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The Conscious Entrepreneur | Leadership, Self-Awareness & Mindset
EP 107: 10X Accountability Updates From Alex Raymond
00:24:15
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- [00:00]
A
Conscious Entrepreneurs, you are in for a treat today because we have a friendly face that you'll remember. Alex Raymond is joining the show to give us an update on his, his big goals that he set for himself at the Conscious Entrepreneur Summit and to share some updates with us from the accountability group or the mastermind that he put together after the summit. You're listening to the Conscious Entrepreneur and I'm Sarah Lockwood. This is the only podcast completely dedicated to the well being of entrepreneurs. It's where we do the inner work to become the leaders our businesses truly need. A thriving business starts with a thriving you. Let's get into it. So welcome Alex back to the show.
- [00:44]
B
Yeah, awesome. I'm super psyched to be here. This is my first podcasting love.
- [00:49]
A
Yeah, thank you. Well, I know everybody listening has benefited deeply from that, so thanks, thanks so much and appreciate you showing back up again. I'd love to hear a little bit of an update. Could you refresh listeners on the big goals that you shared at the summit?
- [01:05]
B
Yeah, sure. So coming out of the Conscious Entrepreneur Summit in, in May, you know, I was so inspired by Dr. Ben Hardy and you know, I just got like super fired up about, about his process. What's in the science of scaling book the ideas from 10x is easier than 2x. And I wanted to figure out how to apply those to my new business Amplify, which is the account management growth community. And so I stood up there on stage and, and I said I'm going to make a, I'm going to turn this into a $3 million business in two years, essentially starting from scratch. Like we have a little bit of revenue but, but, but not a lot. So that's the big goal that I, I set for myself. And I'll tell you in a second, we've created this incredible mastermind group which has been really, really helpful. But according to, to the, the theory of Ben Hardy, like what, what happens now is I set this goal and then I operate from the goal. So I say as someone who's operating a $3 million business in two years, like what's happening now in order for me to have gotten there. And this, this is the magic of pathways thinking. And so I started to think what needs to happen, what needs to be true in order for me to, to reach this goal, in order for this goal to come true. And so I looked at a lot of different things that I was, I was doing a lot of different plans, things I was working on and so on. And one of the ones that I, it Was kind of like stuck in the back of my head for a while, but then really came out as one of the critical pathways to hit my goal. Sarah was writing a book, writing the definitive book for my audience of account managers. And this is somewhat terrifying, right? The thought of like writing a book, because it's terrifying, because number one, I would be needing to do a lot of work to put it together. Number two, I'm putting myself out there in ways that I'd never done before. And so I look at this, think, boy, there's like 100 reasons to say no to doing this and there's very few reasons to say yes to doing it. Although this is very obviously a pathway to building a significant business. So why is it a pathway? Because what the book will allow me to do is to really codify my intellectual property and stake a claim and almost kind of orient the future in this profession of account management. So the first thing was this kind of gulp moment like, I gotta go do this. And so this summer I literally spent a weekend and I wrote down everything I wanted to put in it. And then I started doing this outline and all this kind of stuff. I'm currently at 25,000 words. The book is called the Growth Department. I am hiring a book coach right now. So as we speak, I'm hiring a book coach. What does a book coach do? It helps to uncover all the blind spots that I have in the process and that I have in my thinking and help me with the outline, the table of contents, the flow, the through lines, et cetera, as opposed to what would be my normal style, which is just like writing everything down and then trying to see where it all belongs. So, you know, the book has probably been the most significant thing that's been, been new for me. It's exciting, it's fun, and I'm relatively disciplined about the process.
- [04:23]
A
And let me ask you, when do you expect to complete the book?
- [04:28]
B
Ah. So in another hyper compressed timeline, which again is something that we got, we all heard about from Ben Hardy at the Conscious Entrepreneur Summit. I'm going to do it by the end of the year.
- [04:40]
A
Wow.
- [04:41]
B
So that means, you know, from the, from the time of getting this idea to launch will be about seven months. I, I took, I had a lot of stuff going on in, in August, so I've, I, I essentially missed the month of August. So we'll call it six months from, from start to, to finish.
- [05:00]
A
Wow. Well, congratulations. That sounds incredible.
- [05:02]
B
Congratulate me when it comes out.
- [05:04]
A
Yes, we'll have a party. But you're, you know, eating the elephant one bite at a time, it sounds like, and, and hiring the right people because that's another who, not how. Right? So you're getting the right help, getting the instruction from this coach that's going to help you.
- [05:20]
B
Well, I mean, let me, let me, let me put it this way. Like, how many times have you read a business book and thought, oh, this could have just been a long blog post. It happens all the time. Right. And I don't want that to happen with the growth department. I want people to be like, this is actually meaningful. So I'm looking at some books that I particularly care about that I consider really important. So one of the ones that I've oriented toward is the book called the Challenger Sale. So this came out in like 2010 or something like that. Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson were the primary authors and it really like changed how people were thinking about sales. It kicked off this whole movement and that's the kind of book that I want to write as opposed to one that's just like a bunch of blah, blah, blah, words, words out there. So the book coach actually helps to really orient toward, hey, are we staying true to the vision? Is everything delivering value? Are we, are we laddering up the stories and the data and the, you know, the information in a logical way and so on. So I really just, I want to have people have, think that this is changing how they see their work as opposed to, oh, this could have just been a blog post, right?
- [06:28]
A
Wow. So smart. We've got a timeline, we've got the work going in, we've got the right kind of help and we're going to be here cheering you on with that. And the, this ladders up to the big goal of the $3 million two year business. So that, that's your goal. And the pathways thinking is the Ben Hardy sort of how, how do we do this right? And part of this idea, I think that's so important is have it finding the time to think about your business because you can't just jump in and say, I'm going to 10x my business right now. You have to really make the plan of what, what that approach is going to be, why it's right for you, what you have to say no to, what you have to say yes to. What are some of the other aspects of pathways thinking that you're exploring other than writing the book to accomplish your big goal?
- [07:20]
B
Well, I like the way you phrase that. A lot of what you do need to do is slow down and assume that the answers aren't in here, they're not in your head. And what you do need to do is just spend some time actually thinking from the goal. And this is something. This doesn't come naturally to me. Okay? So I don't like, you know, when I set this three million dollar goal, my immediate, my immediate, like, path, work path was like, oh, here's all the things I need to do. Here's the steps that I need to take in order to get there. And that's the old way of thinking. The new way of thinking is how am I acting as the owner of a $3 million business and what logically had to have happened for me to get there? And so it's a difference of going work to the goal versus working from the goal. So that part I still struggle with. Like, it's. It's hard, right? It's hard because my brain is just oriented toward. Here are the things I have to go do. And I reward myself for activity and I put a plan in place and I check boxes, and then we feel like we're making progress. That's all the pathway to incremental thinking. This is the pathway to building a $1 million business or a much smaller business than has its full potential. And so I love that one. Have you gone through this process? Have you gone through thinking from the goal versus to the goal?
- [08:45]
A
Alex? I think I would have benefited from joining your mastermind because I've read both of the books, 10x is easier than 2x and the science of Scaling. And in both cases, I'm not sure that I've fully incorporated those ideas in my mind because I, like you, still find myself saying, well, I'd have to do this in order to do that in order to do that as opposed to coming at it from the other way. So I think I would have benefited tremendously from having the accountability of, you know, regular conversation and a community of people kind of pushing my. Pushing on my bad ideas or going my incremental thinking kind of challenging me, I think. So the answer to your question is probably no, but not for a lack of. Of actually giving a lot of thought to it. I think I've spent more time thinking about the things I should stop doing or the things that I should change than necessarily what I need to add easier.
- [09:51]
B
Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, I totally, I totally get it. Let me, let me share an example of what was going on for me. So the business amplify. Like, one of the main things is it's a community so account manager is digital community and everyone learns from one another. And then we have these programs where we're teaching, you know, all these various expert skills. So we did one on how to run a quarterly business review, one on how to do an account plan. We're doing one on AI right now. And one of the things I identified when I went through the process was, hey, maybe I, I, Alex, maybe I don't need to be running all of these programs. So at first my control freak mentality was like, no, of course you do. Like, it's not going to be the same if I don't control every aspect of it. And then I thought, no, no, really, like it's good for the world if it's not me running every single one of these. So I went out and I, and I have, I have two people now who are helping with that and it. And so, you know, I came up with an outline and, and then, you know, of course I was like, okay, I need to pay these people. Cause they're doing work for me. And so I was like, oh, I gotta pay them. And then, you know, I was like, oh, gosh, why am I doing this? Why am I paying people? I could just do this myself. And so the scarcity mindset of that struck me, right? Of like, oh boy, why? You know, gosh, I really could have done this myself. Do I have to be paying them? And then the flip side of this I had just the other day, which was, oh, wow, you're telling me I can pay people and they'll do this entire thing of work for me and do it really well and I don't.
- [11:17]
A
Have to do it anymore, maybe even better than you.
- [11:22]
B
So I went through that process, but it started out with me resisting and holding on. And then I was like, oh, totally, I'm going to pay people to do this because we're going to get better product. Everyone's going to be happy. It's not just going to be me the whole time. So yes, and that, by the way, is totally aligned with building a bigger business because it's more scalable.
- [11:42]
A
Absolutely. And when you think about even the examples in the 10x book, I mean, there is, there is meant to be an amount of time where you actually, you're thinking, but you're also building the structures and processes that allow you to delegate aspects of your business so that you can go do the things that you need to do, both the thinking things you need to do, but then also building those, the new ideas, the big idea that's going to get you where you're going. So I think that my sense of, from talking to entrepreneurs is people want to think for about 2 hours and then they think they're going to go 10x their business somehow. And I just think that that's kind of nonsense. And I like that your mastermind that you built was actually that came out of the Conscious Entrepreneur Summit is a group that lasts for a year. I like that because it gives you a horizon. I think that's realistic and I think it also provides that pressure testing of your ideas and community that are, you know, very aligned around these teachings. So I think it's really, it's really smart. So I'm sure that's really supporting your, your goals.
- [12:56]
B
It, it is. So, so I'll tell you a little bit about this mastermind that we had come, come out. So there were a lot of people who came up at the summit and were like, how do we, you know, continue this and keep going? We want to learn more and we want to do more. And so, so we thought, hey, let's, let's put together a group and let's offer that out and see if people are interested. So we have, I think it's 18 people in the, in the mastermind right now. Super cool, because it's actually made up of entrepreneurs who were at the event and who weren't at the event. So it's about 50, 50. So just people who are on our mailing list or listen to the podcast and we're, and we're interested and some who got referred to us and it's entrepreneurs from all sorts of different things. So we have, we have coaches, we've got software, we have health, we have shoes, like footwear. So like a very broad group of people. And as we've always said on this podcast era, there's so much in common between entrepreneurs, no matter what the business actually is. Right? And so that's part of what we're learning. Everyone's there, they've got ambitious goals, they want to do cool stuff. They're doing amazing things already, but they want to have a bigger impact out there. They want to amplify their impact. And so first of all, the Mastermind doesn't teach new content, right? So we're not teaching stuff. We're simply saying, hey, everyone got inspired by Ben's work. They're inspired by Conscious Entrepreneur. They know that they can do greater things. And so let's figure out how to come together and support one another in that, in that mission. So, you know, the main Idea is, yes, we all want a 10x, but people are defining it in different ways. Like someone on the call recently was like, you know, I don't know if I want to 10x this business. I want to 10x my life. I don't know if this is the business I want to do in it. Okay, fine, that's great. Other people are still working through how to define the growth. Is it purely an economic metric or are there other ways that they want to define their 10x? Okay, great. So we're open to all this stuff. What we're doing is we're just all committed to one another's growth and well being and that we're out there doing great things in the world. One really fun thing that we did is we did create a Ben Hardy bot. We created a Ben Hardy custom GPT where the instructions were like, think like Ben Hardy science of scaling 10x. You know, all this sort of stuff. And it's funny, several of us this week were using it. I got a text message from one of the, from one of the members who was like, this thing is amazing. And I was using it just the other day too, because I got in this, in this rut and my wife Laura was like, I think you're in 2x thinking here. Go check in with the Ben Hardy bot and see what it says. And I did. And it gave me a whole different orientation towards that. So the point is not that bot is a perfect representation of Ben, but what it's there to do is to challenge us and challenge our assumptions. And that's a big part of this is, you know, this. Everyone who's listening to this knows it's so easy to get stuck in your own head, stuck in your own thoughts. Right? And, and with a community, with a group of people, you can talk about things. You, you lay it out out there, you get feedback and criticism and insights about what you're doing. And then you can use tools like AI Also not to like have this thing be the gospel, but instead to use it as a, as a sparring partner, like a brainstorming partner. So that's been, it's been super fun. And I'm really jazzed about everyone who's in, who's in the group. And it's been helping me too.
- [16:28]
A
I think the momentum piece is really important too because we do go to events like the summit and you come back really inspired. But continuing that, the energy and continuing the work, I think is something that we've all experienced that can kind of fall off. So Taking advantage of the mastermind, I think was really wise. And I'm curious, would you. Ever since this is a year long program or is there any sort of a vision for like a second phase or a second class that might start before that year ends in case people are listening and are interested?
- [17:08]
B
I find this so valuable, I would happily run it again. And I would run it in two flavors. I would either run a continuation of what we've already been doing. So if the group wants to re up for another year to keep supporting themselves and one another, then great. If there are other people and we get a, you know, kind of the right group, the right quorum of folks, we, we do this again because, you know, so many people over the years have been like, oh, I get the concept of, of 10x, right? They read the book.
- [17:37]
A
Sure.
- [17:38]
B
Well, great. It's not a hard concept. You read the book three years ago and like, what happened? And they're like, oh, I, I doubled my business. Okay, that's not, you know, that's not the point. Right, right. And, and so it's like, how do you implement this stuff and how do you make it work? And just like, just like Ben Hardy says, it's not so much of like the idea or outthinking other people. It's having the courage to be like very, very rigorous at how you think about your business and to make some tough trade offs and then to commit to those trade offs. Like, that's the point. And so a mastermind group is perfectly suited for that as opposed to, oh yeah, I read the book. Okay, great. Like, this is all magically by osmosis going to come into being.
- [18:22]
A
Right. And I think that part of the beauty of an accountability group is that you, you get the intimacy of somebody saying, this is what I'm thinking of doing. I'm really scared. Here's what I'm scared of. And then you see them do it and you encourage them to do it, and then their successes can help you see, hey, if it's possible for them, it's possible for me too. And I should, I should take the leap, right? So I think you, you benefit in a lot of tremendous ways in addition to just building a lot of intimacy with a great community of people who are like minded, which is something entrepreneurs need.
- [18:58]
B
Entrepreneurs need and think about. You know, I know that on this podcast we have talked about this many, many times, but think about how entrepreneurs benefit from having coaches and groups and communities. Right? So whether it's any, it could be anything. Like, you have an you have your own individual coach, or you're part of entrepreneurs organization or Vistage or ypo, or you're part of the conscious entrepreneur community. You're in various masterminds. You know, the best CEOs and the best entrepreneurs out there, they prioritize this stuff. Right. They want to do it because they understand that the value of tapping into a hive mind. They understand the value of, like, getting excited for other people and all those. All those kind of parallels. So, you know, I'm not that naturally, like, of a social person, if you will. Right. Like, I'm. I'm introverted, but I really, really value this.
- [19:50]
A
Yes, it is so funny to me because you always say that you're introverted, but I find you to be very open to sharing your thoughts and your ideas and your feelings, which is kind of extroverted in some.
- [20:05]
B
In some. But my. My instincts are always to be introverted. So, yeah, I'm working on it. Yeah.
- [20:11]
A
Well, you're doing a good job. I like this idea. And I think that if people who are listening, you know, were interested to raise their hand and, and to, you know, participate in this Mastermind, beyond the 18 people who already are doing this with you, I mean, maybe just drop a. Drop an email to you. Right?
- [20:28]
B
Totally drop me, drop me a note, find me on LinkedIn, put a note on the web through the website. If there are people who want to do this kind of thing and appreciate this format, then I'm totally willing to do it again because it's been fun and because I find it really helpful myself. So even going back over some of the things I might have covered already. Great. Because I'm still learning every time I go through this.
- [20:50]
A
Absolutely. Well, this is great. I love getting the update on what's going on for you, and I know that our listeners are also excited to continue to hear Alex's voice on the show. So thanks for making some time to share your updates with us.
- [21:06]
B
Oh, you bet. No, you bet. You bet. I love it. Like I said, this is my first love. I learned how to podcast here, and thanks to you. And also congrats to you on all the great things you're doing with the podcast itself.
- [21:18]
A
Sarah, thank you. It has been fun. And like you, I also am really enjoying the experience of podcasting and kind of tapping into this conscious entrepreneur community in a new way. I can appreciate how enriching it is to. To do this show and, and I. I really have enjoyed it. So I appreciate you passing the baton and, and letting me continue what's been.
- [21:42]
B
The most surprising thing for you for doing this podcast.
- [21:46]
A
Well, it's actually been very insightful for my personal business. For hivecast as a podcast strategy and podcast production business, it's always good to see how the sausage is made. So I'm on the other side of managing guests and scheduling things and dealing with all of the logistics that happen behind the scenes of the podcast. And it's giving me some, maybe some 10x thinking myself about some, some ways that I can continue to expand our services and add value to, to podcasters. It's great to experience some of the, the friction points and the challenges that your, your clients might feel. So that has been a professional insight. On a personal level, I think that what I really have learned, and it's not a new learning, but it just is refreshed all the time, is that the people that I really admire the most are people who are doing. They're learning, they're investing in themselves, they're investing in their communities. They are not spending as much time in some of the ego driven, inward facing activities that I think the entire entrepreneurial community can, can get very self absorbed and very inward and very dramatic. And the people that I admire the most and that I have been able to spend a lot of time with on this show just kind of have found a way to leave that behind. And I think that's part of this community. It's refreshing. And just spending more time with these people has made that even more clear for me. And it's, you know, provided some mentorship and a little bit of inspiration to say, hey, you know, these are. I want to be more like that myself.
- [23:38]
B
Awesome. Glad to hear it.
- [23:39]
A
Yeah, it's a, it's a real privilege to talk to some of the people that we get to talk to on the show. So I am very excited about it and I really do appreciate and thank you very much for, like I said, letting me continue what you started.
- [23:55]
B
Awesome. Let's do it.
- [23:56]
A
All right, thanks so much, Alex. Thanks for listening to the Conscious Entrepreneur. Every episode here is meant to sharpen how you lead and how you live. If something landed for you, please share it. Founder to founder. I'll meet you here next week.