June 19, 2025 • 53 mins
What happens when you create a vision so clear that every decision becomes obvious? Joshua McMahon, owner of McMahon Custom Homes, reveals how he transformed from laborer to business owner by focusing relentlessly on his three-year vision.
The entrepreneurial journey is rarely a straight path. Joshua candidly shares how he built his business foundation 18 months before leaving his secure job—posting consistently on social media, networking with key industry players, and sharing his vision repeatedly until the right people resonated with it. Despite initially being laughed at, Joshua's persistence led to critical relationships that fueled his company's explosive growth.
We explore the crucial distinction between management and leadership, with Joshua explaining, "There's managers on every single store corner. We need a leader, growing those managers into leaders." This perspective shift transformed how he approaches his business, focusing on developing people rather than just hitting numbers. His refreshing approach to growth—aiming for higher-value projects rather than higher volume—challenges conventional business wisdom while preserving what makes his company special.
The conversation takes a powerful turn when discussing failures and setbacks. Joshua reveals how his lowest career moments provided the greatest learning, though he admits feeling embarrassed to reach out during those times. His advice for weathering tough periods? Maintain focus on your vision and surround yourself with people who believe in your potential.
Joshua also shares practical strategies for vision-building, including scheduling dedicated thinking time and creating visions so detailed you can "touch" them. Whether you're considering entrepreneurship, seeking leadership insights, or simply trying to navigate career transitions, this conversation offers actionable wisdom from someone who's living proof that vision-driven success is possible.
Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn or social media to learn more about his visionary approach to business and leadership.
http://www.mcmahoncustomhomesllc.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mcmahoncustomhomes
https://www.facebook.com/mcmahoncustomhomes/
Make yourself a priority and get more done: https://www.depthbuilder.com/do-the-damn-thing
Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You've got to create a vision that is so clear, three
years from today, thatdecisions you're making will get
you to that vision and thingsthat you say no to won't get you
to your vision.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What is going on L&M family.
Back again with anotherphenomenal guest who I've been
slacking like we've known eachother, I don't know three, maybe
four years now, and I'm justnow getting him on the podcast.
He's a true visionary in thecustom home building space,
(00:35):
which is not for the weak atheart.
He doesn't just build homes,though.
He builds trust, innovation andclient-centered excellence,
which I'm hoping to take somecheat codes from him in terms of
the client-centered excellence,because I got a little bit of
room to grow there.
He's my friend, whether he likesit or not.
I'm calling him my friend, mrJoshua McMahon.
(00:57):
He's a transformational leader.
He is the driving force behindMcMahon Custom Homes and I have
a feeling he's going to talk alittle bit about having a vision
and the value of that.
But before we get to that, ifthis is your first time here,
this is the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where you get
(01:18):
to see how real people, amazingpeople just like you, are
sharing their gifts and talentsto leave this world better than
they found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we about to get to know Mr
Joshua McMahon.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Mr Joshua, how you doing, brother man it is so good
to be on here.
You said three years offriendship, but I think it goes
back five plus years.
If we're honest.
We were together when you werefirst kicking.
Wasn't it Like you were doinggym equipment or something and
you were like this isn't reallyfor me.
Oh yeah, we go way back.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, man, it feels like a blink, like so much is
transformed in my life, how Iused to have a real job.
Now I'm just a consultant and Iwear pants once a week and as
few times a week as I can helpit, and I've been able to kind
of see you come through.
You launched your podcast,launched your business.
A whole lot of things havehappened, I think, for both of
(02:24):
us.
And so the first question thatcomes to mind, josh, because
folks that are in constructionget it, especially in the
residential space.
It's not easy, it's damndifficult, and so why custom
homes?
Why would you even exposeyourself to that?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, one, I think I love pain, I love the punishment
, and what better environmentthan one home building?
But then take it to the nextlevel and go custom home
building.
And oh boy, man, like I lookedin the mirror the other day and
I was like where did all thisgray come from?
This was over man, it's customhome building, like it's running
(03:14):
off the back of my head andit's turning gray in the process
.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Can I just get one of the other Ten four?
Well, and so now owner operatorof McMahon Custom H custom
homes.
And how long has that beenrunning and kicking, oh man,
it's.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A year and a half is how long the business has
legally been formed, but may 1st, so as of today.
This recording 30 days ago iswhen I?
I said that's it, I'm leavingmy job.
That's paying me a lot of money.
I I'm comfortable, I've goteverything I need and I'm going
to go figure it out and I'mgoing to do the damn thing.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
That's what I'll talk .
Okay, oh, this is so great.
So, folks, if you didn't catchthat, mr Joshua here had an
amazing job, a pretty goodpaying job.
It was heavy, he had a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of
(04:12):
influence within theorganization and he decided to
leave the security of that jobto go all in the McMahon Custom
Homes business.
So was it easy, was it simple,to make that decision?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I mean, I'm still scared today when people are
like, how's it going?
I'm like I'm scared out of mymind.
I've got to.
Things are coming together Likethings that I put in motion a
year and a half ago.
It's all coming together Likewhen people were laughing at me.
I'm like I don't know where I'mgoing.
I don't know exactly how I'mgoing to get there, but I knew
(04:47):
if I stayed true to what Iwanted to do, I stayed true to
my vision.
I was going to achieve what Iwanted to achieve and I've
exceeded what I thought I wasgoing to do.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I saw a post from you it was yesterday here, the last
few days that you had set arevenue target, that you said oh
wait a minute I got to resetthat and up that bad boy half a
million.
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a crazy thing to think about.
It's like I set a target of amillion and my wife said how in
the world are you going to gofrom zero to a million overnight
?
And I'm like I don't know.
But this is what I'm going todo.
And three months into the newyear, without even stepping out
on my own, I had enough leadsand things in motion, nothing
secured, but enough momentumthat I'm like if I don't bump
(05:29):
this up, I'm going to underservemy company.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, yeah, you'll shoot low right, aim high, miss
low.
You'll have phenomenal outcomes, all right.
So one thing I want to pointout, because I've had the same
experience year after year in mybusiness.
I've just been in business overthree years now, and two things
.
One, what you think is going tohappen is likely smaller than
(05:56):
what's in store for you,provided you have been on the
path, meaning focused on servingothers, focused on delivering
others, focused on sharing yourgifts and talents.
Doing that creates aspringboard or a launchpad for
amazing outcomes.
So, whatever you can imagine,multiply it times 10 and you're
(06:17):
still probably going to miss itright, like it's nuts.
Now the other thing that I kindof picked up and I'd love to get
your thoughts on it maybe youdon't have the same problems I
have.
I know chasing revenue targetsfor me, like chasing money, is
dangerous because I'm an addict,right, and there's a lot of
(06:38):
nefarious things that I could doto get those dollar targets,
and so I had to shift and say,sure, the revenue targets, I
don't even think about themanymore.
I think about more in terms ofhow many people can I impact,
how many people can I serve andhow do I do that faster.
(06:58):
That's the drive.
There's revenue attached tothat.
But if I'm focused on makingthe numbers, I know how to cheat
real good and I don't need thatin my life.
So how do you balance that?
Because I know you're a veryintentional leader, visionary
thinker.
How do you balance the impactyou're going to have on the
world, or rather, how do youconnect the impact you're going
(07:20):
to have on the world with yourrevenue targets and the business
KPIs that are necessary so thatyou can stay?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
operating yeah, the biggest thing for me.
Okay.
So from a custom home buildingperspective, I wanted to say,
look, I want a revenue target ofX dollars.
I'll just tell you, three yearsfrom today I'd like to be a
seven and a half million.
What I don't want is seven anda half million in 20 houses.
I want, want 7.5 million infour to six homes.
(07:47):
So I don't want to increase thenumber of jobs.
That I'm going to do.
I want to increase the size ofproject I'm taking on.
So when you talk about 10x yourgoals, I want to 10x the size
of house I'm going to do so.
I'm going to do the same numberof homes because for me,
leading in a way that I'mserving others and making sure
that I'm delivering that clientsatisfaction and that wow factor
(08:11):
to each client, I can't do thatwhen I exceed the number of
homes I'm building.
So I can set a higher targetgoal for our revenue and still
deliver what I want and staytrue to McMahon Custom Home by
doing the same number of homes.
So I'm very intentional aboutthat part.
If I do seven and a halfmillion, but I'm losing the
(08:31):
touch and what makes me specialand my company special, I might
as well go work for somebodyelse, because that's what I've
done my whole career.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I love it.
I love it.
When I first started, I wasalways I'm an expert critic.
If y'all don't know that, I'm aphenomenal critic, I'm really
great at judging people, and sowhen I had like real jobs, I
would always get really criticaland frustrated with the bosses,
the people that were making thedecisions, because they would
always oversell our capacity.
They would always get more workthan we could like.
(09:04):
We were equipped to handle it,and so it created this situation
.
We got the work.
It's a big, sexy project.
There's going to be a cranethat's on the side of the
freeway, we're going to get alot of free marketing, like all
the crap right.
And then we had to hire newpeople, rush them in and take
what we could get, and it justcreated a lot of pain for us
(09:24):
anyways.
So I'd always talk smack aboutit.
And then I started my businessand guess what happened in the
first six months?
I was running around, flyinghere, flying there, jumping on
calls, just scatterbrainedbecause I took on too many
clients.
I did the same thing that Iused to critique them about, and
then I had to put a system inplace to manage that and I got
(09:45):
it.
I got it to where I wanted sothat I could deliver the quality
and depth of connection that Iwanted to.
That I know I can do, but Ican't do it doing everybody.
So when you're talking about,I'm not going to do 70 homes a
year, I'm going to do seven atthis value point, which will get
(10:08):
me the seven and a half millionor whatever that target is,
that's it's so critical, jesse,and look, you're falling into
the same trap that everybodydoes, because that's what we
were trained to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You went to school they taught you how to do eight
to five.
You go into the workforce theyteach you how to drive for
revenue.
So we talk about customersatisfaction in our industry,
but most of us, we're not reallyfocused on it, so it's really
just a talking point, right?
It's like what you focus on iswhat you'll achieve.
So what we focus on is how dowe generate more revenue, how do
we get it done faster and howdo we get it done for less
(10:40):
dollars?
That's what we focus on, that'swhat we're going to get, and so
I think what's so critical forme and to share with everybody
is that you've got to create avision that is so clear three
years from today that decisionsyou're making will get you to
that vision, and things that yousay no to won't get you to your
vision.
I'm not going to do this, I'mnot going to jump on this plane,
(11:02):
because you're not helping medo what I want to do, which, for
you, is serving others andbuilding up our community.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I want to give the LNM family member shout out.
This one goes to Miss Sarah.
Sarah took the time to send methis awesome message.
She says how many times haveyou made the comment?
There are just not enough hoursin the day.
If you're like me, I made itquite frequently.
I recently attended the Do theDamn Thing Time Mastery Workshop
(11:32):
with Jesse, and the nuggetsthat were taught and the mind
shift that occurred totallychanged my outlook on time
management.
Time is going to happen.
It's how you manage yourself inthat time that matters.
Sarah, thank you for being oneof the early victims that jumped
in that first cohort of the Dothe Damn Thing Time Mastery
(11:55):
Workshop and taking the time toleave the comment.
For the rest of the L&M familymembers out there, please feel
free.
I invite you and kind of begyou a little bit, to leave a
comment, leave a review, do ashare, and it gives me not only
a little bit of confidence,because there's evidence that
somebody's listening besides myfamily, but also gives me the
(12:18):
opportunity to shout you out ina future episode.
Yeah, yeah, you got it, man, ahundred percent.
I have about a monthly cadencewhere I sit down and say okay,
what stupid commitments did Imake that I was excited, that's
like they're.
I get invited to like greatopportunities to collaborate and
(12:38):
do stuff and I of course I wantto do it, of course I say yes
and then I'm like, wait a minute, that's nope, that takes me off
path.
That takes me off the path.
That takes me off the path.
I got to go back and eat crowand most and every time people
are like, okay, well, can youhelp me start?
Hell, yeah, I can help youstart, but, like carrying the
(13:00):
ball with you, long-term, Ican't do that because it takes
me off the path, and so it's aconstant recalibrating for me.
Now you said something and Ithink it's going to connect
directly to this vision idea,because I'm with you, I don't
use the same language.
I think if we can get into thehow, the why, what it felt, and
(13:21):
the how well, the LLM familymember will get something they
can latch onto and apply intheir life, if they're not
already doing it.
So one thing you said was youstarted setting the path, laying
the breadcrumbs, about a yearand a half ago for what you're
experiencing today, and so Ithink we get that metaphorically
Sure, but what were thebreadcrumbs.
(13:43):
You got maybe a handful ofconcrete examples or steps.
You started doing that.
You did along the way thatpeople were like whatever, bro,
good luck, that's never going towork.
Your head's in the clouds, thatsort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, so it really was.
I set a target date of January1st 2025,.
I'm going to leave, I'm goingto step out on my own January
1st.
So I said, okay, what do I needto do in 10 months or nine
months to make that goal reality?
And I said, okay, well, I'vegot to do.
I've got to find land rightBecause I want to build houses.
So I've got to find landbecause I'll build specs.
(14:17):
I've got to create a customerbase.
So I said, okay, I'm going toattack social media.
This is a free platform, it'snot costing me money.
So I've got an Instagram page.
I've got a Facebook page and Iwas sharing content from my own
personal build.
So I built my house that I'm innow and I shared that content
for a year.
(14:37):
So I financed my own build withthe bank and I used that
content as kind of my jumpingoff point.
And if you don't have thatluxury, that's fine.
Still, find a way to be sharingand building value.
I want to inform the customers.
You're trying to build thatcredibility of who you are as a
person, but also give somethingto them so, even if they don't
(14:59):
pick you as a builder, they'remore knowledgeable on the people
they do choose.
So I started doing thatreligiously and I said look
three times a builder.
They're more knowledgeable onthe people they do choose.
So I started doing thatreligiously and I said look,
three times a week I'm going topost to social media and then I
would bump it up.
And then it was two times aweek or one time a week.
I'm going to meet with arealtor or a mortgage broker and
share my vision, my company,what I want to do.
(15:20):
And that's where people wouldlaugh at me and they're like
what are you doing?
Nothing is coming of this.
Well, let me tell you what cameof that.
I did that for six monthsnonstop and I had a scoreboard.
I'm like I'm holding myselfaccountable.
Nothing's happening.
I'm like, just stick with it,stick with it.
I met with a banker that I'vebeen with for a decade.
(15:41):
They've known me, I trained herson and she said I need you to
put you in touch with thisperson who does lending.
I met with that person.
I shared my vision.
I said this is what I want todo.
This is why I want to do it.
I see a need in the market forcustomer service, putting our
clients first, adding valuethese things that mean something
(16:01):
to me.
Two months later I've got aline of credit with the bank
that now I can build one spec.
I can take down one additionallot Like things started to fall
into place that I didn't evenrealize were possible and then
it was like pouring gasoline onthis thing and I closed on my
first lot in November.
(16:21):
I started building on it thefirst of the year.
I'm actually meeting a clientin a couple hours to sign the
first contract.
Things are happening becauseI'm putting myself out there
more than anything.
I'm highly intentional.
There's everybody you canimagine will tell you the reason
it won't work.
It will work because, just likeyou, jesse, I mean, I have no
(16:42):
doubt there were people,including yourself, at times,
that would say this isn't goingto work.
What am I doing?
And you probably remindyourself do the damn thing, do
the damn thing, just do it.
You just kept going andlearning and growing, and it's
no different on this side.
And here's the thing If there'sthings that you don't know, go
network with people that aredoing it, because most people
(17:04):
will share that stuff with you,and if they won't, go find
somebody else.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, oh man, so much gold there.
And I want to summarize it forthe folks Like one thing you did
you found a way to leveragesocial media and like organic,
right, no paid ad, Right, nopaid ad.
You're just posting pictures ofyou doing the thing that you
(17:27):
want to be, like telling thestory that you want to do
no-transcript.
And so one of the things that Iwas talking to a friend back
(17:50):
then and we're going back andforth and he's, he asked me to
tell him what I was going to dowith my business and I kind of
described it and he said well,what are you worried about?
And I'm like man, like I'venever had a client, Like who's
going to take a chance on me ifI've never had a client?
And he's Jesse, that's whatyou've been doing the past five
years.
And I said, oh crap, you'reright, I had 50 clients.
(18:17):
Now, we all had the time, hadworked at the same company, but
the value and the service that Iwas providing it was the same
thing.
So I already had the right andit's just like that.
I'm like I got this.
So, point being for folks outthere that are in that space,
I'm thinking about it.
I want to.
The scariest thing, like maybethe more most ambiguous thing,
(18:38):
is how do you get the confidenceYou're already doing the thing
right.
You're doing this thing thatyou want to deliver to other
people and spend most of yourtime doing that.
You're already doing that.
You just got to recognize thatand then so you did that.
I'm going to build my own house.
I know how to build houses, Letme show the world.
I'm going to post on socialmedia Super simple, low friction
(19:01):
.
Now, the other thing that youdid, that I didn't do, and I'm
ultimate that's another datapoint of how blessed I am is you
said I'm going to talk torealtors, bankers, et cetera,
and I'm going to talk to thismany on this frequency.
And you just did it.
And I'm sure your people, yourclose inner circle, are like
(19:25):
what the hell are you doing?
But I see that's just plantingseeds, right, Like you, let
people know which directionyou're in.
They may nurture and cultivateit and they may throw it away.
They may nurture and cultivateit and they may throw it away,
but you have proof that some ofthem said, oh, let me, I like
that, Let me take care of it.
And they've contributed to yourpath.
(19:46):
And so getting very clear,these are some of the people or
relationships I need to have todo the thing.
Well, hell, let me startbuilding them right now.
What are you waiting for?
I mean, those two things, Josh,are like so simple but ultra
(20:06):
valuable.
What I did, dummy, I quit my joband I started a business and I
remember one of my bosses.
He was an amazing dude.
He's like all right, just hewas down to help me.
He says so, I want to help you,but tell me about your business
development plan.
And I said what's that?
I don't even know what that is.
(20:26):
Anyways, I got lucky becausepeople recommended me referral
and all that stuff.
But what I should have done andI started doing, but I'm still
not that great at it I shouldhave told everybody I know 20
times that I was starting abusiness and what it was going
to be.
So the language you use wassharing your vision and you put
(20:47):
it out into the world, andpeople want to see you win and
they'll help you win.
Am I lying?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
No, jesse, this is so gold and we're talking about it
from a business standpoint.
This isn't for business owners.
If you're listening to thisthing, I have no interest in
running a business.
That's fine.
You can still create a visionfor who you want to be in the
future and share that withemployers.
This is where I want to be.
(21:14):
If you're a foreman today, youwant to be a vice president, you
want to aim for the stars,share it with other people,
because what's going to happenis the hiring manager says I
hear where you want to go.
We don't have that position inour company.
We don't have that growthtrajectory, because what will
happen is what happened to me.
I'm very ambitious, as I'm sureyou can tell.
I wanted to take over the world.
(21:36):
I wanted to run the company.
They said Josh, you're alaborer, I know, but I want to
run the company.
If I was more clear about whatI wanted in the interview
process, I wouldn't have taken90% of the jobs that I took,
because it would have been clearthey can't help me get to where
I want to be and that's us all.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, and I think you said it earlier too right, if
you're in a space with peoplethat aren't going to fuel it and
support it and cultivate it,find another space and Jesse,
that's what makes America greatYou're not restricted to any one
job, and this is what makesthis time in our history better
than ever.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Ten years ago, oh my God, if you didn't stay in a
company for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30years, you're a bad person.
Well, those days are gone.
We finally have realized thatsome companies are just bad.
Some companies aren't alignedwith where you want to be,
they're not aligned with yourpersonal values, and it's okay
to move on.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent,a hundred percent, even though I
still I remember what was itFour years ago when I had a real
job.
I was looking at applicants andmy first response was man,
they've jumped around Like theyhaven't been with a company
longer than five.
Fast work.
Today, I'm like you'reridiculous fool, like people can
, I mean?
I'm proof They'll let any foolstart a business, and people can
(22:59):
make money at home in theirshorts doing something they love
, not tolerating a jerk.
And so we really got to shiftour thinking to what you're, to
what you're saying.
Is it ain't like that?
No more.
If you're not going to besupporting and growing your
people, they can build their ownbusiness or they can just go
find a better place where theycan grow and thrive as
(23:19):
individuals.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, and this is where you got it, jesse.
We need more leaders in themarketplace training and
coaching leaders.
Right, there's managers onevery single store corner.
Everywhere you go, there's amanager.
We need a leader, growing thosemanagers into leaders, because
there's a difference betweenleadership and management.
Right, like sure me management,I can get any kpi you want me
(23:44):
to get.
You just might not like the wayI treat the people, you might
not like the retention is bad,but I'm going to hit those damn
numbers because I mean, but ifyou want me to lead them, it
might take longer to hit thekpis, but we're going to do it
for a longer period of time oncewe start getting there, because
the team is bought in.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yes, oh, I love it.
You know, for me I finally cameto terms with if you want to
excel and expand your influencewithin an organization, you've
got to have leadership skillsand management skills.
Right, Because, if all Ibecause I did it I was the
leader for a long time when Ididn't do the managing, which
(24:31):
means I'm just a cheerleader,right.
And then when I was a managerand I didn't care about
developing people, I was, likeyou said, like the boss, Jess,
you get that stuff done, youbring projects in on budget, but
our clients hate you and ourpeople quit on you and they're
like well, you need betterpeople and better clients.
I don't know what to tell you,but when I figured out, oh, I
know how to do the managing,that's actually easy, but
(24:52):
there's a better way to do it.
And if I focus on developingpeople and if I focus on
developing people, the world isopen to me, and so I'm with you
on that 100%.
Now you said that you were alaborer and you knew when you
were a laborer that you wantedto own run the damn business.
And I think I said it earlier.
(25:13):
But I've been stalking you onTikTok and I love your messaging
about vision and having avision and letting that vision
guide you, because you're livingthe results of that.
What I want to peel the onionback so that people can get a
real sense of it.
Was it like you saw the visionand it was just a straight line
directly to where you are today?
(25:34):
Did you just have win after win?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Man, what did that look like?
The scariest roller coasterimaginable.
That's what it looks like.
The highs were really awesomeand the lows sucked.
I made some poor choices goingto companies because I thought,
oh, getting this title and thissalary, this is going to get me
to the next level.
And then realizing, okay, Imade a misstep, take three steps
(25:58):
back.
Okay, now, how do I regroup tothe next level?
And then realizing, okay, Imade a misstep, take three steps
back.
Okay, now how do I regroup?
And how do I?
And there's a lot of that inthe path.
And the thing that I love aboutit is I'm 45.
I still have an entire careerin front of me.
Oh yeah, we have lost sight ofman when you turn 40, like
you're done, you're over thehill, it's over.
I'm like what do you mean?
I haven't even hit my stride.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, totally so.
You had wins and you had somelows, and I don't know anybody
that just had a streak, 100%winning streak.
Where do you think you learnedthe most?
Did you learn the most in thewins or in the?
Speaker 1 (26:35):
lows.
Definitely, for me, it was thelows is where I learned the most
.
It's not to take away that Ididn't learn from the high wins
too.
I'm hypercritical of myself, mygrowth, what I was doing, and
even to a really negative placeback in the day.
I've really worked on that.
But the lows is where I reallylearned more about myself.
What decisions am I making?
(26:56):
Am I leading in the way that Iwant to?
Am I growing my team?
Am I serving them?
So say, a customer gives you abad survey and somebody says,
man, that survey was bad.
I'm like, no, that's greatinformation, like that's what we
build from that.
I can't like if they give me afive-star review but no data, no
information.
Well, okay, I didn't learnanything from that.
(27:18):
So for me, you can learn fromthe highs and the lows.
It's all about the informationthat's in that data set to take
(27:44):
maybe a couple of steps back.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
What advice do you have for people to make it
through?
Because when you're in themiddle of that, it seems like
your future is set.
It's over.
You wasted all your time.
This is the end of the road.
So what advice do you have forfolks that are in that situation
now or maybe facing it in thefuture?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah, Jesse, this is where that vision comes back
into play.
Man, if you know what yourvision is, over three years.
This is just a piece of thejourney, because this is the
thing that you really have tograsp.
So you're in a bad situation,you're working for a bad boss,
whatever.
You're still learning.
You're still growing from thatexperience.
And if you're surroundingyourself with maybe you can't
(28:20):
surround yourself inside thecompany, but outside the company
with positive people.
They're building you up andyou're focused on where you're
going, not where you are, thenyou understand that this is a
minor setback, if you will, oropportunity.
But I'm still staying positive.
I'm still showing up.
I'm still networking, no matterwhat role you're in.
I'm still networking, no matterwhat role you're in.
(28:41):
I'm still networking withothers within the industry and
networking in hey, how can Ihelp you?
What are some things that youmight need?
I'm not just asking, I'm notjust taking.
I'm giving more than I'm taking, but I'm doing that in a
positive way, even though I'mmiserable over here.
I need to compartmentalize that, because my vision is pulling
me in a much better direction.
So, by staying positive, bydoing all those things, the
(29:04):
moment I say, okay, enough isenough, I'm turning off this
switch.
Now I don't have to go and say,okay, I need three weeks to
reset.
I need to get positive.
I need to get my mind.
No, you're already doing it.
Just take a step.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, so what?
So what I'm getting is like thething happened and you said,
well, that sucks.
Let me get back on my vision.
Was it that easy?
Oh man, no.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
So, look, let me tell you that the worst mistake I
made was I took a job with thiscompany.
This was when I really wentfrom kind of the blue collar
side of management to the whitecollar side and I'm like, I'm
excited, I mean big bump in pay,like everything's a lot right,
and I'm like, oh my God, this isgreat.
Day one on the job I go out toa job site and I'm standing on
(29:47):
top of this mountain and I'mlooking down at the houses and
I'm like I screwed up.
I knew from that moment that Imade a massive mistake, that
there was not any fixing thisorganization.
They were just doing thingsjust to do them, just to try and
(30:07):
make a name for themselves inthe market, which was not a good
name.
But I said, I've got what Iwanted.
I'm exactly where I have wantedto be.
I'm going to make the best ofthis.
I'm going to do everything Ican to learn and grow from this
experience.
When I made the decision to moveon, I moved on without another
job.
I was at the lowest I've everbeen, and we're only talking
(30:28):
about three years ago.
At the lowest, I regrouped, Itook another position,
high-level position, a big cutin pay and probably 30 days time
I was back to my old self.
My confidence was back, myswagger was back.
I mean, we were really doingsome good work at that company.
So, yeah, you're going to havethose setbacks.
And I think, as I look back onthat today, I had some good
(30:51):
people in my corner, yourselfincluded, that I could lean on.
But I was kind of embarrassed,if you will.
I was like I failed and they'regoing to know that I failed and
I don't want them to know.
And now I'm like well, I mean,my friends were there for me.
I needed to lean on my friendsand they would have propped me
up and said gosh, you know whatyou're doing, get back in the
game.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Let's go.
The world needs you.
And that's what I was like yeah, yeah, shake it off, let's go.
And so I heard this fromsomebody and I'm like, oh, I
think I do that Kind of SomebodyI can't remember who was.
I interviewed him on the podcastand I'd look, life's going to
give you some shit bags and yougot to deal with it.
And if it's going to make yousad, it's going to hurt, it's
(31:34):
going to break you, and sopretending everything's OK is
not healthy, it's notsustainable.
So be sad, be mad, be resentful, be depressed, be angry, but
give yourself a time limit,right, it's like give yourself a
(31:57):
day, a week, a month, whateverit is.
I'm going to stew in thismisery and relive it and replay
it and be mad and blameeverybody, and I'm going to do
that for this much time.
And on this day, okay, you letit, I've processed it, I've
chewed on it, I kicked it around.
It's time to pick my head upand see what's next.
Because and for me, the takeawaythere was there have been the
(32:21):
majority of my life, but I maxedit or numbed it with substance,
where there was grief andsadness and all kinds of things
that I hadn't dealt with,because I just went, kept going
and kept going harder anddiluted myself with.
We'll just say I polluted mybody with anything I could get
my hands on and I couldn't do itforever, and so when I finally
(32:44):
shifted that it was like oh, Igot a, I got all this stuff that
I need to process, and so Iprocessed it and then it's okay,
let's go.
What's next?
It's behind me now, and so Ilove that.
You point that out.
Now you've mentioned networknetworking friends, like how
does somebody, let's say, I'mgoing to start down this vision
(33:07):
path, right, the vision quest?
Yeah, I love that.
So how do I go about selectingthe people?
What are the qualifications orthe indicators of who to reach
out to, to connect with, to helpme on the quest?
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, so really the vision quest.
I mean I'm always available.
So if anybody ever wants totalk about your vision quest and
where you want to go, like Ilove vision, so feel free to
reach out to me.
I'm sure, jesse, you'll havethe ways to reach out to me.
I'm sure, jesse, you'll havethe ways to reach out to me and
connect, happy to help youReally.
The vision is yours, rightCause I can tell you my vision
and I can say hey.
Jesse, this is going to be yourvision now, but I need your
(33:47):
vision to be your passion.
If you're really passionateabout helping dogs or animals,
then great.
Let's create a vision aroundwhat that looks like.
How can you do more to get outthere and help animals and do
those things?
So?
And then we can build thattogether and I can kind of give
you some tricks and tips.
But really it's my favoritething to tell people is when you
(34:08):
go on vacation, you're out atthe beach, you're doing all that
stuff.
Leave the phone at home, bringa notebook, stare out at the
ocean and just write it down.
I mean, dream as big as you.
I mean like you can haveanything you want in this world
it doesn't matter what it is andjust put it on paper.
And now the key is don't sayhow am I going to get that,
(34:30):
don't even spend any timethinking about that.
Just write down what you wantand then get it clear Is this
really what I want?
Does this make me excited?
Does this drive me?
And when it starts to do thosethings?
And remember, make it clear.
So if your dream is to have a$3 million custom build, well,
what color siding do you want.
What's the tile look like?
What's the kitchen sink looklike?
(34:51):
I want it to be so crystalclear in your mind that,
everything you see, you canstart to reach out and touch.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, and so I guess what I take from that is getting
that clear, then it's oh well,these are the people that are
maybe best equipped to join theteam or be a part of that vision
.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
This is the next piece.
So once you get your visionlocked in, now, you're going to
share it.
Jesse, this is what I intend todo at McMahon Custom Homes.
This is what I'm aiming for,this is what I want to do.
And if I'm watching Jesse andJesse's not bobbing his head,
he's not leaning into me, he'snot interested, and just chalk
it up, jesse, anything I can doto help you, I'm good, okay,
(35:38):
great, on to the next one.
On to the next one.
Like I had no less than 10realtors, just kind of no
interest, no, worried.
Then the one realtor comes tomy house.
We want to don them.
They are falling overthemselves about the vision,
what we're trying to do, wherewe we're going, and I'm like
that's our realtor.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, yeah.
And so one important thing Iwant to make sure people don't
miss you said 10, and I knowit's probably more than 10, but
at least 10, we're like la, la,la.
And then one right, like itwasn't the first person.
You talked to the value ofrepetition in terms of, like
you're saying, of sharing yourvision.
(36:17):
So here's the takeaway, folksif you want to start down the
vision quest, get your vision,share it with people and then,
based on their engagement, theirconnection, their depth of
interest, that's going to signalwho should be on your place,
and it is unrealistic to expectevery damn fool you talk to to
(36:38):
be excited about your damnvision.
Is that fair?
Speaker 1 (36:42):
That's a hundred percent right, and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Now, one thing you said and I know you made a post
about this the other day, Ithink I saw it on the Instagram
is like writing, writing it down.
So this is my tool that'sremarkable, which I've had, man,
I've probably been usingremarkable four or five years
now.
And to to your point, Ischedule, and I'm about five for
(37:08):
seven out of every week, but Iblock out an hour of time every
day for thinking, and that iswhat I do.
I sit down and I like that hourit's.
Am I going to think about thefuture?
Am I going to reflect on whathas happened or what I've
learned or how I feel aboutsomething?
Or am I going to think aboutwhere I am today, right now,
(37:32):
this minute, I make a decisionand then I go there.
Honestly, I spend a lot of timethinking about the future, what
I'm going to work on, what I'mdesigning, what do I want to
learn, blah, blah, blah.
But I also know this when Iskip more than two days in a row
of not doing my thinking time,that is when I start getting way
(37:54):
off the path.
I start over committing, Istart taking on things, spending
time with people that I don'tneed to be spending time with,
and so my point is this thatgoing to the beach and
documenting, getting your ideasout of your head, that's the
start, and if you can do it, themore frequently you do it, the
(38:16):
better things will be.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
What do you think?
That's 100% right.
I love the focus time thatyou've added to your schedule.
Everybody thinks I don'tpossibly have time to do this.
I'm telling you that when youstart tracking your time, you've
got more than an hour.
You've got a lot more than anhour Having that focus time.
It re-energizes us, it gets usfilled up and we're like, oh man
(38:38):
, this is why I'm doing this.
It's taking your lunch breakand really checking out for an
hour and not scrolling Instagram, but thinking about where do I
want to be, what do I want toaccomplish, how am I progressing
?
Just have your own time.
It's good.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yes, agreed.
Okay.
So the podcast.
Where does your podcast land inall of this?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Oh man, we ran that podcast for a little over three
years.
My wife and I were running itwas a home building,
construction managementleadership type of podcast.
I was struggling with the placeof employment I was working at,
I was starting my own business,my mother was passing away, so
we just had kind of the perfectstorm of everything happening
and we dropped one episode atthe beginning of January and it
(39:22):
was like that's enough, we needto focus on us, we need to get
our stuff right.
And it's really you startthinking about your time and
while I feel like we were addinga lot of value to our listeners
and our audience, I wasn'tfilling my tank so my energy was
depleting so I just needed areset.
So we've paused the podcast.
We still pay for it every month, so it stays active.
(39:43):
Feed Me.
Your Construction content is thepodcast, but as far as right
now goes, mcmahon Custom Homesis really my primary focus and
my second focus is getting outand doing more public speaking.
So I love vision and I puttogether a presentation on
vision and another episode onsomething else.
But really the focus is hey,your business vision is this
(40:07):
Well, how do I help your teammembers better understand their
vision and how it aligns withyour vision?
So now we're all aligned andmoving towards the goal and it's
like when you can add that fuelto the fire.
That's the leadership piece.
Right, my visionary leadershipis going to help your worker
bees better align with theirvision, which aligns with your
(40:28):
vision.
And some people their visionwon't align with yours, and
that's okay too, because theymight be a subtractor from your
business and they don't.
They just don't understand why.
They just think they're a bademployee.
You think they're a bademployee, but it's really just,
we're not aligned you're notaligned, oh so I ultimately love
that.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, folks out there in the omniverse if you have
because you've seen this andI've seen it so many times where
the leader has a vision andthey're frustrated because their
team isn't excited andconnected to it and it's because
you're not connecting you havea vision, but you've been
(41:06):
dreaming about this for yearsand you're expecting this young
cat to jump on board and theydon't have any idea what the
hell it is.
So, omniverse, if you knowsomebody that's in that
situation or you have a need fora super engaging, eventful and,
we'll say, experience-packedsession, get with Mr Josh
(41:31):
McMahon so he can come out andlight your people up and get you
going down the path you want.
Put the word out, folks.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
We talked about revenue being a goal earlier.
How many people in the businesssay my vision is to be $10
million?
Well, okay, if I'm the employee, I'm like, okay, great, what
does $10 million mean?
That's why you're not reachingyour vision.
You're not getting clarity.
So that's where what I want todo is come in and help you
further develop that vision, tothen drip it down so everybody
(42:00):
gets on board, because we loveto think bottom up.
Bottom up can really change acompany.
It's not true.
I've learned my lesson it's topdown.
The top isn't willing to change.
If the top's not willing to goin a different direction, you're
not going in a differentdirection.
The top is the head.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
If the top's not willing to go in a different
direction.
You're not going in a differentdirection.
The top is the head.
Correct A hundred percent.
I've lived it.
I know I can affect some changewith my immediate circle, but
changing, shifting the wholeship, it's just not going to
happen.
Now what I like, like ourvision, is to hit $10 million
this year and in today'senvironment, my advice is start
(42:38):
selling pictures of your feetonline.
You can make $10 million doingthat.
My point is that if all you'retelling me is 10 million same
thing you said right, thatdoesn't mean nothing to me.
And if I come up like, hey, Igot a great idea to help you get
there, let's sell pictures ofyour feet, you're going to think
I'm making fun of you.
No, I'm not making fun of you,it can be done.
(42:59):
You just didn't help meunderstand how you want to get
to that 10 million, who you wantto impact as a result of all
that effort, and that's you'rehelping them close that gap.
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
You really get a lot of alignment around that, man.
It is so powerful.
When you see this whole thingcome together, it sounds so like
pokey or rainbows and unicorns,but I'm living proof.
This stuff works, man.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I'm like this is the key that most people are missing
well, I'm gonna add on thatyou're not just living proof
that it works, like you're inthe midst of doing it.
It's not a concept that peoplethat you cut him across and got
excited about.
You've been walking this pathfor a long time and it feels I
(43:47):
wouldn't say you're at the peak.
I will say that you're at apeak, that's right, because
there's higher peaks ahead.
And then kind of back to thepodcast.
One thing I want I superrespect you because you're like,
yeah, we did it and we're notdoing it right now because we're
focused on this.
And so one thing I want to helppeople discern from that.
It's kind of a two-sided coin.
(44:08):
Right, if you're going to dosomething, do it for real, but
and at the same time, know thatsometimes things happen for a
season, correct, and when thatseason's over, it's okay to put
it on the shelf and take on thenext season, which doesn't mean
quit because you didn't get amillion downloads on the first
(44:30):
episode.
That's weak sauce, yeah, yeah,yeah, very true, because,
believe me, I wanted to.
I still haven't hit a million,but it's been an amazing
opportunity or excuse for me tolike connect with amazing people
and share their stories.
So I know we're going to putthe links in the show notes, but
(44:50):
I just want to be super.
Maybe it's a little cloudy forpeople.
I know you're building customhomes you got McMahon custom
homes and you're tearing it upand you're raising the bar in
terms of what your goals are forthis year, but you're also
doing coaching and publicspeaking.
Did I get that right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yep, I'm doing public speaking.
I'm a certified coach as ofthis year, so it's not just I've
done this, so now I'm a coach.
I'm self-proclaimed.
No, I mean, I went throughtraining and continual training,
so it's been really good for me.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Nice.
So how do people, where do wesend people to get ahold of you?
Speaker 1 (45:25):
The easiest place to get me is LinkedIn.
You can always find me onLinkedIn, Joshua McMahon.
Instagram is another spotTikTok.
I'm getting more involved inTikTok, as long as it's around.
I love TikTok because I don'thave a big presence, so reps are
critically important no matterwhat you're doing.
So I'm getting my reps.
I'm honing my craft, so TikTokis a great spot to find me as
(45:48):
well.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Excellent, we'll make sure we have all those links in
the show notes.
And I got the grand finalequestion.
Are you ready for it?
I don't know, man, like thiscould be anything right, here
you go.
What is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Oh, the promise I'm intended to be?
Wow, the promise I'm intendedto be.
Wow, the promise I'm intendedto be.
Wow, jesse, I don't know how toanswer that question.
That's deep.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
When I was in rehab, I had one of the counselors tell
me Jesse, your problem is youhaven't accepted that if you
continue living life the wayyou're living it, you will never
become the promise you areintended to be.
And in that moment I knew whathe meant.
It was a flash of every time Isaw a greater version of me and
(46:49):
then talk myself out of it.
Every time I disappointedsomebody for being a dirtbag,
every time I cheated and lied tosomebody, all of that came back
and said all of those thingsthat you've done is what's
keeping you from being thisvision of what I was too scared
(47:09):
to look at.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, that's really good man.
I love that story too.
I didn't know you went throughrehab.
I really applaud you for allyour efforts and changing and
shifting your life.
I mean, I've been sober for twoand a half years.
I know the power of sobrietyand just how clear my mind is.
And for me it's like I realized, probably six years ago, that
(47:30):
the real calling for me wascoaching and lifting up other
people.
I feel like in society, whetherit be people around us, school
system, whatever it may be,there's so many people pushing
great people down and I believethat my real journey is lifting
others up where other peoplemight not see the value in
(47:52):
somebody and that person notseeing the true value in
themselves.
I think that's really mypurpose and really when I got
sober is when I really startedto accept that I was meant for
that and that I could do it,because the imposter syndrome
was always kicking in.
Right, I'm like this is allcommon sense stuff.
Nobody's going to buy into it.
Well, the reality is there's nosuch thing as common sense.
(48:14):
It's what we're taught, what welearn in our experiences.
But it's really lifting up andgiving back to other people.
That's really my purpose.
And building a home buildingbusiness, I get the opportunity
to build up people within mycompany, but then we get into a
certain stage where I can thengo focus on more coaching and
building people while somebodyelse is running the business.
(48:34):
So that's really my purpose.
Jesse, I appreciate you beingthe true depth builder and
asking that question.
That was money.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Man, I am not surprised by your response at
all.
Help people, serve people,develop people, build your dream
.
Yes, did you have fun.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Man, this was a blast dude.
I can't believe it's been threeminutes like yeah, well, we
might have to come back.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
You know what?
Here's the deal when you raiseyour annual target again, you
let me know and we'll get youback on the show to talk that
through with people, becauseit's real Like I'm living it,
you're living it, and what Ireally hope people take away
from this is there's no straightpath and it's possible.
(49:26):
It's possible and it can bebigger than what you even
imagine today.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
I'd love to come back and talk about how I raise my
goal again, because the nextphase is going to be raising the
goal.
My business partner, who's a30% owner, is going to be
leaving his place of employmentand we would probably have a
third employee.
So the concept and I thinkwe're talking six to 12 months
from today it's like that's thestuff that's happening.
So the next phase of thispodcast is really we raised our
(49:54):
goal again and here's how we'redoing team building and putting
our systems in place and makingsure that we've got the culture
everybody wants to work in.
So love to come back and talk.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yes, hell yeah.
And here's the link to the TEDTalk where Josh was up on stage
keynoting for the whole damnthing.
That's what we got to do, mybrother.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
(50:26):
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
Hit it.
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know who might
feel stuck or be caught up inself-destructive behaviors, that
would be the ultimate.
(50:47):
You sharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
person.
And if it does help one moreperson, then you're contributing
to me becoming the promise I amintended to be.
Be kind to yourself, be cool,and we'll talk at you next time.
You've got to create a vision that is so clear, three
years from today, thatdecisions you're making will get
you to that vision and thingsthat you say no to won't get you
to your vision.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What is going on L&M family.
Back again with anotherphenomenal guest who I've been
slacking like we've known eachother, I don't know three, maybe
four years now, and I'm justnow getting him on the podcast.
He's a true visionary in thecustom home building space,
(00:35):
which is not for the weak atheart.
He doesn't just build homes,though.
He builds trust, innovation andclient-centered excellence,
which I'm hoping to take somecheat codes from him in terms of
the client-centered excellence,because I got a little bit of
room to grow there.
He's my friend, whether he likesit or not.
I'm calling him my friend, mrJoshua McMahon.
(00:57):
He's a transformational leader.
He is the driving force behindMcMahon Custom Homes and I have
a feeling he's going to talk alittle bit about having a vision
and the value of that.
But before we get to that, ifthis is your first time here,
this is the Learnings andMissteps podcast, where you get
(01:18):
to see how real people, amazingpeople just like you, are
sharing their gifts and talentsto leave this world better than
they found it.
I'm Jesse, your selfish servant, and we about to get to know Mr
Joshua McMahon.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Mr Joshua, how you doing, brother man it is so good
to be on here.
You said three years offriendship, but I think it goes
back five plus years.
If we're honest.
We were together when you werefirst kicking.
Wasn't it Like you were doinggym equipment or something and
you were like this isn't reallyfor me.
Oh yeah, we go way back.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, man, it feels like a blink, like so much is
transformed in my life, how Iused to have a real job.
Now I'm just a consultant and Iwear pants once a week and as
few times a week as I can helpit, and I've been able to kind
of see you come through.
You launched your podcast,launched your business.
A whole lot of things havehappened, I think, for both of
(02:24):
us.
And so the first question thatcomes to mind, josh, because
folks that are in constructionget it, especially in the
residential space.
It's not easy, it's damndifficult, and so why custom
homes?
Why would you even exposeyourself to that?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, one, I think I love pain, I love the punishment
, and what better environmentthan one home building?
But then take it to the nextlevel and go custom home
building.
And oh boy, man, like I lookedin the mirror the other day and
I was like where did all thisgray come from?
This was over man, it's customhome building, like it's running
(03:14):
off the back of my head andit's turning gray in the process
.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Can I just get one of the other Ten four?
Well, and so now owner operatorof McMahon Custom H custom
homes.
And how long has that beenrunning and kicking, oh man,
it's.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
A year and a half is how long the business has
legally been formed, but may 1st, so as of today.
This recording 30 days ago iswhen I?
I said that's it, I'm leavingmy job.
That's paying me a lot of money.
I I'm comfortable, I've goteverything I need and I'm going
to go figure it out and I'mgoing to do the damn thing.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
That's what I'll talk .
Okay, oh, this is so great.
So, folks, if you didn't catchthat, mr Joshua here had an
amazing job, a pretty goodpaying job.
It was heavy, he had a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of
(04:12):
influence within theorganization and he decided to
leave the security of that jobto go all in the McMahon Custom
Homes business.
So was it easy, was it simple,to make that decision?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I mean, I'm still scared today when people are
like, how's it going?
I'm like I'm scared out of mymind.
I've got to.
Things are coming together Likethings that I put in motion a
year and a half ago.
It's all coming together Likewhen people were laughing at me.
I'm like I don't know where I'mgoing.
I don't know exactly how I'mgoing to get there, but I knew
(04:47):
if I stayed true to what Iwanted to do, I stayed true to
my vision.
I was going to achieve what Iwanted to achieve and I've
exceeded what I thought I wasgoing to do.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I saw a post from you it was yesterday here, the last
few days that you had set arevenue target, that you said oh
wait a minute I got to resetthat and up that bad boy half a
million.
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a crazy thing to think about.
It's like I set a target of amillion and my wife said how in
the world are you going to gofrom zero to a million overnight
?
And I'm like I don't know.
But this is what I'm going todo.
And three months into the newyear, without even stepping out
on my own, I had enough leadsand things in motion, nothing
secured, but enough momentumthat I'm like if I don't bump
(05:29):
this up, I'm going to underservemy company.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, yeah, you'll shoot low right, aim high, miss
low.
You'll have phenomenal outcomes, all right.
So one thing I want to pointout, because I've had the same
experience year after year in mybusiness.
I've just been in business overthree years now, and two things
.
One, what you think is going tohappen is likely smaller than
(05:56):
what's in store for you,provided you have been on the
path, meaning focused on servingothers, focused on delivering
others, focused on sharing yourgifts and talents.
Doing that creates aspringboard or a launchpad for
amazing outcomes.
So, whatever you can imagine,multiply it times 10 and you're
(06:17):
still probably going to miss itright, like it's nuts.
Now the other thing that I kindof picked up and I'd love to get
your thoughts on it maybe youdon't have the same problems I
have.
I know chasing revenue targetsfor me, like chasing money, is
dangerous because I'm an addict,right, and there's a lot of
(06:38):
nefarious things that I could doto get those dollar targets,
and so I had to shift and say,sure, the revenue targets, I
don't even think about themanymore.
I think about more in terms ofhow many people can I impact,
how many people can I serve andhow do I do that faster.
(06:58):
That's the drive.
There's revenue attached tothat.
But if I'm focused on makingthe numbers, I know how to cheat
real good and I don't need thatin my life.
So how do you balance that?
Because I know you're a veryintentional leader, visionary
thinker.
How do you balance the impactyou're going to have on the
world, or rather, how do youconnect the impact you're going
(07:20):
to have on the world with yourrevenue targets and the business
KPIs that are necessary so thatyou can stay?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
operating yeah, the biggest thing for me.
Okay.
So from a custom home buildingperspective, I wanted to say,
look, I want a revenue target ofX dollars.
I'll just tell you, three yearsfrom today I'd like to be a
seven and a half million.
What I don't want is seven anda half million in 20 houses.
I want, want 7.5 million infour to six homes.
(07:47):
So I don't want to increase thenumber of jobs.
That I'm going to do.
I want to increase the size ofproject I'm taking on.
So when you talk about 10x yourgoals, I want to 10x the size
of house I'm going to do so.
I'm going to do the same numberof homes because for me,
leading in a way that I'mserving others and making sure
that I'm delivering that clientsatisfaction and that wow factor
(08:11):
to each client, I can't do thatwhen I exceed the number of
homes I'm building.
So I can set a higher targetgoal for our revenue and still
deliver what I want and staytrue to McMahon Custom Home by
doing the same number of homes.
So I'm very intentional aboutthat part.
If I do seven and a halfmillion, but I'm losing the
(08:31):
touch and what makes me specialand my company special, I might
as well go work for somebodyelse, because that's what I've
done my whole career.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I love it.
I love it.
When I first started, I wasalways I'm an expert critic.
If y'all don't know that, I'm aphenomenal critic, I'm really
great at judging people, and sowhen I had like real jobs, I
would always get really criticaland frustrated with the bosses,
the people that were making thedecisions, because they would
always oversell our capacity.
They would always get more workthan we could like.
(09:04):
We were equipped to handle it,and so it created this situation
.
We got the work.
It's a big, sexy project.
There's going to be a cranethat's on the side of the
freeway, we're going to get alot of free marketing, like all
the crap right.
And then we had to hire newpeople, rush them in and take
what we could get, and it justcreated a lot of pain for us
(09:24):
anyways.
So I'd always talk smack aboutit.
And then I started my businessand guess what happened in the
first six months?
I was running around, flyinghere, flying there, jumping on
calls, just scatterbrainedbecause I took on too many
clients.
I did the same thing that Iused to critique them about, and
then I had to put a system inplace to manage that and I got
(09:45):
it.
I got it to where I wanted sothat I could deliver the quality
and depth of connection that Iwanted to.
That I know I can do, but Ican't do it doing everybody.
So when you're talking about,I'm not going to do 70 homes a
year, I'm going to do seven atthis value point, which will get
(10:08):
me the seven and a half millionor whatever that target is,
that's it's so critical, jesse,and look, you're falling into
the same trap that everybodydoes, because that's what we
were trained to do.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You went to school they taught you how to do eight
to five.
You go into the workforce theyteach you how to drive for
revenue.
So we talk about customersatisfaction in our industry,
but most of us, we're not reallyfocused on it, so it's really
just a talking point, right?
It's like what you focus on iswhat you'll achieve.
So what we focus on is how dowe generate more revenue, how do
we get it done faster and howdo we get it done for less
(10:40):
dollars?
That's what we focus on, that'swhat we're going to get, and so
I think what's so critical forme and to share with everybody
is that you've got to create avision that is so clear three
years from today that decisionsyou're making will get you to
that vision, and things that yousay no to won't get you to your
vision.
I'm not going to do this, I'mnot going to jump on this plane,
(11:02):
because you're not helping medo what I want to do, which, for
you, is serving others andbuilding up our community.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I want to give the LNM family member shout out.
This one goes to Miss Sarah.
Sarah took the time to send methis awesome message.
She says how many times haveyou made the comment?
There are just not enough hoursin the day.
If you're like me, I made itquite frequently.
I recently attended the Do theDamn Thing Time Mastery Workshop
(11:32):
with Jesse, and the nuggetsthat were taught and the mind
shift that occurred totallychanged my outlook on time
management.
Time is going to happen.
It's how you manage yourself inthat time that matters.
Sarah, thank you for being oneof the early victims that jumped
in that first cohort of the Dothe Damn Thing Time Mastery
(11:55):
Workshop and taking the time toleave the comment.
For the rest of the L&M familymembers out there, please feel
free.
I invite you and kind of begyou a little bit, to leave a
comment, leave a review, do ashare, and it gives me not only
a little bit of confidence,because there's evidence that
somebody's listening besides myfamily, but also gives me the
(12:18):
opportunity to shout you out ina future episode.
Yeah, yeah, you got it, man, ahundred percent.
I have about a monthly cadencewhere I sit down and say okay,
what stupid commitments did Imake that I was excited, that's
like they're.
I get invited to like greatopportunities to collaborate and
(12:38):
do stuff and I of course I wantto do it, of course I say yes
and then I'm like, wait a minute, that's nope, that takes me off
path.
That takes me off the path.
That takes me off the path.
I got to go back and eat crowand most and every time people
are like, okay, well, can youhelp me start?
Hell, yeah, I can help youstart, but, like carrying the
(13:00):
ball with you, long-term, Ican't do that because it takes
me off the path, and so it's aconstant recalibrating for me.
Now you said something and Ithink it's going to connect
directly to this vision idea,because I'm with you, I don't
use the same language.
I think if we can get into thehow, the why, what it felt, and
(13:21):
the how well, the LLM familymember will get something they
can latch onto and apply intheir life, if they're not
already doing it.
So one thing you said was youstarted setting the path, laying
the breadcrumbs, about a yearand a half ago for what you're
experiencing today, and so Ithink we get that metaphorically
Sure, but what were thebreadcrumbs.
(13:43):
You got maybe a handful ofconcrete examples or steps.
You started doing that.
You did along the way thatpeople were like whatever, bro,
good luck, that's never going towork.
Your head's in the clouds, thatsort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, so it really was.
I set a target date of January1st 2025,.
I'm going to leave, I'm goingto step out on my own January
1st.
So I said, okay, what do I needto do in 10 months or nine
months to make that goal reality?
And I said, okay, well, I'vegot to do.
I've got to find land rightBecause I want to build houses.
So I've got to find landbecause I'll build specs.
(14:17):
I've got to create a customerbase.
So I said, okay, I'm going toattack social media.
This is a free platform, it'snot costing me money.
So I've got an Instagram page.
I've got a Facebook page and Iwas sharing content from my own
personal build.
So I built my house that I'm innow and I shared that content
for a year.
(14:37):
So I financed my own build withthe bank and I used that
content as kind of my jumpingoff point.
And if you don't have thatluxury, that's fine.
Still, find a way to be sharingand building value.
I want to inform the customers.
You're trying to build thatcredibility of who you are as a
person, but also give somethingto them so, even if they don't
(14:59):
pick you as a builder, they'remore knowledgeable on the people
they do choose.
So I started doing thatreligiously and I said look
three times a builder.
They're more knowledgeable onthe people they do choose.
So I started doing thatreligiously and I said look,
three times a week I'm going topost to social media and then I
would bump it up.
And then it was two times aweek or one time a week.
I'm going to meet with arealtor or a mortgage broker and
share my vision, my company,what I want to do.
(15:20):
And that's where people wouldlaugh at me and they're like
what are you doing?
Nothing is coming of this.
Well, let me tell you what cameof that.
I did that for six monthsnonstop and I had a scoreboard.
I'm like I'm holding myselfaccountable.
Nothing's happening.
I'm like, just stick with it,stick with it.
I met with a banker that I'vebeen with for a decade.
(15:41):
They've known me, I trained herson and she said I need you to
put you in touch with thisperson who does lending.
I met with that person.
I shared my vision.
I said this is what I want todo.
This is why I want to do it.
I see a need in the market forcustomer service, putting our
clients first, adding valuethese things that mean something
(16:01):
to me.
Two months later I've got aline of credit with the bank
that now I can build one spec.
I can take down one additionallot Like things started to fall
into place that I didn't evenrealize were possible and then
it was like pouring gasoline onthis thing and I closed on my
first lot in November.
(16:21):
I started building on it thefirst of the year.
I'm actually meeting a clientin a couple hours to sign the
first contract.
Things are happening becauseI'm putting myself out there
more than anything.
I'm highly intentional.
There's everybody you canimagine will tell you the reason
it won't work.
It will work because, just likeyou, jesse, I mean, I have no
(16:42):
doubt there were people,including yourself, at times,
that would say this isn't goingto work.
What am I doing?
And you probably remindyourself do the damn thing, do
the damn thing, just do it.
You just kept going andlearning and growing, and it's
no different on this side.
And here's the thing If there'sthings that you don't know, go
network with people that aredoing it, because most people
(17:04):
will share that stuff with you,and if they won't, go find
somebody else.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, oh man, so much gold there.
And I want to summarize it forthe folks Like one thing you did
you found a way to leveragesocial media and like organic,
right, no paid ad, Right, nopaid ad.
You're just posting pictures ofyou doing the thing that you
(17:27):
want to be, like telling thestory that you want to do
no-transcript.
And so one of the things that Iwas talking to a friend back
(17:50):
then and we're going back andforth and he's, he asked me to
tell him what I was going to dowith my business and I kind of
described it and he said well,what are you worried about?
And I'm like man, like I'venever had a client, Like who's
going to take a chance on me ifI've never had a client?
And he's Jesse, that's whatyou've been doing the past five
years.
And I said, oh crap, you'reright, I had 50 clients.
(18:17):
Now, we all had the time, hadworked at the same company, but
the value and the service that Iwas providing it was the same
thing.
So I already had the right andit's just like that.
I'm like I got this.
So, point being for folks outthere that are in that space,
I'm thinking about it.
I want to.
The scariest thing, like maybethe more most ambiguous thing,
(18:38):
is how do you get the confidenceYou're already doing the thing
right.
You're doing this thing thatyou want to deliver to other
people and spend most of yourtime doing that.
You're already doing that.
You just got to recognize thatand then so you did that.
I'm going to build my own house.
I know how to build houses, Letme show the world.
I'm going to post on socialmedia Super simple, low friction
(19:01):
.
Now, the other thing that youdid, that I didn't do, and I'm
ultimate that's another datapoint of how blessed I am is you
said I'm going to talk torealtors, bankers, et cetera,
and I'm going to talk to thismany on this frequency.
And you just did it.
And I'm sure your people, yourclose inner circle, are like
(19:25):
what the hell are you doing?
But I see that's just plantingseeds, right, Like you, let
people know which directionyou're in.
They may nurture and cultivateit and they may throw it away.
They may nurture and cultivateit and they may throw it away,
but you have proof that some ofthem said, oh, let me, I like
that, Let me take care of it.
And they've contributed to yourpath.
(19:46):
And so getting very clear,these are some of the people or
relationships I need to have todo the thing.
Well, hell, let me startbuilding them right now.
What are you waiting for?
I mean, those two things, Josh,are like so simple but ultra
(20:06):
valuable.
What I did, dummy, I quit my joband I started a business and I
remember one of my bosses.
He was an amazing dude.
He's like all right, just hewas down to help me.
He says so, I want to help you,but tell me about your business
development plan.
And I said what's that?
I don't even know what that is.
(20:26):
Anyways, I got lucky becausepeople recommended me referral
and all that stuff.
But what I should have done andI started doing, but I'm still
not that great at it I shouldhave told everybody I know 20
times that I was starting abusiness and what it was going
to be.
So the language you use wassharing your vision and you put
(20:47):
it out into the world, andpeople want to see you win and
they'll help you win.
Am I lying?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
No, jesse, this is so gold and we're talking about it
from a business standpoint.
This isn't for business owners.
If you're listening to thisthing, I have no interest in
running a business.
That's fine.
You can still create a visionfor who you want to be in the
future and share that withemployers.
This is where I want to be.
(21:14):
If you're a foreman today, youwant to be a vice president, you
want to aim for the stars,share it with other people,
because what's going to happenis the hiring manager says I
hear where you want to go.
We don't have that position inour company.
We don't have that growthtrajectory, because what will
happen is what happened to me.
I'm very ambitious, as I'm sureyou can tell.
I wanted to take over the world.
(21:36):
I wanted to run the company.
They said Josh, you're alaborer, I know, but I want to
run the company.
If I was more clear about whatI wanted in the interview
process, I wouldn't have taken90% of the jobs that I took,
because it would have been clearthey can't help me get to where
I want to be and that's us all.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, and I think you said it earlier too right, if
you're in a space with peoplethat aren't going to fuel it and
support it and cultivate it,find another space and Jesse,
that's what makes America greatYou're not restricted to any one
job, and this is what makesthis time in our history better
than ever.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Ten years ago, oh my God, if you didn't stay in a
company for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30years, you're a bad person.
Well, those days are gone.
We finally have realized thatsome companies are just bad.
Some companies aren't alignedwith where you want to be,
they're not aligned with yourpersonal values, and it's okay
to move on.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%.
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent,a hundred percent, even though I
still I remember what was itFour years ago when I had a real
job.
I was looking at applicants andmy first response was man,
they've jumped around Like theyhaven't been with a company
longer than five.
Fast work.
Today, I'm like you'reridiculous fool, like people can
, I mean?
I'm proof They'll let any foolstart a business, and people can
(22:59):
make money at home in theirshorts doing something they love
, not tolerating a jerk.
And so we really got to shiftour thinking to what you're, to
what you're saying.
Is it ain't like that?
No more.
If you're not going to besupporting and growing your
people, they can build their ownbusiness or they can just go
find a better place where theycan grow and thrive as
(23:19):
individuals.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, and this is where you got it, jesse.
We need more leaders in themarketplace training and
coaching leaders.
Right, there's managers onevery single store corner.
Everywhere you go, there's amanager.
We need a leader, growing thosemanagers into leaders, because
there's a difference betweenleadership and management.
Right, like sure me management,I can get any kpi you want me
(23:44):
to get.
You just might not like the wayI treat the people, you might
not like the retention is bad,but I'm going to hit those damn
numbers because I mean, but ifyou want me to lead them, it
might take longer to hit thekpis, but we're going to do it
for a longer period of time oncewe start getting there, because
the team is bought in.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yes, oh, I love it.
You know, for me I finally cameto terms with if you want to
excel and expand your influencewithin an organization, you've
got to have leadership skillsand management skills.
Right, Because, if all Ibecause I did it I was the
leader for a long time when Ididn't do the managing, which
(24:31):
means I'm just a cheerleader,right.
And then when I was a managerand I didn't care about
developing people, I was, likeyou said, like the boss, Jess,
you get that stuff done, youbring projects in on budget, but
our clients hate you and ourpeople quit on you and they're
like well, you need betterpeople and better clients.
I don't know what to tell you,but when I figured out, oh, I
know how to do the managing,that's actually easy, but
(24:52):
there's a better way to do it.
And if I focus on developingpeople and if I focus on
developing people, the world isopen to me, and so I'm with you
on that 100%.
Now you said that you were alaborer and you knew when you
were a laborer that you wantedto own run the damn business.
And I think I said it earlier.
(25:13):
But I've been stalking you onTikTok and I love your messaging
about vision and having avision and letting that vision
guide you, because you're livingthe results of that.
What I want to peel the onionback so that people can get a
real sense of it.
Was it like you saw the visionand it was just a straight line
directly to where you are today?
(25:34):
Did you just have win after win?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Man, what did that look like?
The scariest roller coasterimaginable.
That's what it looks like.
The highs were really awesomeand the lows sucked.
I made some poor choices goingto companies because I thought,
oh, getting this title and thissalary, this is going to get me
to the next level.
And then realizing, okay, Imade a misstep, take three steps
(25:58):
back.
Okay, now, how do I regroup tothe next level?
And then realizing, okay, Imade a misstep, take three steps
back.
Okay, now how do I regroup?
And how do I?
And there's a lot of that inthe path.
And the thing that I love aboutit is I'm 45.
I still have an entire careerin front of me.
Oh yeah, we have lost sight ofman when you turn 40, like
you're done, you're over thehill, it's over.
I'm like what do you mean?
I haven't even hit my stride.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, totally so.
You had wins and you had somelows, and I don't know anybody
that just had a streak, 100%winning streak.
Where do you think you learnedthe most?
Did you learn the most in thewins or in the?
Speaker 1 (26:35):
lows.
Definitely, for me, it was thelows is where I learned the most
.
It's not to take away that Ididn't learn from the high wins
too.
I'm hypercritical of myself, mygrowth, what I was doing, and
even to a really negative placeback in the day.
I've really worked on that.
But the lows is where I reallylearned more about myself.
What decisions am I making?
(26:56):
Am I leading in the way that Iwant to?
Am I growing my team?
Am I serving them?
So say, a customer gives you abad survey and somebody says,
man, that survey was bad.
I'm like, no, that's greatinformation, like that's what we
build from that.
I can't like if they give me afive-star review but no data, no
information.
Well, okay, I didn't learnanything from that.
(27:18):
So for me, you can learn fromthe highs and the lows.
It's all about the informationthat's in that data set to take
(27:44):
maybe a couple of steps back.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
What advice do you have for people to make it
through?
Because when you're in themiddle of that, it seems like
your future is set.
It's over.
You wasted all your time.
This is the end of the road.
So what advice do you have forfolks that are in that situation
now or maybe facing it in thefuture?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Yeah, Jesse, this is where that vision comes back
into play.
Man, if you know what yourvision is, over three years.
This is just a piece of thejourney, because this is the
thing that you really have tograsp.
So you're in a bad situation,you're working for a bad boss,
whatever.
You're still learning.
You're still growing from thatexperience.
And if you're surroundingyourself with maybe you can't
(28:20):
surround yourself inside thecompany, but outside the company
with positive people.
They're building you up andyou're focused on where you're
going, not where you are, thenyou understand that this is a
minor setback, if you will, oropportunity.
But I'm still staying positive.
I'm still showing up.
I'm still networking, no matterwhat role you're in.
I'm still networking, no matterwhat role you're in.
(28:41):
I'm still networking withothers within the industry and
networking in hey, how can Ihelp you?
What are some things that youmight need?
I'm not just asking, I'm notjust taking.
I'm giving more than I'm taking, but I'm doing that in a
positive way, even though I'mmiserable over here.
I need to compartmentalize that, because my vision is pulling
me in a much better direction.
So, by staying positive, bydoing all those things, the
(29:04):
moment I say, okay, enough isenough, I'm turning off this
switch.
Now I don't have to go and say,okay, I need three weeks to
reset.
I need to get positive.
I need to get my mind.
No, you're already doing it.
Just take a step.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, so what?
So what I'm getting is like thething happened and you said,
well, that sucks.
Let me get back on my vision.
Was it that easy?
Oh man, no.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
So, look, let me tell you that the worst mistake I
made was I took a job with thiscompany.
This was when I really wentfrom kind of the blue collar
side of management to the whitecollar side and I'm like, I'm
excited, I mean big bump in pay,like everything's a lot right,
and I'm like, oh my God, this isgreat.
Day one on the job I go out toa job site and I'm standing on
(29:47):
top of this mountain and I'mlooking down at the houses and
I'm like I screwed up.
I knew from that moment that Imade a massive mistake, that
there was not any fixing thisorganization.
They were just doing thingsjust to do them, just to try and
(30:07):
make a name for themselves inthe market, which was not a good
name.
But I said, I've got what Iwanted.
I'm exactly where I have wantedto be.
I'm going to make the best ofthis.
I'm going to do everything Ican to learn and grow from this
experience.
When I made the decision to moveon, I moved on without another
job.
I was at the lowest I've everbeen, and we're only talking
(30:28):
about three years ago.
At the lowest, I regrouped, Itook another position,
high-level position, a big cutin pay and probably 30 days time
I was back to my old self.
My confidence was back, myswagger was back.
I mean, we were really doingsome good work at that company.
So, yeah, you're going to havethose setbacks.
And I think, as I look back onthat today, I had some good
(30:51):
people in my corner, yourselfincluded, that I could lean on.
But I was kind of embarrassed,if you will.
I was like I failed and they'regoing to know that I failed and
I don't want them to know.
And now I'm like well, I mean,my friends were there for me.
I needed to lean on my friendsand they would have propped me
up and said gosh, you know whatyou're doing, get back in the
game.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Let's go.
The world needs you.
And that's what I was like yeah, yeah, shake it off, let's go.
And so I heard this fromsomebody and I'm like, oh, I
think I do that Kind of SomebodyI can't remember who was.
I interviewed him on the podcastand I'd look, life's going to
give you some shit bags and yougot to deal with it.
And if it's going to make yousad, it's going to hurt, it's
(31:34):
going to break you, and sopretending everything's OK is
not healthy, it's notsustainable.
So be sad, be mad, be resentful, be depressed, be angry, but
give yourself a time limit,right, it's like give yourself a
(31:57):
day, a week, a month, whateverit is.
I'm going to stew in thismisery and relive it and replay
it and be mad and blameeverybody, and I'm going to do
that for this much time.
And on this day, okay, you letit, I've processed it, I've
chewed on it, I kicked it around.
It's time to pick my head upand see what's next.
Because and for me, the takeawaythere was there have been the
(32:21):
majority of my life, but I maxedit or numbed it with substance,
where there was grief andsadness and all kinds of things
that I hadn't dealt with,because I just went, kept going
and kept going harder anddiluted myself with.
We'll just say I polluted mybody with anything I could get
my hands on and I couldn't do itforever, and so when I finally
(32:44):
shifted that it was like oh, Igot a, I got all this stuff that
I need to process, and so Iprocessed it and then it's okay,
let's go.
What's next?
It's behind me now, and so Ilove that.
You point that out.
Now you've mentioned networknetworking friends, like how
does somebody, let's say, I'mgoing to start down this vision
(33:07):
path, right, the vision quest?
Yeah, I love that.
So how do I go about selectingthe people?
What are the qualifications orthe indicators of who to reach
out to, to connect with, to helpme on the quest?
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, so really the vision quest.
I mean I'm always available.
So if anybody ever wants totalk about your vision quest and
where you want to go, like Ilove vision, so feel free to
reach out to me.
I'm sure, jesse, you'll havethe ways to reach out to me.
I'm sure, jesse, you'll havethe ways to reach out to me and
connect, happy to help youReally.
The vision is yours, rightCause I can tell you my vision
and I can say hey.
Jesse, this is going to be yourvision now, but I need your
(33:47):
vision to be your passion.
If you're really passionateabout helping dogs or animals,
then great.
Let's create a vision aroundwhat that looks like.
How can you do more to get outthere and help animals and do
those things?
So?
And then we can build thattogether and I can kind of give
you some tricks and tips.
But really it's my favoritething to tell people is when you
(34:08):
go on vacation, you're out atthe beach, you're doing all that
stuff.
Leave the phone at home, bringa notebook, stare out at the
ocean and just write it down.
I mean, dream as big as you.
I mean like you can haveanything you want in this world
it doesn't matter what it is andjust put it on paper.
And now the key is don't sayhow am I going to get that,
(34:30):
don't even spend any timethinking about that.
Just write down what you wantand then get it clear Is this
really what I want?
Does this make me excited?
Does this drive me?
And when it starts to do thosethings?
And remember, make it clear.
So if your dream is to have a$3 million custom build, well,
what color siding do you want.
What's the tile look like?
What's the kitchen sink looklike?
(34:51):
I want it to be so crystalclear in your mind that,
everything you see, you canstart to reach out and touch.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, and so I guess what I take from that is getting
that clear, then it's oh well,these are the people that are
maybe best equipped to join theteam or be a part of that vision
.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
This is the next piece.
So once you get your visionlocked in, now, you're going to
share it.
Jesse, this is what I intend todo at McMahon Custom Homes.
This is what I'm aiming for,this is what I want to do.
And if I'm watching Jesse andJesse's not bobbing his head,
he's not leaning into me, he'snot interested, and just chalk
it up, jesse, anything I can doto help you, I'm good, okay,
(35:38):
great, on to the next one.
On to the next one.
Like I had no less than 10realtors, just kind of no
interest, no, worried.
Then the one realtor comes tomy house.
We want to don them.
They are falling overthemselves about the vision,
what we're trying to do, wherewe we're going, and I'm like
that's our realtor.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, yeah.
And so one important thing Iwant to make sure people don't
miss you said 10, and I knowit's probably more than 10, but
at least 10, we're like la, la,la.
And then one right, like itwasn't the first person.
You talked to the value ofrepetition in terms of, like
you're saying, of sharing yourvision.
(36:17):
So here's the takeaway, folksif you want to start down the
vision quest, get your vision,share it with people and then,
based on their engagement, theirconnection, their depth of
interest, that's going to signalwho should be on your place,
and it is unrealistic to expectevery damn fool you talk to to
(36:38):
be excited about your damnvision.
Is that fair?
Speaker 1 (36:42):
That's a hundred percent right, and it's okay.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Now, one thing you said and I know you made a post
about this the other day, Ithink I saw it on the Instagram
is like writing, writing it down.
So this is my tool that'sremarkable, which I've had, man,
I've probably been usingremarkable four or five years
now.
And to to your point, Ischedule, and I'm about five for
(37:08):
seven out of every week, but Iblock out an hour of time every
day for thinking, and that iswhat I do.
I sit down and I like that hourit's.
Am I going to think about thefuture?
Am I going to reflect on whathas happened or what I've
learned or how I feel aboutsomething?
Or am I going to think aboutwhere I am today, right now,
(37:32):
this minute, I make a decisionand then I go there.
Honestly, I spend a lot of timethinking about the future, what
I'm going to work on, what I'mdesigning, what do I want to
learn, blah, blah, blah.
But I also know this when Iskip more than two days in a row
of not doing my thinking time,that is when I start getting way
(37:54):
off the path.
I start over committing, Istart taking on things, spending
time with people that I don'tneed to be spending time with,
and so my point is this thatgoing to the beach and
documenting, getting your ideasout of your head, that's the
start, and if you can do it, themore frequently you do it, the
(38:16):
better things will be.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
What do you think?
That's 100% right.
I love the focus time thatyou've added to your schedule.
Everybody thinks I don'tpossibly have time to do this.
I'm telling you that when youstart tracking your time, you've
got more than an hour.
You've got a lot more than anhour Having that focus time.
It re-energizes us, it gets usfilled up and we're like, oh man
(38:38):
, this is why I'm doing this.
It's taking your lunch breakand really checking out for an
hour and not scrolling Instagram, but thinking about where do I
want to be, what do I want toaccomplish, how am I progressing
?
Just have your own time.
It's good.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yes, agreed.
Okay.
So the podcast.
Where does your podcast land inall of this?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Oh man, we ran that podcast for a little over three
years.
My wife and I were running itwas a home building,
construction managementleadership type of podcast.
I was struggling with the placeof employment I was working at,
I was starting my own business,my mother was passing away, so
we just had kind of the perfectstorm of everything happening
and we dropped one episode atthe beginning of January and it
(39:22):
was like that's enough, we needto focus on us, we need to get
our stuff right.
And it's really you startthinking about your time and
while I feel like we were addinga lot of value to our listeners
and our audience, I wasn'tfilling my tank so my energy was
depleting so I just needed areset.
So we've paused the podcast.
We still pay for it every month, so it stays active.
(39:43):
Feed Me.
Your Construction content is thepodcast, but as far as right
now goes, mcmahon Custom Homesis really my primary focus and
my second focus is getting outand doing more public speaking.
So I love vision and I puttogether a presentation on
vision and another episode onsomething else.
But really the focus is hey,your business vision is this
(40:07):
Well, how do I help your teammembers better understand their
vision and how it aligns withyour vision?
So now we're all aligned andmoving towards the goal and it's
like when you can add that fuelto the fire.
That's the leadership piece.
Right, my visionary leadershipis going to help your worker
bees better align with theirvision, which aligns with your
(40:28):
vision.
And some people their visionwon't align with yours, and
that's okay too, because theymight be a subtractor from your
business and they don't.
They just don't understand why.
They just think they're a bademployee.
You think they're a bademployee, but it's really just,
we're not aligned you're notaligned, oh so I ultimately love
that.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
So, folks out there in the omniverse if you have
because you've seen this andI've seen it so many times where
the leader has a vision andthey're frustrated because their
team isn't excited andconnected to it and it's because
you're not connecting you havea vision, but you've been
(41:06):
dreaming about this for yearsand you're expecting this young
cat to jump on board and theydon't have any idea what the
hell it is.
So, omniverse, if you knowsomebody that's in that
situation or you have a need fora super engaging, eventful and,
we'll say, experience-packedsession, get with Mr Josh
(41:31):
McMahon so he can come out andlight your people up and get you
going down the path you want.
Put the word out, folks.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
We talked about revenue being a goal earlier.
How many people in the businesssay my vision is to be $10
million?
Well, okay, if I'm the employee, I'm like, okay, great, what
does $10 million mean?
That's why you're not reachingyour vision.
You're not getting clarity.
So that's where what I want todo is come in and help you
further develop that vision, tothen drip it down so everybody
(42:00):
gets on board, because we loveto think bottom up.
Bottom up can really change acompany.
It's not true.
I've learned my lesson it's topdown.
The top isn't willing to change.
If the top's not willing to goin a different direction, you're
not going in a differentdirection.
The top is the head.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
If the top's not willing to go in a different
direction.
You're not going in a differentdirection.
The top is the head.
Correct A hundred percent.
I've lived it.
I know I can affect some changewith my immediate circle, but
changing, shifting the wholeship, it's just not going to
happen.
Now what I like, like ourvision, is to hit $10 million
this year and in today'senvironment, my advice is start
(42:38):
selling pictures of your feetonline.
You can make $10 million doingthat.
My point is that if all you'retelling me is 10 million same
thing you said right, thatdoesn't mean nothing to me.
And if I come up like, hey, Igot a great idea to help you get
there, let's sell pictures ofyour feet, you're going to think
I'm making fun of you.
No, I'm not making fun of you,it can be done.
(42:59):
You just didn't help meunderstand how you want to get
to that 10 million, who you wantto impact as a result of all
that effort, and that's you'rehelping them close that gap.
That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
You really get a lot of alignment around that, man.
It is so powerful.
When you see this whole thingcome together, it sounds so like
pokey or rainbows and unicorns,but I'm living proof.
This stuff works, man.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I'm like this is the key that most people are missing
well, I'm gonna add on thatyou're not just living proof
that it works, like you're inthe midst of doing it.
It's not a concept that peoplethat you cut him across and got
excited about.
You've been walking this pathfor a long time and it feels I
(43:47):
wouldn't say you're at the peak.
I will say that you're at apeak, that's right, because
there's higher peaks ahead.
And then kind of back to thepodcast.
One thing I want I superrespect you because you're like,
yeah, we did it and we're notdoing it right now because we're
focused on this.
And so one thing I want to helppeople discern from that.
It's kind of a two-sided coin.
(44:08):
Right, if you're going to dosomething, do it for real, but
and at the same time, know thatsometimes things happen for a
season, correct, and when thatseason's over, it's okay to put
it on the shelf and take on thenext season, which doesn't mean
quit because you didn't get amillion downloads on the first
(44:30):
episode.
That's weak sauce, yeah, yeah,yeah, very true, because,
believe me, I wanted to.
I still haven't hit a million,but it's been an amazing
opportunity or excuse for me tolike connect with amazing people
and share their stories.
So I know we're going to putthe links in the show notes, but
(44:50):
I just want to be super.
Maybe it's a little cloudy forpeople.
I know you're building customhomes you got McMahon custom
homes and you're tearing it upand you're raising the bar in
terms of what your goals are forthis year, but you're also
doing coaching and publicspeaking.
Did I get that right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yep, I'm doing public speaking.
I'm a certified coach as ofthis year, so it's not just I've
done this, so now I'm a coach.
I'm self-proclaimed.
No, I mean, I went throughtraining and continual training,
so it's been really good for me.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Nice.
So how do people, where do wesend people to get ahold of you?
Speaker 1 (45:25):
The easiest place to get me is LinkedIn.
You can always find me onLinkedIn, Joshua McMahon.
Instagram is another spotTikTok.
I'm getting more involved inTikTok, as long as it's around.
I love TikTok because I don'thave a big presence, so reps are
critically important no matterwhat you're doing.
So I'm getting my reps.
I'm honing my craft, so TikTokis a great spot to find me as
(45:48):
well.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
Excellent, we'll make sure we have all those links in
the show notes.
And I got the grand finalequestion.
Are you ready for it?
I don't know, man, like thiscould be anything right, here
you go.
What is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Oh, the promise I'm intended to be?
Wow, the promise I'm intendedto be.
Wow, the promise I'm intendedto be.
Wow, jesse, I don't know how toanswer that question.
That's deep.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
When I was in rehab, I had one of the counselors tell
me Jesse, your problem is youhaven't accepted that if you
continue living life the wayyou're living it, you will never
become the promise you areintended to be.
And in that moment I knew whathe meant.
It was a flash of every time Isaw a greater version of me and
(46:49):
then talk myself out of it.
Every time I disappointedsomebody for being a dirtbag,
every time I cheated and lied tosomebody, all of that came back
and said all of those thingsthat you've done is what's
keeping you from being thisvision of what I was too scared
(47:09):
to look at.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, that's really good man.
I love that story too.
I didn't know you went throughrehab.
I really applaud you for allyour efforts and changing and
shifting your life.
I mean, I've been sober for twoand a half years.
I know the power of sobrietyand just how clear my mind is.
And for me it's like I realized, probably six years ago, that
(47:30):
the real calling for me wascoaching and lifting up other
people.
I feel like in society, whetherit be people around us, school
system, whatever it may be,there's so many people pushing
great people down and I believethat my real journey is lifting
others up where other peoplemight not see the value in
(47:52):
somebody and that person notseeing the true value in
themselves.
I think that's really mypurpose and really when I got
sober is when I really startedto accept that I was meant for
that and that I could do it,because the imposter syndrome
was always kicking in.
Right, I'm like this is allcommon sense stuff.
Nobody's going to buy into it.
Well, the reality is there's nosuch thing as common sense.
(48:14):
It's what we're taught, what welearn in our experiences.
But it's really lifting up andgiving back to other people.
That's really my purpose.
And building a home buildingbusiness, I get the opportunity
to build up people within mycompany, but then we get into a
certain stage where I can thengo focus on more coaching and
building people while somebodyelse is running the business.
(48:34):
So that's really my purpose.
Jesse, I appreciate you beingthe true depth builder and
asking that question.
That was money.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
Man, I am not surprised by your response at
all.
Help people, serve people,develop people, build your dream
.
Yes, did you have fun.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Man, this was a blast dude.
I can't believe it's been threeminutes like yeah, well, we
might have to come back.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
You know what?
Here's the deal when you raiseyour annual target again, you
let me know and we'll get youback on the show to talk that
through with people, becauseit's real Like I'm living it,
you're living it, and what Ireally hope people take away
from this is there's no straightpath and it's possible.
(49:26):
It's possible and it can bebigger than what you even
imagine today.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
I'd love to come back and talk about how I raise my
goal again, because the nextphase is going to be raising the
goal.
My business partner, who's a30% owner, is going to be
leaving his place of employmentand we would probably have a
third employee.
So the concept and I thinkwe're talking six to 12 months
from today it's like that's thestuff that's happening.
So the next phase of thispodcast is really we raised our
(49:54):
goal again and here's how we'redoing team building and putting
our systems in place and makingsure that we've got the culture
everybody wants to work in.
So love to come back and talk.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
Yes, hell yeah.
And here's the link to the TEDTalk where Josh was up on stage
keynoting for the whole damnthing.
That's what we got to do, mybrother.
Thank you for sticking it outall the way to the end.
I know you got a whole lot ofstuff going on and, in
appreciation for the gift oftime that you have given this
episode, I want to offer you afree PDF of my book Becoming the
(50:26):
Promise You're Intended to Be.
The link for that bad boy isdown in the show notes.
Hit it.
You don't even have to give meyour email address.
There's a link in there.
You just click that and you candownload the PDF.
And if you share it withsomebody that you know who might
feel stuck or be caught up inself-destructive behaviors, that
would be the ultimate.
(50:47):
You sharing.
That increases the likelihoodthat it's going to help one more
person.
And if it does help one moreperson, then you're contributing
to me becoming the promise I amintended to be.
Be kind to yourself, be cool,and we'll talk at you next time.
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