June 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Welcome to the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate, where innovation meets inspiration.
Your hosts, Jim Riley and Rod Kuntz, are seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors who’ve walked the walk in coaching, employee retention, retail, wholesale, fundraising, and creating thriving workplace cultures. Jim and Rod bring a refreshingly authentic style to every conversation, using their own successes and failures to teach strategies that work. This podcast is your go-to resource for growth, leadership, and real-world insights. They’ll show you how to optimize operations, embrace failure, and disrupt your industry, all while keeping success grounded in humility and paying it forward. Looking for strategies, connection, and a little inspiration? You’ve found your home. Let’s dream big, act boldly, and thrive together.
Welcome to Young Entrepreneur Syndicate with Jim Riley and Rod Kuntz!
Find out more at: https://www.youngentrepreneursyndicate.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-answer-is-yes--2903418/support.
Your hosts, Jim Riley and Rod Kuntz, are seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors who’ve walked the walk in coaching, employee retention, retail, wholesale, fundraising, and creating thriving workplace cultures. Jim and Rod bring a refreshingly authentic style to every conversation, using their own successes and failures to teach strategies that work. This podcast is your go-to resource for growth, leadership, and real-world insights. They’ll show you how to optimize operations, embrace failure, and disrupt your industry, all while keeping success grounded in humility and paying it forward. Looking for strategies, connection, and a little inspiration? You’ve found your home. Let’s dream big, act boldly, and thrive together.
Welcome to Young Entrepreneur Syndicate with Jim Riley and Rod Kuntz!
Find out more at: https://www.youngentrepreneursyndicate.com/
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-answer-is-yes--2903418/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Answers Yes Podcast, where we interview some
of the most interesting people that have said yes to
opportunities in their life. We hope that through these stories
you can learn to treat your own destiny by saying yes.
Along the way, join us as we explored the new series,
governing topics such as passion, integrity, and our work. I'm
your host Jim Riley, and I hope you enjoyed these
(00:32):
interviews as much as I do.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I believe that everyone has an important message work hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hello and welcome to the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate podcast. Thanks
for tuning in. Jim Riley here with Ride Coons.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hey buddy, Hey Jim Riley, nice to see you. Nice
to have all these ears from all over the country
listening in.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Our downloads have been going off lately, you know what
it is. Actually, I got behind and then I uploaded
a few shows, and all of a sudden, people just
like they're catching up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So thank you for listening and downloading and.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Catching up and sharing and sharing.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yep, sorry for the delay. It's been some good content.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We made some changes at the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate, which
I think had been great. And what that was is
we've been doing weekly calls for the last three years,
group calls every Monday, and then we switched to Tuesdays
and we've moved away from those weekly calls and instead
we've offered our members one on one calls at their
(01:32):
leisure leisure to schedule. And I've had some awesome conversations already.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
How about I mean, it's been a week in a
few days.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So if you're looking for a value add coaching program
where it's not just you know, group calls, which were great,
by the way, but I think this one on one thing.
And when I say one on one, you either get
to reach out to me or to Rod or to Rachel,
depending on what you're looking for, or schedule the call
through our calendar links. That's not like you got to
(02:03):
call and ask permission and we jump on and we
we dig in. Man.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's awesome. And you know that content that we have,
Jim three years worth of of calls live out there
in the in the universe. They're alive and well forever,
and and those are cataloged and by topics. So I mean,
if you're if you're just browsing and you're wanting something
to you know, whether it's like looking for podcasts or
(02:29):
something else, get on and and look at some of
that content because chances are, uh, there there's an answer
for what you you're currently looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yep. Absolutely, So you know one of the I do
have a topic.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
But one of the soft skills that we talk about
that you know, when you're referencing all this content in
our library.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Soft skills are.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So important because one of the things within soft skills
our relationship building. You know, how you treat other people well,
how you foster that relationship, how you build up that
relationship through genuine, authentic caring and understanding of what they're
trying to do and what I don't people discount that
they just do and they don't realize the value that
(03:16):
that comes back at some point, and even if it doesn't,
you're operating a better business by operating that way. I
received a phone call this morning. Ride so crazy in
real estate lady calls and she says, Hi, I'm so,
and so I understand through somebody in your coaching groups
(03:39):
was a student that you are a Christian realtor, and
I said, yes I am. She says, awesome, I want
to work with you. I don't know any other Christian
realtors and you were referred highly and we want to
list our house right away. And I said, okay, let
me sit down, right, And so we started walking through this.
(04:00):
And the point that I want to make is that
I have presented who I am, what I represent, right,
And these are some of the things that we talk about.
What is your mission statement, what's your value proposition?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And I've built relationships up based on that. Okay, so
there's the soft skill ability relationship. And this person, by
the way, young adult, probably only eighteen, had the intuition
to go, hey, adult friend, I've got somebody that fits
your criteria. Please call them and hands off the number.
(04:32):
Now I'm not going to I don't know what the
place is worth. I'm going to meet them, but I
tell you it's a six thousand square foot home, five bedroom,
five bath on fifteen acres.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So by leaning into your values and what you represent,
these things do come back sometimes. So you know, soft
skill jump in, join learn some soft skills, and we've
got a library three years worth of soft skills.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You can talk about yeah, and it's not sometimes where
it'll eventually come back. Sometimes it always comes back. It
eventually always comes back.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I hesitate to say that because I don't want to
build the expectation of people like, oh, if you do this,
you're going to get that.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
But you're right, it always does come back.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
That is just the nature of how you know the
world works, how God works through us, and all these
other things. We try not to give to get, correct.
I like to get so that I can give. And
I just think it's so important. So this is going
to lead me into what I want to talk about today.
(05:39):
And Rod, you're gonna you're gonna be nodding and shaking
your head the whole time as I do the lead up,
and you're going to be tapping your fingers because you
know exactly where I'm going with this.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I again within my value proposition is I am
a conservative Christian. And when I say conservative in this discussion,
I'm talking about my political position, okay, And I've always
held that position.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Most of my life.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
About five and a half years ago, I went to
my fellow conservatives and I said, hey, you know this
is important to me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I want to be involved. These are my values, and
you know where can I get involved? Well, we're not
really sure.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, Well, do you have somebody within the party that
you know is a strategic thinker or can think long
term strategy and you know where I might be groomed
and best utilized, you know, based on my skills and
experience and all this. Nope, we don't have anybody that
does any type of strategy here. Okay, Well, don't you
(06:43):
think it's kind of important that we have some strategy
within the Conservative Party?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, you know, we don't want to do this. We
don't want to upset that, I said.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, Well, that's that's all cool, you know, it's all
We're all about teamwork. I said, yeah, but every team
has a coach, right, Like a coach helps guide and
move us down the road. And so what I've what
I've watched and is that you know, this, this side
of the political spectrum has been getting its butt kicked
due to the lack of strategy. And yes, I will
(07:12):
tie this into business. And so here we are. I
went to a meeting on Sunday night to talk about
you know, the future, thought, oh great, we're finally having
a strategic meeting, and within that meeting, I said, Hey,
by the way, guys, you know there's a position for
the mayor opening up and Tuesday's the deadline. Like, who
did you guys strategically place to run for mayor in
(07:34):
the city of Kellspell arguably one of the most important
cities left in the state due to population and growth
and all these other things. Oh yeah, we don't have anybody.
Oh so let me get this straight. In two days
when the deadline hits, you have nobody that you strategically
aligned to at least try for that position.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Nope, we got nobody. You got any ideas.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm like, My point of saying all this, okay, is
that I have watched this group fail day after day,
year after year because the lack of strategy and too
much teamwork thinking and not enough coach thinking and help
thinking and looking at the bigger picture thinking. And I
can't help but relate that. And if you're not watching
(08:18):
the video, Rod is shaking his head, by the way,
I can't help but relate that to business. I got
to let you comment, and then we're going to dig
into the topic, which is strategic thinking. The topic of
the day is strategic thinking, and so Rod first comments
and then I'm going to walk through ways that you
can become a strategic thinker within your business so you
(08:38):
don't get your butts kicked by the other side.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, first, it's necessary. Let's put that way. This is
a non negotiable if you are looking to achieve goals.
And I assume if you're in business that you have goals.
So let's let that assumption ride.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
You have to.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Look long term, and you have to have a strategy.
And the world's out to get you. I didn't want
to put it quite like that, but it is. And
especially if you're a conservative and a Christian, the world
is out to get you. It is a hostile work environment.
(09:28):
It's not you know, I'm going to open a little
shop on main Street and it's going to be quaint
and fun and oh, it's just going to be wonderful
to get connected to the community. No, people will want
to watch you fail. And even if it's not people,
the universe, I'll put it that way. There's a spiritual
force out there and it doesn't want you to succeed. Okay,
(09:51):
you are up against a lot and you need to
recognize that you need to be prepared physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
You should be prayed up.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You need to.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Go into business with your eyes wide open. And that
means your your entire being, your all. Your eyes need
to be wide open because it's it's hostile out there.
It is hostile. And if you take that for granted
for even a minute, you will be taken advantage of.
(10:28):
You will. And I'll use an example. I've been shopping
for a different vehicle, and what I'm looking for, I'm
I'm finding I have to go out of state for
and I'm going far out of state. So I found one.
I found one that that met my needs in the
(10:51):
Denver area, and I contact the dealer, and everything I
don't like about auto dealers was manifested. Wow, in a
couple of emails and a couple of phone calls, and
I finally said, that's it. I'm done, I'm out. I
don't care, I won't. You're not going to take advantage
(11:12):
of me because my eyes, especially in that industry, are
wide open, right, I wide wide open. So it's not
just business as usual for me. And I'm not a
payment buyer, and and so these businesses have set themselves
up to pigeonhole. Their customer base is all one thing.
They're all payment buyers. And you know, even if they're
(11:35):
not all that way, we're gonna we're going to model
all of our strategic approach that way. And rather than
gain a customer, they lost one. And it's because their
eyes are focused on little things instead of what can
we do to help people? How can we best serve people?
(11:56):
They're looking at money, you know, let's let's go after
the market. And they go to these twenty group meetings
coaching groups, right are they get best practices from other
people who are learning from the people who have done
the same thing the same way for the last fifty years.
And they just keep you know, changing their clothes, right,
They're changing their attire there, they're changing their their hardware,
(12:20):
their software to be updated, but they're not changing what
was broken to begin with. And those are the soft skills,
those are the value centered skills. And what a difference.
I'm you know, I've found something else closer by the way.
Now I'm in Spokane, Washington to have my needs met.
(12:41):
But again, night and day difference. The approach is different.
The people are It's not just the people either, it's
the approach from the dealership down. I mean, I understand,
you know, CRM customer retention models and CRT tools and
and all that sort of. So I know when I
get into a system what I'm going to expect, and
(13:05):
it's it all comes from the top. It's the top
down leadership. It's the top down strategic thinking that is
meeting somebody like me, a potential customer, face to face,
and if that person who set that system up is
not in alignment with my values, I'm going to know
(13:25):
right away.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well and by the way, right even radically when you
say top down too, that that could just be you
and you if you're a small oncest you know, you're
still the top and how you operate is the down
or absolutely entrepreneur, you could be a you know, number
ten on the total pole. So top down could just
be you as well.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
One of the things you said a minute ago was,
you know, if you're that shop downtown Main Street and
everything cutties, the world's out to get you. That is
not just a conservative Christian point of view, by the way,
that is business. And so what you're talking about, your
example of this car dealership is just business. You're out
as a customer to get the best deal possible. You
(14:10):
have an understanding and nature of the business, some insight,
and when you fell into their strategic plan, it failed.
It failed them, and it failed you because you're not
going to get the vehicle and they're not going to
get the sale. Now, fortunately for you, you're the customer
and you can move on and find it somewhere else. Right,
And so you know when you say the world is
(14:32):
out to get you, that's also the world of competition,
the world of people that want to do it better
or do it right. I mean, look, I'm in real
estate now on top of my other businesses, I'm going
to be the best that I can be. I'm going
to beat out all the other agents because I'm going
to lead with my values and you know what I
(14:54):
stand for and my authenticity. And by the way, that
phone call I got, not once, not once was money discussed.
It was all about values and who I am and
my reputation with somebody else. So when you talk about
soft skills, that's really where soft skills lead the conversation
(15:14):
to build what I would suggest as a long term relationship.
Because when money becomes last and all the other things
are first. That means that's more important. The money will come.
I mean it always does.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
It always does, and there's plenty of it, right, Yeah,
there is, there is. It's an unlimited amount that that's
out there. So I don't know. That's back to that
scarcity mentality again. Yeah, okay, so I'm not surprised, Jim.
I am not surprised because that's that's how we lead
(15:47):
our lives.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All right.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, if you're driving, don't grab a pen and paper.
But if you're sitting, grab a pen and paper. I'm
going to walk through it. And I did this intentionally
today because I want you to understand how easy it is,
and right, if there's something to expand upon, you know,
shout it out right. But what I did real quickly
is I just tapped into AI give me a business
(16:11):
strategic plan. And the reason why I did that is
because I want to emphasize this. Having a strategic plan
for your business is not that hard. The hard part
is doing the work. The hard part is following it.
The hard part is believing it and putting the right
inputs into your system that represent your values in who
(16:34):
you are. Okay, so here they are first. Number one,
define your vision and mission. How often do we talk
about that? What are your values? What's your mission statement?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right? So vision emission right there?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
First thing? Ai geez? Imagine that right? They must be
listening to our show. Number two, conduct a situation analysis, right,
and so that could be right. I know you teach
a great class on this. We've got a recording on it.
And that is a swat analysis, right if you don't
know what that is. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
(17:09):
along with a market analysis, and imagine this just an
internal review.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So that was number two.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, conduct a situation analysis, not that hard.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Number three.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
We're going to be shocked on this one. Set clear objectives.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
No that, clear objectives.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Define specific, measurable, achievmal, relevant and time bound smart goals
that align with your vision and mission. Imagine that, okay,
set clear objectives number three. Number four, Develop strategies. Determine
how to achieve your objectives. Decide on key key areas
(17:50):
for marketing, sales, product development, operational efficiency, and or customer service.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Not that hard. Number five.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Formulate action plans right down strategies. Number six Established performance
metrics KPIs is the term they like to use. You know,
are you hitting your goals every month? What does that
look like? Regularly reviews? Number seven, Document and communicate, which
means rite the strategy and a clear, concise document so
(18:18):
everybody understands what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Number eight.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The last one is implement and monitor execute the strategy
according to plan. Here's the thing, It's not that hard.
And the reason why again I did this on AI
is I wanted everybody to realize that it's not that
hard to have a strategic plan. If those folks five
and a half years ago in the Conservative Party would
at least said, hey, you know, Jim, that's a good idea.
(18:42):
Let's develop a strategic plan. Let's all get together and
do that, and just followed the AI toolls here, we
would be so much further along than we are. Right
And again, I just can't help but think about businesses
that lack a strategic plan and where they're going.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's not hard, but it is critical.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I'm going to back it a step back. Also, you
need a strategic plan for your your family as well. Yeah,
because they're part of your business, whether they're in business
with you or not. And I know that we've got
several people with young entrepreneurs and their spouses are not
part of our syndicate, but they're very much a part
of everything we do. Right, and their children. Your strategic
(19:30):
plan should be broad enough. When you're looking at your values,
it should be broad enough to cover all those areas
because your business, your business life, is going to affect
your family and your family life, your family values, so
you need to be clear about all of those things.
And I get back to what you said originally, Jim,
And if if you're a sole proprietor you're you're the
(19:54):
only one in here doing this, then you're the head,
you are the leader. You you it's your responsibility to do this.
And would you would you share with the listeners again
the prompt you used in AI to get that information?
Oh yes, simple, simple prompt.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Right, write me a strategic plan for a business. That
was it.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Write me a strategic plan for a business. Obviously doesn't
know the business, right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
But that was it. And by the way, I'm.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
A regular user of AI, and I do believe that
you have to you know, check it and input actual
data from your own knowledge. But if you can put
in the right prompts and you can ask for the
right things. It can certainly stimulate and put you in
the right direction. So it's just, you know, I guess
the point that I want to make. It's not that
(20:47):
hard to be successful with the tools that we have
in front of us today. It's a matter of executing
those things. Hearing messages like this today and executing it
and just going to work, showing up, put it in
the time, putting in the effort, following your plan, and
getting up the next day and doing it again and
(21:07):
again until you've achieved the success that you've mapped out.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
It really is not that hard, especially not today. While
you were talking about this, Jim, I was thinking thirty
years ago, when if you wanted to get a business
book on strategic plan and writing business plans and that
sort of thing, you would have to go to a bookstore, right,
(21:31):
and we did have them back then, But then you'd
have to be browsing through all the titles and looking
at the jackets. Or you could go to the library
and you could do a search, you know, through the
card catalog system, you know, to a decimal system, and
you could start researching and find a book, and then
you'd have to read the book and then start writing
this stuff down. Today you can put a prompt into
(21:52):
AI and copy and paste it to a word document
and print it out. You have an in business plan.
Things that used to take days, hours upon hours to research,
just to do the prep work, things have gotten so
much easier. The hurdles have been lowered, if not removed altogether.
(22:15):
So if you're not using the tools that are available,
start how about that.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Well, here's something interesting about AI that people probably don't realize.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
If you're new to it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You can type into a Google search, you know, business
strategy on Google, right, and Google's going.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
To pop up.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know what it finds, here's some business strategy right.
Forbes magazine wrote something, some guy in Idaho wrote some
whatever that Google's going to give you some business strategy.
If you type into AI what I just said, you know,
give me a business strategic plan. It's gonna scrub the
entire Internet everything, all resource is available to it, and
(22:56):
it's going to bring all that back, culminating into your answer.
And the reason why I learned about this and how
much more data AI is scrubbing through is from the
power grid. It actually takes ten x more power to
use AI than a Google search, right, and so what
that's telling me is that it's going as far and
(23:17):
wide as it can to give you a really good answer, right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
And so it's just not that hard.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And I think we've deliberated it on enough and I
don't want to go into it much longer because what
I want people to do is, you know, turn this
off and scrub their own business plan and strategy if
they don't have if they have one, but if they
don't have one, to write one. Matter of fact, I
sent that to myself because I'm going to take that
template it sent me and I'm just going to compare
(23:43):
it to all my other business plans and my client's
business plans to make sure that we're hitting all the marks, right,
because there's a couple of things in here. I'm like, hmm,
I wonder if we did that at that company, you know,
So even if you have something, you can use something
like this to make it even better. So that's what
I'm going to do. So anyways, that's where I'm at today.
I think it's an important topic. I was super frustrated
on Sunday, you know, about the lack of strategy and
(24:05):
what I was doing to no fault to my own
at the time.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But you know what, I'll just have to do something
about it.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Exactly right, exactly right. Well, you're gonna you'd have to
move into the city to become the mayor. So I
was asked again just last week, of course, somebody approached
me online, would you please? And it's like I just
I've said no, and that's hard.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
No.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
You know, I'm not going back. I've done my service
in that area and I'm doing service elsewhere. But somebody
needs to step up, and you are so right, somebody,
and regardless of political party, you still have to have
a strategic plan. And here's the caution with that. Know
the source, Know who's at the head of that strategic plan,
(24:57):
because if the strategic planners values do not align with yours,
it could be disastrous.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
That's right, that's right. Well let's leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Hey. By the way, as my wife would say, no
is a complete sentence, So good job saying no. If
you like what we're talking about, share the show. We
appreciate that. If you want a topic to be discussed here,
send it into us DM myself our rod Instagram works
for both of us. If you want to become a
member of the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Go online. Sign up.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
You'll have some coaching. It's ninety nine dollars a month.
You can't beat that. Even if you did it for
one month. And we help solve one problem, we could
save you literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So and hours and hours of time.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, and pain. So anyways, Rod, good to see you.
As always. I'll be working on next week's topic. That's
funny when I say that, because I literally come up
with it like five minutes before we get on.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The list is long. There's all kinds of things that time.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I know I've got of my own. When you run out,
hit me up.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Good to see you, Thanks for tuning in everybody, it's
a pleasure. Thanks,
Welcome to the Answers Yes Podcast, where we interview some
of the most interesting people that have said yes to
opportunities in their life. We hope that through these stories
you can learn to treat your own destiny by saying yes.
Along the way, join us as we explored the new series,
governing topics such as passion, integrity, and our work. I'm
your host Jim Riley, and I hope you enjoyed these
(00:32):
interviews as much as I do.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I believe that everyone has an important message work hearing.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Hello and welcome to the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate podcast. Thanks
for tuning in. Jim Riley here with Ride Coons.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hey buddy, Hey Jim Riley, nice to see you. Nice
to have all these ears from all over the country
listening in.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Our downloads have been going off lately, you know what
it is. Actually, I got behind and then I uploaded
a few shows, and all of a sudden, people just
like they're catching up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
So thank you for listening and downloading and.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Catching up and sharing and sharing.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yep, sorry for the delay. It's been some good content.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
We made some changes at the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate, which
I think had been great. And what that was is
we've been doing weekly calls for the last three years,
group calls every Monday, and then we switched to Tuesdays
and we've moved away from those weekly calls and instead
we've offered our members one on one calls at their
(01:32):
leisure leisure to schedule. And I've had some awesome conversations already.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
How about I mean, it's been a week in a
few days.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So if you're looking for a value add coaching program
where it's not just you know, group calls, which were great,
by the way, but I think this one on one thing.
And when I say one on one, you either get
to reach out to me or to Rod or to Rachel,
depending on what you're looking for, or schedule the call
through our calendar links. That's not like you got to
(02:03):
call and ask permission and we jump on and we
we dig in. Man.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
It's awesome. And you know that content that we have,
Jim three years worth of of calls live out there
in the in the universe. They're alive and well forever,
and and those are cataloged and by topics. So I mean,
if you're if you're just browsing and you're wanting something
to you know, whether it's like looking for podcasts or
(02:29):
something else, get on and and look at some of
that content because chances are, uh, there there's an answer
for what you you're currently looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yep. Absolutely, So you know one of the I do
have a topic.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
But one of the soft skills that we talk about
that you know, when you're referencing all this content in
our library.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Soft skills are.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
So important because one of the things within soft skills
our relationship building. You know, how you treat other people well,
how you foster that relationship, how you build up that
relationship through genuine, authentic caring and understanding of what they're
trying to do and what I don't people discount that
they just do and they don't realize the value that
(03:16):
that comes back at some point, and even if it doesn't,
you're operating a better business by operating that way. I
received a phone call this morning. Ride so crazy in
real estate lady calls and she says, Hi, I'm so,
and so I understand through somebody in your coaching groups
(03:39):
was a student that you are a Christian realtor, and
I said, yes I am. She says, awesome, I want
to work with you. I don't know any other Christian
realtors and you were referred highly and we want to
list our house right away. And I said, okay, let
me sit down, right, And so we started walking through this.
(04:00):
And the point that I want to make is that
I have presented who I am, what I represent, right,
And these are some of the things that we talk about.
What is your mission statement, what's your value proposition?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And I've built relationships up based on that. Okay, so
there's the soft skill ability relationship. And this person, by
the way, young adult, probably only eighteen, had the intuition
to go, hey, adult friend, I've got somebody that fits
your criteria. Please call them and hands off the number.
(04:32):
Now I'm not going to I don't know what the
place is worth. I'm going to meet them, but I
tell you it's a six thousand square foot home, five bedroom,
five bath on fifteen acres.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
So by leaning into your values and what you represent,
these things do come back sometimes. So you know, soft
skill jump in, join learn some soft skills, and we've
got a library three years worth of soft skills.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
You can talk about yeah, and it's not sometimes where
it'll eventually come back. Sometimes it always comes back. It
eventually always comes back.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I hesitate to say that because I don't want to
build the expectation of people like, oh, if you do this,
you're going to get that.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
But you're right, it always does come back.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
That is just the nature of how you know the
world works, how God works through us, and all these
other things. We try not to give to get, correct.
I like to get so that I can give. And
I just think it's so important. So this is going
to lead me into what I want to talk about today.
(05:39):
And Rod, you're gonna you're gonna be nodding and shaking
your head the whole time as I do the lead up,
and you're going to be tapping your fingers because you
know exactly where I'm going with this.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So I again within my value proposition is I am
a conservative Christian. And when I say conservative in this discussion,
I'm talking about my political position, okay, And I've always
held that position.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Most of my life.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
About five and a half years ago, I went to
my fellow conservatives and I said, hey, you know this
is important to me.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I want to be involved. These are my values, and
you know where can I get involved? Well, we're not
really sure.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, Well, do you have somebody within the party that
you know is a strategic thinker or can think long
term strategy and you know where I might be groomed
and best utilized, you know, based on my skills and
experience and all this. Nope, we don't have anybody that
does any type of strategy here. Okay, Well, don't you
(06:43):
think it's kind of important that we have some strategy
within the Conservative Party?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, you know, we don't want to do this. We
don't want to upset that, I said.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, Well, that's that's all cool, you know, it's all
We're all about teamwork. I said, yeah, but every team
has a coach, right, Like a coach helps guide and
move us down the road. And so what I've what
I've watched and is that you know, this, this side
of the political spectrum has been getting its butt kicked
due to the lack of strategy. And yes, I will
(07:12):
tie this into business. And so here we are. I
went to a meeting on Sunday night to talk about
you know, the future, thought, oh great, we're finally having
a strategic meeting, and within that meeting, I said, Hey,
by the way, guys, you know there's a position for
the mayor opening up and Tuesday's the deadline. Like, who
did you guys strategically place to run for mayor in
(07:34):
the city of Kellspell arguably one of the most important
cities left in the state due to population and growth
and all these other things. Oh yeah, we don't have anybody.
Oh so let me get this straight. In two days
when the deadline hits, you have nobody that you strategically
aligned to at least try for that position.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Nope, we got nobody. You got any ideas.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I'm like, My point of saying all this, okay, is
that I have watched this group fail day after day,
year after year because the lack of strategy and too
much teamwork thinking and not enough coach thinking and help
thinking and looking at the bigger picture thinking. And I
can't help but relate that. And if you're not watching
(08:18):
the video, Rod is shaking his head, by the way,
I can't help but relate that to business. I got
to let you comment, and then we're going to dig
into the topic, which is strategic thinking. The topic of
the day is strategic thinking, and so Rod first comments
and then I'm going to walk through ways that you
can become a strategic thinker within your business so you
(08:38):
don't get your butts kicked by the other side.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, first, it's necessary. Let's put that way. This is
a non negotiable if you are looking to achieve goals.
And I assume if you're in business that you have goals.
So let's let that assumption ride.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
You have to.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Look long term, and you have to have a strategy.
And the world's out to get you. I didn't want
to put it quite like that, but it is. And
especially if you're a conservative and a Christian, the world
is out to get you. It is a hostile work environment.
(09:28):
It's not you know, I'm going to open a little
shop on main Street and it's going to be quaint
and fun and oh, it's just going to be wonderful
to get connected to the community. No, people will want
to watch you fail. And even if it's not people,
the universe, I'll put it that way. There's a spiritual
force out there and it doesn't want you to succeed. Okay,
(09:51):
you are up against a lot and you need to
recognize that you need to be prepared physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
You should be prayed up.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You need to.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Go into business with your eyes wide open. And that
means your your entire being, your all. Your eyes need
to be wide open because it's it's hostile out there.
It is hostile. And if you take that for granted
for even a minute, you will be taken advantage of.
(10:28):
You will. And I'll use an example. I've been shopping
for a different vehicle, and what I'm looking for, I'm
I'm finding I have to go out of state for
and I'm going far out of state. So I found one.
I found one that that met my needs in the
(10:51):
Denver area, and I contact the dealer, and everything I
don't like about auto dealers was manifested. Wow, in a
couple of emails and a couple of phone calls, and
I finally said, that's it. I'm done, I'm out. I
don't care, I won't. You're not going to take advantage
(11:12):
of me because my eyes, especially in that industry, are
wide open, right, I wide wide open. So it's not
just business as usual for me. And I'm not a
payment buyer, and and so these businesses have set themselves
up to pigeonhole. Their customer base is all one thing.
They're all payment buyers. And you know, even if they're
(11:35):
not all that way, we're gonna we're going to model
all of our strategic approach that way. And rather than
gain a customer, they lost one. And it's because their
eyes are focused on little things instead of what can
we do to help people? How can we best serve people?
(11:56):
They're looking at money, you know, let's let's go after
the market. And they go to these twenty group meetings
coaching groups, right are they get best practices from other
people who are learning from the people who have done
the same thing the same way for the last fifty years.
And they just keep you know, changing their clothes, right,
They're changing their attire there, they're changing their their hardware,
(12:20):
their software to be updated, but they're not changing what
was broken to begin with. And those are the soft skills,
those are the value centered skills. And what a difference.
I'm you know, I've found something else closer by the way.
Now I'm in Spokane, Washington to have my needs met.
(12:41):
But again, night and day difference. The approach is different.
The people are It's not just the people either, it's
the approach from the dealership down. I mean, I understand,
you know, CRM customer retention models and CRT tools and
and all that sort of. So I know when I
get into a system what I'm going to expect, and
(13:05):
it's it all comes from the top. It's the top
down leadership. It's the top down strategic thinking that is
meeting somebody like me, a potential customer, face to face,
and if that person who set that system up is
not in alignment with my values, I'm going to know
(13:25):
right away.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well and by the way, right even radically when you
say top down too, that that could just be you
and you if you're a small oncest you know, you're
still the top and how you operate is the down
or absolutely entrepreneur, you could be a you know, number
ten on the total pole. So top down could just
be you as well.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
One of the things you said a minute ago was,
you know, if you're that shop downtown Main Street and
everything cutties, the world's out to get you. That is
not just a conservative Christian point of view, by the way,
that is business. And so what you're talking about, your
example of this car dealership is just business. You're out
as a customer to get the best deal possible. You
(14:10):
have an understanding and nature of the business, some insight,
and when you fell into their strategic plan, it failed.
It failed them, and it failed you because you're not
going to get the vehicle and they're not going to
get the sale. Now, fortunately for you, you're the customer
and you can move on and find it somewhere else. Right,
And so you know when you say the world is
(14:32):
out to get you, that's also the world of competition,
the world of people that want to do it better
or do it right. I mean, look, I'm in real
estate now on top of my other businesses, I'm going
to be the best that I can be. I'm going
to beat out all the other agents because I'm going
to lead with my values and you know what I
(14:54):
stand for and my authenticity. And by the way, that
phone call I got, not once, not once was money discussed.
It was all about values and who I am and
my reputation with somebody else. So when you talk about
soft skills, that's really where soft skills lead the conversation
(15:14):
to build what I would suggest as a long term relationship.
Because when money becomes last and all the other things
are first. That means that's more important. The money will come.
I mean it always does.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
It always does, and there's plenty of it, right, Yeah,
there is, there is. It's an unlimited amount that that's
out there. So I don't know. That's back to that
scarcity mentality again. Yeah, okay, so I'm not surprised, Jim.
I am not surprised because that's that's how we lead
(15:47):
our lives.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
All right.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, if you're driving, don't grab a pen and paper.
But if you're sitting, grab a pen and paper. I'm
going to walk through it. And I did this intentionally
today because I want you to understand how easy it is,
and right, if there's something to expand upon, you know,
shout it out right. But what I did real quickly
is I just tapped into AI give me a business
(16:11):
strategic plan. And the reason why I did that is
because I want to emphasize this. Having a strategic plan
for your business is not that hard. The hard part
is doing the work. The hard part is following it.
The hard part is believing it and putting the right
inputs into your system that represent your values in who
(16:34):
you are. Okay, so here they are first. Number one,
define your vision and mission. How often do we talk
about that? What are your values? What's your mission statement?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right? So vision emission right there?
Speaker 1 (16:48):
First thing? Ai geez? Imagine that right? They must be
listening to our show. Number two, conduct a situation analysis, right,
and so that could be right. I know you teach
a great class on this. We've got a recording on it.
And that is a swat analysis, right if you don't
know what that is. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
(17:09):
along with a market analysis, and imagine this just an
internal review.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So that was number two.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, conduct a situation analysis, not that hard.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Number three.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
We're going to be shocked on this one. Set clear objectives.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
No that, clear objectives.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Define specific, measurable, achievmal, relevant and time bound smart goals
that align with your vision and mission. Imagine that, okay,
set clear objectives number three. Number four, Develop strategies. Determine
how to achieve your objectives. Decide on key key areas
(17:50):
for marketing, sales, product development, operational efficiency, and or customer service.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Not that hard. Number five.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Formulate action plans right down strategies. Number six Established performance
metrics KPIs is the term they like to use. You know,
are you hitting your goals every month? What does that
look like? Regularly reviews? Number seven, Document and communicate, which
means rite the strategy and a clear, concise document so
(18:18):
everybody understands what it is.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Number eight.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
The last one is implement and monitor execute the strategy
according to plan. Here's the thing, It's not that hard.
And the reason why again I did this on AI
is I wanted everybody to realize that it's not that
hard to have a strategic plan. If those folks five
and a half years ago in the Conservative Party would
at least said, hey, you know, Jim, that's a good idea.
(18:42):
Let's develop a strategic plan. Let's all get together and
do that, and just followed the AI toolls here, we
would be so much further along than we are. Right
And again, I just can't help but think about businesses
that lack a strategic plan and where they're going.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's not hard, but it is critical.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I'm going to back it a step back. Also, you
need a strategic plan for your your family as well. Yeah,
because they're part of your business, whether they're in business
with you or not. And I know that we've got
several people with young entrepreneurs and their spouses are not
part of our syndicate, but they're very much a part
of everything we do. Right, and their children. Your strategic
(19:30):
plan should be broad enough. When you're looking at your values,
it should be broad enough to cover all those areas
because your business, your business life, is going to affect
your family and your family life, your family values, so
you need to be clear about all of those things.
And I get back to what you said originally, Jim,
And if if you're a sole proprietor you're you're the
(19:54):
only one in here doing this, then you're the head,
you are the leader. You you it's your responsibility to do this.
And would you would you share with the listeners again
the prompt you used in AI to get that information?
Oh yes, simple, simple prompt.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Right, write me a strategic plan for a business. That
was it.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Write me a strategic plan for a business. Obviously doesn't
know the business, right.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
But that was it. And by the way, I'm.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
A regular user of AI, and I do believe that
you have to you know, check it and input actual
data from your own knowledge. But if you can put
in the right prompts and you can ask for the
right things. It can certainly stimulate and put you in
the right direction. So it's just, you know, I guess
the point that I want to make. It's not that
(20:47):
hard to be successful with the tools that we have
in front of us today. It's a matter of executing
those things. Hearing messages like this today and executing it
and just going to work, showing up, put it in
the time, putting in the effort, following your plan, and
getting up the next day and doing it again and
(21:07):
again until you've achieved the success that you've mapped out.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
It really is not that hard, especially not today. While
you were talking about this, Jim, I was thinking thirty
years ago, when if you wanted to get a business
book on strategic plan and writing business plans and that
sort of thing, you would have to go to a bookstore, right,
(21:31):
and we did have them back then, But then you'd
have to be browsing through all the titles and looking
at the jackets. Or you could go to the library
and you could do a search, you know, through the
card catalog system, you know, to a decimal system, and
you could start researching and find a book, and then
you'd have to read the book and then start writing
this stuff down. Today you can put a prompt into
(21:52):
AI and copy and paste it to a word document
and print it out. You have an in business plan.
Things that used to take days, hours upon hours to research,
just to do the prep work, things have gotten so
much easier. The hurdles have been lowered, if not removed altogether.
(22:15):
So if you're not using the tools that are available,
start how about that.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Well, here's something interesting about AI that people probably don't realize.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
If you're new to it.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You can type into a Google search, you know, business
strategy on Google, right, and Google's going.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
To pop up.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know what it finds, here's some business strategy right.
Forbes magazine wrote something, some guy in Idaho wrote some
whatever that Google's going to give you some business strategy.
If you type into AI what I just said, you know,
give me a business strategic plan. It's gonna scrub the
entire Internet everything, all resource is available to it, and
(22:56):
it's going to bring all that back, culminating into your answer.
And the reason why I learned about this and how
much more data AI is scrubbing through is from the
power grid. It actually takes ten x more power to
use AI than a Google search, right, and so what
that's telling me is that it's going as far and
(23:17):
wide as it can to give you a really good answer, right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
And so it's just not that hard.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And I think we've deliberated it on enough and I
don't want to go into it much longer because what
I want people to do is, you know, turn this
off and scrub their own business plan and strategy if
they don't have if they have one, but if they
don't have one, to write one. Matter of fact, I
sent that to myself because I'm going to take that
template it sent me and I'm just going to compare
(23:43):
it to all my other business plans and my client's
business plans to make sure that we're hitting all the marks, right,
because there's a couple of things in here. I'm like, hmm,
I wonder if we did that at that company, you know,
So even if you have something, you can use something
like this to make it even better. So that's what
I'm going to do. So anyways, that's where I'm at today.
I think it's an important topic. I was super frustrated
on Sunday, you know, about the lack of strategy and
(24:05):
what I was doing to no fault to my own
at the time.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But you know what, I'll just have to do something
about it.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Exactly right, exactly right. Well, you're gonna you'd have to
move into the city to become the mayor. So I
was asked again just last week, of course, somebody approached
me online, would you please? And it's like I just
I've said no, and that's hard.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
No.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
You know, I'm not going back. I've done my service
in that area and I'm doing service elsewhere. But somebody
needs to step up, and you are so right, somebody,
and regardless of political party, you still have to have
a strategic plan. And here's the caution with that. Know
the source, Know who's at the head of that strategic plan,
(24:57):
because if the strategic planners values do not align with yours,
it could be disastrous.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
That's right, that's right. Well let's leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Hey. By the way, as my wife would say, no
is a complete sentence, So good job saying no. If
you like what we're talking about, share the show. We
appreciate that. If you want a topic to be discussed here,
send it into us DM myself our rod Instagram works
for both of us. If you want to become a
member of the Young Entrepreneur Syndicate.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Go online. Sign up.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
You'll have some coaching. It's ninety nine dollars a month.
You can't beat that. Even if you did it for
one month. And we help solve one problem, we could
save you literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
So and hours and hours of time.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, and pain. So anyways, Rod, good to see you.
As always. I'll be working on next week's topic. That's
funny when I say that, because I literally come up
with it like five minutes before we get on.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
The list is long. There's all kinds of things that time.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
I know I've got of my own. When you run out,
hit me up.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Good to see you, Thanks for tuning in everybody, it's
a pleasure. Thanks,
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