Transcript
Scott Joseph (0:02)
Welcome to Business Bourbon and Cigars, the podcast for ambitious leaders who want a backstage pass to the top. Every episode, we're going to sit down with ultra successful industry leaders who have a proven track record and a deep understanding of how to grow a business. And we're going to learn the secrets and strategies that took them to the top. On this show, you'll gain access to exclusive insights and resources that'll give you what you need to achieve your most audacious goals. And of course, we may even sip on some fine bourbon and light up one of our favorite cigars while we chat. My name is Scott Joseph. I'm your host, and this is Business Bourbon and Cigars.
Guest Speaker (0:46)
Let me hit you with the hard truth. The biggest breakthroughs in your businesses, they're probably not coming from you. You know, sitting alone at your desk, trying to solve everything by yourself. They're going to come when you open up to others. You know, people who've been there, who've done it, who can ask the right questions and offer real world feedback to kind of guide you through whatever you're going through. But here's the catch. Are you brave enough, you know, are you vulnerable enough to share your challenges, you know, the barriers that you're dealing with and really open up to others to get real? Admit where you're stuck and let your peers help you cut through what I like to call the overwhelm. And I'll tell you this, stepping into the hot seat with a mastermind group, it completely transformed how I attacked a major problem that I was dealing with. You know, I went from feeling paralyzed and overwhelmed to focused and executing. And in this episode, I'm going to show you how. So in today's episode, I'm going to walk you through, kind of give you a behind the scenes of the virtual hot seat process that helped me get clear and move my business forward a lot faster. You're going to learn how the process works, how clarifying questions can cut through the noise, and how actionable feedback from your peers are going to help you make the right decisions, even when you're feeling, like, swamped. And as we know all too well, everything's coming to you at once. By the end of this episode, you're going to know exactly how to step into your own virtual hot seat and get the feedback that moves you forward, no matter how stuck you might feel. I'm Scott Joseph. I'm your host, and I've spent decades building successful businesses. J and O Marketing. You know, it started as a direct mail company and Today, we have transformed into a Martech leader. My three dealerships, you know, when I bought them, they were already established, but since we acquired them, they have grown over a thousand percent in value. And I don't tell you this to impress you, but I am trying to impress upon you that with all that experience, I still needed a lot of help. And none of that past experience was helping me with the new challenge know that I was facing. So when it came time to launch, you know, a new business, I hit a wall. And bottom line is I hadn't launched a business from the ground up in 30 years, and I had already made this public commitment. I announced the new company, and now, you know, I'm feeling this internal pressure, like my reputation was on the line. It had to succeed. You know, I was dealing with a lot of, you know, too many decisions, and for me, everything felt like a top priority. People know me, they jokingly say everything's priority number one with Scott. Right. So, you know, every day I just kept adding to my list of tasks, but I wasn't making the progress I needed. I felt like I was just kind of spinning my wheels. And that's when I decided to step into, you know, the virtual hot seat with a mastermind group. I needed clarity, and more important, I just need a, you know, a focused action plan. Today I'm going to walk you through the virtual hot seat process step by step, you know, and this is based on my own experience. So by the end of this, you're going to see, you know, how the hot seat helped me focus on one key challenge and really narrow down my biggest issue. You're going to see the clarifying questions the group asked that really helped me get to the heart of my stress and the concern I had. And then finally, you know, the actual feedback and the solutions that they provided that helped me move forward with confidence and focus. So let me take you real quick to that moment. You know, I had the experience, I had the vision, but launching a new business from scratch, it felt, you know, like a completely different challenge. You know, as I mentioned earlier, it been 30 years since I started a business from the ground up, and I'm starting to feel like, you know, I had too many things on my plate that they all had to get done at one time. You know, I had so many decisions to make. Should I focus on building the brand first or should I dive into setting up, you know, the systems and the tools for the business? How would I handle the marketing and the operation simultaneously? I felt like there was, I Just felt like there was too much to do and none of it seemed like the right starting point. And I'm the type of guy who believes starting, you know, is more important than waiting until everything's perfect. Still believe that. I advise it for anybody starting their end all entrepreneurs, you know, today. But I wanted to launch this right, and I wanted to impress everything, you know, everybody right out of the gate, you know, bottom line, I was stuck in that familiar feeling of analysis paralysis, you know, so I decided to take the leap. Stepped right into this virtual hot seat. So the first thing I had to do is I had to identify my primary challenge. I couldn't lay out, you know, all my issues to everybody. I had to focus on the one thing that was really holding me back from moving forward. So I shared with the group that, you know, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of decisions that I had to make. Us juggling too many things, you know, at once. I couldn't figure out where to start. I wasn't even sure which part of the business to prioritize first, you know, was it the systems, the marketing, the team building? And that's when, never forget this, you know, the group asked a pivotal question. What's the one thing that, if solved, would make everything easier? That question completely shifted my mindset. So instead of focusing on all the tasks that seem equally important, I zoomed out and I realized that if I didn't get the right systems in place, nothing else was going to matter. I needed the right tools, whether it was like a CRM right, to track client relationships, to be able to automate the processes. Before I could focus on scaling. After I pinpointed the main challenge, the group didn't just stop there. They started digging deeper. You know, they started asking me clarifying questions that helped me really get to the heart of what was causing my stress, you know? One member asked. I'll never forget it. It know, what's your biggest fear about getting these systems in place? And I'm thinking fear, you know, is it really the work or is it the fear of making the wrong choice on the tools? And that question was a game changer because it helped me realize that the, the fear of choosing the wrong tools, what was really holding me back more than the work itself? I wasn't afraid of the implementation. I was afraid of making the wrong decision, you know, which made me hesitate and delay. The fear of being stuck in the wrong system made me avoid choosing anything altogether. So all my other companies, you know, they're rolling, right? And in my mind, I've always thought I can afford to take chances and make the wrong call with them. I make decisions quick. But this is a startup. It didn't have the same cash flow and I didn't want to make the wrong call and build it on a faulty foundation. Another member asked, you know, how do you want to feel when this process is working? You know, when the systems are up and running, you know, what's your ideal vision for the business in the, say.