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- [00:06]
A
In all my years of starting and running businesses, one thing I've learned is this. You can outwork just about anybody and still not see success. Because if your mindset is off, your entire business will be too. This happens all the time. Good hard working entrepreneurs who are doing all the right things on the surface, but underneath, they're believing a lie. And it's keeping them and their business stuck. Today, Entre Leadership's head coach, John Felkins, is breaking down some of the biggest lies, sabotaging business leaders and how to break free from them. Because if you don't wrestle these things to the ground, you won't just stay stuck. You'll become the thing holding your business back. Let's get to it.
- [00:51]
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This story is about a client we coach named Kevin. Kevin and I met at one of our Entree Leadership events. And as we started talking about his business, the real challenges he was facing started to surface. He told me that no matter how hard he worked, he just couldn't get ahead. So I started digging into the numbers with him. And that's when he admitted he was undercharging for his services. Not because he didn't know better, but because he had bought into this idea that being in business means somehow you're ripping people off. And that brings us to the first lie. Many entrepreneurs believe making money means I'm taking advantage of people. Now, nobody says that out loud, but a lot of business owners feel it. And when you believe that you don't charge what you're worth, you discount too quickly or you avoid the money conversation altogether, like you're trying to prove that you're not some greedy business owner. That's what Kevin was struggling with. He felt bad every time he had to send an invoice or follow up with somebody else about a payment. But he hadn't made the most important sale, the sale to himself, that he was worth getting paid. And here's the truth. If you're solving real problems for people, getting paid isn't unethical. It's proof. Proof that people want what you're offering. Proof that you're creating value. Daniel Lapin said profit is the applause of the marketplace. And if you're genuinely helping people with a product or a service that you provide, they should pay you. That's how it works. It's a fair exchange of value between you and the marketplace. But when you don't charge what you're worth, it doesn't make you more ethical. It makes you broke. And that keeps you from being able to serve more People the way you want to. So Kevin and I talked about all this and then I asked him what other people in his industry were charging. When he told me, I said, well, why aren't you charging the same? And once he did, he obviously started making more money. But as business picked up, that's when a new problem showed up. Kevin reached out to me and told me how overwhelmed he was. He felt like he couldn't even step away for a couple days without everything slowing down or falling apart. And this is the next lie that we see all the time. When coaching business owners, they believe everything depends on me. And hey, I get it. When you're starting out, you are the value. You're the one doing the work, so you're the one getting all the kudos. But at some point, you've got to let go of that identity and get some more people to help you if you really want to grow your business. So I asked Kevin this question. Do you want to be a technician who owns a business or a business owner who leads a team of technicians? And every owner has to answer that same question. You have to go from they need me to they need the value of my team. Listen, I know how hard it is, especially if you're a new leader. I remember walking through this myself, going from being the one that was coaching business owners to leading a team who was doing all of the coaching. Suddenly, my value wasn't in doing the thing anymore. My team was getting all the kudos. My value was in helping others do their job well. That change can mess with you a little bit because it forces you to ask the question that most business owners avoid. Who am I if I'm not the one actually doing the work? It can feel like you're losing control, even losing part of your identity, but you're not losing your value, you're redefining it. And that's a good thing because if everything depends on you, you don't own a business. You have a job that owns you. That's exactly where Kevin was. And I told him, start replacing yourself, not by disappearing, but by building. Build systems that define how the work gets done and build a team of people who, who can own it. That's how you move from being the business to actually leading one. We'll get right back to that episode. But first, for a lot of entrepreneurs, healthcare is one of the most unpredictable line items in the budget. That's why I want you to look at Christian Healthcare Ministries. CHM is not health insurance. It's a budget friendly, faith based alternative to insurance. Instead of premiums that keep climbing and coverage that keeps shrinking, CHM gives you a more predictable monthly cost. With programs Starting at just $115 a month, lower monthly costs can free up capital to build your margin, grow your team and reinvest in your business. And as a faith based organization, CHM aligns with Christian business owners who want their healthcare dollars handled in a way that reflects their values. That's stewardship, not just savings. CHM even offers a groups program for small businesses and that want to provide a healthcare sharing option to their teams. And right now, CHM is offering new members a 50% credit towards their first month of membership. Go to chministries.org entree and use promo code entree. That's chministries.org entree, and use the promo code entree. Now, let's get back to our episode. So Kevin took what I said to heart. And because he had already started charging more, he now had the margin to hire people to help him. Otherwise he would have just stayed stuck. So Kevin started making more money and building a team. People could tell he was making more money and doing well for himself. But that's when they started talking and gossiping. They'd say he had changed, that success had gotten to him. Instead of leaning in, he downplayed his success. He made himself smaller when he should have been leveling up. That's the third lie. Business owners usually don't realize they're believing. They believe I should feel guilty for being more successful. Now this happens all the time. Especially if you live in a small town. The moment you start doing well for yourself, people think you've gotten too big for your britches. But think about it. If you're serving people well and helping your team put food on the table, what exactly are you supposed to be ashamed of? You don't have to apologize for winning. You don't have to. You should feel proud. You had the courage to step into the marketplace, take a risk and create something that actually improves your community. If someone has an opinion about your success, that says more about them than it says about you. So don't let other people's opinions hold you back. As your mama said, they're just jealous. I told Kevin that sometimes you're going to outgrow your friends. So I asked him, do you really want the life of the people who are talking trash? If not, why are you listening to them? So Kevin shut out the noise and focused on growing his business. He was making money and he had a team to Take things off of his plate For a minute, it was all working well. But then Kevin started noticing that things weren't getting done the way that he wanted. Deadlines slipped, details got missed, and customer service was wavering. He called me up again and said, I just don't get it. Why doesn't my team care? And that's the fourth lie he accepted as true. And I bet a lot of you have as well. Everyone will care as much as I do. I'll tell you what I told Kevin. Congrats. Your reward for solving yesterday's problem is a more complicated problem for today. Because this is what happens with growth. You hire people, you cast a vision, you explain where you're going, and in the moment, everyone acts like they're on board, But a few weeks later, it's like they didn't hear a thing. Why? Because your team can't read your mind.
- [08:08]
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And.
- [08:09]
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And they don't automatically feel the same passion as you do. You've been thinking about this business for years, on and off the clock, but your team may have only been on board for a few months. So you've got to cut through the confusion with clarity. And that's the shift Kevin had to make. He had to stop assuming everyone understood and start making sure that they did. That meant repeating the mission over and over again, clarifying exactly what winning looks like for his team, and building ownership by holding them responsible for results, not just assigning tasks. Because as a business grows, it gets more complex, and complexity doesn't create problems, it exposes them. But if you're willing to slow down, get clear, and realign your team when things get off track, you'll build a business that can actually scale. And you won't live in reaction mode, constantly redoing things that should have been done right the first time. That's what Kevin did. He started leading differently, and his team stepped up. And once they were all pointed in the same direction, they started delivering with consistency and excellence. And as business really began to take off. So here's the deal. If you believe the lies, you'll stay stuck. Here's the truth. You can charge what you're worth. Your job isn't to do everything. It's to lead. Success doesn't change who you are. It reveals it. And your team won't care as much as you do if you don't give them a clear vision worth following. When you stop believing these lies and start leading from these truths, everything changes. Because at the end of the day, your business will only grow to the level that you do.
- [09:44]
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The lies we talked about today, they're not small. And if you don't deal with what's going on in your head, you'll just keep working harder and getting nowhere. But the good news is, you don't have to figure this out alone. That's exactly why we built Entrez Leadership. Our coaches talk with business owners every single day, and we can help you cut through the noise, get clear on your next steps, and grow your business with confidence. So if you're ready to stop being the lid on your business, just click the link in the description to schedule a call with one of our coaches. We'd love to help you win. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, share and subscribe for more real world leadership and subscribe Business Content. I'm your host, Dave Ramsey, and this is Entree Leadership.