Fast Five for Friday: Stop Living as Yesterday's You, Your Clients Have Your Business Answers, From Practitioner to Leader

0:01 Welcome to The Coaching Equation, brought to you by Empire Partners and hosted by Ryan Lang and Brooke Bishop. Our mission is to help you build a profitable and impactful coaching business by cutting through the noise and all the expert advice to deliver tried and true, actionable insights that you can deploy in your business today. Each week, we bring on expert guests, unveil cutting edge tactics and strategies, and share the secrets and stories that we've gathered from working with the most successful coaching companies on earth. Welcome back to the Coaching Equation Podcast.

0:41 I'm your host, Ryan Lang, CEO and co-founder of Empire Partners. And this is your Fast Five for Friday. All right. Today's episode is a lot. I have had a lot of focus. We collectively here at Empire and Quantum Empire, a lot of focus on growth and expansion, both personally and professionally. And that's going to be the driving force behind this episode. With that said, let's dive in. Number one. Greatness never goes on sale, y'all. Oftentimes, we are waiting for that moment where it all just gets easier. Everything just slows down. There are no problems. We finally arrive, right, at the summit of greatness.

1:27 Let me key you into a little secret. It's never gonna happen. It's a constant battle. It's a constant battle. And to be honest with you, that's something that actually gives me a lot of comfort. I think there's, honestly, I think there's less pressure to be great when you realize that you just got to strap yourself into that saddle, man, and keep rocking. My friend Rory Vaden has a wonderful saying, which is, success is never owned. It's rented. And the rent is due every day. And by the way, There are so many people that get attributed with that quote. It is 100% Rory's. Shout out, my brother.

2:08 This is so true. And the moment that we accept that this is the truth is the moment that we accept that true greatness becomes an actual possibility for any of us. That moment where we go, look, I just get to rent this. I got to work for it every day. That's the truth. That's what's real. And the other part that's comforting to me about that, I don't know about you, but one of the things that's very comforting to me about that is the more that I've found that to be the ultimate truth... the more I am just enjoying the process. You know, it's the getting there versus, oh, I'm going to arrive and then I'm going to get to enjoy it.

2:52 So greatness never goes on sale, y'all. Quit waiting. The Memorial Day sale is over. All right, number two. What are you optimizing for? This is a question I have been obsessing on lately. And I was actually having a conversation with my wife very recently about some of the personal goals that we have together as a family. And realized that, you know, we've actually been optimizing our... for a goal that no longer serves us. And it's really interesting how it took, you know, ruminating on this question of what are we optimizing for, for me to actually come to that realization.

3:39 And it got me thinking, you know, it's so, for me... It's so much more palatable to fail at the new standard knowing that I'm actually optimizing for something that serves the current version of myself and what I really want and the life that I want to be living than it is to succeed in. at the old standard that is serving the old version of myself or the old version of me. I don't know. Gosh, Ryan's mom. What tends should I be using there? I don't know. I need to call my mom.

4:20 Um, so this is, this is huge though, because if we're optimizing based on goals or outcomes that no longer serve us based on who we've become, um, uh, or if we're optimizing on something that isn't going to get us to our goal, more importantly, um, uh, or the new goal that suits the new version of us, then literally everything that we're doing on a day-in and day-out basis is going to be misplaced. Because what we do is informed by what we're optimizing for. So my question to you today, noodle on this, what are you optimizing for?

5:00 This quote says, I love this. It's so simple and so profound and goes right back to the subject of identity. And that is Lewis Carroll. It's no use to go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. It's no use to go back to yesterday because it was a different person then. You know, this is something that is another undeniable fact. We are evolving in one way, shape, or another every single day. And it literally, like at a cellular level, we are evolving every single day.

5:45 Our personalities are evolving every single day. Our goals, our wants, our desires, what we're doing, not doing, the people that we're surrounding ourselves with, everything is evolving every single day. And... We're never staying stuck. We're never staying stagnant. We're either going forward or we're going backward. So which way are you evolving? And here's the other piece about the Lewis Carroll quote. You know, I have spent so much of my life beating the shit out of myself for things that I did or didn't do. The guilt, the shame. I got a fucking PhD in that.

6:25 All right. I got a PhD in that. And, I, it's taken me quite a while and I don't know that I'll ever be past it. I'll be totally transparent, but it's taken me a while to get to a point where I no longer live my life looking in the rear view mirror. I'm looking ahead to a horizon that I'm never going to catch by the way, but it's out there and I'm chasing it. And that's one of the things I want to check in with you on today. Are you, are you going back to yesterday? Yes. Are you speaking to a former version of yourself? Are you acting from a former version of yourself, which by the way, might be optimizing for things that no longer serve you?

7:11 Great quote. Thank you, Lewis Carroll. Multiple conversations with clients this week. Number four, it hit me. No one seems to be asking their customers about anything. Okay. It's so interesting because so many of the answers that we're looking for day in and day out in business that seem to perplex us, that we get all wound up about, are right in front of us in the form of our current clients and past clients, people we are working with, people we have worked with. I literally answered four to five business questions this week by just going, go ask your people, go to your list, go to your clients, go to your past clients, find out from them.

8:01 All right. And so, so many of the different ways we've talked about this on the show before, but you know, we're talking about like surveying for results. Like what have your results been? Tell us more about that. It's powerful. Yeah. What about level of satisfaction? Like, don't be afraid to ask, how satisfied are you with this? Is there something more that you would want? Is there something more that you need? If so, we'd love to hear that from you, right? What problems are you currently facing? I was working with somebody this week as we were discussing, you know, lead magnet ideas, for example. And we were kind of ruminating on a few of the different micro problems that we could solve with this lead magnet.

8:45 I said, go to the list. Ask them what they're struggling with. Ask them what would be most valuable. We can test hooks and titles on our list and on our clients and on our past clients. Gather data with deep dive surveys. And then obviously, you guys know I'm obsessed with QuizFunnels. We can generate so much interest in self-discovery, get opt-ins for our list, actually using QuizFunnels as lead magnets. But here's the thing. Point is, you guys, ask, ask, ask, ask. And I promise you, more often than not, the answers that you're looking for in terms of trying to drive your business forward are right there.

9:28 Lastly, number five, we've got an amazing event coming up next Thursday in Vail, Colorado. And I'm so excited. You guys, first of all, this is a dream come true for me. I grew up as a young kid in Colorado and I spent most of my summers in Vail before, you know, before you're like, oh, he must have been like super rich. No, this was like before Vail was really Vail. And... It is the Garden of Eden in the summertime. It's one of the most magical places at any time of the year, in my opinion. And this is really a dream come true for me to get to go host this event in Vail, Colorado and share this special place with our clients and our attendees and my team.

10:16 But one of the things that I'm going to talk about at this event and that's been coming up quite a bit lately is the biggest shift that you are going to have to make as a coach, expert, coach. thought leader turned business owner. And that is the shift from elite practitioner to transformational leader. I'm going to cap off the conversation today by saying this. When we're talking about the past version of yourself and the new version of you or the version of you that you need to become, become important word there, in order to reach the next set of goals, in order to reach the next level.

10:57 It's making that shift from elite practitioner to transformational leader. It's also the shift that I see very few coaches ever making. And more often than not, it's not their fault. More often than not, no one's telling them that they need to make that shift. They're running around chasing marketing tactics instead of focusing on the thing that will actually move the needle. And here's the thing. We go back to the doing and the execution of ideas and strategies and things that you need to do to move the needle in your business. We have to start with who first. And if you're bringing the old version of the who, even if that version of the who was an elite practitioner who was amazing at what they did, and you probably are if you're listening to this podcast, you're going to have to shift into an identity that is now as a transformational leader, even if you are leading a business of one.

11:49 So for those of you that are coming to the event, you can expect more at the event. For those of you that are not... you can still sign up. If you go to quantumempire.io forward slash event, you will see the link to sign up. There are still a couple of spaces. We will let you in if you're approved. And yes, there is an application process, but if you're approved, we'd love to see you there. And again, I would love to share this magical place with you. So with all that said, that is your Fast Five for Friday. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Coaching Equation Podcast. Until next time, take care. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coaching Equation. Please hit subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.

12:31 And if you got value out of this episode, we would be so grateful if you would share it out with a friend and leave us a review on iTunes or your favorite platform. To learn more about Empire Partners or to inquire about working with Ryan and Brooke, please visit www.empirepartners.io forward slash go.