Episode 16: How to Manage Time Like a 7-Figure Entrepreneur and Unlock Your Next Level with Business Coach Rick Mulready
How do you manage your time? Do you think you do it well enough to successfully scale your business to 7-figures or do you need a little help in this area?
My personal business coach and mentor, Rick Mulready, is joining me in this episode to talk about managing time as an entrepreneur and how managing your mindset is a big piece of that.
Rick Mulready is the host of The Art of Online Business podcast and an industry-leading expert in teaching online experts how to Optimize their online business to 6 and 7 figures.
He has a not-so-secret superpower of simplifying Facebook and Instagram ads, teaching thousands of online entrepreneurs all over the world how to create consistent leads and sales with ads.
This is a really important conversation for any entrepreneur to hear - it doesn’t matter if your business is brand new or has been around for years. The topics of mindset, control, delegation, diversity, and more in this episode will help you manage your time, manage your team and ultimately, grow your business with less hustle.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
Tips for optimizing your mindset and time
What a time audit is and how it can benefit you
How letting go of control and your ego can help you delegate better
Overcoming fears around your own money or decisions
Putting parameters in place to safeguard your business
Being more conscious when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion
I really hope this conversation with Rick inspires you to take a look at how you are currently managing your time. I encourage you to figure out what you are actually doing on a daily basis and then decide if you are or are not spending time on what will move your business forward.
Remember that the more that you are failing, the more quickly that you are going to succeed. This is such an important takeaway from Rick that we all need to keep top of mind!
If you are looking for ways to move your business forward by getting featured, I invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR. You can register for FREE to watch it here: http://gloriachoupr.com/masterclass!
Resources Mentioned:
Visit Rick’s Website: www.rickmulready.com
Follow Rick on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickmulready
Follow Rick on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmulready
Additional Resources:
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Transcript
SBPR Episode 16 Final.mp3
Speaker1: [00:00:00] Now, you might have heard this before, but every level of success requires a different mindset. If you ever wanted to know what six and seven figure entrepreneurs think about time, how to optimize it and how to overcome the greatest mental challenges to get to the next level. This episode, my friends, is for you. Hey, friends, I'm Gloria Chou, small business PR expert, award winning pitch writer and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve. And that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message, because let's be honest, we simply cannot make the impact. We're here to make, by hiding behind the scenes. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional yet proven strategies for PR marketing and creating more opportunity in your business. If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self, you're in the right place. This is the Small Business PR podcast. All right, everyone. Happy New Year. I'm so glad to be here with you as we embark on this new journey now. I have an incredible guest today and my personal business coach and mentor, so I'm going to have him introduce himself. But thank you so much for being on the show, Rick.
Speaker2: [00:01:16] Absolutely. I'm honored to be here. Thank you for inviting me. So my intro, right, we talked about that beforehand that I would do. I'll do my intro because it's a little bit all over the place. So I am officially. We're recording this in the first week of January 2022. I think another week or so from when we're recording. This is officially eight years in having my online business and I come from the corporate world in online marketing and I left that world in the fall of 2012. So almost ten years, well, nine and a half years ago. And I worked for, you know, big brands like AOL, Yahoo, Funny or Die. And I did everything from the back end of online marketing and advertising to managing accounts to selling online advertising. And it was the selling part that where I spent the most time, I spent about six ish years doing that. And that's what led me into wanting to go out on my own and start something for myself. And, you know, back almost eight to 10 years ago, actually, at this point, it was 10 years ago I was looking at like, All right, what is my business? What do I want to do? You know, in this hole, if I leave the corporate world, what am I going to do? And this was at a time I knew online advertising, but I didn't know Facebook ads at that point.
Speaker2: [00:02:39] But Facebook ads were really becoming popular at that time. This was it was very limited of what you could do, which is the whole like little right side right column ad with just a little bit of text in a small image. Anyway, I started teaching myself ads and it came very easy to me because that was my background as far as online advertising goes. Fast forward a couple of years. I floundered for a year and a half after leaving the corporate world. And then it was January 2014 where I did. My first webinar created my first course, and that was sort of the start of my online business journey. And for a lot of years I was “known as the Facebook ads guy”. And probably three years ago, I started to branch out beyond Facebook ads because people are coming to me and they were saying, you know, they were like, I have a problem with my ads and not converting. And so once we would dive into it, it wasn't necessarily how they had set their ads up. It was more because they didn't understand their target audience and they didn't know how to. Because of that, they didn't know how to actually solve the problems that their target audience had because they didn't understand their target audience.
Speaker2: [00:03:51] And then it was about mindset. And then it was about this and that and everything that contributed to the success of their ads and the success of their business. However, I was only focusing on ads at that point, but I loved coaching on mindset. I loved coaching on, you know, building a team, etcetera, etcetera. And so with my podcast at the time, which was called The Art of Paid Traffic, which is now called the art of online business, I started to sprinkle in other episodes, other topics in addition to ads just to kind of gauge the reaction of my listening audience, and I got amazing feedback. And so that was kind of the start of evolving with the business. And so today I focus primarily on people like yourself, Gloria, online business owners, all course creators, online coaches also work with teacher entrepreneurs. So entrepreneurs who help other, who help teachers who are already established people are already doing at least one hundred k in their online business, and that's a very different set of problems than somebody just starting out. So we focus on three key areas. So number one, it's increasing profit. Number two is increasing impact, but with less hustle. That's the third piece because everybody thinks like, Oh, I have to work harder.
Speaker2: [00:05:10] I have to work longer in order to have success, which is completely not true. And I learned that the hard way. And within those three pillars that I know we're going to talk about here today that I look at it, I break it down to optimize. So I say I love the word optimize because it can mean a lot of different things, but it's really about taking what you're already doing in your business and just kind of tweaking it and seeing how it works and basically trying to improve different areas of the business. So we optimize people's mindset because that is the base of the success of anybody's business. I start there because that's where I've always struggled in, in the growth of my business. Then we optimize systems and processes because we need to get people's time back right again, the less hustle part we can. Can't scale something without solid systems and processes, then obviously the third part being the sales and marketing part, while that's how we attract our audience that we want to serve the people that we are here to serve and then also to sell to them. So that's what we focus on in our business, and it's through our coaching program accelerator, which is what you're part of.
Speaker1: [00:06:22] I love that. And I think for all the things, like one thing you said that always stuck with me is anyone can make an online business, anyone can do a webinar, a funnel. There are tons of templates for that. But unless you get into the right mindset, you're not going to be able to get to that next level, whether it's five to six figures or six to seven figures. And now that I'm in the program, I'm building my own business. I realize it is all mindset and the people who actually, you know, who want to, you know, they know they want to do PR, they know they want to have more credibility and influence. I tell them the same things whether they're raising $100 million or they're still crowdfunding for $100. And so it's not really about the amount of money, right? So let's talk a little bit about the most important thing is optimizing your time because I hear from people I can't I don't have time to do this. I'm not going to do all kinds of limiting beliefs. So where should we start with just addressing that?
Speaker2: [00:07:12] Yeah, I mean, kind of smiling as you're talking there because people, it's kind of like, give sell them what they want, quote unquote, give them what they need, right? People need the mindset, work the mind. It's not like, Oh, I hit a Friday after doing four days of mindset work, and I'm good like minds in my mindsets dialed in. No, it's a constant progress, constant journey, constant process of being aware of it and working on it. And so and you mention it like the whole time optimizing your time that it's so closely tied to mindset because we have to understand if we think, for example, that the more I work, the more I make. That is a mindset. That's a thought, right? And we believe that. But it's actually not true because I can share a ton of examples of people working 14, 16, 18 hours a day and not seeing success in their business at all. I can also share with you on the flip side, you know, myself included, but like I have a buddy of mine, for example, who works three days a week, works about 15 hours a week at granted. He's been doing this a long time. He's been doing this like 12 years, but he's got a multiple seven figure business. He surfs every day. He lives in Australia and like, he's a very successful business and he doesn't really work, you know, all that hard. He'd be the first to tell you that.
Speaker2: [00:08:45] So there's a ton of examples where the opposite is just true. But you have to start with the belief of this is possible that you know what, if quote unquote, I again, I'm going to use air quotes again only have, say, 20 hours a week, right? And I say quotes around only because it's all relative, right. Some people might be like, Oh my gosh, 20 hours a week. That's amazing. Other people like, Ooh, I can't build a business in 20 hours a week. And so looking at it that way, it's like, All right, I have this much time that I want to or I can devote to my business this week. This is how I'm going to use my time. And I know that this is a conversation that you and I have a lot around. You know, the whole 80 20 principle of how we are using our time and ensuring that we're doing the most important activities that we are supposed to be doing as the CEO and getting away from the activities that we really shouldn't be spending our time on. Like, I don't know, this is a podcast. So like uploading this podcast and doing the show notes, for example, those are activities that are super important, but not necessarily things that we really need to be doing ourselves as the owner. And so it starts with this, you know, I call the time audit exercise and it's a pain in the butt.
Speaker2: [00:10:10] I'm not going to lie, but what kind of information and insight you can glean from tracking everything that you do and how long things take for, say, three to five business days? Normal business days, right? So not something where you're at a conference or whatever like that. This is normal business days. From the time I start working to the time I end, I'm going to keep track of everything I'm doing and how long I did that, including the time wasters. You know, the scrolling on Instagram or scrolling on TikTok or whatever. Everybody does it. So but just be aware of it, right? So we we have to do that so that we can become aware of all of those things where we are spending our time when we don't even realize it. And then I like to assign a value. This is something that I first learned from Perry Marshall. He is kind of an old school Google AdWords guy and then later got into the whole 80 20 concept and he wrote an amazing book of 80 20 sales and marketing. I think it's called like the definitive guide to. Making more with less or doing more with I don't know, something like that, but he talks about this exercise here in assigning a dollar value to the types of tasks that you're doing. For example, if you are uploading a video to whatever platform or uploading into Google Drive or whatever it might be that it would be a $10 an hour task quote unquote, because that is something that you could hire out that to somebody very, very easily to do where you shouldn't be spending your time.
Speaker2: [00:11:47] A hundred aren't. And it's like $100 an hour task, a thousand dollar an hour task and then ten thousand an hour task. So ten thousand dollar an hour task in what we're talking about here might be speaking with somebody at a media outlet or doing a podcast interview or doing an interview or writing an article or something like that. Those are tasks that we, as the business owner really need to be focusing on. That is a good use of our time. And even like the research of, you know, Oh, I really want to get the word out about whatever I'm doing in my business, for example, somebody else in your team could do that research for you. So maybe that's $10 an hour task, maybe a hundred yards out, $100 an hour in task. The idea is to get yourself to a point where you're spending the majority of your time, like we're always going to be doing those quote unquote lower level tasks. But if we can get the majority of our time to the point where we're in those $1000 an hour tasks, $10000 an hour tasks, that's where the goal is.
Speaker1: [00:12:55] Amen. And you know, now that we've both I mean, you obviously more than than I do, you have more experience but working with entrepreneurs and small businesses. I see the ones that are hesitant because they're so bogged down. They'd rather DM 200 people than do the work necessary to maybe be on a podcast or get onto an article. And then that way they can just for people. The article that is like ten times more convincing, right? But instead they're still bogged down. And I realize even in my own business, my level of stress and anxiety and burnt out ness is directly attributed to how wisely I am optimizing my time. And so one of the biggest takeaways, and in my last episode I talk about this is when I was doing people over dinner, taking bites of food, not even like tasting what I was eating. My life quality was not very good and my business wasn't so good because I was so bogged down answering every person's message. And so my ability to let go of control and delegate it to someone and they're not going to talk like me, they're not me, right? But knowing that you can, you need to let go of control in order to reclaim that I'm now focused on, for example, talking on a podcast with you, right? So I've actually seen it happen. But I guess the next question is a lot of people will say, Well, Rick, that's all fine and dandy, but it costs money to delegate. It costs money to get my time back. So what do you have to say to people who have that objection?
Speaker2: [00:14:15] Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a very, very I mean, it's totally valid thought. The other thing, too, though, is looking at the value of your time. So, for example, if you are doing consulting with a company just as an example, I'm just throwing this out there. Well, lets you throw out an example, Gloria. Like what would be an example that we can use here?
Speaker1: [00:14:39] If you're if you mean, like if you're designing someone's like branding?
Speaker2: [00:14:43] Yeah, totally perfect. So you're doing a design package for, you know, you know, for somebody new, new brand or whatever, and you're charging whatever $20000 and it's going to take you 20 hours, just very, very simply here numbers. Ok. So with this project here, the value of your time is about $1000 an hour. Now, granted, there's, you know, there's expenses and stuff and we can look at profit margin, but we're just talking very simple terms here. So with this example we can look at, OK, my time with this project is worth a thousand dollars and and they are hiring me and my team to do these, you know, to do the branding work for this. So it's kind of like, I look at it kind of like. A surgeon coming in to do a surgery, right, so the surgeon, she walks in to do the surgery, but the other, you know, the nurses and the other not the metal medical field, but the other prep people are doing what they're supposed to be doing to prep the surgery. But then the surgeon comes in and she does her. What she's an expert in does her thing, and then she's done and then the other team, the rest of the team does what they need to do to close up or whatever is going on, right? And so look at it like that where if the more that we can keep you in your, you know, everybody's heard their zone of genius, the more value that you're going to be able to produce.
Speaker2: [00:16:19] And revenue comes from the value that you're producing and the mindset that you have around it. And so going back to our twenty thousand dollars example, so a thousand dollar an hour, well, if my value quote-unquote is a thousand dollars an hour, that's what my time is worth and we're over here doing tasks like, Oh, I need to go research x, y and Z, somebody can be doing that very, very inexpensively so that you can be focusing on the higher leverage activities that are going to move your business forward that are more important to the, you know, moving the business forward. Not saying that the research isn't important, but is it really something that you need to be doing right? And so again, the I can't afford this is a mindset.
Speaker1: [00:17:06] Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, you can find a very enthusiastic intern for an apprenticeship, right? So there's always ways. And so I see this too, because you were like, Well, you know, the outreach to the journalists like, I don't have time, it's like, you can delegate it, right, whatever that is. So that comes to my next objection, which is, I'm a control freak. I know what I'm doing. It's quicker if I do it myself. So how would you how would you address that?
Speaker2: [00:17:32] Yeah, I'm laughing, because that's me, right? I've always been that way.
Speaker1: [00:17:36] So you've you've addressed time, right? And so now you've convinced this second one is the control. And what if this person messes up and it's quicker and easier and more sanity inducing if I just do it on my own? So what would you say to that?
Speaker2: [00:17:51] Yeah, for sure. So the first thing is it may be quicker now. But if it's something that needs to get done on a consistent basis, I don't mean necessarily maybe it's not once a day or once a week, but maybe it's once a month. And this is something that takes you a couple of hours to do and you're like, Oh, well, if I have somebody else do this, this is going to take me eight hours to train them to do this. So, yeah, it's going to take you longer at first. But over the long term, you get all that time back, so you've invested your time at the beginning to get somebody to do it going forward. And so again, mindset, we can always do something quicker, easier, faster ourselves, right? Especially when we've been doing it for a long time. However, again, is that a good use of your time? If it's not in the wheelhouse, if you will, the things that you really should be spending your time on. The answer is no, we shouldn't be spending our time on this anymore because the business is growing. There are higher leverage activities that I should be doing. As the CEO, I need to take the time to train somebody or somebody else on your team can train that person so that they get up to speed. Yes, it's going to. You kind of have to, you know, the whole cliched slow down to speed up because if you slow down now, take the time to train that person. In the longer term, it pays off in spades because they learned up front and then you don't have to do that activity anymore.
Speaker2: [00:19:32] The idea there is everything that you're doing in your business as the business starts to grow is to be documenting everything that you're doing. And this is this something as simple as turn on loom, record your screen doing whatever it is that you're doing. So maybe it is researching, you know, to to find out where you can send a pitch to somebody. Ok, cool. Turn on Loom. It's totally free. Start recording your screen as you're doing that activity. And kind of the weird thing that that you do want to think about is like, talk through whatever it is that you're doing. Like, OK, I'm going to I'm Googling whatever googling this site and I'm looking at this type of thing. Oh, I found this, and once I'm here, I, you know, it's like you're talking through and sharing your thought process. And then now you have that video now you have that process for how you did, you know, said activity that you can then turn around and share with somebody else. But yeah, there is an investment up front of time and energy to teach somebody how to do something. It will slow you down in the beginning, but in order to scale in order to grow again to free up your time. It needs to happen now because the payoff long term is much better. You also mentioned to Gloria what was can you read the question again because you mentioned something there that I wanted?
Speaker1: [00:20:59] Well, the first objection you overcame was time. The second one is control about how we know how to do it best, and it's easier if we do it ourselves.
Speaker2: [00:21:08] Yeah. So we know how to do it best, right? So again, that is subjective. We always think that there's nobody else out there that can do it better than us, especially if we've been doing something for a lot of years and we've had some success with it. We think that, oh, there's nobody else there that out there that can do it better. Well, that is simply, I mean, I don't want to make a completely blanket statement, but for the most part, that's not true. There are people out there that love to do things that you necessarily don't like to do in your business. Maybe you do it well, but yet that is their wheelhouse, right? And they can come in and do something better than the way that you've been doing it or how you've been doing it. We have to be willing to let go of that control. As the CEO, as the founder, as the owner to allow that to happen, which is a very difficult thing. But if we are not willing to let go of control, we are not. The business isn't going to grow in scale because we can't do it all ourselves. And so again goes back to mindset. If we had this mindset of only, I can do this and I know how to do it the best way possible. That's going to be a very it's a belief that's going to hold you back.
Speaker1: [00:22:23] And you know this, you know, helping people get from five to six to seven figures. The people who are already well on their way, they're going to hire experts. They're going to invest in coaching and people who have done it themselves. And I notice that too in my in my clients that people who are really just starting out not really sure. You know, they want to have PR, but then they don't know what they're saying and the ones where, like, I know my product works, I know I'm here to make an impact. Like where like, where do I sign up? Right? So it's a completely different mindset. And I love how you've taken us on the journey of, you know, overcoming the objection of time of ego, right? I know best and and as well as giving up control. So you know, you've worked with so many founders now on all different levels. What do you what would you say is like, yeah, another difference between someone who is just starting out, maybe five figures and someone who is really got it down and really well on their way. And they not only are they optimizing the hell of their business, but they're able to spend time with their families.
Speaker2: [00:23:20] Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's again, it sounds like a broken record, but it goes back to starting with that mindset, right? The mindset of that this business can grow, and it doesn't require 14 hours a day of me or my team to do that. The other big shift there is oh, well before I go on to the next one, like it's remembering, you know, in you kind of mention it earlier in you and I've talked a lot about this, but it's like why when things are stressful all the time, when we're waking up at night because we're stressing about something in the business or we're getting sick over something, by the way, all things that I've been through over the years and frankly still happens sometimes. But we have to remind ourselves, like, why did we start this business in the first place? Most people started something to have control of their time, have control of how much money that they can make. Work with the people that they want to work with, et cetera, right? But and that is a mindset that early business owners and founders tend to have, right. And that's what I had for a lot of years. But as people's businesses grow into upper six figures, seven figures, et cetera, then it generally becomes about impact and giving back to the people that they want to serve. And so it's like the evolution of being able to do that while again, not having it be so much on them.
Speaker2: [00:24:55] Meaning what can I delegate to the team? These are the hours I'm going to work. We're going to accomplish this, whatever this is, while not being built around me as the founder, as the owner, because going back to the time thing, it's the whole Parkinson's law, right? Like the amount of time that we give an activity is going to be filled by that time. So we say, Oh, I want to record this podcast episode, I'm going to write it, I'm going to do notes for it, whatever. I'm giving myself three hours for it, when in fact you could probably do it in 90 minutes. If you give yourself three hours, it's going to take three hours because you've given yourself that time. So this is where we get to test, you know, test and play around with. All right. I'm going to give myself two hours and see what happens. Next time I do it, I'm going to get myself 90 minutes and see what happens. And so it really does come down to the belief that. It's about it's the shift towards I want I'm here to make an impact rather than I'm here just because I need to pay the bills because I've gone out in this venture and I need to make this money right versus somebody who's already already seeing some success. And they're thinking more about how can I have a bigger impact while keeping the business very profitable without having to hustle all the time I have?
Speaker1: [00:26:19] I have something to say about that too, is, you know, I recently watched this mind rally class about people who have means goals versus end goals. And a lot of people are like, I need to become a lawyer so I can make money. But the end goal is really I want to buy my parents their childhood home or whatever that ultimate thing is. And so if we get rid of all the gene's goals, things that are keeping us stuck, our brain actually figures out a way to fast track us to get to our ultimate goal. But it involves working on ourselves and peeling all the layers of external validation of ego so that we can really focus on what is that we want, whether it's impact, whether it's freedom, whether it's quality time, because I assure you, it's not going to be. I want to be a PR expert or I want to be an accountant because, you
Speaker2: [00:27:03] Know, right? Yeah, it's exactly. It's, you know, it's it's about looking at what we want to achieve and coming up with a plan to do it, but also going back to I'm the only one that can do this. Well, you have to surround yourself with people who again giving ownership to right. So letting go of control. But you have to surround yourself with people who have can think bigger as well can come up with ideas to achieve the vision that you're setting for your business. What I was thinking about before is like the person that you are the founder, the owner, the CEO that you are to get yourself to. What's to say $50000 is a very different person that you need to be in order to hit one hundred thousand. Same thing for as you incrementally go up, right? The person hitting $100000 in revenue in their business, which is amazing, is a very different mindset. You have to be a different person, think differently. Do things differently than a seven figure business owner, right? Because it's the whole like, Well, I can get myself to here. Ok, cool. Well, it's a whole other set of skills, both from a the way that you think about things, the way that you do things, the way that you hire, et cetera, et cetera, at a seven figure.
Speaker1: [00:28:26] Yeah, I mean, the more I build my business and I reach those levels and I make all the mistakes, I realize it's like, I'm I'm the one that's getting in my way. I am the one that's keeping me trapped. We're not going to be homeless. So what is my hesitation on hiring this person or whatever that is, right? And even in our call yesterday, you know, one of my fears is building a team because that's really difficult for a lot of people. And when it's your own money, if the risk seems so, you know, the stakes are so high and I'm like, What if I don't get it right? And you're like, Well, that's part of the process because you're not going to get it right. And I'd rather you start now and at least like, learn then than keep keep your progress from happening. You're inevitable success.
Speaker2: [00:29:04] And there's things that you can do to like, put it into play to kind of alleviate some of that. Not completely, but like, you know what, if you get quote unquote something wrong when you're hiring right, you can sort of put, you know, how when you're bowling and you can like little kids, you can put like the bumpers in the gutters there, so the ball stays down down down the lane. It's sort of the same thing where you can put these gutters into how you're the process for how you're doing something like, OK, I'm going to build my team out. First thing I'm going to do is figure out, you know, what do I need to get off my plate to start? What's the first role I need to hire? And then it's sort of a, you know, you kind of continue to do that as the business grows, but you can put parameters in place where it's not like, Oh, I'm going to if if this thing doesn't work out, if this person doesn't work out or whatever, this is a complete disaster. I've put some parameters in place to sort of safeguard things in the business, like it's not going to crush the business, but it starts with asking, like, what if I'll ask you? Like, what is the worst thing that can happen if you make, quote unquote a wrong decision on a new hire?
Speaker1: [00:30:19] And they don't learn something, and I'm going to apply for the next time. That's how we've built our businesses is business testing and failing and testing. Again, I think it's a constant reminder that it's a playground and it's a journey, and it's not about following. Someone else's blueprint is making it a playground for you to learn and discover and test.
Speaker2: [00:30:37] Absolutely. And it's like, All right, well, you're going to lose out on, let's just say the persons with you for three months, the person did not work out. It was a disaster. And so you quote unquote lost out of the money that you paid that person. For the three months you lost out on the time and energy that either you or the team spent in onboarding that person, helping that person get up to speed. Ok, that that sucks, right? But just like you just said, Gloria, it's like, all right, what do I learn? What do they learn from that so that I can try to fix that next time or avoid that next time? That's the other big thing, too, where you ask, like, what's the difference between, say, someone like five, figure six, Figure seven figures that people who are at, you know, mid upper six figures and then into seven figures, they're not as afraid to fail as the earlier quote unquote founders business owners. That because they think that if I fail, it is going to completely crush whatever I'm building here versus a seven figure business owner. They know that in order for them to have success, they need to fail. It's like the more that they're failing, the more that the business is going to be growing. So they understand that again, mindset that the more I fail,
Speaker1: [00:32:01] The more successful. That's how we both built our business. You know, as you know, I don't have any PR experience, and I just had to dial the operator until I was sick and tired of being rejected. And that's kind of what we sign up for as entrepreneurs. So talking about failing and eating humble pie because we all I think we live in this interesting paradox as entrepreneurs, because on one hand, we think like we're the best right. Like, we're we're the shit because we're doing something. We're disruptive. So when we need that confidence, but on the other hand, it also our greatest advantage is also what kind of keeps us keeps us back because we have like blinders on for different things, right? And so I was very humbled by my weaknesses in leadership and team building and all the things. And one of the things that that I know you're very actively working on is this, you know, focus and attention on diversity and inclusion and having, you know, going to events where not everyone on the panel or look like you, you know, and you go into rooms where so can you talk a little bit more about that as you build your business? Because I do see that as something you are trying to genuinely work on.
Speaker2: [00:33:03] Yeah. And I'm so glad you bring that up because this is something that unfortunately, I don't think not enough people are still talking about it from the perspective of business growth and how people do business, et cetera now. And the other side of that is there are people talking about it, but it's just that it's just talk and then they're not actually doing anything about it. So, you know, after the events of the summer of 2020, and, you know, I was very quiet on my end. I have a big platform with the podcast. We reach a lot of people. I was really quiet and it was this whole, you know it. It sucks to say it now, but it's the whole kind of cliche like, well, I didn't know what to say, like, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to say the wrong thing, et cetera. And so I kind of stayed quiet and some things happened with friends of mine, you know, in the online space that, frankly, I wasn't really happy about that the way that other things were being dealt with. And so I looked, you know, long and hard of at myself and how I was showing up and what my beliefs were and what how I was using the platform that I have and how it was being. You know how? How just like you just said, how everything in my business looked the same way, right, looked exactly like me or. And it was just this is the way that we were operating. And after thinking long and hard about it was like, You know what? This is not the way I want to do things.
Speaker2: [00:34:48] And so I asked, and you know, you know her Britney McBean, she's a good friend of mine. She's our conversion copywriter. I was talking to her about it, and I was like, Do you know any, you know, diversity, equality inclusion consultants? And she's like, Oh yeah, there's a whole bunch of them, but somebody I'm super, super interested in. She said that she doesn't know her, but she gave me her website and her name is Erica Corday. And so I reached out to Erica to just have an initial call with her. And it was a huge, huge wait time. It was like several months to get a call with her. Long story short, as I was able to get a call a little bit sooner. Ended up working with her and her business partner, India. Just sort of overhauling and looking at where there were areas of opportunity for me to be more inclusive of, you know, marginalized populations and also use my platform to to get their word out to get there, allow their voices to be heard. But also and also, I should say, how can we use this in our content in who we are bringing on to coach accelerators, for example, you know, we do expert expert sessions where we bring people in. So looking at all the different ways that I wasn't doing things the way that I thought that they should be doing because it was the easy thing to do to be on now that I can see that now.
Speaker2: [00:36:25] It was. It's hard going against the grain and I know people are saying like, Oh yeah, of course, right? But like, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm learning, continue to learn. It's the journey that I'm on. And I don't I don't always get things right. But what I have, what we've completely changed in the business is our values and how we do, how we quote-unquote do business, how we look at the people that are attracting into accelerator, which is our coaching program and being like, You know what? This is a safe place. This is we. We welcome, you know, diversity. We are inclusive, we are all about equality, et cetera. And it's a message that I didn't have earlier, you know, a couple of years ago. And so this has become very, very important and we make a ton of decisions on our business through the lens of these new values that we created through the work of our consultants, Eric in India in, you know, during Twenty Twenty One. And so I have a long way to go. I don't think it's it's not it's not a, you know, an endpoint, but I'm learning I get it wrong. I say the wrong thing sometimes, but it's something that I'm really proud actually to be able to say that, yeah, I'm talking about these things, but I'm also doing it. And I know a lot of people, unfortunately, in the online space that are still doing a lot of talking but not actually doing that to back up what they're actually talking about. So. Yeah.
Speaker1: [00:38:04] And actually one of the questions I asked you when if you don't remember before I was deciding to join was, you know, what is your feeling about diversity? Is the group diverse? You know, and I think even from then and now, I've seen you make very conscious decisions and actions and investments meet. Maybe when it doesn't really. It doesn't benefit your bottom line, either, but just conscious decisions to change that and to, you know, eat that humble pie and realize that you're far from where you want to be, but you're much closer now than where you are maybe a year ago.
Speaker2: [00:38:35] Yeah, and I'm really glad you bring that up because it is I mean, our I mean, it's not even close to where I really want it to be from a diversity perspective, but like you said, it's not going to. And I talked about this with Erica, you know, my our primary dei consultant, and she's like, look, this is not an overnight thing. It's not like, you're like, OK, I'm doing this work now, and everything's going to change in a matter of, you know, a week or something like that. This is an ongoing process. And so, yeah, I'm so glad to hear that you say that like, we have made great strides. I think between right now, this time in 2022 and last year and 2021. Things do look very different. We are acting in different ways. We are showing up differently, but still very much have a long way to go. And by the way. What I love is the question that you asked about diversity. We're getting that a lot more now with our applicants, which I love the fact that that's happening because that means that the work that we are doing is starting to, yeah,
Speaker1: [00:39:43] Yeah, that's amazing. And even just, you know, using your white male privilege to say no to events that every single person looks like you and then making the post be like, Huh, I never thought about putting a panel together, because can you tell me a little bit about that? Because I think you kind of alluded to like you being invited on these panels where everyone is your buddy and it's the same thing every year?
Speaker2: [00:40:04] Yeah, yeah. And again, the easy thing in the past to do is be like, Oh yeah, of course, right? It's good for me to be associated quote-unquote with this person or that person, and it's good for the image and it's good for my business, et cetera, et cetera. When? More recently, I say more recently, in the past year and a half year or so, actually year. It's all right. You know what? Let's stop and look at this. Does this fit within our the values that we have now created and that we are living, living by in our business and in my life? And if it doesn't, I'm saying no more. Nothing against nothing, you know, it's nothing personal, it's just like I want to do differently, right? And this goes back to. Yeah, not just talking about it, but actually your actions reflecting what you're what you're talking about. I did. I hosted a panel online in early 2021 that had been planned for a long time. And I think I remember you and I talking about this, and it was a panel where it looked all the same. It was the exact same example of what you're talking about, but yet I was hosting it and again, it had been planned for a long time. But when when you know, due to COVID, it got pushed back and it went virtual. So just be in person, blah blah blah.
Speaker2: [00:41:34] When it finally came, time to do it and I'd already been doing this work, I looked at it and exactly what you just said earlier. I looked at it and I'm like, No, this is not OK. Like we, we rearrange the guests at, you know, at the last minute, we invited some, some new people that I had gotten to know, you know, throughout this process. And it's just about, you know, not doing if things have been done a certain way and everything looks at, especially, you know, like myself, like white, male, privileged, if everything has been done a certain way because through that lens, it's waking up to the fact that change needs to happen. And I get to make that change. And sometimes a lot of times it's not easy. And there were a lot of times, a lot of instances I remember where I reached out to to Erica during 2021, and I was just like, Man, this is not. I just felt off because I was doing differently than in the past, which is good. But it was hard. And this isn't like, Oh, poor Rick or anything like that. This is just like what I was going through. But I knew deep down, it was the right thing. And now, even after, you know, a year later here, it's just like, absolutely hell. Yes, like, yeah, no qualms about it.
Speaker1: [00:42:56] I mean, it's the inner work that we all have to do is, you know, reexamining what we've been told, the cultural narratives and things like that. And we all make decisions, whether it's conscious or not conscious. And you know, I think your podcast, I see for myself, like you have amazing experts and guests that are maybe different from what the other ones are that make this circuit. And they're all out there, people. You know, there are so many amazing, diverse, like, you know, experts in marketing. It doesn't have to be the five Yossi.
Speaker2: [00:43:24] Right, exactly. And that's something that, again, we've been very intentional about, you know, saying, like what I said before. Again, I think I can do even a better job of what we've been doing, but I think we've made amazing strides there. It's that. But but we you do have to overcome the whole thing like, Oh, if I have so-and-so on the podcast again, this person is known in the headlines, quote unquote known in the online space, right? Versus somebody else that might look differently or what have you. You know, sexual orientation or whatever it might be. And being like, You know what? No, I want to amplify this person's voice rather than this other person that, you know, I've amplified many other times or been associated with, et cetera, because I want to learn more. I want to open up people to hearing what this person has to say. And it's it's being OK with that, which for some people is a very hard decision. And it was for me at first to, to be honest.
Speaker1: [00:44:26] And even just like asking our audience for feedback is scary. But I'm so glad I did it right. It's going to help us. So we're kind of getting to the top of the hour here. We're in a new season, we're in a new year. There's lots of opportunities. What is something you want to leave my audience with, whether it's a new like a good question to ask themselves to reexamine something or a tool or something you're trying to do more of inspire us, Rick.
Speaker2: [00:44:49] Hmm. Something I'm trying to do more of. Well, I think two things number one, I think like a question would be going back to the original part of the discussion around time. I would really encourage you. Are you willing to slow down to keep track of what you are doing on a day to day basis while you're working on your business? Keep track of everything that you're doing and then be able to look at. Am I spending my time on the most important activities that are going to move the business forward? And if you don't have a team right now, it's OK and it's not like, Oh, we're talking like, Oh, you have to have, you know, five, 10, whatever, 20 people tomorrow. It's like, All right, if I don't have a team, I'm going to start slow and methodically and start to build from there. You also want to be building, by the way. We didn't talk about this, but you also want to be building for the business that you want to have. And again, it's not like, Oh, I want to have. This business down the road, so I need to hire eight people right now. No, I'm not saying that, but you're thinking through. Again, this is that the difference between an early business owner or founder and a more established one, how they're thinking about the business.
Speaker2: [00:46:03] So are you willing to look at yourself and how you're spending your time? It's a hard activity because it's a hit to like, Oh, wait a minute, I spent, you know, 90 minutes today scrolling Instagram or on TikTok or on the news or whatever. It's OK. It's like not saying, don't do that, but just be conscious of how much time is going there. And then I would say, the other thing is, I want to encourage people to. Going back to that failure part is to. Fail more. Remember that the more that you're failing, the more quickly that you are going to succeed because you're trying new things and not being afraid if something doesn't work out? Right? One of our coaches, Neil Williams, in our accelerator coaching program, we have this thing where we're doing here in 2022, where it's 50 fails like hashtag 50 fails. And it's like, can we get to 50 fails this year, which is basically one a week, right? And because the more that we're failing, that means the more the quicker, the more quickly we're getting towards success, whatever success means and looks like to you. So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to fail more this year.
Speaker1: [00:47:20] That's why you're on the show, right? Because you and I, we failure is so special and we would not be where we are.
Speaker2: [00:47:26] Those are friend.
Speaker1: [00:47:28] So where can people find you? Where can people connect with you and get into your world?
Speaker2: [00:47:33] The best place to start is the podcast The Art of Online Business. It's all in all the major podcast platforms Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, et cetera. Where else at Rick Morty on Instagram. My website is Rick Mulready-Woods. And not sure when this episode is going to come out, but or on YouTube as well. So you can watch my podcast on YouTube. It's the art of online business. There is a full episodes channel and then a clips channel, which is like the highlights, different highlights of different episodes that I do. And then we are. Here we are in early January. Finally, finally getting my YouTube channel, the Rick Mellody YouTube channel going.
Speaker1: [00:48:15] By the way, anyone that's not subscribed to your podcast, they need to do it right now. Anyone that's listening. It is an incredible, incredible podcast. Yes, and you're being humble here, but you have like eight million. How many million downloads already?
Speaker2: [00:48:28] Yeah, I think in we at the end of 2021 we passed, we got close to a total since I started the show. I started it in July of 2015. So what's at five and a half years, we're close to nine million downloads.
Speaker1: [00:48:45] That's amazing. Now on that note, that is something to be celebrated. Congrats. And thank you so much for being here, Rick.
Speaker2: [00:48:52] Thank you, Gloria. Appreciate it.
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