November 10, 2025 • 21 mins
If your business feels heavy lately (more stress, less spark) this episode might be the reset you need.
Brandon and Caleb are back together for a Maven Monday conversation on restoring joy to your business and rebuilding the energy that made you start it in the first place.
They share three practical moves any leader can make to shift the atmosphere, re-engage their people, and build a team that actually wants to win again.
No buzzwords. No kumbaya. Just clear steps to bring purpose and positivity back to work — for you and your team.
Inside this episode:
• The leadership habit that kills negativity fast
• How to build gravity around your company vision
• What to do when the wrong people are pulling you down
If you’ve been craving clarity, energy, and momentum again... start here.
For entrepreneurs wanting to grow without wasting money, join the Maven Marketing Mastermind → https://www.mavenmethodtraining.com
Our Website: https://frankandmaven.com/
Instagram: /frankandmavenmarketing
TikTok: /frankandmaven
LinkedIn: /frank-and-maven
Host: Brandon Welch
Executive Producer: Carter Breaux
Audio/Video Producer: Nate the Camera Guy
Do you have a marketing problem you'd like us to help solve? Send it to MavenMonday@FrankandMaven.com!
Get a copy of our Best-Selling Book, The Maven Marketer Here: https://a.co/d/1clpm8a
Do you have a marketing problem you'd like us to help solve? Send it to MavenMonday@FrankandMaven.com!
Get a copy of our Best-Selling Book, The Maven Marketer Here: https://a.co/d/1clpm8a
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandon Welch (00:00):
And I think you'll find that when you are
unified towards making lifebetter for the we and not the
me, that just eliminatesnegativity because everybody
goes home with purpose.
Welcome to the Maven MarketingPodcast.
Today is Maven Monday.
I am your host, Brandon Welch,and I'm here with who the heck
(00:21):
are you?
AG.
Caleb Agee (00:24):
You didn't give me my first name.
What is your first name?
I don't even know.
Brandon Welch (00:28):
Haven't seen you around here in a while.
Caleb Agee (00:31):
I'm happy to be here.
Um Welcome back.
Thank you.
Brandon Welch (00:35):
Welcome back.
He's back, folks.
I'm back.
Mr.
Salib Aji.
We had a client one time whocalled and he said, Yeah, I'll
get with Salib on that.
And I was like, Who's Salib?
It took me three or four times,and I was like, Caleb?
And this guy was like, not fromaround here.
Yeah.
And so I think he worked with alot of folks in a different
(00:55):
part of the world that wereSalib.
And I was like, no, Caleb.
I was like, you know, from theBible.
He goes, Oh, I don't knowanything.
I don't know anything about thefact.
Caleb Agee (01:02):
Well, I mean, I guess uh it works, but how about
Isaac?
He's also in the Bible.
He's also fun fact, all threeof my names are in the Bible.
Brandon Welch (01:11):
Yes, they are.
Caleb Agee (01:12):
Age's in there too.
Is it really?
Oh yeah.
Brandon Welch (01:15):
Well, you were AG ing well.
Tell us what you did when youwere gone.
Caleb Agee (01:18):
Hey, um, I did a whole lot of nothing.
No, um, I just took asabbatical in case this is your
first episode and you're like,what are these guys talking
about?
I've been out for four weeks.
Uh I'm not sure how manypodcasts weeks that was, but I
think it was about four.
And um focused on inputs.
So, not output, inputs, whichis I try to every day just do
(01:41):
the five things that I eat alot, yeah, focus on input, just
just uh consume everything Ican.
No, um, just the things thatmake me the best Caleb, and
that's uh really what I try todo.
So uh for me that was readingmy Bible, quiet time, uh reading
something else, exercise, andwriting.
And beautiful.
(02:02):
That's you get the best Calebwhen Caleb does all five of
those things.
Brandon Welch (02:05):
You have really good complexion about you when
you came back.
I don't know.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, you did you did chop yourbeard off though.
Uh I think four weeks ofholding the razor really far
away from you.
Caleb Agee (02:12):
It was it was getting a little wide on my face
here.
Brandon Welch (02:15):
Well, hey, speaking of uh of joy, today's
episode is about restoring joyto your business.
Now, before you uh exit and saythis one's another kumbaya, um,
I just want you to know that ifyou are one of the CEOs who are
going, man, we have gonethrough a lot of stuff in our
business the last five years.
(02:36):
We've gone through like havingto readjust to this um I don't
want to say an entitledmentality, but but what a lot of
CEOs have observed as anentitled mentality or you know,
people wanting more from you andculture changing and the
expectations of you know remotework.
And there's just there's justbeen a about a three, four, five
year hangover for a lot ofcompanies.
(02:57):
And I hear a lot of CEOstalking about it, like when are
we finally going to get back towork and maybe having fun and
having some like having someappreciation in our business?
And I think what's happenedduring this time where we all,
every CEO, myself included, wehad to just observe what was
becoming culturally acceptablefrom employees, uh, just their
(03:18):
relationship with work.
And so if you found yourself inthis place of like, I would
like work to be fun and we'regonna use the word joyful, and
I'd like to eliminate somenegativity that may be existing
on your team.
Uh Caleb and I have walkedthrough that.
We have walked to many otherleaders and companies through
that.
And we have three justget-to-work type uh
(03:39):
prescriptions for you today.
Yeah, it's three, yeah, threesections.
Caleb Agee (03:43):
Before you run away and you say, Well, I'm a
solopreneur, I manage onlymyself.
I would say these apply to you.
This is how to lead people andyourself well, and that person
inside your head that that talksmaybe with negative words.
Um and then also if you'reinside of a company, I think
there are aspects of this thatyou could aspire to and you
(04:04):
could realize change yourself.
Yeah, you could changeyourself, you could change it
from the inside, and you couldlook at this is a real thing
that um company leaders aredealing with, and you can be a
leader from where you are by onesetting setting strong values,
but then also um you canacknowledge what your leader's
going through and have empathyand just and see it.
(04:25):
So let's get into it.
Brandon Welch (04:26):
Yeah.
So the the number one thingthat will re like just remove
this negativity and move you inthe direction that I think we
all want to go is to create aculture of winning.
Uh, a couple weeks ago I did anepisode that's like, hey, go
build your people up.
And it's not like um, we're nottalking about throwing pizza
parties or celebrating vanitymetrics uh or participation
(04:49):
trophies or anything like that.
Um, but there are things thatare going well.
And sometimes the thenegativity in an environment,
uh, when you've got an elephantsitting on the chest of the US
economy and politics, um youforget that even though there's
less, maybe uh maybe it's lesseasy to breathe, there is still
oxygen.
Yeah.
And looking for those momentsto celebrate winning.
(05:11):
And I'm gonna tell you somelike tangible things and then
also some some like statisticalthings.
This doesn't you don't have tobe like this cheerleader of a
boss all the time.
Um, but if you bake in somesort of a ritual where you are
acknowledging what is working,um you get more of that thing.
Yeah, you tend to get more ofthat thing.
Caleb Agee (05:32):
Of what you celebrate.
And I think what happens a lotis um actually it's been proven
scientifically, you cannot havegratitude and and negativity at
the same time.
It's a one-way, it's a one-waychannel.
Brandon Welch (05:48):
It's within minutes when neuroscientists
study it.
Like literally, when somebodypractices a few minutes of
gratitude, the amount ofcortisol and the amount of
negativity just fades inside ofa person's brain.
Caleb Agee (06:00):
So that that is a a one-way antenna that cannot be
changed.
And so when you allow yourself,when you allow your team to
celebrate, to acknowledge whatis good, um, there is something
good.
You can always find somethinggood.
Uh it's a it is a negativeattitude.
If you think there's nothinggood in your organization, you
will you have to find that foryourself first, but then
(06:21):
celebrate that and share it witheverybody and then invite them
in along with that and and makea culture of gratitude and
winning.
Brandon Welch (06:29):
Yeah.
Uh Willie Nelson said, when Istarted counting my blessings,
my whole life turned around.
When I started counting myblessings.
Um, Gallup studied thisrecently, 2023, and they found
that teams who regularlyrecognize each other experience
31% lower turnover and 12 timesmore engagement.
How would you like your team tobe 12 times more engaged?
Caleb Agee (06:51):
Yeah.
Work human research said 69% ofemployees say they'd work
harder if they felt moreappreciated.
Brandon Welch (06:57):
They would work harder.
You want your folks to workharder?
Turns out there's a there's uhthere's a hack for that.
It's called appreciating.
Caleb Agee (07:03):
It's called appreciating it.
Brandon Welch (07:04):
Yeah, and then Harvard study said small wins,
which that's what we're talkingabout here, small wins.
It's not like you can be downfor the quarter, you can be down
for the year, you can be in themuck and you can still find
small wins.
The Harvard study found thatsmall wins are the number one
daily motivator of employeeperformance, beating money and
praise.
Just small wins, justacknowledging small wins around.
(07:26):
So um I love what Tony Robbinssays energy flows where
attention goes, just give moreattention to what's going well.
Yeah.
And so some practical ways todo this.
Uh a stand-up meeting on aMonday morning, say an
acknowledging three wins fromyour team for the last week.
Caleb Agee (07:42):
Yep.
Brandon Welch (07:43):
Uh a group text.
Um, if you're a big, bigcompany, you can't do this with
all, you know, dozens orhundreds of employees, but you
can have your supervisors oryour, you know, your colonels
down the ranks each have theirown five, ten, to fifteen
people, and you're going, you'recelebrating within those little
pods, right?
Yeah.
Um, a traveling trophy or abell or a or something that you
(08:05):
hand out, like a like an uglymoss ball.
Caleb Agee (08:08):
Yeah.
That's what we do.
Brandon Welch (08:09):
That's what we use.
Uh just to say, hey, Nate didawesome last week.
Like just these tiny littlerituals, emails or text or
gathering and saying, uh, here'swhere I saw wins, and then
prompt everybody else to soundoff.
That is going to create aculture of winning, and that
fires dopamine hits thateverybody wants to keep getting
because we we get addicted tothat feeling.
Caleb Agee (08:29):
Yeah.
And so just practically whatthis looks like, even for us,
how we how we pull this off.
Um, those wins look likecelebrating what our clients are
doing.
So we saw so-and-so um for us,it's ad campaigns.
It's um that they grew.
It's it's something went offreally well.
Cost per leads, or maybe we hada great shoot.
(08:50):
We recorded something that wasbeautiful.
Brandon Welch (08:53):
Or this week it was uh three of our clients hit
their annual revenue goals inOctober.
Yes.
They hit them, like they'redone for the year.
They're they're all two monthsof gravy.
Caleb Agee (09:02):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah, um, that's what that'swhat November is for.
That is what November is for.
Uh yeah, Thanksgiving.
Okay, just making sure you gotthat.
But hey, the these things arevery much they do have to be
tangible.
They have to be tangible, andthen the other thing, very often
it's celebrating each other.
So our team is on a team, andso it'll be like, hey, I saw
Brandon do this this week, I sawNate do this this week.
(09:25):
And and those kinds of thingsalso help everybody feel
appreciated from within theirown teams and and noticed and
seen.
Brandon Welch (09:34):
And so um you want more of that, trust me.
And if you do that, it turnsout that that energy is flowing
upward and it's it's going tojust let a lot of the negativity
starve and suffocate.
You may have things wrong, youmay you you may you may be
headed for an unprofitable year,but if you aren't the one
leading winning, you're gonnaget more losing, and nobody
(09:54):
wants that.
So that's number one.
Build a culture of winning.
Number two is build a visionthat has gravity.
So, not unlike uh positive, youknow, reinforcement, uh, a
vision where we're going.
If the news is we're goinghere, and here's our progress to
getting here, and here's whatwe want it to look like, and
(10:15):
here is the world we'recreating, vision, those things,
things that are bigger than you,or things that are bigger than
even a group of people havegravity and people are attracted
to that.
Yes.
If you do not pull them up,they will get pulled down, and
that is your fault as theleader.
And so we want uh we want to beas leaders building building a
vision, like sharing a vision,keeping a vision alive, um,
(10:38):
restoking the vision, remindingthe vision.
Uh Zig Ziggler said, um, werecommend motivation daily, just
like we do bathing.
Um, it's a good idea to keepdoing day after day.
Yeah.
And so uh, especially wearyvisionaries um who think they've
said it 20 times, well, youneed to say it 2,000 times more.
Caleb Agee (10:56):
Yes.
And then I think I think theother thing that's important is
as you make hard decisionsthroughout the course of your
business, while you're whileyou're doing things that make
the challenges that areuncomfortable, things that push
your organization to do more, todo different, um, these are the
things that make your employeeson the front lines
(11:18):
uncomfortable.
They have to, they're gonnahave their jobs got a little bit
harder because you made adecision that maybe they don't
seem like they like or theydon't feel like they like.
What you have to do is connectthat decision to the vision.
And if if you don't connectthat decision to the vision,
they will think you're justtrying to do more, bigger,
better, faster.
(11:38):
And that's not necessarily whatyou're trying to do.
What you are doing is you'resaying, hey, we are here today.
We are going over there.
Brandon Welch (11:45):
More work matters.
Caleb Agee (11:46):
Yeah, we are going over there.
And the thing I justimplemented, the thing we just
signed up to do, it leads us inthat direction.
And so won't you come with me?
Thank you so much for doingthis.
And that gravity drives them upthe hill so that they're not
stuck looking at their at theirhands, wondering why you just
dumped something in their lap.
Uh, you know, I just you justgave me a bunch of more stuff to
(12:08):
do, and I don't really know whyto do this.
You have to connect thosetangible small things to the big
gravitational thing.
Brandon Welch (12:16):
Yeah.
So practically, um, you mayhave read this in your Bible.
Yeah.
You may have read this.
Uh where there is no vision,the people will perish.
That's right.
Um, but practically, I thinkyou are rewriting your vision uh
to answer why does this matterto the world?
If we don't do this today, whosuffers?
Who misses out?
(12:37):
Um, what loss, uh, what whatloss to our calling did we have?
And it's like going to work ismore of a I just say this
because it count it could beweird, but it's almost more of a
spiritual calling.
What are we supposed to bedoing?
Why are we showing up here?
Even if we're making cardboardboxes or you know, taking out
the trash or whatever, if that'sour job, like what is that
(12:58):
enabling?
Who is that enabling to workbetter, harder, clearer to hit
their goal?
And I think you'll find thatwhen you are unified towards
making life better for um the weand not the me, um, that just
eliminates negativity becauseeverybody goes home with
purpose.
Yeah.
And and what a what a purposestarving world that we have um
(13:21):
going on in in a lot of a lot ofcorners of life, right?
Caleb Agee (13:24):
Yeah.
And that gravity, that largething that you're driving
toward, it can't be cheap.
It can't be um what it can't bethe corporate thing they expect
you to do.
Yeah.
It has to be big.
It has to be, it couldliterally be we dig ditches
because it helps the water runto the river and keeps people
(13:47):
from sliding off the roads.
Great.
Be the best ditch digger you'veever been.
You know, and you can connecteverything to a purpose that
supports um, yes, it makes yourorganization grow.
It you should be everyorganization with a strong
mission should be trying tofurther that mission as far as
it possibly can go.
Yeah, that is the reality ofit.
(14:07):
But uh it also helps the peoplethat work with you, the people
that work for you, and you needto point them to that at all
costs.
Brandon Welch (14:17):
Love the ditch digging example.
But take take somebody that'slike I don't know, maybe stuck
repairing forklifts or somethinglike that.
Something, somebody that's justit's a really tactical,
technical, maybe a dirty typejob.
It's like, okay, well, what isa forklift?
So I repair forklifts.
Well, you could say you'rekeeping America's supply chains
moving.
You could say that you arekeeping Amazon packages going,
(14:38):
you could say um by repairingthis forklift, you are allowing
dozens of companies, some thatmay be saving lives, some that
may be getting um people homefor the holidays.
I mean, you do you do anincredible amount of work just
by the the ripple effects ofyour nature.
And so look for those stories,read them back in your team
gatherings.
(14:59):
Um and and I'll warn you, like,if you just start doing this
out of the balloon, you've neverdone this before, people are
you're gonna get some crickets.
Yeah.
Like you're gonna have to,you're gonna have to you're
gonna be like, we did this, andthey're gonna be like, huh, what
are you smoking, right?
But yeah, but um stay afterthat.
Uh tell the stories about whatuh your vision and what the
(15:19):
purpose of the work contributedto.
And so uh lots and lots of datathat says that companies that
do that outperform the market umby a lot.
Companies with purpose um, Ithink perform on average 42%
better than uh companies thatdon't.
So um you want to be one ofthose ones with purpose.
So the last one, um, maybesomething you're you're already
(15:42):
good at, but we're gonna reframeit.
Um recruit and release.
Um the the math is this uhthere are there are 10% of
people that are gonna like youno matter what and they're going
to the moon with you.
There are 10% of people thatare gonna hate your guts no
matter what and they're gonnadetract from what you're trying
to do.
Uh 80% in the middle is up forgrabs, generally.
(16:03):
And so that's who we need towork on with the last two
tactics.
But those those top 10 is whowe're trying to recruit more
for.
And those bottom 10, we justneed to release them, man.
Caleb Agee (16:13):
Yeah.
Brandon Welch (16:14):
And uh, you're not doing yourself or them any
favors.
There's no illusion of grace oranything that's happening there
if you are letting somebodystick in a position that they
don't like.
And if they don't see yourvision after trying some of
these other things and it'sclear, it's like, hey, uh, let's
let's get you to a place whereyou ought to be, because it's
obviously not here, right?
Yeah.
(16:34):
Let's free up your future,right?
Yeah.
Promote you to a positionoutside this organization.
Caleb Agee (16:39):
You want to hire slow, fire fast.
And that's that's a tough thingto say because to be honest,
that's uh firing's probably thethe worst part of my job.
Yeah, no, you don't.
Um but it is, you know, it isso important, not just for you
(16:59):
know, for the organization, butit's important for the people
sitting next to them, and it'simportant for you um to be able
to make decisions um at relativespeed.
Give people chances, obviously,give them chances.
We're not trying to be cold oranything like that.
But um, if they're not boughtin, if they uh genuinely don't
have the capacity to do whatthey've been asked to do, you
(17:22):
are doing them a favor that'sright by letting them go.
Brandon Welch (17:25):
Yep.
And uh every gardener knowsthis.
You weed out, you you take outlife of the garden that isn't
serving the major crop.
Um every tree that is beautifulhas been pruned and and you
know, branches have been cutoff, and you have to do the same
thing because you cannotoutlead chronic negativity.
There's somebody who's justtrying to be miserable, they
(17:45):
will bring people down.
So MIT even did a study thatsaid that uh forty percent uh
drop in performance can happenjust because of one toxic
employee.
One toxic employee, 40% drop inteam performance.
Crazy.
We've had these moments overthe years where it's like you
finally let the person go, andthen it's like, oh my gosh, why
(18:07):
didn't we do that about you knoweight months ago?
And so you don't have to bemean.
Uh we're not talking aboutthat.
We're just talking about ifthey are supposed to be going to
the moon with you, you'll knowit, and you'll know it, and
they'll tell you if they're not,and so listen to them.
So um um, I think doing this onquarterly reviews uh is a
(18:27):
minimum of like just like areyou happy here?
Like, do you feel good aboutour mission?
Like, there's a number ofthings you could ask um of like,
are they s are they doing whatthe job position needs them to
do?
Um, and then are they happydoing that?
Is this their highest and bestpurpose?
I think that the more you havesome of these other two things
(18:48):
we talked about, which is strongvision and then a culture
winning, and you see them notparticipating in that, that's a
that's a start giveaway becauseum you know it just it's just
holding up the mirror uh moreoften for them.
And so um this does not have tobe you know passive aggressive
for months at a time to get outof here.
(19:08):
It's just like, hey, here'swhere we're going.
I'm looking at one, three, andfive years for your future.
Where do you want to be?
And let's just look and see ifthere's an intersection of our
mission and yours, and then justsay, I'm not sure that it is.
How do you feel about that?
And they'll usually be the oneto self-opt out.
So I mean give them a runway.
Uh we've done this lots oftimes.
We said your new full-time jobfor the next two months, which
means we're going to pay you, isto start looking for your next
(19:31):
job.
Caleb Agee (19:31):
Is to find a new full-time job.
Yeah.
Brandon Welch (19:33):
Yep.
And word of the wise, do goahead and put a date on that.
Be like, Yeah, by July 31st, weneed you to kind of be
scooting.
Yeah.
So um, so guys, that was it.
That was um create a culturewinning, have a strong vision,
release and recruit for theright people.
And uh, if that sounds simple,it's because it is.
(19:54):
Uh, but it's often the simplethings that we don't we don't
keep doing over and over again.
So follow the advice of ZigZiggler, do it at the speed of
and frequency of bathing.
Do it often.
Um, we want so bad for 2026 tobe the year of revive joy and
your business, um, of growth, ofconfident um vision, confident
(20:17):
mission, confident culture, andjust overall feel good in the in
the world of small business.
Like small businesses literallycan change America.
And it turns out that's whoit's gonna have to be.
Yeah.
Because the other guys aren'tdoing it.
The guys in Washington aren'tdoing it for us, right?
Yeah.
Caleb Agee (20:34):
It's gotta be.
It's gotta be small businessthat's going to change things.
Um, and uh I would encourageyou to make sure you look at
these things um and make sureit's distilled all the way down
through your company.
Uh it's it's really easy totalk, talk big at the top.
Um, you probably haveconversations with people
(20:54):
directly beside you, but makesure there is a mechanism that
causes that to come down even tothe person furthest away from
you.
And and this kind ofencouragement, this kind of
gravity, all of these thingshave to show up um on the
regular, or else you'll startslipping.
You'll see, you'll see it fall,you'll see the negativity come.
Brandon Welch (21:16):
And um if you aren't pulling them up, they're
gonna go down.
That's right.
So go and pull them up.
Let's do it.
We'll be back here every Mondaydoing our best to pull you up
and answering real lifemarketing questions because
marketers who cannot teach youwhy are just a fancy lie.
Have a great week.
And I think you'll find that when you are
unified towards making lifebetter for the we and not the
me, that just eliminatesnegativity because everybody
goes home with purpose.
Welcome to the Maven MarketingPodcast.
Today is Maven Monday.
I am your host, Brandon Welch,and I'm here with who the heck
(00:21):
are you?
AG.
Caleb Agee (00:24):
You didn't give me my first name.
What is your first name?
I don't even know.
Brandon Welch (00:28):
Haven't seen you around here in a while.
Caleb Agee (00:31):
I'm happy to be here.
Um Welcome back.
Thank you.
Brandon Welch (00:35):
Welcome back.
He's back, folks.
I'm back.
Mr.
Salib Aji.
We had a client one time whocalled and he said, Yeah, I'll
get with Salib on that.
And I was like, Who's Salib?
It took me three or four times,and I was like, Caleb?
And this guy was like, not fromaround here.
Yeah.
And so I think he worked with alot of folks in a different
(00:55):
part of the world that wereSalib.
And I was like, no, Caleb.
I was like, you know, from theBible.
He goes, Oh, I don't knowanything.
I don't know anything about thefact.
Caleb Agee (01:02):
Well, I mean, I guess uh it works, but how about
Isaac?
He's also in the Bible.
He's also fun fact, all threeof my names are in the Bible.
Brandon Welch (01:11):
Yes, they are.
Caleb Agee (01:12):
Age's in there too.
Is it really?
Oh yeah.
Brandon Welch (01:15):
Well, you were AG ing well.
Tell us what you did when youwere gone.
Caleb Agee (01:18):
Hey, um, I did a whole lot of nothing.
No, um, I just took asabbatical in case this is your
first episode and you're like,what are these guys talking
about?
I've been out for four weeks.
Uh I'm not sure how manypodcasts weeks that was, but I
think it was about four.
And um focused on inputs.
So, not output, inputs, whichis I try to every day just do
(01:41):
the five things that I eat alot, yeah, focus on input, just
just uh consume everything Ican.
No, um, just the things thatmake me the best Caleb, and
that's uh really what I try todo.
So uh for me that was readingmy Bible, quiet time, uh reading
something else, exercise, andwriting.
And beautiful.
(02:02):
That's you get the best Calebwhen Caleb does all five of
those things.
Brandon Welch (02:05):
You have really good complexion about you when
you came back.
I don't know.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, you did you did chop yourbeard off though.
Uh I think four weeks ofholding the razor really far
away from you.
Caleb Agee (02:12):
It was it was getting a little wide on my face
here.
Brandon Welch (02:15):
Well, hey, speaking of uh of joy, today's
episode is about restoring joyto your business.
Now, before you uh exit and saythis one's another kumbaya, um,
I just want you to know that ifyou are one of the CEOs who are
going, man, we have gonethrough a lot of stuff in our
business the last five years.
(02:36):
We've gone through like havingto readjust to this um I don't
want to say an entitledmentality, but but what a lot of
CEOs have observed as anentitled mentality or you know,
people wanting more from you andculture changing and the
expectations of you know remotework.
And there's just there's justbeen a about a three, four, five
year hangover for a lot ofcompanies.
(02:57):
And I hear a lot of CEOstalking about it, like when are
we finally going to get back towork and maybe having fun and
having some like having someappreciation in our business?
And I think what's happenedduring this time where we all,
every CEO, myself included, wehad to just observe what was
becoming culturally acceptablefrom employees, uh, just their
(03:18):
relationship with work.
And so if you found yourself inthis place of like, I would
like work to be fun and we'regonna use the word joyful, and
I'd like to eliminate somenegativity that may be existing
on your team.
Uh Caleb and I have walkedthrough that.
We have walked to many otherleaders and companies through
that.
And we have three justget-to-work type uh
(03:39):
prescriptions for you today.
Yeah, it's three, yeah, threesections.
Caleb Agee (03:43):
Before you run away and you say, Well, I'm a
solopreneur, I manage onlymyself.
I would say these apply to you.
This is how to lead people andyourself well, and that person
inside your head that that talksmaybe with negative words.
Um and then also if you'reinside of a company, I think
there are aspects of this thatyou could aspire to and you
(04:04):
could realize change yourself.
Yeah, you could changeyourself, you could change it
from the inside, and you couldlook at this is a real thing
that um company leaders aredealing with, and you can be a
leader from where you are by onesetting setting strong values,
but then also um you canacknowledge what your leader's
going through and have empathyand just and see it.
(04:25):
So let's get into it.
Brandon Welch (04:26):
Yeah.
So the the number one thingthat will re like just remove
this negativity and move you inthe direction that I think we
all want to go is to create aculture of winning.
Uh, a couple weeks ago I did anepisode that's like, hey, go
build your people up.
And it's not like um, we're nottalking about throwing pizza
parties or celebrating vanitymetrics uh or participation
(04:49):
trophies or anything like that.
Um, but there are things thatare going well.
And sometimes the thenegativity in an environment,
uh, when you've got an elephantsitting on the chest of the US
economy and politics, um youforget that even though there's
less, maybe uh maybe it's lesseasy to breathe, there is still
oxygen.
Yeah.
And looking for those momentsto celebrate winning.
(05:11):
And I'm gonna tell you somelike tangible things and then
also some some like statisticalthings.
This doesn't you don't have tobe like this cheerleader of a
boss all the time.
Um, but if you bake in somesort of a ritual where you are
acknowledging what is working,um you get more of that thing.
Yeah, you tend to get more ofthat thing.
Caleb Agee (05:32):
Of what you celebrate.
And I think what happens a lotis um actually it's been proven
scientifically, you cannot havegratitude and and negativity at
the same time.
It's a one-way, it's a one-waychannel.
Brandon Welch (05:48):
It's within minutes when neuroscientists
study it.
Like literally, when somebodypractices a few minutes of
gratitude, the amount ofcortisol and the amount of
negativity just fades inside ofa person's brain.
Caleb Agee (06:00):
So that that is a a one-way antenna that cannot be
changed.
And so when you allow yourself,when you allow your team to
celebrate, to acknowledge whatis good, um, there is something
good.
You can always find somethinggood.
Uh it's a it is a negativeattitude.
If you think there's nothinggood in your organization, you
will you have to find that foryourself first, but then
(06:21):
celebrate that and share it witheverybody and then invite them
in along with that and and makea culture of gratitude and
winning.
Brandon Welch (06:29):
Yeah.
Uh Willie Nelson said, when Istarted counting my blessings,
my whole life turned around.
When I started counting myblessings.
Um, Gallup studied thisrecently, 2023, and they found
that teams who regularlyrecognize each other experience
31% lower turnover and 12 timesmore engagement.
How would you like your team tobe 12 times more engaged?
Caleb Agee (06:51):
Yeah.
Work human research said 69% ofemployees say they'd work
harder if they felt moreappreciated.
Brandon Welch (06:57):
They would work harder.
You want your folks to workharder?
Turns out there's a there's uhthere's a hack for that.
It's called appreciating.
Caleb Agee (07:03):
It's called appreciating it.
Brandon Welch (07:04):
Yeah, and then Harvard study said small wins,
which that's what we're talkingabout here, small wins.
It's not like you can be downfor the quarter, you can be down
for the year, you can be in themuck and you can still find
small wins.
The Harvard study found thatsmall wins are the number one
daily motivator of employeeperformance, beating money and
praise.
Just small wins, justacknowledging small wins around.
(07:26):
So um I love what Tony Robbinssays energy flows where
attention goes, just give moreattention to what's going well.
Yeah.
And so some practical ways todo this.
Uh a stand-up meeting on aMonday morning, say an
acknowledging three wins fromyour team for the last week.
Caleb Agee (07:42):
Yep.
Brandon Welch (07:43):
Uh a group text.
Um, if you're a big, bigcompany, you can't do this with
all, you know, dozens orhundreds of employees, but you
can have your supervisors oryour, you know, your colonels
down the ranks each have theirown five, ten, to fifteen
people, and you're going, you'recelebrating within those little
pods, right?
Yeah.
Um, a traveling trophy or abell or a or something that you
(08:05):
hand out, like a like an uglymoss ball.
Caleb Agee (08:08):
Yeah.
That's what we do.
Brandon Welch (08:09):
That's what we use.
Uh just to say, hey, Nate didawesome last week.
Like just these tiny littlerituals, emails or text or
gathering and saying, uh, here'swhere I saw wins, and then
prompt everybody else to soundoff.
That is going to create aculture of winning, and that
fires dopamine hits thateverybody wants to keep getting
because we we get addicted tothat feeling.
Caleb Agee (08:29):
Yeah.
And so just practically whatthis looks like, even for us,
how we how we pull this off.
Um, those wins look likecelebrating what our clients are
doing.
So we saw so-and-so um for us,it's ad campaigns.
It's um that they grew.
It's it's something went offreally well.
Cost per leads, or maybe we hada great shoot.
(08:50):
We recorded something that wasbeautiful.
Brandon Welch (08:53):
Or this week it was uh three of our clients hit
their annual revenue goals inOctober.
Yes.
They hit them, like they'redone for the year.
They're they're all two monthsof gravy.
Caleb Agee (09:02):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah, um, that's what that'swhat November is for.
That is what November is for.
Uh yeah, Thanksgiving.
Okay, just making sure you gotthat.
But hey, the these things arevery much they do have to be
tangible.
They have to be tangible, andthen the other thing, very often
it's celebrating each other.
So our team is on a team, andso it'll be like, hey, I saw
Brandon do this this week, I sawNate do this this week.
(09:25):
And and those kinds of thingsalso help everybody feel
appreciated from within theirown teams and and noticed and
seen.
Brandon Welch (09:34):
And so um you want more of that, trust me.
And if you do that, it turnsout that that energy is flowing
upward and it's it's going tojust let a lot of the negativity
starve and suffocate.
You may have things wrong, youmay you you may you may be
headed for an unprofitable year,but if you aren't the one
leading winning, you're gonnaget more losing, and nobody
(09:54):
wants that.
So that's number one.
Build a culture of winning.
Number two is build a visionthat has gravity.
So, not unlike uh positive, youknow, reinforcement, uh, a
vision where we're going.
If the news is we're goinghere, and here's our progress to
getting here, and here's whatwe want it to look like, and
(10:15):
here is the world we'recreating, vision, those things,
things that are bigger than you,or things that are bigger than
even a group of people havegravity and people are attracted
to that.
Yes.
If you do not pull them up,they will get pulled down, and
that is your fault as theleader.
And so we want uh we want to beas leaders building building a
vision, like sharing a vision,keeping a vision alive, um,
(10:38):
restoking the vision, remindingthe vision.
Uh Zig Ziggler said, um, werecommend motivation daily, just
like we do bathing.
Um, it's a good idea to keepdoing day after day.
Yeah.
And so uh, especially wearyvisionaries um who think they've
said it 20 times, well, youneed to say it 2,000 times more.
Caleb Agee (10:56):
Yes.
And then I think I think theother thing that's important is
as you make hard decisionsthroughout the course of your
business, while you're whileyou're doing things that make
the challenges that areuncomfortable, things that push
your organization to do more, todo different, um, these are the
things that make your employeeson the front lines
(11:18):
uncomfortable.
They have to, they're gonnahave their jobs got a little bit
harder because you made adecision that maybe they don't
seem like they like or theydon't feel like they like.
What you have to do is connectthat decision to the vision.
And if if you don't connectthat decision to the vision,
they will think you're justtrying to do more, bigger,
better, faster.
(11:38):
And that's not necessarily whatyou're trying to do.
What you are doing is you'resaying, hey, we are here today.
We are going over there.
Brandon Welch (11:45):
More work matters.
Caleb Agee (11:46):
Yeah, we are going over there.
And the thing I justimplemented, the thing we just
signed up to do, it leads us inthat direction.
And so won't you come with me?
Thank you so much for doingthis.
And that gravity drives them upthe hill so that they're not
stuck looking at their at theirhands, wondering why you just
dumped something in their lap.
Uh, you know, I just you justgave me a bunch of more stuff to
(12:08):
do, and I don't really know whyto do this.
You have to connect thosetangible small things to the big
gravitational thing.
Brandon Welch (12:16):
Yeah.
So practically, um, you mayhave read this in your Bible.
Yeah.
You may have read this.
Uh where there is no vision,the people will perish.
That's right.
Um, but practically, I thinkyou are rewriting your vision uh
to answer why does this matterto the world?
If we don't do this today, whosuffers?
Who misses out?
(12:37):
Um, what loss, uh, what whatloss to our calling did we have?
And it's like going to work ismore of a I just say this
because it count it could beweird, but it's almost more of a
spiritual calling.
What are we supposed to bedoing?
Why are we showing up here?
Even if we're making cardboardboxes or you know, taking out
the trash or whatever, if that'sour job, like what is that
(12:58):
enabling?
Who is that enabling to workbetter, harder, clearer to hit
their goal?
And I think you'll find thatwhen you are unified towards
making life better for um the weand not the me, um, that just
eliminates negativity becauseeverybody goes home with
purpose.
Yeah.
And and what a what a purposestarving world that we have um
(13:21):
going on in in a lot of a lot ofcorners of life, right?
Caleb Agee (13:24):
Yeah.
And that gravity, that largething that you're driving
toward, it can't be cheap.
It can't be um what it can't bethe corporate thing they expect
you to do.
Yeah.
It has to be big.
It has to be, it couldliterally be we dig ditches
because it helps the water runto the river and keeps people
(13:47):
from sliding off the roads.
Great.
Be the best ditch digger you'veever been.
You know, and you can connecteverything to a purpose that
supports um, yes, it makes yourorganization grow.
It you should be everyorganization with a strong
mission should be trying tofurther that mission as far as
it possibly can go.
Yeah, that is the reality ofit.
(14:07):
But uh it also helps the peoplethat work with you, the people
that work for you, and you needto point them to that at all
costs.
Brandon Welch (14:17):
Love the ditch digging example.
But take take somebody that'slike I don't know, maybe stuck
repairing forklifts or somethinglike that.
Something, somebody that's justit's a really tactical,
technical, maybe a dirty typejob.
It's like, okay, well, what isa forklift?
So I repair forklifts.
Well, you could say you'rekeeping America's supply chains
moving.
You could say that you arekeeping Amazon packages going,
(14:38):
you could say um by repairingthis forklift, you are allowing
dozens of companies, some thatmay be saving lives, some that
may be getting um people homefor the holidays.
I mean, you do you do anincredible amount of work just
by the the ripple effects ofyour nature.
And so look for those stories,read them back in your team
gatherings.
(14:59):
Um and and I'll warn you, like,if you just start doing this
out of the balloon, you've neverdone this before, people are
you're gonna get some crickets.
Yeah.
Like you're gonna have to,you're gonna have to you're
gonna be like, we did this, andthey're gonna be like, huh, what
are you smoking, right?
But yeah, but um stay afterthat.
Uh tell the stories about whatuh your vision and what the
(15:19):
purpose of the work contributedto.
And so uh lots and lots of datathat says that companies that
do that outperform the market umby a lot.
Companies with purpose um, Ithink perform on average 42%
better than uh companies thatdon't.
So um you want to be one ofthose ones with purpose.
So the last one, um, maybesomething you're you're already
(15:42):
good at, but we're gonna reframeit.
Um recruit and release.
Um the the math is this uhthere are there are 10% of
people that are gonna like youno matter what and they're going
to the moon with you.
There are 10% of people thatare gonna hate your guts no
matter what and they're gonnadetract from what you're trying
to do.
Uh 80% in the middle is up forgrabs, generally.
(16:03):
And so that's who we need towork on with the last two
tactics.
But those those top 10 is whowe're trying to recruit more
for.
And those bottom 10, we justneed to release them, man.
Caleb Agee (16:13):
Yeah.
Brandon Welch (16:14):
And uh, you're not doing yourself or them any
favors.
There's no illusion of grace oranything that's happening there
if you are letting somebodystick in a position that they
don't like.
And if they don't see yourvision after trying some of
these other things and it'sclear, it's like, hey, uh, let's
let's get you to a place whereyou ought to be, because it's
obviously not here, right?
Yeah.
(16:34):
Let's free up your future,right?
Yeah.
Promote you to a positionoutside this organization.
Caleb Agee (16:39):
You want to hire slow, fire fast.
And that's that's a tough thingto say because to be honest,
that's uh firing's probably thethe worst part of my job.
Yeah, no, you don't.
Um but it is, you know, it isso important, not just for you
(16:59):
know, for the organization, butit's important for the people
sitting next to them, and it'simportant for you um to be able
to make decisions um at relativespeed.
Give people chances, obviously,give them chances.
We're not trying to be cold oranything like that.
But um, if they're not boughtin, if they uh genuinely don't
have the capacity to do whatthey've been asked to do, you
(17:22):
are doing them a favor that'sright by letting them go.
Brandon Welch (17:25):
Yep.
And uh every gardener knowsthis.
You weed out, you you take outlife of the garden that isn't
serving the major crop.
Um every tree that is beautifulhas been pruned and and you
know, branches have been cutoff, and you have to do the same
thing because you cannotoutlead chronic negativity.
There's somebody who's justtrying to be miserable, they
(17:45):
will bring people down.
So MIT even did a study thatsaid that uh forty percent uh
drop in performance can happenjust because of one toxic
employee.
One toxic employee, 40% drop inteam performance.
Crazy.
We've had these moments overthe years where it's like you
finally let the person go, andthen it's like, oh my gosh, why
(18:07):
didn't we do that about you knoweight months ago?
And so you don't have to bemean.
Uh we're not talking aboutthat.
We're just talking about ifthey are supposed to be going to
the moon with you, you'll knowit, and you'll know it, and
they'll tell you if they're not,and so listen to them.
So um um, I think doing this onquarterly reviews uh is a
(18:27):
minimum of like just like areyou happy here?
Like, do you feel good aboutour mission?
Like, there's a number ofthings you could ask um of like,
are they s are they doing whatthe job position needs them to
do?
Um, and then are they happydoing that?
Is this their highest and bestpurpose?
I think that the more you havesome of these other two things
(18:48):
we talked about, which is strongvision and then a culture
winning, and you see them notparticipating in that, that's a
that's a start giveaway becauseum you know it just it's just
holding up the mirror uh moreoften for them.
And so um this does not have tobe you know passive aggressive
for months at a time to get outof here.
(19:08):
It's just like, hey, here'swhere we're going.
I'm looking at one, three, andfive years for your future.
Where do you want to be?
And let's just look and see ifthere's an intersection of our
mission and yours, and then justsay, I'm not sure that it is.
How do you feel about that?
And they'll usually be the oneto self-opt out.
So I mean give them a runway.
Uh we've done this lots oftimes.
We said your new full-time jobfor the next two months, which
means we're going to pay you, isto start looking for your next
(19:31):
job.
Caleb Agee (19:31):
Is to find a new full-time job.
Yeah.
Brandon Welch (19:33):
Yep.
And word of the wise, do goahead and put a date on that.
Be like, Yeah, by July 31st, weneed you to kind of be
scooting.
Yeah.
So um, so guys, that was it.
That was um create a culturewinning, have a strong vision,
release and recruit for theright people.
And uh, if that sounds simple,it's because it is.
(19:54):
Uh, but it's often the simplethings that we don't we don't
keep doing over and over again.
So follow the advice of ZigZiggler, do it at the speed of
and frequency of bathing.
Do it often.
Um, we want so bad for 2026 tobe the year of revive joy and
your business, um, of growth, ofconfident um vision, confident
(20:17):
mission, confident culture, andjust overall feel good in the in
the world of small business.
Like small businesses literallycan change America.
And it turns out that's whoit's gonna have to be.
Yeah.
Because the other guys aren'tdoing it.
The guys in Washington aren'tdoing it for us, right?
Yeah.
Caleb Agee (20:34):
It's gotta be.
It's gotta be small businessthat's going to change things.
Um, and uh I would encourageyou to make sure you look at
these things um and make sureit's distilled all the way down
through your company.
Uh it's it's really easy totalk, talk big at the top.
Um, you probably haveconversations with people
(20:54):
directly beside you, but makesure there is a mechanism that
causes that to come down even tothe person furthest away from
you.
And and this kind ofencouragement, this kind of
gravity, all of these thingshave to show up um on the
regular, or else you'll startslipping.
You'll see, you'll see it fall,you'll see the negativity come.
Brandon Welch (21:16):
And um if you aren't pulling them up, they're
gonna go down.
That's right.
So go and pull them up.
Let's do it.
We'll be back here every Mondaydoing our best to pull you up
and answering real lifemarketing questions because
marketers who cannot teach youwhy are just a fancy lie.
Have a great week.
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