July 19, 2024 • 18 mins
What if you could transform your business and reclaim your freedom? Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Richard Walsh, CEO of Sharpen and the Spear Coaching, who shares his extraordinary journey from Marine Corps service to becoming a 30-year entrepreneurial veteran. Richard takes us through his early experiences in Arizona that sparked his passion for self-employment, his success in the custom water feature business, and his rise as a globally recognized steel sculptor. He also candidly discusses the hard-hitting impact of the 2008 financial crisis, losing his business and personal assets, and the significant lessons he learned along the way.
Richard dives into the nitty-gritty of coaching entrepreneurs, especially those in the service and trades industries like construction, plumbing, and HVAC. He emphasizes breaking free from the "owner prison" by automating, delegating, and eliminating inefficiencies. Listeners will learn about the critical 5% of business activities that only the owner should handle, such as vision and growth, and the strategic advantage of buying other businesses. Richard passionately advocates for building a business that runs independently, ensuring a smooth and profitable transition when it’s time to sell.
Effective delegation is another key topic, with Richard addressing common pitfalls like undervaluing one's worth and micromanagement. He shares real-life examples, including the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. Richard introduces his book, "Escape the Owner Prison," and invites listeners to explore more resources on his website. This episode is packed with actionable insights on prioritizing high-value activities, overcoming ego, and achieving the entrepreneurial freedom that inspired your journey. Don’t miss out on this invaluable advice from a seasoned expert.
Richard dives into the nitty-gritty of coaching entrepreneurs, especially those in the service and trades industries like construction, plumbing, and HVAC. He emphasizes breaking free from the "owner prison" by automating, delegating, and eliminating inefficiencies. Listeners will learn about the critical 5% of business activities that only the owner should handle, such as vision and growth, and the strategic advantage of buying other businesses. Richard passionately advocates for building a business that runs independently, ensuring a smooth and profitable transition when it’s time to sell.
Effective delegation is another key topic, with Richard addressing common pitfalls like undervaluing one's worth and micromanagement. He shares real-life examples, including the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. Richard introduces his book, "Escape the Owner Prison," and invites listeners to explore more resources on his website. This episode is packed with actionable insights on prioritizing high-value activities, overcoming ego, and achieving the entrepreneurial freedom that inspired your journey. Don’t miss out on this invaluable advice from a seasoned expert.
Master the art of virtual business & create a life you love! Join Natalie Guzman, your host on Virtual Antics, a weekly podcast for digital entrepreneurs seeking work-life balance.✨
Ready to revolutionize your success? Tune in & subscribe for weekly episodes!
____________________________
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngvirtualassistant/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ngvirtualassists/
____________________________
Join Natalie Guzman:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsnatalieguzman/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itsnatalieguzman3?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Natalie Guzman (00:00):
Welcome to the Virtual Antics Podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet andinfo-packed episodes will
inspire, educate and leave youfeeling motivated to take one
more step forward in yourbusiness.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast, we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNadora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited landing
pages, automations, emails andtext campaigns, and so much more
.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics Podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and I'm so
(00:45):
excited because today I haveRichard Walsh on the call.
He is the CEO of Sharpen andthe Spear Coaching.
Richard is a 30-year seasonedentrepreneur, best-selling
author of Escape the OwnerPrison, the Contractor's New Way
to Scale, regain, control andFast-Track Growth While Loving
Life.
Welcome, richard, how are youdoing today?
Thanks, Natalie, I'm doingawesome.
(01:05):
I appreciate you having me on.
I'm so excited, especially yourfellow podcaster as well.
I didn't mention that in theintro, so I always love having
fellow like podcasters andentrepreneurs on the call,
because one it's usually meansyou're pretty extroverted like
myself, and it's always makesfor a great conversation.
Yeah, I think I'm extroverted oncue only.
(01:26):
Yeah.
Richard Walsh (01:29):
Yo u know, I have a switch, so, which is good, so
I can go both ways.
Awesome.
Well, I'm so excited.
So can you tell us a little bitabout what you do?
You have a huge 30 years as anentrepreneur.
That is absolutely amazing.
I think I'm going on year 10.
So that's super exciting.
But tell me about what you doand kind of how you got there.
Yeah, so it.
(01:50):
So I was in the Marine Corps.
I got out like 87.
So, yeah, we're going back abit, got out, started working
because you have to make money.
So I got a job and I'm workingand I was literally swinging a
pickaxe, digging trench all day,okay for five bucks an hour,
and that was very exciting and Ikind of didn't really see a
(02:10):
future there.
So I'm looking for things to doso I get side work right, like
only thing I had was work ethicand muscle and like I can work
hard.
What can I do?
And this was in Arizona andsomeone needed me to.
Hey, can you do this job for me?
I got this granite I need tohave in the backyard that's what
they do instead of grass andall that.
You spread granite so they'lldump it on the street.
(02:31):
If you can just bring it allback and spread it, I'm like,
yeah, I'll do that.
So he told me how much it wasand it was going to, in like 100
degrees, one wheelbarrow at atime, go around.
I did it, knocked down a daybut I made $1,000, Natalie, for
the same thing I was doing, tomake $5 an hour Kind of a light
(02:53):
bulb, they said you know, Ithink I'll work for myself.
They could do like two of thesea month and still be making
more money.
So that was kind of the birthof entrepreneurship for me.
Plus, after four years oftaking direction from everybody,
I kind of was not into takingdirection from people anymore.
So I'd like to tell people I'mthe best employee you could ever
want.
(03:14):
I s hoot early.
I do everything without beingtold.
I do above and beyond.
I'll stay late, but at the12-month mark I need to run your
company because I'm just goingto do it better.
I need to run your companybecause I'm just going to do it
better.
Okay, so I become a very badkind of move on.
So so that grew into a.
I created a water featurebusiness a custom water feature
business waterfalls, ponds,streams, things like that
(03:35):
incorporated steel sculptureinto that, ended up becoming an
internationally recognized steelsculptor, did these world-class
projects and I came on the oneof the finest water feature
builders in the country anddoing stuff and it was awesome.
That was great, right, I didthat for almost 20 years and
then 08, 09 came and there'skind of a financial collapse.
Now I don't blame the collapseitself, but it crushed my
(03:58):
business.
Everything evaporated basicallyovernight, like it started with
this one day and it wasNovember 5th of 2008.
I lost a half a million dollarsand it just kept going off the
cliff.
It was over.
So that was kind of a big deal.
And so for me what happened wasand I lost everything house.
I had six small children, sixkids under four, that's my
(04:21):
marriage, right.
So we lost the business, had tobe shut down.
I lost my house, we had torelocate, do all that stuff and
that was a little traumatic, youknow, on the whole family.
But the big thing was I learnedthat.
Okay, let's figure out what Idid wrong.
First, like how could I notweather even, yeah, as bad as
that collapse was, it's like Ishouldn't have, I shouldn't have
had to have closed, right, Ishouldn't have had to have
(04:42):
closed, right, I shouldn't haveto shut down.
So I really connected all thedots and there was a lot of them
and I figured that out, put itall back together, started a new
business, grew to scale.
That Now a big thing.
What I did was I didn't want tobe owned by my business, right,
I wanted it to serve me, not meserving it.
So that was a big part of mydrive.
(05:03):
And I did that because I hadsix small kids.
We're homeschooling them, Iwant to raise them, I want to do
the whole thing.
So, and we did it Took them allthrough high school.
Now the last three aregraduating, so it's really great
.
But that's kind of the thebackstory.
Th at's a wesome, and so nowyou're coaching correct?
Yeah, so I got so good at likefixing my business and helping
(05:23):
other people ask me.
I'm like asking coaching wasbirthed about 10 years ago, so
now it's sharpen the spirit.
Coaching yeah, it's awesome.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I've noticed like I feellike businesses they kind of all
have their time and place, butthe entrepreneur you know,
entrepreneurs, we're alwaysthinking of ideas, right, so
it's kind of really easy to comeup with a new business idea or
a new direction, but it's justmaking sure I love that you said
(05:45):
that you took the time youevaluated what you did wrong to.
You know, make sure that didn'thappen again and that's one of
the things I think sometimesentrepreneurs forget is like
okay, figure out what you didwrong.
So when you, if you do want toopen a new business or you want
to take your business in a newdirection, figure out how you
can avoid those mistakes.
So that's super, superinsightful.
I love that.
So what type of people do youcoach?
(06:07):
Is it like service-based, ?
I would say, if you want to putit in the niche, it's a service
and trades industry.
Yeah, construction guys, I haveyour plumbers, your HVACac guys
, although those are like mysuper niche now.
I work with manufacturers andreal estate people and all that
too, but who I'm really?
I mean, I just kill it withthat service and trades base
(06:28):
because I know the industry sowell and I know every single
thing they run into.
Because here's how it worksnatalie, everyone gets in
business right, and we all knowwe have to work really hard when
you start.
I have not figured out a waynot to do that.
Okay, so you're going to workreally hard.
You can wear a lot of hats.
You're going to first two years, but I will say the easiest
thing to do is make money.
S o, you'll make money, you'llget going.
It's everything else that'sdifficult.
(06:49):
But all of a sudden, that firsttwo years you're at the 10 year
mark and then you realize I'vejust repeated the first two
years five times.
Okay, so that that's wherethey're trapped, that's escaped
the owner prison.
Right, they're trapped in theowner prison.
So we come in and break thatand fix that and bring the
freedom and the profit and theimpact back into their business.
(07:10):
So that's what I had to do.
Like I can't do that.
You know, if I have to open thedoor every day, something's not
right.
Natalie Guzman (07:16):
Yeah, do you notice that?
I, that I, I I see a lot oftimes entrepreneurs you know I
work with entrepreneurs andhundreds of industries, right,
we actually have a lot in likethe trade service and tree
industry and electricians andthings like that.
And then we have coaches and um, even like, uh, veterinarians
or like homeschooling moms areteaching other moms how to
(07:38):
homeschool, which is super cool.
So it's like all across theboard, right.
But the one thing that Inoticed they struggle with is
like delegation and like beingthe CEO.
They're like trying to be theadmin, assistant, the sales, the
marketing and they're trying tokeep it all to themselves.
But I think a business isreally more of like an organic
thing, and I got lucky becausemy business was a virtual
(08:00):
assistant agency, was my not myfirst business, but the you know
, my first lasting business,which is super cool, and so I
kind of got lucky with thatbecause I learned really quickly
how to delegate, how to makesure that I'm not doing
everything.
Do you notice that a lot ofyour clients are trying to do it
all?
Richard Walsh (08:17):
Oh, absolutely, that's it's.
It's the nine hats.
So that a lot of your clientsare trying to do it all.
Oh, absolutely, that's, it'sthe nine hats.
Delegate the right people to doit and don't just delegate give
them authority to perform thattask right, Put them in charge,
(08:44):
have them do that.
And then elimination, of courseredundancies, inefficiencies,
and the most important thing toeliminate is you, okay.
So you really need to eliminateyou from all this day-to-day
stuff so you can focus on whatwe call the 5%.
5% of the business is only youcan do the vision, the growth,
obtaining new market shares,perhaps buying other struggling
businesses who didn't do itright, and you can go purchase
this for pennies on the dollar.
You come in, systemize it,automate, delegate, eliminate.
(09:06):
Bam, now you've got a wholenother expansion in your
business.
I love that.
Natalie Guzman (09:10):
Yeah, and you know, I see I've been thinking a
lot about that, like buyingother businesses and things like
that, and I've talked to a lotof my clients about it and I've
noticed that, you know, it'skind of like a scary thought if
you've never done it before.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Find a business, yes, yeah.
So here's what I want you to do.
I'll tell you exactly whatyou're going to do.
You're going to practice, okay.
So you're going to go find abusiness broker, whatever it is.
You can find a business forsale and you're going to go
check it out.
And you're going to look atbooks.
You can see their operationbecause you're going to learn a
ton you don't have to buy.
No one's going to make you buyit, but you're going to see Is
(09:52):
it worth what they're asking?
Is it worth 10 cents on thedollar?
Is it worth it?
Do they have automation?
Because here's the goal Ifyou're ever going to, if I'm
going to sell my business, so itdoes for your entrepreneurs who
actually want to grow theirbusiness, scale it and build it,
and we're all probably going tosell at one point.
You know, or hand it down, butthat never really works.
You're going to probably sellit.
Okay, don't think your kidswant to do what you do, Except
(10:17):
yours, who wants to be in thepodcast.
Yeah, but.
But so what you want to do isyou want to build it to sell.
So what I want is I wantsomeone to come in and say, hey,
man, I love your business andthey give me what I'm on, what I
want.
I want X amount, right, okay,they hand me a check, we shake
hands, I go out the door, theycome in but nobody else knows.
The business sold because it'srun so well, it's not dependent
on me, right?
(10:38):
That's what someone's reallylooking for.
If they're going to expand andbuy a business, they don't want
to come reinvent what you do,okay.
So when you go to these otherbusinesses, look at them for
purchase, look for that.
Is that what you're buying?
Are you going to buy a done,finished runs itself?
Or are you coming in hot mess,a couple of used trucks, a
couple of this, a bunch ofdepreciating assets, and you're
(10:58):
going to say, well, I give you30,000.
Okay, and that's the reality for most businesses,
because they haven't had anyfuture thought, any exit
strategy.
You know designs and programsto go to.
So that's what I would doPractice it, go tell what you're
looking at, don't just go buysomething because you're going
to get burned.
Richard Walsh (11:16):
Yeah, yeah, I love that and I kind of think of
it like an open house, right.
We go and when we're trying tobuy a house, we look at it, we
evaluate it, we see, you knowit's false, are there any crack
in the walls?
You know, especially if youlive in a hurricane state like I
, do all these little thingsthat we look at to evaluate.
I love the idea of, like,comparing that to looking at
your business.
(11:36):
Um, because yeah, that is sucha good, you know thought that
you just put in our heads.
It was like, you know, if it'snot running on its own, there's
going to be so much more work,so much time that you have to
put in probably money.
You're going to have to maybehire the right people or
reinvent the systems.
Um, does the business have sops?
(11:56):
Was my first question.
When you're saying that, if itdoesn't have a standard,
standard operating procedure, uh, it's like I feel like that
would be the biggest red flag.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, it's just a hot mess you're buying.
You're buying a mailing listthat's some past customers,
that's what you're going to get,and a bunch of broke down used
equipment or whatever it is, andit's or maybe one the
incredible office manager that'sactually holding the whole
business together walks out theday after you pay for it.
Yeah, now, now you have nothing.
(12:26):
Okay, all you have is a anempty office.
That's basically all you have.
So it's a lot, a lot of storieslike that out there.
But you know, but but again, ifyou like, like when we coach
our clients and now they knowand we don't make them.
There's a whole.
We want to get into the wholeprocess, but they know how to
systemize right and they runtheir business that way.
They can go and it's smart togo find those people who aren't
doing that, because you aregetting the list, you are
(12:48):
getting a business and they'vebeen there for 10 years.
Right, you have a name, youhave a presence and you can that
and you can come in and makeyour.
You can systemize that thing.
I have a client doing it now.
He picked up a business for asong.
He's already doubled theprofits, systemized the whole
thing in six months.
There'll be, you know, 100percent profitable next year.
You know it's unbelievablebecause he knows how to do it.
(13:11):
Yeah, that's going to becomemultiples, so it's.
There's so much opportunity.
But you've got to focus on yourthing first.
Get your thing dialed in.
Running self-sufficient doesn'treally need you working that 5%
.
Then start looking.
Yeah, in the interim again, ifyou want to practice, go
practice once a year like go tryto buy a business, go look at
(13:32):
stuff you know as you'rebuilding and perfecting yours,
just kind of get in the grooveof what this actually looks like
.
It's really helpful.
Richard Walsh (13:38):
I love that.
That's so cool.
Yeah, I'm definitely going tokeep that in mind.
That is awesome.
Now, what are some things thatyou see the entrepreneurs that
are, you said, wearing the ninehats, right.
So what are some things thatyou biggest mistakes maybe that
you see them doing?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
biggest, the biggest one, and again, my, my niche is
kind of the service and tradestree is they won't put the
hammer down, they won't put thedrill down, they won't put the
saw down, they won't put thetape measure down.
They just like they're great atwhat they do and that's why
they started the business,because they're doing it better
than the guy they work for yeahokay, but they can't let go of
that.
They have a death grip on it andthey think that, well, no one's
(14:16):
going to do it as good as I do.
My customers expect my listen.
I'm going to clue you in here.
Okay, Most of the people canprobably do it at 97% at least
as good as you can, and Iguarantee you your clients don't
know the difference.
You are putting yourself on aI'll call it an ego pedestal,
Like, just put the ego in thebox, put that away, let your
(14:39):
guys work and then work on theircompetency.
How about you train them to beas good as you are?
Work on that.
Do that so they can get out andget it done, because that's why
they can't scale.
They have to be there.
They're running and picking upmaterials.
They're going to do this.
They don't.
They truly don't understanddelegation.
They're afraid, and some of youhave the money, but then they
haven't planned their businesscorrectly.
(14:59):
Natalie, If they're planning,they go.
Ok, when I reach this point, Igot to put on this person.
Now, when I reach this point,I'm going to need these two
people.
I'm going to need this right.
So if they know the steps, theycan kind of take a breath.
Yeah, you're going to do a lotof the work in the beginning,
but then you have to have thatexit.
Okay, who's taking my place now?
Because you are a really highpaid carpenter, You're doing the
(15:21):
work because I'll do this a lotin seminars I do.
I ask all the owners, well,what's your hourly worth?
What are you worth as an owner?
And you'll hear $100 an hour,$150 an hour.
I'm like you got to be kidding.
Natalie Guzman (15:35):
That's all you're worth?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I mean really like if you had to replace you for all
the things that you do right now, would you, if someone came to
you with all that to do andyou're just this person, would
you accept it for only $150 anhour?
They're like I guess well, Idon't know You're worth like
$1,500 an hour.
Yeah, but why are you cleaningthe toilets?
Yeah, okay, who would you pay?
(15:57):
Like, understand all.
We all devalue ourselves.
None of us you, me, everyonedoes not have the right value
assessment for ourselves.
You have to get that fromsomeone else, but you have to
understand like this is why youdelegate, this is why you
automate, because I mean you are, you are the driver, you're the
visionary, you're what, you'rewhat keeps all this together,
but at the same time, you can'tbe doing everything every day.
(16:18):
So that's the biggest thing Irun into.
Richard Walsh (16:25):
And I'm going to call up my ladies on this,
because that's the biggest thingthat we like to do is we as
moms, wives, business owners, wetake everything on ourselves
and we really don't have to.
So that's just something Iwould keep in mind in your
day-to-day practices just makingsure that you're doing the
things that are worth the $1,500an hour and not the stuff that
you know and someone else onyour team can do.
(16:45):
And I know it's really scary,like um, I actually went with um
a house cleaner.
I went, I traveled to her, Iwent from Florida to Texas to
she was having so much troublewriting um, standard operating
procedures and training herselfand she was just having so much
(17:07):
issues basically cloning herself, right.
And I think what I saw thebiggest, her biggest mistake was
she was expecting someone to doit exactly how she did to the
very T, even, like you know, notputting certain toys away until
the very end and leaving themright outside, like things that
were just so minuscule in thebig picture, but she wanted
someone to do it exactly likethat and so she was not able to
hire anyone and replace her Umand because she kind of held
(17:29):
onto that so tightly, so I wouldsay you know.
You know it doesn't always haveto be a hundred percent exactly
how you do it or a hundredpercent perfect.
Sometimes it's.
You know, is it getting the jobdone?
Is it really?
Does it really worth that muchfor you to keep on doing?
I don't think it is, especiallyif you're being an entrepreneur
.
You didn't get into this jobfor it to be a job.
(17:49):
You got it to have that freedomfor whether it was time or
control or whatever it was.
So that's awesome.
I loved having you on the calltoday.
Richard, can you tell us wherewe can find you and more about
your services?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You get simple sharpen the spirit coachingcom.
So simple, great website.
Go on there.
You can shoot me a message.
My escape the owner prison bookyou can get on Amazon,
especially if you're in theservice and trades.
That book will just it'll be alot of light bulbs going off for
you Give you great direction onhow to really get out of that
prison.
We love coaching people.
Sharpenthespiritcoachingcom.
(18:24):
Go to that.
Send me a message.
Book a call.
Take a look at the information.
Love to talk to you.
Richard Walsh (18:30):
Awesome, and we'll talk to you guys next time
on the Virtual Index Podcast.
Welcome to the Virtual Antics Podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet andinfo-packed episodes will
inspire, educate and leave youfeeling motivated to take one
more step forward in yourbusiness.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast, we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNadora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited landing
pages, automations, emails andtext campaigns, and so much more
.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics Podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and I'm so
(00:45):
excited because today I haveRichard Walsh on the call.
He is the CEO of Sharpen andthe Spear Coaching.
Richard is a 30-year seasonedentrepreneur, best-selling
author of Escape the OwnerPrison, the Contractor's New Way
to Scale, regain, control andFast-Track Growth While Loving
Life.
Welcome, richard, how are youdoing today?
Thanks, Natalie, I'm doingawesome.
(01:05):
I appreciate you having me on.
I'm so excited, especially yourfellow podcaster as well.
I didn't mention that in theintro, so I always love having
fellow like podcasters andentrepreneurs on the call,
because one it's usually meansyou're pretty extroverted like
myself, and it's always makesfor a great conversation.
Yeah, I think I'm extroverted oncue only.
(01:26):
Yeah.
Richard Walsh (01:29):
Yo u know, I have a switch, so, which is good, so
I can go both ways.
Awesome.
Well, I'm so excited.
So can you tell us a little bitabout what you do?
You have a huge 30 years as anentrepreneur.
That is absolutely amazing.
I think I'm going on year 10.
So that's super exciting.
But tell me about what you doand kind of how you got there.
Yeah, so it.
(01:50):
So I was in the Marine Corps.
I got out like 87.
So, yeah, we're going back abit, got out, started working
because you have to make money.
So I got a job and I'm workingand I was literally swinging a
pickaxe, digging trench all day,okay for five bucks an hour,
and that was very exciting and Ikind of didn't really see a
(02:10):
future there.
So I'm looking for things to doso I get side work right, like
only thing I had was work ethicand muscle and like I can work
hard.
What can I do?
And this was in Arizona andsomeone needed me to.
Hey, can you do this job for me?
I got this granite I need tohave in the backyard that's what
they do instead of grass andall that.
You spread granite so they'lldump it on the street.
(02:31):
If you can just bring it allback and spread it, I'm like,
yeah, I'll do that.
So he told me how much it wasand it was going to, in like 100
degrees, one wheelbarrow at atime, go around.
I did it, knocked down a daybut I made $1,000, Natalie, for
the same thing I was doing, tomake $5 an hour Kind of a light
(02:53):
bulb, they said you know, Ithink I'll work for myself.
They could do like two of thesea month and still be making
more money.
So that was kind of the birthof entrepreneurship for me.
Plus, after four years oftaking direction from everybody,
I kind of was not into takingdirection from people anymore.
So I'd like to tell people I'mthe best employee you could ever
want.
(03:14):
I s hoot early.
I do everything without beingtold.
I do above and beyond.
I'll stay late, but at the12-month mark I need to run your
company because I'm just goingto do it better.
I need to run your companybecause I'm just going to do it
better.
Okay, so I become a very badkind of move on.
So so that grew into a.
I created a water featurebusiness a custom water feature
business waterfalls, ponds,streams, things like that
(03:35):
incorporated steel sculptureinto that, ended up becoming an
internationally recognized steelsculptor, did these world-class
projects and I came on the oneof the finest water feature
builders in the country anddoing stuff and it was awesome.
That was great, right, I didthat for almost 20 years and
then 08, 09 came and there'skind of a financial collapse.
Now I don't blame the collapseitself, but it crushed my
(03:58):
business.
Everything evaporated basicallyovernight, like it started with
this one day and it wasNovember 5th of 2008.
I lost a half a million dollarsand it just kept going off the
cliff.
It was over.
So that was kind of a big deal.
And so for me what happened wasand I lost everything house.
I had six small children, sixkids under four, that's my
(04:21):
marriage, right.
So we lost the business, had tobe shut down.
I lost my house, we had torelocate, do all that stuff and
that was a little traumatic, youknow, on the whole family.
But the big thing was I learnedthat.
Okay, let's figure out what Idid wrong.
First, like how could I notweather even, yeah, as bad as
that collapse was, it's like Ishouldn't have, I shouldn't have
had to have closed, right, Ishouldn't have had to have
(04:42):
closed, right, I shouldn't haveto shut down.
So I really connected all thedots and there was a lot of them
and I figured that out, put itall back together, started a new
business, grew to scale.
That Now a big thing.
What I did was I didn't want tobe owned by my business, right,
I wanted it to serve me, not meserving it.
So that was a big part of mydrive.
(05:03):
And I did that because I hadsix small kids.
We're homeschooling them, Iwant to raise them, I want to do
the whole thing.
So, and we did it Took them allthrough high school.
Now the last three aregraduating, so it's really great
.
But that's kind of the thebackstory.
Th at's a wesome, and so nowyou're coaching correct?
Yeah, so I got so good at likefixing my business and helping
(05:23):
other people ask me.
I'm like asking coaching wasbirthed about 10 years ago, so
now it's sharpen the spirit.
Coaching yeah, it's awesome.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I've noticed like I feellike businesses they kind of all
have their time and place, butthe entrepreneur you know,
entrepreneurs, we're alwaysthinking of ideas, right, so
it's kind of really easy to comeup with a new business idea or
a new direction, but it's justmaking sure I love that you said
(05:45):
that you took the time youevaluated what you did wrong to.
You know, make sure that didn'thappen again and that's one of
the things I think sometimesentrepreneurs forget is like
okay, figure out what you didwrong.
So when you, if you do want toopen a new business or you want
to take your business in a newdirection, figure out how you
can avoid those mistakes.
So that's super, superinsightful.
I love that.
So what type of people do youcoach?
(06:07):
Is it like service-based, ?
I would say, if you want to putit in the niche, it's a service
and trades industry.
Yeah, construction guys, I haveyour plumbers, your HVACac guys
, although those are like mysuper niche now.
I work with manufacturers andreal estate people and all that
too, but who I'm really?
I mean, I just kill it withthat service and trades base
(06:28):
because I know the industry sowell and I know every single
thing they run into.
Because here's how it worksnatalie, everyone gets in
business right, and we all knowwe have to work really hard when
you start.
I have not figured out a waynot to do that.
Okay, so you're going to workreally hard.
You can wear a lot of hats.
You're going to first two years, but I will say the easiest
thing to do is make money.
S o, you'll make money, you'llget going.
It's everything else that'sdifficult.
(06:49):
But all of a sudden, that firsttwo years you're at the 10 year
mark and then you realize I'vejust repeated the first two
years five times.
Okay, so that that's wherethey're trapped, that's escaped
the owner prison.
Right, they're trapped in theowner prison.
So we come in and break thatand fix that and bring the
freedom and the profit and theimpact back into their business.
(07:10):
So that's what I had to do.
Like I can't do that.
You know, if I have to open thedoor every day, something's not
right.
Natalie Guzman (07:16):
Yeah, do you notice that?
I, that I, I I see a lot oftimes entrepreneurs you know I
work with entrepreneurs andhundreds of industries, right,
we actually have a lot in likethe trade service and tree
industry and electricians andthings like that.
And then we have coaches and um, even like, uh, veterinarians
or like homeschooling moms areteaching other moms how to
(07:38):
homeschool, which is super cool.
So it's like all across theboard, right.
But the one thing that Inoticed they struggle with is
like delegation and like beingthe CEO.
They're like trying to be theadmin, assistant, the sales, the
marketing and they're trying tokeep it all to themselves.
But I think a business isreally more of like an organic
thing, and I got lucky becausemy business was a virtual
(08:00):
assistant agency, was my not myfirst business, but the you know
, my first lasting business,which is super cool, and so I
kind of got lucky with thatbecause I learned really quickly
how to delegate, how to makesure that I'm not doing
everything.
Do you notice that a lot ofyour clients are trying to do it
all?
Richard Walsh (08:17):
Oh, absolutely, that's it's.
It's the nine hats.
So that a lot of your clientsare trying to do it all.
Oh, absolutely, that's, it'sthe nine hats.
Delegate the right people to doit and don't just delegate give
them authority to perform thattask right, Put them in charge,
(08:44):
have them do that.
And then elimination, of courseredundancies, inefficiencies,
and the most important thing toeliminate is you, okay.
So you really need to eliminateyou from all this day-to-day
stuff so you can focus on whatwe call the 5%.
5% of the business is only youcan do the vision, the growth,
obtaining new market shares,perhaps buying other struggling
businesses who didn't do itright, and you can go purchase
this for pennies on the dollar.
You come in, systemize it,automate, delegate, eliminate.
(09:06):
Bam, now you've got a wholenother expansion in your
business.
I love that.
Natalie Guzman (09:10):
Yeah, and you know, I see I've been thinking a
lot about that, like buyingother businesses and things like
that, and I've talked to a lotof my clients about it and I've
noticed that, you know, it'skind of like a scary thought if
you've never done it before.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Find a business, yes, yeah.
So here's what I want you to do.
I'll tell you exactly whatyou're going to do.
You're going to practice, okay.
So you're going to go find abusiness broker, whatever it is.
You can find a business forsale and you're going to go
check it out.
And you're going to look atbooks.
You can see their operationbecause you're going to learn a
ton you don't have to buy.
No one's going to make you buyit, but you're going to see Is
(09:52):
it worth what they're asking?
Is it worth 10 cents on thedollar?
Is it worth it?
Do they have automation?
Because here's the goal Ifyou're ever going to, if I'm
going to sell my business, so itdoes for your entrepreneurs who
actually want to grow theirbusiness, scale it and build it,
and we're all probably going tosell at one point.
You know, or hand it down, butthat never really works.
You're going to probably sellit.
Okay, don't think your kidswant to do what you do, Except
(10:17):
yours, who wants to be in thepodcast.
Yeah, but.
But so what you want to do isyou want to build it to sell.
So what I want is I wantsomeone to come in and say, hey,
man, I love your business andthey give me what I'm on, what I
want.
I want X amount, right, okay,they hand me a check, we shake
hands, I go out the door, theycome in but nobody else knows.
The business sold because it'srun so well, it's not dependent
on me, right?
(10:38):
That's what someone's reallylooking for.
If they're going to expand andbuy a business, they don't want
to come reinvent what you do,okay.
So when you go to these otherbusinesses, look at them for
purchase, look for that.
Is that what you're buying?
Are you going to buy a done,finished runs itself?
Or are you coming in hot mess,a couple of used trucks, a
couple of this, a bunch ofdepreciating assets, and you're
(10:58):
going to say, well, I give you30,000.
Okay, and that's the reality for most businesses,
because they haven't had anyfuture thought, any exit
strategy.
You know designs and programsto go to.
So that's what I would doPractice it, go tell what you're
looking at, don't just go buysomething because you're going
to get burned.
Richard Walsh (11:16):
Yeah, yeah, I love that and I kind of think of
it like an open house, right.
We go and when we're trying tobuy a house, we look at it, we
evaluate it, we see, you knowit's false, are there any crack
in the walls?
You know, especially if youlive in a hurricane state like I
, do all these little thingsthat we look at to evaluate.
I love the idea of, like,comparing that to looking at
your business.
(11:36):
Um, because yeah, that is sucha good, you know thought that
you just put in our heads.
It was like, you know, if it'snot running on its own, there's
going to be so much more work,so much time that you have to
put in probably money.
You're going to have to maybehire the right people or
reinvent the systems.
Um, does the business have sops?
(11:56):
Was my first question.
When you're saying that, if itdoesn't have a standard,
standard operating procedure, uh, it's like I feel like that
would be the biggest red flag.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, it's just a hot mess you're buying.
You're buying a mailing listthat's some past customers,
that's what you're going to get,and a bunch of broke down used
equipment or whatever it is, andit's or maybe one the
incredible office manager that'sactually holding the whole
business together walks out theday after you pay for it.
Yeah, now, now you have nothing.
(12:26):
Okay, all you have is a anempty office.
That's basically all you have.
So it's a lot, a lot of storieslike that out there.
But you know, but but again, ifyou like, like when we coach
our clients and now they knowand we don't make them.
There's a whole.
We want to get into the wholeprocess, but they know how to
systemize right and they runtheir business that way.
They can go and it's smart togo find those people who aren't
doing that, because you aregetting the list, you are
(12:48):
getting a business and they'vebeen there for 10 years.
Right, you have a name, youhave a presence and you can that
and you can come in and makeyour.
You can systemize that thing.
I have a client doing it now.
He picked up a business for asong.
He's already doubled theprofits, systemized the whole
thing in six months.
There'll be, you know, 100percent profitable next year.
You know it's unbelievablebecause he knows how to do it.
(13:11):
Yeah, that's going to becomemultiples, so it's.
There's so much opportunity.
But you've got to focus on yourthing first.
Get your thing dialed in.
Running self-sufficient doesn'treally need you working that 5%
.
Then start looking.
Yeah, in the interim again, ifyou want to practice, go
practice once a year like go tryto buy a business, go look at
(13:32):
stuff you know as you'rebuilding and perfecting yours,
just kind of get in the grooveof what this actually looks like
.
It's really helpful.
Richard Walsh (13:38):
I love that.
That's so cool.
Yeah, I'm definitely going tokeep that in mind.
That is awesome.
Now, what are some things thatyou see the entrepreneurs that
are, you said, wearing the ninehats, right.
So what are some things thatyou biggest mistakes maybe that
you see them doing?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
biggest, the biggest one, and again, my, my niche is
kind of the service and tradestree is they won't put the
hammer down, they won't put thedrill down, they won't put the
saw down, they won't put thetape measure down.
They just like they're great atwhat they do and that's why
they started the business,because they're doing it better
than the guy they work for yeahokay, but they can't let go of
that.
They have a death grip on it andthey think that, well, no one's
(14:16):
going to do it as good as I do.
My customers expect my listen.
I'm going to clue you in here.
Okay, Most of the people canprobably do it at 97% at least
as good as you can, and Iguarantee you your clients don't
know the difference.
You are putting yourself on aI'll call it an ego pedestal,
Like, just put the ego in thebox, put that away, let your
(14:39):
guys work and then work on theircompetency.
How about you train them to beas good as you are?
Work on that.
Do that so they can get out andget it done, because that's why
they can't scale.
They have to be there.
They're running and picking upmaterials.
They're going to do this.
They don't.
They truly don't understanddelegation.
They're afraid, and some of youhave the money, but then they
haven't planned their businesscorrectly.
(14:59):
Natalie, If they're planning,they go.
Ok, when I reach this point, Igot to put on this person.
Now, when I reach this point,I'm going to need these two
people.
I'm going to need this right.
So if they know the steps, theycan kind of take a breath.
Yeah, you're going to do a lotof the work in the beginning,
but then you have to have thatexit.
Okay, who's taking my place now?
Because you are a really highpaid carpenter, You're doing the
(15:21):
work because I'll do this a lotin seminars I do.
I ask all the owners, well,what's your hourly worth?
What are you worth as an owner?
And you'll hear $100 an hour,$150 an hour.
I'm like you got to be kidding.
Natalie Guzman (15:35):
That's all you're worth?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I mean really like if you had to replace you for all
the things that you do right now, would you, if someone came to
you with all that to do andyou're just this person, would
you accept it for only $150 anhour?
They're like I guess well, Idon't know You're worth like
$1,500 an hour.
Yeah, but why are you cleaningthe toilets?
Yeah, okay, who would you pay?
(15:57):
Like, understand all.
We all devalue ourselves.
None of us you, me, everyonedoes not have the right value
assessment for ourselves.
You have to get that fromsomeone else, but you have to
understand like this is why youdelegate, this is why you
automate, because I mean you are, you are the driver, you're the
visionary, you're what, you'rewhat keeps all this together,
but at the same time, you can'tbe doing everything every day.
(16:18):
So that's the biggest thing Irun into.
Richard Walsh (16:25):
And I'm going to call up my ladies on this,
because that's the biggest thingthat we like to do is we as
moms, wives, business owners, wetake everything on ourselves
and we really don't have to.
So that's just something Iwould keep in mind in your
day-to-day practices just makingsure that you're doing the
things that are worth the $1,500an hour and not the stuff that
you know and someone else onyour team can do.
(16:45):
And I know it's really scary,like um, I actually went with um
a house cleaner.
I went, I traveled to her, Iwent from Florida to Texas to
she was having so much troublewriting um, standard operating
procedures and training herselfand she was just having so much
(17:07):
issues basically cloning herself, right.
And I think what I saw thebiggest, her biggest mistake was
she was expecting someone to doit exactly how she did to the
very T, even, like you know, notputting certain toys away until
the very end and leaving themright outside, like things that
were just so minuscule in thebig picture, but she wanted
someone to do it exactly likethat and so she was not able to
hire anyone and replace her Umand because she kind of held
(17:29):
onto that so tightly, so I wouldsay you know.
You know it doesn't always haveto be a hundred percent exactly
how you do it or a hundredpercent perfect.
Sometimes it's.
You know, is it getting the jobdone?
Is it really?
Does it really worth that muchfor you to keep on doing?
I don't think it is, especiallyif you're being an entrepreneur
.
You didn't get into this jobfor it to be a job.
(17:49):
You got it to have that freedomfor whether it was time or
control or whatever it was.
So that's awesome.
I loved having you on the calltoday.
Richard, can you tell us wherewe can find you and more about
your services?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You get simple sharpen the spirit coachingcom.
So simple, great website.
Go on there.
You can shoot me a message.
My escape the owner prison bookyou can get on Amazon,
especially if you're in theservice and trades.
That book will just it'll be alot of light bulbs going off for
you Give you great direction onhow to really get out of that
prison.
We love coaching people.
Sharpenthespiritcoachingcom.
(18:24):
Go to that.
Send me a message.
Book a call.
Take a look at the information.
Love to talk to you.
Richard Walsh (18:30):
Awesome, and we'll talk to you guys next time
on the Virtual Index Podcast.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.