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June 25, 2025 41 mins

The entrepreneurial workplace demands a different mindset than corporate America – one that challenges conventional ideas about job descriptions, work-life balance, and personal growth. But what exactly does it take to thrive in this environment?

Successful entrepreneurial teams reach a cultural tipping point where positive, can-do attitudes become contagious. When more team members embrace excellence than resist it, even average performers elevate their game. The reverse is equally true: a predominantly negative culture can drag down even the most talented individuals.

While today's workplace conversation obsesses over burnout and stress, the reality remains unchanged throughout human history – meaningful achievement requires effort. The statistics are telling: 77% of employees report being asked to take on additional responsibilities weekly, with many citing this as a source of burnout. Yet this "workload creep" is precisely what creates opportunity in entrepreneurial settings. Those who approach these challenges with ownership rather than resistance position themselves for accelerated growth.

The most successful employees in entrepreneurial environments think like owners themselves. They understand that rigid job descriptions have no place in nimble organizations striving to meet customer needs and market demands. They respond promptly to communication, take initiative beyond their formal roles, and focus on outcomes rather than hours. These behaviors aren't exploitation – they're the very qualities that propel careers forward.

What's often overlooked is how one team member's attitude affects everyone around them. Negative, complacent employees don't just limit their own potential; they actively undermine their colleagues' success and satisfaction. Leaders must be vigilant in addressing these dynamics quickly rather than allowing toxic attitudes to spread.

Ready to transform how you approach your career? Recognize that working for an entrepreneur offers unparalleled opportunity to develop skills, connections, and habits that will serve you for a lifetime. Whether you aspire to leadership within your current organization or dream of launching your own venture someday, embracing the entrepreneurial mindset now is your competitive advantage.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you can get the culture in your firm to have the
majority being can-do peoplewho get it, then you can put
some of those average peopleinto that and they become good.
Okay, it's just getting yourbusiness to that tipping point.
There's more good ones thanthere are bad ones, because if
it's the other way, then you cantake good people and put them

(00:21):
into it and they go bad.
Then you can take good peopleand put them into it and they go
bad, okay, hey.
Hey, I'm back again with mybuddy, damn man.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Every time you kick me out as a co-host man.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, you are my co-host.
What are you talking about?
I said you're my buddy.
Okay, that's our level.
Yeah, come on.
I'm sorry, man.
Jeez your beard's looking goodthough, is it?
Yeah, thanks man.
You got that hip like five,six-day beard grip look that all
the young guys have.
I'll just trim it up.

(00:56):
Yeah, I'm just glad you don'tjust let it go crazy going on in
the neck.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
No, no, you got to trim it up.
I hate that.
Cut it down.
Yeah, yeah, you look good man.
Thanks, man, you always do,though, thanks, I appreciate.
That's the only compliment I'vegotten in, like the last month.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Well, that's the problem.
When you own your own business,you know nobody freaking gives
you that is actually that is thetopic.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Like people are like, say something nice and they're
like, don't get a big head, I'mlike there's no threat of me
getting bloated up, no Witharrogance, because like you're
just constantly getting cut, youjust get negative feedback
Constantly, and then usually youknow, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I'm not saying that this is the case for everybody,
but a lot of times you go homeand then spouse does it to you
too, because you're working allthe time.
Okay, or distracted, ordistracted, Even if you're not
working, you're still like oh,that's right.
I can't believe my wifetolerates that so well.
Now she's gotten good at it.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
She is so tolerant of me at this point.
Yeah, my wife does a good jobtoo.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
We're so fortunate there.
Yeah, my wife does a good jobtoo it's, it's.
We're so fortunate, there, buthey, we're back again with
another episode of that big ass.
Talk about my small business.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
That should be a genius.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
That was a good one oh lord, okay, um, so today,
eric, we're going to talk aboutworking for an entrepreneur.
Oh man, all right, I love thistopic.
I do too.
I think it's such a great topicbecause, basically, I run into
issues every single day relatedto this topic.
Yeah, you know, I mean, whatthe expectations are for people

(02:44):
who work for people like us.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I can tell you what my expectation is.
Go for it.
Excellence, exactly Evolving,continuous excellence.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
There's nothing wrong with that.
Nothing, nothing wrong withexpecting that no, but I think a
lot of people think there is.
Yeah, I really do.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
But I think a lot of people think there is, yeah, I
mean like I really do.
You know, there's this, there'sthis aura going around in
society to where, like, we'reconcerned about people being
burned out or tired or whateverit might be.
Oh, yeah, and you know, and Iget it, there is a level of
which you need to check yourselfbefore you wreck yourself.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right, yes, but, but Sam gave us a piece of data
right here.
Oh yeah, yeah, 75 percent ofgen z workers report burnout
systems due to workplace stress.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Listen, here's the deal, man you rewind a hundred
years.
There was no one talking aboutburnout.
I know that you were trying tosurvive and that's been the way
it's been since the beginning.
Yeah, it has taken hard work tojust survive and the problem is
is that we start vacations.
We started this all back up,you know.
I mean that starts, you know,and then we we want more time

(03:53):
off and we want balance and wewant all these like recreational
things.
But the reality is is that yourewind back and I mean, like
dude, you were working to getfood and working to get water
and to not die in the nextlightning, storm or flood.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
But Eric, that's not today.
No, that's not the world welive in today.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
I'm sorry to tell you , you know, I mean, life is
pretty freaking easy when youlook at it.
Right, I don't have to worryabout what I'm going to eat.
Sure, I know.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean I would say everybody that's complaining
about being burned out.
They're not worried about whatthey're eating.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Well, I do, whether I want to get ribs tonight or I
want to go for a good steak.
Yeah, yeah, that's how much Iworry about it.
No, you're right, but anybodythat's working we're all
survival, yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I got it.
They're not worried, right?
If they're going to be able toeat, sure, because you're
working, you're earning, you cango buy your food, so your
survival needs are being met,mm-hmm.
And so why are you working then?
But I think you have to attachyour passion what you like to do
, exactly, what you're excitedto do.
That's the kind of career youneed to get into, because that

(05:01):
alleviates all this burnout.
Yes, burnout happens when youlose the vision and the purpose
of why you are doing what you'redoing Exactly.
And if you're in that, you knowwhat you got to do Change jobs.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I agree, I, a hundred percent agree.
Well, I think that's you know,it's such a great topic, um, and
, like I said, I, you know, I itdoes cause a lot of problems.
Um, them, and I think it'sinteresting to me.
I'll use this as my LinkedInHall of Shame mention, which
I've kind of dropped here forthe show.

(05:34):
Yeah, need to bring that back.
Yeah, you do.
But you know, I put an articleout on vacation time and how
it's scheduled use what employeeexpectations are while they're
on vacation.
Out on LinkedIn.

(05:54):
It was out in this white letterand last night one of my
daughters even wrote a responseto it.
Oh, wow, who's a professionaland very successful woman.
She's like my vacation time ismy vacation time.
That was a point of negotiationwhen I took this job.
Okay, because I'm like, hey, isit too much to ask for people
to like look at their phone oremail like a couple times a day

(06:17):
when they're on vacation?
I don't think it is.
I always did it, yeah, okay,now people say, yeah, but you're
the, you're the owner, you'rethe ceo rich, yeah, and I'm, I'm
the employee.
Act like one.
Guess what?
Maybe we'll make you an owner,maybe you'll own your own
business someday.
Maybe you'll develop the habitsthat actually allow you to be

(06:38):
successful, if you ever do.
How's that?
Prove it before you get it?
Baby, yeah, I mean, of course,it's my own daughter.
I had to be sensitive to herneeds and she's.
She works hard, she's got twokids, you know, and in a
significant professional job.
Yeah, but, um, just built abeautiful new seven-figure house
.
We're out there on father's day.

(06:59):
It's fantastic.
I'm so proud of her.
But anyway, um, I do want tosay to people you've got to get
tuned in, for god's sakes, andbe responsive and do the extra
things.
Here's another point that samgave us.
Thank you, sam, thanks, she's,she's wonderful, she's good.

(07:21):
Many employees are assignedtasks outside of their job
descriptions.
77% are asked to take onadditional responsibilities
weekly and 36% face theserequests daily.
And that's from Live CareerHidden Costs of Extra Work
livecareercom.
93% of employees reportexperience burnout, experiencing

(07:45):
burnout due to workload creep.
What do you think about that?
As a small business founderowner, what do you think about?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
that Like listen, I hate job descriptions.
It's like the people have tounderstand.
Employees need to understandthat a lot of this stuff that we
expect from an employer isbased upon massive corporations
over decades worth of time.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Okay, that have tons of resources.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Tons of resources.
There are a number and a hugefreaking mess of folks, right,
right, but that does not applyto small business, exactly.
It does not apply toentrepreneurship, it doesn't
apply to most businesses, no,you know, and so you need to be
able to approach and be employedwhen you're with a small

(08:40):
business with the expectation ofwanting to grow, wanting to
excel in that trade of whatyou're going into and you have
the opportunity, your ceilinghas been lifted up tremendously,
at a much faster pace.
Absolutely.
All we ask is that you justimprove, exactly.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
Just get better.
You know what, though?
Just when you say that, itbecame perfectly clear to me.
Here's an analogy.
When you say that it becameperfectly clear to me, here's an
analogy.
Okay, yeah, the.
The analogy is that when yourwork is an employee in a
entrepreneurial organizationsmall business, either one like
you or I might have yeah, Um,you are essentially

(09:21):
self-employed.
I think you need to think aboutit like this.
So if you had a new business,how do you get ahead with your
own new business?
Do you get there by saying to aclient oh, we don't do that,
right?
Okay, no, we shut down at five,oh one and we're done.
And if you call me customerAfter five o'clock, you can

(09:42):
forget hearing from me untilMonday when I get back in the
office.
Does it work like that?
No, I mean, you could try that.
It's probably not going to bevery successful, right?
So what do you do?
You broaden the things thatyou're willing to do.
You provide extra services.
You make yourself available tobe very service oriented.

(10:02):
You respond quickly.
Now think about the qualitiesthat would make you successful
in your own business.
Apply that as to yourself as anemployee.
How's that for an idea?

Speaker 2 (10:13):
No, it's a total.
I mean, that's exactly the wayit needs to be.
You know the reason why as asmall, if I have a client that
asks, and requests, outside ofhours, extra, additional stuff,
there is a negotiation there,right?
I mean number one.
My perspective.
Perspective is if you're myclient and you ask for something
additional, 90 of the time yesis going to be the answer

(10:37):
because I am here to serve youand bring you value for the
dollars that you're exchangingfor me.
I want the money, you want theservice or the product Period.
That's the point.
If you need a little extra, I'mgoing to do a little extra.
Now, if you become out of line,right, and you're asking for me
to do something way beyondscope, that's going to cost me
all kinds of extra dollars andextra investment, then we're

(11:00):
going to negotiate and figureout a good price for that Right.
Figure out a good price forthat Right, fair Right.
But you know I'm not going totry to retire all in one.
I'm certainly not going to saythis isn't what I do and that
you would never say that.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
No, that that's the whole point.
I mean, it's like so somehowwe've got to get across that.
Are there, I guess?
Are there employers who exploitpeople or take advantage of
them in a job?
I'm sure they exist.
Okay, if you find yourself, ifyou're an employee and you find
yourself in that situation,neither Eric nor myself would

(11:30):
say stay there, okay, move out.
They don't recognize you, theydon't appreciate you, they
exploit you, move out.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
That's not so few circumstances like that really
really truly exist, especiallyin small business.
I know Like I have run acrosssome really bad owners that just
have.
They don't appreciate humanbeings.
No, they're selfish, they'renarcissists.
You know like, yeah, you knowand you'll come across those,

(11:56):
but you have to get out of thatsituation Exactly.
But most of the time it's folksthat come into a realm like the
.
They have an expectation of amassive conglomerate
organization working for a smallbusiness.
They want the whole and guesswhat?
They came to the small businessbecause their ambition was to
feel more free and to have abetter culture experience.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
A better connection with their fellow, with their
supervisor, with the customer,whatever right, they want the
cake and the icing?
No, I hear you.
Yeah, well, it may work thatway.
If you work hard enough and youthink like an owner, eventually
you may be the owner.
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
That's the thing I mean.
But yeah, you're absolutelyright.

(12:41):
I mean that's why I hate bookslike Good to Great.
I mean, I hate to say it.
Okay, I know it's a bible forpeople.
Look at the organizationsfeatured.
They're mega corps, megaorganizations.
They're not all, evencorporations that have billions
of dollars to work with and 20to 50, 80 years of inertia.

(13:02):
Yeah, we're not that.
We're small companies.
We're fighting, we're scrapping.
We're just like the employeeout there, yeah, okay, fighting
and scrapping, trying to makesomething big happen.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yeah, trying to take care of our family, trying to
take care of other people,trying to improve the community.
Yes, trying to innovate andimprove society.
You know, and I think, what alot of this whole principle
comes down to me, honestly, andand I'm saying this for myself I
get tired.
I'm a human.
I get tired, I get stressed out.
I I want to run away, I getscared, you know I have all the

(13:37):
same emotions.
Everything everybody else does,we all do, yeah, but I have seen
that as I got older, that my,my responsibility is to take
care of my own business, flowahead anyway.
Exactly, if I'm freaking,feeling, anything like that, I
go figure it out and I show backup, yep, and if I start really
losing it, I mean like, dude,there's times I've been

(13:58):
depressed.
There's times I mean likeseriously depressed.
There's times that I've beenreally sad.
There's times I'm reallyexcited.
Right, there's times that I'vebeen really sad.
There's times I'm reallyexcited.
Most of the time, 90% of thetime, I'm either scared,
depressed, discouraged, beatendown, slapped around, you know,
I mean, just live in that.
But the thing is is I know thatI have a responsibility, right,

(14:20):
I have an ambition.
Yes, I know that I need to pushthrough and I trying to.
I'm trying to have goals.
I have goals.
I'm trying to improve.
Sure, myself, like I have toadapt, I have to learn.
I'm accountable to all of it,yes, you know.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
And so I think that it really comes down to every
individual and the satisfactionyou get when you accomplish that
makes that sacrifice, makesthose hills that you had to
traverse.
It's called worthwhile.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
it's called honor and liberty.
Yeah, all these values andvirtues that every human is told
that.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Oh no, that's the thing when you miss all that and
all you think about is justpersonal gratification, like
what car you're going to getwhere you're going on vacation,
or how much heated and cooledsquare footage you're going to
have in your next drywall palaceor whatever.
It's not gratifying it's.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
It's not, because, even if you gave somebody okay,
what a lot of times folks do isthat they're going for a goal of
being happy, right, andeverybody, for the most part, is
not happy.
I don't believe that people aresupposed to necessarily be
happy.
Certainly not all the time,certainly not all the time and
not a majority of the time.
Right, like in what?

(15:30):
In what element did we everdecide that we all should be
happy?
I don't know where that is.
That came.
That came from fairy tales andsongs and poetry like 1960s
psychology.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
I don't know where that came from right.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
But I think, yeah, like everybody's, like you, I'm
striving to be happy, and thathappy equals having money,
having things, having this happyfamily, everybody's healthy,
everything's perfectly well.
It's not.
It's the opposite, it's astruggle.
You're surviving, you'rethriving, you're trying to get
ahead, you're trying to impact.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
You're trying to get ahead, you're trying to impact,
you're trying to do thingsexactly.
It only comes from doing.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Do we always come back to this?
We do, it's it because it'strue.
It's the kernel.
All right, it is the kernel.
And I and I actually like, whenI have folks, that when I have
people on my team and I can seethat they're struggling, like
they're not improving, they'renot driving forward, they don't
have vision, they're in a in ain this realm of passivity and
complacency and negativity, yeah, and they bring it across

(16:37):
wherever they go.
It's like their pick pin man.
They just got dust fallingaround.
Yep, I'm genuinely sad forthose people because they don't
even know that they're stuck inthis world of an expectation of
happy or I need to be here andthis is the perfectly balanced
life, and so they don't pushthemselves.

(16:58):
They're leaving so muchprogress in the graveyard.
It's sad.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
You know it is sad, it's a waste of potential.
Totally.
It's like my first boss out ofgrad school, mike lattice.
You know you've all heard aboutthe peter principle, where
people rise to their level ofincompetence.
Yeah, his was the paulprinciple.
All the people who do notachieve their real potential, he
goes.
Well, what about the paulprinciple?

(17:25):
Yeah, okay, for all those whoexceed their potential.
There's a lot more of them outthere who don't reach their
potential because they're notgoing for the brass ring.
They're not doing the thingsthat lead to extraordinary
success and accomplishments.
Right, that's right, you knowit's.
It's pretty interesting.
One of the companies I'massociated it's pretty

(17:45):
interesting one of the companiesI'm associated with and and one
of the partners in our ceo, putout recently a code of conduct
for employees, and you know itwas pretty interesting.
Okay, some of the points wererelated to things like if you're
a salaried employee, itdoesn't't mean your job ends,
you know, at five o'clock, right, we expect you to be responsive

(18:12):
to calls, emails, texts etc.
You know things like that.
There was very little responseto that.
Ok, today you put out a secondone related to the code of
conduct, all in response toemails that you know you got to
respond.
You got to say you got it.
You got to answer the questionthat was asked of you or provide

(18:33):
the information that was askedof you.
And speed is important becausethere are things that are out of
our control and we're trying.
The sooner we can respond tothem, the better off we're going
to be.
Yeah, right, yeah.
Or we can respond to them, thebetter off we're going to be
yeah, right, yeah.
It's just interesting the lackof response to that, like people
saying, yeah, I agree with thatWay to go.

(18:54):
Instead, they're all like, oh,wait a minute, what?
I'm supposed to work beyond 501.
I'm at 501.
I'm checked out, you know Well,you want me to respond to
emails.
I'm busy here today.
I can't.
I'm so busy I can't respond.
It's like that's such bullshit.
It is think of how much we doand all the plates that we spin

(19:14):
in the air simultaneously andanyway, I mean I people tell me.
When I tell them all I do,they're like I don't believe
that yeah they don't believe it.
They don't even believe it'spossible, but it is and you can
still respond.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
You are the fastest responder.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
But I mean, it's just there's.
Things are within people'scontrol to do.
They've got to make thatsacrifice, that effort, when
they work for people like us Ifthey want to get ahead, if they
want to be satisfied, if theywant to become owners, if they
want to have their own thingsomeday yeah and want to just
succeed?

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yes, and what we mean .
So I think that, okay, ifyou're listening, you're a small
business owner.
Yeah, how do we get that?
Yeah, you have to hire that way.
Right, like you have toinvestigate the attitude.
You have to investigate the,the values and the vision and
the ambitions of the individuals, right, like I mean, yes,
you're right, and that's a hardthing to peel back.

(20:14):
Like I mean, I've been fooledmore times than I've been.
Oh, I know that I've landedcorrectly.
Now I have found, I mean, Ihave people on my team that are
like high achievers man, like Ican I it actually it gives me
the greatest satisfaction in theworld when I have somebody like
I have them here at podcastvideos that have a few of them
that are just like dude, I candepend on them Like I feel part

(20:38):
of their team.
I don't feel like an owner, Ifeel like I'm part of this team.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Of course, you know why, though.
Well, I'll say a couple ofthings.
One is you're in the trenches,just like them.
That helps.
Then you identify those peoplethey feel like you're working
hard to, you know, and the otherthing that you've done is you
don't I mean, I know most of thepeople you have here, right,
right, most of them did not havethe qualifications for the job

(21:06):
they're in.
If you looked at it on paper,yeah, yeah, okay, but it's the
character, character, man, it'sthe intelligence, it's the
personality, it's the give acrap man, right, that, that's
what they have and that's whatyou invest in, and then the
stuff that they need to figureout.

(21:27):
It's not that hard, especiallynow with AI.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
You know, I don't know about AI shit, but I mean,
but the reality is it's levelset everything Like you don't
have to be a 30-year veteran inan industry to know how to do
stuff.
All you got to do is ask, justask the question and figure it
out right, and I mean if youhave an attitude to achieve and
to grow and to be part of a teamand you see your peers right

(21:52):
like and here's the other thingI've actually been on this
rampage lately.
The saddest thing to me is whenyou have a person that is
complacent, passive, lookingalways like they're stressed,
they work so hard on figuringout how they can don't have to
work.
Right, as if, as if, even ifthey attain that goal, that

(22:15):
they're going to be happy, whichthey won't be.
Yeah, because no one thatreally doesn't work.
I've yet to meet one person inmy entire life that doesn't work
.
That's happy.
No, I agree with that.
They have the same problems anda lot of times are multiplied
Right, because they have no moreself-confidence, no self-esteem
, they're depressed, they arelost, they have no purpose, they

(22:38):
have no identity anymore.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's almost like being a criminal.
Okay, you're seeking the easyway out.
Okay, you steal your money.
Yeah, you steal your money,yeah you steal your.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, you know it is.
It's like stealing.
It is stealing from yourself.
Yes, you're stealing all thethings that are that give you
that sense of achievement.
Yes, honor that all thosethings, yes, and but anyway,
like the, you know, the onething that I've been noticing
about this is the bad part abouta person that is in that

(23:10):
mindset.
It's not what they only do tothemselves, what they're doing
to their peers that are rightnext to them.
Yes, it's a shame.
You got a person over herewho's achieving, coming to work,
that's passionate, that wasdriven, that wants to accomplish
and do things, and then theygot a peer over here that
doesn't report to them.
Right, you know that'scomplacent and all this kind of

(23:30):
stuff.
A they're spilling out negativeenergy, yep, and this person is
dragging them along, and allthe while.
Person B the passive personthat's looking for vacations and
get paid more money, by the way, is literally risking and
damaging person.
You know A's potential andthey're keeping them from

(23:52):
getting paid more.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
They're keeping other people.
They want to see them, theywant to drag them down.
Yes, it's the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Okay, misery loves company, dude.
It's that whole principle.
It's just like being infreaking grade school again yeah
, if I'm ugly and you'rebeautiful, I'm going to tell you
that you're ugly so that I feelbetter about myself.
Exactly, it's all aboutself-esteem and all this crap,
man, that I'm born with, yeah,and that we don't investigate.
You know, I know, and it'sactually like I've seen it, like

(24:21):
it makes me, you know, and itmakes me very like, just upset
to see that person.
They don't even realize thecircle of hell that they're
creating for not only themselves, but their family, their peers,
their friends, everybody.
It's just negativity.

(24:41):
But all the while, they get tobe in a survey and complain,
yeah, I know, which gives themWell, it gives them this
confidence that they're right.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
When I saw this data that Sam put together for us
about the 77% and the 95% areburnout from these extra
requests, or 93% and the 75% ofGen Z's that are burnout due to
workplace stress, all I canthink about is give me the 7%,
give me the 25%.
Okay, I don't even want thoseother ones.

(25:13):
There's very little we can doto change them.
Their, their personality andtheir, their mentality is a
function of what they'veexperienced up to the point that
they come into ourorganizations.
Okay, yep, you know.
Can some of them change theirlives?
Yeah, can some meth addicts?
Yeah, stop being meth addicts.

(25:35):
They can, but it's rare, right,it's super rare.
Okay, it's the same kind ofthing.
I don't even it's.
I think where the problem wehave is small businesses is
being quote heartless enough torun those bad apples off fast
enough.
Instead, we feel obligated,thanks to hr and everybody else.

(25:57):
Yeah, it's just been months andmonths, or years even trying to
turn them into something thatthey're not.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I'm on the team.
That's a great topic for theentrepreneur right there,
because it's even relative to me.
There are folks that behavethis way that I continually
invest in.
I know it takes mental energy,real money real time, of course,
and I've had the sameconversation over and, over and

(26:26):
over again in a hundreddifferent ways, but yet somewhat
, somehow in me and maybe thisis, this is your sense of
responsibility for them yeahyou're taking, I want them like
if you would just get adifferent.
If you've been freaking like I,don't do you need to listen to
affirmations while you, so youwake up and you go.
Wait a minute.
I'm alive, I'm breathing, Ihave a responsibility, I'm

(26:49):
worthy, I got nothing tocomplain about.
I got nothing to complain about.
Everything's good.
I just slept in air conditionall night.
I'm not cold, I'm not hot, Igot food.
Show up to work and just doyour work, and I'm going to go
to my grave not believing thatthat's just the way it is.

(27:11):
Yeah, like I.
I I guess that's what's drivingme is like I got to.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
You want to keep showing the world that that
doesn't have to be the case.
It's the same thing thatmotivates you to start these
businesses.
It's like I want to show theworld.
I think I can't do it or thiswon't work.
I'll show up, right, I guess.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
So it's yeah, I get it, because if you can't, I have
seen people make the adjustment.
I have seen, I know, and it'svery few, but what they do,
that's their lives changedforever.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Well the.
Thing is lives around them arechanged.
If you can get the culture inyour firm to have the majority
being can-do people who get it,then you can put some of those
average people into that andthey become good okay.
It's just getting your businessto that tipping point.
There's more good ones thanthere are bad ones, because if

(28:00):
it's the other way, then you cantake good people and put them
into it and they go bad Right,just like you said.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
So, true, man, it's that pendulum man and, as the
entrepreneur, guess what?
You have to show up and you'rethe one that's pushing and
pulling this and it's this.
You know, it's funny.
It's like it's not thefinancial books that are very
reasonable and logical, it's notthe marketing plans and all
this other stuff.
It's that soft skill, thatsense of where that pendulum and

(28:31):
how do you navigate that?
But it's such a like when yousee strong leaders, they have
the ability to do that.
I think immediately just of SamWalton yeah, his ability to just
drive people to be better thanwho they are when they showed up
.
And the elite.
He was great at that, so goodat just inspiring and
campaigning constantly and itworked, I know.

(28:54):
And the same thing has happenedwith all these major businesses
when they started, sure, andthat's why it's so hard for the
culture we're in with this.
You build a pitch deck, you getinvestment and then you start
Two years later, you're rich,you're, you're done, you're out
like the and nobody knows whatit really was.
But it's this, there's thiscore team that's built and you

(29:15):
have somebody or a group ofpeople, yeah, that are just
anxious to freaking, achieve andwin.
Yes, they want to win, yes, yes, and you don't have to have.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
You know, go ahead.
No, no, I'm sorry, I didn'tmean to cut you off.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
You were saying so you don't have to in a company,
have a hundred percent of themeverybody's winners.
I don't, you're not gonna findit right.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, and there are jobs, there's always gonna be a
low performers.
When you get out of the one lowperformer, another one will
immediately take their place.
Yeah, do you know that therehave been studies done on that
too?

Speaker 2 (29:46):
And I mean there's functions that don't really
require and you don't have topay.
You know like you can findpeople that just show up to work
and leave and that's their life, that's their happiness.
Yeah, that's some of those, butthe thing that those people do
is they don't bring negativeenergy to the company.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yes, that's not acceptable, no matter what
Exactly.
Yes, that's not acceptable, nomatter what Exactly.
Yeah, I think you're right onwith that.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
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Speaker 1 (30:22):
You know, I think again.
I always seem to bring it backto sports analogies and I'm not
even a big fan of of spectatorsports.
Right, I'm a guy, I'm be.
I always said I don't want towatch, I want to play.
Yeah, man, okay.
So I'm a player, I'm not awatcher.
Same bro look.
So yeah, we play, we'll breakit, we.

(30:44):
But if you look at teams, theydon't.
They understand this.
Ok, sports teams they're not.
The coach is not going totolerate somebody who's
polluting the minds of othersthere.
They're going to make theirefforts to turn it around, but
it's not going to last very longand they're they're off the
team.
We're going to put somebody elsein.
Okay, you know, not everybodymakes it.

(31:08):
I just think we've all got thisattitude.
Well, it's hard to find people.
Okay, it's an employee-drivenlabor market and we got to be
nice to everybody.
We want to be like a familyhere, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
You want to be like a sports team.
I want to be like a sports teamthat has the first string.
They start, yeah, with thewinning team.
I might have some backups, butthey're out as soon as I get a
better backup.
That's just because we're hereto freaking win Exactly, and
some people last a long timeright.
Yeah, some people play for 10,15 years.

(31:42):
Yeah, exactly, sometimes theygo to different teams, they
recruit off, they're movingaround.
But the thing is, is everyplayer that comes like there's
somewhere that this employeemindset has gotten mixed up,
that they're not playing on asports team, like they're not
joining a company to help thecompany win, and that you have

(32:02):
to perform and you have to growand be better every single day
for the company, for the team,to win.
Yeah, so now that it's gottenmixed up to where it's, it's a
freaking it's.
You know it's, it's, it's.
It's not even about the winwell, it's no, it's like.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
I think I think a big part of the problem is and
again, I always go back to thisit's the whole idea of open book
management.
And because the presumption isthat, oh, you own your business,
you're rich, you can afford todo this, you can afford to pay
me whatever you want.
Uh, yada, yada, yada.

(32:40):
Okay, because I'm beingexploited and I deserve to cheat
because, if I can, all I I'mdoing.
You're cheating.
Yeah, you're already cheatingthis business.
Yeah, you're, and you'recheating me.
Okay, so I'm going to cheat.
I mean, these are some of theattitudes that exist out there
and and it's you know, I likenit to in Fayetteville.

(33:02):
The presumption of the mass ofthe citizenry, certainly the
most vocal ones in the citystaff, is if you're a real
estate developer, you're rich,you're evil.
All you want to do is, um, rapethe land and maximize your
profitability.
Okay, right.
And that's not the case withnine out of 10 developers.

(33:22):
I know they want to buildsomething, they want something
cool there that they can saythat's I did, that.
I helped make this town what itis.
Yeah, I made this a betterplace.
Okay, that's what's motivatingthem, just like business owners.
Yeah, okay, yeah and so, but ifthat's the presumption of
people, then that makes it verydifficult to get them to change

(33:46):
their behavior and theirattitudes to one of thinking
like a business owner andadvancing the organization to
win and make themselves win 100%.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
And I think that when we're wrapping up this episode,
right like there's I love thislast bullet point, like
identifying organizationalhealth indicators, right.
So this whole discussion thatwe've had, yeah, how do you
identify when this pendulumwhere it's at in the process,
like as a business owner, andhow do you get to that winning

(34:22):
team?
How do you get you mentionedopen book management like that's
a tactical thing to get to awinning team?
How do you get you know youmentioned open book management
like that's a that's a tacticalthing to get to a winning team.
Sure, but to identify it, it is.
There is a sixth sense.
I think that a lot of businessowners either have or they
develop over time and a lot oftimes, like in my experience has
been, I had to go throughexperiences to now see the

(34:44):
sparks that lead to forest fires.
Yes, you know, but I think thatwhen we talked about earlier,
like how you interview and bringpeople on the team, right,
that's critical.
You can't think as a bigbusiness.
You can't be a small businessowner and think people on the
team Right, that's critical.
You can't think as a bigbusiness.
You can't be a small businessowner and think like a major
corporation, right?
You?

Speaker 1 (35:02):
can't.
Here's your job description foran admin assistant to you.
Do A, b, c, d, e and F Right.
It just doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
When I talk to people about a job in a small business
, like I'm like, listen, likeI'm like, listen, like I'm gonna
.
This is kind of the core ofwhat I'm hiring you to do.
But you but you need to knowlike I will be asking you for
all kinds of stuff and youshould do anything and
everything that's needed to makesure that this company, yes, is
successful.
Yes, yes, do you understandthat?
Yeah, yeah, I get, I'm in.

(35:31):
Okay, great, I set anexpectation with you both.
Get it right, you know, andthen you're at you.
You're interviewing aboutattitude, you know, asking about
ambition, all those types ofthings.
But then when they come in andthey're working, you should be
able to be, you need to beattuned to your people, like,
like you need to watch theirexpression, how they're walking
in, how often are they skippingout a little bit early?

(35:52):
You know, and you have toaddress things on the side.
You taught me this.
We don't have freaking employeereviews every six months.
If I see a problem, we addressthe problem Right then, and
there you don't need to prepareand all this kind of stuff.
Right In most circumstances.

(36:12):
Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
No, you're right on with that, Because you can check
it.
Everything needs to move faster.
We've got to be involved withour business to see this kind of
stuff right.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
That's.
That's a huge point right there.
Yeah, you gotta be at thebusiness, working in the
business, talking to the team,calling folks, emailing folks
having meetings and sensitive towhat you're seeing.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
You know passive, aggressive responses, like I
sent somebody an idea forsomething and they don't respond
at all.
Well, that means they don'tlike the idea.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Okay, that's what they're telling me yeah, and so
you need to be able to go andaddress that real quickly.
Yeah, you've got what's goingon, man.
Yeah, you know, like like, areyou having problems?
What are you in?
You know, and I've a lot Mostof the time people have
misconceptions about what you'reasking or what's going on.

(37:03):
Sure, like they've they.
When they hear something there,it's not that they're hearing
exactly what you're saying,they're putting it together
about everything that they'vebeen reading, and God knows what
they're reading.
They could be reading all thebitch and they're seeing on
social media 76 percent ofpeople that are burned out right
.
So they've been reading thatlately and they're just in this
mindset and they're like verywatchful.

(37:25):
Yeah, about anything they'reangry.
They're angry already and it'snot about you, it's about them
no, boy, you're right about.
I mean that describes like thepolitical environment right and
percent, yeah, and so you saysomething and they're all
freaking, passive, aggressive,sarcastic or whatever.
Yeah, and there's been manytimes like all right, everybody
have a good day.
Hey, so-and-so, will you stayhere and talk to me real quick?

(37:46):
Hey, listen, when I said thisearlier in the meeting, I looked
at you and you kind of rolledyour eyes for a second and sat
back and look like you're not onthe where are you at?
Yeah, well, you know, I justthink that you're asking a lot.
I'm like no, no, that's notwhat I'm asking.
I'm like listen, we're here towin and this is what we're doing
.
And when we talked originally,this is what was going to happen
.
I mean, are you still in thegame?

Speaker 1 (38:10):
And a lot of times they'll be like they'll.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
I'm glad we're back on the same page, you know, but
you can't Good point.
It's like look when you rollyour eyes and you sit back.
Do you realize what you'redoing to the rest of the team?
Do you realize what you'redoing to the culture of this
company?
Like damaging things?
Yeah, and then they don't wantto.
They just got sucked into thisfreaking negative social crap.
Yes, that's sucking them in thenegativity, you know, and and

(38:42):
and.
But you can help bring them outof that.
Yeah, versus letting that broomcounting them out.
Don't invest in them.
Yeah, because it's always, Ithink, a better.
It's just like having.
Is it more costly?

Speaker 1 (38:52):
is it cost more to get a new lead or to now serve
your existing clients, so youwant to try to turn them around.
Right, but you got an existingteam.
Yeah, but you've got to putlimits on that.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Here's how much you'll do yeah, I mean, I have
that conversation over and overagain.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Yeah it's like you're not gonna work and follow your
intuition, you know, because Ithink, um, sometimes we ignore
that, yeah, and we shouldn't.
So let's just summarize here itain't easy working for an
entrepreneur no, it's not okay,as you can tell but you could
learn a hell of a lot if youembrace the idea, if you think

(39:29):
like a business owner and treatyourself as your own business.
What would you do to besuccessful?
Yeah, if you think that way andyou apply that in your
employment situation with theentrepreneur, my God I mean,
what can you?

Speaker 2 (39:45):
you can achieve Probably anything.
Yeah, which is what happenswhen you see these companies.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Hey, did you start out with a whole pocket, a pot
of cash?
No man, okay, neither did I.
No Okay, neither did I, no,okay, neither did I.
The only way we got where weare, if it's anything at all and
sure, there's people who aremore successful than us, you
know but it's because we appliedthat thought process to the

(40:14):
jobs we had.
That's right.
We learned a lot from it.
In some cases I actually got tobecome an owner in the
enterprise because of thatbehavior.
Okay.
And then we were equipped, yeah, we went out to start our own
businesses in the world to besuccessful.
That's right.
It's part of your training,it's part of your education.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
It part of your, your habits, your workout, your you
know, and all I want to do is bepart of the team, like that.
Exactly that's all I'm tryingto build.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Yeah, I get a team right wins, it's because that's
fun.
That's fun, yeah, and that'smeaningful, it's gratifying.
Totally, yeah, all yeah, allright.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Well, it's been a fantastic episode.
We're done, we're done.
Until next time, anotherepisode of that Big Talk.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
About Small Businesses.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Big Talk
about Small Business.
If you have any questions orideas for upcoming shows, be
sure to head over to our website,
wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscomand click on the Ask the Host
button for the chance to haveyour questions answered on the
show.
Stay connected with us onLinkedIn at Big Talk about Small

(41:35):
Business and be sure to headover to our website to read
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