The Power of Business Planning: Mike Ferrell’s Roadmap to Success

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 to episode 27 of the Coaching Equation podcast.

0:42 I'm your host, Ryan Lang, CEO and co-founder of Empire Partners, alongside my co-founder and co-host, Brooke Bishop. And today's guest is a powerhouse. Mike Farrell is with us. Now, Mike is an award-winning author, speaker, business and spiritual coach and retreat leader. He blends business strategy, positive psychology, and Benedictine and faith principles in his work to help entrepreneurs and leaders connect their faith and their work for personal and business development. Mike has written multiple books on this episode. We're actually going to dig in on his book, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning, The Business Funnel Approach.

1:22 And in fact, before this episode is over, you are going to get a simple five-step framework that's going to be a good one. to business planning that is easier than anything you've ever come across and wickedly effective. Mike has used these exact strategies in coaching and consulting with businesses, nonprofit organizations, the US military, universities, you name it. This guy has done it all over a 37-year career and he's got an absolutely amazing story to go along with it. Buckle up. This is episode 27 of the Coaching Equation Podcast. Welcome back to the Coaching Equation Podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Lang, CEO and co-founder of Empire Partners, alongside my co-founder and co-host, Brooke Bishop.

2:08 And we've got a special guest in the house today. Mike Farrell is with us. What's going on, man? Hey, guys. How are you? Good. Stoked to have you here, buddy. This is going to be a good one. This is going to be a fantastic episode. And you better buckle up right now. If you don't have something to write with, you're going to want to come back to this one for sure. Mike, we've got so much to talk about. And you recently joined us for one of our quarterly events. And you're going to be doing some work with us moving forward, which we'll kind of talk about. But before we go there, man, you've got one of the most wonderful stories, really. And I'd love to kind of start a little bit with your origin story. Yeah. how things in terms of business and entrepreneurship sort of started for you and kind of kick us off there, man.

2:52 Get us started with telling us where things started. And for my edification, start with the golf piece because, you know, I love to play that. You're talking about my checkered past, Ryan. Indeed. Indeed. All right. Well, I'll back up a little bit before the golf story. How about that? Yes. Grew up in a small town in South Dakota and went into the Air Force right out of high school and did that for a couple of years and then went to school and started playing golf, as you said. I was fortunate enough that I was pretty good at it. And after a couple of years in college doing it, I decided to turn pro and chase the tour for a couple of years.

3:34 So unfortunately for me, the golf game was really good. The discipline was really bad. So as good as my game was, it wasn't good enough. And so I didn't make it, tried it for a couple of years and finally woke up one morning and realized I wasn't going to be the next Jack Nicklaus. And so probably better go get a real job. And before you go on, I want to pause for one second because I want to highlight something. I know the answer to this question, but I think most don't. What is it like for a guy who's trying to get onto the PGA Tour and is playing mini-tour events and stuff like that? What was life like? Because I think most people look at golf as this game where everything's just glorious and wonderful all the time.

4:19 And everybody's making money hand over fist and it's country clubs and the whole thing. Sure. When you're trying to make it, describe for people who don't understand, what was that like? Well, back in those days, I mean, you're like a traveling gypsy. It's not like I was flying private jets anywhere and all that kind of thing. I was packed up into my little yellow Dodge Omni driving all over the countryside. What? No Instagram Ferraris? Yeah. Yeah. And there were plenty of nights where I slept in the back of that, Domney. So, you know, it wasn't glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. And I think what people see on TV today is very, very different to the way it was back then. And certainly a lot of these guys that are playing the Corn Fairy Tour and some of the mini tours now, are facing that same, you know, same reality that I faced.

5:06 I mean, you're showing up at a, you know, I was a Monday, what they called a Monday rabbit back then. And so you'd show up and try and qualify with 75 or a hundred other guys for three or four or five spots. And if you didn't make it, you jumped in the car and went and found a pro-am to play in. And unfortunately I did that a lot. And so that was really the life. I mean, you really were a, traveling gypsy. And so it was one of those things that I'll tell you just a quick story. I remember one time I had gone in and I'd gotten in on late on a Sunday night to qualify for Monday. And back in those days, part of the whole deal was how you were dressed. And so I had the, you know, the bright peach pants on and the wild colored shirt on.

5:50 And I had, I had slept in the back of my car that night in a campground. And I come crawling out of the back of the car in that outfit. And there's an old couple sitting next to me, next to their RV. And they're looking at me like, what in God's name just got out of that car? I love that, man. Now, listen, I'm just going to say this, Brooksville. You heard me say it. I think those peach pants need to make a comeback. Oh, I'll tell you. I can rock a pair of Sansa belts. So I just have this picture of Mike in Caddyshack now, and I don't know if it's going to ever come out of my head.

6:31 Oh, man. Well, so obviously you're doing something that is really, really difficult. And the other thing for those that don't know, like any other professional sport, golf is incredibly difficult. And there's so many people who will play it and hope to play professionally and never get there. So you do that and eventually decide that it's time to move on. What was that moment, by the way, if there is one? I think part of it was just the simple way of life. And I can remember fairly clearly waking up one morning and looking in the mirror and realizing that if I keep this up, I'm going to probably kill myself. Because of the lack of discipline, for me, it was just as much of a party as it was playing golf for a living.

7:13 And it was really one of those things where it was like... There's more that I can be doing here, and I think I need to realize that this is the end of the line for this thing, and it's time to go, like my dad would say, get a real job. Nice. And what was the real job that came after that? Well, I actually went to work for a company and was a sales manager for them. And that lasted for a couple of years. And then at that point, I really had decided that I was going to pursue study for the priesthood. And went into the seminary at that point and spent nearly five years studying for the priesthood. And then discerned out of that and went into education after that.

7:54 So it was really, you know, you want to talk about 180 degree turn. Going from a golf professional to sitting in the seminary was a very... different aspect of what I had been doing. So, but it was a fantastic five years. I wouldn't trade it for anything. So interesting. And Brooke has ties back to that world as well with your family. I do. I grew up as a PK. So my dad, my mom and dad actually grew up in the church. Yeah. So yeah, seeing the contrast, it's interesting because I was not, I had siblings that were the quote unquote PKs for anybody, if you know what the PK is for pastor's kid. But they all got to wear that crown very, very well.

8:37 I was somehow I navigated through that whole window of time as not getting into too much trouble. But now that's crazy that you went from full professional athlete approach to seminary. And I'm stoked just because I've got your books stacked here. So I know a little future pacing of what came out of that. But what was the biggest takeaway in that shift? Because that's a big swing. Yeah, yeah. I would say that that five years, I learned more about myself than any other time in my life. It really allowed me. to really create that relationship with God, but also to understand me as a person and what it was that kind of drove me.

9:19 And I would say that because of that, it would take many years later, but it would certainly be a huge influence, and especially in the work that I do now, you know. So then from, from there, how did that end up parlaying into kind of getting into the, into the business world and entrepreneurship and all of that kind of stuff? Well, I spent after seminary, I spent two years in, in Catholic education and basically was a referee for four priests that could sit in the same room together. So I'd put on my striped shirt and grab my whistle every morning and go to work. And, uh, After a couple of years of that, decided that was enough. And I had made some connections when I was in the golf industry and so was able to start in my consulting business.

10:01 And my first client was in the golf industry and was very fortunate that they had deep pockets and they did everything I told them and we hit a home run. And from that point on, I got pretty popular and spent a better part of eight years, I guess. primarily in the golf and sporting goods industry as a coaching consultant. And then after that, because I had at that point, I'm putting on 100,000 miles a year on an airplane. And it just got to the point where I just didn't want to do that much traveling anymore. And my dad was in the financial services business and had been for many, many years. And he said, well, why don't you consider getting into my business? But he was completely in a different state.

10:41 And back in those days, you couldn't affiliate with somebody in different states. And so I started to decided to go out on my own. Now, the problem was I was making a pretty significant income in the golf and sporting goods industry. And I was not going to go be an insurance agent for 10 grand a year or whatever it would have taken in that first year to launch it. And I was in the right place in the right time that there had been some legislation that had been passed right prior to that that allowed banks to get into the insurance and investment business. And so I started a brokerage company and we were one of the first brokerage companies in the country to work to help them build wealth management programs.

11:26 And so we did that. We had a very strong following. And I spent 10 years really working in that industry. And I did more of the training and coaching of those folks. That was really my primary role. And so I did that. And that really took us up to kind of 2008. And then the game changed significantly. One of the things that I want to highlight here is this wasn't a straight line, Mike. You didn't take the freeway. Right? You took that windy road. And one of the things that I think is so important, I mean, first of all, if you're a young person listening to this, Brooke and I have talked about our stories and how we certainly didn't have a straight line either.

12:13 And the path to entrepreneurship and what you really want to do in life isn't straight. It's just not. Not for anybody I know for that matter. But I want to highlight something. I think that... And I'd love for you to talk about this too, Mike. I know you'll have an opinion on this. I think that a lot of times when people get into the coaching industry, many times they're coming from something else. In this day and age, we have such a beautiful and wonderful opportunity where you can coach and teach on just about anything that you want. And so a lot of people are coming into it with a wealth of expertise from... a field that they worked in for a really long time or a transformation that they went through where they figured something out.

12:55 Or maybe it's even just a shift in profession like, Hey, I've been working the JOB. I don't want to do it anymore. I want to help people. I don't know about what, but I want to become a coach. And one of the things that I think is really interesting, you talk a lot about sort of like the child's mindset, right? And how they're so unafraid and they're curious, right? And even at those younger ages, we seem to be able to pivot and we're a little more agile in our decision making than we are as we get older. And one of the things that I think is a big mistake that people make when they walk into the coaching business is they just go, oh. well, I'm just gonna go do this and everything's gonna be hunky-dory.

13:37 Right. You forgot. That you're opening a business just like any other business. And regardless of what kind of success you have or have not had in the past, you better be prepared for a windy road here too. And I'd love if you have any thoughts, comments, coaching, advice for people that are in that boat right now. How do we kind of get back to a little bit more of that childlike mindset where we believe we see the eventual outcome, And if the road makes a turn, we're willing to turn and weave around a little bit to eventually land where we want to go. Yeah, I think that's a great point, Ryan.

14:18 I mean, you know, I've been doing coaching now for almost 37 years. You know, I was a coach before anybody even knew what the heck one was. And it was really, as I look at that journey over that period of time, I think the one thing that I would say that has probably allowed me to maintain a pretty decent level of success for most of that period of time is the whole idea of curiosity. I'm constantly curious about how I can even now after doing it 37 years, I'm constantly learning. I'm constantly curious to see what more can I do? What more can I learn? How can I change the things that I'm doing?

15:00 I think that's really, really important. I think a lot of times with coaches. you'll see them say, well, I've got my tunnel vision, I've got the blinders on, and this is my area of specialty, and I know it all, and therefore, I'm going to go ahead and coach on this. Well, as we've even seen in working with your folks last week, a lot of them have that area of expertise, but then there's the whole other aspect of how the heck you even run a business and make it profitable. And so I think it's that curiosity that has really driven me over the years to... to really say, hey, I really want to learn more. I really want to be able to continue to evolve and grow in this. I think you nailed it. And I want to hear this from, I love to hear this from both of you guys.

15:43 What in your mind, because both of you are this way, by the way, Brooke, you're the same. Incredibly good looking. I agree. Really, really, really, really ridiculously good looking. And both of you have the ability to maintain an air of curiosity. And I'm curious if you could spotlight one thing for people who maybe struggle with that because we all do to some degree. What is one thing that helps you to maintain and or recapture curiosity when you find yourself in a spot where you're kind of hitting that wall and you're realizing that you've made that finite box for yourself? Go ahead, bro. You want to go first? Oh, I was going to hot potato it to you first. No, no.

16:24 So, I mean, we've talked about curiosity versus criticism on, you know, so many different in so many different ways. And I think that they're honestly, they're very, very similar. And the difference between the two tends just in my opinion is this element of judgment. So there's an energy that comes when we go critical, we're judging a situation, right? It's all observation. I mean, that's at the end of the day, they're both observation. It's just the story or the energy we put into it. One is we give it a meaning and it's usually one that's not going to serve us or serve others. The other is we're coming into it with an open mind. And I think that that can be the tricky piece, right? This dynamic of curiosity and criticism, spotlighting one area, it's really going to come down to, do we make the meaning about ourselves?

17:07 It's kind of like this heliocentric, we just went into that. We're dropping big words early here, right? I don't know if people are going to be ready for this. But we oftentimes try and make shit about us. And more times than not, it's not about us. And we don't have all the pieces to the puzzle. And then we try to connect all the dots to make sense in our head. And then we make a story about it. So I don't know if I just opened up way too many doors philosophically. But yeah, for me, it's really this element of what's your intention? Are you trying to learn something from it? Or are you trying to make meaning of something? Yeah. You know, the other thing is, and I referred to this with your folks last week, this idea of how we think and speak. Adam Grant's book, Think Again, talks about this idea that typically we speak as the preacher, the prosecutor or the politician.

17:53 When we set that aside and we begin to think like the scientist or the philosopher, where we constantly question things. where we constantly wonder about what else is out there. And we have enough humility to say we don't know it all. And I think those are the kinds of things that lead to that curiosity. And for me, I am constantly questioning the things that I see, whether it's books that I read, whether it's podcasts I listen to, and what that leads to is that curiosity. And then I begin to dig more. And quite frankly, a lot of times I probably go too far. Yeah. I take lifelong learning to the extreme sometimes.

18:33 You are a student. Seriously. You are. Especially when you see the Amazon guy show up at my door, you know. So, you know. And he's probably tired of seeing that guy. Oh, he's done it again. Here we go. Exactly. God, he got more? Yeah. Oh, man. I love that from both of you guys. And I think those are really, really wise just to be able to stay in that space of curiosity. And if you decide to dip your toe into this water and or even better yet, dive into the deep end of the pool, you better be willing to stay curious because it's the only way that you can keep your sanity, quite frankly, in this crazy journey of entrepreneurship.

19:14 So Mike, we get to 2008 and interesting turns kind of happening from there, right? In the world and in your life. Share with us a little bit about kind of where we went from there. Well, you know, it's interesting. In August of 2008, my first book came out, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning, The Business Funnel Approach. And so, you know, I'm on a high in August. I'm thinking I got the world by the tail at this point. My first book is out. I remember walking into a Barnes and Noble and there's an end cap with all my books there. And I'm thinking, this is cool. This is really, really awesome. You know, September 15th, I get on an airplane from Minneapolis to Charlotte and I'm going to go work with a client. And it's an early flight. It's one of those god-awful 6 a.m. flights.

19:56 And I get into Charlotte about 9.15 a.m. And as I get off the plane, my BlackBerry is blowing up. I got text messages and voice messages and all kinds of stuff going on. And I'm looking at it. And as I walk into the terminal, I can see people standing around the monitors and all that kind of stuff. And, of course, you get off that and you see that. And, of course, at that point, the first thing you think of is, my God, did we have another 9-11? And fortunately, as I began to stand around, I realized that wasn't it. But what had happened literally 20 minutes before that is Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy. And that was really the tipping point that started the financial crisis.

20:37 And it had been coming up to that point, but that morning with Lehman Brothers filing bankruptcy, that was really the last straw and that really started everything. You know, at that point, I'm working with 37 community banks. I've got 17 brokerage companies and probably close to a couple hundred financial advisors that I'm working with. And now all of a sudden, rather than all of the work up to that point had been helping them succeed, helping them build more financial success, profitability, market share, all those kinds of things. Now, all of a sudden, it completely turns and now I'm trying to talk them off ledges. I'm really trying to help them figure out how am I going to survive through this?

21:19 They're not even thinking about thriving at that point. They're thinking about how are we going to survive through this? And so that really was the shift in my work at that point in time. And that really went on for the better part of two plus years, uh, that I had to do that and had to work through that with them. And eventually when that's all you're doing, it takes its toll on you. And, uh, by about 2011, 2012, I really was, was, uh, burnt out. I was, uh, really at the point where, uh, My personal life was suffering from this and I wasn't making good business decisions at that point. And so at that point, I really, you know, I really had to kind of step back and say, what the heck am I doing here?

22:07 And by 2013, I'd pretty much backed away from the business completely. I'd had enough clients figure out how to get through it. And when you go from, it's not like you can just flip a switch and go back to what you were doing before 2008. So now you've got to kind of rethink this. And so I really did. I stepped away for the better part of two years, ended up getting, you know, going through a difficult divorce and all of those kinds of things and and moved out of Minneapolis, came back to South Dakota. to kind of get grounded back to where I wanted to be. And then at that point, that's when I went to work on the second book. And the second book was really that reflection on what happened during the financial crisis and really going back and looking at all the clients that I had worked with and seeing, okay, what were the key things that those clients did that survived and thrived versus the ones that didn't make it?

23:02 And so I really began to study and to look at that. And that's really what was the beginning of the second book. Really interesting parallel because it's, you know, so many people talk about, you know, the most challenging of times is when the, you know, when the people who make it through that, they tend to be some of the most successful, whether it's people, businesses, etc. So fascinating that you endured it. You went through that. Yeah. wrote a book about it. What's an interesting parallel, right? So, so much of our content and so much of our systems, they were all built in that same window of time because we had to survive and figure out how... I mean, we were doing sales during that whole crash, which is...

23:42 Talk about uncertainty being in a commission-only role when no one wanted to spend money because they didn't have any. But it's a beautiful parallel that you crafted such an incredible piece of work at the same time that we were crafting our work. So it makes total sense that we have parallel tracks rolling there. It's a great spotlight. And Mike, one of the things I'd love to hear, man, is through that time, what do you believe, because I'm going to guess, I'm not going to guess, I know that you feel this way. So I'd love to hear it from you. What was the greatest gift that you were given during the difficult personal time in your life during that period?

24:22 Well, I don't think there's any question. The biggest gift was I reconnected with my faith. That, by far and away, was the biggest gift that I got. And then, you know, the next biggest gift that I got is when I came out of the back end of that, I met my wife, you know, now. And, you know, Ryan, you've met Anne. She is an amazing gift. Yeah, she's just fantastic. Wonderful, wonderful woman. That and being part of her family. I didn't have any kids. Now I've got her kids and grandkids and all that kind of stuff. I mean, all of those things are just an incredible blessing to me. But that reconnection with faith, I think, is really the part.

25:03 And I think along with that reconnection of faith was really discovering these Benedictine principles. That was purely by accident, you know. And I want to, this is a perfect way for us to parlay into that. Before we do, in any of those moments, and I've been there, we've shared these stories together, but in any of those moments where we find ourselves kind of at the bottom, there is a moment where we have to decide to stop digging the hole or climb out. And people talk about rock bottom and it's like, well, it couldn't go any lower. Yeah. Yeah, you can. Don't say that. Don't ever say that. Trust me.

25:43 You can. That's exactly right. I did it. But I'm curious, was there anything in particular that you can point to that for you informed the decision that I'm not going to dig this hole any deeper into? I owe it to myself or I owe it to somebody else or I owe it to God or my family or whatever. What informed your decision to say, no, this is not where I'm going to stop heading in this direction. I'm making a decision, cutting off all other possibilities and I'm climbing out. Yeah, I mean, I think the key was getting out of the environment that I was in. Making that decision alone, getting out of the environment that I was in and moving back to South Dakota and really hitting the reset button.

26:32 And it was like, okay, it's time. And a lot of that came from a lot of deep self-reflection and. It came from, I remember going on a silent retreat, and it was a lot of that reflection during that time, just kind of trying to listen to, you know, what God's will was for me. And I got a very clear message that said, you're not done yet. Get your butt moving and, you know, you need to hit the reset button and go again. You've got a lot of things left to do, you know. And so... It was really it was really that time, I think, which was probably the lowest point that said, let's listen to what somebody else has to say that has a lot more influence than you have.

27:15 You know, what I want to what I love about that the most, Mike, and honor is that we all hear that voice. We all hear that voice. It's not ever not present. We all hear it, but we have to make the conscious choice to listen and actually be in action and go instead of just continuing to die the slow death. So I want to honor you for that, brother. And thank you. I mean, so many people have and will continue to benefit from that. And I'm glad... I'm glad that you made that choice. And let's talk about kind of the Benedictine stuff, because this is something that's so unique. I love it. And I think most people are like, Bennett, what?

27:59 I know it's not the egg dish at first watch. Right, exactly. Yeah, right. That's tasty. Don't get me wrong, but that's not where we're headed here. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that, how you've stumbled upon it and all that good stuff. Yeah. Well, you know, so I was researching my second book. The second book is called The Sweet Spot Where Business Strategy, Positive Psychology, and Faith Principles Converge. And those, by the way, were the three things that I connected to those clients and people that I'd worked with that survived and thrived through that time. And as I'm researching that, a friend of mine introduces me to... what I call the little red book, and this is it.

28:40 And it's called The Rule of St. Benedict. And I knew absolutely nothing about this. I knew absolutely nothing about the history of it. And as I began to research it, what I found is that The Rule of Benedict was written by this young man. He was probably in his late teens, maybe early 20s, came from a middle-class family in Rome. And he was growing up during the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire. And his family had sent him into Rome to go to school. And he was just appalled at everything that was going on in Rome at that time with everything. And finally decided this wasn't for me. I'm getting the heck out of here. And wound up going to a cave outside of Rome just to decide he was going to be a hermit and a holy man and all that kind of stuff and devote his life to just praying to God.

29:28 And as it turns out, the word began to spread that this guy was in this cave and he had some fairly amazing insights. And so people began to come to him. And as they did, they got a lot out of what he was talking about. Yeah. At one point, a group of monks came to him and asked him if he would lead their group. And he reluctantly agreed to that and so went to live with them and to lead their group. Well, they realized fairly early on that his way of leading them was not really what they were looking for. And so they tried to kill him. and tried to poison him. And the story goes that when he lifted up the cup to drink the wine that was poisoned, the cup broke into a million pieces.

30:15 And he didn't, you know, obviously realized what was going on and left there. So, He went to a place called Monte Cassino, which is outside of Rome. It's still there today. Built a monastery there and started sending out groups of 12 monks to build other monasteries. And so they call Benedict the gardener of Europe. He's the one that really started all of the monastic communities in Europe and sending these monks out to these places. But he also had written this rule. Charlemagne, a few hundred years later, would actually take that rule and implement everything in that rule for all of the institutions, the education, government, all of those kinds of things.

31:00 He would implement the principles of that. And that's why Benedict is called the father of Western civilization, because he really, you know, brought that forth. As I'm going through this, as I'm reading this, as I'm looking at it, you know, the first time through it, you're kind of overwhelmed by the fact that, well, this is really just a document that tells you how to live in a monastery with the monks, you know, and kind of lays everything out. But as you begin to pull the principles out... and really begin to look at how they apply to all of us, it really becomes a blueprint for how we live and work in community. So the Benedictines' motto is Ora et Labora, work and prayer. And so they really have...

31:42 built a whole tradition on this. And what's interesting is you look at there are many, many corporations around the country and around the world that utilize this rule of Benedict as their primary operating blueprint. And we've got a big health care facility here in Sioux Falls that they operate under the Benedictine rule. And so as you begin to pull those out, so as I created the research for this and as I built the book... I really identified five what I call monk principles. And the first one is virtue and conversatio. So I think you guys have seen my Wednesday email that goes out, the monk principles 2.1.

32:24 Actually, conversatio is going to be one of the topics when tomorrow's, tomorrow mornings goes out. But it's this whole idea of a way or manner of life. And How are we living it virtuously? How are we really utilizing that approach to living positively, living virtuously, and applying that in not only our work, but in our leadership as well? The second one is community. Looking at what is community versus culture. You know, I think I mentioned this last week when we were with your folks, this idea of culture. If I hear the word culture one more time, I might, you know, I might need one of the airline sickness bags. Yeah, yeah. Everybody wants to talk about culture and culture is fine.

33:08 But as you're seeing, in fact, I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day. More and more companies are bailing out of this whole culture movement, especially as it relates to DEI, because, number one, they're not seeing any results. And number two, they don't really feel like it's impacting their organization. So either they're bailing out of the programs or they're not hiring new positions or whatever the case may be. this whole idea of community starts with dignity. It really starts with understanding that we're all made in the image and likeness of God. And if we just start treating each other that way, we wouldn't need any of this DEI stuff. And so, you know, really thinking about that idea of community as the foundation, and then culture goes on top of it and culture will stick with, if that foundation is built.

33:55 But if it's not there, it's not going to stick. And so whether it's dignity, whether it's civility, respect, empathy, those are all things that lead into this idea of culture. The next one is stability, and this is really just how the organization operates. The Benedictines really look at stability as obedience, as lifelong learning, as decision-making or discernment, all of those kinds of things from a standpoint of how do we create stability within the organization. The next one that I talk about is excellence, which is really all about innovation and how do we create and how do we manage positive change and really doing that.

34:36 I talk about really the way that we innovate, the process of innovation and how we can utilize that. to really grow and build positive businesses. And then the last one is my favorite one, and that's profound hospitality. And it's really talking about it's moving way beyond customer service or customer experience and creating that profound hospitality that is both internal to ourselves, but then external in giving to others. And so those are really the the monk principles that I discovered as I went through this whole process of research. And those are the things that I really talk a lot about now in my work. One of the things that I really want to highlight about this, Mike, is that I think that especially right now, you know, culturally, there was such a large portion of human history where what had been learned and the wisdom of elders was not just respected, but, you know, it was foundational.

35:32 Yeah. in the way that we built things and learned and lived our lives and all of those things. And we find ourselves now culturally in this space where we're constantly clamoring for the new thing. What's the new thing? What's the new way? What don't I know? Blah, blah, blah. And what I find really unique about this, man, is that it's such a great example of how... We can and should, by the way, go backwards to find what has worked in the past and what foundationally has created success for human beings, for businesses, for all of those things. And model ourselves after that before we go looking for the new thing.

36:14 We love innovation. Innovation is wonderful. You're a creative species, that's great. But especially, and I know you guys will both have an opinion on this, but I feel like I especially find in the business world that we are constantly trying to go reinvent the wheel before we just go, holy crap. Like lots of other people have done this before, literally back hundreds of years now. What foundationally am I missing instead of just give me the magic pill, give me the new thing? Because everything that you just mentioned, by the way, is absolutely foundational to business success.

36:54 So I just think there's so much value in being able to do that and carry forward the wisdom of the past that has worked before we start going and looking for the new shiny object. I don't think there's any question about that, that, you know, we look for instant gratification today and we think that we need to find it in something new and exciting. And, you know, we're chasing squirrels, basically. And especially as entrepreneurs, I see entrepreneurs doing this all the time. What's the latest and greatest thing? What's the latest and greatest technology? What's the latest and greatest idea? When if we really have a strong foundation of. of knowing where we're going, which really gets back to this whole idea of, you know, creating a plan that looks at that and understanding that we stick to that as the foundation.

37:44 then we don't get caught in this trap of chasing the latest and greatest. I mean, even just the idea of innovation, when I look back at the rule of Benedict, the Benedictines, their monasteries are made to be self-sufficient. So what they have to rely on is the fact that they have to rely on they're either making something or farming or whatever the case may be in order to survive. And so there were many times over that 1,500 years where All of a sudden, they were doing something and the landscape changed and they had to pivot and do something else. And it was out of a survival aspect. And their commitment to this, this commitment to excellence is really beyond.

38:25 I mean, you know, I love the Benedictines because they make the best beer in the world. It's really interesting because there's so much power in what was just shared. There's following those fundamentals, following those principles, leaning in on the values. And I think one of the challenges for a lot of business owners is it's not sexy. It's like, do the thing that's always been done and go bust your ass and go do these things in a specific way. It's like A squared plus B squared is going to equal C squared. But I think that there's this rebellious streak in a lot of business owners, right? Like they don't want to work for somebody else. I want to go do it my own way.

39:06 And then they get their rear kicked because they want to do it their own way. And they buck the system of some of those fundamentals that are so critical. They take the shortcuts. Yeah. You know, how can I make this happen faster? How can I take the shortcuts? I mean, you know, all you got to do is look at the statistics and you realize that 94% of all businesses start aren't going to last two years. And that tells you right there that you need to have that foundation. I don't remember what the number was, but I think it was Japan where there was something like their business plans were like 100 year long business plans compared to like US business plan. It was like, you know, three months. Right, right, right.

39:47 It's very different methods of thinking. And then you think Benedictine, it's like, shoot, they're going for 1500 years and completely independent and autonomous. That's pretty magical. It's incredible. And I, you know, I want to, this is a perfect segue really into talking a little bit about business planning and that's exactly what we, you know, uh, what we did together last week. One of the things, if you listen to this show, you would know, um, Brooke and I talk about this all the time that really the foundation of what we do at Empire Partners is all structured around the idea of quarterly business planning and how that's foundational in creating success. Yeah, marketing, yeah, sales, all those things.

40:28 But we've got to be able to effectively do business planning because a coaching business is not unlike any other business. It is the same. All the tenants are the same. What needs to be done and what creates success is the same. So, Mike, I'd love for you, you know, for the people that were there, they know how impactful it was. And we were able to really help people create their quarterly plan for Q4. For somebody who has never done business planning before. Mm-hmm. And they're now running their coaching business. Let's just say they're currently a shop of one, maybe they have a VA or something like that, which probably constitutes a large portion of this audience.

41:09 What do you tell somebody when, you know, to kind of get started? Because I think there are two things. One is what we just said, which is that there's this impatience. And while I don't want to do that, I just want to go do the shiny marketing tactic that the Facebook ad tells three months. But the other side of the coin is that I think people get super intimidated by business planning. You've never done it before. It feels cumbersome. It feels overwhelming. I don't know where to start. This is a world and a land that I'm not used to playing in. How do we simplify that so that it becomes approachable? Well, I think that was really the whole theory behind my first book, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning.

41:53 It was really most business plans, the models that they use are the same models that have been around business schools for 100 years. And those business plans are fine. But the problem is those business plans are typically not working documents. OK, they're creating them for a banker or an investor or whatever the case may be. And all it really is, is a snapshot in time. It's really saying, okay, here's what we think the market is. Here's what we think we can get market share. Here's what we think our financials are going to look like, blah, blah, blah. But it's not an active working document. And so what I talk about in the book is moving away from this traditional business planning model to what I call the business planning funnel.

42:36 And I think probably the biggest mistake that I've seen over 37 years, and I've been using this process now for the better part of 35, what I see the biggest mistake is it was typical entrepreneurs. And I'm sure coaches are the exact same way, is that we always think we can do more than we can. Yeah. And so we create this plan that's got a million things on it, and we're going to do them all in three months or six months or whatever the case may be. And then we get to the end of that time and we maybe have checked off one thing. And the other piece is that you guys know full well, a lot of people are driven by to-do lists. And so they create this to-do list that's got this million items on it.

43:22 And every time they get to check something off, they get the dopamine hit that says, oh, yeah, cool. I just checked it off. But the problem is that in many cases, what they're doing is they're creating a false positive. They're creating a situation where they're seeing that being checked off, but are they really checking off the right things? Are they really checking off the things that they need to be checking off in order to progress forward? And so I really start with what are the priorities? You know, identify if you're doing a quarterly plan, identify one, maybe two priorities that you're going to really focus on for that particular period of time. And then once you do that, break that down into strategies.

44:06 What are the strategies that you're going to do to do that? So, you know, for instance, I think I use the example, if one of my priorities is client acquisition, then one of my strategies might be creating a webinar, an evergreen webinar that somebody is going to use. So that might be a strategy that I'm going to use. And then the next piece would be the tactics. OK, how am I going to create that? What needs to happen? from a tactic and task standpoint. Or maybe I'm gonna use social media to create client acquisition. And the tactics are gonna be Facebook ads or LinkedIn ads or educational posts or whatever the case may be. Those are the tactics. But again, if we stick to two or three strategies and leave it at that, work those.

44:51 And if you get them done inside that three months, you can always add another one. But the problem is that we normally have, and, you know, a couple of the folks that sent me plans after our event last week. I mean, they had 19 strategies and they had 27. It's like, guys, I love your attitude here that you're going to accomplish all this, but I'm going to tell you right now, it's not going to happen. I've been doing this for a long time and I can tell you, you're not going to get all that stuff done, you know. And so we're much better off to break it into bite sized pieces and then measure it. The other thing that I will say is that we are typically as entrepreneurs, we're goal driven.

45:32 So we set our goal, okay, next quarter, we're going to make X amount of dollars, or we're going to do this amount of revenue or whatever the case may be. And that's all good and well. I don't have any problem with setting a goal. But once you set the goal, set it aside. And rather than measuring that goal, let's start measuring what I call key milestones. What are the actions and activities that you need to measure that are going to get you to that goal? And what I have seen time and time again is that if you're focused on hitting those milestones, the goal takes care of itself. And in most cases, you exceed the goal. And so it's really one of those things that you really want to focus on the actions and activities that.

46:13 And, you know, Zig Ziglar used to say, don't confuse activity with accomplishment. And, you know, we're actively checking off stuff off the box and getting those dopamine hits, but they're not doing anything that are going to really get us to accomplishment. So I think those are the things that I would really hit on and what we talked about last week in business planning. There's this, you know, the old saying, you know, most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and everybody underestimates what they can do in a decade. And we see it gets even more compressed when you compress it into that 90 day window where people, oh, I'm going to do everything. And I think part of that thought process is, oh, if I just bust my ass for the next 90 days, I'll never have to do these things ever again.

46:53 Yeah. And so it's like, what are all the things I've been putting off and I just need to knock out in 90 days? And it goes back to, are you in this game for the long haul? Are you building an actual plan? Is this something you're building that's sustainable and has a long-term vision? Or are you just trying to get that, to your point, that quick dopamine hit and check off the boxes? Right. Love that distinction of priorities and strategies and tactics. I think it's so relatable too, because everybody who's been a business owner probably has experienced this at one point or another. But good God, if there is a poster child for this, it is coaches. It's like, hey, how are things going in your business?

47:35 Well, shit, I don't know, but I'm really busy. I'm really busy. Listen, man, there's not... We were talking to somebody just the other day who was going, man, there's just not a free hour in the day. Okay, how's that working out for you? Right? I mean, oh my goodness. I'm an achiever. I'm an achiever. I'm an achiever. And by the way, you left that corporate job to get into coaching thinking you wouldn't have to work so hard. Right. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. I love this. And as we're kind of coming down to time here, guys, I want to recapture this really quickly because if you were sitting here going, holy crap, business planning feels so overwhelming. I can't do it.

48:15 I don't know how to do it. Mike literally just gave you a five step plan. You can go back and listen to this, but I'm going to encapsulate it for you. Number one. Have the plan. But number two, limit to just a couple of different priorities. Then limit your strategies. Don't go bananas with your strategies and shiny object syndrome. Have the goal, but then set the mini milestones as the way that you're actually tracking your progress. And the one thing that you didn't mention that I know you love, Mike, is celebrate along the way. Yeah. Yep, absolutely. Celebrate your success when you hit those key milestones. And celebrate the success first with the milestones, not with the goal. Yes, this is major. Celebrate the success when you're hitting the milestones.

48:58 Then you have the big celebration when you hit the goal. I love that. I always forget that part. I love that. You do. You do. Well, guys, this was freaking awesome. There's so much value here. Mike, I can't wait to do this again. And I want to say before we end this episode, number one, brother, I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I'm so grateful that God, the universe brought us together. I know there was a clear reason for that well over a year ago. I'm so grateful that we've now had the opportunity to not just share some personal time together, but also to join forces and be doing some work together. We're very excited to have done some work and to do more work in the future with you here at Empire.

49:45 Everybody on the team feels that way. All of the clients that you've interacted with are just over the moon about you. And I really want to honor you for being the service-driven, heart-driven entrepreneur that you are. So many people in your position, Mike, would just go, well, you know what, I can just go play golf all day. And you like to do that. But by the same token, I love how much you are. There's nothing about your light that is dimming in any way, shape or form. I think it's getting brighter. I think you've got even more to give. I'm excited that we're going to get to play some part in that.

50:26 And yeah, just grateful for you and grateful for the time that we got to spend together. Yeah. And likewise, Ryan, I mean, it's been just a treat spending time with you, Brooke. You and I are going to get to spend some time here shortly. So, you know, being able to do that, I mean, it's been a joy for me. You know, I'm 65 years old and I'm still on fast forward. So, you know, let's I'm going to keep that going. I don't plan on besides my back hurts too bad to play golf all day anymore. I make a wicked caddy, so just so you guys know. Exactly. So, I mean, it's been a treat with you guys. Hey, one last thing I'll mention just to put a quick plug in.

51:08 I had mentioned the weekly email that I do called The Monk Principles 2 Plus 1. If anybody listening here is interested in that, you can go to my website, themonkguy.com. Scroll down to the bottom, and there's a little box there where you can subscribe to it. I think as you guys have seen, it's a quick little minute and a half, two minute email. It's a great read. Every Wednesday morning with a few tidbits in it. That's awesome. And anybody who's interested in that, I'd love to have them subscribe to it. For sure. And the one thing in addition to that, if you're interested in Mike's book, Ultimate Breakthrough Planning, he's got a couple of books. But this one in particular is the subject of kind of what we were talking about today. We'll put a link to the book and how to order it in the show notes so that people can go grab that.

51:52 It's a quick read. It is a very simple but profound book. And I think it'll really help demystify the whole idea of business planning and get people into action. So, guys, thank you for listening to this episode of the Coaching Equation Podcast. And until the next time, be well. We'll see you on the next episode. Thanks, fellas. Take care, everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coaching Equation. Please hit subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 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.

52:46 All right, coaches, before we wrap up this episode, I've got something special for you. If you're ready to nail your business plan for 2025, don't miss our upcoming in-person event on December 5th through the 7th. By registering now, not only will you get early bird pricing, but as a bonus, I'm going to throw in instant access to the replay of our last event so that you can make sure you finish Q4 strong. And I'm not stopping there. I'm also going to give you the chance to connect directly with Mike Farrell for feedback on your plan via email. This is the ultimate opportunity to simplify your business strategy and crush your Q4 goals leading into a powerful Q1 of 2025.

53:35 Go to www.profitablecoachlive.com forward slash Q4 or click the link in the show notes to grab your spot now.