
don't know how you're going to do
transaction.
And you know somebody else in your forum,
maybe his, you know, sold ten businesses.
That's a great sounding board.
But they don't think you're bragging, they
think you, you know they want to dive into
the.
Yeah, somebody else.

Let me help you but even, like you know, an
embezzlement situation or terrible things
that happen you don't even feel like maybe
you can talk to your spouse about because
you're petrified to let them know.
Yeah, these are these foundational groups
that get you, see you and have this freedom
to challenge you, challenge your thinking.
So those you know that sounding board if
you go through the ikagi I don't know how

(29:43):
to say it right yeah, they have a.

Mark Haney (29:45):
Uh, oh, the ikigai, oh, yeah, yeah, if you
go through, that process.

Those are some great people because they've
seen the ups and the downs.

Mark Haney (29:53):
But yeah, no, the EO organization has been
great for me.
I mean, it really led me to the idea of
starting a podcast.
It led me to now I invest into startups and
it's like all these ideas started by.
I joined this group of entrepreneurs and
they met a couple of venture capitalists
and a couple of you know other people that

(30:13):
were doing cool stuff for for entrepreneurs.
I'm like what can I do?

This sounds like a really fun sandbox.

Mark Haney (30:19):
Start a show.
That'll be my thing and it led me to where
I'm at today.
So, um, highly recommend the entrepreneurs
organization for, uh, for I would say
growth oriented entrepreneurs, mainly
because it really is, um, it's a place
where you can go and not stay the same, and
I I think it will help you grow if you, if
you if you embrace it, yeah um, okay, well,

(30:40):
you okay.
So you're teaching entrepreneurship with
the kids?
I often um describe the importance of
entrepreneurship, but as you're describing
entrepreneurship to young children, did you
talk about, like, why be an entrepreneur,
or why it's the importance of being an?

entrepreneur.
Yeah, I mean it's.
I love the quote that you have downstairs
about these are the superheroes of our
economy.
This is what's going to save America is
people who try new things and take a
different approach, and so we talked a lot
about that.
We talked about my husband, when we were
pitching it to the school district, said
you need to call it small business class.
I'm like no thank you.

(31:22):
Academic language is important and setting
expectations is important.
I don't need you to own a bookshop on the
corner, I want you to think bigger.
And whether you end up with a bookshop on
the corner, cause that's your heart's
desire, great.
But setting that expectations?
Kids can't be what they can't see.
And if they both my friend Sadie and I have
owned businesses and so we're both
entrepreneurs and we're coming from this
place of like I've done it, I've done it

(31:44):
well, I've done it poorly.
We've learned so many lessons.
But even just this academic language of
like the difference between revenue and
income, and Teach, they got it.
They totally got it.
They got the concept, they you know, one of
the kids wanted to have a banana split
business and he said he was going to sell
full banana splits.

(32:04):
But you know, like a lot of times moms they
don't want a whole banana split, so he was
going to sell half a banana split for
better profit margins.
And we're like you've got this.

Mark Haney (32:17):
You're going to be fine kid.
That's awesome.
Well, it's interesting because the older we
get, I think there's something about
reaching young people.
We work with a lot of students in
entrepreneurship in the growth factory and
there's something about getting into the
minds of young people and helping them to,
I guess, think bigger, think different,
think.
It's okay, because a lot of times we see
what our parents do and we sort of go down

(32:37):
that path.
And I'm on an advisory board for a local
university, advisory board for
entrepreneurship, and there's a lot of
faculty at this certain state college and
that the faculty don't really embrace the
word entrepreneurship, like the people that
run most of our circles.

(32:59):
They I don't know if it's a scary word or
if it's a word that they don't know how to
spell yeah, yeah, Well, who does?
right, I did.
Luckily I learned how to C student learned
how to spell entrepreneurship, but it's
sort of you know, for the people that are
working for a government agency but helping
develop our young people.

(33:19):
Not being in love with the word
entrepreneurship, almost like it's I don't
want to say adversarial, but the group
really embraced the word innovation more
than entrepreneurial, right.
So I think that thinking about the people
that maybe are working for a government
agency or working in maybe a large company

(33:42):
or something like that, I think you brought
up the word entrepreneurial that gets
thrown around a lot, but really embracing
the way of thinking innovatively, because
any of us can be innovative whether you're
a government agency or not.

It's more approachable.
People don't have to identify with a
lifestyle.

Mark Haney (33:57):
Yeah, I took all these risks, made all
these sacrifices and I've got.

I'm greedy, yeah but the innovation is like
oh, so we could do things better.

Mark Haney (34:05):
Yeah, yeah, great, let's, everybody gets
into that yeah, so that that it was a lot
more.
Let's call it politically correct I which
is not my strength being politically
correct, but I'm learning.
So I you know people that are out there
talking about entrepreneurship so great
realize your audience may be uh, uh,
hearing innovative thinking or

(34:26):
entrepreneurial or creativity and things
like that.
That's really you know what
entrepreneurship, uh is, what
entrepreneurship is all about.

Yeah, and it's interesting when I'm working
with clients.
One of the huge telltale metrics around are
we having innovation happening internally?
Is do I feel like my opinions count?
Is anybody listening if I bring up ideas
and am I safe enough in psychologically
safe to bring up those ideas?

(34:58):
And that's a really interesting one,
because one of the things a precursor to
that is if I get people in the wrong seat,
they're not in the right job.
They never feel safe bringing up ideas
because they think they're going to be
found out they're in numbers role, but they
don't have a numbers brain.
They're in a quality control role, but
they're not.
They're not anal by nature.

(35:19):
So they're working every day to be
something they're not.
They don't ever want to be found out.
So the ideas they have, they doubt.
Because I'm doing it wrong.
I know I'm doing it wrong, I'm just trying
to get by and collect a paycheck.
But the people that are in the right seats,
they are totally comfortable asking for
help, knowing they're not an expert, and
going to find, cobble together these

(35:40):
experts to keep going to the next level
because they know they can show up with
shoes on and they're good.

Mark Haney (35:46):
Interesting.
Well, you think about happiness.
What drives happiness in our lives?
And I've thought about that a lot as I've
gotten older and because right now I've
kind of built a life where I kind of do
whatever I want, whenever I want, and so
I'm always you know, I guess I'm not saying
that.
I ran over my son's dog yesterday and I
felt horrible.
I wasn't happy at that moment, but I'm
generally a happy person and you know I'm

(36:09):
kind of doing my own thing.
Not everything goes perfectly, but I'm kind
of in my lane and I'm happy For those
people that aren't in their lane the lane
that they should be.
How do you be a happy person?
It seems like it would be very difficult to
be happy, even it's really hard.

I think some people try to find it outside
of work, even though they're not happy at
work, and I think one of the huge elements
about it is, if we can even admit to
ourselves, I think I'm doing the wrong
thing, because we've all had jobs we were
not meant for and when you feel that
dissonance, that it just feels harder than
it should be, the change is afoot in our

(36:53):
economy Go, start looking for something
else.
Start volunteering in a place to hone the
skills that maybe you could market later
and take some freaking ownership of it
rather than be miserable and that's some
people I see that are really doing that,
and some are tired and feeling miserable.
But there's no path out of that except

(37:14):
effort.

Mark Haney (37:16):
Yeah, one of the things I've uh, I was
thinking about the other day what makes me
happy?
Obviously I like being in my own lane, but
when I am deciding to start something and I
continue and I and I'm progressing, that
little bit of progress is like very
satisfying for me, even though I might

(37:36):
still suck at it.
It like, oh, I got better and now I'm like
okay, it gives me just a touch of
confidence and really it gives me the
happiness.
So really I think, putting ourselves into
something where we can do it, try hard
enough, do it regularly enough, where we
actually show some progress, and then it's
amazing what that progress feels like even
if it's small.

And then it starts a snowball right?

Mark Haney (37:57):
Yeah, for sure.
But so do get yourself into something
that's, you know, fun, that you're maybe
naturally could be good at, and just start
trying and then you're going to get better.

Yeah, one of my favorite things that really
brings me joy is challenging people to be
better versions of themselves, and the word
challenging is really important to me
because I'm not that gentle of a person.
I'm pretty, I can be pretty abrasive.
I'm not a really good coach for everybody.
I'm not.

Mark Haney (38:26):
I'm not for everybody do they ever get you,
ever get assigned as a coach to somebody
like, okay, I want you to come in and okay,
we got this.
This person that, let's say, they're just
sort of unhappy person and you know they
don't want to hear.
Challenge yourself to get better, right?
Because, like, if my wife said that to me,
I would be, you know, I'd be hurt and I

(38:46):
would be.
I don't know what I would do.
I would cry, but I wouldn't want her to say
that, but I wouldn't want her to say that,
and so I can imagine pushback coming,
because not everybody wants to hear that.

Yeah, it's definitely not phrased that way
to be fair, it's usually like, hey, where
are you at, where do you want to be?

Mark Haney (39:06):
How can I help you?

How can I support you?
And that support often looks like hey, you
said this, what are you going to do about
it?
You got this, it's not scary.
Said this what are you gonna do about it?
You got this, it's not scary, go try it.
And I think we don't do enough tough love
in our economy anymore.
I think there's a lot of nurturing and
gentleness and not enough.
Get off your ass and go try it, don't be
scared.

Mark Haney (39:27):
And we have to show our kids right heck,
yeah, um, you should come coach football
with me.
I coach this group of seventh graders, taco
football, and you know I am one of the
coaches that does not use foul language.
I use foul language all the time, but not
around seventh graders.
Football coaching is.

(39:48):
You know, I hear a lot of get off your ass
and all that kind of stuff.
So it's kind of funny.
It's such a back and forth right.
They need to know you've got their back and
the reason get off your ass and all that
kind of stuff.

So it's kind of funny.
It's such a back and forth right.
They need to know you've got their back and
the reason you're pushing is to actually
care about them.
And if they don't believe that, none of the
tough love will ever work.
But if you get to a place where you can
challenge them, it's because you've earned
some trust and that, to me, I think, is the
most important part.
I think I've got a swimmer on our swim team
and God love her.

(40:15):
She missed an event at our championship
meet two years ago and her mom still talks
about the impression it made on her when I
just railed on her about all the people
that spent all their whole summer creating
this opportunity for her for you to go and
miss your event.
Are you kidding me?
And she was kind of deer in the headlights
and she's never missed an event again.

(40:36):
She's like she got it and it needed to not
come from a parent.
It needs from her parent.
It needed to come from someone else,
objectively watching the situation and
going Aubrey, give me a break.
We've worked all summer to get you here.
Pay attention, sweetheart.

Mark Haney (40:51):
That's amazing.
Well, how do you?
Because I would imagine men and women, but
I think more of the mom, the moms out there
that might be listening, because you sound
like Wonder Woman.
You're building businesses, selling them,
starting new ones.
You're a school board, a swim team,

(41:12):
starting the swim program.
You're building this business.
You're juggling a lot.
Now you're even driving here from calusa to
come on the you know, the mark haney show.
How do you do it all and do you ever get
burned out?
Or you ever just like go?
Did I bite off more than I should?

(41:33):
That I can chew?

time.
Oh, you do All the time yeah, one of my
biggest problems is I really like new ideas
and so I get these things started, but then
I don't want to run with the ball anymore
and I really need to find more doers that I
can hand the baton to, they can run with
them, because my fun is I'm an entrepreneur,
right, it's the startup.
So year seven in swim team is like I'm
looking around kind of desperately going

(41:55):
which of these parents is going to run
fundraising next year?
Which of these parents?
So that, um, I got this great advice when I
was in graduate school from someone who I
pictured the same way and I said how do you
do it all?
And she said I don't.
I do one thing every day I said I'm going
to be a really good mom today, I'm going to
be a really good executive.
Today I'm gonna be a really good executive.

(42:21):
Today I'm gonna be a great volunteer.
And I was like that's powerful, that I can
take and own, because I think we all spread
ourselves so thin and that's really
valuable.
I think know your strengths right.
I know what I'm good at getting it started.
Maybe I don't need to to run with things
long term and so work on that, but I I have
to I time block everything so whether it's
lunches with my friends, school board, my
husband and I, if it's not on each other's

(42:42):
calendar, please don't expect us to be here,
because we both run pretty, so you're not
as much of a multitasker as you are.

Mark Haney (42:49):
Like put them in these little compartments
and just win that part of the day, or
whatever.

I mean by nature I have O'Shiny syndrome
and so I like, I try, I try to be a one
thing person, but then I have, like you
know, I'm waiting for a client to get on a
call, so I'm answering emails madly and I'm
kicking off things that I need responses on.

Mark Haney (43:11):
Any advice to other people about like
because other people have, especially when
you're talking to entrepreneurs, when
you're helping an entrepreneur, chances are
they built a life that is.
You know they like to share shiny objects
too, and they and I think too, once you're
successful, there's probably more
opportunity, there's more worthwhile

(43:31):
opportunities that that you got to say no
to for sure, because you got to sort of
filter through and, you know, choose the
ones that I guess tie to your pillars at
some level.
Any advice to people, though, that are like
trying to.
You know I'm raising the kids and you know
what she's doing sounds cool and how do I

(43:53):
do?

I think.
A couple of things that come to mind.
One I talk to my kids a lot about I like
working.
I think a lot of times as parents we feel
this shame that we shouldn't be away from
them more.
So I have to go to work, I have to go
travel.
And telling them Mom gets to go do this
thing, I get to go speak at a conference, I
get to do these things.
It can be cool, and when I'm home with you
it's really cool too, but not making that a

(44:17):
taking it on as a shameful thing, because
I'm a way better mom because I work than I
would be if I stayed home?

Mark Haney (44:22):
Yeah, and I think most working women are
that way.
I think that that's why they chose this
thing.
So I love that.
Don't take it on as a guilt thing.
I love that.
And you should go find what you like too,
to the guys out there too.
Same thing you know.
Whether you're a traveling salesman or
whatever you're working conferences or
managing, you know a big territory.

(44:45):
If it's a fun job for you, don't be ashamed
about it.

Yeah, and if it isn't a fun job for you,
that's a different topic.

Mark Haney (44:51):
Yeah.

Right, but like there's so much kids can
learn about work that we can teach them and
and help them be interested in um and
another uh hack I guess I've found is I
found a girl on the swim team years ago who
was like could I pay you to come to my
house two days a week?
Get the laundry out of our rooms, do the?
Laundry fold the laundry put the laundry
away, do other assorted tasks like a kind

(45:13):
of a mother's helper, because I that was
just one task that wears me out.
Anything to do with grocery shopping,
cooking, laundry are just my kryptonite.
I don't want to touch them.
I still have to do some of the cooking.
My husband's pretty good about it and we
just don't need that much complicated meals
yeah but god, having someone who it wasn't
just like do the chores.

(45:34):
It was, she had a rhythm, she came even
when I wasn't there and she'd take care of
business and it was not very expensive way
to buy back some of my time.
That's a great book, by the way.
Buy back your time.

Mark Haney (45:46):
And um, uh and it's uh.
It kind of shows you how to the hacks of um
finding more time in your life.
Yeah, basically.

And so it's like what can we be outsourcing?
I have an admin who takes care of all four
of my email accounts and my calendar and a
bunch of stuff.
So even some of my entrepreneur friends
joke that they don't know when they're
hearing from Bobby or me, because sometimes
she just responds as me.

Mark Haney (46:06):
Yeah yeah, wow, that's great, so it's like
I don't have to.

If I am doing my emails all day, I don't
have time to do my work, and so it's super
boring.
So, and somebody else, that's a great
growth opportunity and I think that's as
leaders, giving up some of the pieces

(46:30):
you're not great at anyway.

Mark Haney (46:31):
Give someone else a chance to grow that
makes earn money and earn confidence so you
can be more productive on something that's
maybe more high value, because typically
the client facing uh items or the building
partnerships and things like that these are
can be really valuable to an organization.

(46:51):
Where a calendar invite is, it has a lot of
value, but it's it's not necessarily the
same opportunity as building a big
relationship yeah, like I'm thinking about
one.

I just would have been working with a board
um for a.
They're not non-profit and they're not for
profit.
It's kind of a weird space, but they were
in a really tough spot and they were really
struggling with their staff.
There was no trust whatsoever and I, when I
was hired for the job, I said I don't know
if I can fix this.
This sounds pretty rough, but I'm going to
go in with an open mind and assume positive

(47:23):
intent.
We did a bunch of stakeholder interviews
and that kind of work is.
It's amazing the place they're in and it's
only been, you know, two months down the
road, but just getting in there and really
understanding where is everybody coming
from, what is a been a miss that created
all this lack of trust?
That's the stuff.

(47:44):
Those are the problems I want to solve.
I don't want to respond to all my emails,
yeah, yeah.

Mark Haney (47:48):
Yeah, uh, well, okay, so back to uh.
I'm putting put my um uh hat on where I
want to get a little more education for
about to the, about the employees and
getting them to get themselves right on the
bus.
What else around that did I not really dive
deep enough into that really is around.

(48:08):
Look, here's how you can get yourself from
point a to point b if you're more of a
teammate versus the ceo yeah, um, I think
one of the things I love about my business
is that it's HR technology.

It's especially for the more technical
people out there.
They don't get people and they don't need
to.
There's some really good tools Like.
One of my favorites is called Predictive
Index and it's a way for us to define what
is our ideal candidate for any given role
and then, as we evaluate candidates that
come through the door, we have a really
quick look at behaviorally and cognitively,

(48:41):
does the shoe fit?
And if it doesn't, I don't care how much
resume fit there is.
I might be setting them up for failure and
myself up for failure as our employer.
So that's been a really powerful tool that
I've added to my practice, maybe eight
years ago.
And then the other one I really like is our
employee engagement module.
So we're measuring employee engagement and

(49:01):
giving a data driven direction to every
team on what should you go work on, because
we can work on a thousand things.
But how do we narrow down what's getting in
the way of performance?
And often it's clear expectations,
sometimes it's resources, sometimes it's
just feeling appreciated that somebody
notices you're doing good work, and so I
like the tactical nature of those things

(49:23):
because it's like I see it, I get it.
Pi tells me exactly what to go do and how
to ask questions of my employees, and I
like the tactical Just tell me what to do.
Most managers I see are like I'll do it.
Just, I don't just see it, I'm not as
empathetic as I want to be or I'm busy.

(49:45):
Most managers now are employees.
I like working supervisors.
It's not often that you see someone who's
just a manager, a player.
They're mostly player coaches rather than
just coaches.

Mark Haney (49:50):
Okay.
So what did I not ask you about?
So you're, you're, obviously, you've
developed a family that is to be admired, I
mean the way your parents and now you and
your husband and your brother, and it just
seems like it's a good working model.
Did you say fifth generation family?

(50:11):
Okay, so what did I not dive into around
building such a strong family with that
kind of unity?
Because to me that unity has got a ton of
value.
But what could you add in terms of how to
develop that?

I think the best word I can use is
acceptance.
My mom, my husband, exited the family
business in November and we were really
worried how this was going to affect I.
Had a client in Houston who was talking
about their son-in-law exited their
business and they didn't speak for a year
and a half.
I'm like, okay, this could go really bad.

(50:49):
I don't know how everyone's going to take
this and my parents and my brother were so
gracious about it, this total acceptance.
Well, if this isn't what you want to do, by
all means please don't spend your life
doing it and accepting.
You know, if you go back to the strengths
mentality, accepting these quirkiness, that
is like my.
The joke on in the family farm and it

(51:10):
really comes from our office manager is
like there's, uh, if you've seen madagascar,
it's like, yeah, I think, is that disney
movie?
Yeah, yeah, pix, I think, pixar, that's
right.
The lemurs, they're all spaz attacks.
That's my entire family.
And then there's my husband, who's like an
engineer and he's dressed in the
stormtrooper outfit and he's marching with
a whole group of stormtroopers in a row and

(51:31):
he's like this very structured German,
interesting and so.
But there's this appreciation that he's
great at systems and processes and he
tolerates us.
God love him.
And so just these different strengths at
play, if we can take them, from irritation
which, like last night, it came to a head
because my brother took the boat out which

(51:52):
was parked at our house to go out on the
river.
We're like, oh, we'd love to come join you.
We're on our way, well, we're getting
packed up, and he calls and he says um, the
keys aren't in the boat.
Well, my German engineer husband took them
out of the boat, so no one stole the boat
and the boat was useful to them.
But he didn't remember to text the whole
family to say, hey, boat keys are in my box
and you know well, I think uh, I'm going to

(52:16):
summarize, gonna summarize, uh, in my, what
I took out of that was you be you, right,
be yourself.

Mark Haney (52:22):
It's okay to be you, even if you're um
systematizing type of mind or you're a, you
know, a little bit uh, flighty, uh, accept
it yeah, and just own it right.

What's the dr seuss quote?
Uh, nobody.
Oh, something about being.
You are the new.
Oh, I wish I had had it on the top of my
head but Dr Seuss has some really good.

Mark Haney (52:46):
Yeah, I'll have to chat GPT that I'm using
a little bit of AI myself these days.
Okay, so last question and I'm gonna.
Well, I'll ask two more questions.
So what did I not ask you?
I was thinking about life hacks and
leadership and things like that, and there
was a book that was recommended to me.
It was kind of around time management, but

(53:06):
it's more than that.
It's different than that by somewhat, some
measures, and it's called Essentialism.

The.

Mark Haney (53:13):
Discipline Pursuit of.
Yes, yeah, it took me a while to stammer
the words out, but Essentialum is a book
about like cutting things out of.
It's okay to cut things out of your life
and say no, it gives guidance on that, and
so that to me.
That's a book that I've read a number of
times or listened to on audio and it's.

(53:36):
You know, it might mean that you appear to
look a certain way to others, but if that's
what you need to do for self-preservation,
do it or to grow you got to do it yeah yeah
I think one of my favorite books is, uh,
the four agreements oh yeah that one, it's
been a while though it's

a.
It's an annual listen for me, okay, um and
it, and it's such a good grounding and one
of the four agreements is always do your
best, okay, be impeccable with your word.
Of course, I'm not going to remember all
four of these on the spot.
Impeccable with your word is an amazing one
in terms of confidence and competence.

(54:14):
Don't take anything personally.
Has been a really powerful one for me
because, because of my strengths,
everything's personal to me and I'm.
My relationships are really important.
If anything's off with one of my key
relationships, I kind of spin a little bit,
and it's been an amazingly freeing um
mantra for me is it's never about you.

(54:36):
We're all coming from our own lenses and
our own bad days and triggers and all these
things.
It's like usually that interaction.

Mark Haney (54:43):
It wasn't about you and, um, yeah, yeah,
I've actually heard people, uh, um, within
the last year, say that the four agreements
was on there.
You're not the first person that's brought
that book up to me, and I believe I read it
a few years back, but you know, they could
recite've, they could recite it Like they
live by it, like they read it every year
type thing too, so that it must be a great

(55:04):
book, even though maybe I didn't, you know,
didn't resonate with me as much.
I'm gonna have to pull that one out again.
Um, now, you know, sometimes we need like
that downtime when you feel like growing.
Timing is everything.
That's one of my mantras with my kids.

(55:24):
Timing is everything.
It's like to read.
You know one of these self-help books.
When you're not feeling the mood, you know
it doesn't.
I like to read that stuff, like when I'm in
Cabo and I come back a little more
energized sometimes, so okay.
So last question, I guess, is like what
else did I not ask you?
I know you have a message, I don't know
where you.
I mean, I didn't really.
I have notes on what I was gonna talk about,
but I don't even remember what they are.

(55:44):
So what did I not ask you?
That's like important for us to get out in
terms of messaging.

I think one of the things that everybody
needs to hear is there just aren't enough
doers in the world.
There aren't enough people who take the
courage just try, and we need those in our
small communities, in our communities at
large.
I mean, I think about politics and there
aren't enough good candidates, because it's
a terrible job, but if we don't have doers
who are willing to push the needle, who are

(56:08):
willing to take a stand and say this is
what I think is important, that's, you know
I think about.
I go to the gym and work in our community
with people who have very different
political views than I do.
But when you work closely with people,
you're like oh, they have all these amazing
redeeming qualities.
Just because we don't agree on these things
over here, they, they become more human.

(56:29):
And until you lean in and become a doer,
volunteer for things and, um, hold people
up.
And that's a great way to find our
strengths without big risks at work is to
go volunteer and and lean into some things
and um yeah, there's this great quote by an
entrepreneur in texas um, that is, we all

(56:49):
want to be valued members of a winning team
on an inspiring mission, and that goes for
both volunteer, unpaid roles and paid roles
because if we're a valued member, it means
we're contributing from a strength-based
place of a winning team.
Even people who aren't competitive love to
win.
And on an inspiring mission.
It means we're doing something that matters.

Mark Haney (57:07):
Yeah.

And that is really the guidepost for all of
my work is if we can find and create those
conditions, we've done something really
good.

Mark Haney (57:17):
I love it.
Create those conditions.
We've done something really good.
I love it.
Well, melissa, thank you for sharing such
uh, I guess it's more than common sense
wisdom.
It's more, like you say it in an inspiring
way, things that make us want to be a doer
go out and, you know, change our lives for
the better.
So thanks for sharing that Very
inspirational.

(57:38):
Hopefully somebody got something that they
can put into action.
Even if it's hey what book to read, there's
a lot of good nuggets in there.

Thank, you for coming on the show.
Thank you for having me.
This is such a great platform.
Thank you very much.

Mark Haney (57:49):
Thanks for watching today's show.
My goal for every episode is that you find
a takeaway, something tangible you can use
in your business today, and if you have a
comment about a favorite takeaway, feel
free to put it in the in the box below.
And if you have a topic that you'd like me
to bring up on the show, don't forget to
let me know.
And also don't forget to subscribe to our

(58:11):
YouTube channel if you want to learn more
about entrepreneurship, because at Haney
biz, we are always by your side.

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