Unlock the secrets to supercharging your painting business with the insightful guidance from Austin Houser of Basecoat Marketing, who graces our podcast with his expertise on business coaching. Explore the transformative potential of a coach who can streamline your operations, elevate your sales, and hone your leadership abilities. Just like Michael Jordan needed a coach to become a basketball legend, your business stands to benefit immensely from a coach's wisdom. We dissect the critical timing of decisions like hiring a CFO and share personal experiences to illustrate that the road to success is laden with challenges, irrespective of your starting point or financial prowess.
Embrace the journey of entrepreneurship as we venture into the essence of coaching that transcends basic business advice. Learn why even the wealthiest individuals seek guidance to navigate their challenges and how coaching can anchor your accountability while providing a fresh, external perspective on your business. We don't just stop at the professional side; we delve into the power of self-care, the significance of morning routines, and the magic that unfolds when you intertwine these practices into your company culture. Discover how a balanced approach to personal and professional life fosters growth, improves leadership, and positively influences team dynamics.
Finally, we chart the course for selecting the ideal business coach tailored to the varying stages of a painting business's growth. From grasping the basics to seeking out specialized knowledge, witness the progression from group coaching to the need for niche advisors who tackle unique challenges. I share the importance of mutual benefit in a coaching relationship, and with a nod to the resources available at Basecoat Marketing, we underscore the role of strategic marketing partnerships in propelling your business to new heights. Join us for a comprehensive guide that promises to be a treasure trove for painting business owners on their quest for success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Profitable Painter Podcast.
The mission of this podcast issimple to help you navigate the
financial and tax aspects ofstarting, running and scaling a
professional painting business,from the brushes and ladders to
the spreadsheets and balancesheets.
We've got you covered.
But before we dive in, a quickword of caution While we strive
to provide accurate andup-to-date financial and tax
(00:20):
information, nothing you hear onthis podcast should be
considered as financial advicespecifically for you or your
business.
We're here to share generalknowledge and experiences, not
to replace the tailored adviceyou get from a professional
financial advisor or taxconsultant.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We strongly recommend you seeking individualized
advice before making anysignificant financial decision?
This is Daniel, the founder ofBookkeeping for Painters, and
today I'm here with AustinHauser for the second time, and
Austin Hauser is husband, father, business owner and he's also
the head digital marketer overat Basecoat Marketing and I'm
super happy to have him heretoday to discuss the importance
(01:02):
of business coaching.
How's it going, austin?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's going well.
Thanks for having me backcoaching.
How's it going, austin?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It's going well.
Thanks for having me back, man.
It's always a good time to chat, absolutely, and today's topic
is a good one, and I think a lotof people go a long time
without kind of realizing howimportant coaching can be In
your experience.
What are some of the mostcommon challenges painting
business owners face thatbusiness coaching can help
address?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I mean, I think the shorter answer might be what is
something that a business coachcouldn't help you with?
So business coaching, I mean,look, we look at any
professional athlete, they'rehiring a coach.
Even Michael Jordan had a coach.
You know, and I think a lot ofguys get lost on is the fact
that, yes, you can take the hardroute, the route that everybody
(01:53):
else takes, which is hittingevery single speed bump and
roadblock along the way and, assome people say, you pay the
dumb tax by doing that.
Or you can take a shortcut andinstead hire people that have
already walked that path.
Yes, you're going to pay fortheir expertise and their time,
but on the other side of that isa path that makes you
(02:15):
streamline your business, youroperations, your sales and,
ultimately, your leadership aswell, and it gets you a shortcut
right.
I think in business and in life, we all love a little shortcut
from time to time.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Did you see the Last Dance?
The Netflix special on MichaelJordan.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, so good right.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, it was funny because you brought that up and
one of the parts in thedocumentary was the folks that
have coached Michael Jordan.
That was one of the things theysaid was like he was fanatical
about getting coached and andlike really listening and
implementing whatever he wastaught by a coach.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So there's a little catchphrase I like to use
Execution is greater thanknowledge.
You can know to do something,but not do what you know.
And I think that's really wherecoaching is kind of a two-sided
coin.
You need to learn and then youneed to implement.
And if you don't have the timeto implement, it's going to be
hard to learn or you're notgoing to find the value in that.
(03:17):
But watching that documentary,I can relate to that in only one
way, and that is the fact thatI hire business coaches for
multiple aspects of my personaland professional life.
So does everybody elseoperating at a high level One
coach?
You're not going to findsomebody to have all the answers
.
In fact, it's, in my opinion,beneficial to find coaches with
(03:38):
opposite answers.
I'm very much a person thatabides by the law of averages,
so if you hear enough thingsfrom enough people or you get
enough perspectives, there'sprobably a hint of truth and a
path for you in there somewhere.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, that's.
That's interesting, so gettingactual differing perspectives
from you.
Know different coaches, so youcan kind of, I guess, let that
marinate in your head and andfigure out what, what, what
works best, cause there'sprobably multiple.
You know things that will workin a business.
You know there's differentstrategies and all of them might
(04:16):
work.
It's just like which one fitsyour business and which one fits
your personality maybe.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So I'm going to give you an example that you can
relate to, because I had this isactually just came up recently
I had one business coach tell methe first role in business is
to get to a point where you canhire a CFO or a fractional CFO
as soon as possible, like thatis your zero to 60 plan.
My other business coach saidthat in no world do I need a CFO
(04:41):
or a fractional CFO for atleast until you get to about the
nine figure mark.
So those would be verydiffering opinions, right, and
one might be right, one might bewrong, or they might just have
two different perspectives.
But in your case let's talkabout you, because I understand
that you do offer CFO servicesfrom a fractional standpoint.
What is your opinion on that?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I think it depends on the acumen of the business
owner.
Like if you know accounting andyou know your numbers and you
understand when you look at aprofit and loss or balance sheet
or statement cash flows, youunderstand what's going on
probably could go a whilewithout a CFO.
If you don't know thosestatements that I just mentioned
or how they connect andinteract, then you probably need
(05:27):
some more help at an earlierpoint.
And that's what we see whensomeone asks me like hey, should
I sign up for the top packagewith a CFO?
That's basically my question tothem Like well, do you
understand looking through yourreports, do you understand what
it means and what you should doif you see your gross profit off
(05:47):
or if your cash flow is weak onyour statement of cash flows?
So yeah, I think it's justdependent on the business owner.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yep, so right there, it's a gray area, right, but
most business coaches love to beright because they are coaching
you, so they need to have theanswers they feel like they need
to.
A good coach will ask youquestions.
In my opinion, a coach that maynot be the best fit is the one
that's going to be able to tellyou the path and the right path
that you need to take.
I almost treat a coach like atherapist in a way, where you
(06:16):
got a coach that you know isgoing to talk to you about
finance.
You got one that's going tomaybe talk to you about
leadership, a life coach toreally keep you in line, whether
that's physically, mentally,both.
But I do find value in havingwe have an operations coach.
In fact, I have a coach foreverybody on our leadership team
.
So my operations director as acoach, marketing director of
(06:37):
several consultants, and aconsultant and a coach.
I think they're all more orless interchangeable, but, yeah,
what's your experience withcoaching on your side?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I, I have a coach as well and I don't have
multiple coaches.
This is, this is new to me.
I, you've just opened my mind,um, I just have one.
So but, uh, yeah, like you said, it's not like I'm going to you
kind of get an outsideperspective.
You kind of know, you don't knowwhat, you don't know, kind of
(07:10):
thing, where I want to mistakeavoidance, I don't want to make
the same mistakes that maybehe's made because he's, he's a
level ahead of me and so I'mtrying to get to his level, and
so it's just like things Ididn't think about before.
Uh, I'm able to, oh, I shoulddo that and, uh, avoid.
You know, just recently there'sa thing about cyber security
(07:31):
that he pointed out and I waslike, okay, yeah, we probably
should dig into that and makesure we're tied up there,
because something that he hadseen, um, and dealt with.
So it's just like, I think,mistake avoidance and then just
getting an outside perspectiveon.
You know, you might not changethe way you're doing things, but
getting that outsideperspective and seeing how other
(07:53):
folks have done it in yourindustry is really helpful.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Mistake avoidance.
I love that, that analogy, andthat's really what you're doing
is just trying to avoid mistakes.
You know, again, you can, youcan blaze your own path, but
it's going to be painful andit's going to be hard and it's
going to be long.
But a business coach issomebody that should be there to
ask you questions and adviseyou.
They're an advisor, consultantagain, whatever you want to call
(08:17):
them.
I find the best businesscoaches.
I think that there's kind of amultitude of different types of
coaches.
I like the ones that areindustry specific.
So we do have coaches that arespecific to the marketing world.
Right, they know the industry,they know what a business is,
value a business valuations,that they know how to structure
(08:37):
a marketing agency.
But at some point you're goingto outgrow an industry specific
coach.
Right, they've gotten you to acertain point and you might be
going to the next level orlooking to be more diversified
or just take your business tothat next level.
And that's where I find a moregeneralist coach comes into play
.
So that's where more of anadvisor who's already, let's say
(09:01):
, scaled to a nine or even10-figure company, who's already
, let's say, scaled to a nine oreven 10 figure company.
Those are the people that aregoing to understand your small
little problems that you'd liketo focus your time on.
They're going to tell you tostop it and they're going to
tell you what to focus oninstead.
You know, I always look atpeople that can run these
multiple successful.
You know.
Let's say a hundred milliondollar companies, and they do it
(09:22):
in their sleep.
They make it look easy.
Let's say $100 millioncompanies, and they do it in
their sleep.
They make it look easy and youwonder how.
And you talk to them.
And it's that power ofproximity.
If you put yourself in a roomand you're the dumbest person in
that room, you're probablysitting in the right room.
I'd never want to be thesmartest guy in the room because
I'm in the wrong room.
At that point, I can providevalue, which I love doing, but I
also like putting myself in aposition where I can learn and
(09:45):
grow, and the only way to dothat, in my opinion, is to
surround yourself with peoplewho are more successful or who
already understand what you'reafter and how to get there.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's crazy.
You made me think of Elon Musk.
I just read his biography byWalter Isaacson.
It's the one that just came outa few months ago and Elon Musk
is running $6 billion companiesor something ridiculous.
Obviously he's smart, butthere's only so much time in the
(10:19):
day, so he's constrained to thelaws of physics in that way
where he has to put people incharge of things that execute
and figure out the details onthat, and he just manages that
team that report to him directly.
So you know, it's just funny.
Like going to a coach andyou're like you're worried about
(10:42):
categorizing something in yourbookkeeping software or you know
trying to run a Facebook ad andyour coach is like, what are
you doing?
You get somebody for that.
You need to focus on the higherlevel activities, growing your
business.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Focus on the higher level activities growing your
business yeah, and you know it'sgoing back to that idea of
proximity is power.
I was at a Tony Robbins event.
I went out to Whistler earlierin February it was a finance
event, ironically and I was in aroom I would consider full of
the one percenters here in theUnited States, where these
(11:17):
people have private jets, theyown islands.
I mean, these people are verysuccessful and sitting in that
room I was, um, I was staying atan Airbnb with a guy whose net
worth is like 125 million, andit's funny because they have the
same limiting beliefs concernsproblems as we do.
They just have them at adifferent level.
So when we're looking at, let'ssay, growing a business and how
(11:39):
to get from point A to point B,most people fail because they
focus on the small problems.
They're not looking at thebigger picture and that's where
the people who succeed who thesepeople?
You know there's some very, inmy opinion, some unintelligent
people out there who are runningvery successful companies and
it's only because they know whatto focus on, they know what the
big levers and the big buttonsare to push and pull, whereas
(12:03):
everybody else likes to focus onthe small problems because they
feel like they're making animpact when in reality, they're
just wasting their time.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, I get.
I'm guilty of that all the timeLike I'll get.
It's like you get a littledopamine hit when you solve
those little problems you'relike oh yeah, I'm, I'm busy, I'm
getting stuff done, I'm, youknow just.
but then you reflect after theday like what did I?
What did I do today?
I just like answered someemails and did some stuff I
(12:33):
could have delegated.
You know, it's just like I justwasted a whole day of just busy
work when I could have been,you know, working on my business
instead of in the business, andso that's one that I really
struggle with.
And so I think a coach having acoach kind of remind you, it's
holding you accountable, butalso holding you accountable and
(12:56):
being exposed to someone thatyou know thinks differently at a
different at a higher levelthan than what you might be or
what I might be.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, look, staying busy is, in my opinion, one of
the worst things as anentrepreneur that you can ever
fall into.
It's not about being busy, it'sabout implementing your time in
the most effective way possible.
Having a coach is somebody whoshould also be.
Let's say, reviewing your time,blocks, your calendar, what
does your schedule look like?
One of my first coaches that Iever picked up he's a very good
(13:29):
friend of mine.
His name is Chris Martinez.
He always says I give him toomuch credit, but the guy's
awesome.
I picked him up as a businesscoach, business consultant, and
he actually turned into more ofa life coach for me.
He kind of restructured myentire morning routine and it
changed the way I run my company, manage people, because, at the
end of the day, if you're notfocusing on yourself first
(13:50):
whether that's your mind, yourbody, your relationships the
business is going to fail.
And I think a lot of people loveto get up first thing in the
morning, open up their email ontheir phone and start solving
problems.
Right, we're all problemsolvers as business owners.
But what that does is it'sgoing to start draining you, you
know it's.
I like to look at thestandpoint of like you're a
battery, you have a finiteamount of energy and you start
(14:13):
to drain that there's not goingto be left, much left in the
tank at the end of the day.
And if you continually do that,where you're not recharging
yourself, you're not expandingthe capacity of that battery,
you're eventually going to drain, burnout or you're just going
to plateau, which is, in myopinion, even worse, because a
lot of people plateau at acertain point and they're like
I'm satisfied, I'm content here.
(14:34):
But a coach to your point isalmost like an accountability
partner.
They're going to be doing thosecheck-ins with you, whether
that's every other week.
I, in my opinion, you should bemeeting at the very least once
a month.
But I like having variouscoaches that I meet, you know,
at least once a week, once everyother week, as a way to check
in and make sure we're moving inthe right direction and when
we're not, we can identify whyand what the plan is and how
(14:56):
long it's going to take toimplement and who's going to do
it.
But it's that accountabilitypartner who can actually look at
that from a high level, from anoutsider perspective, because
that's the other thing.
I feel like a lot of peoplelook at their business and
they're in the trenches rightand there's guns going off,
everything's blowing up,everything's on fire, and it's
hard to get that outsiderperspective if you don't have
somebody who already knows youhow you operate in your business
(15:18):
.
I think that's where you getsomebody in place before you
need them.
It's going to make life so mucheasier, for whenever you do,
yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
When I first got a coach, it seemed like the first
several meetings was just mejust telling them about getting
them up to speed and for a whileI was like man, is this even
worth it?
I just feel like I'm giving himall the context for all the
things that are happening butnot really getting anything back
in terms of good ideas oranything.
(15:48):
I'm sure that happened, but itwasn't really impactful.
But there was a kind of anonboarding period where the
business coach was getting thecontext of where we were and all
this stuff, and then that'swhere the value started coming
in a little bit later, after acouple of meetings.
(16:09):
So that's something that Ididn't think of going into a
coaching relationship was thatthey're going to not necessarily
be able to provide a wholebunch of value right away,
because they might not know yourbusiness well enough to do that
.
They might need to kind of talkwith you a while, understand
(16:30):
how your business works, allthat stuff.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, no, it's like I said, it's like a therapist
they're going to go in, they'regoing to listen to you talk,
they're going to hear yourproblems and then they're going
to start asking questions.
And again, a good coach.
That's how they should operateand I want to define there is
differences between an advisoror consultant and a lot of these
coaching programs out there.
So this is an importantdistinction.
(16:54):
I think a lot of people jump onboard to a group coaching
session and there is value inthose.
I do not want to make sure Iwant to make sure I'm not
understating like there's valuein the group coaching.
Where you're going to get themost of your value is with
one-on-one consulting oradvisory.
So, for instance, your coach helistened to you talk and then
(17:15):
eventually started providingsome input and value that you
can take action on.
He can't do that day onebecause he doesn't know your
business.
Group coaching.
You're not going to get thatlevel of granularity.
It's going to be more about howquickly can you implement what
they've already discovered worksfor most people but it might
not work for you.
Or again, it's one perspective.
So when you get to the pointwhere, honestly, there's no
(17:37):
wrong time to hire a businesscoach.
I think once you have cash flowcoming in, you need to hire
somebody, and again, I preferstarting with an industry expert
and then branching out into themore specialty type of roles or
a more global type of businessconsultant that can take you to
that next level.
But that's just my personalexperience and how it's worked
(18:00):
for me.
But again, I really think thateverybody needs to look at a
coach outside of just thebusiness realm.
Find somebody that you relateto, find somebody that's going
to help improve your life,because if you're overweight,
not sleeping well, you have ahabit that you need to drop.
All of that is going to impacthow you run your company right.
That's why I wake up at absurdhours of the morning.
(18:22):
I put my body through a bunchof pain and torture on purpose
and the gym, and I do thatconsistently because that's what
allows me to have the energy tonot only run my business but
have the energy to spend timewith my family after the day is
over.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so on the personal side you mentioned, you
have a coach on like is it forphysical, a life coach or, to
now, coach aspect over there?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
So that was super fun , but that was again more of
(19:14):
group coaching type of role.
So I this is going on.
Almost two years ago I wasdiagnosed with a brain tumor and
I had to go through the processof getting brain surgery while
I was scaling a company, right?
So if you want to talk aboutlike shitty timing, there's
never a good time to have abrain tumor but shortly after
scaling a company from what wasmore or less of a successful,
stabilized company intosomething much larger, with much
more opportunity and growth,but also more risk, while my
(19:38):
wife is at home with my twoyoung boys.
That was a lot to handle and Ididn't know where the business
was going to go during thattimeframe.
In fact, we paused salesentirely for like six months.
So during that process I fellinto Chris, who I mentioned, and
he started talking about whereI was today, where I wanted to
(19:59):
go and how I was going to getthere.
It's filling a gap and that'scalled gap analysis.
There's every sort of coachingprogram out there should have
something similar to thatBecause, again, your path is not
going to be the same assomebody else's path.
But during that timeframe I wasintroduced to what's called the
core four program.
I don't think Chris inventedthis, this is like from another
(20:21):
guru to.
I think this is kind ofsomething that's been passed
around out there in the etherfor a while.
But it all has to do withfocusing on four things in your
life.
You have your mind, your body,your relationships and your
business, and the purpose ofthat is to organize this in a
way that you can scale yourbusiness by focusing on that
last because, again, yourbusiness is going to be in most
(20:43):
cases what drains you of yourenergy, your time and your
resources, and in order to scalethat, you have to focus on your
mind, your body and yourrelationships.
So, just as an example, I'llgive you kind of what my morning
routine looks like.
And I do it in the morningbecause at the end of the day,
something always comes up thatprevents you from getting into
the gym spending time with yourfamily when you're present, um,
(21:05):
or focusing on your mind, um,and what that looks like is I
set my alarm clock for four 30in the morning.
It's never fun, but I do itanyways.
Um, we have a cold plunge here,so I just put my body through
some unnecessary pain andtorture.
That's my way of gettinguncomfortable.
It's like drinking my coffee inthe morning.
I go jump in a 45 degree bodyof water for five minutes, dry
(21:26):
off and I go jump in the gym andI do about a 45 minute workout,
get out of the gym, I stretchthat's my body part of the day,
right and that's all done byroughly about 530, 545.
Then I lay on the floor and Imeditate for about 15 to 20
minutes.
That's the mind aspect of that.
Meditation is something that Ifeel like a lot of people look
(21:48):
at as like a voodoo type ofscience-y stuff.
But there's a lot of sciencethat backs it up and I will just
kind of give you my briefrundown as to why I think
meditation is so important.
And that is because it resetsyour mind to a low threshold.
So, for instance, you ever likewake up in the morning and you
(22:10):
look at your phone and there'ssome fire that you didn't
consider from the day before orthat popped up around midnight
and your heart starts racing,you start sweating and you're
still in bed.
You haven't got your daystarted yet.
Like we're trying to avoid thatwhole thing, right?
So what I do is actually have myphone on.
I have an iPhone and it's.
There's a setting on therecalled screen time that you can
turn on and you can set whattimes of the day that you're
going to shut down.
(22:30):
Access to all of your apps thatyou don't need.
And I have mine set from 8 PMtill 8 AM.
So 8 pm I only have access tothe apps that are going to help
me go to sleep.
I listen to podcasts at night,so I'm access to my podcasting
apps and I'll just like plug inmy headphones, fall asleep to
that subconscious thing and anyworkout apps that I need in the
(22:52):
morning.
Otherwise, I can't look at myemail, I can't look at Slack,
can't do any of that between 8pm and 8 am because there's
nothing during that timeframethat is more important than my
off time, my rest, my family, myhealth, right.
But in the morning, when I'mmeditating, I am lowering my
mind, lowering that thresholddown to a point where, no matter
what happens during that day,I'm never going to get anxious,
(23:14):
I'm never going to worry, nevergoing to get angry, that's for
sure.
Get anxious, I'm never going toworry, never going to get angry
, that's for sure.
So I can accomplish tasks, Ican solve problems more
effectively.
And again, it only needs 15,you know, 10, 15 minutes of your
time, let's say, and it's a lotharder than you think.
It's like a workout where youknow the first time you do it,
you're going to lay there and belike why am I wasting time
(23:35):
sitting on the floor listeningthis stupid podcast, or like
guided meditations?
The way that I do it, I use anapp called Headspace, and after
you do it a couple of times, youstart to realize that I'm able
to shut everything else off.
So, instead of thinking aboutall the things you could be
doing, you start thinking aboutbeing present and you start
thinking about times in the pastthat you had a good time and
(23:56):
you had fun, right.
And when you start your daythinking about a memory from
your childhood that really, youknow, gave you a smile again,
there's nothing else during theday that's going to bring you
down right.
You're invincible at that point.
And then, finally, after I'mdone meditating, I spend time
with the family the wife, kids.
We get them breakfast, we getthem off to school, we talk and
(24:17):
then I get to work, right.
So I've already had, you know,three wins for the morning.
This routine, again, it's notmine, it's taught to me, it's
something that I inherited frommy coach, and it's what's helped
me scale, succeed in a sanemanner where I don't let little
problems get to me, I don't letnegative clients get to me, and
I know how to effectively leadour team.
(24:38):
As a result of that and I willbe clear, this is literally we
have a base coat Bible, as wecall it.
It is where, at the very startof this, we explain who we are
as a company, our missionstatement, our values.
Every team member reads that.
They live by it.
That's why it's called ourBible, and in there we have
documented the core four thefact that we are a very fast
growing company.
We're going to have challenges.
This is how we lead, this ishow we effectively manage all of
(25:01):
that.
So that's my small way ofimparting some of that on our
team as well that's excellent.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I I really like that, the, the core four, and the
fact that you included that aspart of your kind of sop on uh,
read this book called the, the.
I think it's the dream catchcaster.
It's basically where you helpyour, your team, accomplish
their goals, and so it kind ofreminds me of um, but giving
(25:28):
them the framework, because youknow everyone has their own
goals, like I want to, you know,grow professionally and
accomplish, you know, get acertain certification, or I want
to be able to travel abroad, um, and then that you know
requires that they make moremoney or whatever the case is.
But you're you provide, you know, providing them a framework
(25:52):
with that core four.
Like, hey, get your body, yourmind, your relationships, your
business, you know, yourprofessional life, I guess in
this case, together, and here's,here's a way you can do it.
And so I really liked that,where you're kind of um, it's
not just all work focused,you're helping them holistically
, and I think that would be.
(26:19):
I think that I would imaginethat that would be pretty
impactful and also make themvery connected to you and not
want to leave this job, like ifyou're helping them make their
life better overall from a mindperspective, body perspective,
relationship perspective, aswell as professional perspective
.
They're probably going to beall in, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
So, like I mean, that's like leadership 101.
Like you have to lead your teamfrom the standpoint of you
standing in their shoes, how dothey look at you as a leader?
You know, if you're going toshow up every day and demand
work out of them, they'reprobably not going to be happy,
they're probably not going to bethere for that long.
And I will mention that.
One other thing about the corefour that was taught to me was
you don't tell your team aboutit right away.
(27:00):
You do this for four to eightweeks, about a month or two,
until your team starts noticinga change in the way that you
carry yourself, the way that youshow up to work, the way that
you solve problems.
They're going to start askingquestions like what changed?
What are you doing?
And then that's when you tellthem right, because if you just
go in there with this wholevoodoo magic that you're
(27:20):
starting for the first time, youmight not be consistent about
it.
They're going to be questioningit.
Nobody's going to be on thesame page, nobody's going to do
it.
But if you show them the way,as a leader should, right, we're
not bosses here, we're coaches,as I consider myself and
everybody else on our team thatleads the team.
Um, that's, the best way toshow people is to actually do it
yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, do you hold them accountable to doing a cold
plunge at four 30 in themorning, or?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
yeah, no, that's uh, that's something um absurd that
that I picked up from my wife.
Actually, who, um, who got meinto that?
Uh, but look, if you guys havenot done that, I, it's a game
changer.
It is, um, it's at the pointwhere if I don't do a plunge
once a day, I feel like I'mmissing my coffee in the morning
.
I just feel like something'smissing, um, but it's, you know,
there's a whole science thingbehind it.
(28:09):
I actually do it for the mentalchallenge more than anything
else, because when you get outof bed and you're all nice and
cozy and you're shivering,brushing your teeth, and and
then you're like I'm going to gojump into a body of water Now,
that's 40 degrees Um, thatchanges your whole perspective
as to what you can do.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
When you tell your mind there is no negotiation,
we're going to do this becauseit's hard and then we're going
to go get on with the rest ofour day.
So not to mention the fact thatit's cold and it's going to
wake you.
The fuck up, yeah, and I thinkit helps increase your dopamine
levels for like half the day.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, I've never.
I've never done cocaine, butfrom what I understand, the
science behind it is your.
Your dopamine levels are on theon the same as doing like a
line of cocaine, but for likehalf the day.
As you said, it's wild how yourbody is able to warm itself
back up.
And the science behind it, thewhole Wim Hof breathing method
is I could talk all day justabout that alone.
(29:01):
But I know we're here to talkmore about the business coaching
side, which, again, I'velearned all of this from other
people and I don't, you know, I.
There's no way that I can standhere and say that, um, I've
come up with any of these uniquethings in life because in
general, there is nothing uniqueanymore in life.
Right, we all learn somethingfrom somebody else, we all we
(29:22):
are standing on the shoulders ofsomebody before us and, um,
again, I think that's whereconsultants, advisors, business
coaches all come into play.
It's our shortcut in life toget to where we want to go, from
point A to point B.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, and so, going back to what you were saying
about, if someone has never beencoached before, they haven't
considered it.
Your recommendation it soundslike, and correct me if I get
this wrong but basically, ifyou're just getting started,
(29:53):
maybe get a industry specificcoach that knows about the
painting industry and that thatcan be your initial coach.
Get you know, avoid some commonmistakes, get some industry
insights that you can, someideas on how to implement
different things and then fromthere, as you grow to the next
level, whatever that may be forthat particular person, maybe
(30:15):
start getting some a domainspecific coaches, like coach for
marketing, a coach for sales, acoach for you know, uh, your,
your financial situation,whatever the case is, is that
kind of that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, so, and and you know, if you want to look at it
from like, an outsiderperspective, they're like all
right, where do I start?
If you had a painting businessthat you're starting today,
probably going to need to hire apainter before you hire a
project manager, right, like youneed to hire a sub or somebody
to actually do the work yourself, um, so in that case you're
going to hire an industryspecific coach to help coach you
(30:55):
up from there.
You don't go out and hire a CFOor, you know, a marketing coach
.
At that point you just needsomebody to put paint on a wall.
So you're going to hire anindustry specific coach to get a
lot of the rough edges smoothedout.
Now again, group coaching.
You know, at that point, Ithink should be fine for 90% of
people.
But you're going to get to apoint and I know this from
(31:18):
experience you're going to getto a point in any coach's, group
, advisory role, whatever, thatyou simply outgrow them.
You've absorbed most all of theknowledge and expertise as you
possibly can.
Absorbed most all of theknowledge, expertise as you
possibly can.
Now, there's definitely somecases that, um, I would say that
, from an advisory standpoint,that you could spend an entire
lifetime with somebody and neverget enough information from
(31:41):
them.
Right, I, um, I consider Chrismy Yoda, um, I?
I call him whenever I have aproblem and he's got some sort
of story to tell me that makesme feel better about my problem.
Um, but it's people like thatthat I think are just really
hard to come by.
But when you find them, youhold onto and, um, as you go and
you start outgrowing thesegroups, you start hitting their
(32:01):
top threshold as to what they'reable to offer you.
You either turn into a coachyourself to provide value,
because giving is whatultimately provides fulfillment
for everybody.
It's just whether you want togive or not.
I choose to give as my rewardto myself.
But from there, your options aregetting into more of that
(32:21):
specific niche type of coaching.
So again, for instance,operations coach, finance coach,
marketing, for sure, butthere's a number of different
levels either advisory,consultants, coaches and, in my
opinion, if you you know as ahome service business, as a
painting business, the coach youhire could be simply, in our
(32:48):
case, let's say, a marketingagency.
You're hiring almost like a CMO, right, it's somebody who can
sit at the strategy table, talkabout your goals, give you the
path to get there, whetherthat's directly due to the
services we're offering or dueto the fact that you're also
doing stuff offline as well,which we don't do, and you know.
Same goes for finance.
You know there's certain thingsthat you may offer directly or
(33:09):
certain things that they can doon their end to get some ducks
in a row, but regardless of whatthe service is, they should be
providing some sort of aconsulting type of service for
you as well, and then from there, yeah, finding a more
generalist coach, somebody thatyou can lean on when times get
tough, and these are the hardestto come by Right now.
(33:29):
I have a doctorate inentrepreneurship as one of my
advisors super good guy.
One of the other clients hemanages considered him a
contrarian, who's somebody whoquestions everything, which I
love, because I will come to himwith something that I feel
pretty strongly about.
He'll question it, and thenI'll question myself, and then
we go down a rabbit hole andthen I figure out that there's a
(33:51):
different path to take thatmight make more sense.
But he didn't just strictlytell me that answer Right.
So it's those types of peoplethat you want to look for.
It's the kind of people thathave the experience that you
know you don't have and that, toyour point, are going to help
you avoid those mistakes beforethey even happen.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, that's excellent.
So I think I think we is thereanything else about business
coaching?
If somebody's hesitant oranything else, that's that we
haven't covered yet, that youfeel like you want to make sure
you hammer home.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
No again.
My main recommendation is to gofind somebody today, whether
it's a group consulting thingsimilar to the PCA.
I know there's paintergrowthcom.
There's a ton of differentbusiness consultants out there
who are going to help you getfrom point A to point B.
It's a group setting you can.
It's almost like a mastermindright.
You know we have a weeklymastermind call amongst our
(34:48):
clients and sure we talk aboutmarketing, but today we talked
about sales, virtual estimating.
We were talking about hiringsubs last week how to find
people.
So you need that community typeof relationship with whoever
you're working with.
Then, from there, start tobranch out, start to find people
that resonate with you.
Accountability it's soimportant.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, excellent.
Well, how can folks reach outto you, Austin?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, so we work with painting businesses all across
the United States and Canada.
Basecoat Marketing.
If you've not heard of us,basecoatmarketingcom, take a
look at what we have to offer.
If you're interested in jumpingon a call with us to identify
if we might be a good fit foryou and your company, you can
reach us at basecoatmarketingcom.
Forward slash call and justbook a call with our team.
(35:37):
We'll ask you a few questionsto see if we're going to be a
good fit.
We feel like we are.
We'll be happy to talk to youabout how we can help.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, if you need help with marketing, recommend
you check out Basecoat Marketing.
We have several clients thatuse you guys and they're very
happy, so definitely check themout.
And with that, we will see younext week, thank you.
Welcome to the Profitable Painter Podcast.
The mission of this podcast issimple to help you navigate the
financial and tax aspects ofstarting, running and scaling a
professional painting business,from the brushes and ladders to
the spreadsheets and balancesheets.
We've got you covered.
But before we dive in, a quickword of caution While we strive
to provide accurate andup-to-date financial and tax
(00:20):
information, nothing you hear onthis podcast should be
considered as financial advicespecifically for you or your
business.
We're here to share generalknowledge and experiences, not
to replace the tailored adviceyou get from a professional
financial advisor or taxconsultant.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
We strongly recommend you seeking individualized
advice before making anysignificant financial decision?
This is Daniel, the founder ofBookkeeping for Painters, and
today I'm here with AustinHauser for the second time, and
Austin Hauser is husband, father, business owner and he's also
the head digital marketer overat Basecoat Marketing and I'm
super happy to have him heretoday to discuss the importance
(01:02):
of business coaching.
How's it going, austin?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's going well.
Thanks for having me backcoaching.
How's it going, austin?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It's going well.
Thanks for having me back, man.
It's always a good time to chat, absolutely, and today's topic
is a good one, and I think a lotof people go a long time
without kind of realizing howimportant coaching can be In
your experience.
What are some of the mostcommon challenges painting
business owners face thatbusiness coaching can help
address?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I mean, I think the shorter answer might be what is
something that a business coachcouldn't help you with?
So business coaching, I mean,look, we look at any
professional athlete, they'rehiring a coach.
Even Michael Jordan had a coach.
You know, and I think a lot ofguys get lost on is the fact
that, yes, you can take the hardroute, the route that everybody
(01:53):
else takes, which is hittingevery single speed bump and
roadblock along the way and, assome people say, you pay the
dumb tax by doing that.
Or you can take a shortcut andinstead hire people that have
already walked that path.
Yes, you're going to pay fortheir expertise and their time,
but on the other side of that isa path that makes you
(02:15):
streamline your business, youroperations, your sales and,
ultimately, your leadership aswell, and it gets you a shortcut
right.
I think in business and in life, we all love a little shortcut
from time to time.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Did you see the Last Dance?
The Netflix special on MichaelJordan.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, so good right.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, it was funny because you brought that up and
one of the parts in thedocumentary was the folks that
have coached Michael Jordan.
That was one of the things theysaid was like he was fanatical
about getting coached and andlike really listening and
implementing whatever he wastaught by a coach.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
So there's a little catchphrase I like to use
Execution is greater thanknowledge.
You can know to do something,but not do what you know.
And I think that's really wherecoaching is kind of a two-sided
coin.
You need to learn and then youneed to implement.
And if you don't have the timeto implement, it's going to be
hard to learn or you're notgoing to find the value in that.
(03:17):
But watching that documentary,I can relate to that in only one
way, and that is the fact thatI hire business coaches for
multiple aspects of my personaland professional life.
So does everybody elseoperating at a high level One
coach?
You're not going to findsomebody to have all the answers
.
In fact, it's, in my opinion,beneficial to find coaches with
(03:38):
opposite answers.
I'm very much a person thatabides by the law of averages,
so if you hear enough thingsfrom enough people or you get
enough perspectives, there'sprobably a hint of truth and a
path for you in there somewhere.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, that's.
That's interesting, so gettingactual differing perspectives
from you.
Know different coaches, so youcan kind of, I guess, let that
marinate in your head and andfigure out what, what, what
works best, cause there'sprobably multiple.
You know things that will workin a business.
You know there's differentstrategies and all of them might
(04:16):
work.
It's just like which one fitsyour business and which one fits
your personality maybe.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
So I'm going to give you an example that you can
relate to, because I had this isactually just came up recently
I had one business coach tell methe first role in business is
to get to a point where you canhire a CFO or a fractional CFO
as soon as possible, like thatis your zero to 60 plan.
My other business coach saidthat in no world do I need a CFO
(04:41):
or a fractional CFO for atleast until you get to about the
nine figure mark.
So those would be verydiffering opinions, right, and
one might be right, one might bewrong, or they might just have
two different perspectives.
But in your case let's talkabout you, because I understand
that you do offer CFO servicesfrom a fractional standpoint.
What is your opinion on that?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I think it depends on the acumen of the business
owner.
Like if you know accounting andyou know your numbers and you
understand when you look at aprofit and loss or balance sheet
or statement cash flows, youunderstand what's going on
probably could go a whilewithout a CFO.
If you don't know thosestatements that I just mentioned
or how they connect andinteract, then you probably need
(05:27):
some more help at an earlierpoint.
And that's what we see whensomeone asks me like hey, should
I sign up for the top packagewith a CFO?
That's basically my question tothem Like well, do you
understand looking through yourreports, do you understand what
it means and what you should doif you see your gross profit off
(05:47):
or if your cash flow is weak onyour statement of cash flows?
So yeah, I think it's justdependent on the business owner.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yep, so right there, it's a gray area, right, but
most business coaches love to beright because they are coaching
you, so they need to have theanswers they feel like they need
to.
A good coach will ask youquestions.
In my opinion, a coach that maynot be the best fit is the one
that's going to be able to tellyou the path and the right path
that you need to take.
I almost treat a coach like atherapist in a way, where you
(06:16):
got a coach that you know isgoing to talk to you about
finance.
You got one that's going tomaybe talk to you about
leadership, a life coach toreally keep you in line, whether
that's physically, mentally,both.
But I do find value in havingwe have an operations coach.
In fact, I have a coach foreverybody on our leadership team
.
So my operations director as acoach, marketing director of
(06:37):
several consultants, and aconsultant and a coach.
I think they're all more orless interchangeable, but, yeah,
what's your experience withcoaching on your side?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, I, I have a coach as well and I don't have
multiple coaches.
This is, this is new to me.
I, you've just opened my mind,um, I just have one.
So but, uh, yeah, like you said, it's not like I'm going to you
kind of get an outsideperspective.
You kind of know, you don't knowwhat, you don't know, kind of
(07:10):
thing, where I want to mistakeavoidance, I don't want to make
the same mistakes that maybehe's made because he's, he's a
level ahead of me and so I'mtrying to get to his level, and
so it's just like things Ididn't think about before.
Uh, I'm able to, oh, I shoulddo that and, uh, avoid.
You know, just recently there'sa thing about cyber security
(07:31):
that he pointed out and I waslike, okay, yeah, we probably
should dig into that and makesure we're tied up there,
because something that he hadseen, um, and dealt with.
So it's just like, I think,mistake avoidance and then just
getting an outside perspectiveon.
You know, you might not changethe way you're doing things, but
getting that outsideperspective and seeing how other
(07:53):
folks have done it in yourindustry is really helpful.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Mistake avoidance.
I love that, that analogy, andthat's really what you're doing
is just trying to avoid mistakes.
You know, again, you can, youcan blaze your own path, but
it's going to be painful andit's going to be hard and it's
going to be long.
But a business coach issomebody that should be there to
ask you questions and adviseyou.
They're an advisor, consultantagain, whatever you want to call
(08:17):
them.
I find the best businesscoaches.
I think that there's kind of amultitude of different types of
coaches.
I like the ones that areindustry specific.
So we do have coaches that arespecific to the marketing world.
Right, they know the industry,they know what a business is,
value a business valuations,that they know how to structure
(08:37):
a marketing agency.
But at some point you're goingto outgrow an industry specific
coach.
Right, they've gotten you to acertain point and you might be
going to the next level orlooking to be more diversified
or just take your business tothat next level.
And that's where I find a moregeneralist coach comes into play
.
So that's where more of anadvisor who's already, let's say
(09:01):
, scaled to a nine or even10-figure company, who's already
, let's say, scaled to a nine oreven 10 figure company.
Those are the people that aregoing to understand your small
little problems that you'd liketo focus your time on.
They're going to tell you tostop it and they're going to
tell you what to focus oninstead.
You know, I always look atpeople that can run these
multiple successful.
You know.
Let's say a hundred milliondollar companies, and they do it
(09:22):
in their sleep.
They make it look easy.
Let's say $100 millioncompanies, and they do it in
their sleep.
They make it look easy and youwonder how.
And you talk to them.
And it's that power ofproximity.
If you put yourself in a roomand you're the dumbest person in
that room, you're probablysitting in the right room.
I'd never want to be thesmartest guy in the room because
I'm in the wrong room.
At that point, I can providevalue, which I love doing, but I
also like putting myself in aposition where I can learn and
(09:45):
grow, and the only way to dothat, in my opinion, is to
surround yourself with peoplewho are more successful or who
already understand what you'reafter and how to get there.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, it's crazy.
You made me think of Elon Musk.
I just read his biography byWalter Isaacson.
It's the one that just came outa few months ago and Elon Musk
is running $6 billion companiesor something ridiculous.
Obviously he's smart, butthere's only so much time in the
(10:19):
day, so he's constrained to thelaws of physics in that way
where he has to put people incharge of things that execute
and figure out the details onthat, and he just manages that
team that report to him directly.
So you know, it's just funny.
Like going to a coach andyou're like you're worried about
(10:42):
categorizing something in yourbookkeeping software or you know
trying to run a Facebook ad andyour coach is like, what are
you doing?
You get somebody for that.
You need to focus on the higherlevel activities, growing your
business.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Focus on the higher level activities growing your
business yeah, and you know it'sgoing back to that idea of
proximity is power.
I was at a Tony Robbins event.
I went out to Whistler earlierin February it was a finance
event, ironically and I was in aroom I would consider full of
the one percenters here in theUnited States, where these
(11:17):
people have private jets, theyown islands.
I mean, these people are verysuccessful and sitting in that
room I was, um, I was staying atan Airbnb with a guy whose net
worth is like 125 million, andit's funny because they have the
same limiting beliefs concernsproblems as we do.
They just have them at adifferent level.
So when we're looking at, let'ssay, growing a business and how
(11:39):
to get from point A to point B,most people fail because they
focus on the small problems.
They're not looking at thebigger picture and that's where
the people who succeed who thesepeople?
You know there's some very, inmy opinion, some unintelligent
people out there who are runningvery successful companies and
it's only because they know whatto focus on, they know what the
big levers and the big buttonsare to push and pull, whereas
(12:03):
everybody else likes to focus onthe small problems because they
feel like they're making animpact when in reality, they're
just wasting their time.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, I get.
I'm guilty of that all the timeLike I'll get.
It's like you get a littledopamine hit when you solve
those little problems you'relike oh yeah, I'm, I'm busy, I'm
getting stuff done, I'm, youknow just.
but then you reflect after theday like what did I?
What did I do today?
I just like answered someemails and did some stuff I
(12:33):
could have delegated.
You know, it's just like I justwasted a whole day of just busy
work when I could have been,you know, working on my business
instead of in the business, andso that's one that I really
struggle with.
And so I think a coach having acoach kind of remind you, it's
holding you accountable, butalso holding you accountable and
(12:56):
being exposed to someone thatyou know thinks differently at a
different at a higher levelthan than what you might be or
what I might be.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, look, staying busy is, in my opinion, one of
the worst things as anentrepreneur that you can ever
fall into.
It's not about being busy, it'sabout implementing your time in
the most effective way possible.
Having a coach is somebody whoshould also be.
Let's say, reviewing your time,blocks, your calendar, what
does your schedule look like?
One of my first coaches that Iever picked up he's a very good
(13:29):
friend of mine.
His name is Chris Martinez.
He always says I give him toomuch credit, but the guy's
awesome.
I picked him up as a businesscoach, business consultant, and
he actually turned into more ofa life coach for me.
He kind of restructured myentire morning routine and it
changed the way I run my company, manage people, because, at the
end of the day, if you're notfocusing on yourself first
(13:50):
whether that's your mind, yourbody, your relationships the
business is going to fail.
And I think a lot of people loveto get up first thing in the
morning, open up their email ontheir phone and start solving
problems.
Right, we're all problemsolvers as business owners.
But what that does is it'sgoing to start draining you, you
know it's.
I like to look at thestandpoint of like you're a
battery, you have a finiteamount of energy and you start
(14:13):
to drain that there's not goingto be left, much left in the
tank at the end of the day.
And if you continually do that,where you're not recharging
yourself, you're not expandingthe capacity of that battery,
you're eventually going to drain, burnout or you're just going
to plateau, which is, in myopinion, even worse, because a
lot of people plateau at acertain point and they're like
I'm satisfied, I'm content here.
(14:34):
But a coach to your point isalmost like an accountability
partner.
They're going to be doing thosecheck-ins with you, whether
that's every other week.
I, in my opinion, you should bemeeting at the very least once
a month.
But I like having variouscoaches that I meet, you know,
at least once a week, once everyother week, as a way to check
in and make sure we're moving inthe right direction and when
we're not, we can identify whyand what the plan is and how
(14:56):
long it's going to take toimplement and who's going to do
it.
But it's that accountabilitypartner who can actually look at
that from a high level, from anoutsider perspective, because
that's the other thing.
I feel like a lot of peoplelook at their business and
they're in the trenches rightand there's guns going off,
everything's blowing up,everything's on fire, and it's
hard to get that outsiderperspective if you don't have
somebody who already knows youhow you operate in your business
(15:18):
.
I think that's where you getsomebody in place before you
need them.
It's going to make life so mucheasier, for whenever you do,
yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
When I first got a coach, it seemed like the first
several meetings was just mejust telling them about getting
them up to speed and for a whileI was like man, is this even
worth it?
I just feel like I'm giving himall the context for all the
things that are happening butnot really getting anything back
in terms of good ideas oranything.
(15:48):
I'm sure that happened, but itwasn't really impactful.
But there was a kind of anonboarding period where the
business coach was getting thecontext of where we were and all
this stuff, and then that'swhere the value started coming
in a little bit later, after acouple of meetings.
(16:09):
So that's something that Ididn't think of going into a
coaching relationship was thatthey're going to not necessarily
be able to provide a wholebunch of value right away,
because they might not know yourbusiness well enough to do that
.
They might need to kind of talkwith you a while, understand
(16:30):
how your business works, allthat stuff.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Yeah, no, it's like I said, it's like a therapist
they're going to go in, they'regoing to listen to you talk,
they're going to hear yourproblems and then they're going
to start asking questions.
And again, a good coach.
That's how they should operateand I want to define there is
differences between an advisoror consultant and a lot of these
coaching programs out there.
So this is an importantdistinction.
(16:54):
I think a lot of people jump onboard to a group coaching
session and there is value inthose.
I do not want to make sure Iwant to make sure I'm not
understating like there's valuein the group coaching.
Where you're going to get themost of your value is with
one-on-one consulting oradvisory.
So, for instance, your coach helistened to you talk and then
(17:15):
eventually started providingsome input and value that you
can take action on.
He can't do that day onebecause he doesn't know your
business.
Group coaching.
You're not going to get thatlevel of granularity.
It's going to be more about howquickly can you implement what
they've already discovered worksfor most people but it might
not work for you.
Or again, it's one perspective.
So when you get to the pointwhere, honestly, there's no
(17:37):
wrong time to hire a businesscoach.
I think once you have cash flowcoming in, you need to hire
somebody, and again, I preferstarting with an industry expert
and then branching out into themore specialty type of roles or
a more global type of businessconsultant that can take you to
that next level.
But that's just my personalexperience and how it's worked
(18:00):
for me.
But again, I really think thateverybody needs to look at a
coach outside of just thebusiness realm.
Find somebody that you relateto, find somebody that's going
to help improve your life,because if you're overweight,
not sleeping well, you have ahabit that you need to drop.
All of that is going to impacthow you run your company right.
That's why I wake up at absurdhours of the morning.
(18:22):
I put my body through a bunchof pain and torture on purpose
and the gym, and I do thatconsistently because that's what
allows me to have the energy tonot only run my business but
have the energy to spend timewith my family after the day is
over.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so on the personal side you mentioned, you
have a coach on like is it forphysical, a life coach or, to
now, coach aspect over there?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
So that was super fun , but that was again more of
(19:14):
group coaching type of role.
So I this is going on.
Almost two years ago I wasdiagnosed with a brain tumor and
I had to go through the processof getting brain surgery while
I was scaling a company, right?
So if you want to talk aboutlike shitty timing, there's
never a good time to have abrain tumor but shortly after
scaling a company from what wasmore or less of a successful,
stabilized company intosomething much larger, with much
more opportunity and growth,but also more risk, while my
(19:38):
wife is at home with my twoyoung boys.
That was a lot to handle and Ididn't know where the business
was going to go during thattimeframe.
In fact, we paused salesentirely for like six months.
So during that process I fellinto Chris, who I mentioned, and
he started talking about whereI was today, where I wanted to
(19:59):
go and how I was going to getthere.
It's filling a gap and that'scalled gap analysis.
There's every sort of coachingprogram out there should have
something similar to thatBecause, again, your path is not
going to be the same assomebody else's path.
But during that timeframe I wasintroduced to what's called the
core four program.
I don't think Chris inventedthis, this is like from another
(20:21):
guru to.
I think this is kind ofsomething that's been passed
around out there in the etherfor a while.
But it all has to do withfocusing on four things in your
life.
You have your mind, your body,your relationships and your
business, and the purpose ofthat is to organize this in a
way that you can scale yourbusiness by focusing on that
last because, again, yourbusiness is going to be in most
(20:43):
cases what drains you of yourenergy, your time and your
resources, and in order to scalethat, you have to focus on your
mind, your body and yourrelationships.
So, just as an example, I'llgive you kind of what my morning
routine looks like.
And I do it in the morningbecause at the end of the day,
something always comes up thatprevents you from getting into
the gym spending time with yourfamily when you're present, um,
(21:05):
or focusing on your mind, um,and what that looks like is I
set my alarm clock for four 30in the morning.
It's never fun, but I do itanyways.
Um, we have a cold plunge here,so I just put my body through
some unnecessary pain andtorture.
That's my way of gettinguncomfortable.
It's like drinking my coffee inthe morning.
I go jump in a 45 degree bodyof water for five minutes, dry
(21:26):
off and I go jump in the gym andI do about a 45 minute workout,
get out of the gym, I stretchthat's my body part of the day,
right and that's all done byroughly about 530, 545.
Then I lay on the floor and Imeditate for about 15 to 20
minutes.
That's the mind aspect of that.
Meditation is something that Ifeel like a lot of people look
(21:48):
at as like a voodoo type ofscience-y stuff.
But there's a lot of sciencethat backs it up and I will just
kind of give you my briefrundown as to why I think
meditation is so important.
And that is because it resetsyour mind to a low threshold.
So, for instance, you ever likewake up in the morning and you
(22:10):
look at your phone and there'ssome fire that you didn't
consider from the day before orthat popped up around midnight
and your heart starts racing,you start sweating and you're
still in bed.
You haven't got your daystarted yet.
Like we're trying to avoid thatwhole thing, right?
So what I do is actually have myphone on.
I have an iPhone and it's.
There's a setting on therecalled screen time that you can
turn on and you can set whattimes of the day that you're
going to shut down.
(22:30):
Access to all of your apps thatyou don't need.
And I have mine set from 8 PMtill 8 AM.
So 8 pm I only have access tothe apps that are going to help
me go to sleep.
I listen to podcasts at night,so I'm access to my podcasting
apps and I'll just like plug inmy headphones, fall asleep to
that subconscious thing and anyworkout apps that I need in the
(22:52):
morning.
Otherwise, I can't look at myemail, I can't look at Slack,
can't do any of that between 8pm and 8 am because there's
nothing during that timeframethat is more important than my
off time, my rest, my family, myhealth, right.
But in the morning, when I'mmeditating, I am lowering my
mind, lowering that thresholddown to a point where, no matter
what happens during that day,I'm never going to get anxious,
(23:14):
I'm never going to worry, nevergoing to get angry, that's for
sure.
Get anxious, I'm never going toworry, never going to get angry
, that's for sure.
So I can accomplish tasks, Ican solve problems more
effectively.
And again, it only needs 15,you know, 10, 15 minutes of your
time, let's say, and it's a lotharder than you think.
It's like a workout where youknow the first time you do it,
you're going to lay there and belike why am I wasting time
(23:35):
sitting on the floor listeningthis stupid podcast, or like
guided meditations?
The way that I do it, I use anapp called Headspace, and after
you do it a couple of times, youstart to realize that I'm able
to shut everything else off.
So, instead of thinking aboutall the things you could be
doing, you start thinking aboutbeing present and you start
thinking about times in the pastthat you had a good time and
(23:56):
you had fun, right.
And when you start your daythinking about a memory from
your childhood that really, youknow, gave you a smile again,
there's nothing else during theday that's going to bring you
down right.
You're invincible at that point.
And then, finally, after I'mdone meditating, I spend time
with the family the wife, kids.
We get them breakfast, we getthem off to school, we talk and
(24:17):
then I get to work, right.
So I've already had, you know,three wins for the morning.
This routine, again, it's notmine, it's taught to me, it's
something that I inherited frommy coach, and it's what's helped
me scale, succeed in a sanemanner where I don't let little
problems get to me, I don't letnegative clients get to me, and
I know how to effectively leadour team.
(24:38):
As a result of that and I willbe clear, this is literally we
have a base coat Bible, as wecall it.
It is where, at the very startof this, we explain who we are
as a company, our missionstatement, our values.
Every team member reads that.
They live by it.
That's why it's called ourBible, and in there we have
documented the core four thefact that we are a very fast
growing company.
We're going to have challenges.
This is how we lead, this ishow we effectively manage all of
(25:01):
that.
So that's my small way ofimparting some of that on our
team as well that's excellent.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I I really like that, the, the core four, and the
fact that you included that aspart of your kind of sop on uh,
read this book called the, the.
I think it's the dream catchcaster.
It's basically where you helpyour, your team, accomplish
their goals, and so it kind ofreminds me of um, but giving
(25:28):
them the framework, because youknow everyone has their own
goals, like I want to, you know,grow professionally and
accomplish, you know, get acertain certification, or I want
to be able to travel abroad, um, and then that you know
requires that they make moremoney or whatever the case is.
But you're you provide, you know, providing them a framework
(25:52):
with that core four.
Like, hey, get your body, yourmind, your relationships, your
business, you know, yourprofessional life, I guess in
this case, together, and here's,here's a way you can do it.
And so I really liked that,where you're kind of um, it's
not just all work focused,you're helping them holistically
, and I think that would be.
(26:19):
I think that I would imaginethat that would be pretty
impactful and also make themvery connected to you and not
want to leave this job, like ifyou're helping them make their
life better overall from a mindperspective, body perspective,
relationship perspective, aswell as professional perspective
.
They're probably going to beall in, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
So, like I mean, that's like leadership 101.
Like you have to lead your teamfrom the standpoint of you
standing in their shoes, how dothey look at you as a leader?
You know, if you're going toshow up every day and demand
work out of them, they'reprobably not going to be happy,
they're probably not going to bethere for that long.
And I will mention that.
One other thing about the corefour that was taught to me was
you don't tell your team aboutit right away.
(27:00):
You do this for four to eightweeks, about a month or two,
until your team starts noticinga change in the way that you
carry yourself, the way that youshow up to work, the way that
you solve problems.
They're going to start askingquestions like what changed?
What are you doing?
And then that's when you tellthem right, because if you just
go in there with this wholevoodoo magic that you're
(27:20):
starting for the first time, youmight not be consistent about
it.
They're going to be questioningit.
Nobody's going to be on thesame page, nobody's going to do
it.
But if you show them the way,as a leader should, right, we're
not bosses here, we're coaches,as I consider myself and
everybody else on our team thatleads the team.
Um, that's, the best way toshow people is to actually do it
yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, do you hold them accountable to doing a cold
plunge at four 30 in themorning, or?
Speaker 3 (27:48):
yeah, no, that's uh, that's something um absurd that
that I picked up from my wife.
Actually, who, um, who got meinto that?
Uh, but look, if you guys havenot done that, I, it's a game
changer.
It is, um, it's at the pointwhere if I don't do a plunge
once a day, I feel like I'mmissing my coffee in the morning
.
I just feel like something'smissing, um, but it's, you know,
there's a whole science thingbehind it.
(28:09):
I actually do it for the mentalchallenge more than anything
else, because when you get outof bed and you're all nice and
cozy and you're shivering,brushing your teeth, and and
then you're like I'm going to gojump into a body of water Now,
that's 40 degrees Um, thatchanges your whole perspective
as to what you can do.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
When you tell your mind there is no negotiation,
we're going to do this becauseit's hard and then we're going
to go get on with the rest ofour day.
So not to mention the fact thatit's cold and it's going to
wake you.
The fuck up, yeah, and I thinkit helps increase your dopamine
levels for like half the day.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah, I've never.
I've never done cocaine, butfrom what I understand, the
science behind it is your.
Your dopamine levels are on theon the same as doing like a
line of cocaine, but for likehalf the day.
As you said, it's wild how yourbody is able to warm itself
back up.
And the science behind it, thewhole Wim Hof breathing method
is I could talk all day justabout that alone.
(29:01):
But I know we're here to talkmore about the business coaching
side, which, again, I'velearned all of this from other
people and I don't, you know, I.
There's no way that I can standhere and say that, um, I've
come up with any of these uniquethings in life because in
general, there is nothing uniqueanymore in life.
Right, we all learn somethingfrom somebody else, we all we
(29:22):
are standing on the shoulders ofsomebody before us and, um,
again, I think that's whereconsultants, advisors, business
coaches all come into play.
It's our shortcut in life toget to where we want to go, from
point A to point B.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, and so, going back to what you were saying
about, if someone has never beencoached before, they haven't
considered it.
Your recommendation it soundslike, and correct me if I get
this wrong but basically, ifyou're just getting started,
(29:53):
maybe get a industry specificcoach that knows about the
painting industry and that thatcan be your initial coach.
Get you know, avoid some commonmistakes, get some industry
insights that you can, someideas on how to implement
different things and then fromthere, as you grow to the next
level, whatever that may be forthat particular person, maybe
(30:15):
start getting some a domainspecific coaches, like coach for
marketing, a coach for sales, acoach for you know, uh, your,
your financial situation,whatever the case is, is that
kind of that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, so, and and you know, if you want to look at it
from like, an outsiderperspective, they're like all
right, where do I start?
If you had a painting businessthat you're starting today,
probably going to need to hire apainter before you hire a
project manager, right, like youneed to hire a sub or somebody
to actually do the work yourself, um, so in that case you're
going to hire an industryspecific coach to help coach you
(30:55):
up from there.
You don't go out and hire a CFOor, you know, a marketing coach
.
At that point you just needsomebody to put paint on a wall.
So you're going to hire anindustry specific coach to get a
lot of the rough edges smoothedout.
Now again, group coaching.
You know, at that point, Ithink should be fine for 90% of
people.
But you're going to get to apoint and I know this from
(31:18):
experience you're going to getto a point in any coach's, group
, advisory role, whatever, thatyou simply outgrow them.
You've absorbed most all of theknowledge and expertise as you
possibly can.
Absorbed most all of theknowledge, expertise as you
possibly can.
Now, there's definitely somecases that, um, I would say that
, from an advisory standpoint,that you could spend an entire
lifetime with somebody and neverget enough information from
(31:41):
them.
Right, I, um, I consider Chrismy Yoda, um, I?
I call him whenever I have aproblem and he's got some sort
of story to tell me that makesme feel better about my problem.
Um, but it's people like thatthat I think are just really
hard to come by.
But when you find them, youhold onto and, um, as you go and
you start outgrowing thesegroups, you start hitting their
(32:01):
top threshold as to what they'reable to offer you.
You either turn into a coachyourself to provide value,
because giving is whatultimately provides fulfillment
for everybody.
It's just whether you want togive or not.
I choose to give as my rewardto myself.
But from there, your options aregetting into more of that
(32:21):
specific niche type of coaching.
So again, for instance,operations coach, finance coach,
marketing, for sure, butthere's a number of different
levels either advisory,consultants, coaches and, in my
opinion, if you you know as ahome service business, as a
painting business, the coach youhire could be simply, in our
(32:48):
case, let's say, a marketingagency.
You're hiring almost like a CMO, right, it's somebody who can
sit at the strategy table, talkabout your goals, give you the
path to get there, whetherthat's directly due to the
services we're offering or dueto the fact that you're also
doing stuff offline as well,which we don't do, and you know.
Same goes for finance.
You know there's certain thingsthat you may offer directly or
(33:09):
certain things that they can doon their end to get some ducks
in a row, but regardless of whatthe service is, they should be
providing some sort of aconsulting type of service for
you as well, and then from there, yeah, finding a more
generalist coach, somebody thatyou can lean on when times get
tough, and these are the hardestto come by Right now.
(33:29):
I have a doctorate inentrepreneurship as one of my
advisors super good guy.
One of the other clients hemanages considered him a
contrarian, who's somebody whoquestions everything, which I
love, because I will come to himwith something that I feel
pretty strongly about.
He'll question it, and thenI'll question myself, and then
we go down a rabbit hole andthen I figure out that there's a
(33:51):
different path to take thatmight make more sense.
But he didn't just strictlytell me that answer Right.
So it's those types of peoplethat you want to look for.
It's the kind of people thathave the experience that you
know you don't have and that, toyour point, are going to help
you avoid those mistakes beforethey even happen.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, that's excellent.
So I think I think we is thereanything else about business
coaching?
If somebody's hesitant oranything else, that's that we
haven't covered yet, that youfeel like you want to make sure
you hammer home.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
No again.
My main recommendation is to gofind somebody today, whether
it's a group consulting thingsimilar to the PCA.
I know there's paintergrowthcom.
There's a ton of differentbusiness consultants out there
who are going to help you getfrom point A to point B.
It's a group setting you can.
It's almost like a mastermindright.
You know we have a weeklymastermind call amongst our
(34:48):
clients and sure we talk aboutmarketing, but today we talked
about sales, virtual estimating.
We were talking about hiringsubs last week how to find
people.
So you need that community typeof relationship with whoever
you're working with.
Then, from there, start tobranch out, start to find people
that resonate with you.
Accountability it's soimportant.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, excellent.
Well, how can folks reach outto you, Austin?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, so we work with painting businesses all across
the United States and Canada.
Basecoat Marketing.
If you've not heard of us,basecoatmarketingcom, take a
look at what we have to offer.
If you're interested in jumpingon a call with us to identify
if we might be a good fit foryou and your company, you can
reach us at basecoatmarketingcom.
Forward slash call and justbook a call with our team.
(35:37):
We'll ask you a few questionsto see if we're going to be a
good fit.
We feel like we are.
We'll be happy to talk to youabout how we can help.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, if you need help with marketing, recommend
you check out Basecoat Marketing.
We have several clients thatuse you guys and they're very
happy, so definitely check themout.
And with that, we will see younext week, thank you.
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