November 24, 2025 • 45 mins
We explore how letting go of people pleasing, building systems, and setting boundaries can transform a small aviation business and a leader’s life. James shares how coaching, health habits, and honest standards turned burnout into momentum and growth.
• shifting from technician to leader
• ending people pleasing and setting boundaries
• delegation with solution-first expectations
• installing simple, measurable performance standards
• marketing engine built to scale demand
• fixing the sales bottleneck with process and roles
• culture built on timely, respectful conversations
• health and discipline as business levers
• focusing on inputs over outcomes to avoid sabotage
• designing a company that runs without the founder
Share with your friends and your colleagues. If you have anybody that you think would be a phenomenal guest, we do all things leadership and taking care of people.
This episode dives into James’s shift from being the “hero” in his aviation business to building a company that runs on systems, not him. He opens up about burnout, people-pleasing disguised as leadership, and how coaching helped him set boundaries, expectations, and a healthier culture. We cover his move from 4 a.m. manual outreach to a real marketing engine, a structured sales process, and simple performance standards that make accountability clear. James also shares personal habits that boosted his energy and mindset, plus the 60-day deployment that exposed every gap in a founder-dependent business. His lessons are practical: empower managers, document processes, and build a business that works without you. Perfect for leaders ready to trade heroics for structure, health, and scalable growth.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host,
Leadership Consultant, RonHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now, to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_04 (00:20):
Good afternoon.
This is Ron Harvey, the VicePresident, Chief Operating
Office for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting.
Back with you again, doinganother podcast with another
phenomenal guest, and you'veheard from him before.
And so we're super excited tohave him come back and visit us
again and continue to unpack, Imean, the world that he's in,
the things that he's doing.
And for all of you that are withus, thank y'all for joining us
(00:40):
once again.
Um, as I said, Ron Harvey.
And I'm gonna hand themicrophone to James and let him
introduce himself, and thenwe're gonna go to work and
unpack some stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
Hey Ron, thank you so much uh for having me on the
show again.
Uh the first time was a greattime, and um happy to be back.
Uh, you know, if if they didn'twatch the first one, a little
bit about me.
I'm a Air Force pilot.
I fly for the KC-135 for the AirNational Guard in Knoxville
part-time and then full-time onan aircraft repair station in
East Tennessee.
Uh, we've got a team of seven,uh roughly$2 million in revenue
(01:11):
and uh and growing.
So um pretty much all I do isplay with airplanes, to put it
simply.
SPEAKER_04 (01:18):
Yes, yes.
And the last time we were in thegreen room and we're having a
good time in the green roombefore people come on, we always
talk in the green room just justjust to catch up with each
other, you know.
And James was sharing differentthings.
So we'll get we'll unpack someof that as we go through.
But life has changed since thelast time you were on the
podcast.
Um, your your team is growingand you're in a different role.
(01:39):
How has how have you made thoseadjustments and um is the first
question.
And then what are some of thechallenges?
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
Yeah, I um I want to say over the past year, that
starting in December of 2024,um, you know, I really started
investing in quite a bit myself,actually.
Um, you know, there's a lot ofthings in my life going that I
didn't think I really wanted itto go that way.
Um, and I started working with acoach and you know, kind of
(02:07):
started walking me through um,you know, people pleasing, and
which this is going a little bitdifferent direction, but it'll
tie in.
Yes.
Um, and I realized, you know,wow, like I'm in a sales role
and I have a team around me, andI am like just feeding off of
pleasing everybody.
(02:27):
And then what happens is, youknow, it never is a recipe for
success.
So I started working uh withthat coach to, you know, hand
somebody an issue, and and uh,you know, I'd pretty much taught
my staff that I I'm the answerto all problems.
And so the first time I handedthem an issue and and then they
would be waiting for the answer.
(02:47):
I'm like, no, I kind of expectyou to to get that answer for
me.
Let me know what you find.
Um, so there's uh we are at anairfield, so you probably hear
the helicopter there.
Uh oh, you're good.
SPEAKER_04 (02:59):
We can't hear it, so it's it's it's actually real
well, so we don't hear it in thebackground.
But can you talk?
Yeah, can you talk on there,James?
So what so you you recognize uhor somewhere a coach helped you
recognize or you recognize thatyou're a people pleaser, and
there are a lot of people thatmay be listening that find
themselves in that sameposition.
What was the biggest challengeonce you realized, like, hey,
the coach identified it, youagreed with it.
(03:19):
What was the the most importantthing you had to overcome to
start addressing it?
SPEAKER_00 (03:25):
Well, I think typically anytime you're in a
leadership position, um you youtend to, you're normally like
the best at what you what youwere, right?
Like you're a good technician ora good what you know, whatever
it was, and then they recognizedthat and moved you into a
leadership position.
And it's a completely differentthing.
It's like not even the same job.
(03:46):
Um, and so I you know, Istruggled a lot with, you know,
you you almost get addicted tolike solving everyone's
problems, being the hero, youknow, showing up being the hero.
And then it's not sustainableand it's not healthy.
And actually, uh, you know, whatI came to learn is you're
actually you're actually kind ofmanipulating people doing that.
(04:07):
And that really took me a longtime to wrap my head around.
Um, you know, when you're nottrue to yourself and you're not
real with somebody, like you'reactually you're doing them a
disservice and you'remanipulating them, and um
started viewing that in a badway.
And I was like, wow, you know,I've been doing that for years.
Um and and so um, yeah, myrelationships have have
(04:31):
strengthened significantly, andI've gotten a lot more
performance out of my staff, andwe're setting up actual systems,
uh sustainable systems, not justme do everything.
Um, to where we're, you know, wewe may take a uh uh a jump this
year, I hope, into multipledigit um, you know, uh multiple
million dollars.
(04:51):
So um it's uh it was toughthough.
SPEAKER_04 (04:55):
Yes, yeah.
So so we are talking, we're inthe green room, and we're
talking about, you know, you gotyou get promoted, and and
oftentimes, you know, um, Ibelieve, you know, for for
promotions, people promote youfor what you're what they want
you to be, not what you used tobe.
How much did you have to shiftonce you got promoted just to
not be the technical expert?
And was that a stretch for you?
(05:16):
Um, like getting out of thisrole of the subject matter
technical expert, and that's notwhat they want you as you go
forward, whole differentresponsibility and role.
How how tough was that?
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
It it's really tough because you're actually
sabotaging yourself um as aleader by and the problem is you
know, I'm a pilot and I'm an I'man actual airframe and power
plant mechanic with myinspector's authorization, like
I have all the ratings like todo the work.
And normally somebody that's inmy position, like in my
business, is normally notthey're just an owner, you know.
(05:47):
Maybe maybe they're a pilot, andthat's it.
So they have you know, they haveno choice, they have to rely on
their team uh to get theanswers.
Um, so I'm in a unique positionwhere I've got a great
opportunity to just step inevery single time, and um it's
not sustainable.
You cannot do that.
SPEAKER_04 (06:10):
Yeah.
How hard was it for you, though?
I mean, because you you'reright, you know, um, you'll see
something and it's easy to justfix it, and it may seem small,
but what what damage does itcall to the development of your
team when you just step in anddo these things that you think
are small?
SPEAKER_00 (06:24):
Well, but it'll keep you stuck.
The pain is you're always gonnabe uh extremely stuck.
Like um, you know, I'd workyeah, it seemed like I'd wake up
at six and get home at 10 p.m.
every single night.
And yeah, I had to sit down andthink about like what in my day
am I doing?
(06:45):
You know, that I could have youknow delegated some of this
where I'd had a normal day.
Um and I was like, well, I couldhave delegated this, could have
delegated that.
And then um, you know, then thenwhat people say is you'll hear
it, you know, like, oh, well, Ican't trust anybody.
Well, you know, that that'sreally often people say that.
Uh, but that's really a cop out.
(07:05):
You know, you you really needto, you know, hand something to
somebody and and give them anexpectation and timeline to turn
it around.
Um, and then you'd be surprisedthe results that you get.
Um, and so um now when peoplecome to me with an issue, I I
really try hard.
I've also like laid theframework with my team, like,
(07:27):
hey, you know, if you come to mewith a problem, I expect a
solution when you come.
So, you know, have as many aspossible, two or three, and then
the one that you think is theright one.
So when when you come to me, Iexpect you to have a solution
also.
SPEAKER_04 (07:42):
Yeah, how do you do it, James?
Because I mean, in in inuniform, you you know, you
mentioned in the room when youdo it, you do it much better,
but in as an entrepreneur,there's still work to be done
for you, you know.
What because it's your baby, Iguess, because it's something
that that belongs to you.
How are you you making thetransition?
Because you can do it.
How are you making thetransition to do it better as an
(08:02):
entrepreneur?
A lot of entrepreneurs listen tous.
So, what what advice do you giveto people that are stuck and not
as good as they need to be atdelegating and empowering?
Because it's not sustainable,you'll never become that that's
that multi-million dollarcompany if you keep doing
everything yourself.
What advice do you share withpeople that are listening that
are in that same direction?
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
I think you need a coach.
I do.
I mean, I think you need somesomebody to tell you this
because for me, even though Ihad very clear like leadership
training in the Air Force, yes,um, and you're right, like in
the cockpit, I mean, I know mylever that I turned, you know, I
left the gear handle, right?
If I'm sitting in the rightseat, the right seat person
lifts the gear handle.
You know, the left person doesnot, you know, reach over and
(08:40):
just go ahead and lift the gearhandle up in front of the other
guy.
I mean, that's a big no-no,right?
Like, that's no, that's clearroles and expectations.
Um, and so um I and I didn't, Ijust didn't see it outside
perspective looking in.
I thought I was, I actuallythought I was doing the right
things.
Um, I I just could not see ituntil I had a coach.
Um, I I would say my it it gotreally um, you know, at some
(09:05):
point you your body's gonnastart shutting down.
You're gonna put yourself in thehospital or you're gonna start
losing the relationships aroundyou.
You're not gonna have thefinancial success to st to
endure, probably, right?
Like if you if you can't figureout how to delegate, you're
there's very I don't know howyou're gonna succeed
financially, uh, beyond what youcan possibly do.
(09:27):
Um, and so um it yeah, it was itwas so good to start working
with somebody and and um I sawthe relationships in my life get
better.
I started I'm now I'm thelightest I've been, uh best best
shape I've been in physically.
Um, and my business is in thebest spot it's been in.
(09:48):
Um and it has real systems likemy marketing system.
I used to handwrite letters topeople.
I would mine the the FA registryand I would handwrite letters
for you know, I would wake up atfour and from four to eight a.m.
I would write handwrite lettersand then I'd show up to the shop
and then try to run the shoptoo, and then then catch workup,
(10:09):
then stay late, you know.
Now I've got a marketing systemthat um where I was getting in
that I was getting like one totwo leads maybe a month or
something.
Now we're getting like 70 in amonth.
It's so much that my it createda whole new problem, which is
our sales process.
So and it and it works with orwithout me.
The only thing I really need todo is shoot shoot the content
(10:30):
and do podcasts for that thatmarketing system to keep going.
SPEAKER_04 (10:34):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, because what you whatyou're saying is hey, use the
systems around you and thepeople around you so you don't
have to get up at 4 a.m.
Uh, you don't have to handwritethese letters, you don't have to
do everything that I mean, itstill has to happen, but but I
think you spoke a lot of peoplejust don't trust anybody's gonna
do it as well as they can.
When the truth is they may do itbetter than you.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
Uh no, they're there.
You'd be surprised when somebodyhas nothing else better.
You know, their sole thing is toonly do that.
Um, they can do it way betterthan you when you're juggling 25
different hats.
You know, you're actuallyprobably not good at any of
them.
Um, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (11:12):
So people listen to this podcast like I'm good at
all of them.
No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
No, you're not.
You're definitely not.
You're like marginal at best.
And um that you know, you youkind of get it depends.
Somebody with an ego, too.
It uh you get drunk with that.
So um, and then you think you'redoing good, but you're really
not.
I've learned that one again.
A second big one was um my salesprocess that now I'm I'm fixing.
(11:40):
Well, you know, there's like apileup of like 200 leads, and
all of them want my you know, myservices, like legit, they're
they're opportunities uh on aCRM side lingo.
And okay, there's 200 people,and most of them want to talk to
me for about an hour.
That's 200 hours.
Yeah, that's not gonna work.
(12:01):
Yes, even if I sit down and textall of them, all I want, you
know, the CRM helps, but youknow, so I had to I had to find
somebody that um could help melike nurture these leads and get
them team up for me so that Ionly talk to them at the end
when they're when they're readyto ready to close.
Um, and I found somebody thatdoes it way better, and she has
nothing else better to do butthat.
SPEAKER_04 (12:23):
Yes, and you want them to be good at where they
are.
I mean, I love it forentrepreneurs that are listening
to use the systems.
Um, it may make you feel good,but it will hurt your business
long term.
Hand it off to someone else, andand they're only three to four
things.
So figure out what you'resupposed to be doing in your
business, and it's noteverything.
SPEAKER_00 (12:39):
Um, this one I was tempted to do it in the same
same thing.
Um, you know, all of a sudden weidentified, okay, we've got a
big sales bottleneck, this is ahuge problem.
And okay, two options, right?
Like I sit down and I do I workfrom 4 a.m.
to to 10 p.m.
and I I neglect every otherportion of my business.
Yeah, you can do that.
(13:00):
You can, or you start developinga system that's sustainable,
right?
Like I can only do that formaybe a a month, yes, and then
I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonnastart losing things that are
important to me, maybe myhealth.
Yes, yes, so so I I forcedmyself on this one, even though
it was tough.
I wish I would have I wantedresults faster, but it's like so
(13:20):
it took me four weeks to reallyinstall a better sales process,
and uh we're we're just nowstarting to see results from it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:28):
Yes, I mean it's never too late to start for
those of you out there andyou're on the fence, you know,
you're hearing like really, youknow, James, it works.
Um, just put it in place andyou're never too late to start,
you know.
Um, if you wait tomorrow, thenyou're just one day later.
But but put something in place.
How do you how did you create aculture?
Because going from peoplepleasing to holding people
accountable and creating anenvironment where they will be
(13:48):
open and honest with you, howdid you you create that kind of
environment in the work in yourin your company?
SPEAKER_00 (13:55):
Well, I'm still working on it right now.
And my my staff is still small,so we'll see how it scales.
But um, you know, crew I uh I Ihired a coach uh over the past
like three months ago, yeah.
Um, and another one to justspecifically help me and um the
manager that works for me toinstall.
We've never had management, youknow, any sort of formal
(14:18):
management system in placewhatsoever to to guide behaviors
or the culture or the outcomes.
And we always just you knowthought they should be doing the
thing that they're supposed tobe doing.
And what the heck, why aren'tthey doing the thing?
And then and then we get allpissed off and and let them go,
right?
Like it is like, well, whoreally failed them?
No, we did.
And so we the first thing westarted working with this coach,
(14:41):
and he's like, So let's, andI'll put this in layman's terms
or something.
He's like, Okay, so you guyswork in a maintenance shop,
let's say, let's say how howlong does it take to change an
hour or a tire?
And we're like, Oh, it takes twohours, you know, or something
like that.
He's like, pretty, prettyconfident, right?
Like, it takes two hours tochange the tire.
I was like, Yeah, I mean, 99% ofthe people can change it in two
(15:01):
hours, depending on what's goingon, as long as nothing crazy
happens.
He's like, Okay, what happenswhen somebody takes six hours to
change the tire?
What what what happens then?
And it's like, do you what doyou tell them?
And it's like me and me and mymanager looking at each other,
and we're like, Well, no, wedon't.
He's like, Yeah, I know what'sgoing on here.
(15:21):
You're not having conversationswith people.
You you gotta have crucialconversations and speak up when
things aren't working for you,and ideally, like right away.
SPEAKER_04 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean, which which is hard for a lot of
leaders um to have crucialconversations, yeah, especially
if you're trying to makeeverybody happy.
Yes, yeah.
If you want everybody to behappy, the last thing you want
to do is say something that thatdoesn't create happiness.
Um, and sometimes having thatcritical conversation for making
sure people um are meeting yourexpectations, is but you want
(15:51):
everybody to be happy.
Sometimes it's just no, it's notthat they're unhappy, you may
feel unhappy and not good aboutit, but people want to know when
they failed you and they want toknow when they're not meeting
their standard, and they want toknow how to get better.
So we owe that to them, but youstill should do it respectfully.
So avoiding it is not a good wayof getting getting it done.
So when you start thinking aboutyou know the growth you've had
(16:12):
in in your company as an as anentrepreneur, you brought
someone on as a manager.
How important is it for you toget out of the way and let that
manager do what you used to bethe best at?
SPEAKER_00 (16:24):
Uh well, I don't know if I was the best at being
a manager.
I don't think I've ever been thebest at that role, but um it it
has been hard because I youknow, for for instance, when we
start working with this coach,is like, well, what happens when
who does the performance review?
Well, James does the performancereview.
You know, what happens whenexpectations aren't met?
(16:44):
Well, James, James has a talkwith them.
It's like you guys see a problemwith this?
SPEAKER_03 (16:50):
Yes, everything is James.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then I and then I wonderwhy, you know, the the culture's
not not working well and why youknow performance drops when I'm
not here, you know, when I'm outflying or doing something else
that I need to be doing for thebusiness.
It's uh it's just a lightswitch, right?
James is in the shop, you know.
They we get work ahead of them.
James is not in the shop, theydon't do anything, you know.
I wonder why.
(17:14):
I wonder why.
SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
The only one that can enforce it is James.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (17:19):
Yes, yes.
Wow.
So when you start thinking aboutthe the over the year, you've
you've you know you've you'vehad a coach, you brought someone
on to help you out, which isreally, you know, congrats to
you for that.
What do you think is the thething that you've grown the most
in since the last time thatwe've had a conversation on the
podcast?
What what has really changed foryou and and your personal
development?
SPEAKER_00 (17:40):
I've I've worked a lot on myself.
Um uh really working with with auh kind of a I would say 2024
was a year of me investing inmyself and it and it actually
sounds cringe worthy, you know,back then, like for me to think
about, oh, why would I ever, youknow, because I I felt I thought
(18:01):
self-sacrifice equaled loyalty.
That's not true, right?
Like you need to somebody brokethis down to me and was like,
James, like that if James showsup and he's the 10.0 version of
himself, is that better or worsefor your wife?
I'm like, well, better.
What about for your team?
Better, you know, what about foryour friends around you?
Better.
He's like, see what I'm saying?
(18:23):
Yeah, you've got to work onyourself, you gotta make a
better version of yourself.
And that's I I feel like I'vedone the work um over the past
year of of really kind ofidentifying areas where you know
I can improve.
And uh some have been reallyhard, um, especially people
pleasing and and uh trying to uhkind of emotionally uh the the
(18:44):
other thing is taking it home,right?
Like, oh, why is that personupset?
It's like James, that's not yourlike, dude.
You you're gonna crawl inside ofthe back of their brain and try
to figure out why they're upset.
You can't do that.
Like, um you you need to youknow give them the opportunity
to tell you and then move on,right?
Like you can't fix them.
(19:06):
I'm manipulative that is.
SPEAKER_04 (19:08):
Yeah, I love that you're you know your level of
vulnerability and transparency.
So so you have a militarybackground, um, which which
people will automatically thinkleadership management has some
exposure experience.
Um, and you're you're anentrepreneur, which people also
make some assumptions that youshould have it.
When did you realize like evenwith all of that, that you were
not prepared for what was nextand what you needed to be?
SPEAKER_00 (19:32):
Well, we hit a wall.
Um, I mean, you're just you justhit the wall, and you're either
gonna when you do that, you'reyou're gonna either start losing
relationships, you're gonnastart maybe abusing sus
substances that luckily I getdrug tested through the Air
Force, so that's not an option,but um, you know, you're what
something's gotta give, right?
(19:53):
Um, and you're not gonna achievethe success that you want.
Um, and so um I I yeah, I Ithink you either you either look
in the mirror and say, okay, I'mthe one holding this back, or
you you I mean, probably a lotof people quit, right?
(20:13):
They they say that's the painpoint in business is kind of
like write around 10 directreports and one million dollars
is like that's the pain point.
Most people either they eithertake the next step or they quit.
SPEAKER_04 (20:24):
Yes, yeah.
And that's important becausethere are going to be different
pain points depending on whereyou start a business, become a
million-dollar business, yourteam grows.
There's things that you got tomake adjustments to once your
team, you know.
And I love that you say, hey,you know what?
If your team gets better andyou're not getting coaching or
someone's not helping you getbetter, at some point you become
ineffective as a leader for thatorganization because you're not
growing.
So professional development, ifif you're listening, it's super
(20:46):
important that you're constantlygetting better.
You know, what's the you know,the different version of you
every year, and how do youintentionally do that?
So when you when you're thinkingof an organization and building
trust, one of the things that'sshown up a lot, you know, trust
is is is very challenging to inin today's time.
How do how do you go about youknow continue to work on
building trust within your ownorganization?
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
I think you got to be true with yourself to begin
with.
I mean, that sounds like acop-out answer, but uh, I
learned it firsthand.
Like when you're not true toyourself, people actually don't
respect you and they do nottrust you.
That does not build trust orloyalty to go around and just
try to make everybody happy.
So you need to be true toyourself.
And um, for me, I I I like beinga good person.
(21:30):
I really do.
I like to take care of everyonearound me.
But you know, the questionbecomes are you doing it for uh
their loyalty or are you doingit because it makes you happy?
Um, and so when I when I satdown, I'm like, okay, so if I
take the guys out to lunch, whatam I doing?
You know, well, I how about I doit for myself?
I just like to do it rather thanwith some sort of underlying
(21:52):
expectation.
Um, and then if and then whenyou start trying to uh well when
you don't set boundaries, justpeople don't respect you.
I mean, you could be in thegrocery store in the line or
anywhere.
Um you'll start showing up thetakers, but when you finally set
an expectation, just like you'resaying with the team, people
people want to be told whenthey're not not meeting
(22:13):
expectations.
Um they're not doing great allthe time.
And so when you actually tellthem, hey man, uh you know, this
is uh, you know, there's atwo-hour tire change, took six
hours.
What happened?
Yes.
Okay, well, next next time, doyou think you can do it in two
hours?
You know, so you're telling meyou you're you know, you uh are
(22:35):
taking accountability, you agreethat you can do this in two
hours next time.
Okay, let's do it.
SPEAKER_04 (22:40):
Yes, I love it.
How do you do so?
For for when you when you'reworking with individuals and
you're you're not being open andhonest, um and you don't give
people feedback, how damaging isthat for you as a as a as an
individual and as a as a uhorganization?
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Uh well, I think the wheels will come off at some
point because the culture won'tbe there.
Um, especially in anorganization where you have
power, like it becomes a gimme,gimme, gimme.
Yeah.
Like as soon as somebody wants,you know, some soup, somebody
wants a raise, you know, and yougive them a raise, even though
it's to your detriment, right?
Like, even though you can'tafford it.
Let's let's put it that way.
Let's say somebody comes in youroffice and like, I want to raise
(23:19):
with with let let's say you knowthe company's not making any
money, any more money, and youknow, they haven't gained any
more skills, they just wantmore, you know, and then you
can't actually afford it, butyou say yes.
Um, that's not good for them,it's not good for you.
And uh the culture will startcoming up coming undone, and the
(23:40):
rest of the team will see it,and then you know, it just
becomes a gimme, gimme, gimme,and you're just going around uh
making uh trying to make otherpeople happy, even to your
detriment.
And so setting a healthyboundary and actually loving
them and be like, hey man, um,you know, I hear you.
Okay.
Um, unfortunately, right now,this is all I can afford.
Or um, you know, if you couldtake these things off my plate,
(24:02):
then we could talk about it.
SPEAKER_04 (24:03):
Yes, yes, I love it.
Have you have you, you know, oneof the things you mentioned
earlier I love to unpack alittle bit is when you're doing
something because either youknow it makes you feel good or
you're doing it because you wantto to almost do it so you they
owe you something.
It's almost like this guilttrip.
Uh, I'm gonna do this and thenthey're gonna have to do it.
Has that ever gotten you introuble?
SPEAKER_00 (24:21):
Oh, yeah.
It subconsciously, I I do feellike I'm a good person.
I tried to do the right thing.
So I never in my brain was Iintentionally trying to
manipulate somebody orsomething, but that's what
you're doing.
When you're not true toyourself, when you're not true
to yourself and um you don't setboundaries, you're I I forget
(24:47):
the saying, but it I thinkpeople that are um a lot of
successful people in life comefrom a traumatic childhood.
Um there's a an immense amountof studies that show that.
And typically the the saying forthat is or the term for that is
called codependency.
And so you're hyper-aware ofyour emotional surroundings
(25:08):
because that's what you had todo to get by when you were a
child.
Uh but as an adult, when youdon't set boundaries with
people, you can it can take youinto financial ruin.
You could you could uh bring onanother partner and uh make a
really bad decision when youknow in your heart it's not good
for you.
And so if it's not good for you,there's no way it can be good
(25:30):
for them either.
SPEAKER_04 (25:31):
So you mentioned, James, um, as we we give it uh
to wrap up, you've mentioned acouple of times, you know, that
you're lighter than you've everbeen, you feel healthier and
you're happier.
How important was it for you togain control of your own health
while while doing you know themultiple things, your family,
your business, your militarycareer, and sometimes you'll
(25:51):
lose taking care of you.
How important and what would youshare with people that are
listening?
Self-care and making sure youyou take care of you.
What would you share with theaudience?
SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
Um, yeah, just taking a simple 30-minute walk
in the mornings or at some pointin the day at all, just walking
outside is a huge step to yourmental stability and and your
health.
You'll start dropping awaysignificantly just on a
30-minute walk.
Um, but somebody told me this along time ago.
I mean, I still haven't seen itall the way with me, but you
(26:21):
know, your your physical fitnessis the directly linked to your
bank account, too.
Um and uh I think it it teachesyou discipline and ultimately um
exercise.
It's really, really stressful todo what we do, especially if
you're an entrepreneur andyou're doing this, uh building
it.
(26:42):
But anyone in a leadershipposition, uh, or any really any
position, um, it's it's verydifficult to do this without any
sort of um you know help.
And so doing a little bit ofexercise, whether it's a walk,
whether it's workouts, it it itdecreases your stress and uh you
end up showing up better.
(27:02):
So it goes back to that 10.0version, right?
Like if you you know, if you ifthe 10.0 version of yourself
showed up, it would be betterfor everyone around you.
SPEAKER_04 (27:10):
Yes, yes.
I love it.
And I'm glad that you're usinglike the the different versions,
you know.
Analogy I always use witheveryone, and I asked them, hey,
you know, when did when didiPhones come out?
And people like, yeah, about2007.
I say, yeah, what was that firstversion?
Like, what are you talkingabout, Ron?
I said, Yeah, what was thatfirst version?
It was called iPhone.
I say, what version are they attoday?
(27:30):
And people like 16 or 17, I say,so you think in 20 year, you
know, 20-year mark, you know, sothey're at about 18 years of
being on the market and theyhave 16 versions.
I say, if they're smart enoughto know that there has to be a
different version of themselvesalmost every year.
Like, are you doing the samething for you to make sure that
(27:52):
you're still very valuableresource for the people that you
that are looking up to you anddepending on you?
So I think you're right when itcomes to health, when it comes
to mental health, or it comes toyou know taking care of yourself
and educating yourself um andgoing to get the the technical
skills you need or theeducational credentials that you
need.
What is it if you look atyourself?
What version are you this yearand what version should you be
(28:12):
next year?
So I love that you're sayingthat because it's so important.
SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
Wow, that's a tough one.
I don't know.
I don't know, maybe I would saythree years ago, I was probably
version like 3.0.
SPEAKER_03 (28:26):
Like it was not it around, like, wait a minute, I'm
still at 3.0.
I need to be at a differentversion and before I do better
now than I was.
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
I know I'm a much better version of myself.
I I I really like who showedwho's showing up right now.
This version of myself, I reallyenjoy.
Um, and I'm and you know that II suppose pride, right?
Like, is it you know it it's notthe right word, but you know,
you can be you know proud oflike the performance that you're
(28:57):
doing or the work that you did.
And I've never in my life beenable to say, well, you know, I'm
kind of proud of myself thatI've made this progress, but now
I'm able to say that.
And um I encourage you to getthere, right?
Like those out there listening,get there.
SPEAKER_04 (29:12):
I have a question for you.
As I listen to what you'resharing, uh a different
question.
I was giving a wrap-up, but thisquestion showed up as you were
speaking.
Can success sometimes get in theway of future growth?
SPEAKER_00 (29:24):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think you startto get drunk on chaos sometimes.
Um, and so for whatever reason,and I I kind of have gone
through this too, like evenrelatively recently where we
started having a lot of successin our marketing, you know.
(29:44):
Well, if you're kind of used toalways being hand of mouth, or
really things are always tight,or you know, there's always some
sort of fire, and you you're theone that's always going and
putting out, you're gettingsomething from that.
Yes, and each person'sdifferent, you gotta work
through that yourself, but umyou're Body can actually start
to like revolt when you startlosing that.
And uh they call itself-sabotage, right?
(30:06):
Like and I I try to um I try toat least I'm I'm not you know I
still sabotage myself, and umyou know I try to just be if you
can just get to the point whereyou're being aware about it, you
know.
Okay, what's the best version ofme?
What well if I if I walk forabout 30 minutes a day, and
that's that's one thing for methat will get me to my closer to
(30:29):
my goal.
So um when I start skipping thata lot, that's sabotaging me
getting to my end goal.
Um there could be all kinds ofstuff.
It and for me, it's like youknow, okay, there's 200 leads,
um, and me not setting up asystem fast enough.
Am I sabotaging myself?
(30:50):
Yeah, because I still whybecause I I still get something
out of you know working crazyamount of hours and uh you know
being the guy that fixes it.
SPEAKER_04 (31:03):
Yes, yes.
One of the things that the wordthat's shown up as I listen, you
know, um, for all the stuff thatyou're sharing, which is
phenomenal for our listeners,the word that's coming to mind
is is is self-discipline.
I mean, where does that play inall the things that you're
mentioning?
How disciplined do you have tobe to stay on course with it?
Because some days you youactually don't feel like doing
it, you may not feel your best,or something went wrong and and
(31:24):
or something happened in thefamily, or you got some bad
news, or you didn't win thatsale, or you lost the sale.
Things happen that can make youjust like, I don't want to do
it.
I just I just want to gosomewhere, put my head in the
sand, and when I pull it out, Ihope everything's gone away.
How important is it for you tostay disciplined?
SPEAKER_00 (31:38):
I'll tell you, there's two things that come to
mind on that.
Um, one of them I'll share fromone of the coaches is like,
James, you gotta find your valuefrom inside.
And that everyone says that, butyou got to figure that out like
on your own.
Um, but he's like, your value isjust as much when you close 10
sales as it is zero, and youneed to get there.
You're that you're you're stillthe same valuable person
(32:00):
regardless of the outcome.
Um, you know, you just need to,and the term is resulting,
right?
Like, okay, well, if 10 sales,if I get 10 sales, then I'm
really motivated.
Well, what about if you get zerosales?
Yes, then what?
You know, then are you gonna godrink?
Are you gonna, you know, are yougonna start doing things that
sabotage you?
So you can't.
You can't focus on the result,you just gotta focus on the
(32:22):
input, right?
Like, you just gotta do thethings that you know that will
drive you closer to your goals.
What's one thing that drives mecloser to my goals?
It's taking a 30-minute walk inthe morning.
It is, you know, and uh what'sanother thing?
Oh, okay, calling people in a ina fast enough time, getting back
to them, getting up, building asystem that'll get people
quotes, okay.
Um, and and I'm able to do thatwith zero or ten or a hundred or
(32:47):
thousand or a million, right?
Like, and there is a saying, uh,you know, that that uh money um
exaggerates the person that youare.
So if you've got a bad drinkingproblem, money's gonna make that
worse.
If you um if you've got all thisother stuff going on, if you're
a massive people pleaser like Iwas, it's gonna make it worse.
And so you gotta work onyourself and fix that.
(33:08):
The the other thing though, umuh, because I I I definitely
work in spurts, yes, um, is uhthe the manager that works works
with me um actually taught mehe's like James, you you put
down on your list what you'regonna do that day, and by God
you're gonna do it, and then ifyou don't take care of it the
(33:29):
next day, it's no big deal, andthen the next day, or if on
Wednesdays you do X and thenthat Wednesday something comes
up, well, doesn't matter.
Next Wednesday, you're gonnaroll right back into it.
It's not like you're just gonnago into a slide and never do it
again.
Um, and that for whatever reasonthat one resonated with me too
quite a bit.
SPEAKER_04 (33:47):
Yeah, I think that for for for me as I'm listening,
you know, how do you have somesome grace with yourself that
that you know um, you know, whatprobably one of the better
lessons I've learned, you know,as I've you know started doing
leadership and spending a lot oftime in this space is is I
didn't always have to be rightand I didn't always have to have
the answer.
And and that helped slow me downand not be so critical of myself
(34:07):
because you know when you're inleadership, sometimes you feel
like you you should have everyanswer all the time for
everybody.
And and that will will drive youto drinking you know real fast
because the minute you don't,you feel less like you feel less
capable, less qualified, and youdidn't get accomplished what you
want to get accomplished.
And and even if you did 10,000things right, you that one thing
will derail you.
(34:28):
And so I had to get to the placewhere you don't have to always
be right for every single personfor every scenario.
Sometimes you just don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
Man, I feel yeah, I feel that.
SPEAKER_04 (34:40):
I'm like, okay, let me get past this thing because
it it it will it'll be a weightthat you'll carry around forever
that that will drag you downover time.
And so I had to get to the placewhere I was okay with not
knowing.
Like, you know what?
I really don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (34:52):
Let me let me ask you that this on there.
What's ask you this question onthat?
Is what what was it that made itclick in your head where you
were able to finally kind of letgo?
SPEAKER_04 (35:03):
Yeah, I think it was it was more of maturity, and as
the kids got older and life waschanging fast, what used to be
the answer was no longer theanswer.
And so it worked for maybe threeyears ago, but because the world
was changing so fast, so likehow do you expect to keep up
with it unless you're gonna keepyour face or your nose in a book
all the time on the internet allthe time?
They're just things you don'tknow.
(35:23):
Um, and I had to get past andhave a military background as
well.
And as you go up and rank in themilitary, like saying you don't
know was almost like sabotage.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
Oh, yeah.
And then you know the funnything is you walk into certain
rooms, everybody's got a front.
I was like, I'm the one guythough in in the room like that.
I'm like, I have no effing cluewhat we are talking about.
Can somebody walk me back onthis?
And everyone else is thinkingit, they just won't say it.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
A career ender.
SPEAKER_04 (35:50):
You want to end your career?
I don't know.
And I think it may it may be,but but that was a maturity
point of you know, changing mymindset from the military
mindset, you know, and I learnedit more in corporate American
and entrepreneur.
That hey, you know, we were in acompany and and there's just
things I don't even know.
I don't want to be the expert.
And I had to get be okay with,hey, your team knows that's all
(36:10):
you need to know.
Like, who on your team knowswhat it is that that what that
thing is?
So I'll tell you, that's whyit's it's a maturity thing.
Um, it's a transition from youknow one career to the next
career, and then realizing justbecoming smart enough.
Like, if you're the only onethat got the answer, your trunk,
your company's in trouble.
unknown (36:29):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:30):
That I was deployed last year uh with the Air Force.
I was removed from my businessthousands of miles away for 60
days.
Wow.
And all of a sudden, all thethings that I could just jump in
and fix myself, I could not doanymore.
SPEAKER_04 (36:49):
I mean, we may think of this like let's let's remove
you for for two weeks, and youcan't respond in your company
for two weeks.
SPEAKER_00 (36:55):
Oh, and by the way, we didn't have the savings to
make it through either.
It was like now, like it's notlike we had 60 days worth of
cash built up where it's like,oh, it's no big deal, the
pressure's off.
SPEAKER_04 (37:06):
Everything with it when everything goes wrong,
everything goes wrong, and yourteam will show you that they're
more than capable.
And that that may be a good casestudy for some companies that
will go through and say, let usremove you for for not even 60
days, let's just do it for 20days, and you don't get to make
any decisions in your companyfor 20 days.
You're just gonna stand back,and you're not that you're not
gonna be accessible.
And how many people can reallydo it um across the board?
(37:27):
I think that'll be a really goodlesson, a lesson for everybody
that you went through for 60days.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
Yeah, and the problem was I had no systems in
place, and especially withmanagement leadership, uh, you
know, the culture in the shop,sales, marketing.
Um it really, really.
SPEAKER_04 (37:49):
Well, Jay, this has been great, man.
As usual, I mean, I alwaysenjoy.
Um, as you as we as we wrap up,is there anything you want to
share about your company, aboutthe work or what you do?
I mean, uh tons of people listento the podcast.
Is there anything you want toshare about your company before
we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
Yeah, if you're um, you know, many of my customers
are small business owners andthey um they own a private
aircraft and or they uh they'relooking to start taking those
steps.
Um, if that's something thatyou're thinking about, um it
it's not like very few peopleown air airplanes, but it's
definitely a doable thing.
And so if it's something that'son your mind, uh I'm sure the
(38:27):
contact info will be here.
You can go to my website,www.spearmintaircraft.com.
If you already have an airplane,I'd love to help you with it.
But if it's something that youmight even be thinking about,
I'd um you know, I'd love towalk you through the process um
and kind of show you the ropesof how do you buy an airplane
and and how do you learn to flyit too.
So um I'd love to help.
SPEAKER_04 (38:48):
Wow.
Well, if I'm if I'm ever inTennessee, I've I've never been
on a private plane, so I'd loveto go take a flight out with
someone that's flying.
So hey, let me go fly in aprivate plane.
SPEAKER_00 (38:56):
Yeah, I'll take you up.
SPEAKER_04 (38:57):
Yeah, like like let you take me up in the aircraft
and you know, like wow, I neverimagined it to be like this.
So that would be a great trip.
Um, so thank you for sharingyour contact information.
Any last-minute wisdom you wantto drop, you want to drop for
people that are listening?
SPEAKER_00 (39:11):
Uh we discussed a lot.
Uh nothing just uh immediatelyjumps in my head, but Ron, I I
really am looking forward toworking with you, uh, especially
as my business continues takingsteps.
And um, I I uh hope yourlisteners um enjoyed the show
and I I really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_04 (39:29):
Yeah, man.
You're good.
I enjoy, I mean, you're down toearth, and you got so much that
you bring to the table from somany different angles as an
entrepreneur, you know, as aveteran, as a person that went
from managing to leading tofiguring out what are the
struggles, and everybody does.
I think we're becoming better atjust being transparent, even as
a father.
My father, I say things to mykids that my father never talked
about.
Like you just didn't hear, likeuh none of you like be a kid.
(39:53):
But I think it's a disservice tothem to not learn from our life.
And I think every leader, like,what are your people learning
from your experience?
Do they really have to be in thedriver's seat?
Why can't they learn from yourexperience?
And when they get in there, theydrive faster, more efficiently,
and safer than you ever drove inyour life.
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
Yeah, there's a lot there, man.
That's really good.
SPEAKER_04 (40:14):
So I think that's what I would leave with everyone
is is what are people gettingfrom you that makes them better
when they're in the driver'sseat?
Way before they become thedriver.
And I think we owe that to thenext generation.
So thank you for everything thatyou're doing.
I look forward to working withyou as well.
So, everybody, we're gonna signoff, unpack with Ron Harvey
again.
Thanks for joining us.
Share with your friends and yourcolleagues.
(40:35):
And if you have anybody that youthink would be a phenomenal
guest, we do all thingsleadership and taking care of
people.
Um, so if you think that'd be agreat guest to have those kind
of conversations, we'd love tohave them.
Until next time, um, James and Iwill sign off and tell you thank
you for joining us.
SPEAKER_00 (40:50):
Thanks, Ron.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us every Mondayas Ron Unpacks Sound Advice,
providing real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, remember to addvalue and make a difference
where you are for the people youserve, because people always
(41:16):
matter.
Welcome to Unpack Podcast with your host,
Leadership Consultant, RonHarvey of Global Core Strategies
and Consulting.
Ron believes that leadership isthe fundamental driver towards
making a difference.
So now, to find out more of whatit means to unpack leadership,
here's your host, Ron Harvey.
SPEAKER_04 (00:20):
Good afternoon.
This is Ron Harvey, the VicePresident, Chief Operating
Office for Global CoreStrategies and Consulting.
Back with you again, doinganother podcast with another
phenomenal guest, and you'veheard from him before.
And so we're super excited tohave him come back and visit us
again and continue to unpack, Imean, the world that he's in,
the things that he's doing.
And for all of you that are withus, thank y'all for joining us
(00:40):
once again.
Um, as I said, Ron Harvey.
And I'm gonna hand themicrophone to James and let him
introduce himself, and thenwe're gonna go to work and
unpack some stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
Hey Ron, thank you so much uh for having me on the
show again.
Uh the first time was a greattime, and um happy to be back.
Uh, you know, if if they didn'twatch the first one, a little
bit about me.
I'm a Air Force pilot.
I fly for the KC-135 for the AirNational Guard in Knoxville
part-time and then full-time onan aircraft repair station in
East Tennessee.
Uh, we've got a team of seven,uh roughly$2 million in revenue
(01:11):
and uh and growing.
So um pretty much all I do isplay with airplanes, to put it
simply.
SPEAKER_04 (01:18):
Yes, yes.
And the last time we were in thegreen room and we're having a
good time in the green roombefore people come on, we always
talk in the green room just justjust to catch up with each
other, you know.
And James was sharing differentthings.
So we'll get we'll unpack someof that as we go through.
But life has changed since thelast time you were on the
podcast.
Um, your your team is growingand you're in a different role.
(01:39):
How has how have you made thoseadjustments and um is the first
question.
And then what are some of thechallenges?
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
Yeah, I um I want to say over the past year, that
starting in December of 2024,um, you know, I really started
investing in quite a bit myself,actually.
Um, you know, there's a lot ofthings in my life going that I
didn't think I really wanted itto go that way.
Um, and I started working with acoach and you know, kind of
(02:07):
started walking me through um,you know, people pleasing, and
which this is going a little bitdifferent direction, but it'll
tie in.
Yes.
Um, and I realized, you know,wow, like I'm in a sales role
and I have a team around me, andI am like just feeding off of
pleasing everybody.
(02:27):
And then what happens is, youknow, it never is a recipe for
success.
So I started working uh withthat coach to, you know, hand
somebody an issue, and and uh,you know, I'd pretty much taught
my staff that I I'm the answerto all problems.
And so the first time I handedthem an issue and and then they
would be waiting for the answer.
(02:47):
I'm like, no, I kind of expectyou to to get that answer for
me.
Let me know what you find.
Um, so there's uh we are at anairfield, so you probably hear
the helicopter there.
Uh oh, you're good.
SPEAKER_04 (02:59):
We can't hear it, so it's it's it's actually real
well, so we don't hear it in thebackground.
But can you talk?
Yeah, can you talk on there,James?
So what so you you recognize uhor somewhere a coach helped you
recognize or you recognize thatyou're a people pleaser, and
there are a lot of people thatmay be listening that find
themselves in that sameposition.
What was the biggest challengeonce you realized, like, hey,
the coach identified it, youagreed with it.
(03:19):
What was the the most importantthing you had to overcome to
start addressing it?
SPEAKER_00 (03:25):
Well, I think typically anytime you're in a
leadership position, um you youtend to, you're normally like
the best at what you what youwere, right?
Like you're a good technician ora good what you know, whatever
it was, and then they recognizedthat and moved you into a
leadership position.
And it's a completely differentthing.
It's like not even the same job.
(03:46):
Um, and so I you know, Istruggled a lot with, you know,
you you almost get addicted tolike solving everyone's
problems, being the hero, youknow, showing up being the hero.
And then it's not sustainableand it's not healthy.
And actually, uh, you know, whatI came to learn is you're
actually you're actually kind ofmanipulating people doing that.
(04:07):
And that really took me a longtime to wrap my head around.
Um, you know, when you're nottrue to yourself and you're not
real with somebody, like you'reactually you're doing them a
disservice and you'remanipulating them, and um
started viewing that in a badway.
And I was like, wow, you know,I've been doing that for years.
Um and and so um, yeah, myrelationships have have
(04:31):
strengthened significantly, andI've gotten a lot more
performance out of my staff, andwe're setting up actual systems,
uh sustainable systems, not justme do everything.
Um, to where we're, you know, wewe may take a uh uh a jump this
year, I hope, into multipledigit um, you know, uh multiple
million dollars.
(04:51):
So um it's uh it was toughthough.
SPEAKER_04 (04:55):
Yes, yeah.
So so we are talking, we're inthe green room, and we're
talking about, you know, you gotyou get promoted, and and
oftentimes, you know, um, Ibelieve, you know, for for
promotions, people promote youfor what you're what they want
you to be, not what you used tobe.
How much did you have to shiftonce you got promoted just to
not be the technical expert?
And was that a stretch for you?
(05:16):
Um, like getting out of thisrole of the subject matter
technical expert, and that's notwhat they want you as you go
forward, whole differentresponsibility and role.
How how tough was that?
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
It it's really tough because you're actually
sabotaging yourself um as aleader by and the problem is you
know, I'm a pilot and I'm an I'man actual airframe and power
plant mechanic with myinspector's authorization, like
I have all the ratings like todo the work.
And normally somebody that's inmy position, like in my
business, is normally notthey're just an owner, you know.
(05:47):
Maybe maybe they're a pilot, andthat's it.
So they have you know, they haveno choice, they have to rely on
their team uh to get theanswers.
Um, so I'm in a unique positionwhere I've got a great
opportunity to just step inevery single time, and um it's
not sustainable.
You cannot do that.
SPEAKER_04 (06:10):
Yeah.
How hard was it for you, though?
I mean, because you you'reright, you know, um, you'll see
something and it's easy to justfix it, and it may seem small,
but what what damage does itcall to the development of your
team when you just step in anddo these things that you think
are small?
SPEAKER_00 (06:24):
Well, but it'll keep you stuck.
The pain is you're always gonnabe uh extremely stuck.
Like um, you know, I'd workyeah, it seemed like I'd wake up
at six and get home at 10 p.m.
every single night.
And yeah, I had to sit down andthink about like what in my day
am I doing?
(06:45):
You know, that I could have youknow delegated some of this
where I'd had a normal day.
Um and I was like, well, I couldhave delegated this, could have
delegated that.
And then um, you know, then thenwhat people say is you'll hear
it, you know, like, oh, well, Ican't trust anybody.
Well, you know, that that'sreally often people say that.
Uh, but that's really a cop out.
(07:05):
You know, you you really needto, you know, hand something to
somebody and and give them anexpectation and timeline to turn
it around.
Um, and then you'd be surprisedthe results that you get.
Um, and so um now when peoplecome to me with an issue, I I
really try hard.
I've also like laid theframework with my team, like,
(07:27):
hey, you know, if you come to mewith a problem, I expect a
solution when you come.
So, you know, have as many aspossible, two or three, and then
the one that you think is theright one.
So when when you come to me, Iexpect you to have a solution
also.
SPEAKER_04 (07:42):
Yeah, how do you do it, James?
Because I mean, in in inuniform, you you know, you
mentioned in the room when youdo it, you do it much better,
but in as an entrepreneur,there's still work to be done
for you, you know.
What because it's your baby, Iguess, because it's something
that that belongs to you.
How are you you making thetransition?
Because you can do it.
How are you making thetransition to do it better as an
(08:02):
entrepreneur?
A lot of entrepreneurs listen tous.
So, what what advice do you giveto people that are stuck and not
as good as they need to be atdelegating and empowering?
Because it's not sustainable,you'll never become that that's
that multi-million dollarcompany if you keep doing
everything yourself.
What advice do you share withpeople that are listening that
are in that same direction?
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
I think you need a coach.
I do.
I mean, I think you need somesomebody to tell you this
because for me, even though Ihad very clear like leadership
training in the Air Force, yes,um, and you're right, like in
the cockpit, I mean, I know mylever that I turned, you know, I
left the gear handle, right?
If I'm sitting in the rightseat, the right seat person
lifts the gear handle.
You know, the left person doesnot, you know, reach over and
(08:40):
just go ahead and lift the gearhandle up in front of the other
guy.
I mean, that's a big no-no,right?
Like, that's no, that's clearroles and expectations.
Um, and so um I and I didn't, Ijust didn't see it outside
perspective looking in.
I thought I was, I actuallythought I was doing the right
things.
Um, I I just could not see ituntil I had a coach.
Um, I I would say my it it gotreally um, you know, at some
(09:05):
point you your body's gonnastart shutting down.
You're gonna put yourself in thehospital or you're gonna start
losing the relationships aroundyou.
You're not gonna have thefinancial success to st to
endure, probably, right?
Like if you if you can't figureout how to delegate, you're
there's very I don't know howyou're gonna succeed
financially, uh, beyond what youcan possibly do.
(09:27):
Um, and so um it yeah, it was itwas so good to start working
with somebody and and um I sawthe relationships in my life get
better.
I started I'm now I'm thelightest I've been, uh best best
shape I've been in physically.
Um, and my business is in thebest spot it's been in.
(09:48):
Um and it has real systems likemy marketing system.
I used to handwrite letters topeople.
I would mine the the FA registryand I would handwrite letters
for you know, I would wake up atfour and from four to eight a.m.
I would write handwrite lettersand then I'd show up to the shop
and then try to run the shoptoo, and then then catch workup,
(10:09):
then stay late, you know.
Now I've got a marketing systemthat um where I was getting in
that I was getting like one totwo leads maybe a month or
something.
Now we're getting like 70 in amonth.
It's so much that my it createda whole new problem, which is
our sales process.
So and it and it works with orwithout me.
The only thing I really need todo is shoot shoot the content
(10:30):
and do podcasts for that thatmarketing system to keep going.
SPEAKER_04 (10:34):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, because what you whatyou're saying is hey, use the
systems around you and thepeople around you so you don't
have to get up at 4 a.m.
Uh, you don't have to handwritethese letters, you don't have to
do everything that I mean, itstill has to happen, but but I
think you spoke a lot of peoplejust don't trust anybody's gonna
do it as well as they can.
When the truth is they may do itbetter than you.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
Uh no, they're there.
You'd be surprised when somebodyhas nothing else better.
You know, their sole thing is toonly do that.
Um, they can do it way betterthan you when you're juggling 25
different hats.
You know, you're actuallyprobably not good at any of
them.
Um, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (11:12):
So people listen to this podcast like I'm good at
all of them.
No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
No, you're not.
You're definitely not.
You're like marginal at best.
And um that you know, you youkind of get it depends.
Somebody with an ego, too.
It uh you get drunk with that.
So um, and then you think you'redoing good, but you're really
not.
I've learned that one again.
A second big one was um my salesprocess that now I'm I'm fixing.
(11:40):
Well, you know, there's like apileup of like 200 leads, and
all of them want my you know, myservices, like legit, they're
they're opportunities uh on aCRM side lingo.
And okay, there's 200 people,and most of them want to talk to
me for about an hour.
That's 200 hours.
Yeah, that's not gonna work.
(12:01):
Yes, even if I sit down and textall of them, all I want, you
know, the CRM helps, but youknow, so I had to I had to find
somebody that um could help melike nurture these leads and get
them team up for me so that Ionly talk to them at the end
when they're when they're readyto ready to close.
Um, and I found somebody thatdoes it way better, and she has
nothing else better to do butthat.
SPEAKER_04 (12:23):
Yes, and you want them to be good at where they
are.
I mean, I love it forentrepreneurs that are listening
to use the systems.
Um, it may make you feel good,but it will hurt your business
long term.
Hand it off to someone else, andand they're only three to four
things.
So figure out what you'resupposed to be doing in your
business, and it's noteverything.
SPEAKER_00 (12:39):
Um, this one I was tempted to do it in the same
same thing.
Um, you know, all of a sudden weidentified, okay, we've got a
big sales bottleneck, this is ahuge problem.
And okay, two options, right?
Like I sit down and I do I workfrom 4 a.m.
to to 10 p.m.
and I I neglect every otherportion of my business.
Yeah, you can do that.
(13:00):
You can, or you start developinga system that's sustainable,
right?
Like I can only do that formaybe a a month, yes, and then
I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonnastart losing things that are
important to me, maybe myhealth.
Yes, yes, so so I I forcedmyself on this one, even though
it was tough.
I wish I would have I wantedresults faster, but it's like so
(13:20):
it took me four weeks to reallyinstall a better sales process,
and uh we're we're just nowstarting to see results from it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:28):
Yes, I mean it's never too late to start for
those of you out there andyou're on the fence, you know,
you're hearing like really, youknow, James, it works.
Um, just put it in place andyou're never too late to start,
you know.
Um, if you wait tomorrow, thenyou're just one day later.
But but put something in place.
How do you how did you create aculture?
Because going from peoplepleasing to holding people
accountable and creating anenvironment where they will be
(13:48):
open and honest with you, howdid you you create that kind of
environment in the work in yourin your company?
SPEAKER_00 (13:55):
Well, I'm still working on it right now.
And my my staff is still small,so we'll see how it scales.
But um, you know, crew I uh I Ihired a coach uh over the past
like three months ago, yeah.
Um, and another one to justspecifically help me and um the
manager that works for me toinstall.
We've never had management, youknow, any sort of formal
(14:18):
management system in placewhatsoever to to guide behaviors
or the culture or the outcomes.
And we always just you knowthought they should be doing the
thing that they're supposed tobe doing.
And what the heck, why aren'tthey doing the thing?
And then and then we get allpissed off and and let them go,
right?
Like it is like, well, whoreally failed them?
No, we did.
And so we the first thing westarted working with this coach,
(14:41):
and he's like, So let's, andI'll put this in layman's terms
or something.
He's like, Okay, so you guyswork in a maintenance shop,
let's say, let's say how howlong does it take to change an
hour or a tire?
And we're like, Oh, it takes twohours, you know, or something
like that.
He's like, pretty, prettyconfident, right?
Like, it takes two hours tochange the tire.
I was like, Yeah, I mean, 99% ofthe people can change it in two
(15:01):
hours, depending on what's goingon, as long as nothing crazy
happens.
He's like, Okay, what happenswhen somebody takes six hours to
change the tire?
What what what happens then?
And it's like, do you what doyou tell them?
And it's like me and me and mymanager looking at each other,
and we're like, Well, no, wedon't.
He's like, Yeah, I know what'sgoing on here.
(15:21):
You're not having conversationswith people.
You you gotta have crucialconversations and speak up when
things aren't working for you,and ideally, like right away.
SPEAKER_04 (15:30):
Yeah, I mean, which which is hard for a lot of
leaders um to have crucialconversations, yeah, especially
if you're trying to makeeverybody happy.
Yes, yeah.
If you want everybody to behappy, the last thing you want
to do is say something that thatdoesn't create happiness.
Um, and sometimes having thatcritical conversation for making
sure people um are meeting yourexpectations, is but you want
(15:51):
everybody to be happy.
Sometimes it's just no, it's notthat they're unhappy, you may
feel unhappy and not good aboutit, but people want to know when
they failed you and they want toknow when they're not meeting
their standard, and they want toknow how to get better.
So we owe that to them, but youstill should do it respectfully.
So avoiding it is not a good wayof getting getting it done.
So when you start thinking aboutyou know the growth you've had
(16:12):
in in your company as an as anentrepreneur, you brought
someone on as a manager.
How important is it for you toget out of the way and let that
manager do what you used to bethe best at?
SPEAKER_00 (16:24):
Uh well, I don't know if I was the best at being
a manager.
I don't think I've ever been thebest at that role, but um it it
has been hard because I youknow, for for instance, when we
start working with this coach,is like, well, what happens when
who does the performance review?
Well, James does the performancereview.
You know, what happens whenexpectations aren't met?
(16:44):
Well, James, James has a talkwith them.
It's like you guys see a problemwith this?
SPEAKER_03 (16:50):
Yes, everything is James.
SPEAKER_00 (16:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then I and then I wonderwhy, you know, the the culture's
not not working well and why youknow performance drops when I'm
not here, you know, when I'm outflying or doing something else
that I need to be doing for thebusiness.
It's uh it's just a lightswitch, right?
James is in the shop, you know.
They we get work ahead of them.
James is not in the shop, theydon't do anything, you know.
I wonder why.
(17:14):
I wonder why.
SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
The only one that can enforce it is James.
SPEAKER_00 (17:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (17:19):
Yes, yes.
Wow.
So when you start thinking aboutthe the over the year, you've
you've you know you've you'vehad a coach, you brought someone
on to help you out, which isreally, you know, congrats to
you for that.
What do you think is the thething that you've grown the most
in since the last time thatwe've had a conversation on the
podcast?
What what has really changed foryou and and your personal
development?
SPEAKER_00 (17:40):
I've I've worked a lot on myself.
Um uh really working with with auh kind of a I would say 2024
was a year of me investing inmyself and it and it actually
sounds cringe worthy, you know,back then, like for me to think
about, oh, why would I ever, youknow, because I I felt I thought
(18:01):
self-sacrifice equaled loyalty.
That's not true, right?
Like you need to somebody brokethis down to me and was like,
James, like that if James showsup and he's the 10.0 version of
himself, is that better or worsefor your wife?
I'm like, well, better.
What about for your team?
Better, you know, what about foryour friends around you?
Better.
He's like, see what I'm saying?
(18:23):
Yeah, you've got to work onyourself, you gotta make a
better version of yourself.
And that's I I feel like I'vedone the work um over the past
year of of really kind ofidentifying areas where you know
I can improve.
And uh some have been reallyhard, um, especially people
pleasing and and uh trying to uhkind of emotionally uh the the
(18:44):
other thing is taking it home,right?
Like, oh, why is that personupset?
It's like James, that's not yourlike, dude.
You you're gonna crawl inside ofthe back of their brain and try
to figure out why they're upset.
You can't do that.
Like, um you you need to youknow give them the opportunity
to tell you and then move on,right?
Like you can't fix them.
(19:06):
I'm manipulative that is.
SPEAKER_04 (19:08):
Yeah, I love that you're you know your level of
vulnerability and transparency.
So so you have a militarybackground, um, which which
people will automatically thinkleadership management has some
exposure experience.
Um, and you're you're anentrepreneur, which people also
make some assumptions that youshould have it.
When did you realize like evenwith all of that, that you were
not prepared for what was nextand what you needed to be?
SPEAKER_00 (19:32):
Well, we hit a wall.
Um, I mean, you're just you justhit the wall, and you're either
gonna when you do that, you'reyou're gonna either start losing
relationships, you're gonnastart maybe abusing sus
substances that luckily I getdrug tested through the Air
Force, so that's not an option,but um, you know, you're what
something's gotta give, right?
(19:53):
Um, and you're not gonna achievethe success that you want.
Um, and so um I I yeah, I Ithink you either you either look
in the mirror and say, okay, I'mthe one holding this back, or
you you I mean, probably a lotof people quit, right?
(20:13):
They they say that's the painpoint in business is kind of
like write around 10 directreports and one million dollars
is like that's the pain point.
Most people either they eithertake the next step or they quit.
SPEAKER_04 (20:24):
Yes, yeah.
And that's important becausethere are going to be different
pain points depending on whereyou start a business, become a
million-dollar business, yourteam grows.
There's things that you got tomake adjustments to once your
team, you know.
And I love that you say, hey,you know what?
If your team gets better andyou're not getting coaching or
someone's not helping you getbetter, at some point you become
ineffective as a leader for thatorganization because you're not
growing.
So professional development, ifif you're listening, it's super
(20:46):
important that you're constantlygetting better.
You know, what's the you know,the different version of you
every year, and how do youintentionally do that?
So when you when you're thinkingof an organization and building
trust, one of the things that'sshown up a lot, you know, trust
is is is very challenging to inin today's time.
How do how do you go about youknow continue to work on
building trust within your ownorganization?
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
I think you got to be true with yourself to begin
with.
I mean, that sounds like acop-out answer, but uh, I
learned it firsthand.
Like when you're not true toyourself, people actually don't
respect you and they do nottrust you.
That does not build trust orloyalty to go around and just
try to make everybody happy.
So you need to be true toyourself.
And um, for me, I I I like beinga good person.
(21:30):
I really do.
I like to take care of everyonearound me.
But you know, the questionbecomes are you doing it for uh
their loyalty or are you doingit because it makes you happy?
Um, and so when I when I satdown, I'm like, okay, so if I
take the guys out to lunch, whatam I doing?
You know, well, I how about I doit for myself?
I just like to do it rather thanwith some sort of underlying
(21:52):
expectation.
Um, and then if and then whenyou start trying to uh well when
you don't set boundaries, justpeople don't respect you.
I mean, you could be in thegrocery store in the line or
anywhere.
Um you'll start showing up thetakers, but when you finally set
an expectation, just like you'resaying with the team, people
people want to be told whenthey're not not meeting
(22:13):
expectations.
Um they're not doing great allthe time.
And so when you actually tellthem, hey man, uh you know, this
is uh, you know, there's atwo-hour tire change, took six
hours.
What happened?
Yes.
Okay, well, next next time, doyou think you can do it in two
hours?
You know, so you're telling meyou you're you know, you uh are
(22:35):
taking accountability, you agreethat you can do this in two
hours next time.
Okay, let's do it.
SPEAKER_04 (22:40):
Yes, I love it.
How do you do so?
For for when you when you'reworking with individuals and
you're you're not being open andhonest, um and you don't give
people feedback, how damaging isthat for you as a as a as an
individual and as a as a uhorganization?
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Uh well, I think the wheels will come off at some
point because the culture won'tbe there.
Um, especially in anorganization where you have
power, like it becomes a gimme,gimme, gimme.
Yeah.
Like as soon as somebody wants,you know, some soup, somebody
wants a raise, you know, and yougive them a raise, even though
it's to your detriment, right?
Like, even though you can'tafford it.
Let's let's put it that way.
Let's say somebody comes in youroffice and like, I want to raise
(23:19):
with with let let's say you knowthe company's not making any
money, any more money, and youknow, they haven't gained any
more skills, they just wantmore, you know, and then you
can't actually afford it, butyou say yes.
Um, that's not good for them,it's not good for you.
And uh the culture will startcoming up coming undone, and the
(23:40):
rest of the team will see it,and then you know, it just
becomes a gimme, gimme, gimme,and you're just going around uh
making uh trying to make otherpeople happy, even to your
detriment.
And so setting a healthyboundary and actually loving
them and be like, hey man, um,you know, I hear you.
Okay.
Um, unfortunately, right now,this is all I can afford.
Or um, you know, if you couldtake these things off my plate,
(24:02):
then we could talk about it.
SPEAKER_04 (24:03):
Yes, yes, I love it.
Have you have you, you know, oneof the things you mentioned
earlier I love to unpack alittle bit is when you're doing
something because either youknow it makes you feel good or
you're doing it because you wantto to almost do it so you they
owe you something.
It's almost like this guilttrip.
Uh, I'm gonna do this and thenthey're gonna have to do it.
Has that ever gotten you introuble?
SPEAKER_00 (24:21):
Oh, yeah.
It subconsciously, I I do feellike I'm a good person.
I tried to do the right thing.
So I never in my brain was Iintentionally trying to
manipulate somebody orsomething, but that's what
you're doing.
When you're not true toyourself, when you're not true
to yourself and um you don't setboundaries, you're I I forget
(24:47):
the saying, but it I thinkpeople that are um a lot of
successful people in life comefrom a traumatic childhood.
Um there's a an immense amountof studies that show that.
And typically the the saying forthat is or the term for that is
called codependency.
And so you're hyper-aware ofyour emotional surroundings
(25:08):
because that's what you had todo to get by when you were a
child.
Uh but as an adult, when youdon't set boundaries with
people, you can it can take youinto financial ruin.
You could you could uh bring onanother partner and uh make a
really bad decision when youknow in your heart it's not good
for you.
And so if it's not good for you,there's no way it can be good
(25:30):
for them either.
SPEAKER_04 (25:31):
So you mentioned, James, um, as we we give it uh
to wrap up, you've mentioned acouple of times, you know, that
you're lighter than you've everbeen, you feel healthier and
you're happier.
How important was it for you togain control of your own health
while while doing you know themultiple things, your family,
your business, your militarycareer, and sometimes you'll
(25:51):
lose taking care of you.
How important and what would youshare with people that are
listening?
Self-care and making sure youyou take care of you.
What would you share with theaudience?
SPEAKER_00 (26:00):
Um, yeah, just taking a simple 30-minute walk
in the mornings or at some pointin the day at all, just walking
outside is a huge step to yourmental stability and and your
health.
You'll start dropping awaysignificantly just on a
30-minute walk.
Um, but somebody told me this along time ago.
I mean, I still haven't seen itall the way with me, but you
(26:21):
know, your your physical fitnessis the directly linked to your
bank account, too.
Um and uh I think it it teachesyou discipline and ultimately um
exercise.
It's really, really stressful todo what we do, especially if
you're an entrepreneur andyou're doing this, uh building
it.
(26:42):
But anyone in a leadershipposition, uh, or any really any
position, um, it's it's verydifficult to do this without any
sort of um you know help.
And so doing a little bit ofexercise, whether it's a walk,
whether it's workouts, it it itdecreases your stress and uh you
end up showing up better.
(27:02):
So it goes back to that 10.0version, right?
Like if you you know, if you ifthe 10.0 version of yourself
showed up, it would be betterfor everyone around you.
SPEAKER_04 (27:10):
Yes, yes.
I love it.
And I'm glad that you're usinglike the the different versions,
you know.
Analogy I always use witheveryone, and I asked them, hey,
you know, when did when didiPhones come out?
And people like, yeah, about2007.
I say, yeah, what was that firstversion?
Like, what are you talkingabout, Ron?
I said, Yeah, what was thatfirst version?
It was called iPhone.
I say, what version are they attoday?
(27:30):
And people like 16 or 17, I say,so you think in 20 year, you
know, 20-year mark, you know, sothey're at about 18 years of
being on the market and theyhave 16 versions.
I say, if they're smart enoughto know that there has to be a
different version of themselvesalmost every year.
Like, are you doing the samething for you to make sure that
(27:52):
you're still very valuableresource for the people that you
that are looking up to you anddepending on you?
So I think you're right when itcomes to health, when it comes
to mental health, or it comes toyou know taking care of yourself
and educating yourself um andgoing to get the the technical
skills you need or theeducational credentials that you
need.
What is it if you look atyourself?
What version are you this yearand what version should you be
(28:12):
next year?
So I love that you're sayingthat because it's so important.
SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
Wow, that's a tough one.
I don't know.
I don't know, maybe I would saythree years ago, I was probably
version like 3.0.
SPEAKER_03 (28:26):
Like it was not it around, like, wait a minute, I'm
still at 3.0.
I need to be at a differentversion and before I do better
now than I was.
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
I know I'm a much better version of myself.
I I I really like who showedwho's showing up right now.
This version of myself, I reallyenjoy.
Um, and I'm and you know that II suppose pride, right?
Like, is it you know it it's notthe right word, but you know,
you can be you know proud oflike the performance that you're
(28:57):
doing or the work that you did.
And I've never in my life beenable to say, well, you know, I'm
kind of proud of myself thatI've made this progress, but now
I'm able to say that.
And um I encourage you to getthere, right?
Like those out there listening,get there.
SPEAKER_04 (29:12):
I have a question for you.
As I listen to what you'resharing, uh a different
question.
I was giving a wrap-up, but thisquestion showed up as you were
speaking.
Can success sometimes get in theway of future growth?
SPEAKER_00 (29:24):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think you startto get drunk on chaos sometimes.
Um, and so for whatever reason,and I I kind of have gone
through this too, like evenrelatively recently where we
started having a lot of successin our marketing, you know.
(29:44):
Well, if you're kind of used toalways being hand of mouth, or
really things are always tight,or you know, there's always some
sort of fire, and you you're theone that's always going and
putting out, you're gettingsomething from that.
Yes, and each person'sdifferent, you gotta work
through that yourself, but umyou're Body can actually start
to like revolt when you startlosing that.
And uh they call itself-sabotage, right?
(30:06):
Like and I I try to um I try toat least I'm I'm not you know I
still sabotage myself, and umyou know I try to just be if you
can just get to the point whereyou're being aware about it, you
know.
Okay, what's the best version ofme?
What well if I if I walk forabout 30 minutes a day, and
that's that's one thing for methat will get me to my closer to
(30:29):
my goal.
So um when I start skipping thata lot, that's sabotaging me
getting to my end goal.
Um there could be all kinds ofstuff.
It and for me, it's like youknow, okay, there's 200 leads,
um, and me not setting up asystem fast enough.
Am I sabotaging myself?
(30:50):
Yeah, because I still whybecause I I still get something
out of you know working crazyamount of hours and uh you know
being the guy that fixes it.
SPEAKER_04 (31:03):
Yes, yes.
One of the things that the wordthat's shown up as I listen, you
know, um, for all the stuff thatyou're sharing, which is
phenomenal for our listeners,the word that's coming to mind
is is is self-discipline.
I mean, where does that play inall the things that you're
mentioning?
How disciplined do you have tobe to stay on course with it?
Because some days you youactually don't feel like doing
it, you may not feel your best,or something went wrong and and
(31:24):
or something happened in thefamily, or you got some bad
news, or you didn't win thatsale, or you lost the sale.
Things happen that can make youjust like, I don't want to do
it.
I just I just want to gosomewhere, put my head in the
sand, and when I pull it out, Ihope everything's gone away.
How important is it for you tostay disciplined?
SPEAKER_00 (31:38):
I'll tell you, there's two things that come to
mind on that.
Um, one of them I'll share fromone of the coaches is like,
James, you gotta find your valuefrom inside.
And that everyone says that, butyou got to figure that out like
on your own.
Um, but he's like, your value isjust as much when you close 10
sales as it is zero, and youneed to get there.
You're that you're you're stillthe same valuable person
(32:00):
regardless of the outcome.
Um, you know, you just need to,and the term is resulting,
right?
Like, okay, well, if 10 sales,if I get 10 sales, then I'm
really motivated.
Well, what about if you get zerosales?
Yes, then what?
You know, then are you gonna godrink?
Are you gonna, you know, are yougonna start doing things that
sabotage you?
So you can't.
You can't focus on the result,you just gotta focus on the
(32:22):
input, right?
Like, you just gotta do thethings that you know that will
drive you closer to your goals.
What's one thing that drives mecloser to my goals?
It's taking a 30-minute walk inthe morning.
It is, you know, and uh what'sanother thing?
Oh, okay, calling people in a ina fast enough time, getting back
to them, getting up, building asystem that'll get people
quotes, okay.
Um, and and I'm able to do thatwith zero or ten or a hundred or
(32:47):
thousand or a million, right?
Like, and there is a saying, uh,you know, that that uh money um
exaggerates the person that youare.
So if you've got a bad drinkingproblem, money's gonna make that
worse.
If you um if you've got all thisother stuff going on, if you're
a massive people pleaser like Iwas, it's gonna make it worse.
And so you gotta work onyourself and fix that.
(33:08):
The the other thing though, umuh, because I I I definitely
work in spurts, yes, um, is uhthe the manager that works works
with me um actually taught mehe's like James, you you put
down on your list what you'regonna do that day, and by God
you're gonna do it, and then ifyou don't take care of it the
(33:29):
next day, it's no big deal, andthen the next day, or if on
Wednesdays you do X and thenthat Wednesday something comes
up, well, doesn't matter.
Next Wednesday, you're gonnaroll right back into it.
It's not like you're just gonnago into a slide and never do it
again.
Um, and that for whatever reasonthat one resonated with me too
quite a bit.
SPEAKER_04 (33:47):
Yeah, I think that for for for me as I'm listening,
you know, how do you have somesome grace with yourself that
that you know um, you know, whatprobably one of the better
lessons I've learned, you know,as I've you know started doing
leadership and spending a lot oftime in this space is is I
didn't always have to be rightand I didn't always have to have
the answer.
And and that helped slow me downand not be so critical of myself
(34:07):
because you know when you're inleadership, sometimes you feel
like you you should have everyanswer all the time for
everybody.
And and that will will drive youto drinking you know real fast
because the minute you don't,you feel less like you feel less
capable, less qualified, and youdidn't get accomplished what you
want to get accomplished.
And and even if you did 10,000things right, you that one thing
will derail you.
(34:28):
And so I had to get to the placewhere you don't have to always
be right for every single personfor every scenario.
Sometimes you just don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
Man, I feel yeah, I feel that.
SPEAKER_04 (34:40):
I'm like, okay, let me get past this thing because
it it it will it'll be a weightthat you'll carry around forever
that that will drag you downover time.
And so I had to get to the placewhere I was okay with not
knowing.
Like, you know what?
I really don't know.
SPEAKER_00 (34:52):
Let me let me ask you that this on there.
What's ask you this question onthat?
Is what what was it that made itclick in your head where you
were able to finally kind of letgo?
SPEAKER_04 (35:03):
Yeah, I think it was it was more of maturity, and as
the kids got older and life waschanging fast, what used to be
the answer was no longer theanswer.
And so it worked for maybe threeyears ago, but because the world
was changing so fast, so likehow do you expect to keep up
with it unless you're gonna keepyour face or your nose in a book
all the time on the internet allthe time?
They're just things you don'tknow.
(35:23):
Um, and I had to get past andhave a military background as
well.
And as you go up and rank in themilitary, like saying you don't
know was almost like sabotage.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
Oh, yeah.
And then you know the funnything is you walk into certain
rooms, everybody's got a front.
I was like, I'm the one guythough in in the room like that.
I'm like, I have no effing cluewhat we are talking about.
Can somebody walk me back onthis?
And everyone else is thinkingit, they just won't say it.
SPEAKER_03 (35:49):
A career ender.
SPEAKER_04 (35:50):
You want to end your career?
I don't know.
And I think it may it may be,but but that was a maturity
point of you know, changing mymindset from the military
mindset, you know, and I learnedit more in corporate American
and entrepreneur.
That hey, you know, we were in acompany and and there's just
things I don't even know.
I don't want to be the expert.
And I had to get be okay with,hey, your team knows that's all
(36:10):
you need to know.
Like, who on your team knowswhat it is that that what that
thing is?
So I'll tell you, that's whyit's it's a maturity thing.
Um, it's a transition from youknow one career to the next
career, and then realizing justbecoming smart enough.
Like, if you're the only onethat got the answer, your trunk,
your company's in trouble.
unknown (36:29):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:30):
That I was deployed last year uh with the Air Force.
I was removed from my businessthousands of miles away for 60
days.
Wow.
And all of a sudden, all thethings that I could just jump in
and fix myself, I could not doanymore.
SPEAKER_04 (36:49):
I mean, we may think of this like let's let's remove
you for for two weeks, and youcan't respond in your company
for two weeks.
SPEAKER_00 (36:55):
Oh, and by the way, we didn't have the savings to
make it through either.
It was like now, like it's notlike we had 60 days worth of
cash built up where it's like,oh, it's no big deal, the
pressure's off.
SPEAKER_04 (37:06):
Everything with it when everything goes wrong,
everything goes wrong, and yourteam will show you that they're
more than capable.
And that that may be a good casestudy for some companies that
will go through and say, let usremove you for for not even 60
days, let's just do it for 20days, and you don't get to make
any decisions in your companyfor 20 days.
You're just gonna stand back,and you're not that you're not
gonna be accessible.
And how many people can reallydo it um across the board?
(37:27):
I think that'll be a really goodlesson, a lesson for everybody
that you went through for 60days.
SPEAKER_00 (37:33):
Yeah, and the problem was I had no systems in
place, and especially withmanagement leadership, uh, you
know, the culture in the shop,sales, marketing.
Um it really, really.
SPEAKER_04 (37:49):
Well, Jay, this has been great, man.
As usual, I mean, I alwaysenjoy.
Um, as you as we as we wrap up,is there anything you want to
share about your company, aboutthe work or what you do?
I mean, uh tons of people listento the podcast.
Is there anything you want toshare about your company before
we wrap up?
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
Yeah, if you're um, you know, many of my customers
are small business owners andthey um they own a private
aircraft and or they uh they'relooking to start taking those
steps.
Um, if that's something thatyou're thinking about, um it
it's not like very few peopleown air airplanes, but it's
definitely a doable thing.
And so if it's something that'son your mind, uh I'm sure the
(38:27):
contact info will be here.
You can go to my website,www.spearmintaircraft.com.
If you already have an airplane,I'd love to help you with it.
But if it's something that youmight even be thinking about,
I'd um you know, I'd love towalk you through the process um
and kind of show you the ropesof how do you buy an airplane
and and how do you learn to flyit too.
So um I'd love to help.
SPEAKER_04 (38:48):
Wow.
Well, if I'm if I'm ever inTennessee, I've I've never been
on a private plane, so I'd loveto go take a flight out with
someone that's flying.
So hey, let me go fly in aprivate plane.
SPEAKER_00 (38:56):
Yeah, I'll take you up.
SPEAKER_04 (38:57):
Yeah, like like let you take me up in the aircraft
and you know, like wow, I neverimagined it to be like this.
So that would be a great trip.
Um, so thank you for sharingyour contact information.
Any last-minute wisdom you wantto drop, you want to drop for
people that are listening?
SPEAKER_00 (39:11):
Uh we discussed a lot.
Uh nothing just uh immediatelyjumps in my head, but Ron, I I
really am looking forward toworking with you, uh, especially
as my business continues takingsteps.
And um, I I uh hope yourlisteners um enjoyed the show
and I I really appreciate you.
SPEAKER_04 (39:29):
Yeah, man.
You're good.
I enjoy, I mean, you're down toearth, and you got so much that
you bring to the table from somany different angles as an
entrepreneur, you know, as aveteran, as a person that went
from managing to leading tofiguring out what are the
struggles, and everybody does.
I think we're becoming better atjust being transparent, even as
a father.
My father, I say things to mykids that my father never talked
about.
Like you just didn't hear, likeuh none of you like be a kid.
(39:53):
But I think it's a disservice tothem to not learn from our life.
And I think every leader, like,what are your people learning
from your experience?
Do they really have to be in thedriver's seat?
Why can't they learn from yourexperience?
And when they get in there, theydrive faster, more efficiently,
and safer than you ever drove inyour life.
SPEAKER_00 (40:10):
Yeah, there's a lot there, man.
That's really good.
SPEAKER_04 (40:14):
So I think that's what I would leave with everyone
is is what are people gettingfrom you that makes them better
when they're in the driver'sseat?
Way before they become thedriver.
And I think we owe that to thenext generation.
So thank you for everything thatyou're doing.
I look forward to working withyou as well.
So, everybody, we're gonna signoff, unpack with Ron Harvey
again.
Thanks for joining us.
Share with your friends and yourcolleagues.
(40:35):
And if you have anybody that youthink would be a phenomenal
guest, we do all thingsleadership and taking care of
people.
Um, so if you think that'd be agreat guest to have those kind
of conversations, we'd love tohave them.
Until next time, um, James and Iwill sign off and tell you thank
you for joining us.
SPEAKER_00 (40:50):
Thanks, Ron.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
Well, we hope you enjoyed this edition of Unpack
Podcast with leadershipconsultant Ron Harvey.
Remember to join us every Mondayas Ron Unpacks Sound Advice,
providing real answers for realleadership challenges.
Until next time, remember to addvalue and make a difference
where you are for the people youserve, because people always
(41:16):
matter.
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