Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Abundant Mindset. I'm Marina Painter and today we're talking about transforming the way you think so you can transform the way you live and lead.
We are watching now Media Television.
Welcome to Abundant Mindset with Marina Painter. I'm Marina Painter. Today, I want to begin with a reality many business owners know too well. Growth can look successful from the outside and still feel overwhelming behind the scenes. My guest today is Ryan Harpen, co founder and managing partner of Impact Strategies Consulting, llc. Ryan is a seasoned business consultant with more than a decade of experience helping companies optimize operations, boost profitability, streamline processes, build stronger leadership teams. His work focuses operational excellence, leadership development, strategic planning, employee engagement, revenue growth, and helping business owners create success without sacrificing their quality of life. This is a conversation about building a business that does more than grow. It becomes clearer, stronger, healthier, and more aligned with the life the owner really wants to create. Ryan welcomes.
Well, Ryan, welcome to Abundant Mindset with Marina Painter.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: I'm glad to be here. Glad to be here.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: So tell us about yourself. How did you find yourself? Let me ask you this. What does abundant mean to you? Abundance. Abundant. What does it resonate to you?
[00:01:44] Speaker B: You know, this is actually a really good question because I feel like it's going to be a little bit different than how most people. People would describe it, at least for them. And for me, abundant means more than what I need. It just means it could be just a little bit more. It could be a whole lot more. But abundant is more than what I need. And to me, abundance means I have the ability to serve others. I have the capacity and capability to make a difference for other people. Because if I have more than I need, well, what more do you need? Right. Then it boils down to what do you want? And, well, when want and need gets too far apart, we kind of lose who we are. So when I think of abundance, I think of I have enough to give to others.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Absolutely beautiful. Because it's not just the physical, right. Physical things. It's your mindset, it's your mind.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: That drives that. Very good.
As we begin, I want everyone watching to think about the business team or vision you're building right now.
Your growth giving you more freedom, or is it creating more pressure for you? Because an abundant business is not just a busy business. It's a business with clarity, leadership systems, profitability, a room for the person behind to breathe.
I'm starting this conversation again with Ryan Harpman by looking at the moment when growth begins to expand. Expose. What is not working inside the business, Ryden works with executives and business owners who want to optimize operations, improve profitability and create long term success.
This segment should expose the hidden pressure behind business growth. Unclear processes, reactive decision making, weak leadership, alignment and and owners who feel pulled in too many directions. Don't we all know that how that real life works under pressure?
The key tension is too many entrepreneurs want expansion. But expansion without operational clarity can amplify every weakness.
This segment should help viewers recognize where the business may be grown faster than systems, mindset or leadership capability.
So Ryan, when you work in companies that are grown but feeling overwhelmed, what operational problems you typically see? Are there any points or anything that really jumps out at you? Like what's the common denominator?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah, so this is, it's funny because this is like the number one conversation I have with business owners, especially when I start seeing some of the results of being overwhelmed. Overwhelm comes from a lack of clarity and visibility and then as well as well prioritization. You can't really properly prioritize anything if you can't see it clearly and understand where things are going.
So operationally any, every bit of operations is impacted by people. So if people are overwhelmed, operations will get overwhelmed.
Systems break down when the people responsible for the system break down.
So overwhelm comes simply from a lack of clarity, lack of vision, lack of communication. There is something that can be improved or streamlined to really maximize the efficiency of information flow, support or what have you. So. Well, overwhelm is actually one of the easiest things to address in a business because it's simply really just not understanding where the priority should lie.
So as soon as you have some clarity, priorities get pretty easy.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: I could not agree more. Too right. If they can measure something, yes they can. They can envision getting there right because they have to be able to track all the business processes and milestones because if we don't, if we can't measure it right, we can't manage it.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Yep, exactly.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Very good. I love that.
What are the warning signs that a business has outgrown the way it currently operates?
[00:05:59] Speaker B: I would say some of the warning signs are overwhelmed. When people start feeling overwhelmed, it's usually because things are becoming very task heavy. Because people are doing more doesn't mean they're getting more done. And that's a big distinction there. It's easy for people to get really busy without getting results. A packed calendar does not mean more results, doesn't mean success. But usually that is one of the first warning signs. Another warning Sign is, you see margins start to slip.
Revenue is, you know, people think all the time, oh, revenue, revenue, revenue. That's. That's my goal. Profitability is more of a goal, but freedom is the true goal. So with profitability, you'll see that margin start to slip when you get closer and closer and closer to that point. So that's another one of those big red, you know, big red flags or signs.
So really, it's the overwhelm of your team, and the margin starts to change not in your favor. Those are major red flags. Time to, you know, hit the big red button, make some changes. Let's look at everything from 10,000ft and boil it all the way down to the weeds and fix whatever problems are really there.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Major reset. Absolutely.
What is that saying? Work smarter, not harder.
Yep. Very good.
Why? Some business owners mistake constant activity for real progress. I see it all the time. It does make me laugh, too.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Well, busy is not a business strategy.
It's just not. And when we look at it, you know, kind of, as I mentioned before, it's easy to fall into the trap of doing, doing more rather than getting more done. Just because you're busy getting, you know, constantly moving here, there, doing XYZ doesn't mean you're actually getting results. So there's a book called the Four Hour Work Week, which was huge.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Just recently read it. I love it.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: It's a great way to identify where are you actually getting results and where are you just wasting time. We have a tendency to major in minor things, and that's a problem.
Now. It's not because we're not capable of doing things the right way. It's just because when you're in the midst of the weeds, it's really hard to know what the next most important thing is. Busyness and chaos comes from a lack of understanding what should be prioritized in front of others. We feel that everything's equally important, therefore, we don't know where to go or split our time up amongst things that are not exactly getting us results all the time.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: And there's a big difference between running a practice and running a business, right?
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: So, Ryan, and that's what I see a lot of, too. When people are working, they're just glorified W2 employee. They work in the business. They're just no different than anybody else working in the business because they don't have a clear vision as to where they need to go and advance, that
[00:08:42] Speaker B: when the business depends on you to be there, you don't own A business, you own a job.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's over. Overpaid. If it's overpaid, but it could be overpaid. W2 job. I could not agree more.
Okay, how does operational confusion affect the mindset and energy of the entrepreneur leading the company? What do you think?
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Ooh, See, like, you know, it does boil back down into, you know, if you don't have clear vision, you really can't go anywhere efficiently or effectively. But confusion ensues when priorities are mixed up. So let's reframe this a little bit. I'll look at this from a different bit of a lens here so that our audience can kind of really gain from it.
If you don't have a clear picture of what's actually making a difference in your business, you're going to waste time, you're going to waste opportunity, you're going to avert people away from your business. And frankly, your business is not meant to serve you. Your business is to serve others. For a service, a product, whatever. It is not built to serve you. It's built to serve others.
And honestly, you can't really expect to serve others. If you get to a position where you don't have enough structure and systems to stay focused and aligned with the overall mission. It's easy to fall into those traps of got to do this, got to do that, got to grind, grind, grind, grind, grind. But at some point, you've got to step back, see the bigger picture, and realize, okay, let's hone in on the areas that are actually making a difference, and let's loosen up our grip on the stuff that doesn't really matter a whole lot.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Or we can delegate it to somebody else that will run it for you and you have more freedom, not just run the business, hopefully for personal life too, sometimes. Right?
[00:10:26] Speaker B: That's.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: That's. We. We all suffer from that, I think, at some point of our business career.
Okay, what is the first step toward creating a business that feels more strategic and less reactive?
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Well, this one is a bit tricky because every industry is different. Every business is different, every business owner's reason why is different. But ultimately to be more responsive rather than react. I like to break it down like this. So a business is going to react or respond based upon the leaders, based upon the people. So there's a way that I explain maturity, especially when I'm doing a keynote for, like, students or athletes. I talk about the difference in someone who's mature and someone who's not. Someone who's not mature. They act first, listen second and then understand. Whereas someone who is mature, just like a business, you listen first, understand the situation and then respond.
Respond versus reaction is the time you take between what you say.
So take the time to understand. So in a business, understand your market, understand the need of what it is you're doing, hone it down. Don't diversify too much because you can go.
If you take think of it like this, goodness. You have a team of people, you're trying to get to the same destination. You shoot off in any direction, you're not going to be able to get there as fast. You get everybody pointed in the same direction, you're going to get there much faster. So same thing as a product or service, focus on the things that are actually making a difference and that actually has demand.
So honing in is one of those key things we tend not to do when we're early on and worried about how are we going to get through
[00:12:03] Speaker A: and spread too thin with all the things we're trying to accomplish all in one day. There's plenty of days and plenty of planning.
Okay. What this reminds us is that growth alone is not the goal. Growth has to be supported by clarity, structure and intention. Otherwise the business may expand, but the owner becomes more trapped inside it. We'll take a short break. When we come back, we'll talk about operational excellence and how strong systems can create more profit, more stability and more peace for the business owner.
We'll be right back with more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
Welcome back to Abundant Mindset with Marina Painter. Stay connected to the show and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku I iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish on the move. Catch the podcast version at www. Now Media TV from business and news to lifestyle culture and beyond, NOW Media TV is streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
I'm here with Ryan Herpen, co founder and managing partner of of Impact Strategies Consulting, llc. And now I want to talk about operational excellence.
Now as the corporate it seems to be a corporate buzzword, but we're not going to talk about that. We're going to talk about as one of the most practical ways to create abundance inside a business.
When operations are unclear, money leaks, time disappears, teams get frustrated, and leaders stay stuck in survival mode. Boy, don't we know that all survival mode.
But when the right systems are in place, the business becomes easier to lead, easier to manage and easier to grow. This segment shows the positioning as the foundation of freedom. The conversation should explain, explore processes for improvement, profitability, workflow, accountability, and how business owners can move from emotional decision making into strategic execution.
So Ryan, when I say operational excellence, what does it mean?
[00:15:00] Speaker B: So this is funny. I've heard a lot of people explain it different ways, but I believe I found a very simple way to put it. It is your ability to execute upon a vision more efficiently than anybody else.
Your ability to execute upon a vision more than anybody else. So it's it. Operational excellence is to do things very efficiently and effectively in pursuit of a direction, objective or goal. So when I think of excellence, I think of pristine ship shape, structured, organized, controlled. So if your business meets all those things, it will be operating with excellence. Meaning your customers, your clients, they get better results, more consistent, and so does your team as well as the bank account. So that's a very important thing to
[00:15:43] Speaker A: throw in the mix there at the end of the day. Yeah, we want that bank account to grow too, huh?
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Can you give me an example in when you coach people, Give me an example when you were able to implement the things you could see before and after, no problem.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: So great example.
There was a.
I came from a background of manufacturing and one of my clients before we really got to the position of operational excellence.
Very large company, manufacturing for oil and gas industries, building assets, very complicated products and business scaling rather quickly, but unsafely. Now their goal was to get to a position of operational excellence. Beforehand there was setbacks all the time. There were delays, problems. You had an entire team that was in the business that was designated to preparing the customer for setbacks, delays, and finding ways that we could try to compensate. Whereas when the business had the right implementation, the strategy and as well as the execution on top of that, it was all a position of being prepared to tell the customer the great news, right? So beforehand it was terrible communication. Employees, leaders, they never had the information or supplies they needed. And well, you're always in a position where you have to oversell and under deliver.
Now, after, you know, strenuous projects and implementation and structure and just consistency from leadership, we were able to develop a process where no one had to wait for information, they didn't have to wait for supplies.
There was no confusion or delay. People got to execute to the best of our ability, meaning they were then spotlighted. People could see them, they could recognize how great they are. That Meant they had more opportunity for money, so on and so forth. But customers were then pleasantly surprised because it transitioned from overselling under delivering to underselling over delivery. Where, hey, we were able to give you a discount on this because we did so well. Or, hey, hey, we were able to actually jump the schedule by three weeks because this product was done significantly faster than we expected. Or, you know, things like that really do make a difference. But operational excellence really does impact the way that the market sees you. If you're excellent, the market is pleasantly surprised with the results.
If you're not excellent, there's disappointments in the mix.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Well, and you just have to add the emotional components to it too, because the receiving side is the customer. The those are the people that build your business and add to your business. So if they're dealing with a person that's in chaos and disarray and they're just running around like chickens with a head cut off, right, it's hard to deal with, it's hard to relate. You don't feel the authority, you don't feel that they are the people that got your back.
So by having those policies and processes and all those excellence mindsets and processes built in, it frees up that mind space for people communicating with the clients. Now, the client can feel that, right? And they feel that that's the supplier I want to deal with. That's the person that got my bag. Whatever is happening, I can call him up, I can call Ryan right now. He got my back. Because, you know, he knows his stuff. He knows how to run the company, he knows how to fulfill the orders. And that's what separates you from everybody else. And I think that is the equation and the mindset we all need to search for and develop.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Being able to take your word for it too, because you obviously have a clear understanding of this. I mean, goodness, you've got some recent achievements of your own. I mean, goodness, you've got a lot of insight into this too. So I don't think the audience understands just how much of an expert they have on camera right now. But what are some of those recent achievements you had?
[00:19:30] Speaker A: I'm kind of curious. Oh, my goodness. So I've been a CPA for 20 years.
I've been attached to tax accountant for 25 years, and just about two weeks ago got my PFS. And it's a professional designation for personal financial planning, which is great, which I always do in my office anyway. But I figured, you know, might as well just get another credential behind my name. Why not? So, but I haven't tested in 18 years. And actually my daughter is in college right now, and I was. I went for my exam. I'm like, wouldn't that be sad if mom cannot test anymore? And here I am telling my child, you got to take the test and you got to pass it. Well, no, I did. Well, I did actually 90 out of 100. So I can pet myself on the back. I can't be proud, but it's, you know. But that's one of the things I always have to remind myself. Never stop growing. Always keep moving. Because what's the point of living if you're not right? Because it's very, very easy to get stuck, stuck in that box and that stagnation. And if you're not developing new skill, not growing as a person, as a human being, then why are you here?
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Yep. I could not agree more.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: And it's only my two cents. So who knows? Maybe to each his own. But that's why we talking, because we are like mining. And that's what I bring to the audience. And I hope that audience can engage and grow with us. Grow your mindset.
All right, so let's get back into it.
Where do companies most often lose profitability because their processes are unclear or inefficient?
[00:21:05] Speaker B: I would say the number one place that companies lose profit is they undervalue what they do.
They're undervalued.
Now, there's a few ways to increase your profit. Number one, as long as your expenses stay the same, you increase the cost of the product or the service margin increases, or you make things more efficient, effective, where it does reduce expenses, so on and so forth. But one of the biggest areas that I see consistently, no matter whether it is a mom pop startup, all the way to large corporation, if you undervalue your service or product, you're gonna suffer in your margins without a doubt. It will not be sustainable long term. As cost goes up for things. That's just kind of an automatic.
But that is the first. The second is poor communication.
And the biggest one of all is subconscious procrastination. I actually wrote an entire book on that topic, just released it and everything, and just published. But it's. Thank you. It's all about.
That was the number one problem my business partner and I found in all the businesses we worked with, one actually went from roughly $10 million revenue balancing between the red and the black, just going back and forth to. In four years from implementing our strategies and the mindsets that we had with the leadership Team. It sold for just shy of $200 million.
Three times EBITDA X.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: Big difference. Yeah.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: And a lot of it was addressing that subconscious procrastination.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: Why do you think that happens? Because, again, it's peace of your mind, right? We don't just stop and think, all right, what can I be doing right now? I have half an hour left. What can I be doing? Should I be naturally watching Netflix, by the way? It's not. Not nothing against Netflix, but what can I do? Why do we do that? Why? Our mind tells us those things.
Right? And it's not just not doing is also an option we're choosing for ourselves. It's also a decision we're making for ourselves. So tell me about that. What do you think about that?
[00:23:00] Speaker B: Well, the number one reason why that's the case is influence.
Influence dictates all of your thoughts. All of your thoughts determine your actions. The breakdown is when you. When your thoughts don't make it to action, at least the good thoughts. There's a lot of thoughts we should not act upon, but we call those intrusive. But nevertheless, when you've got thoughts of what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, good things, and you don't act upon, it puts you in what we call the circle. It is lack of action or procrastination that usually turns into guilt, worry, frustration. For a lot of guys, that comes out of frustration and that turns into complacency to pass the blame. And it goes right back around that loop. But influence, what you pour in, is what comes out. There's a rapper, Tom McDonald, he's not everyone's flavor, but I like him quite a bit. He's got this verse that I find really powerful, and it rings true. It's. If you listen to garbage, your head fills with trash. If you eat at McDonald's, you're gonna get fat. It's along those lines of what you pour in is what you pour out. So influence is a big part of it. But outside of that reason, why that subconscious procrastination is a big problem is, well, number one, be comfortable. It's easy to get comfortable, and it's easy to let your pride and ego get in the way. We want to be comfortable, absolutely. But we lose this part of us where we enjoy the challenge, we enjoy the chase, we enjoy the growth. Not that it's a bad thing to get somewhat comfortable, but that creates this system of we're just not going to act when we need to.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: You know, that saying what doesn't challenge you doesn't. Does not change you.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:30] Speaker A: How true is that?
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Very, very true.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: And the other thing too is when we are so comfortable, we bypass so many opportunities and you never know what goes by because you can't take that time back. That's the truth.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: That is the truth.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Okay, so I guess we are getting close for our break and. And.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: This next segment's gonna be a whole lot of fun.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: I'm excited to continue this.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: This has been a lot of fun to our audience. I don't think you understand how much fun it is to be on camera and talk like this with intelligent people, but it's a blast.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Absolutely. Especially with guests like you.
What becomes clear is that systems are not meant to limit the entrepreneur. When they are designed well, they protect the entrepreneur's time, energy, money and vision.
With that, we gonna take a short break and when we return, we'll expose leadership development and why business growth depends on the strength of the people leading it.
We'll be right back with more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
Welcome back to Abundant Mindset with Marina Painter.
If you're leading a company, building a team, or trying to scale beyond your own personal capacity, this is a segment to really lean into.
Your business can only grow as far as your leadership structure can support it.
I'm continuing here with Ryan Herten. And now I want to focus on leadership development and employee engagement. That's a big one, right? You can have all the mindset, but if you don't have the right people or not developed people, that changes the structure of your business.
As a business owner can have a strong vision, but the leadership team is not aligned with, empowered, or equipped. The business will continue to depend on the owner for decision, for direction and momentum.
This segment should explore how Ryan helps executives build stronger leadership teams, improve engagement, and create healthier accountability.
The focus is practical, but also deeply aligned with the heart of Abundant Mindset. The leader must grow, but the business must also develop people who can grow with it.
Ryan, when you look at leadership skills and teams and leadership teams, specifically, what is the vision?
How do you grow those teams? How do you know that they're not up to par? How do you know how to develop them and fill in those blanks?
[00:27:36] Speaker B: So it's funny cause every team is different. Every dynamic is different. Usually you've got a few key players, you've got, well, and forgive me Everybody, because you're going to see kind of where you fall into this, at least some of you. So don't be offended. This is just kind of how reality plays. You've got those that are outspoken. You've got those that are quite subtle and a little more introverted. You've got those that are ready to jump at any opportunity, those that are more cautious and curious.
There's different players in the mix. You've got people that lead with an iron fist and those that lead through example, even. Right.
To find the breakdowns in a leadership team, all you have to do is talk to the people they lead.
This sounds archaic. It sounds maybe even a little scary, and it is, and it should be. If you want to know where you fall short as a leader, have someone that's not you. Talk to your team separately and be prepared to hear some things you don't necessarily want to hear. Now, the reality is, if you want to be successful in business and life, no matter what you're doing, you have to be willing to accept hard news. Sometimes. I have had endless, endless.
Well, people tell me that, you know, good, the bad, the ugly. It's, it's constructive criticism is extremely important. So you start there. And, and so when I jump into a company, whether it's executive level, I go to the people on the floor, even, hey, what do you need? What are you missing? What are the problems? What are the issues? Any issues here, there, there. Usually it gives me a big picture and I like to call it fill in the bucket. I like to fill the bucket with examples, reasons, all this stuff. And then when I bring it back to the leadership team, I dump it all out.
So many facts, so much feedback, so many bits of information that are valuable that they can't deny it. Logic and reason will then take over and say, wow, we have to make changes.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Hopefully.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Hopefully. And it's easy to use that angle because we're. Well, here's what your cooperation with each other is doing.
Here's. This is the result of all of your leadership in unison coming together.
You've got few leaders that stand out above others. You've got bosses versus leaders. We all know who the boss is. We all know who the leader is. Two very different people, two very different mentalities.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Tell me what the difference is. I just want to make sure our audience knows.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's funny, I can tie this back to so many different things. I could go biblical. I could go example. A great way to put it is this. The difference between a boss and a leader. Is a boss is going to be the one to sit in the back and tell you what to do, how to do it, where to go.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Micromanage.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
And they wield authority, whereas a leader is the one who says, let me show you how.
Let me go first. Let me do this. Let me set the standard, Let me set the expectation. Let me lead by example. And really, I want to embody the expectations I have for my people. So instead of being the one that's sitting back saying, pull me along, you're the one in the front saying, follow me. Let's go together.
Being a leader, your objective, your job is to create leaders that are better than you. It's not to be in the spotlight. Now, sometimes you have to be. Sometimes that means you're in the spotlight when things go wrong.
When problems arise, you're the one responsible. Yet when things go right, your team's in the spotlight. You put them there because they deserve it. It's their win. It's their success. You're the shield and the sword, but you're also the one that takes the hit and the one that gives the praise when things go wrong. Difference between a leader and a boss sometimes is subtle, but usually makes itself clear when a problem arises. Because the leader will stand in front of their people, the boss will stand behind them.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: That's what I always say. A lot of times, it's not the problem of the business.
It's really the problem of the management and the leadership. If you can't lead your people, then you got to work on yourself first. You have to develop that abundant mindset.
Okay.
Why do you think that some business owners struggle to truly empower the leadership team?
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Because our understanding of what a leader is is backwards in a lot of ways. People think leadership means you're the shot caller. You're the important one.
You're the center of attention. And as I kind of just mentioned, I'm going to reframe this a little bit.
A leader is really a glorified servant.
I don't care what you say. You could try to tell me I'm wrong. I've got plenty of businesses that have results for this concept being true.
A successful leader is a successful servant. We think of leadership and businesses as a pyramid. You got the directors at the top, the CEOs, and it cascades down. It's wrong. That is wrong is a wrong way to think of it. It is a tree.
The owners, the board of directors, whoever they are, they're the roots that give the strong platform for that tree. To stand. They provide the resources that trunk managers, directors, they provide the resources that go to that team. And then you get to the branches. Those are supervisors, managers, leaders, the leaders of the people.
You're just a servant. The higher you climb, really the lower you are, because the more people you support.
That's the important determination between a boss, leader. But where leaders fall short is they forget that they're there to serve their people.
If you start a business, you don't want to be the one executing the entire time you want to. We don't start a business to be busy all the time. We don't start a business to have a new job. That's not the point. We start a business to earn freedom. Freedom in finance, freedom in time, freedom and choice, whatever.
But you can't create that freedom unless you have people that can do it without you. Meaning your job is to give them everything they need before they need it so they can be successful. Because if they succeed, you succeed. And when they're succeeding, you're leading.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Which brings me to the next question.
How does the employee engagement change when leaders are clear, consistent and aligned?
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, think of it like this. If you're driving a big ship, you're the captain of this ship, you want it to go from point A to point B, yet you never get to steer the ship.
How in the world are you going to get there if you're not the one steering? And the one steering has no idea where it's supposed to go.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: Yep. It's a ship without a destination.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Exactly. When you've got informed operators, you've got informed, well, execution and informed operators, and execution turns into undefined destination.
When, when you want to go to the moon, you don't just point a rocket to the sky and just shoot it up there. You've got to have a planned destination plan, a really planned like flight path. And you've got to handle all the things in between here and there, all the steps, all the objectives, whatever it is. So clarity is really just aligned vision.
And vision with alignment creates real potential to achieve a destination. So it's like a goal without clarity is just a wish.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Absolutely. And how many people live by that? Right? They wishing and wishing and thinking something is going to happen and something is going to change, but they're not doing anything for it and nothing is changing. Right.
Was it Einstein that said it's a definition of insanity, Right?
Doing the same thing in something different. Exactly. So that's.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: I find it difficult because at least really interesting that people spent have they put more energy and time and focus into planning a vacation than they do their future than their life.
That is sad.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Well, and it goes back, you know, the, the dol statistics just came out about a couple of weeks ago. You know, on average, you know how many people in, in this country save for their retirement and have at age of 65, have, have 250k or more.
Do you know the percentage?
[00:35:24] Speaker B: It's got to be really small at this point.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: 10%.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Oh my goodness.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: 65 retirement age. So what does it tell us?
[00:35:32] Speaker B: People aren't planning for the future.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Yep. And what is that saying? Failure to plan is planning to fail. So we really want to start with the end in mind. Where is it that we want to. Exactly my point. So you got to have a clear, clear vision, a clear understanding of where you're going and where you want to be and then you can design how to get there.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well said.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. So. Well, we kind of running out of time again. We having way too much fun. We're going to take a short break. Don't go anywhere. And we'll be right back.
We'll be right back. With more insights to help you create abundance, alignment and meaningful transformation. Stay tuned.
And we're back. I'm Marina Painter and this is Abundant Mindset on NOW Media Television. Let's continue.
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Okay, I'm here back with Ryan and I think we getting ready to dive right into profitability and margins. And how do you define success in business? So let's go back to profitability because not a lot of people understand what profit means.
I understand people think that it's just the bottom line number what the real profit means in the grand scheme of business.
[00:37:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So a few ways I like to explain. So it just kind of depends on the level of the team I'm talking to and kind of their understanding because we do on the vocabulary all day because it's never ending.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: We do not have all day.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: As long as there's smart people out there, they're going to come up with more complicated ways to explain things. I promise you that. But if we want to put it simple, revenue is feasibility, margin Is scalability.
But really cash flow is king.
Cash flow is the safety net, the real thing that gives you the ability to grow, to size up, to change things around, whatever it is you need to do. But ultimately profitability is the way. There's a few different ways that we can really look at it. It is, you're really good at creating a good result for the people you serve. Right. Profits happen when you're good at that, consistent at that. Profit really is the money that's left over after all of your expenses and things. Right now, profitability is this thing that everyone wants to talk about, but everyone talks about revenue mainly. A lot of the businesses I work with, especially on the smaller scale, the revenue, revenue, revenue. We see more money. Well, does that more money really matter if it's costing you?
[00:38:44] Speaker A: It's just the top number. I want to see the bottom number.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Yes. What is left over right now? That number is impacted by so many things.
So many things. To give a perfect picture on how to get the most profit possible is just, it's a fallacy. You can't really give the perfect picture, perfect playbook on how to do that. Rather, it is unique to every situation, every business, every industry and every person. Right. How to create profit is simply put, don't be wasteful, be honest and true with your finances and serve people well.
Simply put, you do those three things really well.
You're profitable. There's no other way to put it. You're profitable.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it's also the time frame. Right. Because especially if you are just starting a business and that's what I see a lot of in my office.
They're going out, they bring all those big contracts, depending on the industry, obviously, and they have the profit, but they don't think about tomorrow, two years from now, five years from now, when it's maybe time to, you know, tighten up the belt and take that profit and you know, invest into, in any equipment or whatever will help you grow. Next. Your vacation can hold on a minute, right. And I can't say that this is what you need to do. I'm just saying that at the end of the day, in the future, if you have proper planning, the profitability, take that profit, invest into your business, reinvest it, the future self will. Thank you.
[00:40:15] Speaker B: Absolutely. One of the problems I see quite frequently, especially in the early to mid size businesses, is profit is taken as, oh, I can give myself a raise as a business owner.
Profitability, yes. It means you have money left over, means you've got some money to work with it doesn't mean you need to spend it immediately. It means you need to be strategic, plan what to do with it, and do it in a way that creates easier revenue or better margin. There's so many things you can do with it. But don't fall into the trap of, we're making more money, we're profiting more, therefore I should just pay myself more, because then all that profit just goes right back into an expense. And, well, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: But, Ryan, you telling me I can't buy that Ferrari now? No.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: Just because you had one good year doesn't mean you should go buy a mansion now.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: You can't even write it off. By the way, Those people on YouTube say 179. You cannot take 179 on that one.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Such a good point. Such a good point. I try to stay away from your field as much as I can because, goodness, what you do is incredible. And how you serve people is bizarre because a lot of people have misunderstanding of what taxes really are, what you can write off, what you can't, what is actually acceptable. Until the next thing you know, they're getting a letter from the IRS and, well, they're getting tied up.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, no, we. I am that person to make sure that they pay the least amount legally possible, but I am the friend helping them to also not go in the red so we don't have to get audits and. And anything that we cannot substantiate. So. But. But it's also, you know, that's another strategy. You build that strategy by modifying your tax blueprint. If we're talking about taxes. Right. You can build a lot of wealth. Right. Profit sharing plan, defined benefits. I just build a plan for somebody that saves them 300,000 or they defer. 300,000 saves them 120,000 tax multiplied by 10 years. That's a full retirement account. Absolutely right. Instead of giving to the government. We all love the government, but we want to pay the least amount legally possible at the end of the day. Once again, that saying failure to plan is what is planning to fail. Planning to fail.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: And this is kind of the cool thing where you and I are both.
We focus on helping businesses thrive and people get to where they want to be. We protect profit in different ways.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: And it all matters. So one of the things I like to tell people is just find the right people to work in your corner. If you're not an expert or something, find an expert in that thing. Utilize them for a while. Until you have a good understanding and then you're good.
[00:42:44] Speaker A: Because at the end of the day, you do not know what you don't know.
Let me say it again. You don't know what you don't know because you're simply not aware. You don't even know what questions to ask. Right, Exactly. And when you're that 65 year old person and saying, well, how did this life happen like this? What am I doing? Or what are you not doing? Exactly, maybe it's time to start doing something about it. And building that team is number one. Really?
[00:43:11] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: You don't need it in the beginning. At some point you do need it.
[00:43:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. A lot of people don't start a business to, well, just be busy all day, start it, to grow it, to scale it. You've got to have good people. But the strategy is really when you start a business, you don't start it because you're an expert of business. You start because you're an expert of a service or product. So bringing the right people in means you get to spend more time doing what actually gets the results.
I am not good at certain things. I have people that I've brought in to be good at those things.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Can I ask what you're not good at? You know what I mean?
[00:43:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's one of those things where it's if we've got to be real and it's easy to have this belief, oh, I'm great xyz, I can do all these things. I don't need anybody's help. If you want to be successful, you need help where you're not strong. That's the truth.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: And recognizing that fact is also mastery. Right. Because we are so. And I see that all the time, business owners, they're just so busy with just day to day. But some of that is just not the busy they want to be with.
So. And that brings me to a different conversation. Right. Because we have the business, we have strategies, we have reality, and then we have to marry all of that.
And how do we go about our own mindset? Especially when our sympathetic system is in overdrive and our cortisol is flushing our system. We can't even think straight because we're so burned out. How do we manage that?
[00:44:41] Speaker B: Well, I'll put it like this. Burnout usually comes not because you're not interested. It's really actually. Yeah, no, it comes from what you're not interested. Think of it like this. I don't know people that get burnt out from playing video games.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: I'VE never.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: I don't know people that get burnout from having joy on the beach or doing the things you really love. Like, I have a hobby of rock climbing. I don't get burned out on rock climbing, but I get burned out of business sometimes. It's finding the reason why behind what you're doing, believing in that reason why so passionately that you do it because it's what you want to do. For me, serving others is what I'm passionate about. So serving them through business, I don't get burnout. I just get more excited with the results I'm getting, and then I want to get more results. But ultimately, really, if we look at marrying this all together and creating that perfect picture of what is it to be an entrepreneur in America?
It's to buy freedom.
It's to buy freedom to do the things you love. So if you're doing what you love, you never.
I don't have an exit strategy that someone else typically would. I don't plan on exiting. I plan on doing this until I can't anymore.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: Because you love. What are you doing?
[00:45:49] Speaker B: Yes, I cannot see a foreseeable future where I'm not doing this. Yeah, I'll take vacations. Yeah, I'll step away more. Yes, my business becomes automated, but it doesn't mean I stop doing what I love. It just means I get to do it in a manner that still serves the people that are most important. Important to me.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: But that's what you know, that's saying too. You can't pour from an empty cup. It goes back to your abundant mindset. It really all starts within your mind, right? Because if you are abundant in your mind, you don't feel the overwhelm because you structure everything around you. Your people, your. Your policies, your processes, your procedures around that mindset because you protect that, right? It's easy. It's a good thing. But you need to know your boundaries too. And sometimes you have to push that boundary. And you know, a long time ago, I heard this saying, if you're a level two person dealing with a level five situation, that is a problem, right? That's overwhelming. It's just too much. But when you level five person deal with a level five situation, it's not even a thing. It's just another daily task. You just get, you know, step over, move on, off you go, you're done. When you're a level 10 person dealing with a level 5 situation, it's not even a thing. You don't acknowledge it. So what the reason I'M mentioning that you probably can attest to that, too. The more you grow yourself, the better you are dealing with problems and the better your resilience is.
And that's what our ultimate goal is. That's why I love talking about the abundant mindset. It is all starting in your mind. The way you perceive things and the
[00:47:34] Speaker B: way you actually presented that is. I have a good portion of a keynote on this matter, and what you just expressed is something I'm extremely passionate about because I used to always believe I was level one, level two, playing in a field of level tens. Right. And something I learned is it's the difference between knowledge and experience.
That's the big thing to be in that playing field of comfort is all based upon your wisdom that is earned through experience. Knowledge is gained by watching a battle from afar. Wisdom is gained from being in that battle and surviving it. So when you deal with another situation, it feels less scary because you've been there, done that, you've seen it, you've been through it. So chaos, discomfort, and lack of clarity, really, it's all just lack of experience, lack of knowledge. If you don't know, you feel overwhelmed. But if you know you've been there, you've done that, you've seen it before. It's pretty hard to get overwhelmed with something.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: Well. And Mark Twain said it best. I had a lot of prompts in my life that really never happened. On that note, I'm gonna.
We're gonna take a short break and come back shortly.
What just happened with the one minute? And it went to 10. I mean, one second to one.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: So it goes fast. When you really get into this, it goes really fast.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: So hold on a second. I didn't understand what just happened.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: Here. So now. Now do the outro. So we'll just jump right back in.
[00:49:04] Speaker A: All right, hang on, let me get to the. Yeah. Because that's what I did not understand what just happened.
All right, let me. How the hell do I scroll down more faster speed. You picked the deal with it, right?
[00:49:19] Speaker B: That's why I make it real fast because I'm just jumping through things.
[00:49:21] Speaker A: I see. Well, now it makes sense why you'll
[00:49:24] Speaker B: get the things worked out.
[00:49:26] Speaker A: I get.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: So as far as outro, you can just jump right into.
I guess.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: Here it is.
Ryan. If the audience would like more information about you Impact Strategist Consultant, llc, or the work you do with the business owners and executives, where can they find you and where they can connect with you really easy.
[00:49:54] Speaker B: I know we're short on time here. I would say it's really easy to go right to my website. You know, impactstrategyc.com, you can find me on LinkedIn, plenty of other places. Plus I host a couple shows here on NOW Media. You can reach out to my team. Everything finds its way back to me at least at some point. So super easy to find me.
[00:50:10] Speaker A: We want to thank Ryan Herpin for joining us and sharing his insight on operational excellence, leadership development, profitability, strategic planning and sustainable business growth.
What is what this conversation reminds us is that abundance in business is not just doing more. It's about building better. Better systems, better leadership, better decisions, better alignment between the company you're growing and the life you are creating.
And to everyone watching, we are inviting you to keep building from clarity, building. Intentionally build with purpose and support your purpose, your people and your future. Stay connected for more on NOW Media tv.
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