Episode Transcript
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Scott Ritzheimer (00:00):
Hello, hello
and welcome. Welcome once
(00:02):
again to the secrets of thehigh demand coach podcast. And
here with us today is yetanother high demand coach in
the one and only, Brad Koch,who is owner and CEO of
foresight coaching. Brad is aveteran of the United States
Marine Corps and a 32 yearveteran of corporate America.
He's developed high performingteams, started and sold
businesses and been part ofgrowth teams. Brad works with
(00:24):
small businesses, founders andCEOs to help them overcome
their biggest challenges,whether a company needs to
improve retention,profitability, sales,
performance or strategy. Heprovides the environment and
the tools for success, andhe's here with us today. Brad,
welcome to the show. I'm soexcited to have you here with
us today. Out of the gatehere, I want to kind of set
(00:46):
this stage. So I've seen a lotof founders who start their
company get kind of everythingthey wanted, right? They get
the revenue, they get thegrowth, and then they find
themselves working 80 hours aweek or more missing all the
rest of life. And there'sthis, there's this feeling of
like resentment or just beingtrapped, for a lot of
(01:08):
founders. So if we've gotsomeone listening today,
they're just in that place. Iknow I've been there. I'm
assuming you have too of beingoverwhelmed by it all. What's
the biggest reason thatthey're losing control?
Bradley J. Koch (01:21):
Uh, first of
all, thanks for having me.
It's great to meet you one onone having listened to your
podcast. Good to put a face toa name. So I think at 30,000
feet, the core issue isthey're not letting go.
They're not comfortable yetthey don't have the right
(01:42):
mindset. And some of thecommon reasons that I've
personally experienced myselfand coached through is at this
stage, they still feel likethey have more time resource
than money, resource. Yes,they might also feel like,
hey, it's something that thefounder should do. I'm the
(02:03):
founder by golly. I have to dothis. And then that fear of
trust that is someone elsegoing to do it as well as I
am. And I I think you saidsomething important. They've
got a few wins to some thatreinforces the beliefs. They
(02:25):
create this loop, like, Hey,I'm I'm winning, I'm making
money. So I got to do this.
Scott Ritzheimer (02:31):
Yeah, I want
to unpack this because, like,
it literally is the roadmapfor this stage. So they
they're not comfortable. Yousaid they don't have the right
mindset. Tell me a little bitabout what the mindset is that
they do have and the mindsetthat they need to take moving
forward.
Bradley J. Koch (02:46):
Yeah, a
couple of generalizations. Let
me start there and say that Iknow from personal experience
that when I fell into thistrap, it was because I had the
mindset that I had more timeresource than money resource.
(03:06):
I hadn't gone through andexperienced some very helpful
processes that uncovers whatmy zone of genius is, and then
really understanding that'sthe skills and the tasks that
I need to leverage. I didn'tdone that yet, so I'm still
looking at everything throughthat. I've got to do
(03:27):
everything thing and right? Imay be working 80 hours a
week, but I can afford to work85 I feel like I can't pay
another employee, or anotherhalf employee, or whatever it
is. So I hate first things.First is we just have to get
out of that mindset thateverything is better with you,
(03:51):
and once we can, once we cansee through that, that's to
me, that's when the businessstarts to get fun, because you
start to build a team, haveyou, as you've talked about so
many times.
Scott Ritzheimer (04:05):
Yeah, I love
that. I love that that time,
instead of money, is so true.And what's so fascinating to
me about this is that when youlook at those things, my time,
I have more time than I domoney. I need to do it. You
know, if it's to be, it's upto me. It's not that those
things aren't true leading upto this, right? So they're,
(04:30):
they're mindsets that arethere because, to some extent,
they're necessary to getthrough the very earliest part
of the process, you know? Sothese aren't bad things and
and you, you nailed this aswell, saying, hey, it's those
wins when you behave likethat. When you behave like
it's to be it's up to me, andyou close the deal and you
deliver it on time. It kind oflocks you in as like this. Is
(04:50):
it? Right? I would go so farto say there are synapses that
are built in your brain thatdrive that behavior. So how do
you help folks to kind ofdemarcate that point when
those things aren't servingthem anymore, when those
mindsets and traits?
Bradley J. Koch (05:07):
Yeah, excuse
me, I think what I try and do
is get into that zone ofgenius understanding. So we
start to unpack Pareto andthis 8020 role, like in the
beginning, you're the founder.8020 doesn't exist. 100% is
(05:27):
what you do. But as you getcloser and you start to get
extended, and you have somewins, and you can see that
your that your concept isvalidated, like you have a
marketable business goingthrough that and figuring out
what that 20% of what you dothat drives 80% of the results
(05:52):
is sort of a life changingprocess to go through. And on
the other side of that, Iwould expect the founder to be
able to leverage that 20% sowhat did that look like?
Acknowledge for the firsttime, probably in their in
their journey, that I needhelp with the 80% right? And
(06:16):
I've got and maybe at thisstage, they do have a team
built out, and maybe the teamis really close, and then he's
keeping or she's keeping themvery close. But we know, and
it because we're from theoutside as coaches and
consultants. We can see theforest through the trees. They
(06:37):
can't, so they they stillthink everything has to flow
through them, and we can seethe next big thing for them is
what happens when you start tobuild up your A players and
the team around you. And thatdoesn't happen, at least in my
experience, until we canrecognize and categorize what
(07:00):
it is they do that leveragesthe most results.
Scott Ritzheimer (07:03):
Right,
That's so true. So one of the
things I noticed as I wasgetting ready for the episode
and doing some research onyour work, was there was a
pretty heavy emphasis onmarketing. And even in your
answer here, you said, onceyou have a marketable
business, is as one of, likethe the many things that
contribute to the timing ofall of this, what role does
getting hold of your marketingplay in taking back control of
(07:27):
your business.
Bradley J. Koch (07:29):
From the
founders point of view? Well,
God, this is a multi facetedquestion, so bear with me,
because I think there's,there's a couple of key things
that I'd want folks to takeaway from. So early on,
(07:50):
marketing tends to be, I'mjust going to do everything,
I'm going to do ads, I'm goingto do the social I'm going to
do lives, I'm going to I'mgoing to do this. And then
here's my strategy for abanded cart. Here's my
strategy for this or that. Andif we think about a game,
(08:11):
Scott, if you had a checkersboard, and I had a checkers
board, and we lined our piecesup on the baseline, and the
goal was the first person toget a checker all the way
across to the other side. Winsmy strategy, and we alternate.
So my strategy is, I move onepiece, you move a piece, I
(08:32):
move a different piece, and wejust go back and forth like
this. I'm moving all thosepieces a little at a time, but
you You're smart. You alreadyunderstand the game. You're
taking that one piece andyou're moving that
consistently until you get tothe to the finish line, and
(08:52):
you'll beat me every singletime. Yep, the same is true in
marketing. There's time tospend resources and and energy
on building this ecosystem ofmarketing, the cus, you know,
the customer journeyunderstanding. How can you I
(09:15):
mean, ultimately, you want toget to a place where you've
got more eyeballs, thosepeople are committing more
frequently, so they're notabandoning um, that they're
adding more things to theircart, so each transaction is a
little more and they come backmore often. And lastly, they
(09:37):
tell everybody they know aboutyou, right? If we're trying to
do that early on, that's,it's, it's like the checkers
game, right? We're never goingto make it. So my advice for
them to feel productive withmarketing and actually to see
results is to go back and keepit simple. You know what?
(10:00):
Right? What is one thing thatyou know about your audience?
You know where they hang out,you know what their pains or
frustrations or aspirationsare focus on that.
Scott Ritzheimer (10:16):
I love that.
I love that. And it's part of
a it's part of a biggerpattern that's playing out in
a number of different spacesgoes right back to your 8020,
principle, right? Because I dothink that there's a necessary
stage of trying out a numberof things, right? It's kind of
like, if you have a shrub outfront, you plant it. You don't
just cut every limb off, or,you know, as soon as you put
it in the ground, that's notgoing to go well, so you let
(10:38):
it grow out a little bit, andthen there has to be a season
of pruning, right? And I thinkthat's a more painful season
than we recognize for forfounders, if you don't realize
the benefit of it, if all youdo is think you're saying no
to things, if all you do youthink you're saying is cutting
away, it can be very painful,but the value of that, I think
(10:59):
I'm hearing from you is theability to focus your limited
time and resources in oneplace where you can really
succeed. Is that right?
Bradley J. Koch (11:08):
100% and just
add one thing to it every that
there's an overlayingprinciple that as founders, as
entrepreneurs, as creatives,we tend to lose sight of and
that is, what is the goal?What is the goal? And have
that be the filter that weview everything through? So
(11:32):
this, at an earlier stage inthe business, the goal is one
thing. Later in the journey ofthe business, the goal is
something different. You know,it might be scale, it might be
profitability, it might bewhatever expansion. So ask
yourself, are all of theseefforts, and this goes back to
(11:56):
the founder in the 8020 arethey supporting what the goal
is? Are you just doing a lotof things? Because that's kind
of what got you there, right?Does it support the goal?
Scott Ritzheimer (12:12):
Yeah. And,
and that sounds very
elementary, but, but it isn'tright, like, because here's
what I've seen happens at thisstage, and add to this,
because I think you've got alot of experience in this
space, but one of the bigpivotal shifts from our
mindset issues, you're movingfrom your business surviving
(12:32):
to it thriving, right? Andwhat that means is success is
not just being here tomorrow,which is kind of it's kind of
as much as you can expect atsome points early on. But if
your hope when things aregoing well is to just be here
tomorrow, there's no directionin that. There's no purpose in
that. There's no kind of likehigher meaning. And when being
(12:53):
here tomorrow is covered, it'skind of like, why am I still
here? You can only play thatgame so many times before it
starts to get very old. So howdo you help folks at this
stage to redefine successthrough that lens of thriving?
Bradley J. Koch (13:09):
Yeah, so it's
a blend of going back to day
one. I mean, what? What droveyou to start this business? It
wasn't surviving. It wasn't,you know, maybe ultimately, it
was to have more control overyour time or more control over
your income. But oftentimesthe the founder is driven by
something, right? They've gota deeper call to do something.
(13:33):
And if they go back to thatand keep that in the forefront
all of all of the other thingsthat take place tend to go out
of focus, like you don'tnecessarily need. Well, I'll
use your analogy, and I'msorry to change thoughts, but
(13:56):
the pruning, I love that. Imean the season for pruning
sounds simple, but it isprobably the most painful
thing I can recall atdifferent stages. There were
very distinct stages in mylife where pruning had to take
place and saying no to thingshad to take place. That was
(14:16):
hard, and I ultimately thinkthat I want to support the
founder and their creativewhy, why they started the
business, and as long as wekeep that in the forefront,
and there's another piece tothis, which you'll probably
(14:38):
ask, is, is going to help us,you know, do the right things
or be okay with where we are.Now I'm rambling, so bear with
me for a second. I apologizeto the listeners early on,
once you decide this is what Iwant. Do it's, how do I do it
(15:02):
and stay open tomorrow, right?That just survive once you got
that covered, how do you stayfocused on doing the things
you need to do to get to thenext stage? Well, the question
I'd ask before that is, whenyou started the business, have
you thought about it as ajourney. Have you thought
(15:23):
about it as you're going to gothrough iterations? And that's
one of the reasons I'd love tomeet early, early stage
thinkers about what they wantto do, because I think
educating them about all ofthese I say six. I think you
talk about seven, I think thedifference is you have fun as
(15:45):
a stage. I don't, but they'regonna the life cycle of the
business is gonna go throughhere, and here are the key
things that you have to stayfocused on through each of
them. I don't know, does thatanswer? I felt like I just
rambled.
Scott Ritzheimer (16:02):
No, it does.
It really does. And it
captures some of the tensionthat's there and that it's not
formulaic, right? There's alot of folks who will approach
that and say, Well, here's theformula, here are the meetings
that you need to have, or thegoals, like the goal program
that you need to have. Andit's deeper than that for
founders, and I think you'retouching on that in the heart
(16:23):
of it. And I think that'sreally cool. I do have another
question for you, and then Iwant to make sure folks know
how they can get in touch withyou, because I know there's
folks who are going to wantsome help and to tap into more
of your wisdom. So questionfirst, what would you say is
the biggest secret that youwish wasn't a secret at all?
What's that one thing you wisheverybody watching or
listening today knew?
Bradley J. Koch (16:44):
I would say
this, that in the in the stock
market, or in investing,there's something called
compound interest. You putmoney in, and this magical
thing happens with time, andyou don't have to make huge
investments to become wealthy.You can make small, consistent
(17:06):
investments. The same is truein your life and in your
business, in many differentways, and practically
speaking, if I am a newbusiness owner, I have this
pressure of feeling like Ihave to hit home runs every
single day. And I think thatpressure does a couple of
(17:29):
things. It kills businesses,it kills the drive and fire
that they have, and it alsoforces them, I think, to make
bad decisions if we couldrefocus them and say, no, let
me show you how 1% better or1% progress every single day
(17:52):
is going to far out perform.You know, a 20% jump here, and
then maybe a 6% jump therehave been a 5% jump backwards
because you're overthinkingcompounding action. Do you
want to make change in yourlife? Do you want to make
progress in your business?Break it down. What are the
(18:13):
what are the smallest thingsthat you can control that move
you towards your goal?
Scott Ritzheimer (18:18):
I love it. I
love it. Brad, there's folks
listening who would love toreach out to you and connect,
hear more and potentially evenwork with you. Where can they
find more out about the workthat you do?
Bradley J. Koch (18:31):
The simplest
place is 4sightcoach.com and
that's a number 4, s, i, G, H,T, coach.com and yeah, all the
resources I have and how toget in touch with me. And
yeah, I'd love to, and likeyou, I just, I just enjoy
(18:52):
meeting people that have takenthat step to starting a
business. And yeah, that's athat's a pleasure.
Scott Ritzheimer (19:00):
Amazing,
amazing. Well, I highly
recommend it. The website'sfantastic. There's so much
there, and if you like whatyou heard today, it's only
just the scratching thesurface. Brad, thanks for
being on the show today. Justa privilege and honor having
you here, and for those of youwatching and listening, you
know your time and attentionmean the world to us. I hope
you got as much out of thisconversation as I know I did,
(19:20):
and I cannot wait to see younext time. Take care.