Valuetainment - The Higher Laws of Story-Telling & Marketing That No One Talks About

00:00:00.000 The reason I love story is it's such a picture of life.

00:00:03.240 You know, there are basically four roles in a story.

00:00:06.260 There is the victim, the villain, the hero, and the guide.

00:00:10.180 The story is really about the hero.

00:00:12.340 The more time you spend in victim mode and villain mode,

00:00:15.260 the worse your life is going to go.

00:00:16.740 Did you ever have to give up trying to change victims?

00:00:20.000 And if yes, what was your formula?

00:00:22.020 Not only do we have to try to give up changing victims,

00:00:25.060 we have to give it up every day.

00:00:26.900 You can't make miracles happen sometimes.

00:00:28.660 The person's got to want to change.

00:00:30.160 One of the hardest things for us to do as small business owners

00:00:32.960 is get people's attention and keep it.

00:00:34.980 There is a system to the madness.

00:00:36.700 The second we play the hero in the story,

00:00:38.460 we remove ourselves from our customer's story.

00:00:40.580 That's so powerful what you just said.

00:00:42.300 Can you say that one more time?

00:00:43.620 That was so powerful.

00:00:44.820 That you always want to be creative.

00:00:46.400 How else could we make money?

00:00:47.680 How else could we grow this company?

00:00:49.300 If you can write, you are deadly.

00:00:51.620 Biden as well as Trump.

00:00:53.460 Which of those two campaigns are you seeing doing a better job

00:00:56.780 telling their story and getting their message out there to the audience?

00:00:59.900 He naturally thinks villains, fear,

00:01:02.900 climactic scene of making America great again.

00:01:05.560 That's the stuff you would use to write a screenplay.

00:01:08.080 You care about the voter.

00:01:09.840 Biden does a very, very good job with that.

00:01:12.540 What tip would you give both to the Independent Party

00:01:15.680 as well as the Libertarian Party?

00:01:18.360 We're giving tax credits to invest in Chinese companies,

00:01:21.820 the profits of which build Chinese tanks.

00:01:24.660 Democrats and Republicans both have been bought by those lobbyists.

00:01:29.020 That is wrong.

00:01:30.060 It's time for a real change.

00:01:35.380 My guest today is Don Miller, who's an expert at telling stories,

00:01:38.980 but he's also written a New York Times bestselling book back in 2003

00:01:43.280 called Blue Like Jazz.

00:01:46.520 And today he's the CEO of StoryBrand.

00:01:48.840 You've read his book.

00:01:49.620 Many of you have probably read his book before.

00:01:51.080 You've heard about him before.

00:01:52.900 If you're in a business ward and you want to get better in marketing

00:01:55.480 and branding, that's his expertise.

00:01:57.860 To the point when even he helped on a task force with Barack Obama

00:02:01.420 in one of his elections and one of his campaigns that he was doing.

00:02:04.120 So with that being said, Don Miller,

00:02:06.040 thank you so much for being a guest on Valuetainment.

00:02:08.540 I'm glad to be here.

00:02:10.260 So Don, let's get right into it.

00:02:12.160 Our audience, they're business people, they're entrepreneurs,

00:02:15.000 they're sales folks.

00:02:15.820 These are people that want to figure out a way

00:02:18.520 how to take their business to the next level.

00:02:20.500 Before we get into how somebody can tell their story better

00:02:24.580 or brand themselves better or market themselves better,

00:02:27.200 I'd like to kind of start off with you,

00:02:28.920 how you went about, you know,

00:02:30.900 going with your background to all of a sudden becoming an author

00:02:33.460 and then all of a sudden you're talking to CO's executives

00:02:36.200 about how to tell their stories better.

00:02:37.520 Yeah, it's definitely not a clear, straight path to be able to do that.

00:02:42.380 It's a series of happy accidents.

00:02:44.020 But I wrote books for years, spent about 10 years writing memoirs.

00:02:48.820 Those were really successful.

00:02:50.740 And a gentleman with the company Accenture called me and said,

00:02:54.620 Hey, you're kind of an expert at storytelling.

00:02:56.580 Do you think you could help us figure out a project management formula

00:03:00.600 to get to unite a team and accomplish something?

00:03:03.940 And I went in and did a little bit with Accenture to do that.

00:03:06.700 And then when I took that formula, I thought, you know,

00:03:09.220 it's a great project management formula,

00:03:10.840 but it really works better in clarifying a message

00:03:13.460 so that your marketing works better.

00:03:15.820 And so I adapted it for that purpose.

00:03:18.000 We tested it with 20 or 30 businesses.

00:03:21.740 They all grew very quickly.

00:03:23.800 I turned it into a book.

00:03:25.220 The book sold half a million copies.

00:03:26.780 And now we help about 5,000 or so businesses a year

00:03:30.180 figure out their message.

00:03:31.680 So, you know, I was a memoirist.

00:03:33.800 I never expected to be a business person.

00:03:37.500 But it's been a wonderful transition.

00:03:40.080 You know, Patrick, I wrote about seven or eight memoirs.

00:03:42.780 The publisher wanted more, but nothing else had happened in my life.

00:03:46.480 I mean, I went camping and I couldn't get a book out of that.

00:03:48.700 So to pivot to the business world has actually been a delightful surprise.

00:03:52.240 And it's been fun.

00:03:54.120 So what is your formula in helping businesses,

00:03:57.060 CEOs, entrepreneurs come up with their stories?

00:03:59.700 Well, before I get into the formula,

00:04:01.280 I will say for me, as I look at businesses,

00:04:04.720 you know, there are traditionally three P's that you have to get right.

00:04:07.680 You have to get your product right.

00:04:09.360 And when your product is wanted in the market and profitable,

00:04:12.540 you've got to start hiring people.

00:04:14.520 And who knew we needed a counseling degree to run a business?

00:04:17.140 But it's definitely beneficial.

00:04:19.320 You got to get your people straight.

00:04:20.640 And then if you want to scale, you have to get your processes straight.

00:04:23.160 And a lot of people, they neglect the fourth P.

00:04:26.700 And the fourth P is positioning.

00:04:28.840 How are we positioning ourselves in the market?

00:04:31.280 What words are we using to stick in people's minds

00:04:34.180 and differentiate ourselves from the competition?

00:04:36.840 The beautiful thing about positioning is it doesn't cost a lot of money.

00:04:41.440 It's almost free.

00:04:42.580 It's literally just words.

00:04:44.000 You've got to sit down and do some really hard work on a napkin

00:04:46.400 and figure out how you're going to talk about your product or service.

00:04:49.240 Because businesses that figure out that fourth P,

00:04:52.780 that position themselves in the market, tend to skyrocket.

00:04:56.400 The truth is people don't actually buy the best products and services.

00:05:00.140 They buy the ones that they can understand the fastest.

00:05:03.980 If somebody can hear about your product in only a few words

00:05:07.480 and connect the idea that it will help them solve a problem,

00:05:12.500 you are much more likely to buy that product.

00:05:15.440 So, when I developed this formula,

00:05:18.080 and the formula is based on ancient story structure,

00:05:21.360 when I developed the formula for clarifying your message,

00:05:24.160 the purpose of that formula was to leave with a messaging system

00:05:29.200 that would position you in the marketplace

00:05:30.600 that would be a competitive advantage.

00:05:32.860 Excellent.

00:05:33.440 So, that's why I developed the formula in the first place.

00:05:36.100 I love it.

00:05:36.640 So, before we get into the positioning,

00:05:38.500 how about we stay on this four P's here real quick for a second?

00:05:40.840 Product, people, process, positioning.

00:05:43.540 So, most people, you know,

00:05:46.260 I think you would agree that say they have a great product

00:05:49.560 and just because they have a great product,

00:05:50.840 they think they're going to make it to the top.

00:05:52.080 And you and I both know product alone won't do it.

00:05:54.000 You need to have a real marketing plan behind it.

00:05:55.900 So, let's talk about people because you said counselor.

00:06:00.460 When you're talking about people,

00:06:02.200 unpack what that means to you.

00:06:03.900 Is it recruiting?

00:06:05.480 Is it developing people?

00:06:07.480 Is it the culture?

00:06:09.280 Is it how to lift them up?

00:06:11.420 Is it how to get them to work together?

00:06:13.020 What does people mean to you?

00:06:15.200 All of the above.

00:06:17.680 Really, for a small business owner,

00:06:19.300 they've got to figure out who they're going to hire next.

00:06:21.780 And for me, that order was a virtual assistant

00:06:24.380 who could duplicate my time.

00:06:26.620 And then somebody who could help me run the company.

00:06:29.640 I tend to be creative.

00:06:31.540 I'm a visionary.

00:06:32.860 I'm a content creator.

00:06:34.220 And I'm a strategist.

00:06:35.800 I'm not a details person.

00:06:37.480 I'm not going to go and figure out a contract with whoever.

00:06:40.140 I need other people to do that.

00:06:42.000 So, for me, after I had a virtual assistant,

00:06:44.600 I had to do a pretty good analysis of what my liabilities are.

00:06:48.180 Not what my strengths are, what my liabilities are.

00:06:51.400 And then I needed to be honest about that

00:06:53.840 and admit I'm not a details person.

00:06:56.760 And I've got to find somebody to help me figure out

00:06:59.280 the administrative part.

00:07:00.500 I do not want to spend a week researching

00:07:02.760 best health care plans for my team.

00:07:04.680 I want somebody to come and present to me a few plans

00:07:06.700 and then I approve one of them.

00:07:08.240 So, you have to hire your weaknesses

00:07:11.380 and staff those out.

00:07:13.900 So, everybody's hiring tree or hiring plan

00:07:16.000 should actually be a little bit different.

00:07:18.240 And then the people who I want to hire

00:07:20.300 have some common characteristics, Patrick,

00:07:22.240 and I think you'll appreciate them.

00:07:23.940 There are about 10 of them,

00:07:25.640 but I'll give you the top three.

00:07:26.780 The first is, I want to hire human beings

00:07:30.300 who actually see themselves

00:07:32.520 as an economic product on the open market.

00:07:35.620 And what I mean by that is,

00:07:37.340 they see themselves as an investment

00:07:39.860 and they give people a return on that investment.

00:07:42.880 So, if I'm going to pay you $50,000 a year,

00:07:45.400 I want somebody who says,

00:07:46.640 if you're going to pay me $50,000 a year,

00:07:48.500 I want to make you $500.

00:07:50.600 And likewise, if I make you $100,000,

00:07:54.280 you know, a million dollars a year,

00:07:55.800 I would like to be paid $100,000.

00:07:57.280 So, there's this constant negotiation back and forth

00:07:59.620 where we're having an honest assessment

00:08:01.080 of what you're bringing into the company

00:08:02.500 and what your economic value is.

00:08:04.680 Now, God sees you as priceless.

00:08:06.240 I see you as priceless.

00:08:07.340 Your spouse sees you as priceless.

00:08:08.720 Your kid sees you as priceless.

00:08:10.560 But the business world sees you

00:08:11.980 as an economic investment.

00:08:13.780 And so, I want people who really understand that.

00:08:16.320 They don't want to just be paid

00:08:17.900 to sit behind a desk

00:08:18.920 or to show up from nine to five

00:08:20.300 and part their hair

00:08:21.580 and not have bad breath, right?

00:08:23.640 I want somebody who says,

00:08:25.460 I'm a stock.

00:08:26.820 And when you invest in me,

00:08:27.740 I'm going to give you a giant return,

00:08:29.080 which is exactly how you and I

00:08:30.660 have to see ourselves

00:08:31.420 as the CEO of the company.

00:08:32.800 If a customer invests in me,

00:08:34.940 they're investing in me

00:08:35.720 to get a ton of money back.

00:08:37.780 That's the only way my business can grow.

00:08:40.500 And, you know, Andrew Grove,

00:08:41.760 former CEO over at Intel,

00:08:43.760 you know, he said,

00:08:44.420 everybody is their own company.

00:08:46.100 And you're constantly competing

00:08:47.460 with everybody else.

00:08:48.680 And so, I like people

00:08:49.880 who see themselves that way.

00:08:51.020 The second characteristic I like

00:08:53.300 is somebody who really,

00:08:54.780 it's very hard for them

00:08:55.480 to position themselves as a victim.

00:08:57.780 They don't go to victim mode very easily.

00:08:59.840 They stay with that hero energy

00:09:01.540 and love attacking obstacles

00:09:03.200 and overcoming challenges.

00:09:05.560 So, when I hear victims speak,

00:09:07.620 I tend to think those people

00:09:09.320 aren't going to fit on my staff.

00:09:11.120 And then the third,

00:09:11.920 you'll also appreciate, Patrick,

00:09:13.320 I like a team member

00:09:14.520 who de-escalates drama.

00:09:16.660 Drama, I think,

00:09:17.620 saps everybody's energy.

00:09:19.560 It's no fun to deal with drama.

00:09:21.320 I love it when there's

00:09:22.040 a dramatic situation

00:09:23.080 and somebody can come in

00:09:24.260 and de-escalate that drama

00:09:26.540 so it's smooth sailing.

00:09:28.240 If I hire people

00:09:29.060 with those three characteristics,

00:09:30.420 I can teach them almost anything.

00:09:32.240 And they're going to be successful

00:09:33.300 at my company.

00:09:34.080 So, you know,

00:09:34.660 we all have a different hiring tree,

00:09:36.120 but there are a core set

00:09:37.180 of characteristics I look for.

00:09:38.700 And those are three of them

00:09:40.440 right there.

00:09:42.060 Don, for the greedy folks

00:09:43.340 that are watching this,

00:09:44.160 what are the other seven?

00:09:46.740 Well, I'll tell you this.

00:09:48.040 I've got a book coming out

00:09:49.340 called Business Made Simple.

00:09:50.700 It comes out in January

00:09:51.520 and it starts with

00:09:52.520 the 10 characteristics

00:09:53.580 of what I call

00:09:54.520 a value-driven professional.

00:09:58.120 But, you know,

00:09:58.720 it's, they know how to do things

00:10:01.300 like block their time.

00:10:02.940 They know how to establish priorities.

00:10:05.480 They know how to manage people.

00:10:06.780 They know how to run

00:10:07.400 an execution system.

00:10:09.420 We could get into the woods on that.

00:10:11.540 I've got 240 pages on it

00:10:13.460 that comes out in January.

00:10:14.420 So I'll send you a copy.

00:10:15.740 Perfect.

00:10:16.100 So here's the one question

00:10:17.420 about what you're saying here is,

00:10:18.900 this is great.

00:10:20.120 Human beings that see value

00:10:21.420 for themselves,

00:10:22.240 you know,

00:10:22.640 in the economic,

00:10:23.740 you said 50,000,

00:10:25.080 500,000,

00:10:26.400 100,000,

00:10:27.200 1 million.

00:10:27.760 Is that your formula?

00:10:28.860 10x what I pay you?

00:10:29.900 Is that kind of,

00:10:30.560 okay, perfect.

00:10:31.480 That's good to know.

00:10:32.080 If somebody,

00:10:32.600 if somebody pays me $3,000

00:10:34.500 to attend one of my workshops,

00:10:37.040 I want to get them $30,000

00:10:39.240 in return.

00:10:41.140 In fact,

00:10:41.740 I have,

00:10:42.280 I don't do this very often,

00:10:43.300 but if you want to sit with me

00:10:44.840 for a day

00:10:45.580 and have me look over

00:10:47.120 your marketing strategy

00:10:48.020 and change it

00:10:49.120 and change some of the words

00:10:50.380 that you're using,

00:10:51.420 I will only do that

00:10:52.720 for $50,000

00:10:54.060 and I'll only do it

00:10:55.920 if you can chart

00:10:56.960 and measure

00:10:57.520 a $500,000 return

00:10:59.340 and if you do not get

00:11:01.040 a $500,000 return

00:11:02.540 off the day

00:11:03.080 that we spent together,

00:11:03.940 I give you your $50,000 back.

00:11:07.260 To me,

00:11:07.940 it's,

00:11:08.440 I do,

00:11:08.860 and I do that

00:11:09.360 because I do not want

00:11:10.340 the reputation

00:11:11.040 of not being able

00:11:12.180 to get somebody

00:11:12.680 a return on their investment.

00:11:13.840 I never want anybody

00:11:14.560 to be able to say that about me

00:11:15.700 and because of that,

00:11:17.680 I just have had no trouble

00:11:18.920 growing my company.

00:11:20.180 When we have,

00:11:20.800 when we obsess

00:11:21.520 about giving somebody

00:11:23.120 a giant return

00:11:24.580 on their investment,

00:11:25.460 you have job security

00:11:26.340 for the rest of your life.

00:11:27.740 No question.

00:11:28.420 I fully agree with you there.

00:11:30.080 Now,

00:11:30.240 here's the other part.

00:11:31.440 You have your 10 points here.

00:11:33.540 The top three you gave,

00:11:34.800 you know,

00:11:35.060 what it was,

00:11:35.720 value bring to the marketplace,

00:11:36.820 hero not victim,

00:11:38.580 team members

00:11:39.460 who know how to

00:11:41.000 de-escalate drama.

00:11:41.960 De-escalate drama.

00:11:43.000 Yeah.

00:11:43.200 So,

00:11:44.160 is there a questionnaire

00:11:45.300 that a person takes

00:11:46.500 in their first interview

00:11:47.540 with your company?

00:11:48.460 Is there a questionnaire

00:11:49.160 that they go through?

00:11:50.860 There is,

00:11:51.460 yeah.

00:11:51.660 There's a series of interviews

00:11:52.980 that they go through.

00:11:54.460 You know,

00:11:54.760 but the other reality is

00:11:55.820 we let them know

00:11:56.720 these characteristics

00:11:57.700 before they come on.

00:11:58.860 It's in the handbook.

00:12:00.140 And so,

00:12:00.480 they aren't just characteristics

00:12:01.660 that we hope you have.

00:12:03.280 They're characteristics

00:12:04.040 that we hope you will develop.

00:12:05.940 So,

00:12:06.380 you know,

00:12:06.600 nobody is perfect,

00:12:07.720 but we can all develop

00:12:08.800 these characteristics.

00:12:09.940 We can all,

00:12:10.620 you know,

00:12:10.780 and it's amazing.

00:12:11.740 Once somebody sees themselves

00:12:13.300 as an economic product

00:12:14.680 on the open market

00:12:15.520 and become obsessed

00:12:16.440 with giving people

00:12:17.320 a return on their investment,

00:12:18.900 everything for them changes.

00:12:20.460 Their salary starts going up.

00:12:22.560 They look at the company

00:12:23.560 and their opportunities

00:12:24.340 in the company differently.

00:12:25.780 They try to find ways

00:12:27.020 for the company

00:12:27.560 to go make money

00:12:28.500 that didn't exist before.

00:12:30.180 It's just a massive transformation

00:12:31.760 when they have that,

00:12:33.140 when they have that paradigm

00:12:34.140 shift about themselves.

00:12:35.660 So,

00:12:35.780 Don,

00:12:35.880 when we go through

00:12:36.420 the process of hiring.

00:12:37.300 So,

00:12:38.160 you have a recruiting firm,

00:12:39.260 staffing company

00:12:39.880 you work with,

00:12:40.480 maybe your HR lady

00:12:41.860 or a gentleman

00:12:42.820 that's working HR,

00:12:43.800 whoever it is

00:12:44.300 that's running,

00:12:45.140 VP of operations.

00:12:46.260 I'm looking for three employees.

00:12:48.320 We need somebody

00:12:49.000 that's doing X,

00:12:49.960 Y,

00:12:50.340 Z.

00:12:50.980 What's the next step?

00:12:51.960 Take us from there.

00:12:53.700 Well,

00:12:54.120 we've used all of those.

00:12:55.240 We've used headhunters.

00:12:56.800 We've used recruiting outfits.

00:12:58.320 We've just put out

00:12:59.200 on social media.

00:13:00.440 You know,

00:13:00.640 depending on the position

00:13:01.660 and how hard it is,

00:13:02.620 it would be

00:13:03.120 to find that person.

00:13:04.740 From there,

00:13:05.640 we actually ask

00:13:07.320 for a video interview.

00:13:08.480 We give them

00:13:08.800 a series of questions.

00:13:10.280 They send us a video.

00:13:11.360 That's the first thing

00:13:12.280 that we look at

00:13:13.020 because you can just tell

00:13:13.840 a lot by somebody's confidence

00:13:15.080 when they're looking

00:13:15.600 in the camera.

00:13:16.940 And then we put them

00:13:18.260 through a series

00:13:19.000 of questions

00:13:19.900 that ask,

00:13:21.300 you know,

00:13:21.460 what would you do

00:13:22.140 in this situation

00:13:22.980 if this came up?

00:13:24.060 And we're looking

00:13:24.740 for creativity.

00:13:26.140 We're looking

00:13:26.640 for follow-through.

00:13:27.580 We're looking

00:13:27.880 for excellence.

00:13:29.260 You know,

00:13:29.500 Patrick,

00:13:30.540 you know as well

00:13:31.160 as I do,

00:13:31.720 if you hire

00:13:32.440 the wrong person,

00:13:33.440 it's going to cost you

00:13:34.220 an enormous amount

00:13:34.980 of opportunity cost.

00:13:37.340 You know,

00:13:37.500 it's one thing.

00:13:38.480 And the other thing

00:13:39.580 is we hire slow

00:13:40.840 and we fire quick.

00:13:42.260 So within three

00:13:43.040 or four months,

00:13:43.560 if we've made

00:13:43.960 a bad decision,

00:13:45.300 we let that person know,

00:13:46.380 hey,

00:13:46.460 we don't think

00:13:47.060 you're a fit

00:13:47.460 for this organization.

00:13:48.560 We think you're great.

00:13:49.740 You're going to do well

00:13:50.760 somewhere else.

00:13:51.900 We misjudged it.

00:13:53.400 And I think

00:13:54.080 we're about 70-30.

00:13:55.200 We get it right

00:13:55.740 about 70% of the time.

00:13:57.080 The reality is

00:13:57.520 you just can't know

00:13:58.520 until somebody

00:13:59.200 gets into the seat.

00:14:01.160 And the other thing

00:14:01.820 that we'll do,

00:14:02.380 Patrick,

00:14:02.720 is we're very gracious

00:14:03.820 in one sense.

00:14:05.140 If you're not working

00:14:05.860 out in this position,

00:14:06.520 we will actually try

00:14:07.600 to find some other way

00:14:08.960 in the company

00:14:09.580 for you to make us money.

00:14:11.360 And that's a challenge

00:14:12.200 on the leadership

00:14:12.860 to say,

00:14:13.320 you know,

00:14:13.460 this person isn't good

00:14:14.740 at this,

00:14:16.220 but let's ask ourselves,

00:14:18.160 is there something

00:14:19.360 we can do

00:14:20.120 with this person,

00:14:20.880 some sort of job description

00:14:21.920 that we could give them

00:14:23.460 that would allow them

00:14:24.720 to make the company money

00:14:26.020 and be a great investment

00:14:27.480 and,

00:14:28.340 you know,

00:14:28.900 a quarter of the time

00:14:30.100 or more,

00:14:30.560 we actually find

00:14:31.320 an opportunity for them.

00:14:32.600 But that's a paradigm shift

00:14:33.920 that leaders need to understand

00:14:35.880 that you always want

00:14:37.360 to be creative.

00:14:38.000 How else could we make money?

00:14:39.280 How else could we grow

00:14:40.140 this company?

00:14:41.140 And is,

00:14:41.740 would this person,

00:14:42.660 does this person

00:14:43.200 have an opportunity

00:14:43.900 to do something here

00:14:45.240 that would be really amazing?

00:14:46.660 You know,

00:14:46.900 we discovered

00:14:47.520 with one of our guys

00:14:48.400 that they were an academic.

00:14:49.500 They were just very,

00:14:50.200 they were just very good

00:14:51.620 at interacting

00:14:52.200 with universities.

00:14:52.840 So we created

00:14:53.440 a whole program

00:14:54.320 for them just to get

00:14:55.580 our curriculum taught

00:14:56.800 inside the university system.

00:14:59.020 And that has been

00:14:59.680 lucrative for us.

00:15:00.640 That position didn't exist

00:15:02.220 as a business strategy.

00:15:04.300 It came to us

00:15:05.200 because we were looking

00:15:05.960 at the skill set

00:15:06.800 of one of our team members.

00:15:08.360 That makes sense.

00:15:09.140 So going back

00:15:09.640 to step number one

00:15:10.440 is video interview.

00:15:11.380 They send it to you.

00:15:12.700 Number two is series

00:15:13.500 of questions.

00:15:14.220 Are there a lot

00:15:14.660 of open-ended questions

00:15:15.720 or is it multiple choice?

00:15:17.460 Is it,

00:15:17.960 I have to write

00:15:18.580 a few sentences

00:15:19.320 to explain how

00:15:20.140 I would handle a situation?

00:15:21.260 What is it like?

00:15:22.420 It's all written test

00:15:23.820 because if we want them

00:15:26.620 to write paragraphs

00:15:27.720 and the reason for that

00:15:29.880 is we're looking

00:15:30.460 for the rare individual

00:15:31.800 who can write.

00:15:33.660 If you can,

00:15:34.720 these days, Patrick,

00:15:35.960 if you know this,

00:15:36.960 if you can write,

00:15:38.120 you are deadly.

00:15:39.400 And what's amazing

00:15:40.140 is we're all texting

00:15:41.020 all the time

00:15:41.540 on our cell phones.

00:15:42.360 We write now

00:15:43.220 more than we've ever

00:15:44.180 written before.

00:15:44.800 We're sending emails,

00:15:45.540 but so few people

00:15:46.660 can actually do it.

00:15:48.320 Well, we're a company

00:15:49.020 that is known

00:15:49.700 for communicating

00:15:50.520 very clearly.

00:15:51.580 Can you imagine

00:15:52.240 if we send an email

00:15:53.440 that is not clear,

00:15:55.260 that's confusing?

00:15:57.340 You know,

00:15:57.760 we can't have that happen.

00:15:59.180 So that is another thing

00:16:00.940 I didn't bring up.

00:16:01.620 You have to pass

00:16:02.540 the writing test

00:16:03.460 or you can't work here.

00:16:06.640 So that's a must.

00:16:07.760 That's not even,

00:16:08.300 no matter how much

00:16:08.780 you like them,

00:16:09.160 if I can't pass

00:16:09.740 the writing test,

00:16:10.340 it's a no-go.

00:16:11.720 No, not at all.

00:16:13.100 Yeah.

00:16:13.300 How long is the writing test?

00:16:14.320 We're like a band.

00:16:15.680 If you can't sing

00:16:16.380 or play an instrument,

00:16:17.180 you can't be in the band.

00:16:17.820 That makes sense.

00:16:19.100 At least you know,

00:16:19.900 you know what you can't fail

00:16:21.100 and so how long

00:16:22.520 is the writing test?

00:16:24.320 Oh, it's not very long.

00:16:25.260 You know in a couple pages

00:16:26.180 whether or not

00:16:26.640 somebody can be concise.

00:16:29.020 Got it.

00:16:29.160 We will also ask them

00:16:30.280 to do their job.

00:16:31.560 So we just hired

00:16:32.320 a podcast producer

00:16:34.000 out of Chicago

00:16:35.000 and we actually sent them

00:16:37.760 hours and hours

00:16:38.900 of interviews

00:16:39.580 with me interviewing people

00:16:40.820 and just said,

00:16:41.960 hey, take this

00:16:42.640 and turn this into

00:16:43.540 a podcast episode

00:16:44.880 that you think

00:16:46.020 is entertaining.

00:16:46.620 And they actually

00:16:47.680 had to turn in

00:16:48.440 a finished product

00:16:49.180 before we hired them.

00:16:50.720 So that's a form

00:16:51.560 of a test.

00:16:52.740 You know,

00:16:53.040 if you don't know

00:16:53.420 if they can do it,

00:16:53.940 here's a test for you.

00:16:54.820 See how you do it

00:16:55.460 and it will come back

00:16:56.220 and if you surprise us,

00:16:58.040 you're in.

00:16:58.360 If you don't,

00:16:58.940 this may not be for you.

00:17:00.420 That's right.

00:17:01.260 And we're looking

00:17:01.660 for rock stars.

00:17:02.540 We're looking for,

00:17:03.560 we're just looking

00:17:04.200 for absolute rock stars.

00:17:05.460 And that's a saying

00:17:07.060 that goes around my company.

00:17:08.580 Rock stars only.

00:17:09.740 I mean,

00:17:10.000 absolute the best

00:17:11.120 that we can possibly get.

00:17:14.320 Don,

00:17:14.720 how many total employees

00:17:15.720 do you guys have?

00:17:17.300 We have 24.

00:17:19.180 We just hired four

00:17:20.080 and we'll probably hire 10

00:17:21.640 within the next 12 months.

00:17:22.960 Got it.

00:17:23.300 Okay.

00:17:23.700 All right.

00:17:24.000 So, so far we have product.

00:17:25.760 Then we have people.

00:17:27.260 Then we have process.

00:17:28.920 Is there a formula

00:17:30.000 you have for,

00:17:32.020 you know,

00:17:32.640 we hired a consulting firm

00:17:34.300 that came in here.

00:17:35.020 They spent six months with us.

00:17:37.600 They went to every single department

00:17:39.220 and came up with every single step

00:17:41.220 on what they do

00:17:42.260 to submit a policy.

00:17:44.460 You first do this,

00:17:45.260 then you do that,

00:17:45.940 then you do this,

00:17:46.540 then you do that.

00:17:47.040 We have 17,000

00:17:47.900 insurance agents nationwide.

00:17:49.100 So all of the softwares

00:17:50.840 they wanted to put steps in

00:17:51.920 because we didn't have it before.

00:17:53.340 So every time

00:17:54.200 we hired somebody new,

00:17:55.300 we had to spend

00:17:56.000 three months training them

00:17:56.980 instead of just having

00:17:57.740 watch this video,

00:17:59.100 here's a folder,

00:17:59.860 go through the steps.

00:18:00.960 What is your formula

00:18:02.100 for creating processes

00:18:03.420 that are effective

00:18:04.860 and how do you go about

00:18:05.760 finding leaks

00:18:06.540 and processes

00:18:07.180 that need to be

00:18:08.020 maybe taken out

00:18:09.140 or added?

00:18:10.480 Well, you know,

00:18:11.100 we went through that this year.

00:18:12.220 This was the first year

00:18:13.160 that we actually did

00:18:14.020 what you did

00:18:14.640 and we started

00:18:15.560 creating processes.

00:18:16.900 I will say

00:18:17.620 the reason that's important

00:18:19.100 for so many people

00:18:20.180 listening to this podcast

00:18:21.340 or watching this video

00:18:22.340 is because you can't

00:18:24.140 scale a company

00:18:24.860 unless you have processes

00:18:25.880 because you're going to be

00:18:26.600 too dependent

00:18:27.260 on the specific talents

00:18:29.260 and skills of people.

00:18:30.860 You have to create

00:18:32.140 every position

00:18:33.080 in the company

00:18:33.580 so that they can be replaced

00:18:34.880 and the other person

00:18:35.920 can step in very quickly.

00:18:37.160 So that's why,

00:18:37.880 you know,

00:18:38.420 you went through

00:18:38.840 the experience

00:18:39.360 that you went through

00:18:39.900 and we've gone through

00:18:40.940 the experience

00:18:41.360 that we've gone through.

00:18:42.480 I personally am not

00:18:43.780 a process person

00:18:45.120 and so I needed

00:18:46.300 to hire somebody

00:18:47.500 to handle execution.

00:18:49.100 So I hired a president.

00:18:51.100 He came over

00:18:51.900 from Cox Communications

00:18:53.200 between you and me

00:18:55.100 and everybody listening.

00:18:56.020 He was extremely expensive

00:18:57.340 and he came over

00:19:00.060 for a pay cut

00:19:01.720 of what he was getting before

00:19:03.600 because he really saw

00:19:04.800 the potential

00:19:05.360 in this company.

00:19:06.680 But having somebody

00:19:08.120 on your team

00:19:10.020 who was only

00:19:11.360 in charge of execution,

00:19:13.060 that's it.

00:19:13.620 His only job,

00:19:14.780 his name is Doug,

00:19:15.880 his only job

00:19:16.780 is to make sure

00:19:17.420 everybody else

00:19:18.340 is doing their job.

00:19:20.060 And so, you know,

00:19:20.940 our processes are,

00:19:23.180 each department

00:19:24.100 had to come up

00:19:24.760 with their own processes

00:19:25.680 and then we have

00:19:27.400 a team stand-up meeting

00:19:29.460 at the beginning

00:19:30.860 of every week

00:19:31.780 and then the directors

00:19:34.660 meet every single day

00:19:36.360 for 15, 20 minutes

00:19:38.820 and then there's

00:19:39.800 what we call

00:19:40.660 a speed check

00:19:41.760 where the department

00:19:43.360 head is meeting

00:19:44.080 with every single member

00:19:45.200 of their team

00:19:45.840 every week

00:19:46.560 and in those three meetings,

00:19:48.920 we aren't just saying,

00:19:49.980 hey, how's it going

00:19:50.660 and who needs help?

00:19:51.720 There are specific worksheets

00:19:53.120 that we have filled out.

00:19:54.700 Those worksheets say,

00:19:55.820 here are the five priorities

00:19:57.580 for my department

00:19:58.520 and here are my five priorities

00:20:01.060 within that department

00:20:02.960 in order to get

00:20:03.980 these objectives done.

00:20:05.840 And then there's

00:20:06.220 a series of questions.

00:20:08.440 What did you get done

00:20:09.560 last week?

00:20:10.680 What is holding you back?

00:20:12.760 There's just two

00:20:13.600 or three questions

00:20:14.320 that we ask

00:20:14.960 in every speed check.

00:20:16.480 The routine of those meetings

00:20:18.440 has made us

00:20:19.620 incredibly productive.

00:20:22.120 We've probably,

00:20:23.360 during the COVID quarantine

00:20:24.520 year,

00:20:25.660 this year,

00:20:26.160 we've probably doubled

00:20:27.100 in productivity

00:20:27.920 what we're producing

00:20:28.760 since we implemented

00:20:29.660 that execution framework.

00:20:32.780 Well, one good for you

00:20:33.880 and one good for Doug

00:20:34.840 for leaving Cox

00:20:35.680 and following you

00:20:36.360 and being part of your organization.

00:20:37.440 He's a godsend.

00:20:39.700 He's the highest paid person

00:20:41.000 on my team

00:20:41.640 because he makes sure

00:20:42.440 everybody else

00:20:42.920 gets things done.

00:20:44.240 I mean,

00:20:44.400 you talk about a return

00:20:45.340 on an investment.

00:20:46.600 If you hire

00:20:47.080 an execution specialist,

00:20:49.440 that's a very good investment

00:20:50.840 for you

00:20:51.300 at a certain point

00:20:52.520 in your company.

00:20:53.660 No question about that.

00:20:54.740 So let's go back to people.

00:20:56.020 One question I have

00:20:56.700 for you about people

00:20:57.740 is victims.

00:21:00.500 So, you know,

00:21:01.500 you like the hero mentality.

00:21:02.800 You don't like the victim mentality.

00:21:04.020 From your experience

00:21:05.120 over the years,

00:21:06.000 what are some qualities

00:21:07.000 of someone

00:21:07.440 that may be a victim?

00:21:09.700 Well,

00:21:10.300 the true definition

00:21:11.980 of a victim

00:21:12.680 is somebody

00:21:13.880 who has no option.

00:21:15.260 There's no way

00:21:15.800 to get out.

00:21:17.080 So what that means

00:21:18.360 is there are

00:21:19.000 very few actual victims.

00:21:21.500 Most of us,

00:21:22.560 we play the victim.

00:21:24.300 We play the role

00:21:25.080 of the victim

00:21:25.760 in order

00:21:27.140 to skirt

00:21:29.240 our responsibility

00:21:30.300 or to bring

00:21:32.140 some attention

00:21:32.820 or resources

00:21:33.520 to ourself.

00:21:34.560 It's a default mode.

00:21:36.540 You know,

00:21:37.080 I studied stories

00:21:38.960 for years

00:21:39.540 to write all these books

00:21:40.620 and wrote a screenplay

00:21:41.820 and I really became

00:21:43.400 a story fanatic.

00:21:45.180 And the reason

00:21:46.120 I love story

00:21:46.860 is it's such

00:21:47.660 a picture of life.

00:21:49.340 You know,

00:21:49.520 there are basically

00:21:50.420 four roles

00:21:51.320 in a story.

00:21:52.440 There is the victim,

00:21:54.140 the villain,

00:21:55.860 the hero,

00:21:57.000 and the guide.

00:21:57.780 Those four roles

00:21:59.640 exist in almost

00:22:00.420 every story.

00:22:01.080 The victim,

00:22:02.060 the villain,

00:22:02.780 the hero,

00:22:03.300 and the guide.

00:22:04.420 And the reason

00:22:04.860 those four roles

00:22:05.860 Are you saying God

00:22:05.920 or guide?

00:22:07.300 Guide.

00:22:08.000 G-U-I-D-E.

00:22:09.700 Guide.

00:22:10.440 So those four roles

00:22:11.620 exist in story

00:22:12.460 because I think

00:22:13.060 those four roles

00:22:13.820 exist inside

00:22:14.820 of every human being.

00:22:16.520 In fact,

00:22:16.900 on a given day,

00:22:17.960 I will play

00:22:18.840 the victim,

00:22:19.720 the villain,

00:22:20.320 the hero,

00:22:20.720 and the guide.

00:22:21.980 If you look

00:22:22.840 at what happens

00:22:23.460 in a story,

00:22:24.820 the victim

00:22:26.000 does not

00:22:27.880 transform.

00:22:29.340 They do not

00:22:29.860 save the day.

00:22:31.180 They do not

00:22:31.680 help anybody.

00:22:33.120 What they do,

00:22:33.840 the purpose of

00:22:34.440 the victim

00:22:34.800 in the story

00:22:35.480 is to make

00:22:36.060 the hero look

00:22:36.840 good and

00:22:37.520 the villain

00:22:37.980 look bad.

00:22:39.140 At the end

00:22:39.880 of the story,

00:22:40.540 the victim

00:22:40.900 is rescued.

00:22:41.700 You put a blanket

00:22:42.280 around them.

00:22:42.780 You put them

00:22:43.060 in the ambulance.

00:22:44.420 They go off

00:22:44.900 to the hospital

00:22:45.420 and the hero

00:22:46.260 stays behind

00:22:47.040 to get their reward.

00:22:48.680 The story

00:22:49.240 is really about

00:22:49.980 the hero.

00:22:51.540 The villain

00:22:52.340 almost,

00:22:53.600 the villain

00:22:54.020 and the hero

00:22:54.540 almost always have

00:22:55.500 a great deal

00:22:56.180 in common.

00:22:57.280 They both have

00:22:57.940 a back story

00:22:58.660 of pain.

00:22:59.940 You will normally

00:23:00.540 see the villain

00:23:01.520 with some sort

00:23:02.180 of scar

00:23:02.820 on their face

00:23:03.600 or a limp

00:23:04.420 or something

00:23:05.080 that says

00:23:05.580 they've been

00:23:05.980 hurt in the past.

00:23:07.500 The hero

00:23:07.940 has also been hurt.

00:23:09.140 They had a

00:23:09.560 challenging

00:23:09.980 back story

00:23:10.620 as well.

00:23:11.620 The difference

00:23:12.240 is they responded

00:23:13.220 differently to that

00:23:14.120 pain and suffering.

00:23:15.620 The hero

00:23:15.860 said,

00:23:17.260 I am not going

00:23:17.880 to let this

00:23:18.300 happen to anybody

00:23:18.960 else.

00:23:19.560 I'm going to

00:23:19.940 take the villain

00:23:20.480 down.

00:23:21.300 The villain

00:23:21.820 says,

00:23:22.420 I'm going to

00:23:22.800 seek vengeance

00:23:23.520 against the person

00:23:24.620 who hurt me.

00:23:25.140 I got hurt.

00:23:25.920 I'm going to

00:23:26.200 hurt other

00:23:26.540 people now

00:23:27.060 too.

00:23:28.580 You can see

00:23:29.540 when vengeance

00:23:30.540 rises up in us

00:23:31.620 and we want to

00:23:32.100 take vengeance

00:23:32.720 against our

00:23:33.380 oppressors rather

00:23:34.480 than bring them

00:23:35.000 to justice,

00:23:35.620 which is

00:23:35.920 different.

00:23:37.140 We play the

00:23:38.220 villain.

00:23:39.060 What happens

00:23:39.700 to the villain

00:23:40.220 in the story?

00:23:40.820 The villain

00:23:41.160 is hauled off

00:23:41.760 to jail

00:23:42.240 or killed

00:23:42.820 or the story

00:23:44.320 doesn't resolve.

00:23:45.980 Then you have

00:23:46.380 the hero.

00:23:47.080 The hero

00:23:47.480 is having to

00:23:48.680 deal with the

00:23:49.120 situation and

00:23:49.860 they're dealing

00:23:50.260 with it

00:23:50.640 heroically.

00:23:52.080 They are rising

00:23:53.040 up against that

00:23:53.740 challenge.

00:23:54.220 They're not

00:23:54.640 saying this

00:23:55.140 is unfair.

00:23:55.740 They're just

00:23:56.000 saying this

00:23:56.420 is life.

00:23:56.900 We got to

00:23:57.200 deal with it.

00:23:57.700 Let's go

00:23:58.240 help somebody

00:23:59.360 out.

00:24:00.000 Let's go

00:24:00.340 rescue somebody.

00:24:02.280 Then there's

00:24:02.740 the guide.

00:24:03.520 The guide is

00:24:04.180 typically the

00:24:05.640 wise sage who

00:24:07.460 is helping the

00:24:08.260 hero win.

00:24:09.900 The guide has a

00:24:10.900 heroic story in

00:24:11.900 their back

00:24:12.560 story.

00:24:14.000 Now they're

00:24:14.460 helping other

00:24:15.180 people experience

00:24:16.200 a win.

00:24:17.680 What does a

00:24:19.580 victim look like?

00:24:20.500 A victim looks

00:24:21.140 like, well,

00:24:22.160 it's not my

00:24:22.780 fault.

00:24:23.780 It's somebody

00:24:24.460 else's fault.

00:24:25.420 There was

00:24:25.760 nothing I

00:24:26.280 could do.

00:24:27.460 They typically

00:24:28.240 feel sorry for

00:24:29.140 themselves.

00:24:30.240 They find a

00:24:31.440 way to suck

00:24:32.420 energy into

00:24:32.920 themselves.

00:24:34.640 Hero takes the

00:24:35.240 exact same

00:24:35.700 situation and

00:24:36.300 said, well,

00:24:36.580 this just got

00:24:37.100 harder.

00:24:38.140 That's going to

00:24:38.700 make the story a

00:24:39.340 lot better when

00:24:39.900 we conquer this

00:24:40.580 thing.

00:24:42.440 The villain

00:24:43.480 says, you made

00:24:44.460 my life hard.

00:24:45.180 I'm going to get

00:24:45.860 you back.

00:24:46.620 In fact, I may

00:24:47.360 even make innocent

00:24:48.060 people suffer

00:24:48.900 because I

00:24:50.120 experience pain,

00:24:50.820 so I'm going

00:24:51.040 to make other

00:24:51.380 people experience

00:24:52.020 pain.

00:24:53.020 The guide sees

00:24:54.180 the hero and

00:24:54.780 says, hey,

00:24:55.420 look, I've been

00:24:56.200 through this

00:24:56.540 before.

00:24:57.380 I can help

00:24:58.000 you defeat

00:24:59.220 this villain.

00:25:00.380 Those four

00:25:00.960 roles, I'm

00:25:02.560 telling you,

00:25:02.940 Patrick, I play

00:25:03.560 them every day.

00:25:04.860 The reality is,

00:25:05.860 the more time I

00:25:06.600 spend, it's like a

00:25:07.320 gear shift on a

00:25:08.000 car.

00:25:08.360 You've got the

00:25:09.360 victim gear, the

00:25:10.980 villain gear, the

00:25:11.980 hero gear, the

00:25:12.760 guide gear.

00:25:13.480 The more time you

00:25:14.380 spend in victim

00:25:15.460 mode and villain

00:25:16.160 mode, the worse

00:25:16.800 your life is going

00:25:17.440 to go.

00:25:18.060 Period.

00:25:19.140 We have to, from

00:25:20.140 hour to hour, ask

00:25:21.420 ourselves, wait, am I

00:25:22.600 embracing this like a

00:25:24.080 hero or am I

00:25:25.940 embracing this like a

00:25:27.420 victim?

00:25:27.960 For instance, we had

00:25:29.780 about three weeks

00:25:30.680 here at the house.

00:25:31.460 I live in a really

00:25:32.080 unique place.

00:25:32.740 My wife and I

00:25:33.260 built sort of a

00:25:34.000 retreat center.

00:25:35.120 We have over 200

00:25:36.220 overnight guests a

00:25:37.120 year.

00:25:38.760 It's a wonderful

00:25:39.760 environment.

00:25:41.000 I had 30 family

00:25:43.260 members over for

00:25:44.020 Labor Day.

00:25:45.100 The next day, a

00:25:45.880 film crew took over

00:25:46.800 our house for three

00:25:47.620 days and we filmed

00:25:48.560 six hours worth of

00:25:49.900 business content that

00:25:50.880 we're going to

00:25:51.220 deliver.

00:25:52.100 We did not have a

00:25:52.880 single day off.

00:25:53.840 The next day, a

00:25:54.700 different film crew

00:25:55.360 came in for a

00:25:56.140 live stream marketing

00:25:57.060 workshop.

00:25:58.700 Before that live

00:26:00.120 stream marketing

00:26:00.560 workshop, I said,

00:26:01.600 I'm done.

00:26:03.160 Let's just sell the

00:26:04.020 company and buy a

00:26:04.880 boat.

00:26:08.120 My wife looked at

00:26:09.720 me and she said,

00:26:10.460 you're the one

00:26:11.200 who teaches people

00:26:11.900 not to play the

00:26:12.880 victim.

00:26:16.320 I said, okay,

00:26:17.760 what does the

00:26:18.300 hero do?

00:26:19.000 The hero goes, I'm

00:26:20.260 going to drink a

00:26:21.360 cup of coffee, my

00:26:22.180 friend, and we're

00:26:22.720 going to get this

00:26:23.220 thing done.

00:26:24.680 Of course, that's

00:26:26.840 what we did.

00:26:27.440 I was not going to

00:26:28.020 sell the company and

00:26:28.680 buy a boat.

00:26:30.040 You just have to

00:26:30.940 check your spirit

00:26:31.680 sometimes.

00:26:32.540 The reality is people

00:26:33.480 love being around

00:26:34.960 heroes.

00:26:35.460 They love being

00:26:36.240 around guides.

00:26:38.260 Victims, they love

00:26:39.060 to rescue.

00:26:39.700 Honestly, if

00:26:40.540 somebody is a

00:26:41.020 false victim, they

00:26:41.760 drain the energy

00:26:42.740 out of your whole

00:26:43.400 team because the

00:26:44.640 energy that could

00:26:45.440 be used serving

00:26:46.640 customers is now

00:26:48.600 used dealing with

00:26:49.600 helping somebody

00:26:50.580 else who really

00:26:52.620 could probably do

00:26:53.200 the work themselves

00:26:53.940 but they're playing

00:26:54.980 the victim in

00:26:56.140 order to sap

00:26:56.780 resources into

00:26:57.480 themselves.

00:26:58.200 Those four roles,

00:26:59.780 when we play them

00:27:00.960 in life, our

00:27:02.040 story is in the

00:27:02.840 same way every

00:27:03.400 movie ends.

00:27:04.620 The hero gets a

00:27:05.420 reward.

00:27:06.020 The guide is

00:27:06.800 respected and

00:27:07.620 loved.

00:27:07.900 The villain goes

00:27:09.360 to jail and the

00:27:10.100 victim is hauled

00:27:10.780 off to the

00:27:11.660 hospital.

00:27:12.660 Let me ask you

00:27:13.400 this.

00:27:13.680 By the way, the

00:27:15.560 way you put it

00:27:16.180 eloquently, everybody

00:27:17.220 relates to it.

00:27:18.060 We all relate to

00:27:19.240 what you're saying

00:27:19.820 right now.

00:27:20.780 But I think the

00:27:21.500 part that, and

00:27:23.120 maybe I'm going to

00:27:23.560 give it to you from

00:27:24.040 this angle, I'm

00:27:25.000 curious what you'll

00:27:25.580 say to this.

00:27:26.600 You know, I'm

00:27:27.080 20, I don't know

00:27:28.440 how old, I'm 27

00:27:29.560 years old and then

00:27:30.260 I said, I'm not

00:27:30.860 marrying anybody.

00:27:31.920 I'm done.

00:27:32.900 I'm good.

00:27:33.720 28 years old.

00:27:34.560 I'm making money.

00:27:35.340 I'm doing great.

00:27:36.080 I'm fine.

00:27:37.420 You know, I'm a

00:27:38.400 vice chairman of a

00:27:39.240 company.

00:27:40.160 Lifestyle is good.

00:27:41.000 Savings is good.

00:27:42.380 You know, then all

00:27:43.860 of a sudden I'm

00:27:44.500 sitting there asking,

00:27:45.580 talking to a girl

00:27:46.200 named Sandra, who

00:27:47.180 was my assistant.

00:27:47.960 Her and her husband

00:27:48.540 were very good

00:27:49.000 friends of mine.

00:27:50.000 I said, Patty, I'm

00:27:51.400 done.

00:27:51.740 I don't need to get

00:27:52.280 married anymore.

00:27:52.880 She said, what do

00:27:53.240 you mean?

00:27:53.380 I said, look, I

00:27:53.800 enjoy my own

00:27:54.280 company.

00:27:54.660 I'm good.

00:27:55.140 I don't need to

00:27:55.560 get married

00:27:56.040 relationship.

00:27:56.620 It's just a mess.

00:27:58.000 And then she makes

00:27:58.680 some book

00:27:59.400 recommendation and I

00:28:00.360 read the book, 101

00:28:01.160 questions to ask

00:28:02.020 before you get

00:28:02.480 engaged by Norman

00:28:03.160 right.

00:28:03.460 But there was a

00:28:04.400 trend that I

00:28:05.740 looked at the

00:28:06.820 relationships I had,

00:28:08.640 which was, was I

00:28:09.920 playing the player?

00:28:12.240 Okay.

00:28:12.640 That was early

00:28:13.360 twenties or was the

00:28:14.460 relationship, the

00:28:15.420 father, the, oh my

00:28:16.960 gosh, I'm going to

00:28:17.540 change.

00:28:18.000 You had problems

00:28:18.580 with your dad.

00:28:19.400 I'm going to, you

00:28:19.860 know what I'm

00:28:20.420 talking about with

00:28:20.980 the roles of, I'm

00:28:22.660 not going to be the

00:28:23.300 boyfriend.

00:28:23.640 I'm going to be the

00:28:24.420 father role.

00:28:25.000 I'm here for you.

00:28:26.040 You know, I'm going

00:28:26.420 to do this.

00:28:27.460 What is it with

00:28:28.420 some leaders that

00:28:30.440 constantly feel they

00:28:32.320 can change victims?

00:28:33.760 Meaning you've worked

00:28:35.160 with somebody who is

00:28:36.060 extremely, you know

00:28:36.920 who I'm talking

00:28:37.420 about.

00:28:37.620 You probably thought

00:28:38.340 about five names.

00:28:39.600 You have somebody in

00:28:40.700 your company, somebody

00:28:41.560 in your organization

00:28:42.440 who, you know, you see

00:28:44.680 greatness in this

00:28:45.620 person.

00:28:46.040 This person could be a

00:28:47.040 hero.

00:28:47.680 This person could go

00:28:48.760 out there and do

00:28:49.220 incredible things, but

00:28:50.960 behind closed doors,

00:28:52.140 it's your fault.

00:28:53.020 It's your fault.

00:28:53.840 It's the company's

00:28:54.480 fault.

00:28:54.660 It's the industry's

00:28:55.320 fault.

00:28:55.500 It's my wife's

00:28:55.980 fault.

00:28:56.160 It's my friend's

00:28:56.680 fault.

00:28:57.600 Everybody's fault

00:28:58.840 except theirs, and

00:28:59.760 they may be the

00:29:00.640 most talented person

00:29:01.540 in your company.

00:29:02.720 Did you ever have

00:29:03.680 to give up trying

00:29:04.900 to change victims?

00:29:06.000 And if yes, what

00:29:06.960 was your formula?

00:29:08.880 Yes, and not only

00:29:10.640 do we have to try

00:29:11.760 to give up changing

00:29:12.600 victims, we have to

00:29:13.880 give it up every

00:29:14.700 day.

00:29:16.280 What I give somebody

00:29:17.500 who's playing a

00:29:18.300 victim, first of

00:29:18.800 all, it's spoken

00:29:20.740 in our culture.

00:29:21.800 We define victim

00:29:23.000 mentality.

00:29:23.720 It's not a mystery.

00:29:25.040 So people now

00:29:25.780 recognize it in

00:29:26.680 themselves.

00:29:27.760 They know that

00:29:28.420 that's not going to

00:29:29.360 be valued here.

00:29:30.820 And so that took

00:29:31.540 care of 80% of the

00:29:32.860 problem right there

00:29:33.600 because you had the

00:29:34.400 people who used that

00:29:35.840 tactic, the victim

00:29:37.640 flop, I call it

00:29:38.880 flopping, you know,

00:29:39.520 like a Premier League

00:29:40.480 soccer player.

00:29:41.240 They flop and act like

00:29:42.140 they're injured and then

00:29:42.860 they jump up and score a

00:29:43.900 goal.

00:29:44.680 There's, you know,

00:29:45.240 they're fine.

00:29:45.840 There's nothing wrong.

00:29:46.840 So that no longer

00:29:48.020 works in my company.

00:29:51.180 And then what I tend to

00:29:52.080 do is have to remind

00:29:52.840 myself, this happened a

00:29:53.800 couple days ago.

00:29:54.280 Hey, you know, the

00:29:55.580 person's going to play

00:29:56.160 a victim.

00:29:56.640 There's nothing we can

00:29:57.320 do.

00:29:57.520 It is not our job to

00:29:58.600 change them.

00:29:59.660 What I want to do,

00:30:00.340 though, is give them an

00:30:01.200 opportunity to play the

00:30:02.700 heroes.

00:30:03.140 I want to sit down and

00:30:04.000 say, let me explain to

00:30:05.420 you your very clear

00:30:06.600 opportunity to make a lot

00:30:07.900 more money, to have all

00:30:10.460 these things come your

00:30:11.460 way, to have a great

00:30:12.360 career.

00:30:13.420 Here's your opportunity

00:30:14.340 if you can do these

00:30:15.340 things.

00:30:16.420 And I have actually seen

00:30:18.140 transformation with some

00:30:19.760 people, where they look

00:30:20.740 at that and they say,

00:30:22.120 well, all I needed to

00:30:23.360 know were the rules of

00:30:24.200 the game, and you just

00:30:25.020 taught me the rules of

00:30:25.820 the game, so now I'm

00:30:27.160 going to play the game

00:30:27.860 and gain some confidence

00:30:28.860 that I can actually win

00:30:29.920 at this game.

00:30:31.300 And so I've seen that

00:30:32.320 happen, but it is not,

00:30:33.840 it's just not our

00:30:34.500 responsibility to do

00:30:35.700 that.

00:30:36.260 And I would actually say

00:30:37.640 a lot of us, just like

00:30:39.780 you discovered in your

00:30:40.660 dating relationships,

00:30:41.740 Patrick, I didn't get

00:30:42.440 married until I was 42

00:30:43.540 years old.

00:30:44.640 I had some pretty rocky

00:30:45.900 relationships in there.

00:30:46.960 A couple of them were

00:30:48.460 because somebody played

00:30:50.160 the victim, and it made

00:30:51.740 me feel really good about

00:30:53.580 myself to go in and

00:30:55.680 rescue them.

00:30:56.520 But there's a psychologist

00:30:57.740 named Kaufman who has

00:30:58.700 something called

00:30:59.100 Kaufman's Triangle, and

00:31:00.160 he says, when you rescue

00:31:01.140 somebody, you begin to

00:31:03.300 resent them and build up

00:31:05.520 tension because they're

00:31:07.780 sapping all of your

00:31:09.280 energy and they won't

00:31:10.140 take responsibility for

00:31:11.180 their lives.

00:31:12.160 So that thing where it

00:31:13.360 makes us feel good

00:31:14.600 actually comes back and

00:31:16.140 bites us at the end.

00:31:17.680 What we want are a team

00:31:19.200 of high-performing,

00:31:20.900 heroic individuals and

00:31:22.460 guides who will transform

00:31:25.620 the lives of our

00:31:26.460 customers by solving

00:31:27.400 their problems.

00:31:28.960 Everything else, we need

00:31:30.120 to go see a counselor

00:31:30.900 and say, why am I

00:31:31.480 trying to rescue people?

00:31:32.680 You know, can I tell you

00:31:33.720 a weird story, Patrick?

00:31:34.880 Please.

00:31:35.480 I actually went and saw

00:31:38.100 a counselor once, and it

00:31:39.720 was at the request of a

00:31:41.440 friend who has a

00:31:42.100 therapeutic retreat center.

00:31:43.200 He said, you should spend

00:31:44.000 some time figuring this

00:31:44.760 stuff out.

00:31:45.560 And I only went in

00:31:46.600 dealing with my business

00:31:47.760 stuff.

00:31:48.180 I'd already gone and

00:31:48.920 dealt with all my

00:31:49.400 relational stuff,

00:31:50.260 codependency, all that

00:31:51.260 stuff.

00:31:51.580 It's an important

00:31:52.040 journey.

00:31:53.420 And she said, tell me

00:31:56.320 something you want to

00:31:56.780 work on.

00:31:57.560 And I said, okay, well,

00:31:58.860 I've got a couple of

00:31:59.860 staff members who I

00:32:00.800 really love.

00:32:01.720 They're like little

00:32:02.260 brothers to me.

00:32:02.960 And I really want to

00:32:04.480 pay them a lot of

00:32:05.140 money, and I dream

00:32:06.380 about their future and

00:32:07.460 all this kind of

00:32:07.840 stuff.

00:32:09.020 I'm tempted to think

00:32:10.020 maybe I want to

00:32:10.600 overpay them sometimes

00:32:11.780 or be a rescuer or

00:32:13.120 something like that, and

00:32:13.900 I can't figure out

00:32:14.640 why.

00:32:15.860 And she said, okay, she

00:32:16.920 said, how old is one of

00:32:19.160 these guys she named

00:32:19.840 him?

00:32:19.940 I said, he's about 26

00:32:20.820 years old.

00:32:21.880 She said, tell me where

00:32:23.120 you were when you were

00:32:23.900 26.

00:32:25.180 And I said, when I was

00:32:26.020 26, I was the president

00:32:27.700 of a small publishing

00:32:28.640 company.

00:32:29.400 I had transformed

00:32:30.400 this company.

00:32:31.100 We became the fastest

00:32:32.000 growing publishing

00:32:32.700 company in our segment.

00:32:34.740 And I was so proud of

00:32:36.020 the work I'd done.

00:32:36.520 She said, Don, how did

00:32:38.020 your boss feel about

00:32:38.960 that?

00:32:39.220 I said, he didn't feel

00:32:39.940 any way about it.

00:32:40.420 He was an absentee

00:32:41.180 owner.

00:32:41.740 He wasn't paying

00:32:42.380 attention.

00:32:43.180 In fact, he hired a

00:32:43.840 consultant to figure out

00:32:44.640 why we were growing.

00:32:45.320 The consultant had to

00:32:46.200 tell him it's because of

00:32:47.120 this kid, this guy, Don.

00:32:49.200 And she said, so let me

00:32:50.260 get this straight.

00:32:50.680 When you were 26, your

00:32:51.660 boss did not affirm you

00:32:53.340 or compensate you fairly.

00:32:54.880 And I said, yes.

00:32:55.860 And she goes, isn't it

00:32:57.180 obvious what you're

00:32:57.720 doing?

00:32:58.400 And I said, no, it's

00:32:59.460 not obvious.

00:32:59.780 She said, Don, you're

00:33:01.180 trying to compensate

00:33:02.180 your 26-year-old.

00:33:03.120 Yourself.

00:33:03.520 Yeah, wow.

00:33:04.660 She had me do this,

00:33:05.860 Patrick.

00:33:06.100 This was really trippy.

00:33:07.440 It was weird.

00:33:08.300 She said, okay, I'm

00:33:09.040 going to put him in

00:33:09.500 this chair.

00:33:09.880 She goes, I want you

00:33:10.660 now to go sit in his

00:33:12.100 chair and be him and

00:33:14.940 look back at yourself

00:33:16.220 and say, here's what I

00:33:17.100 actually need.

00:33:18.140 And I went and I did

00:33:19.220 it and I looked at

00:33:19.880 myself in that empty

00:33:20.860 chair and I said, oh

00:33:21.720 my gosh, it's so

00:33:22.500 clear.

00:33:23.200 I need a clear job

00:33:24.140 description.

00:33:24.960 I need clear objectives

00:33:26.080 and I need to be

00:33:26.740 compensated based on

00:33:27.680 performance.

00:33:28.820 It was just a

00:33:29.840 fascinating revelation.

00:33:31.500 So the reality is we're

00:33:32.560 bringing all sorts of

00:33:33.460 our garbage and our

00:33:34.340 baggage into our work

00:33:35.400 every day.

00:33:35.800 And thank goodness I

00:33:36.540 have a gracious staff

00:33:37.620 who forgives me of

00:33:38.380 that and knows I'm

00:33:39.060 willing to work on it.

00:33:40.260 But we've got to

00:33:41.000 constantly be working on

00:33:42.580 those temptations to

00:33:44.060 rescue people.

00:33:45.840 You don't want to be

00:33:46.680 doing that stuff.

00:33:47.500 I interviewed, he

00:33:48.540 actually reminds me of

00:33:49.440 you in our short time

00:33:50.240 together, Patrick.

00:33:50.680 I interviewed Pete Carroll

00:33:51.800 who's the head of the

00:33:52.960 Seattle Seahawks.

00:33:54.040 I think they're going to

00:33:54.620 win a Super Bowl this

00:33:55.400 year.

00:33:56.540 They're amazing.

00:33:57.500 I interviewed him a few

00:33:58.520 years ago and I said,

00:34:00.700 how many times do you

00:34:02.000 give somebody a second

00:34:02.940 chance?

00:34:03.380 You know, he said,

00:34:03.820 well, he said, look,

00:34:04.860 if somebody's drowning

00:34:05.680 out there, I'll throw

00:34:06.400 them a rope.

00:34:07.160 And I said, what if they

00:34:07.880 don't take it?

00:34:08.380 He said, I'll throw

00:34:08.980 them another.

00:34:09.560 I said, Pete, what if

00:34:10.340 they don't take it?

00:34:10.900 He said, I'll throw

00:34:11.380 them another.

00:34:12.060 And I thought he's

00:34:12.580 going to go on forever.

00:34:13.280 And I said, okay, what

00:34:14.080 about the fourth time?

00:34:14.820 He said, I let them

00:34:15.620 drown.

00:34:16.420 There you go.

00:34:16.900 And I said, really?

00:34:17.640 You let them drown?

00:34:18.680 He goes, Don, they

00:34:19.820 chose to drown.

00:34:21.460 It's not my

00:34:21.840 responsibility.

00:34:22.320 That's right.

00:34:23.520 And, you know, that's a

00:34:24.520 hard thing to, for those

00:34:25.740 of us who are

00:34:26.180 compassionate and love

00:34:27.000 people, it's a hard

00:34:27.740 thing to actually say

00:34:28.520 this person is going to

00:34:29.260 have to, you know,

00:34:30.580 drown or near drown in

00:34:32.000 order to figure out

00:34:33.020 their life.

00:34:33.680 And I'm not going to

00:34:34.520 get in the way of that

00:34:35.160 by continuing trying to

00:34:36.120 rescue them.

00:34:36.780 Yeah.

00:34:37.020 I mean, by the way,

00:34:38.220 there's a lot of what

00:34:38.840 you just said.

00:34:39.280 Pete Carroll, he's the

00:34:40.040 man, he's the only guy

00:34:41.180 in college who won six

00:34:43.300 seasons in a row of

00:34:44.080 12 season.

00:34:45.920 Wins, which is pretty

00:34:46.940 tough to do.

00:34:47.480 And you said something

00:34:48.120 earlier about, you

00:34:51.040 know, the responsibility

00:34:51.940 of trying to change

00:34:52.720 this victim.

00:34:53.400 I have an affirmation

00:34:54.460 that I've been reading

00:34:55.120 for the last 15 years

00:34:56.260 and it changed my life.

00:34:57.380 It says, stop trying

00:34:59.560 to be God.

00:35:00.460 That job is already

00:35:01.220 taken.

00:35:01.980 Very simple.

00:35:03.180 Stop trying to be God.

00:35:04.860 That job is already

00:35:05.460 taken.

00:35:05.740 I'm going to steal that

00:35:05.760 from you.

00:35:06.620 You know, can I steal

00:35:07.500 that from you?

00:35:08.020 It's all yours.

00:35:08.900 Go for it.

00:35:09.560 Yeah.

00:35:09.760 And so what I did is

00:35:11.160 I'm an unorganized guy.

00:35:12.760 If you see my desk, it

00:35:14.180 is Sam, is my

00:35:15.660 desk ever organized?

00:35:17.600 You can be honest.

00:35:18.660 Say it so he can hear

00:35:19.380 you.

00:35:20.720 My desk is always a

00:35:22.640 mess.

00:35:22.960 Okay.

00:35:23.760 But I hire, I'm the

00:35:25.080 guy that likes to hire

00:35:26.100 April babies and I like

00:35:28.640 July babies.

00:35:29.800 I like organized people

00:35:30.800 is what I like.

00:35:31.460 I know it kind of

00:35:31.920 sounds weird too.

00:35:32.680 You're a faith-based

00:35:33.260 guy.

00:35:33.460 My wife is into that.

00:35:35.320 Yeah.

00:35:35.580 So I have manuals that I

00:35:37.760 created with everything

00:35:39.060 is systems on what we do.

00:35:40.520 Right.

00:35:40.660 So I brought everybody

00:35:41.320 together.

00:35:41.760 I think this one's going

00:35:42.380 to be trippy on what we

00:35:43.140 just talked about.

00:35:44.400 This manual I put together

00:35:45.800 11 years ago on page 168.

00:35:49.300 I didn't even think we're

00:35:49.920 going to go there.

00:35:50.880 The main page here at the

00:35:52.880 top, if you see it, it

00:35:54.860 says qualities of victimhood

00:35:56.580 mentality.

00:35:57.940 Wow.

00:35:58.380 So the entire two pages.

00:36:00.200 Will you read that to us

00:36:01.280 just so that we have your

00:36:02.420 wisdom on that?

00:36:03.500 Yeah.

00:36:03.820 So I'll go through how we

00:36:05.620 put this together.

00:36:06.640 Okay.

00:36:07.420 Qualities of a victimhood

00:36:08.380 mentality.

00:36:08.940 Number one, they stop

00:36:09.680 working and having too much

00:36:10.740 time on their hands to think

00:36:11.740 about problems.

00:36:12.500 Number two, they become

00:36:14.420 negative and start finding

00:36:15.760 reasons to blame why

00:36:17.140 there's a problem.

00:36:18.960 Number three, they justify

00:36:20.460 why they're a victim.

00:36:21.800 They say things like life

00:36:23.420 isn't all about money, yet

00:36:25.120 all they argue about is

00:36:25.980 money.

00:36:26.400 The business has gotten

00:36:27.360 us away from spending

00:36:28.280 quality time with my

00:36:29.020 family.

00:36:29.440 I'm working too hard.

00:36:30.360 I need to spend more

00:36:31.380 time in church.

00:36:32.240 Number four, they spread

00:36:33.640 rumors and negativity.

00:36:35.840 Number five, they recruit

00:36:37.300 other victims to help

00:36:38.480 justify their reasoning for

00:36:39.760 being a victim.

00:36:40.480 Number six, they spread

00:36:44.220 the negativity to others

00:36:45.780 that spread and rumors

00:36:46.620 are the same.

00:36:47.180 Number seven, this becomes

00:36:48.600 a never-ending issue for

00:36:50.060 them to deal with for the

00:36:51.040 rest of their lives.

00:36:52.040 The next thing they do is

00:36:53.340 they will find someone else

00:36:55.080 later on in life to blame

00:36:56.280 again and again and again.

00:36:58.380 And I wrote on the bottom

00:36:59.260 what to do with this.

00:37:00.020 This is what I've done

00:37:00.680 the last 20 years.

00:37:02.420 I meet with them and

00:37:03.480 their partner, their

00:37:04.500 husband and wife,

00:37:05.120 immediately in a private

00:37:05.980 setting.

00:37:06.960 Ask them what's the reason

00:37:08.080 why they got in the, you

00:37:09.120 know, why they started

00:37:10.280 doing a business or why

00:37:11.280 they're doing what, what

00:37:11.900 are their dreams?

00:37:12.440 Like going back to it.

00:37:13.300 Give me why you, what

00:37:14.440 your dreams are.

00:37:15.640 Ask them if those things

00:37:16.620 don't matter to them.

00:37:18.080 Find out what the

00:37:18.860 challenges may be and help

00:37:20.180 them clear it up.

00:37:21.540 Ask them if they would like

00:37:22.580 things to change.

00:37:23.360 If they say yes, they get

00:37:24.420 direction.

00:37:24.920 If no, I don't give them

00:37:25.820 anything.

00:37:26.100 I just give them distance

00:37:27.300 and I give them a break or

00:37:28.400 fire them or say, this is

00:37:29.600 just not for us.

00:37:31.160 Explain to them what, what,

00:37:32.480 why this happens and

00:37:33.380 challenge our attitude and

00:37:34.360 mindset to change.

00:37:35.800 Recommend them a book, a

00:37:36.800 CD or seminar to attend.

00:37:38.640 Make an effort to show

00:37:39.740 genuine care about them and

00:37:40.960 their family.

00:37:41.620 This is a must.

00:37:42.200 It can't be an act.

00:37:43.320 Hold them accountable to

00:37:44.220 what they'll be working on

00:37:45.400 to finish a book, to smile

00:37:46.520 more often, to be positive,

00:37:47.640 to encourage, whatever it

00:37:48.540 may be.

00:37:49.520 Number 10, if they once in

00:37:51.040 a while fall into that, that

00:37:52.500 bad habit again, give them

00:37:54.240 second and third chance.

00:37:56.840 It's like Pete Carroll, who's

00:37:58.560 third chance in the book.

00:37:59.880 It says second and third

00:38:01.520 chance.

00:38:01.900 If they're truly making an

00:38:03.040 effort to change.

00:38:03.840 And then last but not least,

00:38:05.400 if things get worse, take a

00:38:07.540 break and move to another

00:38:09.040 person.

00:38:09.420 So, I mean, that's in the

00:38:10.660 book here, you know, this

00:38:11.500 happens in every single thing

00:38:12.580 and I've had victims around my

00:38:13.600 life for a long time and

00:38:14.400 they're, they're by far, in my

00:38:16.320 opinion, the greatest

00:38:17.280 recruiters ever.

00:38:18.920 They're better at recruiting

00:38:20.080 than heroes.

00:38:22.360 They're better at recruiting

00:38:23.140 people than, you know,

00:38:25.200 positive people.

00:38:26.160 It's very easy.

00:38:27.140 The message is so, but you

00:38:28.980 don't understand what he did

00:38:30.120 to me and what she did to

00:38:31.180 me and how they treat me

00:38:32.040 and did you see this?

00:38:32.860 And so it's tough to go

00:38:34.360 through it.

00:38:34.700 I don't want to spend a lot

00:38:35.520 of time on the victim thing.

00:38:36.420 I just thought it was pretty

00:38:37.240 interesting that you have

00:38:38.260 that.

00:38:38.840 Yeah.

00:38:39.160 Well, I think, you know, it

00:38:40.420 just shows you that people

00:38:41.520 who have succeeded in life

00:38:43.820 went through a season where

00:38:44.980 they tried to figure out how

00:38:46.040 to get victim mentality out.

00:38:47.640 You did that.

00:38:48.380 And wrote about it a decade

00:38:50.240 ago.

00:38:50.940 I will say one last thing

00:38:52.220 about victims that you have

00:38:53.140 to be really careful of.

00:38:54.560 If you're around somebody who

00:38:56.060 defaults as a victim, they,

00:38:58.320 they are going to make you the

00:38:59.720 oppressor at some point.

00:39:01.420 They're, they, they need

00:39:02.800 somebody to hurt them.

00:39:04.680 And so even if you didn't hurt

00:39:06.560 them, they're going to figure out

00:39:07.640 a way they're going to be

00:39:08.440 easily offended or something.

00:39:10.360 You're going to be the

00:39:11.280 oppressor.

00:39:11.860 And so when I see victims, I

00:39:13.240 say, wait a second, it's only

00:39:14.040 a matter of time before this

00:39:15.900 person positions me as the

00:39:17.400 person who hurt them.

00:39:18.380 And, and isn't that amazing

00:39:19.580 that the victim now who falsely

00:39:21.400 accuses somebody of hurting

00:39:22.920 them actually plays the villain.

00:39:25.580 And it's, you know, it's a

00:39:26.740 scary thing.

00:39:27.320 And I just won't go anywhere

00:39:28.220 near it.

00:39:29.260 I've been around it.

00:39:30.300 I'm in the world and I see it

00:39:31.840 regularly.

00:39:32.300 And the hardest thing to do is

00:39:33.720 just walk away because deep

00:39:35.720 down inside, you know,

00:39:36.780 typically great leaders like

00:39:38.020 Pete Carroll, you know, you

00:39:38.860 want to give these guys a

00:39:39.720 fighting chance, but you can

00:39:42.080 make miracles happen.

00:39:43.080 Sometimes a person's got to

00:39:44.280 want to change.

00:39:44.820 So, okay.

00:39:45.620 So we have talked about the

00:39:47.340 four P's product, people,

00:39:49.180 process, positioning.

00:39:50.580 When you're talking

00:39:51.400 positioning, Don, are you

00:39:53.000 talking positioning almost like

00:39:54.460 the blue ocean strategy

00:39:55.520 positioning, or do you have a

00:39:57.100 different way of looking at

00:39:58.600 positioning?

00:39:59.880 Well, blue ocean is a, that's

00:40:01.460 a great book and a great

00:40:02.340 thought.

00:40:02.760 Mine is my positioning.

00:40:04.160 When I think about

00:40:04.700 positioning, I literally think

00:40:05.840 about the words that you use

00:40:07.780 to position yourself in the

00:40:10.480 market.

00:40:11.300 And there's a formula that I

00:40:13.140 use to go through that.

00:40:14.080 So building a story brand,

00:40:15.200 probably the reason I'm on

00:40:16.020 your, your podcast, and we

00:40:17.580 could probably talk for, for

00:40:18.580 two weeks straight, Patrick,

00:40:19.920 but the reason I'm here is to

00:40:21.740 talk about positioning and what

00:40:23.020 that looks like.

00:40:23.860 We help people clarify their

00:40:25.560 message and we do that

00:40:27.080 using the elements of story,

00:40:29.800 the ancient story structure

00:40:31.160 that existed before

00:40:32.840 Aristotle, but Aristotle was

00:40:34.320 the first to write about it in

00:40:35.560 a book called Poetics.

00:40:37.320 And so it's 2,500 years old.

00:40:39.400 We, some adaptation of this

00:40:41.240 story structure.

00:40:42.440 The reason I like story in

00:40:44.940 order to captivate an audience

00:40:47.120 is because the average human

00:40:49.120 brain spends about 30% of its

00:40:51.300 time daydreaming, 30% of its

00:40:53.200 time.

00:40:53.920 That's actually a survival

00:40:55.220 mechanism.

00:40:55.740 It's your brain saying there's

00:40:57.140 nothing that I'm encountering

00:40:58.720 right now that can help me

00:40:59.500 survive.

00:41:00.400 So we're going to take a break

00:41:01.960 and I'll check back in with

00:41:03.720 reality later when I think my

00:41:05.560 brain needs to help me

00:41:06.560 survive.

00:41:07.980 Except when you're watching a

00:41:09.460 movie.

00:41:09.740 If you're watching a movie or

00:41:10.920 reading a book or watching a

00:41:12.060 television series, your brain

00:41:13.420 will not daydream.

00:41:14.660 It will actually pay attention

00:41:16.180 for 90 minutes, two hours, a

00:41:17.860 whole weekend.

00:41:18.760 It is the only tool on the

00:41:20.760 planet that can get somebody to

00:41:22.080 pay attention.

00:41:23.120 It's fascinating.

00:41:24.420 So it's worth studying, I

00:41:25.840 think, story and how it works

00:41:27.620 because every little plot

00:41:29.400 point that we study actually

00:41:31.340 gives us a fascinating

00:41:32.460 business paradigm shift that

00:41:34.800 we can use to make more money

00:41:36.180 in our company.

00:41:36.940 So let me go through the

00:41:38.800 formula for you and just give

00:41:40.460 you a flyover version of what

00:41:43.180 it is.

00:41:44.340 In every story, first of all,

00:41:46.400 stories are very formulaic and

00:41:48.340 a lot of people don't know

00:41:49.200 that, but there are basically

00:41:51.540 about 35 plot points that

00:41:53.300 happen in a story.

00:41:54.780 There are only seven stories

00:41:56.520 that ever get told in the

00:41:57.620 theater.

00:41:58.160 If you know what those stories

00:41:59.660 are, you know where the

00:42:00.980 movie's going.

00:42:02.380 My wife hates going to the

00:42:03.680 movies with me because I

00:42:04.560 elbow her and say, that guy

00:42:06.000 dies in 31 minutes.

00:42:07.640 He normally does.

00:42:09.500 They're just formulaic.

00:42:11.860 The beautiful thing is, what

00:42:13.400 that means is over the 2,500

00:42:15.080 years, story specialists have

00:42:18.660 figured out how to captivate an

00:42:20.500 audience's attention.

00:42:22.060 So one of the hardest things

00:42:23.440 for us to do as small

00:42:24.520 business owners is get

00:42:26.440 people's attention and keep

00:42:27.660 it.

00:42:28.440 So let's look at how a story

00:42:29.620 works and see how it can

00:42:30.600 help us.

00:42:31.200 The very first thing that

00:42:32.400 happens in a story, I'm going

00:42:33.320 to go through seven critical

00:42:35.340 plot points that happen in

00:42:36.500 every single movie that you'll

00:42:37.840 go see.

00:42:39.040 The first is a character.

00:42:41.180 You have a character who shows

00:42:42.460 up on screen.

00:42:43.800 And what you've got to do as

00:42:45.260 a screenwriter is you've got

00:42:46.480 to figure out what that

00:42:48.680 character wants because that

00:42:50.340 defines the story.

00:42:51.860 The character has to want to

00:42:52.980 disarm the bomb.

00:42:54.160 The character has to want to

00:42:55.320 win the championship.

00:42:56.500 The character has to want to

00:42:57.540 marry the girl.

00:42:58.600 It has to be really specific.

00:43:00.340 So there are two mistakes that

00:43:01.680 amateur screenwriters make,

00:43:03.080 and they're the same mistakes

00:43:04.200 that business leaders make.

00:43:05.820 The first is they are too

00:43:07.840 vague in defining what it is

00:43:10.600 that their customer wants.

00:43:13.140 So if, Patrick, if I said,

00:43:15.500 hey, let's skip the rest of

00:43:16.380 this interview.

00:43:17.060 There's a movie down the

00:43:17.940 street.

00:43:18.360 It's about a guy looking for

00:43:19.480 fulfillment.

00:43:21.320 Is that interesting to you at

00:43:22.700 all?

00:43:22.940 Not at all.

00:43:24.160 No.

00:43:24.820 Okay, let me tempt you a

00:43:25.840 little bit better.

00:43:26.860 Patrick, let's skip this

00:43:27.780 interview.

00:43:28.220 There's a movie down the

00:43:29.080 street.

00:43:29.540 Liam, another of Liam

00:43:30.760 Neeson's daughters has been

00:43:32.040 kidnapped.

00:43:32.960 Is that more tempting or

00:43:34.480 more tempting, more

00:43:35.740 tempting?

00:43:36.700 Well, the reason is it's

00:43:37.840 clear.

00:43:38.280 And so if we are elusive or

00:43:41.260 vague, we can't captivate

00:43:43.100 somebody's attention.

00:43:43.960 And here's what I mean by

00:43:44.680 that.

00:43:45.100 You know, I study websites for

00:43:46.600 a living.

00:43:47.160 If I go to your website and

00:43:48.440 you have something like

00:43:49.760 trust is the commodity we

00:43:53.020 exchange, you're not going to

00:43:56.120 sell anything because it's so

00:43:58.100 vague.

00:43:58.880 It's, you know, it doesn't say

00:44:00.320 what you offer.

00:44:01.160 It doesn't tell me what

00:44:01.920 problem you solve.

00:44:03.400 We've got to know.

00:44:04.320 So it can't be vague or

00:44:05.900 elusive.

00:44:06.820 The other problem is we will

00:44:08.140 define too many things that

00:44:09.940 the customer wants.

00:44:11.140 We want to put all 27 of our

00:44:13.320 revenue streams up on the

00:44:14.920 main page.

00:44:16.640 But if I took you to a

00:44:17.580 movie, if we went to a

00:44:18.380 movie and Jason Bourne wanted

00:44:19.740 to know who he really was, he

00:44:21.780 wanted to lose 30 pounds, he

00:44:23.300 wanted to run a marathon, he

00:44:24.380 wanted to marry the girl, he's

00:44:25.880 thinking about adopting a

00:44:26.860 cat, I've put too many plot

00:44:29.440 points in that movie and I'm

00:44:30.620 going to lose the audience.

00:44:31.520 It's just not going to work.

00:44:34.520 So we have to define something

00:44:35.980 the customer wants.

00:44:37.620 The next thing we have to do

00:44:39.080 is our hero in the story has

00:44:42.300 to have a problem.

00:44:43.460 There has to be something that

00:44:44.740 is challenging them.

00:44:46.580 In fact, a story without a

00:44:47.820 problem can't hook the

00:44:49.460 audience.

00:44:50.540 You know, if I said a buddy of

00:44:52.840 mine wanted to play or was in

00:44:54.760 L.A. and he got a call from

00:44:56.060 some friends and they said, come

00:44:57.160 down to the beach, we're

00:44:57.840 playing volleyball and he

00:44:58.820 walked down to the beach and

00:44:59.780 they were all his best

00:45:01.040 friends.

00:45:01.480 They started playing

00:45:01.960 volleyball and the game

00:45:02.980 ended in a tie and then one

00:45:04.400 of them said, I'm hungry and

00:45:05.240 there was some tacos across

00:45:06.320 the street and the tacos

00:45:07.160 happened to be on sale.

00:45:08.560 How long can I go into this

00:45:10.720 story without boring you?

00:45:12.540 What's going to happen is

00:45:13.380 very quickly if we don't have

00:45:14.540 a problem, the audience is

00:45:16.620 going to begin to daydream.

00:45:18.640 And that's what's happening

00:45:19.880 with most of us in our

00:45:20.840 businesses.

00:45:21.360 Here's the business paradigm

00:45:22.420 shift there.

00:45:23.440 If you're not talking about

00:45:24.800 your customers' problems, you

00:45:27.200 are not selling anything and

00:45:28.520 your business is not going to

00:45:29.560 grow.

00:45:30.000 The only reason your

00:45:31.540 customer is going to your

00:45:32.900 website or calling your

00:45:34.060 sales rep back or walking

00:45:35.400 into your retail

00:45:36.200 establishment is because they

00:45:38.200 are trying to solve a

00:45:39.360 problem.

00:45:40.220 When you make it very clear

00:45:41.920 what problem you solve, you

00:45:43.700 attract customers.

00:45:45.680 In fact, I say to sales

00:45:46.880 people all the time, you're

00:45:48.780 not actually trying to sell

00:45:49.780 anything.

00:45:50.640 What you're trying to do is

00:45:51.540 you're trying to connect this

00:45:52.540 product to a problem that

00:45:55.080 your customer has.

00:45:56.000 And when the synapses fire

00:45:57.860 and they see this product as

00:45:59.680 the resolution to the

00:46:00.620 problem, that is when they

00:46:02.260 are going to buy it.

00:46:03.860 So you've got to figure out

00:46:05.040 what that problem is.

00:46:06.180 You've got to talk about it.

00:46:07.320 You've got to say this is a

00:46:08.240 painful problem and nobody

00:46:09.300 should have to deal with

00:46:10.100 this.

00:46:10.740 Therefore, you should buy this

00:46:12.120 product.

00:46:12.980 And when you do that, you're

00:46:14.540 actually going to sell a lot

00:46:15.840 more product.

00:46:16.900 So we've got to have the

00:46:18.100 problem next.

00:46:19.420 The third element is the

00:46:21.040 guide.

00:46:22.280 Guide.

00:46:22.760 G-U-I-D-E.

00:46:23.640 When we represent our

00:46:25.540 business or our product, we

00:46:26.820 want you to play the guide in

00:46:28.700 the story.

00:46:29.460 Don't play the hero.

00:46:30.680 You play the hero in your

00:46:31.460 personal life.

00:46:32.700 But when you're representing a

00:46:33.920 brand or you're selling a

00:46:35.060 product, you play the guide.

00:46:37.300 And what does the guide do?

00:46:38.360 The guide helps the hero win

00:46:39.960 the day.

00:46:41.060 So if you're not listening to

00:46:42.400 anything else on this

00:46:43.020 podcast, hear me say this.

00:46:45.040 Never play the hero in the

00:46:47.280 story.

00:46:48.120 Always play the guide when it

00:46:50.460 comes to representing your

00:46:51.460 brand.

00:46:52.000 What does that mean?

00:46:53.280 Well, when you play the

00:46:54.140 hero in the story, first of

00:46:56.420 all, if I say, if you say,

00:46:58.840 Don, tell me about your

00:46:59.440 business, I say, well, you

00:47:00.360 know, we're trying to make

00:47:01.220 15 million this year and

00:47:02.320 we're trying to increase our

00:47:03.060 great places to work metric

00:47:04.240 and we want to have our

00:47:05.540 fourth quarter revenue be

00:47:06.700 double what it was last

00:47:07.680 year.

00:47:08.060 What you hear me saying is

00:47:09.520 that I'm a hero in a story.

00:47:11.780 Well, if I'm a hero in a

00:47:13.140 story and you're a hero in a

00:47:14.640 story, we're in separate

00:47:16.000 stories.

00:47:17.060 So the second we play the

00:47:18.560 hero in the story, we

00:47:19.340 remove ourselves from our

00:47:20.500 customer's story.

00:47:21.180 That's so powerful what you

00:47:22.620 just said.

00:47:23.080 Can you say that one more

00:47:24.120 time?

00:47:24.380 That was so powerful.

00:47:25.840 I hope I'm not.

00:47:26.740 I don't mean to interrupt.

00:47:27.700 I just want to make sure

00:47:28.480 they caught what you just

00:47:29.260 said right there.

00:47:30.460 When you play the hero in

00:47:31.920 the story, you remove

00:47:33.400 yourself from your

00:47:34.300 customer's story.

00:47:35.580 Your customer is walking

00:47:36.520 to the room saying, I need

00:47:37.800 a guide to help me solve a

00:47:39.880 problem and win the day.

00:47:41.000 And when they recognize that

00:47:42.800 you're the hero, they go,

00:47:45.220 OK, well, you're a hero and

00:47:46.180 I'm a hero.

00:47:47.540 Nice to meet you.

00:47:48.860 Would you move out of the

00:47:49.540 way?

00:47:49.680 I'm looking for a guide who

00:47:50.620 can help me.

00:47:51.760 Can I give you some really

00:47:52.620 powerful examples?

00:47:54.040 Please.

00:47:55.660 Donald Trump runs for

00:47:56.900 president.

00:47:57.600 He's got zero shot of

00:47:58.940 winning that election.

00:48:00.660 Hillary Clinton is the

00:48:01.540 front runner.

00:48:02.780 She could stay home and

00:48:04.340 still win the election.

00:48:05.480 What was her tagline?

00:48:06.880 Her tagline was, I'm with

00:48:09.000 her.

00:48:10.840 She's the hero in the

00:48:11.840 story.

00:48:12.640 So she couldn't drive

00:48:14.220 enough voters to the

00:48:15.380 polls.

00:48:16.040 She couldn't get them

00:48:16.840 impassioned.

00:48:17.740 And here's why.

00:48:18.840 Because they sat there

00:48:19.520 and went, OK, well, she's

00:48:20.460 the hero in the story.

00:48:21.160 What do I get?

00:48:22.260 I've got all these

00:48:22.920 problems as an American.

00:48:24.960 And she's saying, hey,

00:48:26.480 help me with my problem.

00:48:27.360 My problem is I want to

00:48:28.160 be president.

00:48:29.700 Right?

00:48:30.380 And she loses.

00:48:31.720 Donald Trump didn't win

00:48:32.800 that election.

00:48:33.420 She lost it.

00:48:35.040 When I went in to help

00:48:36.200 Jeb Bush, Jeb's team

00:48:37.760 called and said,

00:48:39.040 can you come in?

00:48:40.040 He was at 3% in the

00:48:41.320 polls, Patrick.

00:48:42.560 He had $130 million in the

00:48:44.600 Right to Rise Super

00:48:45.340 Pack.

00:48:45.840 Day one.

00:48:47.420 And yeah, he had $130

00:48:49.340 million, $12 million in

00:48:51.120 his campaign fund.

00:48:52.660 What was his slogan?

00:48:54.120 His slogan was Jeb can

00:48:55.860 fix it.

00:48:57.540 Two mistakes.

00:48:59.240 Jeb's the hero of the

00:49:00.180 story.

00:49:00.880 And what he's going to

00:49:01.920 fix is it.

00:49:04.100 Now, is it specific

00:49:05.200 enough to agitate a

00:49:06.720 pain point that makes you

00:49:07.840 want to solve it?

00:49:09.660 Patrick, if I invited you

00:49:10.660 to a movie and said, hey,

00:49:11.260 it's a movie about a guy

00:49:11.980 who wants to fix it.

00:49:13.760 What's your question?

00:49:15.060 What's it?

00:49:17.720 So Jeb's going around

00:49:18.760 going, I can fix it.

00:49:20.360 You know what?

00:49:20.760 What's it?

00:49:21.880 Right?

00:49:22.120 If he would have said, you

00:49:23.300 know, I can fix the tax

00:49:24.420 code so that Wall Street is

00:49:26.120 taxed at the same level as

00:49:27.680 Main Street and capital

00:49:29.160 flows into small businesses

00:49:30.780 in this country because I

00:49:32.240 know you're hurting and it's

00:49:33.080 unfair that you would ever

00:49:33.860 pay 39% when Wall Street

00:49:35.880 pays 4%.

00:49:36.940 He's going to get elected

00:49:38.360 president.

00:49:39.340 You have to be specific and

00:49:41.520 you have to play the guide in

00:49:43.060 the story, not the hero.

00:49:45.000 So that's paradigm shift

00:49:46.280 number three.

00:49:47.600 Paradigm shift number four is

00:49:49.260 you need to give your

00:49:50.080 customers a plan, baby steps

00:49:52.620 they can take.

00:49:53.820 At this point, they're sold.

00:49:55.440 They love you.

00:49:56.600 They just need baby steps

00:49:58.280 that they can take in order

00:50:00.320 to do business with you.

00:50:01.520 So you're going to say, if

00:50:02.200 you're a financial advisor,

00:50:03.200 you're going to say, I'd love

00:50:04.640 to get together and assess

00:50:05.940 your dreams and goals.

00:50:07.860 Then I'm going to give you a

00:50:08.620 free custom strategy on

00:50:10.660 things I think you can do to

00:50:11.800 make that happen.

00:50:12.880 And the third thing, if you

00:50:13.840 want, I'll hold your hand and

00:50:15.620 we'll help you execute the

00:50:16.740 strategy so you can retire

00:50:18.180 maybe even earlier than you

00:50:19.660 thought.

00:50:20.780 That's a much better sales

00:50:22.160 pitch than I'd love to be

00:50:23.520 your financial advisor.

00:50:24.460 Meet me next Thursday and

00:50:25.380 bring your checkbook.

00:50:26.520 That's right.

00:50:27.660 Baby steps.

00:50:28.740 So give them baby steps.

00:50:29.820 That's step four.

00:50:31.160 Step five is call the

00:50:33.180 customer to action.

00:50:34.740 The guide has to step into

00:50:36.540 the hero's life and said,

00:50:37.680 look, you're going to have

00:50:38.460 to fight the bad guy or

00:50:39.520 you're not going to get the

00:50:40.180 girl.

00:50:40.840 Bottom line, Luke Skywalker

00:50:42.320 going to have to find this

00:50:43.280 X-wing fighter through the

00:50:45.400 trench and the Death Star

00:50:46.760 and blow that thing up.

00:50:48.560 Daniel, Mr. Miyagi says,

00:50:50.020 you're going to have to go

00:50:50.460 to the karate tournament and

00:50:51.280 beat up the bully.

00:50:52.540 They're forced to take

00:50:54.160 action.

00:50:54.580 They're challenged to take

00:50:55.620 action because human beings

00:50:56.460 don't want to take action

00:50:57.380 on their own.

00:50:58.700 And a lot of us are not

00:51:00.160 doing great business because

00:51:01.520 we have not said firmly to

00:51:03.320 our customer, I want you to

00:51:05.200 buy my product.

00:51:06.380 It will solve your problem.

00:51:08.440 When we say things, I go to

00:51:09.740 my customers' websites all the

00:51:11.180 time.

00:51:11.660 They say things like learn more

00:51:13.680 or get started.

00:51:15.560 That's passive language.

00:51:17.400 Buy now.

00:51:18.580 Schedule an appointment.

00:51:19.460 That's direct language.

00:51:21.460 We use passive language when

00:51:23.460 we do two things.

00:51:25.360 We use passive language when

00:51:27.060 we do not believe in our

00:51:28.300 product or service or believe

00:51:29.680 that it can help change

00:51:30.520 somebody's lives.

00:51:31.800 So passive language makes

00:51:33.140 them sense that we actually

00:51:34.680 can't help them.

00:51:35.980 And we use passive language

00:51:37.420 when we don't want to bother

00:51:38.920 them or we don't want to

00:51:40.460 challenge them.

00:51:41.160 We just have to get used to

00:51:42.820 challenging people to say,

00:51:44.020 look, I'm tired of watching

00:51:45.520 you deal with this problem.

00:51:47.040 You don't have to deal with

00:51:47.880 this problem.

00:51:48.960 I want you to buy my product

00:51:50.460 and overcome this.

00:51:51.980 You know, think about the

00:51:54.060 terms learn more or get

00:51:55.660 started as passive language.

00:51:57.120 If you were at a cocktail

00:51:58.680 party back when you were

00:52:00.680 single and you went up to a

00:52:02.040 lady and you said, hey,

00:52:03.060 you know, nice, you're

00:52:04.100 nice looking.

00:52:04.720 Would you like to learn more?

00:52:06.580 They're going to be

00:52:07.520 completely creeped out.

00:52:08.540 So are you saying you are

00:52:09.980 more the kind of guy that

00:52:11.080 says buy now?

00:52:12.800 Yeah, well, you what you

00:52:13.880 want to say is I'd like to

00:52:14.840 take you out on a date.

00:52:15.920 The point is you want to

00:52:17.140 give your customers something

00:52:18.620 very clear that they can

00:52:20.520 accept or reject.

00:52:22.600 What this means is a lot of

00:52:23.920 times you're going to get

00:52:24.500 rejected, but you're also

00:52:26.980 going to get accepted more

00:52:28.260 than you ever were before

00:52:29.180 because you actually made it

00:52:30.300 here.

00:52:31.160 And then the sixth and the

00:52:33.760 seventh are, you know,

00:52:34.960 after you challenge them to

00:52:36.360 take action, we have to give

00:52:38.060 them a vision of a

00:52:39.420 climactic scene that could

00:52:40.800 happen in their lives.

00:52:42.380 And so, you know, in

00:52:43.700 in Star Wars, the

00:52:45.700 climactic scene is the

00:52:46.900 Death Star is destroyed.

00:52:48.820 Luke Skywalker saves the

00:52:50.180 day and all the problems

00:52:51.920 are resolved in one shot.

00:52:54.100 That's what the customer is

00:52:55.620 actually looking for.

00:52:57.100 So give the customer a

00:52:58.820 vision of the life that

00:53:01.140 they can have if they buy

00:53:02.300 your product.

00:53:03.240 And then likewise, we have

00:53:04.960 to have stakes for failure.

00:53:06.340 You give them a vision for

00:53:07.880 what their life will look

00:53:08.660 like if they do not buy

00:53:10.100 their product, your

00:53:10.780 product.

00:53:11.340 So all this sounds really

00:53:12.820 complicated, but let me just

00:53:13.920 give you a real life

00:53:14.700 scenario.

00:53:15.800 Let's say you're at a

00:53:16.700 cocktail party, Patrick,

00:53:18.060 and you meet two people who

00:53:20.400 have the exact same job, do

00:53:21.880 the exact same thing, run

00:53:23.000 the exact same kind of

00:53:24.160 company, charge the exact

00:53:25.500 same price and deliver the

00:53:27.800 exact same quality.

00:53:29.120 You go up to one of them

00:53:30.140 and you say, hey, you know,

00:53:31.380 nice to meet you.

00:53:32.480 What do you do?

00:53:33.240 And they say, well, I'm an

00:53:34.680 at-home chef and you say,

00:53:37.360 okay, well, where'd you

00:53:39.420 learn to cook?

00:53:40.080 Or what are your favorite

00:53:41.220 restaurants in town?

00:53:42.000 Have you ever cooked for

00:53:42.620 anybody famous, anybody I

00:53:43.700 know?

00:53:44.340 You're going to start making

00:53:45.240 conversation.

00:53:46.900 They did not invite you

00:53:48.500 into a story.

00:53:50.140 They just told you what

00:53:51.200 they do.

00:53:51.940 So you go to the second

00:53:52.800 person, they do the exact

00:53:53.760 same thing.

00:53:54.340 You say, hey, what do you

00:53:56.460 do for a living?

00:53:57.120 And they say, well, you

00:53:58.060 know how most families don't

00:53:59.600 eat together anymore?

00:54:01.100 And when they do, they

00:54:01.900 don't eat healthy.

00:54:03.120 I'm an at-home chef.

00:54:04.680 I come into your house.

00:54:06.060 I cook you a great meal so

00:54:07.240 that your family can spend a

00:54:08.560 beautiful bit of time

00:54:09.900 together, bond with each

00:54:11.680 other, and not feel guilty

00:54:13.020 about the food they ate.

00:54:15.440 You don't have any questions

00:54:16.400 about where they went to

00:54:17.060 school.

00:54:17.300 You're saying, are you

00:54:18.460 available tomorrow to come

00:54:20.440 to my house and let me pay

00:54:22.060 you?

00:54:22.780 Why?

00:54:23.300 What'd they do?

00:54:24.400 They positioned themselves as

00:54:25.780 the guide in the story,

00:54:26.720 helping the hero have a

00:54:27.900 climactic scene of sitting

00:54:29.020 with their family.

00:54:30.320 They identified a problem

00:54:31.540 that we're not eating

00:54:32.440 together anymore, and when

00:54:33.240 we do, we don't eat

00:54:34.040 healthy.

00:54:35.020 They identified a failure

00:54:36.060 that by inference, you're

00:54:38.080 going to keep eating

00:54:38.660 unhealthy and not spending

00:54:39.500 any time with your family

00:54:40.380 if you don't hire me,

00:54:42.200 right?

00:54:42.660 They could have ended it

00:54:43.580 by saying, it's actually

00:54:44.800 an easy process to hire me.

00:54:46.000 I just come over.

00:54:46.760 We assess what your family

00:54:47.740 looks like.

00:54:48.340 I make a custom meal plan,

00:54:49.560 and then if you want, I'll

00:54:50.880 show up once a week to

00:54:51.840 cook dinner for you guys,

00:54:52.860 and there'll be enough

00:54:53.300 leftovers for a few meals

00:54:54.460 in the rest of the week.

00:54:55.560 I've got time Thursday if

00:54:56.660 you want me to swing by.

00:54:57.940 You throw some baby steps

00:54:59.220 in there, you're going to

00:54:59.740 close the deal every time.

00:55:00.680 Yeah, that's a big, big

00:55:02.520 difference, very big.

00:55:03.500 And notice, all seven

00:55:04.860 of those points took me

00:55:06.460 30 seconds.

00:55:08.080 It's not hard.

00:55:10.120 Yeah, it took you 30

00:55:11.520 seconds, but everything

00:55:12.640 I'm noticing, and I'm

00:55:13.840 hoping the viewers see

00:55:14.720 this as well, there is a

00:55:16.520 system to the madness.

00:55:17.860 You talked about, you

00:55:19.620 know, product, people,

00:55:21.240 process, positioning, so

00:55:22.680 that's that part.

00:55:23.780 The four characters in

00:55:25.180 every book, which is the

00:55:26.600 victim, the villain, the

00:55:28.620 hero, the guide, G-U-I-D-E,

00:55:31.340 guide, the seven steps

00:55:33.440 that you talked about.

00:55:34.220 A character has a

00:55:35.300 problem, meets a guy who

00:55:36.940 has a plan, calls them

00:55:38.600 into action, that helps

00:55:39.660 them avoid failure, and

00:55:40.600 then sells a vision of

00:55:41.400 what life could look like,

00:55:42.300 right?

00:55:42.940 What we can potentially do.

00:55:44.560 These are things that are

00:55:45.460 very transferable to

00:55:46.440 another person.

00:55:47.000 By the way, just a

00:55:48.260 question on a side note

00:55:49.600 here.

00:55:49.820 You said every story has

00:55:51.840 34 different points, or

00:55:53.180 did you say 35 different

00:55:54.340 points?

00:55:55.720 Well, there's between

00:55:56.640 33 and 36, depending on

00:55:58.920 the story that we're

00:56:00.180 talking about.

00:56:01.120 Got it.

00:56:01.400 But almost all movies

00:56:02.540 use those.

00:56:03.540 Let me ask, are you

00:56:04.260 familiar with Jim Scott

00:56:05.260 Bell, or James Scott

00:56:07.140 Bell?

00:56:07.280 James Scott Bell, who

00:56:08.260 wrote On Writing Well,

00:56:09.960 and yes, I am.

00:56:11.520 You are familiar with

00:56:12.260 him?

00:56:12.920 Yes.

00:56:13.540 Okay, him and I sat

00:56:14.540 there.

00:56:14.800 He's a very good friend

00:56:16.360 of mine, old friend of

00:56:18.760 mine, Tom Ellsworth, and

00:56:20.700 you may even know Tom

00:56:21.540 Ellsworth.

00:56:22.040 Tom Ellsworth sold one of

00:56:23.500 his digital publishing

00:56:24.460 companies to a company

00:56:26.400 that Michael Hyde used

00:56:27.420 to be a part of years

00:56:28.300 ago.

00:56:28.600 Yeah, I know the name.

00:56:30.020 Yeah, I know the name.

00:56:30.900 He's heavily involved in

00:56:31.800 church as well, by the

00:56:32.600 way.

00:56:33.500 Yeah, James Scott Bell

00:56:34.280 wrote a book on story

00:56:35.260 structure.

00:56:36.020 Yes.

00:56:36.300 He's a great, and

00:56:37.180 William Zinsser wrote

00:56:38.240 On Writing Well, so

00:56:39.020 forgive me.

00:56:39.800 But yes, I'm familiar

00:56:41.120 with James Scott Bell and

00:56:42.020 studied his early work

00:56:43.080 back when I was writing

00:56:43.980 books myself, and he

00:56:45.280 was unbelievable.

00:56:46.500 He talked about a

00:56:47.220 guide for young writers.

00:56:48.940 Genius.

00:56:49.120 He's an unbelievable

00:56:49.620 guy.

00:56:50.020 The guy's a genius.

00:56:51.300 Do you have any other

00:56:52.120 person that you know as

00:56:53.100 a story specialist, as a

00:56:54.400 consultant that people can

00:56:55.380 hire?

00:56:55.700 Is there a name you have

00:56:56.460 yourself?

00:56:57.140 Well, sadly, my favorite

00:56:58.900 is actually, he passed

00:57:00.260 away.

00:57:00.580 His name is Blake Snyder,

00:57:02.500 and he wrote a book

00:57:03.280 called Save the Cat, and

00:57:06.700 he goes through those

00:57:07.620 seven story structures.

00:57:09.460 One of my favorite books

00:57:10.360 of all time is by a guy

00:57:11.520 named Christopher Booker

00:57:12.840 who wrote a book called

00:57:14.120 The Seven Basic Plots.

00:57:15.700 It's a 600-page book.

00:57:18.020 But if you want to apply

00:57:19.060 this directly to marketing,

00:57:21.340 my book, Building a Story

00:57:22.700 Brand, will help you

00:57:23.600 clarify your message and

00:57:24.900 come up with a marketing

00:57:25.900 message similar to my

00:57:27.420 chef story.

00:57:28.020 You'll be able to do that

00:57:28.820 very quickly.

00:57:29.880 We're going to drive the

00:57:31.220 audience to both your

00:57:32.600 books, Building a Story

00:57:33.960 Brand, that came out in

00:57:34.780 2017.

00:57:36.020 It's got a few thousand

00:57:36.700 reviews on Amazon, and

00:57:37.700 it's still selling.

00:57:39.180 And also the one that was

00:57:40.100 just released earlier,

00:57:41.200 this year, Marketing Made

00:57:42.400 Simple, a step-by-step

00:57:43.480 story brand guide for any

00:57:44.720 business.

00:57:45.120 We'll put the link below

00:57:45.900 the other one as well for

00:57:47.240 the audience to be able to

00:57:48.040 pick up.

00:57:48.420 Look, just for fun here,

00:57:51.120 when you're looking at both

00:57:52.020 campaigns today between

00:57:53.580 Biden as well as Trump,

00:57:56.920 which of those two

00:57:57.980 campaigns are you seeing

00:57:59.360 doing a better job telling

00:58:00.540 their story and getting

00:58:02.400 their message out there to

00:58:03.540 the audience?

00:58:05.080 I don't think either

00:58:06.280 campaign is actually doing

00:58:07.620 a great job.

00:58:09.680 Trump is not doing, and

00:58:10.960 again, I'm not actually a

00:58:12.480 fan, Patrick, of

00:58:13.560 Republicans or Democrats.

00:58:15.360 I think they spend too

00:58:16.380 much time fighting with

00:58:17.400 each other and not enough

00:58:18.660 time fighting for us, and

00:58:20.880 I think it's a massive

00:58:21.880 problem that these two

00:58:23.380 parties are deteriorating

00:58:26.160 our country.

00:58:28.060 They've got to work

00:58:29.000 together and come up with

00:58:29.840 some practical solutions.

00:58:31.080 But from a story structure

00:58:33.540 and campaign perspective,

00:58:35.820 I don't think Trump is

00:58:36.840 doing as good of a job as

00:58:38.320 he did in 2016, but he

00:58:41.120 naturally thinks in

00:58:42.440 narrative.

00:58:42.840 He naturally thinks

00:58:44.100 villains, fear, climactic

00:58:47.280 scene of making America

00:58:48.540 great again, they're

00:58:49.680 coming to get you in the

00:58:50.820 suburbs.

00:58:52.200 Those are all, that's the

00:58:53.560 stuff you would use to

00:58:54.440 write a screenplay.

00:58:56.400 Biden doesn't tend to do

00:58:58.620 that.

00:58:59.120 He doesn't, there's no

00:59:00.240 vision that he has for the

00:59:01.580 future of the country.

00:59:02.780 He's just not Trump.

00:59:05.120 Now, how you position

00:59:06.560 yourself as a guide, one of

00:59:07.800 the ways you do that is

00:59:08.580 extremely strong empathy.

00:59:10.320 You care about the voter.

00:59:12.660 Biden does a very, very

00:59:13.920 good job with that.

00:59:15.640 You know, this is going to

00:59:16.280 be a close race, but I

00:59:19.460 just don't see Biden being

00:59:21.720 able to drive the numbers

00:59:24.180 to the polls that he would

00:59:26.720 if he had a clear vision

00:59:28.340 for the country.

00:59:28.980 If he foreshadowed a

00:59:30.320 climactic scene, he would

00:59:32.400 be driving a lot more

00:59:34.400 people to the polls and he's

00:59:36.040 not doing that.

00:59:37.340 You know, I think if you're

00:59:38.940 a Democrat, even though all

00:59:39.920 the polls have Biden up by

00:59:41.180 10 points, I would still be

00:59:43.080 very, very concerned.

00:59:44.880 So you said you're not a

00:59:46.160 rep, you know, you're not a

00:59:47.180 fan of Republicans or

00:59:48.020 Democrats.

00:59:48.580 Do you see yourself as a

00:59:49.660 libertarian?

00:59:50.360 Is that kind of where you

00:59:51.400 are or?

00:59:52.640 OK, no, I, you know,

00:59:56.400 because I do know you have

00:59:57.300 aspirations politically.

00:59:58.340 I think you said to Lewis

00:59:59.360 House four years ago that

01:00:00.340 one day you want to run for

01:00:01.100 office.

01:00:01.380 And quite frankly, you look

01:00:03.160 presidential.

01:00:03.660 You sound like Troy Aikman.

01:00:05.280 You put the voice together.

01:00:06.520 Good.

01:00:06.720 So you got we'll see.

01:00:09.100 I've got my first goal is to

01:00:11.300 get my company to 100 million,

01:00:12.920 Patrick.

01:00:13.740 And if I get it to 100 million,

01:00:15.100 I'm still not going to buy a

01:00:16.200 boat.

01:00:16.460 I'm going to I'm going to put it

01:00:17.680 into a political campaign.

01:00:18.880 I'll probably run for Senate

01:00:20.340 as an independent and I'll run

01:00:22.880 against both parties.

01:00:24.180 I'll say it's me against them.

01:00:25.760 And we're actually going to go to

01:00:26.980 D.C.

01:00:27.260 and get things done.

01:00:28.300 That's not for 10 years.

01:00:29.480 I have plenty of stuff to do

01:00:30.540 before then.

01:00:31.680 Well, that's good to know.

01:00:32.420 But let's let's go back to that,

01:00:33.700 because if you're talking

01:00:35.260 independent, I'm a registered

01:00:36.680 independent myself.

01:00:37.580 I voted Clinton.

01:00:38.700 I voted on the right.

01:00:39.580 I'm a registered independent for

01:00:40.600 the last nine years.

01:00:42.600 I don't know, nine years, eight

01:00:43.840 years.

01:00:44.200 It's been a while.

01:00:44.900 And I moved to Texas from

01:00:46.320 California.

01:00:46.740 I was in California for 24

01:00:47.940 years, minus the three years I

01:00:49.480 was in the army at the 101st

01:00:51.500 Airborne Division.

01:00:52.340 But libertarian, independent

01:00:54.300 at any time, libertarian and

01:00:56.320 independent.

01:00:57.080 OK, the last time there was a

01:00:59.760 independent candidate that

01:01:01.420 really made some noise was

01:01:03.260 probably Ross Perot, right?

01:01:04.720 It was somebody that was got

01:01:05.620 to 21 percent, you know, 19

01:01:08.100 percent, some say 21 percent.

01:01:09.860 We got up to that 19, 20

01:01:11.780 percentile and he was making

01:01:13.880 some momentum, right?

01:01:15.800 Today, you have libertarian

01:01:17.280 message with Joe Jorgensen.

01:01:19.300 I don't know if you've seen her

01:01:20.120 story or not.

01:01:20.920 And you kind of know.

01:01:22.120 She's really fantastic.

01:01:23.280 And she's trying to broaden the

01:01:24.680 base of the libertarian party.

01:01:26.600 Sadly, she can't get any press

01:01:28.160 time.

01:01:28.880 And I would say their campaign

01:01:30.300 needs some narrative work as

01:01:31.620 well.

01:01:32.460 But, you know, the reality is

01:01:34.560 to run as an independent, you've

01:01:36.180 got to get 50,000 signatures in

01:01:38.040 each state to get on the ballot.

01:01:39.640 It's a big challenge to do it.

01:01:42.460 And I think it would cost 50

01:01:44.680 million dollars just to get on

01:01:45.960 the ballot.

01:01:46.860 That's almost before you even

01:01:48.360 spend advertising money.

01:01:50.100 But I think the reality is the

01:01:51.960 country is coming to a place

01:01:53.400 here in eight or 10 years where

01:01:55.120 they're just going to be so

01:01:56.140 incredibly tired of this.

01:01:57.700 And if somebody can come out

01:01:59.620 and articulate how much money

01:02:01.940 it's costing you to have such

01:02:03.900 an inefficient government, I

01:02:05.640 think we'll start caring more

01:02:07.160 about the waste that's

01:02:08.520 happening in our country, plus

01:02:10.100 the wasted opportunity to

01:02:11.560 actually lead the world in

01:02:13.180 education, lead the world in

01:02:14.500 health care, lead the world,

01:02:16.120 continue to lead the world in

01:02:17.300 our GDP.

01:02:18.080 Because you and I know that

01:02:19.460 China is going to take over in

01:02:20.960 the largest in terms of the

01:02:22.080 largest GDP probably in 2025.

01:02:25.480 And that's not a message we need

01:02:27.080 to get used to.

01:02:27.740 I don't care if they have

01:02:28.560 billions of people and we only

01:02:29.860 have 330 million.

01:02:31.520 We want to lead the world to be

01:02:33.680 the moral center of the world.

01:02:35.760 So I think the reality is

01:02:38.000 nobody's been able to

01:02:39.940 articulate that message in a way

01:02:41.780 that unites people.

01:02:43.500 And I think if God gives me the

01:02:45.280 chance to build a big enough

01:02:46.300 company and put some effort

01:02:48.760 into that, I'll be able to do

01:02:50.340 that in 10 or 12 years.

01:02:51.760 So we have a big group of

01:02:53.060 people that want us to put

01:02:54.080 Joe Jorgensen on our channel

01:02:55.360 because I constantly call

01:02:57.440 out the Libertarian Party for

01:02:59.240 not marketing themselves very

01:03:00.560 well.

01:03:00.840 Great messaging, but they don't

01:03:02.060 know how to market themselves

01:03:02.880 very well.

01:03:04.140 What tip would you give both

01:03:06.220 to the Independent Party as

01:03:08.380 well as the Libertarian Party

01:03:10.720 to get their story out there?

01:03:12.920 What should be their move?

01:03:14.260 Even if you go on their

01:03:15.140 website, it's a, and I'll be

01:03:17.060 the bad guy, you'll be the

01:03:18.020 nice guy.

01:03:18.960 It's a very boring messaging

01:03:21.360 that you're listening with a

01:03:22.640 great message, but boring the

01:03:24.380 way it's being sold.

01:03:25.660 What do you think they can do

01:03:26.780 to get their message to

01:03:28.100 resonate a little bit more

01:03:29.980 with the younger audience and

01:03:31.180 also some folks that are out

01:03:33.140 there that want to get behind

01:03:34.440 it where it's not a 1% or half

01:03:36.660 a percent or 2%.

01:03:37.660 It actually can create getting

01:03:38.860 some momentum to the double

01:03:40.360 digits.

01:03:40.700 And I'm specifically talking

01:03:41.780 Libertarians.

01:03:43.420 Well, I think, you know, one of

01:03:44.980 the problems that I have with

01:03:45.920 the Libertarian Party is I think

01:03:47.080 they take things too far.

01:03:48.420 I don't think the government is

01:03:49.620 evil.

01:03:49.940 I think it can actually be an

01:03:51.020 institution that changes and

01:03:52.660 drives progress.

01:03:54.240 I do agree with them that our

01:03:55.660 government right now is too

01:03:56.680 big.

01:03:57.220 It's too inefficient.

01:03:58.360 It is so hard to fire somebody

01:04:00.380 in government, which makes a

01:04:01.780 business impossible to run.

01:04:04.120 And so, you know, I think

01:04:05.480 there's some good things about

01:04:06.360 the Libertarian Party.

01:04:07.640 Let me give you the biggest

01:04:09.080 mistake that independent

01:04:10.260 candidates make.

01:04:11.580 They see themselves as a third

01:04:13.900 party.

01:04:15.380 The reality is human beings,

01:04:17.320 they think in binary.

01:04:19.280 They only think one or the

01:04:20.640 other.

01:04:21.000 So they think Republican or

01:04:22.200 Democrat.

01:04:23.320 So if you're running as an

01:04:24.440 independent, you need to run

01:04:26.020 against one thing, and that is

01:04:28.480 extremism in the Republicans and

01:04:31.260 the Democrats.

01:04:31.760 You've got to put the

01:04:32.720 Republicans and Democrats, you

01:04:33.780 have to make them one so that you

01:04:36.260 are the binary opposite of the

01:04:39.140 one.

01:04:40.100 So political parties basically

01:04:41.740 operate in many ways like

01:04:43.380 cartels.

01:04:44.400 They are run by extremists

01:04:46.380 because extremists vote in

01:04:48.080 primaries.

01:04:48.900 Extremists give money.

01:04:49.900 The overwhelming majority of

01:04:51.640 Americans do not have a sensible

01:04:53.800 choice because the way the

01:04:55.840 primary system runs.

01:04:57.340 So let's run against one

01:04:58.900 thing, and that is political

01:05:00.460 parties.

01:05:01.420 George Washington's farewell

01:05:03.080 address, the first president

01:05:05.220 of the United States, his

01:05:06.140 farewell address warned us of

01:05:08.540 political parties.

01:05:09.560 He said they operate like

01:05:10.820 lobbyists.

01:05:11.520 They care more about their own

01:05:12.640 power than they do about the

01:05:14.260 people.

01:05:14.940 Beware and be careful.

01:05:16.700 And we did not heed his

01:05:17.800 advice.

01:05:18.540 I think the president should

01:05:20.740 always be independent and

01:05:22.400 should broker between the two

01:05:24.220 parties and in ways punish

01:05:26.060 people for not getting into the

01:05:28.060 room and working together on

01:05:29.900 solutions to America's problems.

01:05:32.060 You know, in the days of Richard

01:05:34.380 Nixon, the average middle class

01:05:37.040 family made $10,000 more than

01:05:40.000 they do today, Patrick.

01:05:41.780 That is adjusted for inflation.

01:05:43.420 They have taken a $10,000 pay cut.

01:05:47.240 Add to that, they're leaving

01:05:48.540 college with college debt, so

01:05:50.580 they cannot buy a house and build

01:05:52.240 equity in their house.

01:05:53.440 That is costing them future

01:05:54.580 wealth.

01:05:55.280 By the time they can build a

01:05:56.560 house, they're about five years

01:05:57.660 into the payments before their

01:05:58.540 medical bills start mounting up.

01:06:01.300 And then they're punished in the

01:06:02.540 tax code because Wall Street is

01:06:04.900 paying 11%, effectively 4%,

01:06:07.420 because they only pay a tax on

01:06:09.580 what they spend.

01:06:10.220 And everybody watching this video

01:06:12.920 who operates a business is paying

01:06:15.100 37% to 39%.

01:06:17.600 So, you know, we do that in the

01:06:19.740 name of investing in capital.

01:06:21.500 Why invest in Wall Street capital?

01:06:24.160 NASDAQ and New York Stock

01:06:25.840 Exchange has Chinese companies,

01:06:28.200 Saudi companies.

01:06:29.600 All of our economic competitors are

01:06:31.980 represented.

01:06:32.500 We're giving tax credits to invest

01:06:35.160 in Chinese companies, the profits

01:06:37.220 of which build Chinese tanks.

01:06:39.240 And we are not giving tax credit

01:06:41.180 to the heart of America, Main

01:06:43.280 Street, the people who are

01:06:44.200 watching this.

01:06:45.220 That is wrong.

01:06:46.340 And the reason it's happening is

01:06:47.560 because Democrats and Republicans

01:06:49.200 both have been bought by those

01:06:51.560 lobbyists.

01:06:52.320 And they will talk all day about

01:06:53.940 the culture wars and they will do

01:06:55.600 nothing to get the middle class

01:06:56.740 family.

01:06:57.200 It's $10,000 back.

01:06:58.680 It's time for a real change.

01:07:01.480 Sounded like a campaign right there,

01:07:03.220 by the way.

01:07:03.820 It sounded like...

01:07:04.720 I'm not running.

01:07:05.300 I am not running.

01:07:06.180 By the way, six years from now,

01:07:08.580 we're going to play this soundbite

01:07:09.960 and it's going to be Senator Miller,

01:07:13.980 Don Miller.

01:07:16.140 But by the way, George Washington,

01:07:17.640 wasn't George Washington an

01:07:18.820 independent himself?

01:07:20.040 I thought he was an independent.

01:07:22.060 I believe he was.

01:07:23.440 Yeah.

01:07:23.660 I mean, he definitely danced with

01:07:24.880 some of the parties, but he didn't

01:07:27.440 like where he saw things going.

01:07:29.220 He was one of a kind.

01:07:30.280 Well, Don, this has been a pleasure

01:07:32.000 having you on.

01:07:32.780 Folks, again, we're going to put the

01:07:33.960 links below to our friend here,

01:07:36.280 Don Miller's books.

01:07:37.320 Go order both of them, not just one

01:07:39.140 of them.

01:07:39.940 And we'll put the links as well to

01:07:41.600 your Instagram and Twitter account.

01:07:43.220 Go send them some love as well for

01:07:44.660 this incredible time we spend with

01:07:47.240 you.

01:07:47.400 So, Don, thanks again for coming on

01:07:49.100 and being a guest on Valuetainment.

01:07:51.340 What an honor.

01:07:52.040 One of the best conversations, if not

01:07:53.460 the best, I've had all year.

01:07:54.520 Thank you so much.

01:07:55.560 If you're an entrepreneur, CEO,

01:07:56.820 founder, or even an executive, this

01:07:58.220 video is a great video for you.

01:07:59.440 You may want to watch it again.

01:08:00.460 If you want to go a little bit

01:08:01.400 deeper about storytelling, I did a

01:08:03.240 video about six months ago, maybe a

01:08:04.960 year ago, titled How to Master the

01:08:06.540 Art of Storytelling.

01:08:07.340 If you've not watched that video,

01:08:08.380 click over here.

01:08:09.280 And if you've not subscribed to the

01:08:10.440 channel, please do so.

01:08:11.600 Thanks for watching, everybody.

01:08:12.440 Take care.

01:08:12.860 Bye-bye.

Valuetainment - October 09, 2020

The Higher Laws of Story-Telling & Marketing That No One Talks About

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