Episodes
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Entrepreneurs need to be ambitious. But what happens when you achieve your ambition? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explain the drawbacks of having ambition as a destination and describe the incredible benefits you can expect when you see ambition as a capability.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
Why Dan sees ambition as an internal capability.Measurements you should be making every day.What’s made Dan’s life simpler over time.How Dan gifts Strategic Coach® members extra years to their entrepreneurial lives.What you need to avoid to be continually ambitious, and why.Show Notes:
Ambition is a capability, not a destination.Simply by continually improving your ambition each day, you’ll experience exponential growth over time.Dan Sullivan feels more ambitious at 80 than he did at 50.To strengthen your ambition, it’s important to measure your daily accomplishments and strive for continal growth.You can measure your progress not just in achievements, but in the ability to accomplish more in less time with greater impact.Ambition itself should be measured in terms of increased capability and confidence.Simplifying life by eliminating distractions (like television) can reclaim valuable time for personal development and ambitious pursuits.Surrounding yourself with growth-oriented individuals, often younger, can inspire and fuel your ambition.To be continually ambitious, there are three things you should avoid: celebrity, retirement, and legacy.It’s important to focus on being useful and impactful in the present rather than worrying about future legacy.Viewing ambition as a capability can also help you feel more fulfilled personally—and have a greater impact on your community.Every day, ask yourself what you can do so that you’re more ambitious tomorrow.Being around people who aren’t invested in growth is an obstacle to your ambition.Resources:
CliftonStrengths®
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
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For many entrepreneurs who achieve business success early in their lives, repeating that success can be difficult. It’s called the success trap, and in this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explain what the success trap is, why it’s difficult to escape, and how you can safely avoid falling into it.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
Why some entrepreneurs eventually go on auto-pilot.How experiencing a crisis can actually be beneficial to an entrepreneur.Why Dan doesn’t take people who are growing and succeeding in their thirties as seriously as people who are growing and succeeding in their sixties.How inheriting wealth can lead to a success trap too.What’s allowed Dan to be fitter, healthier, and more ambitious at 80 than he was at 50.Show Notes:
Entrepreneurs who are motivated solely by status will stop once they reach a certain point.
You can lack purpose and the motivation to keep growing yet still find it hard to make a change because the money is good.
Setbacks can be a wake-up call to reinvent yourself and reclaim your drive.
Success is comfortable, while failure is scary, painful, and frustrating.
Failures are prompts for new learning.
Entrepreneurs who are successful over the long haul have learned how to turn failure into a new form of success.
When someone’s successful early in life, it can be difficult to tell how much of that success was due to their capabilities and character and how much of it was simply investment from others.
For some, entrepreneurism is a freedom only from where they came from.
Status-motivated entrepreneurs are very boring, and usually a bit depressed.
Creating wealth is only valuable because it makes you more capable and confident as an entrepreneur.
You need resistance in order to grow.
Growth has to come from within.
For growth-motivated entrepreneurs, the lifestyle that comes with success is just a happy by-product of their drive, not the destination.
Ambition isn’t a destination, it’s a capability.
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The best entrepreneurs want better teamwork so they can achieve greater success, growth, and freedom within their business. But teamwork is even more important and valuable than that. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the many ways entrepreneurs can take advantage of teamwork, and outline the extraordinary benefits that come with having great teamwork at your company.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
How Dan involves himself less and less with what Strategic Coach® team members are doing.Why Dan doesn’t worry about how team members achieve results.What opportunities open up for entrepreneurs when they rely on team members.The greatest compliment Dan can give a team member.How Dan communicates the goals of a new project.The three questions Dan asks himself every time he gets an idea for a new achievement.Show Notes:
The more you work on teamwork, the more you can refine what you’re uniquely good at.
It’s useful to think of your entrepreneurial business as a theater production, regardless of what industry you’re in.
There’s a vast amount of teamwork happening back stage in theater to make the whole production work.
Teamwork on your projects can improve but only if you’re improving too—and providing maximum support to your team members.
We are taught from an early age that we have to do the work on our own goals ourselves.
Instead of taking on an activity yourself, ask who can do it better than you.
At the heart of it, Strategic Coach is designed to get you to think about your thinking.
When you decided to become an entrepreneur, you declared to the world that you’re not going to play other people's games—you’re going to play your own game.
By communicating clearly, you leave so much room open for teamwork.
Generally, when entrepreneurs have a big possibility and they're uncertain about it, they get paralyzed.
Uncertainty is not a lack of confidence. It's just a lack of knowledge or information.
A lot of entrepreneurs live their lives very certain, but not confident.
Don’t try to sell your team on an idea until you’re sold on it yourself.
Resources:
Unique Ability®
Blog: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage
Book: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Tool: The Impact Filter™
The Kolbe A™ Index
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Entrepreneurs always want to be moving forward. But sometimes it’s like their feet are stuck to the ground because something is holding them back. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explain how you can always use friction, the very thing that seems to hold you back, to achieve the next step of your business growth.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
Several types of friction commonly encountered by entrepreneurs.The Four Freedoms that all entrepreneurs are striving for.The difference between obstacles and friction.Why you need other people in order to deal with friction.How control issues can get in an entrepreneur’s way.The real role of an entrepreneur at their company.Show Notes:
All entrepreneurs have an overriding purpose.
Having friction that you can’t solve is very frustrating.
Obstacles don’t have the emotional hit that friction does.
You can define friction as anything that stops or slows down progress.
The reason entrepreneurs do anything is for freedom.
Friction is not something you can work around.
When you’re experiencing friction, you don’t have full use of your capabilities.
Anytime you venture into new territory, there’s immediately friction.
To transform friction, you have to identify it, then face it squarely.
Transforming friction is energizing for entrepreneurs.
Greater freedom only comes if you have teamwork.
Most entrepreneurs have to start as lone individuals.
Other people pausing and being indecisive causes friction for entrepreneurs.
It's the job of the entrepreneur to give a vision to their company, but it's the job of their skilled people to actually turn the vision into reality.
Entrepreneurs create value by transforming friction for other people.
Boredom means that you’re not looking at the next big friction that you have to transform.
At the heart of boredom is the terror of taking the next big step.
Resources:
Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan
Article: “The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs”
Unique Ability®
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Shannon Waller’s Team Success Podcast
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EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, was developed by a Strategic Coach® member who envisioned an extension of the Coach Program. Now, EOS and Strategic Coach are on parallel tracks in helping entrepreneurs live their best lives. In this episode, Strategic Coach business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller are joined by EOS Worldwide’s leadership duo, Kelly Knight and Mark O’Donnell, to discuss all the ways entrepreneurs can benefit by taking advantage of both EOS and Coach.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
· How Mark and Kelly each became involved in EOS.
· What led to EOS being implemented in Strategic Coach.
· How Strategic Coach was pivotal in the development of EOS.
· What’s allowed EOS to scale enormously over the past few years.
· The strategic by-products that came from EOS becoming a franchiser.
Show Notes:
Roughly 30% of the EOS community is in The Strategic Coach® Program.
There is no point in competing in the marketplace.
Benefiting from EOS was a very profound shift for Strategic Coach.
Being able to conduct sessions virtually has opened up a tremendous opportunity for EOS Implementers®.
Today, EOS has over 850 Implementers doing business in 40 countries, and there are quite a few virtual-only EOS Implementers.
To get the most out of EOS, everybody at the company has to be using it.
Strategic Coach is very much a mindset program.
Team members don’t always know that they need to have an entrepreneurial attitude.
To connect teamwork and technology, you need coaching.
Coaching is to the 21st century what management was to the 20th century.
Resources:
Traction by Gino Wickman
CliftonStrengths®
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Strategic Coach Team Programs
The Experience Transformer®: “Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers”
The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller
The Impact Filter™
Unique Ability®
Kolbe
Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff
Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel
The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan
Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan
The DIKW Pyramid
The Positive Focus®
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André Brisson was working as a structural engineer when he decided to start his own engineering company. Like a great many entrepreneurs, André knew he needed to be able to do things his way. In this episode, André shares with business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller how he’s found freedom and business success on his entrepreneurial journey.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
How the company André worked for became a toxic environment for him.What helped André realize that he doesn’t need anyone’s permission.Why André’s opinions aren’t popular in bureaucracies or in politics.André’s biggest challenges in the construction site field.An incredible resource available for entrepreneurs with ADHD.Show Notes:
If you want to do things differently, you have to find ways of negotiating with people who oppose you.
Entrepreneurial thinking can put other people off because it’s unconventional.
Non-entrepreneurs can only rationalize entrepreneurism.
Entrepreneurism is about freedom, and money is one of the tools you have to have to gain more freedom.
The two types of entrepreneurial freedom are freedom from and freedom to.
Personality and behavioral profiles provide a common language.
It’s useful for people who are different to recognize that the world wasn’t made with them in mind.
Just because something’s been done for a hundred years doesn’t mean it’s applicable right now.
Instead of competing with what someone else is doing, innovate something new.
People will show up if your message is about them.
It’s the check writer who determines whether you’re correct.
If you want to find people who are like you, you have to really know who you are.
Resources:
Unique Ability®
Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff
The Unique EDGE® Workshops for young adults
The Impulsive Thinker™
The Impulsive Thinker Podcast
ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer’s World by Thom Hartmann
The Positive Focus®
The Impact Filter™
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What if the key to unlocking your entrepreneurial potential lies in embracing discomfort? In this episode, Associate Coach David Braithwaite shares his inspiring journey from a "rubbish" student to a thriving entrepreneur and coach. Discover how embracing risk, fostering genuine connections, and prioritizing personal growth can transform your business and life.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
Why David never saw the point of school.How David got into financial planning.What prevents people from becoming incredible entrepreneurs.Why David considers products secondary in his work.What entrepreneurs have the freedom to do that others don’t.What people will remember you for.Why David wishes he’d joined Strategic Coach® sooner.Show Notes:
David’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early, with multiple jobs during school despite struggling academically.Traditional education often overlooks the relevance of real-world skills, leaving many feeling disconnected.Risk-taking is essential for entrepreneurial success, yet many entrepreneurs don’t take enough risks.Being an entrepreneur is a career path for people who don’t fit the typical mold.Your interest determines how much effort you’re willing to put into something.Embracing experimentation can lead to valuable insights and breakthroughs in business. Genuine client relationships are built on trust and honesty rather than just selling products.David's Unique Ability® is communicating complex ideas with empathy and clarity.The definition of community is a group of people who agree to grow together, and community plays a vital role in entrepreneurial success.At Strategic Coach, you’re in a room filled with people who are just like you.Imposter syndrome can indicate you’re in the right environment for growth and learning.Growth and discomfort go hand in hand.People want to learn from other people's mistakes rather than make their own.Every coach at Strategic Coach is also a client.With business growth comes complexity.When you have the right mindsets, the right behaviors follow.Resources:
Learn more about David Braithwaite
Unique Ability®
Podcast: Shannon Waller’s Team Success
Podcast: Inside Strategic Coach
Poem: "The Dash" by Linda Ellis
Book: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Blog: What Is a Self-Managing Company®?
Book: The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan
Blog: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs
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What’s the difference between being in charge and being in control? In this episode, Dan Sullivan shares his surprising insights on managing teams and creating a productive work environment, offering practical strategies for empowering team members, fostering independence, and creating a thriving organizational culture. Tune in to discover Dan's proven approach to entrepreneurial leadership!
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
Why self-managing has to be built in from the very beginning.What gives Dan confidence in his concepts and tools.What people rely on entrepreneurs for as leaders.Why Dan doesn’t intervene when a team member might fail on a project.The difference between leadership and management—and being in charge versus being in control.How Strategic Coach® makes sure their team members don’t get burned out.Why Dan doesn’t even think about anyone who might be competing with Strategic Coach.Show Notes:
The number one skill for having a Self-Managing Company® is profound ignorance. The number one structure is Unique Ability Teamwork®.If you don’t get everyone’s roles right, you won’t get anything else right.It’s hard to correct a mistake you’ve made from the beginning.Confidence in your concepts and team is more crucial than trust.Confidence can come from knowing that you’ll always transform when you fail.A truly Self-Managing Company operates successfully independent of your constant oversight.Giving your team members the freedom to innovate, contribute, and pursue their Unique Ability® is essential to long-term business growth and success.Many entrepreneurs pride themselves on being hands-on with everything that happens at their company, but it’s important to resist the urge to rescue struggling teams.Being hands-off means allowing your team to learn from failures and trusting that they’ll develop problem-solving skills.Trust means that you’re taking a risk, and entrepreneurship is founded on risk.Everything that Strategic Coach needs to be is organized on teamwork.Strategic Coach has great institutional habits and institutional wisdom.In science, the experiment cannot depend upon the experimenter. The same applies to business.Being in control is management; being in charge is leadership.Make sure the little things that have to be there every day are right—the freedoms and supports that allow team members to thrive—and everything else will fall into place.Resources:
Unique Ability®
Blog: What Is A Self-Managing Company®?
Blog: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage
Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)
Blog: Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers
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A Free Day™ is a 24-hour period with no work-related activity whatsoever. A great many entrepreneurs struggle with taking true Free Days™. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk about The Entrepreneurial Time System®—which consists of Free Days, Focus Days™, and Buffer Days™—and why it’s essential for you to provide structure to your Free Days if you want the greatest business success.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The purpose of each of the three types of days in The Entrepreneurial Time System.Some non-work activities you can use to structure your days.Why it can be much easier to work than to take a day off.Why entrepreneurs are so resistant to taking days off entirely without work.Why you shouldn’t have an unplanned Free Day.Show Notes:
You gravitate to the part of your life that has the most structure.
Taking a day as if it were a Free Day, but structuring it with activities that are business activities, means that you're not going to be rejuvenated by the day.
You can have a lot of structure to your days even when you’re not working.
You can do activities on Free Days that you would never touch on a workday.
Structure means that you’ll be supported by things that are already planned.
If you have an idea on a Free Day, wait to see if it sticks with you until a workday.
It’s a lot easier to set out to write 100 books than to set out to write only one book.
An idea that is really great bothers you because it wants to be born into the world.
You can still use all your strengths when you’re on a Free Day.
Profitability means you’re not only making money, you’re keeping money.
Your plans regarding retirement affect how you take your Free Days.
Resources:
Article: What Free Days Are, And How To Know When You Need Them
Perplexity app
Article: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage
The Impact Filter™
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In this episode, Shannon Waller interviews Associate Coach Ben Laws, exploring his entrepreneurial journey and insights on self-discovery. Ben shares how intentional structures and relationships have fueled his success across multiple businesses and offers a unique perspective on business, life, and family. Tune in to uncover the mindset that drives impactful entrepreneurship and personal growth!
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
· How Strategic Coach®has influenced much of how Ben’s personal life functions.
· What Ben considers to be the ultimate freedom.
· How Ben demonstrated an entrepreneurial attitude at just four years old.
· The key to Ben’s exponential growth.
· Why setting out as an entrepreneur didn’t seem that risky to Ben.
· What to do if you’re considering becoming part of the Strategic Coach community.
Show Notes
Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.
Forming connections and helping people solve problems are entrepreneurial social skills.
Entrepreneurs seek to innovate and drive change. Business owners try to maintain the status quo.
If you name the game, you own the game.
The further your company gets from where you started, the greater the risk of diluting what made your company great.
Experience is the one thing that can’t be commoditized.
Entrepreneurs are always discovering who they want to be.
There's no greater call to loving your neighbor than being an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs are always being challenged.
Entrepreneurs are exponentially more self-aware than other people.
People often think that life is happening to them rather than for them.
As an entrepreneur, your number one job is to protect your confidence.
Resources:
Learn more about Ben Laws
Unique Ability®
Book: The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller
Book: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith
Perplexity
Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs
Blog: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs
Blog: What Is A Self-Managing Company®?
The Six Ds Of Exponentials
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In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the philosophical and moral foundations of entrepreneurism, tracing its roots from Adam Smith's theories to present-day insights. They explore the correlation between creating value, self-interest, and moral philosophy, providing valuable insights for entrepreneurs today and proving that entrepreneurship lies at the foundation of a prosperous world.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The rewards—financial and otherwise—for being an entrepreneur.The prevalent attitudes in higher education that often stand in opposition to entrepreneurialism.How Dan has used setbacks on his entrepreneurial journey to his advantage.The type of organization you can create when you embrace the entrepreneurial way of thinking.Why bureaucratic environments stifle creativity and limit money-making opportunities.Show Notes:
Being an entrepreneur is a very intelligent way of planning out and living your economic life.
Many successful individuals are often perceived to be driven by past traumas, but entrepreneurship can simply be a means to pursue your passions and get paid for it.
When people within a company feel they can’t be themselves, politicking and bureaucracy take over.
When you work with entrepreneurs, you know when they’re happy and you know when they’re not.
Entrepreneurial instincts can only take you so far. You also need hard, bankable skills in order to be successful.
Entrepreneurism is the only economic forum where you have a direct, interactive relationship with the actual marketplace.
The closer you are to understanding why someone is willing to pay for the results your skills produce, the more knowledgeable, capable, and confident you will become.
When you use your capabilities to continually create increasing value for others, they’ll continually write you bigger and bigger checks.
Every corporation that exists today began with an entrepreneur having a direct relationship with the marketplace.
Dan defines two universal entrepreneurial laws: You must depend upon your own capabilities for your financial security and you should not expect any reward unless you've first created value.
Resources:
Unique Ability®
Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)
Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith
Book: The Theory Of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith
Book: The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
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In this episode, Dan Sullivan reveals his secret weapon for entrepreneurial success: The Impact Filter™. Learn how this powerful tool can boost your confidence, sharpen your focus, and dramatically increase your productivity. Also, discover how Dan uses it to clarify his thoughts, set intentions, and make decisions rapidly—all while reducing meetings by two-thirds!
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
How Dan Sullivan uses Fast Filters (the “sprint” version of The Impact Filter) to have focused conversations with himself before important events.The importance of being in teamwork with yourself first to enhance collaboration and productivity with others.How the Fast Filter can help you decide which ideas are worth pursuing (and which aren’t).The value of clarifying your thoughts and setting context before meetings, leading to more efficient and productive interactions.Dan's practice of reviewing five major life goals daily and aligning his actions to support these long-term objectives.Show Notes:
Dan uses Fast Filters to have focused conversations with himself before important events, boosting his confidence and intentionality.Engaging in self-conversations can also improve focus and productivity. By defining goals and action steps, you can prioritize tasks, eliminate distractions, and make progress toward your goals.Being in teamwork with yourself leads to better collaboration and productivity with others.It can also lead to more intentional decision making in entrepreneurship. By aligning your thoughts, actions, and goals, you can make informed choices that support your long-term vision.Fast Filters provide mental focus and energy and help you decide which ideas are worth scheduling meetings for.Clarifying thoughts and setting context before meetings leads to more efficient and productive interactions—and reduces the number of meetings you end up having!Dan’s approach has reduced his meetings by two-thirds over the past 10 years.There’s a difference between your "thinking brain" and your "acting brain," and Coach tools help you get them in teamwork with each other.Focused thinking time directly impacts entrepreneurial success.Fixating on an unpredictable future limits your productivity in the present, similar to being trapped in the past.Resources:
Perplexity
The Kolbe A™ Index
The Impact Filter™ -
In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Shannon and Dan discuss the profound impact of setting context over focusing on content. Renowned for his ability to create powerful contexts in coaching, Dan shares insights on how this approach shapes thinking and decision making among entrepreneurs. Through real-life examples and coaching strategies, they explore how clarity of context not only simplifies complexities but also enhances community building, personal growth, and self-confidence.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The distinction between context and content in coaching and communication.How setting a clear context enhances decision making and clarity.Examples of powerful contextual frameworks in history and technology.The impact of context on community building and personal growth.Practical applications of context-setting in everyday communication.Show Notes:
Setting context empowers people to think independently.Context allows you to focus on what's most important to you rather than conforming to external influences.Content is what is discussed or shared, while context defines why it matters and how it relates to personal experience.Dan offers the example of Steve Jobs, whose ability to redefine contexts, such as with iTunes, simplified music consumption.Context also simplifies decision making and reduces mental clutter by providing a clear framework for action.Context ensures clarity in communication by explaining the purpose or relevance of information.Community building and productive conversations are a natural result of context-setting.Macro contexts, like demographic shifts and geopolitical factors, significantly impact daily experiences, such as economic decisions made at grocery stores or reactions to political messaging.Demographic shifts, such as the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, are altering economic landscapes globally, and understanding demographic changes can help anticipate shifts in consumer behavior, workforce dynamics, and economic policies.Understanding both these contexts helps individuals and businesses navigate uncertainties and make informed decisions that align with broader trends and changes.Thinking about your thinking and focusing on context leads to more confidence and independence in all areas of your life.Contextual understanding also empowers people to resist manipulation and make informed decisions.Resources:
Unique Ability®
The Strategy Circle®
The CliftonStrengths® Assessment
The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management
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In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Shannon Waller interviews Colleen Bowler, a Strategic Coach Associate Coach with over 20 years of experience. Colleen shares her journey from an early entrepreneurial mindset, influenced by her family, to becoming a leader in the financial planning industry. They discuss Colleen's current company, C&J Innovations, and her leadership in the industry, as well as her passion project, Generous Kids. Tune in to learn how Colleen's early entrepreneurial mindset shaped her career and the impact of Strategic Coach on her journey.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The power of collaboration and identifying individual strengths in an entrepreneurial journey.
Strategies for personal and professional growth, emphasizing continuous learning and development.
Insight into building successful firms and the impact of empowering others.
Practical examples and applications of concepts such as Unique Ability® and strategic growth.
The importance of quick assessments in empowering individuals and advisors for success.
Show Notes:
Colleen shares her journey and early exposure to an entrepreneurial mindset, emphasizing the value of hard work, earning opportunities, and the importance of translating this mindset two her own parenting.She also highlights the importance of systematizing the predictable to focus on connecting with clients—a key strength for entrepreneurs. Colleen explains how she built a top financial planning firm by empowering her team and avoiding the "I" mentality, instead using "we" to serve clients.Colleen talks about how Strategic Coach® helped her achieve real work-life balance, going from not taking any time off to taking a week's vacation within two years.Colleen referred 10 people to Strategic Coach before even qualifying herself because she saw how the Program helped people achieve an extraordinary quality of life.One thing that makes Strategic Coach workshops so valuable is that they’re led by other entrepreneurs who understand firsthand the challenges members face.Colleen highlights the value of being around like-minded people and getting her "butt in the chair" every quarter for creativity and growth.Colleen talks about selling her firm and starting her new venture, C&J Innovations, where she creates assessments for financial advisors.These assessments help advisors align with clients' future goals and mindsets for better relationships and growth.She also promotes her passion project Generous Kids, teaching the habit of giving to children.Resources:
Learn More about Colleen Bowler
The Experience Transformer®
More about Colleen
C&J Innovations
Unique Ability®
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For 35 years now, The Strategic Coach® Program has been helping entrepreneurs to achieve business success and business growth while living happy lives. But Dan Sullivan didn’t set out to create a program for entrepreneurs. He set out to create a thinking program, and entrepreneurs are the ones who took to it the most. In this episode, Dan talks with fellow business coach Shannon Waller about the genesis of Strategic Coach® and why it works so well for entrepreneurs.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The learning experience created by others that’s had the most influence on Dan’s thinking today.The ways of thinking on which Dan based The Strategic Coach Program.How constantly growing in capability and confidence protects you from worrying about the future.What lets Dan know he’s created a timeless thinking tool.Where all Strategic Coach thinking tools come from.Show Notes:
The entrepreneurial game will continue for as long as you’re up to it.
Each person can take the actual experiences of their daily life and develop them into knowledge.
The challenges you face each day are sufficient to create a lifetime learning program.
It's easier to get things created and produced these days than it was in the old days.
Entrepreneurs have to be learning on a daily basis, while many non-entrepreneurs don’t have to do much learning after they get the job.
Some non-entrepreneurs view having to learn new things as a chore, while entrepreneurs see it as an advantage.
The bigger the problem and the faster the solution, the bigger the check for the entrepreneur.
Strategic Coach clients are never told what they should learn from using a Coach thinking tool.
It’s dangerous for an entrepreneur to get bored.
Entrepreneurs get punished most heavily for not changing their minds.
Entrepreneurs can make greater progress from thinking than people in most other lines of work.
As a group, Strategic Coach clients are uniquely confident and feel a unique sense of capability and confidence about the future.
Strategic Coach clients make more money and take more free time than a comparable group of entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are the only people whose success depends upon being transformative.
Strategic Coach clients have a shared language thanks to the Program’s thinking tools.
The cause of most entrepreneurial problems is loneliness.
Resources:
The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs [Article]
Unique Ability®
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
The Entrepreneurial Time System®—The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management
The Experience Transformer®—Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers [Article]
The Impact Filter™
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Everyone knows that AI is going to be an increasing factor in business success and business growth, and it’s essential that entrepreneurs are aware of the technology’s limitations as well as its potential. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller speak with special guest, AI expert Evan Ryan, about what’s holding back the productive application of AI and what you can do instead to best take advantage of AI in your organization.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
How to use AI, an intangible, to achieve measurable goals.Where Evan has seen the most success in companies’ use of AI.The first question every executive asks Evan.Ways of thinking that make AI more accessible.Why many people are hesitating to adopt AI in their businesses.Examples of where hesitation to use AI has prevented business growth.Entrepreneur ideas supporting making the change to AI.How to convince people to take a big leap using AI.The way AI disrupts established thinking about budgets.Why the successful use of AI requires a growth mindset.Show Notes:
No matter how fast the technology itself moves, it's as slow as the humans that are adopting it.
If a solution works for one person, you know 50% of what it would take to work for 10 people.
Humans don't naturally think in terms of exponentials because nothing in our world really operates exponentially.
If you experience sudden growth, and it’s behind you, you can do your own exponentials going forward.
If you don't know where the leadership is, you don't know where the rest of the organization is.
It's hard for people to grasp intangibles unless they're conceptually prone, so you need tangible proof of selling an intangible.
If software is magic, AI is magic times a million.
Something that’s inherently unclear and inherently vague is inherently a little scary.
Technology doesn't become normal until it becomes boring.
We have to normalize our way into the future. And that means that you have to start small and get used to it.
San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the media talk about AI like it's the end times.
A lot of what goes on in Silicon Valley is getting people to bet on the bet. They're not actually betting on the technology.
One new capability always introduces new capabilities. That's a feature of technology.
The problems we want to solve are the same. We just keep getting better technology with which to solve them.
To grasp future jumps, people need to grasp past jumps.
Technology is automated teamwork.
AI won't necessarily replace people, but people who know AI will replace people who don't.
Resources:
AI As Your Teammate by Evan Ryan
TeammateAI.com
The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan
ChatGPT
Perplexity.ai
Unique Ability®
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan
Article about The Experience Transformer®: “Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers”
Article: “What Free Days Are, And How To Know When You Need Them”
Deep D.O.S. Innovation by Dan Sullivan
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Do you give yourself time to think? Many people don’t. And for entrepreneurs, the stakes are higher because they’re in the marketplace independently. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk about why thinking time is so important for business success and how entrepreneurs can get the highest quality thinking time through The Strategic Coach® Program.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
· Why deep thinking is scary.
· The question that The Strategic Coach Program was based on from the start.
· Why it’s easier to get entrepreneurs thinking about their thinking than most people.
· Why thinking about your thinking is something that has to be consciously learned.
Show Notes:
Most people only do the kind of thinking done in Strategic Coach® in extreme emergency.
Most people engage in three levels of thinking: thinking about things, thinking about other people, and thinking about other people’s thoughts. But there is a fourth level: thinking about your thinking.
Higher education is almost entirely based on people who spent their whole lives thinking about somebody else's thoughts.
In any sale, the first thing that people buy is a relationship.
There’s only one expert on what progress is going to make a client happy, and that's the client.
Some people don’t think about their thinking because they’re afraid of their thinking.
For most people, it’s an unnatural act to think about their thinking.
The Strategic Coach Program is about the clients, not the coaches.
Instead of thinking about their thinking, most people just engage with whatever the world throws at them during the day, and then watch TV in the evening.
Thinking about your thinking means taking agency over what actually goes on in your mind.
The more you think about your thinking, the more normal it becomes.
The problem is never the problem; the problem is not knowing how to think about the problem.
Tightly scheduled entrepreneurs cannot transform themselves.
Resources:
Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan
The Dan Sullivan Question by Dan Sullivan
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan
The Impact Filter™
Article: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs
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Podcasting is the future of content. Are you ready to master it? Join Dan Sullivan, Shannon Waller, and industry veteran Paul Colligan as they dive into the business of podcasting, from where it was to where it’s going. With over 20 years of trailblazing experience, Paul shares secrets to podcasting success and the mindsets that separate the amateurs from the pros. Learn how to create a hit show and leverage this booming medium to skyrocket your business influence and growth.
Here's some of what you'll learn in this episode
What it was like in the early days of podcasting.The factors that led to podcasting becoming what it is today.What entrepreneurs love about podcasting.Dan and Shannon’s early experiences with podcasting.How podcasts let you find people who share your mindset and values.The type of people who are plugged into podcasting.Predictions on the future of podcasts.Show Notes:
It takes less than five minutes to submit your podcast to Audible for free. And you’re in the directory less than 10 minutes later.
It's always mindset that stops people from trying something new.
The value of the content needs to be understood as greater than its packaging.
The best thing about podcasting is the speed of creation.
It’s easy to tell when a podcaster is following a script.
In a good podcast, you don't know what the second question will be until you've asked the first question.
If you try to control the experience of a podcast, you lose the authenticity of the end product.
Listeners feel like they have a personal relationship with podcasters.
Podcasting has had a profound impact on how politicians speak.
People now use the podcast standard for judging all public speaking.
Podcasts are only popular in countries where they have cell phones.
The only problem with new media is when you treat it like old media.
Resources:
The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy
Podcast: Podcast Payoffs with Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman
Podcast: 10xTalk with Dan Sullivan and Joe Polish
Podcast: Shannon Waller’s Team Success
The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller
AI As Your Teammate by Evan Ryan
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy
descript.com
Article: “Scary Times” Success Manual: How To Be A Leader When Times Get Tough
Article: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage
The Positive Focus®
Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good by Sarah Lacy
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Employment opportunities for people with blue collar skills are going to keep growing. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk to Kenny Chapman, CEO of The Blue Collar Success Group, about his entrepreneurial path and how skilled blue-collar work is going to be much more crucial, popular, and needed going forward.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
How Kenny’s experience in the military led him to becoming an entrepreneur.What The Blue Collar Success Group helps with.How Kenny “leveled up” his self-esteem.The biggest benefits he gets from being in The Strategic Coach® Program.How Kenny used his growth mindset to expand his business and then branch out.Show Notes:
In the 1940s, being a plumber was a valued career.
Blue-trade industry covers hundreds of different specialized skills.
It takes good leadership to have a good company.
If you don't operate an effective, good model, you're not going to have what you need in order to pay people top of market and above.
Mindset drives everything, and clarity drives direction.
Identity limits us a lot.
You're much more valuable the more you learn and the more you see.
When we hear the word “education,” we've automatically trained our brains to think “higher education.”
Like colleges, skilled trades are not created equal.
Customers complain about price no matter how much it is. So you might as well get customer complaints at a profitable number.
Resources:
The Blue Collar Success Group
Blue Collar Success Laws by Kenny Chapman
The Six Dimensions of C.H.A.N.G.E. by Kenny Chapman
Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin
Kolbe
CliftonStrengths®
GravyStack
The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan
The Impact Filter™
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Unique Ability®
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Every great entrepreneur wants (and deserves) to have a dependable team around them so they can be freed up to develop new ideas and focus on growing their business. But how do you get one? After all, the first question most entrepreneurs ask when they join The StrategicⓇ Program is, “Where do you find such great team members?” In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller finally answer this question in-depth. From identifying and nurturing your team’s areas of Unique AbilityⓇ and creating a positive and collaborative work culture to investing in team members’ growth, Dan and Shannon share everything that makes Strategic CoachⓇ a magnet for skilled and passionate talent—and how your business can become one too.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:
The number one tool necessary for building and maintaining a great team. How to determine if an activity is right for an individual. Why Strategic Coach team members don’t really need to be managed, monitored, or motivated.How Strategic Coach creates an incredible sense of safety for its team members.The two things that team members are looking for.Why you should think of hiring someone as an investment, not a cost.Show Notes:
At Strategic Coach, you’re always either winning or learning.
There are a lot of Coach tools that support having a great team.
Everybody's on their own unique growth path in terms of who they are and the kind of work they’re most likely to enjoy and excel at.
Strategic Coach team members can continually focus their time at work on doing what they’re excited about.
The moment someone is hired, Coach invests in learning about who that person is and how they can grow their skills.
At Strategic Coach, if something doesn’t work, the system gets blamed, not the individual.
The four core values of Strategic Coach (PAGE) are: positive and collaborative teamwork; being alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful; getting results; and providing an excellent first-class experience.
Strategic Coach has uniformly very helpful and very positive team members.
Some Coach clients have been with the company for 15, 20, 25 years, and so have some team members.
The educational system generally disparages successful business people.
Almost all Coach team members are directly in contact on a person-to-person level with the company’s clients.
A team member can’t be at their best if they don’t feel safe.
If you want great team members, you have to be a great entrepreneur. And that also includes being a great person.
Great team members who want a bigger future aren't interested in being with someone who doesn't have any future.
If you're going to be able to attract and retain the best people out there, you can’t have an entitled attitude.
Resources:
Unique AbilityⓇ
Article: Your Business Is a Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage
The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller
Everyone And Everything Grows by Dan Sullivan
Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
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