Most Business Owners Are Building the Wrong Thing - Start Here Instead with Kristy Kuhl

Summary

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Unemployable with Jeff Dudan

Episode Title: Most Business Owners Are Building the Wrong Thing – Start Here Instead
Guest: Kristy Kuhl
Date: May 13, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Unemployable" dives deep into the journey of redefining success, finding true fulfillment, and the crucial mistakes business owners make when building a business (and a life). Host Jeff Dudan speaks with high-performance coach and executive advisor Kristy Kuhl about her dramatic career pivot, the lessons learned from leaving corporate life, and actionable insights for entrepreneurs and franchise owners striving to build meaningful, scalable, and sellable businesses.

The conversation is honest, energizing, and packed with strategies for achieving clarity, focus, and high performance—while also looking after yourself and those around you.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Meaning of Success & Fulfillment

[01:23]

• The Trigger: For Kristy, Tony Robbins’ phrase, “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure” changed everything.
  • Kristy Kuhl: “I didn't even know what fulfillment meant... I googled it under the table at this Tony Robbins event.”
• Defining Fulfillment: Fulfillment is not just about external success—it's being present, living aligned with your core values, and finding work that feeds your purpose.
• The Contrasts:
  • Both Jeff and Kristy agree happiness is fleeting, but fulfillment and peace are lasting targets.
  • [05:58] Jeff Dudan: “When I think about joy, it's sitting with my dog, having a cup of coffee in the morning, watching the sun come up...”

2. The Inflection Point: Leaving Corporate

[07:40 – 14:31]

• Kristy's Story: From medical sales to executive coaching—her decision was driven more by necessity (alignment and values) than strategic planning.
  • Kristy: “The harder it was, you just put your head down and got it done... the friction builds up in the body.”
• Letting Go: It often takes something (or someone) “breaking the spell” to walk away from what no longer fits.
• Ego vs. Reality:
  • Kristy: “I knew my ego was attached to... this hard thing nobody else could do, and I'm freaking crushing that for 15 years.”
• First Steps: She left without a job or plan: “I didn't even know what life coaching was, which is really funny, because I needed one and I became one.”

3. Subtraction Before Addition: Simplify for Success

[14:31 – 16:13]

• Stop Adding, Start Subtracting:
  • Jeff: “People just keep piling more mashed potatoes on... but without first subtracting. When you simplify... that's when you create meaningful change.”
• Commit or Nibble: Many franchisees and entrepreneurs stall out because they “nibble” at necessary changes instead of fully committing.

4. Human Design & Career Construction

[16:24 – 21:06]

• Self-Knowledge Tools: Kristy talks about “human design” as understanding how you make decisions and generate energy.
  • She advises seeking out new experiences and stimuli to discover your next path.
• Trial and Error: Kristy’s coaching career emerged organically by following sparks of enthusiasm, problem-solving for others, and refining her focus over time.
  • Kristy: “I let go of all the expectations and all the bullshit of how I was going to explain this thing, and I just let myself blow around like an autumn leaf.”

5. The Power and Role of Coaching

[21:54 – 26:28]

• Everyone Needs a Coach:
  • “It's hard to see the picture frame when you're the picture. This is why I will always have a coach.”
• Radical Feedback:
  • Jeff: “Feedback is the breakfast of champions. You should eat it every day. Seek it, put your ego aside, and be objective.”
• Blocks to High Performance:
  • Many people are “afraid of success” and unconsciously sabotage themselves to stay comfortable.
  • “Are you just going to do it?” is the vital question.

6. Performance: Clarity, Goals, and Standards

[32:00 – 41:40]

• What Is Performance?
  • Jeff: “Knowing exactly what I’m trying to accomplish, and then being incredibly efficient, effective, and focused on getting there.”
• Clarity First:
  • Both stress the need for a bold, specific vision and to work backwards from the exit (“Who is the natural owner for this business?”).
• Scorecards:
  • Kristy’s system: Identify the five most important business activities and personal habits; track them daily.
  • “Standards over feelings”—Don't just do what feels good; keep to the activities and disciplines that matter most.

7. Overcoming Resistance & Building Better Habits

[41:40 – 44:51]

• Why Don’t People Act?
  • Lack of scheduling, accountability methods, or reminders
  • Fear (of success, of failing, of looking stupid)
• Overcomplicating Success:
  • Kristy: “Success is very simple and we overcomplicate everything.”

8. Integration, Life Balance, and Outsourcing

[45:55 – 52:31]

• Work-Life Integration:
  • Balance is unique for everyone. Real clarity comes from identifying what matters most (often, it’s a single critical ritual with family rather than “doing it all”).
• Outsourcing:
  • Kristy’s formula: “If I clean my own house... I just lost tens of thousands of dollars by taking two hours to clean my own house.”
  • Outsource everything outside your zone of genius (except for 1 activity you love).

9. The Impact of Groups, Masterminds, and Radical Curiosity

[53:51 – 61:10]

• Rooms Change Lives:
  • Both Jeff and Kristy credit mastermind groups for "compressing time" and bringing perspective.
  • Leave your progress “up to your own singular brain,” and you’ll never grow as much as when you collaborate and learn from others.
• Radical Curiosity:
  • Jeff: “Radical curiosity. They just want to know. They pull on the thread and go to the next thing.”
  • Not everyone possesses it—it’s more an attribute than a skill that can be taught later in life.

10. Automation and Avoiding Burnout

[61:11 – 65:17]

• AI as an Opportunity:
  • Offload anything that doesn’t require your unique genius.
  • Most clients see AI as an opportunity to compress time, not as a fear or threat.
• Burnout:
  • Caused by trying to do everything, being in the wrong environment, or not offloading non-core activities quickly enough.
  • Read The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks for understanding zones of genius.

11. Radical Honesty, Delegation, and Scaling

[66:11 – 69:14]

• Radical Self-Honesty:
  • “You have to be radically honest with yourself and go, ‘Okay, I’m not good with finances.’”
• Scaling:
  • Outsource quickly as you scale; look at what the top performers do and model it.
  • “Success leaves clues.”

12. The Power of Environment and the “Chicken List”

[71:35 – 73:40]

• Environment Drives Success:
  • Surround yourself with people who stretch you and inspire growth.
  • When you need to “call your chicken list” (things or people you’re avoiding), do it when you’re feeling physically or mentally strong.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fulfillment:
  • “Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.” — Kristy Kuhl quoting Tony Robbins [01:23]
• On Feedback:
  • “Feedback is the breakfast of champions. You should eat it every day and you should seek it, and you should put your ego aside and be objective about the circumstances. And that's what a coach does.” — Jeff Dudan [00:06, 24:19]
• On Self-Compassion:
  • “You can only lead to the level of discipline in which you live.” — Kristy Kuhl [77:52]
• On Burnout:
  • “Zone of genius is something that only you can do, and that’s gonna bring fulfillment to you... so that counteracts burnout.” — Kristy Kuhl [62:46]
• On Performance:
  • “Standards over feelings.” — Jeff quoting Ben Newman [36:24]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Success Without Fulfillment / Tony Robbins Moment: [01:23]
• Fulfillment and Happiness, Defining Joy and Peace: [04:31–06:11]
• Kristy’s Corporate Exit Story: [07:40–14:31]
• Subtracting Before Adding: [14:31]
• Human Design and Career Decisions: [16:24–21:06]
• Role and Importance of Coaching: [21:54–26:28]
• Clarity, Vision, Building with the End in Mind: [32:00–34:20]
• Scorecards, High Performance Habits: [35:33–41:40]
• Outsourcing / Zone of Genius Calculation: [51:00–52:39]
• Impact of Mastermind Groups: [53:51–57:23]
• On Radical Curiosity: [59:24–61:02]
• Burnout and The Big Leap: [62:35–64:58]
• Scaling, Delegation, Radical Honesty: [66:11–69:14]
• The Chicken List and Leveraging Environment: [71:35–73:40]
• Closing Playful Q&A: [75:16–78:42]

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Actionable Takeaways

• Define clarity and fulfillment for yourself—don’t chase someone else’s dream.
• Remove non-essential tasks before adding more to your plate.
• Build with the end in mind—know who your eventual buyer is.
• Distill your business (and personal life) down to 5 key activities; track relentlessly.
• Outsource outside your zone of genius, except for one thing you love.
• Seek feedback and radically honest input—don’t DIY your future.
• Leverage groups/masterminds to compress learning and avoid isolation.
• Master your environment (people + places) to maximize performance.
• When feeling courageous, “call your chicken list”—take the bold actions you’re avoiding.

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For more from Kristy Kuhl:

• Website: kristykuhl.com
• Instagram/LinkedIn: Kristy Kuhl
• Podcast: Keep Rising
• Group Program: “Unleashed” (12-week program for women)

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Host: Jeff Dudan, Homefront Brands
Guest: Kristy Kuhl, High-Performance Coach

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Transcript

[A]

And I was like, wow, that's the greatest thing I ever heard. Because you know what? I think he's right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And in that moment, I became a feedback seeker. And I say, feedback is the breakfast of champions. You should eat it every day, and then you should seek it, and you should put your ego aside and be objective about the circumstances. And that's what a coach does.

[B]

I also see a lot of people are afraid of success, and they don't realize it. And a lot of that distraction stuff is really just keeping them here because their nervous system says, hey, I know how to keep you safe right here. Right? But if. But if you actually focus on that one thing and the five things that you need to do and run the ads and add the salesperson, that you're actually going to go up to this level. And a lot of people are afraid to go to that level.

[A]

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Unemployable Podcast. I'm Jeff Duden. If you were a successful medical sales executive who only needed to hear one sentence from Tony Robbins to leave that life behind and launch your own executive coaching and speaking business and the Keep Ris podcast, your name can only be the Incredible Christy. Cool. Welcome.

[B]

Thank you so much. What an intro.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Amazing.

[A]

Is it all true?

[B]

It is true.

[A]

It is true. Awesome. What. What was the sentence? I, I, I heard it. I heard you on another podcast, and I heard you say it. Do you remember the sentence that you heard?

[B]

Of course. Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.

[A]

What does that mean?

[B]

Yeah, well, when I heard that, I didn't even know what fulfillment meant. So I was underneath the table at this Tony Robbins event, and I'm like, he finally put words to the thing that I was feeling back then. This is probably 10 years ago. 12 years ago, I left corporate 8. So it was probably 12 years ago. I was still looking for somebody else to give me permission, and I was still looking for the explanation. And now I'm just like, because the answer is because we're doing this. But I didn't know what fulfillment meant, and so I googled it under the table. I was doing this exercise, and then I thought this, like, I knew that this was the answer to everything that I was feeling. I had no idea what fulfillment meant to me. And the list that I came up with at the time was, I want to. I want to rescue dogs, and I want to be in nature, and I want to be exactly where my feet are and be present and paying attention to the person that's in front of me. So that I can serve them. So the list just went on and on with things like that. And then Tony's like, okay, you got your list. And I'm like, okay, now he's gonna tell me what to do with this thing. And he said, you either have to find a way to make money so you can do that more or make that your full time gig. And I thought, well, there's no frickin money in that. How am I gonna do that? Right? And then, you know, the rest is history. Yeah. Cause that's what I do all day.

[A]

I did a keynote speech and a workshop last weekend and somebody asked me this question and it wasn't a question I would have expected, but it was along the lines of. And I had just done three hours. And the work that I do is really connecting many times, first time business owners or franchisees with all of the things that took me 20 years to figure out. So it really just, it's the things nobody tells people about the meaning of a business in your life and what your role is, and then the tools and the tactics along the way. And generally I find that I connect with the audience. And so we did a, we did the thing and then we're doing a Q and A and we're just sitting in a chair up there and somebody says, jeff, I'm struggling to find a reason to continue and to get restarted because I started this business, it was a semi absentee business. And. And then recently I lost my wife and now I've lost my job and I've got this business and quite frankly I can't find a reason to get motivated to start. And he said to restart. And of course I'm like, hey, this is a little out of my depth. I'm not, that's not what I do. But I did have some things that I was able to share about my perspective. And one of the words that I used was fulfillment. And you know, are people really entitled to be happy in your opinion, or are we entitled to struggle, to grieve, to find fulfillment through meaningful work? And is happiness an occasional condition that just people are seeking it but it's probably not the destination?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't think you can have one. You can appreciate one without the other. Right. So you know, I, I look at my path and I look at the struggles and I appreciate every single one of them because I wouldn't really understand what true happiness was if I didn't feel unhapp at some point in my life.

[A]

Yeah, it's like if you Took vacations.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Every week they would be meaningless.

[B]

Yeah. You know, I, like, I look at these people that are handed everything and I'm so thankful that my parents didn't hand me anything. They handed me a lot of things, but it wasn't, it was the journey. And everything that I learned along the way was the stripes that made me go, my gosh, I, I earned every bit of that. And I'm sure in your career you feel the same way that you've, you've earned every step along the way. And so that when you have those meanings, those moments of happiness, you understood what it took for you to get to that moment. And I don't think that I strive for peace and for joy and for happiness, but I don't think that happiness is a place that I live. Like, I'm always trying to get back to that peaceful place. And I know you're a big guy on resolving conflict right away, because to me, am I really striving for happiness or am I striving for peace? I think I'm striving for peace. And if I have conflict or something, like, I just had a conversation with somebody the other day and I thought, we just need to level set. And that just left a twinge inside of me until it was resolved. And I think that we all know what that feels like. And so for me, it's more peace.

[A]

Yeah. When I think about joy, I think about just sitting with my dog and just having a cup of coffee in the morning, watching the sun come up,

[B]

or

[A]

watching my kids graduate or do something like that. To me, that's, that's very joyful. Okay. But then when I think about, when I think about fulfillment, it's very close to satisfaction. So we just went through this three week challenge. We had to have a lot of difficult conversations. I'm coming out the other end of it. Like a surfer comes out the other end of that tunnel. You know that you don't, you're not quite sure when you're in the tunnel that you're going to make it out the other side, but then you see a little bit of light and then you get out to the other side of it and you're standing on your board and it's like, okay, I did that. That wasn't fun, but we did it and we're out the other side of it and then you feel this great sense of satisfaction and that builds on your resilience and then you just move forward. But, I mean, I don't know when I'm ever Just happy. And I guess when I'm happy, that's maybe when I'm feeling grateful or thankful.

[B]

Yeah, I would agree.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, I would agree.

[A]

Yeah. It's interesting, these emotions. Well, I didn't know how to answer the gentleman's question that well, but, you know, those are kind of the things that I unpacked a little bit. So.

[B]

Well, I think that's great. And, you know, seasons change, and I think that we have to give ourselves permission at any period of time to go, okay, well, what do I want right now in this season of my life or this season that I'm stepping into? What do I. Do I want to bring all this stuff with me, or do I want to pivot and do something else and find a different purpose and that's okay? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You had an inflection point at the end of your medical career, medical sales career, and then moving into this business. Can you talk me through that inflection point and how you process that decision and what the steps were? Because so many people that join Homefront brands or any franchise brand, they're. They're searching for something.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

An adventure, an opportunity. They know that there's risk, but they're trying to change the slope of their line to something different than it's been in the past. What was that like for you?

[B]

Yeah, well, I feel like. Like I had this definition of success that served me very well, and it came from childhood and desires and things that I was praised for and all you did. Right. So then you just want to do more of all that stuff because you get attention and you get praise.

[A]

And does that include the sales awards and the salary and the car. Company car and all of that. And the trunk full of supplies and when your friends get sick, you could.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I had the $2 million robot, so it wasn't. It wasn't in the.

[A]

You weren't handing. You weren't handing those out?

[B]

I wasn't handing those out. But. But a lot of the things that you said was the other part of it. So there's this definition of success, and, hey, you do a good job, and then you get praise and recognition, and that feels good and that's attention. But then the other part was feeding my ego. Right. The fact. And. And there was the money piece of it, but then there was also the piece that, like, I had this thing of, like, I can do hard things. And I think part of that was growing up in the Midwest and one stoplight town in Ohio, Berlin Heights, Ohio. And so I think Part of it was, like, the harder it was, and you just put your head down and got it done.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Then I got. I. I thought, like, I told myself this story as a child, that I get more praise and recognition for just doing hard things. And so then you build a whole life around that, and you realize how hard all that, you know, my. It was just fricking hard. I'm in three cities. I'm managing teams. I'm in a male dominate, you know, but there's all this other stuff that I was denying about who I was that was really important, and that was the part that I couldn't deny anymore. Like, and it's a lot of the things that I kept hearing, and I'm like, whatever, whatever, whatever. But I do not function well in close proximity with people that conflict my core values. It just does not. I can make a transaction. I can. But to be in an environment where I'm spending all of my time with people that potentially conflict my core values does not feel right.

[A]

So you would hear that in, like, a review or something.

[B]

You hear it in a book, you hear it. You never hear it at work. Right. So you hear it in a. You know, on a podcast, you hear it in a book, or how important it is that you understand your core values and you make sure that your environment supports your core values. Well, like, whatever. You know what?

[A]

We're.

[B]

We got a job to do. I can work with people that I don't enjoy. I can work.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, that was more of what I was doing. And then, so there's things like that that are just foundational, that. That friction builds up in the body. And if you pay attention SL sleepless nights. And, you know, I got to a place where I had a blessing happen because there was a person in the organization that was like, when I would see this person at a corporate event, I'm like, I would just go in the opposite direction because, you know, they went to the bathroom with a posse, and there was always gossip, and, you know, climbed the ladder through politics. And to me, I'm a good person. Integrity and truth are very important to me. I work really hard. I get results. I should get recognized. But that's not always the way it is in certain organizations. Right. And so my boss had asked me to take this promotion, and I was really trying to just have more balance. I had gone through a divorce that was unexpected, and I thought, I don't want to do this middle management thing in a $5 billion company that's just. You're stuck and that's a lot of this way and this way and more your time is spent doing things that really don't to me, matter. And then I had a boss. He said, are you sure? Because who they're going to ask if you say no is you're not going to like it. And it was that person that I used to stay away from. And I thought, okay, well, my entire world just shifted to things that don't make any sense to me. And I want to have to spend a lot of time, corporate politics, doing all this shit that, you know, to me is going to take away who I am as a person. And my piece, I just didn't have the words for it. I just knew that I didn't want it.

[A]

Did your ego tell you not to let her have it?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly, yeah. But then there was this other side of me that, like, you know, I feel like you fight and you fight and you fight, and then at some point, you just surrender. And that's kind of what I was starting to do, is surrender to the fact that my body and my being was pulling me in a different direction. So on top of that, you know, when you're traveling that much and you're dehydrated and your workouts aren't consistent, like, all that stuff is really important to me. Having a routine is really important. I like travel. But to be, you know, being a businesswoman, sexy for about two weeks, and then you find yourself in all these cities that you can't go out at night by yourself and you don't. Right. And you have to just make really. So that was all kind of happening at the same time. And I told myself, like, that was a moment that thank God she was put in my place because it helped me make a decision. I thought, you know, you got 12 months. You got 12 months before this environment's gonna break your body down, right? Yeah.

[A]

So you knew that there was a parachute and that you were going to take it and you were going to jettison out of there.

[B]

I knew that my ego was attached to this thing over here. You know, I was making about $450,000 a year. I like the money, but I think money's more. Just makes you who you are, more of who you are. And so I knew that I'd make the money back, but I was attached to. My ego was mostly attached to this hard thing that nobody else could do. And I'm freaking crushing that for 15 years.

[A]

Ye.

[B]

And so some people will, like, build this whole thing. And a Lot of people, like, coach is, you know, there's a plan in place, and then they exit at a certain time. I again, knowing myself and coming into a place where I wasn't looking for somebody to give me permission. I was just settling into who I am. I knew that I couldn't have one foot in both places. Jeff. I knew that for me to find my new center, like, who's Kristi? Who really is Kristi? Cool. Like, this definition of success, like, do I want it? What do I want to change? I need to leave that entirely. So I left and had. I didn't have a. I didn't have a job. I didn't have a plan. I didn't even know what life coaching was, which is really funny, because I needed one and I became one, but I didn't even know what it was at the time. I just knew that I needed to get away and create an environment where I could find myself and then step back out on the path and build all the things that are important to me in my own way.

[A]

Yeah. So inflection points, in my experience, have three things. They've got people that you care about, that you're responsible for, that you want to do something with, or sometimes people you want to get away from. There's always a people piece to it. Then there's an adventure or an opportunity that may be clear, or it might not be clear, but then there's a risk of loss, because a lack of focus will always lead to a lack of greatness. So if you don't subtract and give yourself the space to add, because that's the mistake people, you know, you coach people, that's the mistake they make. They just keep piling more mashed potatoes on the salads underneath. Then they went to the prime rib station. Now they realize there's more buffet, and the next thing you know, they've got this huge plate. Now they've got a. You know, they're embarrassed because they go back to the table. But, you know, but people just keep adding things into their life, but without first subtracting. And when you get specific and when you simplify, when you subtract things that are not on mission or on purpose, that's when you can really go deep and create meaningful change. But I see it all the time, especially in our franchise owners. They, you know, they have to go from. We have performance coaching, so they've got to go from level two to level three. Well, to go to level three, you have to do these five things. You have to hire A salesperson increase capacity. You've got to increase your ad spend. You've got to reorganize them. You got to do these things. But they nibble at it. Right. They don't do it then. So they try to just add a little bit of it on top of what they're already doing, but they don't commit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And those things. So you were at this inflection point, then you committed to nothing.

[B]

I committed to figuring it out.

[A]

You committed to give yourself the space and time to figure it out. And then how did you construct your current life?

[B]

Yeah, and it's. It's really. It's. It's my. If you understand human design, it's my human design, and I didn't. It's so easy to look back and see them moving in reverse.

[A]

Is that the concept of human centered design you're referring to? Basically.

[B]

So human design is basically like. Do you know your astrology sign?

[A]

Sure. Up and to the left. I had to bet my recall. Okay. Yes.

[B]

So it's basically like if I were to look up the time of date that I was born and my birthday and the place of birth. It is the most bizarre. It is so accurate. It blows my mind, and it takes a lot to blow my mind.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It will. The two things that it helps people with the most. But there's so many other things to lay on. But the base I use it in my coaching is how you make things happen and how you make decisions. And for me, I'm a generator in human design. I generate energy wherever I go. You understand that, right? You asked me to be on your podcast. You saw me speaking on a panel. I make decisions by exposure. So I used to be used to beat myself up going, why don't I have. Why do I. How do I not know what I want to. I'm so smart in all these other areas. How in the hell could I not know what it is that I want to do next? Well, then it took, you know, after I found this path, I realized that according to my human design, and it's always been 100% accurate, I need exposure. So when I'm trying to figure something out and I don't know the next thing, I'm gonna listen to podcasts, I'm going to read books, I'm gonna go to conferences. And when my energy does this, and a lot of times I'm reacting to a person, I'm reacting to a storefront. I'm constantly reacting all day long, but I need something to react to.

[A]

Yeah. Daymond John says, do your homework. Just all of it. Just consume everything you can around it.

[B]

And then, like, for me, it's like, there's a couple of things that I'm like, oh, through throughout the homework, there's a spark. And I'm like, okay, pay attention to that spark. Why. Why am I. Why did I just light up over there?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So I'm flying in the front of the plane, having a conversation next to a. Jeff will say, right. I'm sitting next. Jeff wants to talk. We're just, you know, having a casual conversation. He tells me something about his business, and I'm like, oh, well, have you tried xyz? And he says, no. What's that? And I tell him about this thing that I learned from this leader and whatever, and before long, I have a gig. And I'm like, wait, I'm not supposed to have a gig right now. I'm not. And I didn't know what to call myself. Am I a consultant? Am I Like, what am I? So I solved a problem in somebody's business, and then I'm in that person's business, and they say, hey, you should meet. Hey, my buddy's in town. He owns a business. Hey, this is Chris. This who I was talking about. This is Christy. So then he passes me off to this person, and now I got another gig. I have no website. I have no business cards. I have. But I'm trying this stuff on for size. And then I'm, like, kind of doing workshoppy things and solving problems. And that's where I landed on, like, okay, there's problems within the organization and there's things I can solve, but I really want to focus on the person. And that's where I landed on just trial and error going, if I could take 10 of your people and I could make them show up as a 10 out of 10, what would that do to your business? I mean, if they took personal responsibility for how they showed up and they knew how to make decisions, and they knew how to make decisions fast, and they understood themselves, and then we built the habits and the structure around how to reinforce those decisions, what would that do to your business? Like, to me, it just made complete sense. Then I'm gonna focus on high performance. And then I Googled it, and I'm like, well, shit, this is a thing. A high performance coach is a thing. Literally, that is how the whole thing. That's how it happened. And so then I was like, okay, well, I got this thing. And then I became, like, the person behind the person and then I thought, well, I keep running this framework and I keep building this framework and I keep. Okay. And I've tried it on for size and well, now I gotta get the word out right now. Like, now there's more people that need to hear this because not everybody can pay this price and, like, be the person behind the person. But now I'm gonna be like, almost like kind of the person.

[A]

Right, Right.

[B]

So then I was like, well, I'm gonna start. I'm gonna start speaking on stages, and then I'm gonna launch a podcast. Like, there's a way to get. And then social media, there's a way to get all this out there. So I'm helping more people. And that's. I wish I had this beautiful, like, oh, I planned it out, Jeff. And I do that with people. But I really. Just looking back, it's easy to see that I let go of all the expectations and all the bullshit of how I was going to explain this thing, and I just let myself blow around like an autumn leaf and just go, oh, that interests me. I'm like, oh, okay. Yeah, sort of. Oh, shit. I just got into a situation where I'm working with somebody who conflicts my core values. Right. And so then I had to kind of refine it. Like, I work with above the line people who. Above the line problems.

[A]

Okay. Verne Harnish greatest advice to business owners that he said one of the things he is constantly recommending is two to four hours a week of nothing. You go to the same place, you put everything down. And one of our jobs as business owners and leaders is to calm the swirl for everybody else. So you kind of have to let the swirl happen, but you have to give yourself enough space to organize it and to. And subconsciously it will organize itself. Like, if you have domain expertise and you know what you're doing, you know what you're. You know where you're going, you know what you're building, and then you have all the things that are swirling around. If you give yourself enough quiet time, it will organize itself. And then you can just write it down and say, these are the 10. And I do that. Plane rides are the best for that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You just sit here and you think about it. I try not to talk to people, but, you know, if I was sitting next to you, you, I would ask you your advice, but. But. And then you kind of calm the swirl. Is there anybody that doesn't need a coach? And when did you. And follow up to that, when was your first coach. When did Somebody appear as a coach or a mentor, whether it was official or not.

[B]

Yeah. So my first official was in corporate. So when I. I had the privilege of working for this company called Intuitive Surgical, and it was my first exposure to disruptive technology. So we tipped every market on its head, and we had control of the hospitals and the doctors and the outcomes. Everything that happened in that operating room and then. And it was different, and it was stressful, and it was hard, and. But I had the best leaders. I had the best leaders in the world, and I just, like, would watch and listen and practice in front of them, and they would give me feedback. And we were a culture of development, and we did a lot of role playing. And I believe that it is very hard to see the picture frame when you are the picture. And this is why I will always have a coach, because I still have stories that I tell myself. There's still things from, whatever, an experienced child, things that I don't even remember. We all have blind spots. And then there's all these stories of, like, yes, but I told her this or this emotion over here or this experience where you could be like, it doesn't matter, Christy. Right. The straight line from here to here is this, and this is what you need to do.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so I think that everybody needs a coach for that reason. It's a way to go fast, and it's a way to get different perspective. Some people will say, like, Well, I have 30 years of experience, Kristi. And I'll say, well, do you have 30 years of experience, or do you have one year of experience that you keep running for 30 years? And not everything there's. You know, discernment is so important to make, you know, it was a lot of voices.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And to be able to take the piece that makes sense and not change everything, because what you have is amazing. Most people, what they have, they're very close. That's why my podcast is Keep Rising. You're so much closer than you think. Like, you're really close. And that's. I'm not really the idea person, but I'm the dialer in her. I can see, because I don't have any emotion attached to this. I know you. I know what you're trying to do. I know we're trying to go, and so I can just dial it in and help you get all that stuff out of the way.

[A]

Yeah. All the detours. Yeah. One of the kindest things somebody said to me, and it was an employee, but he was a real maverick, and he was Sitting there. He was smoking in the office. You know, I mean, this was like early 2000s, but still, you know, there was no smoking in the office. And he's smoking there. And he looked at me and I was telling him about, you know, how the industry worked and that. And he just looked at me and he said, that's the stupidest effing thing I've ever heard. To my idea about why we did the things we do. And to me, he was really the first one. I hadn't had a coach. I had just de novoed myself to wherever we were. And I was like, wow, that's the greatest thing I ever heard. Because you know what? I think he's right. And in that moment, I became a feedback seeker. And I say, feedback is the breakfast of champions. You should eat it every day and you should seek it, and you should put your ego aside and be objective about the circumstances. And that's what a coach does. It's like, I hear all the head trash that you're throwing at me as to the why, the why, the why, the why. But none of that really matters because you said your goal was this.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And the only steps in that matter are this and everything else is performance art. You're waving your arms, you're creating distractions, you're serving your ego. You're trying to protect somebody that doesn't need to be protected. All of that's performance art. And it's all getting in the way of your goal. So the question is, are you just gonna do it?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that, you know, oftentimes it's. It's somebody who can say that to

[A]

you to help you realize that they're not a very good coach if they can't.

[B]

This is. And the world is so busy, like you said, we just keep adding and adding and adding. And so I also see a lot of people are afraid of success and they don't realize it. And a lot of that distraction stuff is really just keeping them here because their nervous system says, hey, I know how to keep you safe right here. Right? But if. But if you actually focus on that one thing and the five things that you need to do and run the ads and add the salesperson, that you're actually going to go up to this level. And a lot of people are afraid to go to that level. They won't say that, but they are.

[A]

I do this thing in training where I ask people, what's the difference between them and Elon Musk, other than 4, 6, $800 billion like whatever it is because he's just a bag of cells.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But he's making decisions and he's taking actions and he has some the benefits of not being able to have self limiting beliefs because of his psychological makeup. You know, there's tisms that people have that, you know, high performing people oftentimes have a touch of this or a touch of that because they don't have the ability to have self limiting beliefs. So when they see something like a powerful future or a goal or a vision, whatever you want to call it, they will work backwards from it. And there's no break. They're all gas.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's no break.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So they just go for it. So I ask people, you know, what's, you know, what's the difference? And oftentimes it's, it's all self imposed limitations, it's beliefs for I'm not a business owner, I don't have enough capital, I'm not smart enough that sometimes it's internal and other times it's external locus of control where they're like, well, it's the tariffs or it's the government or it's the market or it's the leads or it's meta or it's this, you know, all of these reasons that are holding them back. And if that's what you focus on, it's like the student driver that is runs into a pool. Well, yeah, they're looking at the little girl on the bicycle in the bike lane.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And all of a sudden they're just heading. Yeah, they're headed right towards it because you know, that's what they're focusing on. So who, it sounds like you coach people that have, maybe they're in corporate America and they've identified that they want to do more, be more or maybe make a whole holistic change. Is that who you work with primarily?

[B]

No, the majority of who I work with are entrepreneurs, business owners that are all the things that. This is not for the faint of heart out here. Right, right. And you got people and leadership and families. And so some people come to me because they're looking. They don't want to bring this to the board of directors, they need an advisor. They need all these things to make decisions and to build the systems. But they don't want to bring it to their board, they don't want to bring it to their executive team, they don't want to bring it home to their spouse. But they need somebody to be able to grow. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that's, so that's one. And usually it's like business owners. Up to 250 million high profile individuals I coach in Nashville, country music, artists and management teams. And then there's this other pocket of people that want. There's some executives too, but then there's this other pocket of people that want to make the jump. And I'll tell you, Jeff, that's the heart of. If I get ghosted once, they ghost me all the time because they had a job like mine. They have this ego, they have this. This paycheck, and that's the one that, like, I touch it a little bit. But they have to be ready to go if we're gonna. If we're gonna work together, because they'll just.

[A]

Fear sets in.

[B]

Well, my gosh.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. And now there's a death doula who lived in my building. And I had a conversation with her. I said, how many deaths have you seen? And she said, I've been alongside over a thousand. I said, well, like, not mechanically, but like, so like a birthdoom bringing somebody in. She helps people on the way out.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so I said, how many good deaths have you seen? And she knew what I meant. And she said, two. I'm like, out of over 1,002 good deaths. I said, what's your definition of a good death? And she said, they left nothing on the table, Christy. Like, as soon as I opened the door, you could just feel the energy. Like, it was just. I mean, everybody was happy and peaceful and like, even though all this was happening, I said, tell me about the other thousand. Why, like, why wasn't a good death? And she said, because here they are. There's no more. One more time. You can't get out of bed and go, do. I said, why didn't they do it? And she said, fear. Fear of what? Number one is the fear of what other people would think. Sure. Number two is fear of failure. So I find that with that group, I mean, you've got your whole life. And pain is a great motivator. And I wasn't intending physical pain, but to me, frustration is pain. And I just knew, like, there's these things that my time was always wasted in corporate America. And I'm around people that I wouldn't want to break bread with, but I have to break bread with them all the time. And that was enough pain for me to make the move. And I feel like that's really when you see, you know, you see change.

[A]

Very few people can make live a life that is not. Not unduly influenced by Their own ego. I've seen it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's probably one in a thousand. It's like this person does not give a crap what anybody thinks. And they are just like a laser, just floating, just going through life. And these people generally do have coaches. I mean, they're some of the most high performing executives. They literally don't care. And it's not that they don't care about people or they don't care, but everything is. So nothing is based on how other people are going to perceive them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's always so objective. I don't know how people get there because most of the decisions that we make growing up, like, you know, when you buy the car, it's not is this a practical car? It's like, how am I going to look in that red Corvette? You know, like you think in every decision you make, it's like, how are the people that I care what they think about me going to see, you know, going to think about this?

[B]

Yeah, Most people care what we want to be like. Sure, you know. Yeah, sure.

[A]

Performance. Yeah, Key levers. If you want to make a short list. What, what is performance?

[B]

What is performance to you?

[A]

Performance to me would be knowing exactly what I'm trying to accomplish and then being incredibly efficient, effective and focus on getting there. So that would start with goals. Performance is about, you know, I talk about, hey, it's on the mug. Speak a bold and powerful future into existence. Everything is a successful people. Everything's a regression analysis. If you, if, if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. Cheshire. Catch that?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you have to have a very clear, specific, bold and powerful future. And you know, Dan Sullivan, strategic coach 10x. 10x is easier than 2x.

[B]

Yeah. Great book.

[A]

Yeah. So, you know, you have to be wildly who know how. Who not how's a great book. You have to be wildly ambitious. You have to be incredibly specific. You have to understand all of the impacts that you're going to make. And then as you work backwards from that now, now it's just a strategy is just closing gap. Right. So it's, it's first of all, who are the people that I need?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think like, look, the questions that, the question that business owners that build things never ask enough is who is the natural owner for this business that I'm building? That should be the first question you ask. If I build this, If I spend 10 years building this company, who's going to buy it?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and most people don't want

[B]

to think about the exit though.

[A]

Well, I know, but like we, we do that from day one at home front brands. Because business owners starting a service business never think about the outcome. No, they think about what do I need to do the 30, 60, 90 days to get it going. But you'll make a different set of decisions working backwards from a very specific outcome, and you will make them. Your priorities will be different. You'll make different decisions in different times. You'll put different weight on different priorities. So like, that to me is if I've learned anything in my life, it's like just, just don't start building until you know what you're building.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you know, are you building anything that's going to be of any value to anybody? Because if not, you've not only wasted your time, you've wasted everybody else's time that helped you do it. So that starts with, with good, clear vision. And then it starts with goals. And then really I think the next thing is standards. Like, you know, I love David Goggins. You know, he says, what are, what are your standards in the face of no consequences or no goals? Yeah, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna jump in this lake just to see how long I can do it. I'm gonna do 44, 000 pull ups in 17 hours just, just to see if I can, you know, so, you know, once you know what you're trying to accomplish, then you have to make a commitment to certain standards. Because failure to have high standards will create waste, it'll create mistakes, It'll create, you know, it'll create all kinds of challenges and it might actually inhibit you if you, if you have enough mistakes and your standards are low enough, you, you won't achieve what you're out to achieve. Yeah, well, because you, because you don't want to be, you don't want to be broke and tired too.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Well said. So I agree with everything that you said. Clarity first.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Without question. That's where, that's where everything starts with the work that I do is you have to have clarity. And most people want permission or they're trying to make decisions in order to get the clarity. Or maybe they have it, but it needs to be refined. I am, I'm all about having a scorecard. So if you were to grow one ear, how many brands do you guys have?

[A]

We have five.

[B]

Okay. If you were to say like with five. Okay. With, with all five brands, if we were to pick out five things, the most, like five most important Things that need to be done every single day. As an owner of one of those brands, like, would you know what those five things are? So here's the five things that no matter what, no matter what happens, no matter how I feel today, Standards over feelings, right? You know Ben Newman. Ben's a dear friend of mine. He was a mental toughness coach for Sabin for five years.

[A]

Okay?

[B]

So if you know, if you know what the most important things are, then here's your professional scorecard. So every single day, you got people quitting, you got people you need to hire, you got a tough conversation you have to have, you need to go to the board and ask for more money. You have all this sh. Happening here and you have it all happening at home too. But you walk in and you go, okay, what the heck do I focus on today? Well, here's the five things I have to do because these are the five things that make this business successful with one of your franchises. How many do you have? Like, what's the one that has the most franchise, the Most. Most sites?

[A]

90 something owners in one of our brands.

[B]

Okay, so that's enough to be able to have data and be like, okay, if I were to look at 90 these 90 owners, the five most successful are doing these five things.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Probably. Right. So then we can, I could get in the room with them and we can refine this and go, okay, no matter what happens, you never take your eye off of this ball. And so if we're sitting here, that. This is my workspace. It's right here. It's front and center.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so here's the five things that I have to do. Okay, well, if these are the five things that I have to do, then how do I show up to be the best person to be able to do those five things? So if I come in here and I'm, I. And I'm hungover and I didn't work out and I didn't do. I didn't sleep good, I got in a fight with my boyfriend. I didn't get to spend any time with my dog. In fact, I gave her like a short walk today. So now my. Do you think I'm gonna, I'm gonna like, do all these five things as best as I could now, well, that goes into my personal scorecard. So if I can design my. And then it becomes really easy. These things that you say about going, okay, well, what do I say yes to and what do I say no to? Well, everything that is going to take me away from my Personal scorecard is a no, Right? And everything that takes me away from my professional scorecard is either a no or a not right now. So now I know who I need to hang around. I know what activities I need to do to be able to be the best person possible. And then I can show up. And then we look at these five activities of the professional scorecard and go, okay, well, how am I doing over here? Like, do I really know how to do this? So, like, as an example, let's say that I want to speak on more stages. Well, how do I speak on more stages? I got to post about it. I have to reach out to people. Maybe I hire a bureau, maybe, right? So if I were to look at my week and go, well, I didn't do that at all this, this week. Well, how the hell am I going to speak on more stages if I didn't hit that professional scorecard? Well, let's say I did all those activities and I still didn't get the results. Well, now I go, okay, do I need a coach or a mentor? Like, my reach out's not very good or my follow up's not very good, or my pitch isn't very good. Right. And so it's not a lot of things, it's just a few things that you have to be really freaking good at and you have to have the courage and the boundaries to push it all aside and your standards like that carries through professional and personal. When I used to work in corporate, the first thing you know, all these sales reps would have windshield time. Well, what do they want to do with windshield time? Call on comp plan, product recall. And so we'd get together as a team and I put up all these things and I created this activity where it's like a PowerPoint slide. But I, you know who's my favorite team? And I like dogs and here's my family and you know, like, get to know Christy. Well, the first thing that I would say is, like, I'm a problem solver. So if you want to call me, like, I want to solve the problem, but I'm not like, we can maybe vent once or twice, but do you know how many phone calls I got?

[A]

0.

[B]

0. Because I set the standard that this is cristy cool and this is the way, right? I've got hired more times than not off of the way that I conduct myself and the way that I get myself ready every day. That's my personal, personal standard. Because they know I'm going to show up and I'm going to get the job done, done for them. So from, you know, from there, then it's like, okay, is there anything else knowing myself that I can get better at? And that's where I spend my time. So I was in Puerto Rico with, you know, Grover, Tim, Grover. No, Relentless. He coached. Okay, so he coached Kobe and he coached Michael Jordan. Jordan was his first client. If you winning, this is another book.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So Grover, Phil, Heath, Mystery Olympia times eight or seven times in a row. Ben Newman, who else was there? Todd Herman created the alter ego Black Mamba with Kobe. So, you know, I'm working on. Here's all these things and there's specific skills, but then I go, well, how's my mental toughness? How's my mental fitness? And then I see and I'm like, they have to know something that I don't know. They have to. If I'm going to spend money, I'm going to go spend money and learn next to them. Right, how, like what, what, what do they do? Like, how do they show up in these situations? Because it's. It's tough sometimes and I can always elevate my game. So. But that's my personal standard, is to always be investing and going like, okay, I need to have a conversation. I need to get in that room or I need to find a way to figure that out. So, long story short, performance is basically, what are the components to success and how do I build my days to show up in the best way possible to conduct those activities to reach the goal?

[A]

When you're working with somebody and they are not performing in one of the agreed upon five scorecard items that are the most important things, they're avoiding it. Why? Is it capabilities? Is it comfort? Is it fear? Is it getting distracted with other things that don't matter and it just falls off the priority list.

[B]

Yeah. I think that we're all discipline. I think that we're all creatures of habit. And so when you, when it's time to, like, add something new in, I still forget. I still need the reminder like, oh, shoot, you're supposed to do this. You're supposed to do this thing. And I feel like a lot of high performers that I coach think that they should just remember and they don't need any safeguards around them to be able to be like, no, Jeff, you said you were gonna do this, this thing. So either you have an accountability person or you have a sticky note or you have an alarm that goes off.

[A]

They didn't put, they didn't put any time on their calendar for it. That's. I always love those exercises.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You make a list of the most important things they didn't. And then they're like, these are the things that matter. And they're. Are you sure? And then you go, okay, I want you to go back over your calendar last month. Let's. Let's open it up and let's look at your outlook and let's see how many hours you dedicated to these things. And it's. It's generally nothing.

[B]

Yeah. And it's going to take more time than you think. So you have to leave white space on your calendar, too, because you have to do it and then you have to. It's like plan, do, review. So you have to do it and they. You plan for it, you do it, then you review and you get it. And it's going to shrink with time. So that would be. Number one is they're just not making the time and reminding themselves. And number two is fear. Fear of looking stupid. Fear. A lot of the things that I see is fear of success. It's their rise, reflex getting in the way of that next level.

[A]

So would you say, generally people actually do know what they should be doing, but because of their habits or because of their standards or because of outside influences or lack of commitment in themselves, they just don't.

[B]

Yeah, it's, you know, success is very simple and we overcomplicate everything. So if we could just like, start with a clean slate and only put the most important things on our schedule that are going to get to the end result, that. And you have to come back and look at that again. Right. So, like, if, if, if it's, if it's lake season and my body's not where it's supposed to be. Right. And now it doesn't react the way that it did when I was 40. Because it's 45. Well, like, I'm going to have to, like, this is my project. I don't have five projects. I have one project of getting my body. Because now I may have to go seek a hormone specialist or maybe I need a trainer.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Right. Or maybe, like, I have to do things differently. And it's not just like, oh, I decided to do that. Now I go in the gym. No, you're going to have to invest in figuring out, like, how do you get this thing across the finish line.

[A]

I just wear like a 1920s one piece. That's what I do. Yeah. Over the shoulder, straps, the whole thing down to my knees.

[B]

What color?

[A]

Yeah, that's What I do. Huh?

[B]

What color?

[A]

It's baby blue.

[B]

That's good for your eyes.

[A]

Thank you. Yeah. That's how I solve that. And I solved it quickly.

[B]

Yeah. So I think it's very simple, but we overcomplicate and we've tried to put way too much. Way too much. And I don't think a lot of us are very comfortable with that white space and that free time. And I heard Keith Cunningham one time say, do you schedule thinking time?

[A]

What was his business again? Because I spoke to him a long time ago.

[B]

Good question.

[A]

It was a big business.

[B]

It was a huge, it was nothing that he.

[A]

Yeah, it's a huge practice. I can't remember what he did. Keep coming out.

[B]

And then he has a 40 MBA.

[A]

Yeah. If, if we were, if, if we were on the oval. Pull that up.

[B]

Could you pull that up?

[A]

Pull that up for us.

[B]

We don't have that funny guy, like, talk about just dry sense of humor. If you ever read a his books, like, every, every line that he dropped, I would just be like, laughing out loud in my headphones, just listening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. The road less stupid.

[A]

The road less stupid. Let's talk about. We started this with fulfillment, joy, happiness.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's talk about integration. We, we want to succeed in our career, but yet we also have a life outside of that. How do you would. Is that a topic that typically is something that you're covering with your clients and saying, look, how do I, when do I shut it off? When is enough enough? I, I, it's amazing. And I do want to talk about masterminds and groups.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Because that, those have changed my life. So I want to get your perspective on. Obviously you've, you attend a lot of things and you participate in these things, but you go to these groups and, and especially in ypo, you know, you get in these private meetings and these forums and things, and, you know, the question that always comes up is, like, when is enough enough? Yeah, like, when's, you know, and there's not anybody in YPO that hasn't sold a business. Most of those people have means and they've done really well. And it just seems to be that the topic of saying, like, they can't find a way to get off the hamster wheel. They just, it's either it's ego or it's, why would I take these skills to a golf course and just go waste them? But it just seems like, you know, they, they're, they're asking the question, I believe, because they can't answer it themselves.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When is enough enough? What is the balance? And is it, is it different for everybody?

[B]

It's different for everybody. Yeah. And, and I think sometimes you reach that, like once you reach it, then you start going, okay, well what, what is really here? And it's your ability to be honest with yourself and know what those drivers are. Why is it that I'm doing. You asked a great question before about the ego leading. And I think like my ego is still leading, but to me it's now. It's like my legacy is what I leave in people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not what I. Right. So. But that's still ego, is it not? Still? To me it's still. I just shifted it to something that seems to make more sense for this chapter or season of my life. So I think it's all personal and, and I think as far as integration goes and work life balance. One of the things that's helped a lot with my clients is really just defining what's the most important thing. So I had this COO who was having a really hard time brewing this. Their company was doing this, they're local here in Charlotte. And then trying to make her husband happy and do all the things at home. And I was like, okay, well tell me what makes you a great wife and a great mom? Well, shit, Jeff. It was like to do all the grocery shopping, to plan the meals, to do all the cleaning. I mean, I thought that's a full time job in and of self over here. And I said, okay, let's just talk about your kids for a second. If there's only one thing every single day that you know at the end of all of this, you said, I'm a great mom. Because I did. So if you could only pick one, what was it? And it was the one on one time putting them to bed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Having the conversation, connecting really. Right. So. But a lot of us don't really. Unless you have somebody walk you through these questions. And so once we do that, then it's easier to go like, well, can't we just instacart the groceries? Well, can't we get a house cleaner? Right, well, yeah, but my husband, it's his culture. Okay, well then it's can we have the conversation with the husband and help him understand that you're trying to do all this stuff for your guys business and be a good and this is the burden that you're carrying. Can we have that conversation with him and potentially ease all of that? So again, we've all. None of that stuff's her Zone of genius. And when the question was asked, that wasn't really what made her feel great. Really great, if there was one thing. So I think if we can apply that to everything in our life, it helps us have better line of sight and give ourselves permission to not do everything.

[A]

That is such an interesting area that I've seen with business owners is outsourcing of things that would traditionally be done themselves. And I see it just, it's clear because it's like a light switch. It's either they either buy into it or they don't. They come home and they try to cut the grass and they try to do this and they try to. And then when you see business owners really get it, and usually it comes from a coach.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I know somebody that was getting coached by Dan Martell.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, $25,000 an hour. Yeah. That's. Yeah, that's good money. That's what we're paying you to come here for this hour. Right? Yes. I saw the contract.

[B]

Took over.

[A]

No. How much is it per minute Time I have. But, you know, it was, you know, once you buy into it, it's like when you figure out what your time is worth. Okay. And it's like, okay, well, now there's a driver. Now there's a chef.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Now there's all the pills that are put out in the morning. Now there's a trainer. Yeah. So. And just the driver saved about 17 or 18 work hours a week.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Where you're in a sprinter van and you're driving around now for somebody who's getting into a home Front brands franchise right now, that is far away. But the logic follows.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You have to decide where you put your precious time, energy and money. And you, you might have to. If you're a business owner now, it might be a simple thing like getting the house cleaner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or getting somebody to cut the grass or arranging somebody to maybe pick up the kids.

[B]

You have to look at it. This is the exercise. I take every client through and like, okay, I could clean my own house.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Right. My house cleaner is $100.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Okay. So if I clean my own house, it's going to take me two hours to count the way she does. So I saved $100.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Okay. In my zone of genius, the thing that makes me all the money that. Do you think I'm making $50 an hour?

[A]

Probably a bit more.

[B]

Right. So when you flip it that way and say, like, no, I just lost tens of thousands of dollars by taking two hours to clean my own House.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Right. So if you can position it that way, then all of a sudden people start going. Like the next call, they go, oh, Christy, they only have 10 people on staff. Because. Right. But it's these. And now you have virtual assistants, and there's all these things that you can do. But if you go, okay, and the reality of it is, Jeff, if you could stay in your zone of genius, you're gonna. That's where your happiness and joy and liveliness and energy is gonna come anyway.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So why not? If I can help you understand what your zone of genius is, is, and help you realize how much money you're losing, then the only other thing that's left on the table is, yeah, but I enjoy doing that, Christy. Right. And I go, okay, pick one. One.

[A]

Pick one.

[B]

Exactly. You can have one if you like to mow the grass break. You can do that.

[A]

But clean your boat.

[B]

But you're not doing. Yes, you're not doing all of it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You're doing one.

[A]

Wash your car. Clean your boat. If that's like your thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And by.

[B]

We all need that.

[A]

And by the way, don't use that time for thinking, letting you know. Use that mindless time. Everybody should have it. That's what I use my gym time for. In the mornings, I go to a trainer, and then I get into a sauna. And people in this room would tell you that sometimes at 7:42 in the morning, they will get a long dictated email about all of the things that we need to be doing. Because I thought about it during my workout, and when I got in the sauna, I was ready to document it, and out it came. But I didn't not do my workout, and I didn't not do my sauna, because I think those are important from a health perspective. But. And you can do that same thing doing any. Anything that you want to do.

[B]

So a thousand percent, I think that, you know, I'm not the thinking time. Have a chair. Keith Cunningham. Yeah, I'm the. Take my dog into the park and all of a sudden it is automatic.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

That's where it comes from. Me. Comes to me in the gym, too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So just know that about yourself and then make sure you have that time.

[A]

These awarenesses oftentimes are more compelling when we see them manifested in a group. So masterminds. So the first thing that I joined was something called Vistage, which is a CEO organization. I had a chair. He was one of the biggest influences in my life. His name was David Zierfos. He was the president of Husqvarna North America. He took them from 29 million to 530 million over 18 years. Largest outdoor power equipment company in the world now. Chainsaws, blowers, got some nice motorcycles, all the things. And I said, well, what a. And he. And he just hit me at the right time. He just happened to be introduced to me and I was just starting franchising. So I'm like, who, who would be a better mentor or coach.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

To pour into me who had just built this company through dealerships and I'm building a franchise. So I went to the interest meeting and ultimately I signed up and I said, I'll do this for six months or whatever. And nine years later I was still in. And that experience just transformed my thinking, the thinking power and the tools that I had. But I had never sought that out before. And I mean, this was. I was 40 by the time when I first got into a group or a mastermind. And now I see people getting in these things at 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. And then I got into YPO and when I got into YPO, I realized I was the only one in the group that hadn't sold a business, you know, so now my thinking was that now I was able to talk to people and say, what's it like after. Yeah, what are, what do you do? What do you do with the money? What do you do with your time? How do. Do you reload and, and regroup? You go again or do you do something drastically different? So getting into those meetings and those forums. So I just have constantly then now I'm in Genius Network. I'm in Strategic Coach. I'm in a group called CEO, which is limited to 2,000 people worldwide. I haven't participated as much as I should, but, you know, all these, these things have a 24 hour callback and you know, I've been on the phone with people. I was building an app during COVID and I got on the phone with people who owned airlines within a day, you know, so. So I've just continued to understand that, you know, if, if I leave my progress in life up to my own singular brain, it won't be as good as if I collaborate with people and, and I learn from their experience. Eight billion people in the world, there's no original ideas out there. You don't even need to have one because everybody's done everything already. So unless you're Elon Musk, which he thinks about things, nobody's Done. And he does them, you know, the other 7 billion and whatever people you know can learn from others. So I think that, you know, so talk to me about groups. Give. Speak into the life of our franchise owners or prospective franchise owners about the importance of finding bigger rooms. What, what would be your advice to do it? I know that you have coaching clients, so maybe you don't send them out to other groups and things like that or maybe just share your personal experience with how those groups have poured into you.

[B]

Yeah, no, I, I'm, I'm a, I'm a huge component proponent of all of that. So you're compressing time, right? So if you can get in these rooms and you can, you're compressing time and you're getting perspective.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And, and isn't that what we want to do? Like, don't you want to figure it out faster instead? Instead of taking 12 months or 12 years to figure it out, don't you want to take like 12 hours to figure it out?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So the amount of breakdown that happens to the human spirit and just production wise and money spent so these rooms and getting around people that have done it gives you information. And if you want to make different decisions, you need new information. You and I aren't going to sit here with our own thoughts unless we're Elon Musk and come up with a solution. We need exposure to information. And if I can have exposure to information and ask a follow up question or two, Holy shit. I mean that's really a big bulk of what we're paying for is what does the middle look like? And then what? So I think that you should always be exposing yourself to new information and people that are steps ahead of you because you can compress. I think that it's on the flip side of all of that. The only thing that you need to watch out for is some of the other things that we talked about is having, you know, just pick one thing. Like if you do all of these things and you come back from that and you get one problem solved or you put one thing into practice in a really good way, don't try to do five, just do one and have the discernment to go like, who am I listening to? And what's their track record? And is it really trans. Transferable to what it is that I'm doing here? But I think that as long as you're looking at it through that lens and you know and trust yourself, you have to. You have to. There's nobody that's doing this stuff that's doing it on a grand scale. That is not having this type of exposure.

[A]

If I look at my top, top, top, top people that I've worked with, people that I've hired versus the people that, that just disappointed me because they had all the opportunity given to them and maybe the experience and skills. There's just one characteristic that I've identified that is the difference between my top 5% and then my failures.

[B]

What's that?

[A]

Radical curiosity. Yeah, radical curiosity. They just want to know. They want to know everything. They, they, they learn one thing and then they pull on the thread and they go to the next thing and they go to the next thing and then they come back to it and it's just, It's a trait. I don't know. Is that a trait do you believe is innate in people they're born with, or do you think it's something that can be learned? Because when people do nothing and they're avoidant because they're not curious and they're just like, I just wish somebody would tell me what to do, it's over.

[B]

I think it's an attribute. I don't know. I've never seen it happen later in life. I mean, I rolled my ankle on a flat sidewalk and ended up with this crazy sciatic issue. And then just. And there's my neighbor who's an iron manner. She's like, you need to see this doctor around the corner. And I went to see him and he's muscle testing me, and he's talking to this guy and he's talking out loud and he, he is figuring in this fricking puzzle out. And I'm like, dude, I found my guy. Right? Because he's so curious to figure out how this whole thing, how this whole thing works. And he's done a great job and fixing.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, with AI, it's. You can be lazy and be incredibly curious. You can just press the button, lay back on your chair, let your eyes roll back in your head and say, tell me about this. You know, like, you don't even have to go to the library, you know, and scroll the microfiche or call people that you think might know.

[B]

Like, that would have to, like, get the car. Oh, like, go get the thing. Like, oh, man, the whole encyclopedia.

[A]

Yeah. How can I. I'd end up with a stack of books.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then, you know, and then a Rolodex calling people and then just trying to figure something out. And now, like, if you're curious and you're creative of the world, Is you'd

[B]

be driving and talking to Claude or Chad or. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. I just bought one of those plod devices.

[B]

Yeah. How do you like it?

[A]

Well, you know, it's not working yet, but I installed the app. It'll work. I will start using it, hopefully soon.

[B]

Well, I think that all this AI just, again, it allows us to focus on the things that. That matter, that are human. Focus, relationships, people going deeper in our zone of genius, getting better at the things that really move the needle. All this other stuff has to happen, but it doesn't matter who does it, right?

[A]

Are your coaching conversations being dominated by AI, either opportunity or fear these days? Not really, no. That's probably a good thing.

[B]

Yeah. I'd say more opportunity than fear, but it's really. Everything that I do is like, you know, how do we get more. Like, how do we get more out of. Right. So how. How can we compress time? And so if. If there's ways to offload, it really is just more about, like, which avenue we're using right now. Which one's the best one?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

It has to be part of it.

[A]

Burnout.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When does it happen? Why does it happen? And. And what. What do you need to do? What's the triage for burnout? First emergency step.

[B]

Listen to this conversation between you and I. I have to offload all the stuff that's not. I mean, you know how it is. And. And I would imagine with like, all of your. Your new folks that are owning a franchise, you know, money's important, and you feel like you need to do everything. And you also probably don't know how to do things, but to figure something out and offload it as fast as possible, you. There's a. There's a book called the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Then it talks about the zone of genius. And so you have the zone of incompetence, zone of competence, zone of excellence, Zone of genius. I think everybody should read that book because it helps you realize all the stuff that you're doing that somebody else could do, and that would put you in the part. And the zone of genius is something that only you can do, and also that's gonna bring fulfillment to you because you're so darn good at it and you love doing it. So that counteracts burnout, right? Because you're doing something that you absolutely love. So I think that's one thing. Spending too much time trying to figure stuff out back to the point of having a coach, having a mentor, getting in the Rooms to compress time. If your mind is full of trying to figure out this problem, you can't get to all these other things and think strategically. How can I use AI and how can I offload that? I also think that when you are in the wrong environments around the wrong people and doing things that conflict your core values, that's going to create friction inside. You're married to the wrong person. You're delaying the hard conversation. Like all that stuff is, you know, that is taking a piece of your battery and your spirit. And you got to offload that stuff as fast as, as possible. And I don't care what promises you made or whatever it is, if it's not the right thing, you have permission to get yourself out of it. There is a way. There is a way. But we know the things that we carry around that are heavy. So whatever it is that you wake up and you're like, dang, that's heavy. That's a clue, that's a sign. And there's only so much that the body can take and the spirit can take. So get rid of all that stuff.

[A]

Is it often that you're coaching somebody and they're asking you to help them with a very specific problem, but when you unpack it, they're working on the wrong problem altogether? There's an underlying issue that, that they just either aware of and refusing to face or were completely ambivalent to.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd say 80% of the time.

[A]

I would think so.

[B]

80% of the time we're avoiding that it's a symptom of or it's a sting that it's, it's a hard conversation. It's usually a hard conversation. It's. It's something that you don't want to do anymore. Yeah, right. Maybe you committed to at a different season of life or you want to make a pivot or a change or. Yeah. And so we got all this other peripheral stuff and it really doesn't matter because if we just get to that one thing, then yeah, it'll all sort itself out.

[A]

So we have a couple hundred business owners out there and they put, get all into their business. They, they do all of the roles and they're getting their business up. What experience could you share that would encourage these people to be aware when they're getting in their own way and scaling their business?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And is that I would expect. And I know for me at least, and very, very late in my career, I become very aware of what I do well, the things where I Will I am guaranteed to fail. And because of that, I know who I need around me. Like I know, like I know I need great finance people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Because it's just not. I, I don't even, I can't speak the language of finance well enough to really understand. I mean, I. Can I do it? Yes. Am I the best at it? No. So I know that that's one area that I always have to have great finance people around me, great financial managers and, and, you know, all of those things.

[B]

You like to spend money a little bit. We gotta go shopping after this.

[A]

We can, we can. But you know, so, so, but many times owners, especially first time business owners, they're blind to that. So what, what experience can you share that helps people really step back? And then are there tools that help them identify where they're getting in their own way and where to step back and let other people do the thing?

[B]

Yeah. Well, a lot of this conversation really comes back to radical honesty. And it doesn't mean that you have to share that radical honesty with everybody, with yourself, but you have to know it. You have to be radically honest with yourself and go, okay, I'm not good with finances. And so, so for me to go figure out this finance thing is gonna take my eye off of all these. And do I even want to? Right. So you having that radical honesty and awareness and then you just have to give yourself permission to go, okay, you know, this is if you know yourself and you know what you're great at. And I would encourage them all to write down what are they great at and what do they love doing? And if those two things are in the right direction of where the business, business, their time should be spent, then everything else needs to be outsourced. I found when I started my own business, it's hard to outsource and delegate if you don't understand what the job should look like.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

Because then you can't catch the things. You don't know if you're getting taken advantage of or you don't know how to give the person the right direction. So it sounds like everybody's doing everything in the beginning. Compress that time, find a mentor. Like what, what should be the timeline that you're doing? Everything. And what does great look like if you have your top 5%? Okay, well, what are all the things they outsourced? How fast did they outsource them? How fast should they be outsourced next time? And then they need to have a plan to get those things outsourced as Fast as humanly possible.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Because success leaves clues. Right? So if I'm like, okay, well you got 90 plus or 200 plus or whatever, like there's some, some success here already.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Let's take the top ones and go. Okay, well, they did good. But how do we make this great and then put a plan together to outsource that stuff as fast as possible?

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

It's the only way. It's the only way that they're going to get to where they're going in the period of time that they want to and also have the peace and joy and happiness and that as a business owner, I just think that we're wired. We're wired differently. You know, we're wired to just live in this state of whatever it is and we want more and we want more. And it's not my place to tell you that you shouldn't want more or your mind shouldn't be over here or you should cut it off. What I do personally is I have structured time and I have non structured time and that the non structured time actually helps with the structured time because that's when all the thoughts come in, all the things. But that's like I'm having fun and doing all these things that I would have never thought would contribute to the other. But I can do that because I get my stuff done and I get it done as fast as humanly possible. And I'm constantly. This is the stuff that I'm going like, okay, who can do it faster? Who can outsource it? Okay, let me go to the mastermind. Let me. Okay, we just got it from two hours to one hour, whatever it may be. Be relentless at that pursuit to make sure. Cause then you can actually take your wife on a date and be present or be at your kid's game and like, remember what happened. Yeah, right. Instead of thinking about like, shoot, I didn't send that email or I have to have that conversation.

[A]

Yeah. Well, look, on one hand we're pattern seeking and we're comfort seeking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And on the other hand, we're adrenaline seeking and ego seeking and builds, you know, seeking. So inside of those things, like you, we're constantly fighting against ourselves to say, all right, well I'm going to get into a pattern. This makes me feel good. I'm comfortable. So I'm going to wake up every morning and now I've got this routine. But I realized the routine went from, from journaling and meditation and working out and sauna to tick tock, Facebook you know. Donuts.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and. But you just, you don't realize how, you know, how your patterns are or how you're seeking your comfort. I mean, your body and your brain is just seeking comfort. It wants to reduce energy, it wants to feel good. So you kind of have to fight that. And then on the other side of it, you've got all this ambition at the things that you want to do, and then there's this balance between the two. So, yeah, we're, we're complex, confusing type people and we're more self defeating than self uplifting in many ways. So we're just constantly, I mean, and that's why it's hard, and that's why it's really hard to, to perform.

[B]

I think environment helps so much though, don't you think? I mean, I feel like, you know, if I'm in Puerto Rico and I'm around the, the people that I just talked about, like, all this stuff goes away, right. And so it's like, how can you create this environment for yourself? And when I, I just remember like when I was living up here at the lake and when I found Tony Robbins and I was going through a divorce, I had this little period of time that I gave myself permission to have a lot of fun on the lake.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then I heard Tony say, you become the five people that you, that you spend the most time with. And I came home and I'm like, well, we gotta do a little cleanup around here. Right. And so I cleaned things up and then I didn't have anybody to hang out with. And that's even worse to have the loneliness and the isolation. But there's books and there's podcasts and there's YouTube. And so I feel like. And there's other people, and there's other people and you get around. You know, if you and I worked in the same environment, one plus one doesn't equal two anymore. We'll probably generate a whole nother person with the, you know, the energy and the thought.

[A]

And it also happens on the lake.

[B]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So you can design your own environment of who you're spending your time with to help you be able. And then you leverage that so you come off of those moments and then you make big decisions and you call your chicken list. Right. So after I work out, I hit my chicken list. After I'm on live TV or on stage, I hit my chicken list because I know my physiology is at a certain place and I feel like I'm a little bit more bulletproof.

[A]

Then what's your chicken lesson?

[B]

Well, my chicken list would be the, like, the things that I'm still chicken to go for, the people that I'm afraid to call, the conversation that I'm afraid to have, whatever that is for. You got it right. And so again, the self awareness of knowing that there's times a day when my physiology's better, there's things that I do that my physiology is better. So why can't I manufacture more of these moments and then I take more of those bold moves? And you can do that if you, you know, you could plan a working day with somebody that, that you admire, that gives you energy or whatever it may be, you know, we, we control all this.

[A]

Yeah. Christy, this has been great. I think we need to tug on the reins and nudge this podcast towards the barn. Are you into horses? That was a horse referenced.

[B]

I love horses. I don't have them, but I love them.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

They're great. Do you have horses?

[A]

We do.

[B]

You do?

[A]

I do.

[B]

What kind?

[A]

We have the yard animals are Appaloosas and Welsh Halflinger pony. But then the show horses would be saddlebreds. Wow. Yeah. My daughter was a lifetime of saddlebred riding. So. Yeah, don't get. If you're listening out there, be careful. Go with softball. It's cheaper.

[B]

A lot cheaper.

[A]

A lot cheaper softball. Get a lacrosse stick, maybe a field hockey stick.

[B]

But thank you so much for having me. This has been a pleasure.

[A]

Yeah, this was great. Tell people how to get in touch with, with you and learn more about you and your content and what you do.

[B]

Yeah. So Kristy Kuhl. Kuhl. Instagram LinkedIn. KristyKool.com is my website. Keing is the podcast. You can find. Find me. Just type my name and it'll pop up. And yeah. I'm a high performance coach, mainly focused on business owners and executives. And I also have a 12 week program for women called Unleashed. So anybody who's looking to take, you know, more affordable way to get my 12 weeks of my best content, it's alignment first and then it's on my high performance system. So we get you clarity and remove the friction. Then it's my high performance systems. And then the last four weeks is some advanced high performance stuff.

[A]

Awesome. Anything group or all one on one.

[B]

So the unleashed, the 12 weeks is group.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. Everything else is one on one.

[A]

Okay. And then if people want you to speak, go to kristykuol.com and that's K U H L. Yes, Krist K-R-I-T-Y K-U-L.com yes, sir. All right, Good enough. All right, I've got a curveball and I've got a fastball for you.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Are you, do you want to play?

[B]

I do.

[A]

Okay, here we go. Here's the, here's the curveball.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Gun to your head. Somebody holding your favorite dog out a window. Okay, give me on the first floor. It doesn't have to be that drastic.

[B]

Oh, gosh. This has just gotten.

[A]

I know, but it is a while. This is that, this is an impact. Tactful question. You have to start a business in the next 30 days. You have to. But it can't be something that you're currently doing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Where do you see the opportunity in the market to start franchise?

[B]

And that's not, that is not a loaded answer. That is a. For real. I almost did franchising before. I did what I do now. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so join a franchise company or start a franchisor yourself.

[B]

No, I would, I would join. Does that count if I were to buy a franchise?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. It's a business in a box. I mean, it's. Everything is there. And I think that especially like being an entrepreneur, the formula is already there. So, like, why, why not get into business ownership with something that's already successful, that has proof?

[A]

Yeah, people think it's food or hotels, but there's 4,000 actively growing franchise brands. And what's most interesting is that private equity has always been interested in the franchisors, but now they've gone through the franchisors and they are investing at the franchisee level. So if you, I mean, if you start with one service based franchise and I tell people you have to succeed in the opportunity that you're in to get the next opportunity. But there are people that build huge franchisee side businesses in location, oil changes or fitness or planet Fitness or, you know, they own 25 or 50 or 100 locations. But it's the same in the service industry. You know, people, they get in and there's the Monopoly game. They, they grow, they become a big player in a market. Then they talk to their neighbor over in the other market and they acquire that business and next thing you know, they're operating a big business.

[B]

So why not do something that you already know how to do and you can scale it.

[A]

Yeah. So it makes sense to me. Yeah. So I, I appreciate that, that answer. All right, last question. Fastball.

[B]

Okay, I'm ready.

[A]

Right down the middle, probably 94, 95, but it'll be in on your hands. So if you get around on it, it. All right, here we go. If you had one sentence to make an impact in somebody's life, what would that be?

[B]

You can only lead to the level of discipline in which you live.

[A]

I'm gonna have to listen to that again.

[B]

You can only lead to the level of discipline in which you live.

[A]

Okay, that hurts.

[B]

So if you say that you should have hard conversations fast, but people see you delaying a hard conversation, you're not leading to the level of discipline.

[A]

Did you talk to my team before you came in?

[B]

Possibly.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I feel like that one just checks everybody. And I feel like you have to, you know, we're all leaders of ourselves first when nobody's watching. So if you think about, like, leading your children, leading your spouse, leading your friend, leading whoever, leading your team, leading your company, you can only lead to the level of discipline in which you live.

[A]

That was a mouthful of truth.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thank you for being on.

[B]

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

[A]

You're welcome. I'm Jeff Duden here with the incredible Christy Kuhl on the unemployable podcast. Thanks for listening.