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Dirt Talk by BuildWitt
“Everyone Thinks We’re Killing It” and Jet-Setting (BuildWitt Update #22) — DT 381
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Howdy, everybody. Welcome back. This is the Monday Dirt Talk podcast, Bill with update number 22. I titled this one Everyone thinks we're killing it and jet setting. Usually every week this is me sharing what the heck is going on at the business. However, this week I thought I would clarify two key points. I was traveling back from Australia and I believe I was going through Sydney at the time, connecting through Sydney and as I was, because it requires 73 different steps to get off one plane in Sydney and get to the next plane. I was listening to the recording of our weekly Friday L10 meeting. We're on eos, so we have a structure for the meeting. It's about hour and a half. It's with me, Kara, Dan, Randy, Jason and Jessica, leaders of the business. We talk, we review our scorecard. So we look at the numbers for the week, how we're doing, what our key measurables are. We, we talk issues, we discuss. It's a great format, but unfortunately when I'm in Australia, it happens usually in the morning here in the States and it's just way too early to make it when I'm especially traveling. So I was listening to the recording and two things stuck out that I wanted to write about while I was then on the long flight from Sydney to San Francisco. First, something Randy Blunt said on our weekly leadership call was that everyone thinks we're killing it. That was a quote from him. And in some regards, we are killing it. We're doing great. We have hundreds of software customers, the best team we've ever had by a mile for our business today, the industry's best leadership event. I wholeheartedly believe in a brand reaching tens of millions of people worldwide. There wasn't an airport I went to in Australia where someone didn't say, hey, love what you're doing, which is crazy. That was never the goal. It's still not the goal, but it's just remarkable. And we even sold our first business this year, which is great. So how good is that? If you look at especially what's online, boy, are we killing it. And everybody thinks we're killing it. So that's why Randy said that. But the last thing I want people to believe is that we have things figured out because nothing of the sort is happening here. We don't have anything figured out. And I wish I could write about all the fucked up monkey business going on at this business, but after doing this for a little bit now, you know, I'm in the eighth year of business, believe it or not, I have understood why you keep some issues in business private until they've passed. And most of these issues that you keep private are regarding people. It's just not good form to talk people and people issues in public, especially while they're going on or just happened. It just doesn't work that way. But business is hard. Building a team is hard. Our mission of helping America's most foundational industry build its next generation is really damn hard. It's all hard. It's all hard. And I don't think it's ever been harder. I talked about this on a podcast the other day too. I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever actually thought even about quitting as much as I have this year. I've thought about quitting and not, not, not, not actually like, I, I, this is it. This is the only game I will play. It's, it's, it's this or death. At this point, for me, it's, it's that extreme. But I've thought about just it. The pressure has not let up financially from a team standpoint, from a sales standpoint, product standpoint, the Summit travel, it's just been damn near unbearable. And I don't say this with any complaint. I don't say this with any complaint. I don't have very much sympathy for leaders that complain about everything they have going on, because it's like, well, that's what you signed up for. Either do it or don't be a leader. Don't be a business owner. It's like, you don't have to. I wouldn't want it any other way. I say all this just to illustrate that we are like any other business. Some good and some not so good. And if anybody tells you they're just good, which is all of LinkedIn, as I've talked about. Stay away from those people and stay away from that business, because that's dog shit and everybody knows it. Any, everybody in business really doing it, they know that that is complete nonsense. No one has it completely figured out. And once you start to get into these, some of these rooms and see some of these people and how they make decisions, you're just like, yo, this is wild. So we don't have it figured out. Even this week. We made some just shit decisions that we had to make that illustrate that we don't have things figured out. They were the right things for the business. We should have done a lot of them a lot longer ago. But that's really the main point is that Randy said You know, everybody thinks we're killing it, we're not killing it. There's a lot of things we're doing right. There's a lot of things we need to work on. And the further I get into this, the further I realize that that is the indefinite state of business. If you are pushing yourself, if you are growing, if you are doing what you should be doing, you will never be comfortable, which is a hard pill to swallow. But it is reality. And so I am. I've never been more grateful for the discomfort that I, the organization, our team is feeling right now. Because that it's hard to believe, but that is an indication that we are going in the right direction and doing the right things. If you're looking for another industry event that is a snooze fest, this is definitely not for you. But if you're a leader looking to elevate yourself, your team looking for like minded individuals that are hungry, then look no further than the Ariat Dirt World Summit November 5th through the 7th in Dallas, Texas. In our third year, we'll have about 1500 hungry industry leaders from about 500 companies looking to learn, grow, teach. It's going to be fantastic. We also have a world class lineup. We've got Jesse Cole from the Savannah Bananas, James Clear, Atomic Habits, Kim Scott, Radical Candor, Mark Miller, Chick Fil a leadership, Tim Grover who is Michael Jordan's trainer. You will not hear from a lineup like this anywhere else. So check out details now dirtworld.com you can use code AARON10 for 10% off any registrations and we'll see you November 5th through the 7th in Dallas, Texas. Now, on the same call, someone pointed out that industry leaders and even some of our investors think I am balling out worldwide, ignoring the business like a shitty father, which those are my words. And to be fair, I don't blame them. I don't blame them at all. Extreme ownership. Have I done a good job explaining how I travel and why I travel? No, I haven't. So does it look like I'm just balling out? Yes, it does. Do I share the grind of it? No, because it's boring. It's like 30 hours of travel. You don't need to see 30 hours of travel. I don't need to live stream a 17 hour flight. I just show you the fun stuff because that's the fun stuff. But there's a lot of other stuff going on that I haven't explained on the financial side of things. We pay for the travel that I do via Media Licensing, YouTube ad revenue last month was about $20,000 and speaking fees. So not only is this influencing, quote unquote, I put it in quotes because that's not really what it is, but that's what people call it. Not only is it cost neutral, so it's cost neutral. It will make a little bit of money this year even, which is great. It'll make more money next year, which is great because then we can invest further in it in the first place. But not only does it not have a cost impact to the business, but it builds our business by creating the warmest leads possible for software and the dirt world. And is why you're listening to this is why I have the following I do is why Bill Whit has the brand and recognition that we do, is why we have the customer base we do. Is why we have the investors that we do. Even the investors. I found this a little funny. Like it still is my fault. I haven't explained this, but it's like they didn't invest really in the business, they invested in the brand. And it's like how we built the brand. It was me running around the world visiting construction, mining operations. So that's what I'm continuing to do. And then if you look at like the area dirt world summit, you know, we, I think first year had about 700 people there, maybe a little less. And it looked like it had just appeared overnight, but it didn't. It was the result of first building relationships largely via social media. In my travels for five years before we were able to leverage those relationships, that trust to get people to a brand new event and then deliver value, which is what we're doing now. And by delivering that value, we can get them to come back and every year in theory. So from a strategy standpoint, I can't do anything more important with my time as I am building the brand and a knowledge base that exists nowhere else in the world. Nowhere else. And then I can roll that into the business and broadcast it across the industry, allowing the dirt world to evolve and grow faster. Our business is dedicated to serving the dirt world. If I can use that knowledge base to better serve our business, to better serve the dirt world, great. If I can use that knowledge base to share with the dirt world, to better serve the dirt world, great. That's what I'm doing. No one else in the world has the data set. The knowledge base I have now because of the travel I've done, it's made me a far better leader, far better communicator, far better human And I can sit here and justify it all day long with like legitimate business reasons because I have to now. I have to have legitimate business reasons for why I do what I do and where I go and how I spend my time. But it's really just down to a gut feeling at the end of the day. I have this insatiable desire to go see the industry, to meet the people of the industry and to experience it firsthand, not just across the United States, but worldwide. I don't feel like I can do anything more important right now. And it has made everything for me, especially over the past few years, traveling the world so much more rich. And I have gained so much life experience in just a few years. I feel like I've gained what some people might gain in a lifetime in just a few years with how many people I've met, how many places I've gone to and how many unique experience I've been able to create through this process. So while yes, sometimes I am getting sick on the Great Barrier Reef, which is a blast like I talked about last week, almost the entire time I'm on the road is spent on job sites, on mining operations with the people doing the work, asking them about how they do the work, who they are, how they feel about it, learning how I can better support them. And I want nothing, nothing different about that. And I do travel and go see some pretty cool things in places. I'm in these places. So if I'm going to be in Jordan, yeah, I'm going to spend an extra day going to Petra. Sue me, sue me, I'm there. If I can go to Petra, I'm gonna go to Petra. But again, what I'm really there to do is to experience the industry. So Jordan, for example, I went to some mining operations which I still talk about to this day and still think about to this day. Just an extraordinary experience and that's really why I'm there. The fun stuff is like, well, I'm just, I'm there. So it's like might as well. But that's not the reason. The reason what gets me excited. Petra, compared to an oil shale mine, the oil shale mine to me is a lot more exciting. But I'm also going to create those life experiences along the way and you know, finally from a responsibility side of things, that strategy, but responsibility side of things. Randy, he's not Bill Wit CEO by accident. Not only is he the best for the job, he's just the best qualified, but his leadership gives me a clear path to go do this this is the moat around our business. This is what no one can go by. This is what no one can just go build overnight. It's giving us such an enormous strategic advantage. We haven't, as a business been able to realize that strategic advantage quite yet to the scale we want to, but it's coming. We have every intent to realize it. And it's amazing to me watching even the industry's biggest quote unquote, traditional brands struggle extending their brand, especially on social media. We reach more people than any of the big industry brands currently. You can name any of them at this point. We get far more reach online, completely organically, with no paid advertising whatsoever than they do. And that is the future. So while our business is smaller than theirs today, one day it won't be, and not just because of our brand and our reach, but, boy, is that the. The grease that really keeps the gears going and really makes things a lot easier for us and rather than an uphill battle, makes it a lot more downhill than it would be otherwise. So it's a little bit about my travels. Two points. Just wanted to clarify there. Hopefully it's helpful. I don't feel like I, I need to clarify these, but I want to. I want people to understand why I do what I do, why I'm on the road all the time, how it's paid for. It's not traditional influencing. We have one sponsor that's Ariat. They've been remarkable to us for a very long time. They continue to be remarkable to us. Sponsoring the summit now, sponsoring the vlog. They sponsored the podcast. And I only did a deal with them because I already wear Ariat boots everywhere I go in the world. I travel in them. Every country, every job site I've been to that you've seen me on. I'm in Ariat boots. I believe in their product, but that's the only quote, unquote, influencing deal we've done to date. And I'm very proud of that because we've been able to instead build a business that drives what I do. I drive the business, make it easier for the team, help the industry grow, which then drives what I do. Around and around it goes. So thanks for tuning in this week. I really appreciate it, as always. You can send me a note anytime. Aaronillwhit.com a a r o n at buildwit b u dash I dash l dash dash w dash I dash t dash dot com with that, we will see you on the next one. Everybody stay dirty.