October 21, 2025 • 36 mins
Today, we dive deep into the world of resilience and transformation with our guest, Richard Walsh, CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching. Richard has an incredible story of experiencing both monumental success and significant loss, ultimately leading him to redefine what success truly means. He shares valuable insights on how to escape the “owner prison” that many business owners find themselves in, often chained to their own identities tied to their businesses. With a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship, Richard emphasizes the importance of building a supportive team and asking for help to achieve unstoppable success. Join us as we explore how to pivot from struggles to triumph, and learn how to create a business that thrives while allowing for personal freedom.
Richard Walsh joins us to share his remarkable journey from failure to success, highlighting how asking for help is crucial for achieving unstoppable success. As the CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching and a seasoned entrepreneur, Richard has experienced both the heights of success and the depths of loss. In this episode, we delve into his insights on building a business that thrives beyond the owner's identity, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and collaboration. Richard's candid reflections on his past struggles offer valuable lessons for anyone looking to transform their own business or life. Join us as we explore the strategies that can help you regain control and fast track your growth while still enjoying life.
Navigating the turbulent waters of entrepreneurship, Richard Walsh shares his riveting journey from soaring heights to the depths of despair. As the CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching, Richard brings a wealth of experience, having faced the trials of business ownership firsthand. In this engaging conversation, we dive deep into his life story, where he transitioned from a successful custom water feature builder to losing everything during the financial crisis of 2008. Richard's candid reflections on the importance of understanding the business side of entrepreneurship—beyond just chasing profits—offer invaluable lessons. He emphasizes how the identity of being a business owner can overshadow personal priorities, particularly when family is involved. His realization that children learn more from observing actions than words comes as a pivotal moment, prompting him to prioritize family over business. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone looking to find balance and success in their entrepreneurial journey.
Takeaways:
- Richard Walsh's journey from thriving entrepreneur to losing everything highlights the importance of resilience in business.
- Building a successful business requires focusing on the right aspects, not just making money.
- Asking for help is crucial; you can't achieve unstoppable success alone, teamwork is essential.
- Learning from failures is key; Richard emphasizes that losing everything taught him valuable lessons for future success.
- The significance of identifying and prioritizing the 5% of tasks that truly drive business growth is crucial for entrepreneurs.
- Ego can be a business owner's worst enemy; prioritizing team contributions over personal pride can lead to better outcomes.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Sharpen the Spear Coaching
- Escape the Owner Prison
- Anytime Fitness
Jaclyn Strominger welcomes Richard Walsh, a multi-talented entrepreneur and author, to discuss his journey from success to failure and back again. Richard shares his experiences of running a thriving business in the luxury market of custom water features, where he enjoyed significant success...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:41):
Well, hello everybody andwelcome to another amazing episode
of Unstoppable Success. I amyour host, Jaclyn Strominger. And
on this podcast we hear fromjust the most amazing humans who
have amazing things to shareabout how they have themselves unstoppable
(01:01):
success. And they will sharetheir insights, their tips, their
strategies, and how they havebecome that unstoppable successful
person or business. And todayI have a great person to introduce
you to, and his name isRichard Walsh. Let me tell you a
little bit about Richard. Heis the CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching.
(01:23):
He is a 30 year seasonedentrepreneur. He's a bestselling
author of Escape the OwnerPrison. We all can understand that.
The contractor's new way toscale, regain control and fast track
growth while loving life. He.He's a speaker, he's a podcast host,
he's a husband, he's a fatherof six children, a US Marine, a champion
boxer, black belt, and aninternationally recognized steel
(01:47):
sculptor. But moreimportantly, let me just tell you
that Richard has been. He'sseen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
He has gone from having it allto losing it all and back. So, you
know, he's got great insightsto share. And so, Richard, welcome
to Unstoppable Success.
(02:09):
Thank you, Jaclyn. I've beenlooking forward to this interview.
It's great to be here.
I'm so, it's so great because,you know, Richard, I was actually
on Richard's podcast. It wasawesome. And we were just like, oh,
we gotta, we gotta, gotta haveyou on mine. So, Richard, as I shared
it just recently, obviously inthat intro you did, you had it all,
(02:29):
then you didn't, and now youare just like beaming.
Yeah, yeah. It's been ajourney. It's been a journey. Jackman.
It was cool. Yeah. The, thefirst 20 years, amazing. Building,
struggle, build, right? And Ibecame this custom water feature
builder, steel sculptor, andstarted putting all this stuff together.
(02:52):
People were paying me a ton ofmoney and I was doing what I wanted,
living like my dreams. Andthings were really good until, as
the saying goes, they weren't.Okay, so 0809 came the big crash.
No one needed what I built. Itwas definitely a luxury item, right?
Water features, sculptures. Sotook a pretty big hit pretty fast.
(03:12):
And not just for the economy.The economy is only your final indicator,
as a lot of people may learn,depending how long you've been in
business, there's like doingwhat you do. Like, I'm an artist
and I build these incrediblewater features and stuff, steel sculptures
and that's great. But what Iwasn't good at was business because
I thought making lots of moneywas business. And newsflash, it's
(03:35):
not. It's a fun part of it.It's a really fun part of the business,
but it's not going to keep you.
That looks like a byproduct, right?
Yeah, it's like, well, that'snice. But Even it took 20 years to
figure out that you gotta, youdo have to pay attention to the business
part, which I kind of did.Didn't then hire someone and get
an accountant and get this.And I ignored a lot of things. And
(03:58):
when the real pressure came,when things started to collapse,
why couldn't I weather that,right? That was the whole thing.
And I lost everything.November 5, 2008, I lost half a million
dollars on that day, okay? Andthat was the beginning of the cliff.
People canceling contracts.Everyone was freaked out. You know,
just the phone's ringing. Iremember hanging up the phone at
(04:18):
the end of the day, Jack, whenI looked at my office manager and
I go, I think it's over. Idon't, this is not a good day. And
it just kept going, right? Soby, by early 09, I'm like this, we're
done, you know, and, and forme, for the, the, the, the cooler
part of the story was at thattime I had six small children, four
(04:39):
years and younger, okay? SoI'm like, I got this, I got, I'm
losing my house, I'm losing mybusiness. Tried to do some, I call
them dumb things to keep thebusiness afloat. Much longer story
than we'll get into here, butdidn't work, okay? So now I'm losing
all that. And I woke up oneday and I'm still trying to keep
it going. I started thinkingabout my kids and they're again all
(05:01):
under four. And when I comehome at night, they'd run and jump
on me and do all that. And oneday my four year old's chasing my
truck out the driveway cryingbecause I'm leaving, you know, but
hey, I got to go to work. AndI realized I had this epiphany at
that moment that if I continuedown this path, that business is
first it was who I am. I amthe business best at what I do. I've
(05:21):
been in every magazine and TVand all this stuff, right? Committees
and everything. I'm actuallygoing to destroy their futures because
more is caught than taughtwith kids, right? So they're only
going to do what they see medo. I can tell them all the Right
things, but only going to dowhat I did, right? So they might
be good at. I'm air quotingbusiness, which now we know is not
(05:41):
really business, just makingmoney. But everything else in their
life. They're going to havefailed relationships, broken marriages.
They have all kinds of badthings because of what they saw me
do, what I prioritize. So Iwalked in the office that day and
said, we're done. Said I'm notdoing this anymore. And like, oh.
And I went to my constructionyard and met my guys who had been
with me for 10 years. We hadour last cup of coffee together.
(06:04):
It's like, guys, we'refinished. I can't do this anymore.
I'm not going to do this. Andto this day I haven't built a water
feature or dental sculpture.It's been like 16 years. Said I'll
never do this. I'm going tostart now.
I could use one. Just kidding, right?
Yeah, I'll give you adiscount. But it became, because
it became my identity, right?When your business becomes who you
(06:24):
are, you're going to make baddecisions because of that identity.
You're going to do dumb thingsbecause it's ego and pride and like
it's mine. It's me. Without methere's no business. Everybody needs
me, right? It's that wholeself centered, just crazy. And I
(06:45):
just. And I'm like, I'llnever. And I know if I go back to
it or went back to it, itwould stir that in me again. So I've
just nothing. So I have tostart over. We had to relocate, we
lost a home, right? We had togo to change states. I'm like, okay,
now what do I do? I was like,hmm, I don't know. Oh, I really like
(07:05):
to train people. I likefitness, I'm a boxer, I'm blackball,
all this stuff. Like I'll dothat. So I went to Anytime Fitness.
You know, they're everywhere,right? And like I'll be a personal
trainer because I already haddone that in the past. And I'm like
started that doing reallywell, built this whole program. Next
thing you know, I'm trainer ofthe year. Okay. So I'm like, oh,
that's cool. But I'm also anentrepreneur, so you know what that
(07:26):
means. I gotta go open a gym.So I opened a boot camp style training
gym. Really great, you know,did that, grew that like this was
awesome. But my key to thatJack was like, okay. So my goal was
we homeschool our kids andeverything else, right? And so now
they're, you know, they'regrowing, they're getting those ages.
I'm like, if my wife needs meto be at home, I need to be there
(07:49):
in 15 minutes. Okay. That waslike, this is what I set as my goal.
How do you build a businesswhere I can have that kind of freedom?
And I did. I said, so I willhire trainers, I will train them,
they'll run this stuff. I'llbe here doing this, and it'll never
have me. I'll never have to bethere. Other people had keys to the
door, you know, I didn't haveto open it up every day. And that
(08:12):
went really well. And then Istarted the construction company.
It's like, oh, I'll do that.Roofing, siding, windows. And I built
that out. Same principle, getsubcontractors. I don't have any
employees. I havesubcontractors. And I do all the
work. And I was able to just.And scale that and do that. Wow,
that's really great. And thenpeople start asking me, well, how'd
you do all that? How'd you gofrom all that to nothing and back
to all this? And I said, well,I, I go, what are you doing? And
(08:35):
I started helping them. Andthat's kind of where coaching was
birthed, because I wasmentoring, which is cool. I love
to help people. But I'm anentrepreneur and mentors don't get
paid. Coaches get paid. So I'mgoing to be a coach. So I wrote a
best selling book calledEscape the Owner Prison. Like you
said, I built an academyaround it, started bringing people
in, started helping all thesebusinesses and doing this stuff and
(08:57):
turning them around and givingthem the freedom that I created.
And a few iterations later,here we are at Sharpen Spirit. Coaching
and helping incredible, doingincredible things for incredible
businesses. It's a blast.
So let me go back to a coupleof things. First of all, do you still
have the construction and thegym and the other business?
Nope, nope, nope. I got toobusy with coaching.
(09:19):
Okay, so did you sell those?
Yes.
Okay. Which is in, in itselflike a way to hit, to be. Have unstoppable
success too. Like you builtsomething, now you actually sold
it to help somebody else havesuccess with it. Like you started
that, Right? That's great. AndI think I, I would, I would think
(09:44):
that a lot of people ask younot just how you did it, but, but
how did you, how did you gofrom the low out of, out of the low
to the high? Because that's,that's a lot of emotion. That's a
(10:06):
lot of mindset. That's a lotof, you know, for lack of better
word, pain, suffering and fear.
Yes, a lot of suffering. Yeah.So. Because I get to ask this a lot
and really what it is, I'm.I'm a. I'm very much an optimist.
(10:31):
Like, so if I take all mytraining and my. How I grew up, what
I suffered through that, andhow I got to the next stage, then
the Marine Corps, then I'mboxing, and then I'm. And I'm doing
this and I'm buildingbusinesses and then all this stuff.
There's. It's all kind ofsuffering. But so when everything
collapsed, I'm like, well, Ihave six children and my wife and
(10:54):
I have to provide. I have todo something. So what would have
been smarter? This is the joyof hindsight, is like, I owned everything.
I had all my equipment, all mytrucks, all my excavator. I owned
everything. It was all cash. Ipaid cash for everything. And would
have been probably smarter tokeep a couple things and do some
(11:15):
side gigs, like go excavatefor and make that. You know, looking
back, I mean, my wife was kindof upset. I didn't. But I'm like,
no, I. I'm an all or nothingguy. I can't have one foot in, one
foot out. I don't do anythingin my life like that. So, like, I
can't. I'm selling everything,you know, and got like 20 cents on
(11:36):
the dollar. I mean, it was aterrible. The worst time in history
to sell anything was then,okay, in 09. So. So, you know, good
meme. The guy doesn't knowbusiness right at that time is selling
stuff for 20 cents on thedollar because I'm an idiot, okay?
But I just, like, got rid ofthat, so that would have been probably
a wiser thing to do. But I'malso a pressure guy, Jaclyn. I only
(11:57):
perform under pressure. Like,if it's easy, like, I'll give you
an example as a. As asculptor, someone will commission
me for a piece and I'll say,okay, when would you like it done?
And I say, oh, whenever I go,oh, yeah, that time frame doesn't
work for me because, you know,the last part of that word is never.
Okay? So I. I don't. If youdon't have a date, I'm never going
(12:20):
to get to it because. But ifyou tell me Tuesday, it'll be done.
No matter what it is, I'llmake sure it happens. I get creative
under pressure. I solveproblems under pressure, I work really,
really diligently. So I can'thave that loose whenever timeframe.
So that was probably why I wasreally able to push through and make
(12:43):
this happen. Because I hadthis pressure. Like I got to feed
my kids, I got my wife, I haveto get a home to rent a place and
then do this. But it was theproblem. Jack was like, what was
I going to do? So I tried tobe like, well, what'll make me happy,
man? Training people. Nowhere's the funny thing about. So
I want to train people. AndI'm. I'm very much the warrior mindset.
(13:06):
You see spears in thebackground, okay. So I'm sharp in
the spare. So I'm like, how toget trained people, man. We'll be
out in the woods. I'll bedragging them through streams and
coming trees and diggingholes, man. We're going to be. I'll
be rocking their world, man.Climbing. I'm like, we're going to
do that. Okay. I never got todo that. Okay. I ended up at Anytime
fitness, you know, 10 milesaway riding one bicycle. Riding my
bicycle 10 miles eachdirection because we had one car.
(13:28):
You know, at that point mywife, my wife knew that for the kids.
So I'm getting my bike andriding. I'm hiking 10 miles one way
and 10 miles back with 60pound ruck sack. You know, I'm like,
okay, I'm just being so. Yeah,the dream of dream that never happened.
Okay. So at Anytime Fitness,like, you know, whatever and. But
I made that work then did myown thing right then, my boot camp
(13:49):
style. And I created thiswhole new system, like a belt system
for fitness. And it was reallycool and, and all that. So it kind
of got. That was good. But youknow, but you have to start somewhere.
So like I had to have theforward movement. You have to have
that forward movement. So myability was like, I'm. If you read
the book Grit by.
Angela Duckworth, I have notread it, but I. But I totally get
(14:12):
the concept.
So what she great researcher,really cool. She, what she discovered
after interviewing them, allthese guys at West Point. West Point,
all these other places was ithas nothing to do with physical prowess.
It has nothing to do withlike, you're intelligent. It's grit.
It's the ability to stay in nomatter what. All the greats have
(14:32):
that. Okay? So I'm like, wow.A friend of mine said, you got to
read this book. He goes, it'sabout you. I go, okay. So I read
it. I go, that's A great book.I don't know if I'm worth 300 pages,
but it's that. But what itwas, was there's a test and you get
the grit scale. Where do yourank on the. And you take this test.
Well, go figure. I was 97% onthe grid scale, okay. Because I'm,
(14:58):
to use a Marine Corps term,I'm too dumb to quit, okay? So I'm
just like, I'll keep pushingthrough. I'm like, I have to get
where I want to go. And itdoesn't. Quitting isn't part of what
I do. You know, failure istotally okay. Like, I. Right. Quitting
is very different.
Yeah, yeah.
(15:18):
It's disgraceful. I'll justsay, okay, so I don't allow it.
Right. Well, you know, but. Soit's interesting. So have you always
been built with that, youknow, opportunistic mindset?
Yeah, I don't. I don't. Iguess you can be born with it now.
(15:39):
You can train grit. You can. Ilearned that, you know, you can do
all that. But I think again,you know, a lot of us have some rough
past, you know, like,upbringing and stuff. Like, it's
not abuse and stuff and allthat. And like, for whatever reason,
whatever, I'm blessed to turnthat into power.
Right.
You know, like, overcome that.Okay, I'll get through that. I'll
get through the next thing andthe next thing, and I keep going
(16:02):
up the next level. And Inoticed too, Jack, as I was doing
things in school, like sports,I was only drawn to individual sports.
I was a cross country runner,and I was the biggest cross country
runner. I'm like £190, 6 foot,6 foot 2. And I'm like, running cross
country, like you said. Yeah,I can do it. And I was one of the
(16:22):
top runners, you know, reallygood, good. Then I go in the Marine
Corps, you know. Okay, that's.Yeah, there's a team, but it's really
individual, right? Because yougotta kind of gotta put your own
weight, right? Then I box.That's one on one. Two men enter,
one man leaves. Okay, sothat's. That's that then. Taekwondo.
It's me, I gotta train, Igotta work, I do all this stuff.
So my business, I have to doit right? So I'm doing all this stuff
(16:46):
and this where it becomes aproblem. Okay. Individual sports
are great. Like cross countryrunning. Every step is suffering.
Okay. It's horrible. If you,if you want to experience suffering,
go run, okay? Like, and runcross channel. They just run all
Them. It's horrible. Okay. AndI did it for. I, I stopped running
at like 50 years old. Okay.But I guess I embrace suffering.
(17:09):
But, but it's like, it's, it'sthat kind of thing like you get and
all of a sudden that. Do itall yourself. In my business, that's
what hurt me. I wouldn'taccept help. And again, we're going
back a little bit. Therewasn't like a coach at every corner
like there is today on theInternet. We didn't have the Internet.
Right. So I'm building allthis stuff and I had billionaire
(17:31):
clients giving me advice. Butdo you think I took it?
Yeah.
No, I didn't. Because what dothey know? They don't build water
features. They just own acouple professional sports teams
and manufacturing plants. Buthow could they possibly help me?
Okay. So that's the level ofstupid I operated at. Okay. Still
(17:51):
succeeded in kind of the, thefront facing way, but I just was
not going to accept that help.So was hard.
So two things. Number one, Iwouldn't call, you know, let's be
kind to yourself. It's not thelevel of stupidity or that you were.
Everybody has that point intheir life where they're, when they
are, when they're not ready orwhen they are ready to receive information.
(18:14):
So at some point, you know,obviously you weren't, you weren't
ready. You were not ready totake in that information and process
it, or you took it in, but youdidn't do anything with it. But then
you reached a point where, oryou know, you reached a point where
like, you know what, they werewise. And I think there's also something
(18:37):
in there too where there's alevel of, there's humility, but there's
also a level of confidence tounderstand that that comes out when
you are ready to accept andhear from other people. There's insecurity
(18:57):
or fear is, is a way ofstopping us from hearing and taking
on information. Right. And soyou reached, you know, it's, it's,
you reach a point where youwere ready and there was probably
a point when you were like,oh, you know what? Inner confidence
came out in a different way orconfidence came out in a way that
(19:20):
you were able to actually takein that information.
Yeah, I, it took losingeverything. So that time, again,
hindsight, best thing thatever happened to me, like, would
never change that. Like Ineeded to be at the bottom, you know,
(19:44):
because I was always toodoing, doing, doing and doing great
things. I tell people I wasonly concerned about the next Great
thing. I was going to do thenext great thing, I was going to
create and build and that'sall that mattered to me. I wasn't
thinking past that nextproject. I wasn't thinking about
business sustainability. Sowhen I lost everything, I look back
(20:04):
again, back to the hindsightthing. All those suggestions, my
great clients who just, theytruly love me, they're like, just
really like, you know, likethey were right on every point. I
went, okay, so now this is mymain focus is going to be asking
for help. How do I do this,where do I go, what conference do
(20:27):
I need to go to? What, what doI have to do to, to, to regain not
not just knowledge but likehow do I apply what I want to do?
I said that 15 minute thingwith give them one. How do I do that?
Like I, I don't know how to dothat because I never did. Was always
business first. So now Ireally had to reach out. I'm like,
(20:49):
I'm going to try somethingthat I've never done before because
what I, Yeah, because for 20years what I thought worked, didn't
work. So that's enough time totest something. Okay. 20 years of
doing enough time to figureout like maybe this doesn't work,
you know, so that, that's whatreally helped me going forward, you
know.
And I love, I love, I love thefact that you understand that having
(21:12):
to asking help. So listeners,I want you to understand something.
This is the way to haveunstoppable success. And that's something
that Richard has been able todo and that is ask for help. You
cannot have unstoppablesuccess with by yourself. Now it's
so funny that you were talkingabout, about sharing how you like
(21:33):
the individual sport becauseit's very true. It's, you're, it's
like because you only have torely on you, but then you learn like
business is, a, business is amulti sport team and Right. And you
have to ask for help. You haveto be able to collaborate, you know,
(21:58):
in order to take those steps.
Yeah, you have to build teams.
Yeah, teams.
You can't do everythingbecause most owners, when we talk
about the owner prison,they're their own jailers. They go
in, they shut the door, theyturn the key and lock it. Then they
toss the key on the floor outthere and they're trapped. And that's
(22:18):
where they're at because theydon't build the team. They think,
not everybody, but like I'mthe best at what I do. My clients
would not accept anythingless. And I'm like, okay, we're going
to start with the first lie,and that's it. Okay? Because if I
have someone who's 95% as goodas I am, or 97 or whatever, I guarantee
(22:42):
you, your customers will notknow the difference. That's where
you begin. And if you'rereally concerned, train them up the
next, the last 5%, and getthem as good as you. You got to put
your ego in the little box.What I do for clients now, I have
this little wooden box. I senda nice, beautiful, hinged little
box. And I said, and there's abrass plate on the front that's engraved,
and it says, my ego. And Isaid, so lock it in there and put
(23:05):
that on the shelf. And, like,look at that. Every now and then
go, yeah, I put that in there.It doesn't come out. There's time
for ego a little bit. Notreally. You could define it differently,
but you understand that egocan't play anything in your business,
right? Your business is notabout you until you.
It's not about you. Yourbusiness is not about you.
(23:26):
But that's a hard concept,man. You birthed this thing. You
birthed this business. Youbuilt. You struggled those first
couple years, right? You dideverything. And you have to. There's
no secret sauce and notworking hard when you start a business.
But the problem, Jaclyn, ispeople, they work hard the first
two years, but next thing youknow, 10 years has gone by, and they've
(23:47):
repeated the first two, fivetimes. They're on the hamster wheel.
It might be a golden hamsterwheel, but it's a hamster wheel.
You know, they can never getoff. They can never leave. They can
never shut it off when they.When they go home. They got to be
there. It's not just a controlthing. It's. I don't know. I don't
know how to get out of this.What I create, I have momentum. If
(24:08):
I jump out, the momentumstops. I'm the driver, right? And
that's not good, right? Youneed to get these people who are
better than you at all thesethings. You're not great at accounting.
No entrepreneur is. Unlessyou're an actual accountant who started
an accounting business, thenyou might be really good at it. Okay,
but, like, you don't knowmarketing. You know, you don't know
(24:30):
any of this stuff, but thereare people who do. Get them on the
team, right?
And even if you are themarketer, even if you started a marketing
business, guess what?
Oh, yeah.
Hire people who. Who areSmarter than you who actually know
something different. Becauseyou know what, at some point, and
this is the other key thing.And I think this is something listeners.
(24:53):
This is so important. Youknow, as. As Richard is saying, you
know, he had to understand howto build the team. In order for you
to actually build the team,you have to be able to work on your
business, not be in yourbusiness. In order for you to work
on your business, you have tobe running things. You're the, you
know. You know, you're thegrand master, right? You're the grand
(25:16):
master. You're the conductorwho's putting all the pieces together.
Or you're the coach of theteam, right? Or, you know, there's
so many different analogies,right, that we could talk about and
like, you know, but you becomethat grand master and you have to
learn how to work on yourbusiness and have other people work
in the business and have thosepeople who are working in the business
(25:39):
tell you what and be open tolistening. What needs to. What are
the needs that the businessneeds to have to keep going, to get
bigger and to build for you towork on the business? I mean, it's,
you know, it's kind of likethis. Like you were kind of, you
know, right. Like you got theteam and you're up here then routine,
and you're always growing andyou're moving. I love it. Like, I
(26:01):
like thinking of it also interms of like a baby, right? Babies.
Babies. You know, obviouslythey're. There's a team. You know,
you got the parents, they'refeeding the baby. The babies start
out, you know, whatever theirsize that they're starting out of,
right? I'll take my kids for aminute. Like, my son came out 9 pounds,
12 ounces, long skinny thing,right? We as parents were feeding
(26:26):
him. So what does baby babiesdo? They go fat and they go skinny.
They go fat and. Becausethey're always evolving, right? And
they're growing and you haveto get a little fat. But, you know,
and then we're learningbecause we're the team. We're. We're,
you know, what is. What arethe needs that he has? Right? So
think of your, you know, it isthe baby. Your business is your baby.
(26:48):
But it's gonna have thatgrowth. It's gonna do that ebb and
flow.
Yes. You know, what we teachis we want our owners to focus on
the 5% of the business onlythey can do. That's your goal, to
keep it super simple. It'slike, that's vision, that's growth.
Strategies, right? That'sreeling into big clients, little
(27:10):
clients or salespeople can do.But you get the big ones, you know,
because you've got everything,right? So we want to get them to
focus on that. And that takesfrom their 60, 80 hours a week down
to about 10 to 12 in thebusiness, right? But everybody else
is doing things. They havetheir systems, they have processes,
people in their team. Here'sthe thing about any kind of team,
(27:30):
okay? You have to know how towin. What does winning look like
on the day, on the week, onthe month, on the quarter, on the
year? Okay? If your team, allthe people who work for you and with
you, if they could come towork every day knowing how to win
and they win every day, do youthink they're going to ever stop
coming to work? They get tocome there and be a winner every
(27:54):
single day. Try to do that inregular life, okay? Like, you're
giving up a place to, like,come and win and feel great about
themselves if you build itright, okay? This is a really good.
It's a concept I had to learnlater, okay? But I really like when
you turn your eyes out off ofyou, which again, I was very much
(28:15):
me, me, me. You know, Iliterally was like, well, that's
enough about me. Let's talkabout me. Okay? I was that guy, right?
So it's like, once you turnout facing to your team to build
that, that's what you start tocreate, man. It's an amazing place
to work. And people lovetheir. Everybody struggles with retention,
client or employee retention,right? It's a huge thing. I go into
(28:37):
companies all the time and seeit like, oh, you only have a 565%
turnover rate. That's a littlemassive. Okay, why? Oh, oh, here's
why. Right? So we want that.But once you create that kind of
stuff, you start to realize,wow, and these. And they can excel
and they start bringing ideasto you, make things more efficient,
because I tell them to. Thedoor's open for that here. We're
(29:00):
going to have these meetingsevery week and you're going to bring
what you got. Tell me how. Andit might be as simple as minimizing
some mouse clicks. Why do wegot to click so many things just
to get to this page? You know,fix that. You know, come up with
an idea. I'll give you a bonus.
And the key thing is, I lovethat because it's also, you know,
again, but the key thing isalso listening. You have to at some
(29:22):
point, you know, as the ownerof a company or the person who's
built it. Again, it's notabout you. You have to remember,
you know, even the day one,your business is never about you.
It's about the people thatyou're serving. It's about the people
who you are trying to help.Then it know. Then it becomes about
the people that you're servingand the people on your team who are
(29:44):
also people that you'reserving. Right? So. But those people
that you are serving, you haveto be ready to listen and open to
listen from day one about. Youhave to hear suggestions. You have
to hear the good, the bad, andthe ugly and be able to take it in,
(30:05):
not make it personal, but beable to use that information for
the greater good of thebusiness. That is not you.
That's right. That's right.Basically, I do this, they bring
it, and they give me an idea.And I'm like, well, let's workshop
that real quick. Get on thewhiteboard and say this, and they
run it, and we run somescenarios and what do you think?
(30:26):
And you get the input. Itmight be the greatest idea ever.
And it also might get to thepoint where like, oh, yeah, I didn't
think of that. Yeah, I guessthat won't work. Totally. Okay, bring
me more next time. Like, wewant to stay on this. This is why
we do this. Like, everyone'sgot a good idea. I mean, you're quoting,
right? But it doesn't mean it.Once you pressure test it, it may
(30:46):
not be a good idea. I've hadmore than most that don't work out.
Okay. I do things. I literallyget them done. I go, this is spectacular.
And then two days later, I go,no one's coming to this. I'm taking
them out. I'm like, what did Ido? And I have to. But, man, I was
it. I. This is the greatest.No one could top me. I mean, literally,
I still deal with that, but Icatch it way sooner now.
(31:10):
You know, I had a guest on mypodcast, and one of the things that
we talked about, and it's sortof. It's the same thing. You have
to be ready to listen. And assoon as you say to somebody, as soon
as your business, or if yourbusiness is a business where somebody
says, you know, I have. I havean idea, or you or the people in
(31:33):
your business say, well, thisis how we do it. And somebody says,
okay, but there might, youknow, I think I have an idea to do
it better. And you say, andyou. If you say no, because this
is how we do it, you'reautomatically closing the door. And
it's. And it's a. It creates aculture immediately of people who
don't want to raise theirhand. And so, again, as a. To have
(31:59):
unstoppable success, key thingis you. You know what Richard is
really, you know, what you'resaying is you have to be open to
listening, you have to be opento suggestions. You have to let people
raise their hand on the teamand share.
Yeah. You need a mindset of innovation.
(32:21):
Yeah, right? Innovation.
You have to encourage that.Like, you got to bring me that. Innovation
is messy, okay? And you telleveryone that it's messy. So you're
going to bring ideas. You'regoing to have a great idea. You're
going to bring it again. We'llworkshop it. It may. It may go right
in the trash, okay? Afterthree iterations, we'll throw it
in the trash. But it doesn'tmean you don't continue to innovate,
(32:43):
because if we all got. Got itright the first time, like, we'd
be in constant change, right?Like, we'd never. We wouldn't actually
get in any kind of routine atall. So we want to understand that,
you know, so we really. Doingit just because we've always done
it that way is trouble. Youever hear the one about the Easter
ham? So this guy gets married.He's a newlywed. Easter's coming
(33:03):
up. He says, honey, I've gotthis unbelievable family recipe for
the ham for Easter. She goes,oh, that'd be great. So we got to
do it that way. We got tofollow to the letter we're going
to do that. So it comes. Herecomes Easter. He gets a ham out,
and he cuts the end off off ofit, right? And she goes, oh, why
do you cut the end off? Hegoes, well, you're questioning the
recipe. Like, this is how wedo it. This is part of the recipe.
(33:24):
You do it that way. So hegets. She goes, well, I just want
to know why. He goes, well,let me call my mother. So he calls
his mother. He says, mom, whydo we cut the ham off? She goes,
it's the recipe. What do youmean, why do we cut the ham? They
go, but no, we just want toknow why. Well, call your grandmother
and ask her. So. So you getcolor. Because no. And. And he goes
(33:44):
to grandma, grandma, why do wecut the end off the ham? She goes,
oh, you don't like the recipeor whatever? And he goes, no, we
just want to know why. Shegoes, so it fits in the pan, okay?
So it's it's, it's that kindof mentality. It's like, come on,
man. Like, you're not even,like, we have bigger pans now, right?
So it's the whole. It's, it's,it's that mindset. And I'll tell
(34:06):
you, I do a lot inmanufacturing these places, and you
see that, and it's, andthat's, that's how things kind of
work. That's the best way toput it, you know?
Yeah. I love it. I absolutelylove that. Well, that is really great.
Well, Richard, you have givenus some great tips. Food for thought,
wonderful information. How canour listeners connect with you and
(34:26):
get more of the greatness thatyou have?
Sharpenthespearcoaching.com.
Sharpen this coaching dot com.
Yes.
Fantastic. Okay, listeners,you got to do me a favor. A couple
of them, actually. Number one,go and connect with Richard at sharpen
(34:46):
the sphere.com and then youalso need to do me the favor. Hit
subscribe if you haven'talready. But really what I need you
to do is to share this episodewith other business owners, your
friends, your colleagues, andpeople that are in your circle and
even out, because this isgreat information. We need and want
(35:09):
everyone to have unstoppablesuccess. I'm Jaclyn Schminger, your
host. Thank you all forlistening, and thank you, Richard,
for being a great guest.
Well, hello everybody andwelcome to another amazing episode
of Unstoppable Success. I amyour host, Jaclyn Strominger. And
on this podcast we hear fromjust the most amazing humans who
have amazing things to shareabout how they have themselves unstoppable
(01:01):
success. And they will sharetheir insights, their tips, their
strategies, and how they havebecome that unstoppable successful
person or business. And todayI have a great person to introduce
you to, and his name isRichard Walsh. Let me tell you a
little bit about Richard. Heis the CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching.
(01:23):
He is a 30 year seasonedentrepreneur. He's a bestselling
author of Escape the OwnerPrison. We all can understand that.
The contractor's new way toscale, regain control and fast track
growth while loving life. He.He's a speaker, he's a podcast host,
he's a husband, he's a fatherof six children, a US Marine, a champion
boxer, black belt, and aninternationally recognized steel
(01:47):
sculptor. But moreimportantly, let me just tell you
that Richard has been. He'sseen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
He has gone from having it allto losing it all and back. So, you
know, he's got great insightsto share. And so, Richard, welcome
to Unstoppable Success.
(02:09):
Thank you, Jaclyn. I've beenlooking forward to this interview.
It's great to be here.
I'm so, it's so great because,you know, Richard, I was actually
on Richard's podcast. It wasawesome. And we were just like, oh,
we gotta, we gotta, gotta haveyou on mine. So, Richard, as I shared
it just recently, obviously inthat intro you did, you had it all,
(02:29):
then you didn't, and now youare just like beaming.
Yeah, yeah. It's been ajourney. It's been a journey. Jackman.
It was cool. Yeah. The, thefirst 20 years, amazing. Building,
struggle, build, right? And Ibecame this custom water feature
builder, steel sculptor, andstarted putting all this stuff together.
(02:52):
People were paying me a ton ofmoney and I was doing what I wanted,
living like my dreams. Andthings were really good until, as
the saying goes, they weren't.Okay, so 0809 came the big crash.
No one needed what I built. Itwas definitely a luxury item, right?
Water features, sculptures. Sotook a pretty big hit pretty fast.
(03:12):
And not just for the economy.The economy is only your final indicator,
as a lot of people may learn,depending how long you've been in
business, there's like doingwhat you do. Like, I'm an artist
and I build these incrediblewater features and stuff, steel sculptures
and that's great. But what Iwasn't good at was business because
I thought making lots of moneywas business. And newsflash, it's
(03:35):
not. It's a fun part of it.It's a really fun part of the business,
but it's not going to keep you.
That looks like a byproduct, right?
Yeah, it's like, well, that'snice. But Even it took 20 years to
figure out that you gotta, youdo have to pay attention to the business
part, which I kind of did.Didn't then hire someone and get
an accountant and get this.And I ignored a lot of things. And
(03:58):
when the real pressure came,when things started to collapse,
why couldn't I weather that,right? That was the whole thing.
And I lost everything.November 5, 2008, I lost half a million
dollars on that day, okay? Andthat was the beginning of the cliff.
People canceling contracts.Everyone was freaked out. You know,
just the phone's ringing. Iremember hanging up the phone at
(04:18):
the end of the day, Jack, whenI looked at my office manager and
I go, I think it's over. Idon't, this is not a good day. And
it just kept going, right? Soby, by early 09, I'm like this, we're
done, you know, and, and forme, for the, the, the, the cooler
part of the story was at thattime I had six small children, four
(04:39):
years and younger, okay? SoI'm like, I got this, I got, I'm
losing my house, I'm losing mybusiness. Tried to do some, I call
them dumb things to keep thebusiness afloat. Much longer story
than we'll get into here, butdidn't work, okay? So now I'm losing
all that. And I woke up oneday and I'm still trying to keep
it going. I started thinkingabout my kids and they're again all
(05:01):
under four. And when I comehome at night, they'd run and jump
on me and do all that. And oneday my four year old's chasing my
truck out the driveway cryingbecause I'm leaving, you know, but
hey, I got to go to work. AndI realized I had this epiphany at
that moment that if I continuedown this path, that business is
first it was who I am. I amthe business best at what I do. I've
(05:21):
been in every magazine and TVand all this stuff, right? Committees
and everything. I'm actuallygoing to destroy their futures because
more is caught than taughtwith kids, right? So they're only
going to do what they see medo. I can tell them all the Right
things, but only going to dowhat I did, right? So they might
be good at. I'm air quotingbusiness, which now we know is not
(05:41):
really business, just makingmoney. But everything else in their
life. They're going to havefailed relationships, broken marriages.
They have all kinds of badthings because of what they saw me
do, what I prioritize. So Iwalked in the office that day and
said, we're done. Said I'm notdoing this anymore. And like, oh.
And I went to my constructionyard and met my guys who had been
with me for 10 years. We hadour last cup of coffee together.
(06:04):
It's like, guys, we'refinished. I can't do this anymore.
I'm not going to do this. Andto this day I haven't built a water
feature or dental sculpture.It's been like 16 years. Said I'll
never do this. I'm going tostart now.
I could use one. Just kidding, right?
Yeah, I'll give you adiscount. But it became, because
it became my identity, right?When your business becomes who you
(06:24):
are, you're going to make baddecisions because of that identity.
You're going to do dumb thingsbecause it's ego and pride and like
it's mine. It's me. Without methere's no business. Everybody needs
me, right? It's that wholeself centered, just crazy. And I
(06:45):
just. And I'm like, I'llnever. And I know if I go back to
it or went back to it, itwould stir that in me again. So I've
just nothing. So I have tostart over. We had to relocate, we
lost a home, right? We had togo to change states. I'm like, okay,
now what do I do? I was like,hmm, I don't know. Oh, I really like
(07:05):
to train people. I likefitness, I'm a boxer, I'm blackball,
all this stuff. Like I'll dothat. So I went to Anytime Fitness.
You know, they're everywhere,right? And like I'll be a personal
trainer because I already haddone that in the past. And I'm like
started that doing reallywell, built this whole program. Next
thing you know, I'm trainer ofthe year. Okay. So I'm like, oh,
that's cool. But I'm also anentrepreneur, so you know what that
(07:26):
means. I gotta go open a gym.So I opened a boot camp style training
gym. Really great, you know,did that, grew that like this was
awesome. But my key to thatJack was like, okay. So my goal was
we homeschool our kids andeverything else, right? And so now
they're, you know, they'regrowing, they're getting those ages.
I'm like, if my wife needs meto be at home, I need to be there
(07:49):
in 15 minutes. Okay. That waslike, this is what I set as my goal.
How do you build a businesswhere I can have that kind of freedom?
And I did. I said, so I willhire trainers, I will train them,
they'll run this stuff. I'llbe here doing this, and it'll never
have me. I'll never have to bethere. Other people had keys to the
door, you know, I didn't haveto open it up every day. And that
(08:12):
went really well. And then Istarted the construction company.
It's like, oh, I'll do that.Roofing, siding, windows. And I built
that out. Same principle, getsubcontractors. I don't have any
employees. I havesubcontractors. And I do all the
work. And I was able to just.And scale that and do that. Wow,
that's really great. And thenpeople start asking me, well, how'd
you do all that? How'd you gofrom all that to nothing and back
to all this? And I said, well,I, I go, what are you doing? And
(08:35):
I started helping them. Andthat's kind of where coaching was
birthed, because I wasmentoring, which is cool. I love
to help people. But I'm anentrepreneur and mentors don't get
paid. Coaches get paid. So I'mgoing to be a coach. So I wrote a
best selling book calledEscape the Owner Prison. Like you
said, I built an academyaround it, started bringing people
in, started helping all thesebusinesses and doing this stuff and
(08:57):
turning them around and givingthem the freedom that I created.
And a few iterations later,here we are at Sharpen Spirit. Coaching
and helping incredible, doingincredible things for incredible
businesses. It's a blast.
So let me go back to a coupleof things. First of all, do you still
have the construction and thegym and the other business?
Nope, nope, nope. I got toobusy with coaching.
(09:19):
Okay, so did you sell those?
Yes.
Okay. Which is in, in itselflike a way to hit, to be. Have unstoppable
success too. Like you builtsomething, now you actually sold
it to help somebody else havesuccess with it. Like you started
that, Right? That's great. AndI think I, I would, I would think
(09:44):
that a lot of people ask younot just how you did it, but, but
how did you, how did you gofrom the low out of, out of the low
to the high? Because that's,that's a lot of emotion. That's a
(10:06):
lot of mindset. That's a lotof, you know, for lack of better
word, pain, suffering and fear.
Yes, a lot of suffering. Yeah.So. Because I get to ask this a lot
and really what it is, I'm.I'm a. I'm very much an optimist.
(10:31):
Like, so if I take all mytraining and my. How I grew up, what
I suffered through that, andhow I got to the next stage, then
the Marine Corps, then I'mboxing, and then I'm. And I'm doing
this and I'm buildingbusinesses and then all this stuff.
There's. It's all kind ofsuffering. But so when everything
collapsed, I'm like, well, Ihave six children and my wife and
(10:54):
I have to provide. I have todo something. So what would have
been smarter? This is the joyof hindsight, is like, I owned everything.
I had all my equipment, all mytrucks, all my excavator. I owned
everything. It was all cash. Ipaid cash for everything. And would
have been probably smarter tokeep a couple things and do some
(11:15):
side gigs, like go excavatefor and make that. You know, looking
back, I mean, my wife was kindof upset. I didn't. But I'm like,
no, I. I'm an all or nothingguy. I can't have one foot in, one
foot out. I don't do anythingin my life like that. So, like, I
can't. I'm selling everything,you know, and got like 20 cents on
(11:36):
the dollar. I mean, it was aterrible. The worst time in history
to sell anything was then,okay, in 09. So. So, you know, good
meme. The guy doesn't knowbusiness right at that time is selling
stuff for 20 cents on thedollar because I'm an idiot, okay?
But I just, like, got rid ofthat, so that would have been probably
a wiser thing to do. But I'malso a pressure guy, Jaclyn. I only
(11:57):
perform under pressure. Like,if it's easy, like, I'll give you
an example as a. As asculptor, someone will commission
me for a piece and I'll say,okay, when would you like it done?
And I say, oh, whenever I go,oh, yeah, that time frame doesn't
work for me because, you know,the last part of that word is never.
Okay? So I. I don't. If youdon't have a date, I'm never going
(12:20):
to get to it because. But ifyou tell me Tuesday, it'll be done.
No matter what it is, I'llmake sure it happens. I get creative
under pressure. I solveproblems under pressure, I work really,
really diligently. So I can'thave that loose whenever timeframe.
So that was probably why I wasreally able to push through and make
(12:43):
this happen. Because I hadthis pressure. Like I got to feed
my kids, I got my wife, I haveto get a home to rent a place and
then do this. But it was theproblem. Jack was like, what was
I going to do? So I tried tobe like, well, what'll make me happy,
man? Training people. Nowhere's the funny thing about. So
I want to train people. AndI'm. I'm very much the warrior mindset.
(13:06):
You see spears in thebackground, okay. So I'm sharp in
the spare. So I'm like, how toget trained people, man. We'll be
out in the woods. I'll bedragging them through streams and
coming trees and diggingholes, man. We're going to be. I'll
be rocking their world, man.Climbing. I'm like, we're going to
do that. Okay. I never got todo that. Okay. I ended up at Anytime
fitness, you know, 10 milesaway riding one bicycle. Riding my
bicycle 10 miles eachdirection because we had one car.
(13:28):
You know, at that point mywife, my wife knew that for the kids.
So I'm getting my bike andriding. I'm hiking 10 miles one way
and 10 miles back with 60pound ruck sack. You know, I'm like,
okay, I'm just being so. Yeah,the dream of dream that never happened.
Okay. So at Anytime Fitness,like, you know, whatever and. But
I made that work then did myown thing right then, my boot camp
(13:49):
style. And I created thiswhole new system, like a belt system
for fitness. And it was reallycool and, and all that. So it kind
of got. That was good. But youknow, but you have to start somewhere.
So like I had to have theforward movement. You have to have
that forward movement. So myability was like, I'm. If you read
the book Grit by.
Angela Duckworth, I have notread it, but I. But I totally get
(14:12):
the concept.
So what she great researcher,really cool. She, what she discovered
after interviewing them, allthese guys at West Point. West Point,
all these other places was ithas nothing to do with physical prowess.
It has nothing to do withlike, you're intelligent. It's grit.
It's the ability to stay in nomatter what. All the greats have
(14:32):
that. Okay? So I'm like, wow.A friend of mine said, you got to
read this book. He goes, it'sabout you. I go, okay. So I read
it. I go, that's A great book.I don't know if I'm worth 300 pages,
but it's that. But what itwas, was there's a test and you get
the grit scale. Where do yourank on the. And you take this test.
Well, go figure. I was 97% onthe grid scale, okay. Because I'm,
(14:58):
to use a Marine Corps term,I'm too dumb to quit, okay? So I'm
just like, I'll keep pushingthrough. I'm like, I have to get
where I want to go. And itdoesn't. Quitting isn't part of what
I do. You know, failure istotally okay. Like, I. Right. Quitting
is very different.
Yeah, yeah.
(15:18):
It's disgraceful. I'll justsay, okay, so I don't allow it.
Right. Well, you know, but. Soit's interesting. So have you always
been built with that, youknow, opportunistic mindset?
Yeah, I don't. I don't. Iguess you can be born with it now.
(15:39):
You can train grit. You can. Ilearned that, you know, you can do
all that. But I think again,you know, a lot of us have some rough
past, you know, like,upbringing and stuff. Like, it's
not abuse and stuff and allthat. And like, for whatever reason,
whatever, I'm blessed to turnthat into power.
Right.
You know, like, overcome that.Okay, I'll get through that. I'll
get through the next thing andthe next thing, and I keep going
(16:02):
up the next level. And Inoticed too, Jack, as I was doing
things in school, like sports,I was only drawn to individual sports.
I was a cross country runner,and I was the biggest cross country
runner. I'm like £190, 6 foot,6 foot 2. And I'm like, running cross
country, like you said. Yeah,I can do it. And I was one of the
(16:22):
top runners, you know, reallygood, good. Then I go in the Marine
Corps, you know. Okay, that's.Yeah, there's a team, but it's really
individual, right? Because yougotta kind of gotta put your own
weight, right? Then I box.That's one on one. Two men enter,
one man leaves. Okay, sothat's. That's that then. Taekwondo.
It's me, I gotta train, Igotta work, I do all this stuff.
So my business, I have to doit right? So I'm doing all this stuff
(16:46):
and this where it becomes aproblem. Okay. Individual sports
are great. Like cross countryrunning. Every step is suffering.
Okay. It's horrible. If you,if you want to experience suffering,
go run, okay? Like, and runcross channel. They just run all
Them. It's horrible. Okay. AndI did it for. I, I stopped running
at like 50 years old. Okay.But I guess I embrace suffering.
(17:09):
But, but it's like, it's, it'sthat kind of thing like you get and
all of a sudden that. Do itall yourself. In my business, that's
what hurt me. I wouldn'taccept help. And again, we're going
back a little bit. Therewasn't like a coach at every corner
like there is today on theInternet. We didn't have the Internet.
Right. So I'm building allthis stuff and I had billionaire
(17:31):
clients giving me advice. Butdo you think I took it?
Yeah.
No, I didn't. Because what dothey know? They don't build water
features. They just own acouple professional sports teams
and manufacturing plants. Buthow could they possibly help me?
Okay. So that's the level ofstupid I operated at. Okay. Still
(17:51):
succeeded in kind of the, thefront facing way, but I just was
not going to accept that help.So was hard.
So two things. Number one, Iwouldn't call, you know, let's be
kind to yourself. It's not thelevel of stupidity or that you were.
Everybody has that point intheir life where they're, when they
are, when they're not ready orwhen they are ready to receive information.
(18:14):
So at some point, you know,obviously you weren't, you weren't
ready. You were not ready totake in that information and process
it, or you took it in, but youdidn't do anything with it. But then
you reached a point where, oryou know, you reached a point where
like, you know what, they werewise. And I think there's also something
(18:37):
in there too where there's alevel of, there's humility, but there's
also a level of confidence tounderstand that that comes out when
you are ready to accept andhear from other people. There's insecurity
(18:57):
or fear is, is a way ofstopping us from hearing and taking
on information. Right. And soyou reached, you know, it's, it's,
you reach a point where youwere ready and there was probably
a point when you were like,oh, you know what? Inner confidence
came out in a different way orconfidence came out in a way that
(19:20):
you were able to actually takein that information.
Yeah, I, it took losingeverything. So that time, again,
hindsight, best thing thatever happened to me, like, would
never change that. Like Ineeded to be at the bottom, you know,
(19:44):
because I was always toodoing, doing, doing and doing great
things. I tell people I wasonly concerned about the next Great
thing. I was going to do thenext great thing, I was going to
create and build and that'sall that mattered to me. I wasn't
thinking past that nextproject. I wasn't thinking about
business sustainability. Sowhen I lost everything, I look back
(20:04):
again, back to the hindsightthing. All those suggestions, my
great clients who just, theytruly love me, they're like, just
really like, you know, likethey were right on every point. I
went, okay, so now this is mymain focus is going to be asking
for help. How do I do this,where do I go, what conference do
(20:27):
I need to go to? What, what doI have to do to, to, to regain not
not just knowledge but likehow do I apply what I want to do?
I said that 15 minute thingwith give them one. How do I do that?
Like I, I don't know how to dothat because I never did. Was always
business first. So now Ireally had to reach out. I'm like,
(20:49):
I'm going to try somethingthat I've never done before because
what I, Yeah, because for 20years what I thought worked, didn't
work. So that's enough time totest something. Okay. 20 years of
doing enough time to figureout like maybe this doesn't work,
you know, so that, that's whatreally helped me going forward, you
know.
And I love, I love, I love thefact that you understand that having
(21:12):
to asking help. So listeners,I want you to understand something.
This is the way to haveunstoppable success. And that's something
that Richard has been able todo and that is ask for help. You
cannot have unstoppablesuccess with by yourself. Now it's
so funny that you were talkingabout, about sharing how you like
(21:33):
the individual sport becauseit's very true. It's, you're, it's
like because you only have torely on you, but then you learn like
business is, a, business is amulti sport team and Right. And you
have to ask for help. You haveto be able to collaborate, you know,
(21:58):
in order to take those steps.
Yeah, you have to build teams.
Yeah, teams.
You can't do everythingbecause most owners, when we talk
about the owner prison,they're their own jailers. They go
in, they shut the door, theyturn the key and lock it. Then they
toss the key on the floor outthere and they're trapped. And that's
(22:18):
where they're at because theydon't build the team. They think,
not everybody, but like I'mthe best at what I do. My clients
would not accept anythingless. And I'm like, okay, we're going
to start with the first lie,and that's it. Okay? Because if I
have someone who's 95% as goodas I am, or 97 or whatever, I guarantee
(22:42):
you, your customers will notknow the difference. That's where
you begin. And if you'rereally concerned, train them up the
next, the last 5%, and getthem as good as you. You got to put
your ego in the little box.What I do for clients now, I have
this little wooden box. I senda nice, beautiful, hinged little
box. And I said, and there's abrass plate on the front that's engraved,
and it says, my ego. And Isaid, so lock it in there and put
(23:05):
that on the shelf. And, like,look at that. Every now and then
go, yeah, I put that in there.It doesn't come out. There's time
for ego a little bit. Notreally. You could define it differently,
but you understand that egocan't play anything in your business,
right? Your business is notabout you until you.
It's not about you. Yourbusiness is not about you.
(23:26):
But that's a hard concept,man. You birthed this thing. You
birthed this business. Youbuilt. You struggled those first
couple years, right? You dideverything. And you have to. There's
no secret sauce and notworking hard when you start a business.
But the problem, Jaclyn, ispeople, they work hard the first
two years, but next thing youknow, 10 years has gone by, and they've
(23:47):
repeated the first two, fivetimes. They're on the hamster wheel.
It might be a golden hamsterwheel, but it's a hamster wheel.
You know, they can never getoff. They can never leave. They can
never shut it off when they.When they go home. They got to be
there. It's not just a controlthing. It's. I don't know. I don't
know how to get out of this.What I create, I have momentum. If
(24:08):
I jump out, the momentumstops. I'm the driver, right? And
that's not good, right? Youneed to get these people who are
better than you at all thesethings. You're not great at accounting.
No entrepreneur is. Unlessyou're an actual accountant who started
an accounting business, thenyou might be really good at it. Okay,
but, like, you don't knowmarketing. You know, you don't know
(24:30):
any of this stuff, but thereare people who do. Get them on the
team, right?
And even if you are themarketer, even if you started a marketing
business, guess what?
Oh, yeah.
Hire people who. Who areSmarter than you who actually know
something different. Becauseyou know what, at some point, and
this is the other key thing.And I think this is something listeners.
(24:53):
This is so important. Youknow, as. As Richard is saying, you
know, he had to understand howto build the team. In order for you
to actually build the team,you have to be able to work on your
business, not be in yourbusiness. In order for you to work
on your business, you have tobe running things. You're the, you
know. You know, you're thegrand master, right? You're the grand
(25:16):
master. You're the conductorwho's putting all the pieces together.
Or you're the coach of theteam, right? Or, you know, there's
so many different analogies,right, that we could talk about and
like, you know, but you becomethat grand master and you have to
learn how to work on yourbusiness and have other people work
in the business and have thosepeople who are working in the business
(25:39):
tell you what and be open tolistening. What needs to. What are
the needs that the businessneeds to have to keep going, to get
bigger and to build for you towork on the business? I mean, it's,
you know, it's kind of likethis. Like you were kind of, you
know, right. Like you got theteam and you're up here then routine,
and you're always growing andyou're moving. I love it. Like, I
(26:01):
like thinking of it also interms of like a baby, right? Babies.
Babies. You know, obviouslythey're. There's a team. You know,
you got the parents, they'refeeding the baby. The babies start
out, you know, whatever theirsize that they're starting out of,
right? I'll take my kids for aminute. Like, my son came out 9 pounds,
12 ounces, long skinny thing,right? We as parents were feeding
(26:26):
him. So what does baby babiesdo? They go fat and they go skinny.
They go fat and. Becausethey're always evolving, right? And
they're growing and you haveto get a little fat. But, you know,
and then we're learningbecause we're the team. We're. We're,
you know, what is. What arethe needs that he has? Right? So
think of your, you know, it isthe baby. Your business is your baby.
(26:48):
But it's gonna have thatgrowth. It's gonna do that ebb and
flow.
Yes. You know, what we teachis we want our owners to focus on
the 5% of the business onlythey can do. That's your goal, to
keep it super simple. It'slike, that's vision, that's growth.
Strategies, right? That'sreeling into big clients, little
(27:10):
clients or salespeople can do.But you get the big ones, you know,
because you've got everything,right? So we want to get them to
focus on that. And that takesfrom their 60, 80 hours a week down
to about 10 to 12 in thebusiness, right? But everybody else
is doing things. They havetheir systems, they have processes,
people in their team. Here'sthe thing about any kind of team,
(27:30):
okay? You have to know how towin. What does winning look like
on the day, on the week, onthe month, on the quarter, on the
year? Okay? If your team, allthe people who work for you and with
you, if they could come towork every day knowing how to win
and they win every day, do youthink they're going to ever stop
coming to work? They get tocome there and be a winner every
(27:54):
single day. Try to do that inregular life, okay? Like, you're
giving up a place to, like,come and win and feel great about
themselves if you build itright, okay? This is a really good.
It's a concept I had to learnlater, okay? But I really like when
you turn your eyes out off ofyou, which again, I was very much
(28:15):
me, me, me. You know, Iliterally was like, well, that's
enough about me. Let's talkabout me. Okay? I was that guy, right?
So it's like, once you turnout facing to your team to build
that, that's what you start tocreate, man. It's an amazing place
to work. And people lovetheir. Everybody struggles with retention,
client or employee retention,right? It's a huge thing. I go into
(28:37):
companies all the time and seeit like, oh, you only have a 565%
turnover rate. That's a littlemassive. Okay, why? Oh, oh, here's
why. Right? So we want that.But once you create that kind of
stuff, you start to realize,wow, and these. And they can excel
and they start bringing ideasto you, make things more efficient,
because I tell them to. Thedoor's open for that here. We're
(29:00):
going to have these meetingsevery week and you're going to bring
what you got. Tell me how. Andit might be as simple as minimizing
some mouse clicks. Why do wegot to click so many things just
to get to this page? You know,fix that. You know, come up with
an idea. I'll give you a bonus.
And the key thing is, I lovethat because it's also, you know,
again, but the key thing isalso listening. You have to at some
(29:22):
point, you know, as the ownerof a company or the person who's
built it. Again, it's notabout you. You have to remember,
you know, even the day one,your business is never about you.
It's about the people thatyou're serving. It's about the people
who you are trying to help.Then it know. Then it becomes about
the people that you're servingand the people on your team who are
(29:44):
also people that you'reserving. Right? So. But those people
that you are serving, you haveto be ready to listen and open to
listen from day one about. Youhave to hear suggestions. You have
to hear the good, the bad, andthe ugly and be able to take it in,
(30:05):
not make it personal, but beable to use that information for
the greater good of thebusiness. That is not you.
That's right. That's right.Basically, I do this, they bring
it, and they give me an idea.And I'm like, well, let's workshop
that real quick. Get on thewhiteboard and say this, and they
run it, and we run somescenarios and what do you think?
(30:26):
And you get the input. Itmight be the greatest idea ever.
And it also might get to thepoint where like, oh, yeah, I didn't
think of that. Yeah, I guessthat won't work. Totally. Okay, bring
me more next time. Like, wewant to stay on this. This is why
we do this. Like, everyone'sgot a good idea. I mean, you're quoting,
right? But it doesn't mean it.Once you pressure test it, it may
(30:46):
not be a good idea. I've hadmore than most that don't work out.
Okay. I do things. I literallyget them done. I go, this is spectacular.
And then two days later, I go,no one's coming to this. I'm taking
them out. I'm like, what did Ido? And I have to. But, man, I was
it. I. This is the greatest.No one could top me. I mean, literally,
I still deal with that, but Icatch it way sooner now.
(31:10):
You know, I had a guest on mypodcast, and one of the things that
we talked about, and it's sortof. It's the same thing. You have
to be ready to listen. And assoon as you say to somebody, as soon
as your business, or if yourbusiness is a business where somebody
says, you know, I have. I havean idea, or you or the people in
(31:33):
your business say, well, thisis how we do it. And somebody says,
okay, but there might, youknow, I think I have an idea to do
it better. And you say, andyou. If you say no, because this
is how we do it, you'reautomatically closing the door. And
it's. And it's a. It creates aculture immediately of people who
don't want to raise theirhand. And so, again, as a. To have
(31:59):
unstoppable success, key thingis you. You know what Richard is
really, you know, what you'resaying is you have to be open to
listening, you have to be opento suggestions. You have to let people
raise their hand on the teamand share.
Yeah. You need a mindset of innovation.
(32:21):
Yeah, right? Innovation.
You have to encourage that.Like, you got to bring me that. Innovation
is messy, okay? And you telleveryone that it's messy. So you're
going to bring ideas. You'regoing to have a great idea. You're
going to bring it again. We'llworkshop it. It may. It may go right
in the trash, okay? Afterthree iterations, we'll throw it
in the trash. But it doesn'tmean you don't continue to innovate,
(32:43):
because if we all got. Got itright the first time, like, we'd
be in constant change, right?Like, we'd never. We wouldn't actually
get in any kind of routine atall. So we want to understand that,
you know, so we really. Doingit just because we've always done
it that way is trouble. Youever hear the one about the Easter
ham? So this guy gets married.He's a newlywed. Easter's coming
(33:03):
up. He says, honey, I've gotthis unbelievable family recipe for
the ham for Easter. She goes,oh, that'd be great. So we got to
do it that way. We got tofollow to the letter we're going
to do that. So it comes. Herecomes Easter. He gets a ham out,
and he cuts the end off off ofit, right? And she goes, oh, why
do you cut the end off? Hegoes, well, you're questioning the
recipe. Like, this is how wedo it. This is part of the recipe.
(33:24):
You do it that way. So hegets. She goes, well, I just want
to know why. He goes, well,let me call my mother. So he calls
his mother. He says, mom, whydo we cut the ham off? She goes,
it's the recipe. What do youmean, why do we cut the ham? They
go, but no, we just want toknow why. Well, call your grandmother
and ask her. So. So you getcolor. Because no. And. And he goes
(33:44):
to grandma, grandma, why do wecut the end off the ham? She goes,
oh, you don't like the recipeor whatever? And he goes, no, we
just want to know why. Shegoes, so it fits in the pan, okay?
So it's it's, it's that kindof mentality. It's like, come on,
man. Like, you're not even,like, we have bigger pans now, right?
So it's the whole. It's, it's,it's that mindset. And I'll tell
(34:06):
you, I do a lot inmanufacturing these places, and you
see that, and it's, andthat's, that's how things kind of
work. That's the best way toput it, you know?
Yeah. I love it. I absolutelylove that. Well, that is really great.
Well, Richard, you have givenus some great tips. Food for thought,
wonderful information. How canour listeners connect with you and
(34:26):
get more of the greatness thatyou have?
Sharpenthespearcoaching.com.
Sharpen this coaching dot com.
Yes.
Fantastic. Okay, listeners,you got to do me a favor. A couple
of them, actually. Number one,go and connect with Richard at sharpen
(34:46):
the sphere.com and then youalso need to do me the favor. Hit
subscribe if you haven'talready. But really what I need you
to do is to share this episodewith other business owners, your
friends, your colleagues, andpeople that are in your circle and
even out, because this isgreat information. We need and want
(35:09):
everyone to have unstoppablesuccess. I'm Jaclyn Schminger, your
host. Thank you all forlistening, and thank you, Richard,
for being a great guest.
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