This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Casey Cavell. Casey is a serial entrepreneur that started his first business at 21 and then went on to start, buy, or invest in over two dozen businesses over the last 15 years, worth over $17 million.

Because of his success and selling some of his businesses, he followed his passion to help other entrepreneurs by creating Legacy 4:12 an entrepreneurial team of advisors, mentors, investors, and experts who are called to serve the growth-minded entrepreneur.

If that is not enough, Casey has been an investor, advisor, and influential figure in the NFT community, assisting project founders and community leaders. Casey is a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, VeeFriends, Gutter Cat Gang, and several other high-profile NFT communities.

This is one of those interviews where we can cover the whole realm of the entrepreneur spectrum and I look forward to doing just that.

www.Legacy412.com (Free workshop)

Casey grew up with an entrepreneur father seeing the freedom that his dada had. But, he also saw the ups and downs. He knew he could learn from his dad’s experience, so he studied them and got the entrepreneur bug. Casey went to college to play baseball, but got hurt and decided to play and compete in Texas Hold’Em. He studied the game and starting out lost his money. But, realized that the game is really about longevity and the longer you can stay in, the easier it is to win. You are not playing against the casino, you are playing against other players, so your odds are better.

It's the same in business. If you develop a good strategy and surround yourself with the right people, you can succeed. He went to do very well playing Hold’Em and became the youngest player in the World Series of Poker. But he realized he didn’t want to work for money – he wanted his money to work for him. So, he started investing in businesses. As Casey says, he is a “turnaround guy.” He takes businesses that need to improve their systems and processes and works with them. He did that heavily for about a 10 year period and in 2011, he was able to exit one of his businesses and follow a passion to own a sport business. He bought a franchise called DBat in Atlanta, Ga. He did it buy simplifying the business model, taking care of his customers and taking care of his employees.

But he got burned out. He was doing everything and needed to remove himself from the day to day. It was at this time that he learned about the EOS Model and found an integrator to partner and help him run the business. This allowed them really scale and spend less time in the business.

At the 7:30 mark, we talk about the EOS model and the importance of the Visionary/Integrator duo. How were you able to start, buy, build and run 20 businesses over 15 years?

• He learned from others.
• He knew what he wanted and found others that had it asking them how to they did and putting the information into action.
• He is gifted at simplifying a business and used that to his advantage.
• He paid people for advice as well.

Any type of business that you gravitate to more than others?

• He did really good with his baseball and softball academies because he took what was complex and simplified them.
• Find out what you are the best at and how it relates to making money.
• The businesses he works with a hypergrowth minded. They want to be the best at what they do.
• They have a business model built, but they need help in optimizing it and Casey brings that expertise.

How do you find your businesses that you buy or invest in?

• Find those that access to the people you are looking for and network with them.
• Casey uses an example of someone who wanted to buy a plumbing business and was talking to individual plumbing companies. Casey advised them to go to the head of local trade group/association for plumbers and talk to them letting them know that they are looking to buy.

Once you have invested in or bought a business, besides the EOS framework, are there any other processes or systems you have found that are important to implement?

• EOS gives you about 30% of what you need. The foundation.
• Is very important to build a great culture. There is a company out there called Giant Worldwide that does a lot of culture building activities and Casey has taken some things from them like the 5 Voices.
• He also uses Kolbe assessments.
• Businesses are about people. And the better you understand yourself and who you are, the better you are going to be to understand others and relate and communicate.
• Get a coach that mentors you to be a better you.

What is the reason most businesses fail?

• They run out of money, or they burn out and give up.
• Sometimes people are not ready and try to do it on their own. The pros have coaches.
• Everyone needs somebody to help them in becoming better.

Thoughts on the long game?

• People are either spending their time working on things that they are good at, but don’t like doing of like doing but not good at.
• The key to succeed as an entrepreneur is to get out of doings you don’t like, even if you are good at it. If you don’t you will burn out.
• 70/30 is the balance. 70% of your time doing the things you are good at and like doing. 30% on what you don’t like. At some point you will need to hire the complementary person.

Building a team is one of the most important things you can do. Talk to us about what we should know?

• A lot of entrepreneurs put the keys to a business in the hands of those that are not ready to drive it.
• Think about if you had a million-dollar business…now imagine, it is a million dollar car. Would you hand the keys to a new driver and let them take it? No. You would want someone with proven experience.
• If they don’t have the experience, they don’t know and can be reckless, etc.
• Hire people with different skills set s that compliment yours.
• EOS has 2 key roles, the Visionary and the Integrator. The visionary dreams big and set the big milestones. The integrator builds the systems to help them get there and keeps things on track. Which one are you?
• You want people thinking as owners or that have some bit of ownership at least at your leadership level, but preferably all levels.

Step by step process to position a business to stand out?

• Get your niche that you will be the best in the world at.
• Simplify that offering to be able to deliver and scale.
• Simple scales, complex fails.
• Know you target market. Who are you serving? Don’t go wide, go deep.

How does a business create the unique offer that gets people in the door?

• Who do you help? Do what? So, that what?
• If you can answer those questions and dial them in, you will find the offer presents itself.

How does an entrepreneur remove themselves from a business?

• Every quarter write 2-3 things you are currently that you do not want to by the end of the quarter.
• Then look at who in the business it makes more sense for them to do or outsource to. Or does a hire need to be made and needs done to put the hire in place.
• Look at things in terms of your time and money. What are you worth per hour and can you deploy yourself to focus more on the highest price per hour duties. If so, taking the lower cost duties off your plate and giving to someone else so you can focus will generate the revenue to easily pay for giving up the other duties.

What other lessons can share from your entrepreneur journey?

• Learn to hire well and put in a good process.
• People are your biggest asset.
• Make sure your roles and responsibilities are clear.
• Track your data. Have KPIs that help track your performance to your goals that are tracked weekly.

What surprised you the most on your journey to this point?

• Casey has made a lot good decisions and a lot of poor decisions.
• There are a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda’s, in life. It’s ok. You are where you are in life because that is where you are supposed to be.
• Take to self-reflect and learn. ​

What is your best advice for entrepreneurs just starting out?

• Ask those that have succeeded what they have done. How did you do it?
• Then learn and put that into action for yourself.

Best Quote: People are either spending their time working on things that they are good at, but don’t like doing, or like doing but not good at. The key to succeed as an entrepreneur is to get out of doings you don’t like, even if you are good at it. If you don’t you will burn out.

Casey's Misfit 3:

1. Have a written vision for your life. Share it with others.
2. Have a written vision for your family. Share it with your family.
3. Have a written vision for your business. Share it with business partners and team members.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Chris Croner. Chris is an entrepreneur and sales psychologist with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. He is the founder of SalesDrive which has helped over 1400 companies select and develop high-performance salespeople using their methods and assessment technology.

Chris is also the co-author of the best-selling book, Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again.

I am excited to have Chris on because sales and selling is one of the topics I am very passionate about. Sales are the lifeblood of a business and great salespeople who are devoted to the success of their companies are diamonds in the rough that every entrepreneur should be seeking. Chris has developed the methodology to find and hire them.

www.SalesDrive.info (complimentary assessment)

Chris’s background was in clinical psychology, and he specialized in providing consulting to businesses management. He started at a firm called Whitmer and Associates which specialized in executive assessment. When companies wanted to hire key leaders or new CEO’s, they would hire firms like Whitmer with people Chris that would evaluate them. During this time, he worked to design something as rigorous as the evaluation for executives for salespeople because they are such integral role to the success of a business.

In October of 2002, he began doing that work and then in 2005, he went out on his own and founded SalesDrive and published the first edition of Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again in 2006.

For over 20 years, he has been obsessed with studying what makes a great salesperson.

What makes a great salesperson?

• They are hunters who focus on new account acquisition. This is the #1 position companies have a challenge filling.
• They have all the things you would expect relationships skills, good communication skills, etc.
• But there are 3 non-teachable characteristics that are far more important to look for to find a great salesperson.
• #1: The Need for Achievement. They want to do well for the sake of doing well. The naturally want to set the bar high and continue to beat it. They are focused on producing excellence. This is also needed for successful entrepreneurs.
• #2: Competitiveness. They want to be the best. They also want to win the prospect or client over to their point of view.
• #3: They have great optimism and resilience that they will succeed and keep going until they do.
• Those 3 characteristics are what Chris calls Sales “Drive.”

Any other uncommon traits you have found that entrepreneurs should looking for when hiring?

• Thick skin. Can take the rejection.
• It is good if they have 2-3 years of relevant experience at a similar sized company and role. They’ve gone through “Sales 101.”

At the 10 min mark, we talk about how athletes many times lend themselves to the role. But, it is important to look at how they succeeded as athletes and their work ethic compared to their peers as an athlete.

What does it mean to be Driven?

• They must have the 3 elements: Need for achievements, competitiveness, and optimism.
• The one that is most important of the 3 is the Need for Achievement.
• They must have the passion to get every day competing in a incredible tough and hard game in business
• . Research shows that Drive is the easiest thing to fake in an interview, so you must be careful now you interview for it.

Talk to us about personalities. What personality types or combinations work out best?

• DISC is a good general test.
• Chris created the Drive Test specifically for sales.
• Chris shares details about how they setup the Drive Test and it is best to just listen.

I’ve heard you say that resumes lie, and salespeople can do their job in the interview process, tell us more about that and what we should be looking for in the interview process…

• Many people present themselves well but are not a great hunter-salesperson.
• The key is to improve the interview process so that you can discern the difference between what they are telling you that you want to hear vs. who they really are.
• One question you can use when reviewing a resume is the “Magic Wand” question, especially when you seem to get guarded answers. For example, “If you could wave a magic wand and change 3 things about your prior job so that you would have never wanted to leave, what would those be? This opens up to truths you can dig in on.
• You are looking for reliability and consistency through their past.
• The best predictor of future behavior is previous behavior.
• You also want to maintain control of the interview, so come into the interview with your questions written down and then direct the interview.
• It is also your job to be well-prepared. Hiring people is one of the most critical elements to success – don’t wing it. And the cost of a bad hire is tremendous.

Is there a framework that you can share to run a better interview process?

• 3 P’s
• Plan the interview effective and be prepared with questions.
• Probe the past to understand deeply what the candidate has done previously. 2nd, 3rd, 4th level questions. Dig in.
• Patterns. Look for patterns in the interview. Are they responding as well in the beginning of the interview as the end. Are there conflicts/contradictions in their answers.
• Be a little like a prosecutor but ask for their help. “Help me understand….”
• Chris provides a guide with scoring in his book.

Where are the best places to find great salespeople?

• Passive candidates are many times better than active candidates – people that are not looking for a job.
• Make sure they are not a job-hopper.
• Make sure they can show metrics of their success and what they have done.
• They can come from a variety of backgrounds, but are many times attracted entrepreneurial type roles.
• Networking to find them and sharing with others what you are looking for is a great avenue.
• You should always be recruiting and looking.

What about hiring a sales leader or manager? What should an entrepreneur look for there?

• Be careful hiring or rewarding a top performer from an existing team.
• It is different to be successful because of the efforts of others than by your own efforts.
• It is a different type of mindset and focus, because it is not about the leader. It is about the team which a huge shift.
• You will want to hire someone who knows it is not about them, but about helping each individual salesperson succeed and that is their passion.

What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned on your own entrepreneur journey?

• The biggest challenge was getting comfort with ambiguity. You have to be comfortable with uncertainty.
• Chris started taking classes at Second City for improve to help him become comfortable with uncertainty and having to deal with the curveballs as they came up and learned to roll with the punches. He used this to help him in his business.
• He learned that market will dictate what it wants, and you must be able to adapt, even if the markets wants something other than you think it does. ​

Any advice for the entrepreneur when it comes to them selling personally?

• You are the hunter, especially in the beginning.
• Look at it like a process, system.
• You have to not only be a good salesperson but evangelist.
• Focus on the process instead of the goal. Be great at each step.

Best Quote: There are 3 non-teachable characteristics that are far more important to look for to find a great salesperson - the need for achievement, competitiveness, and great optimism.

Chris's Misfit 3:

1. You become what you think about. What you spend your time thinking about day to day is what becomes your life.
2. Whatever you want in life, work your tail off at it and you will get it. Do whatever it takes and find a way.
3. Man’s Search For Meaning: The one freedom no one can take away from you is the ability to control your attitude and the way you respond to things.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Judy Wilkins-Smith. Judy is a world-renowned Systemic Work and Constellations Expert, Fortune 500 Executive Coach, and Author of Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint: A Powerful Guide to Transformation through Disentangling Multigenerational Patterns.

Basically, Judy can teach you how to decode your programming and look at the patterns from your ancestors to see if you have the DNA of an Entrepreneur and more importantly how you can learn to become a better entrepreneur.

Wouldn’t you want to know what your past generations can tell you about your future as an entrepreneur? I do and find this topic fascinating, so I asked Judy to come on and help us better understand the impact of our ancestors on our lives.

www.JudyWilkins-Smith.com

Judy was born and raised in South African and moved over to the US with her family for the opportunity. Her father was killed shortly after they arrived. She started to study and decided to write books and stumbled onto the topic of understanding what is past down in behavior from ancestors. She met a mentor who helped her to better understand the topic and as she says, “Never looked back.”

She started working with and helping individuals and companies came to her asking if she could help their companies and executives in the area of pattern recognition and performance improvement.

We all know about ancestry.com and other companies like that, but that is just scratching the surface. What can entrepreneurs learn from their ancestors about their entrepreneurial DNA?

• Judy works with “ancestry 2.0” which answers the question, “Why does it matter?” What does it matter what region your family is from or events that happened in your family history?
• These things create thoughts, feelings, actions that become patterns or emotional DNA that is passed down through generations and impact people.
• The big “aha” is that with emotional DNA, you can change it. You can change the patterns or re-write them.
• Entrepreneurs tap into the chapter that only they can write is primed by their ancestors.

How can an ancestor, from say the 1300s, have an impact on me now?

• That ancestor passed on behaviors and patterns down through generations and shapes how people rise up or subside.
• With epigenetics, if an event is substantial enough, it can create an imprint on DNA.
• The Dutch study of a town who were surrounded by Nazis and thus had little to no food and were consistently in a malnourished state.
• When the children and grandchildren of these people were studied, they all had the markers in their DNA of elevated cortisol and malnutrition.
• So, our ancestors have a real impact on us.

Explain epigenetics in more detail. How does it affect things like our attitude and world view?

• When you watch your mom and dad, you pick up things, patterns/behaviors.
• You will learn things but have a choice. If there is something you don’t like or behavior you feel is not good, you can choose to go a different way.
• This library of responses is what we use day to day to respond to situations in life.

How do we identify programming that may be holding us back? And how do we change it to what we want?

• There are always patterns that you want to start and stop.
• You need to focus on them and write how you truly feel about it and the meaning you give it.
• If you look at it and look for others in your family that have similar patterns. Are you following their lead? Do you want to follow in that pattern?
• If not, you must decide to change the pattern and path so you don’t do things “just like mom, dad, grandma, etc.”
• When you say “I wish I could…” or “I would really like to.” These are signs that you have a pattern to change.
• At the 14 min mark, Judy explains this process in detail. It’s best to listen.

“99% of the time, you, the entrepreneur are not an imposter. You are a pioneer. So, don’t feel like you are ever an imposter” You don’t have the answers, but you are willing to go look for them and figure it out. Pioneer.

At the 17 min mark, Judy talks about “systemic work.”

• It’s the need to “belong” that keeps people stuck and from breaking out.
• You’ve got to build the weight for the want that is stronger than the subsidence into the system.

Is there a set of steps that someone can follow when they feel they are pulled back into the comfort area?

• Get 2 pieces of paper: One for where you are going and one for where you are.
• On one piece, write down all the reasons why it is good idea not to move from the status quo and on the other write down everything that will happen for you if you do.
• Keep them and when you have these moments where you feel like you are falling backward, look at these two pieces of paper.
• Will you decide to quit and go back to old ways or keep going to reach the things that will happen if you do.
• It’s literally working it through logically in our heads.

Talk to us about Desire…

• The mind has to tell the body a story it can believe.
• If your body believe what the mind tells it, that is your new reality.
• Deep burning desire drives this.

How does someone use systemic work to help them on their entrepreneur journey and reach their potential?

• It is constantly being mindful about “What am I thinking?” “What is it telling me?” And “what meaning am I giving it?”
• Most importantly, what is my mind telling my body that my body believes?
• What do you believe and where did it come from and what do you choose to believe?
• One of the most important things to be aware of is the opportunity to pivot and grow. How do you teach yourself to see life?
• Thoughts, feelings, actions….
• It’s not hard work. People tell themselves terrible things all day long and believe them. That’s not hard work. Flipping it the other way isn’t either. It’s just a reorientation.

What are constellations and why are they so effective?

• Constellations are the breakthrough piece.
• They are a 3D process.
• It works best if do it with a live picture in front of you of the challenge or way of thinking.
• Judy uses an example of money. Maybe you have the same views on money as one or both of your parents. Do you realize that this is their view and doesn’t necessarily need to be yours?
• These limiting patterns can be found quickly. Then you can find the limitation, the issue, its’ origins, its effects, and how it has really affected you and then what a different possibility may be like.
• You can then re-wire the brain and the body.
• Doing this work can unlock things that have held us hostage for years.

Other advice?

• There is no such thing as a trainwreck, there is just another possibility.
• Ask “what more is possible?” It will lead you to new ideas and possibilities.
• Remove negative self-talk.
• Have a very clear awareness that life is not just life, but an adventure that is yours to shape.
• Don’t play the role of the victim. Take back your power.
• Show up. Show up. Show up. ​

Thoughts on victimhood/victimology?

• The reason we have so many issues in the world is that we have been taught to be victims.
• If you want to transform, you have to find the areas where you feel you are a victim and go beyond it.
• Victimhood is a comfortable way to fail. Don’t short-change yourself.
• Victimhood and Victimhood industry is the big lie.
• Never let someone else tell you what you are capable of or what your value is.

Best Quote: You, the entrepreneur are not an imposter. You are a pioneer. You may not have the answers, but you are willing to go look for them and figure it out. Pioneer.

Judy's Misfit 3:

When building your business. Inspire, don’t drive. Empower others to drive.

You are not broken. No one is. You may be breaking through, but you are not broken.

As an entrepreneur, you have a very big responsibility. You have the potential to change the emotional DNA of the world. You get to write the story. Don’t forget to take your own full place.

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5 Minute Journal

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Ken Burke. Ken is a serial entrepreneur who built a massive enterprise software company and sold it for over $100 million. He then went on to create Entrepreneur NOW, a company that provides over 160 eLearning courses designed for entrepreneurs to help them start, grow and run their business. EntrepreneurNOW courses are also distributed all over the world on over 40 major eLearning sites. Ken has been featured on the INC 500, been named Entrepreneur of the Year, and has authored multiple books, most recently the best-seller, Prosper, 5 Steps to Thriving in Business and Life.

Needless to say, Ken has a wealth of experience and knowledge on how to succeed as an entrepreneur, and I’ve brought him to squeeze every bit I can out of him.

www.EntrepreneurNow.com

www.KenBurke.com

Entrepreneurship is in Ken’s blood. It’s all he knows. It started 25 years ago when he started MarketLive and rode the E-commerce wave. It took 4-5 years before it took off, but they became one of the major players in enterprise e-commerce software. Ken learned a lot through the experience and honed his skills. As things grew, he had to go through the ups and downs of growing and scaling a large business. Sequoia Capital was their large investor and at one point, Ken had his “Steve Jobs” moment where he was replaced as CEO. He was moved to the chairman role and the new “more experienced” CEO was brought in. It was a miserable failure. Ken came back in after 4 years and built things back up and made it very successful selling on a high to a large software conglomerate.

He then started EntrepreneurNOW and is at it again and as he says, it having to learn a lot of things all over again. It’s never the same path.

At the 8 min mark, we talk about how it is different the second time around and just because he was successful once doesn’t mean the same things will work in the next venture.

Talk to us about the state of entrepreneurship as you see it…

• The latest batch of entrepreneurs has experienced another crash.
• Entrepreneurs have had to get a healthy dose of persistence and are learning that the notion of having a startup that maxes value in 3-4 years and the founders cash out is not a reality.
• The VC/Equity money is drying up.
• The cost of capital is much higher, and inflation is causing a lot of issues across the board.

At the 13 min mark, we discuss persistence and Ken’s thoughts.

• “You have to be in the game the win the game.” A lot of entrepreneurs take themselves off the field because they are not willing to persist through the major barriers they encounter.
• Don’t expect things to always go as planned.

Thoughts on the entrepreneur mindset?

• Ken wrote Prosper to help entrepreneurs in this area.
• It is impossible to fail because we are here to learn, grow, and develop.
• Challenges are part of the growth process.
• There is a lot of “You” in the business, so you must build a structure in the business that allows others to come up and help build the business and learn, grow, and develop. Do not let your ego get in the way.
• Be careful not to hamper the ability for your business to grow by injecting yourself too much in the business or letting limiting beliefs stop progress.

Prosper: 5 Steps to Thriving in Business and Life. Can you take us through the 5 steps?

• You take you wherever you go. All your baggage comes with you into business or personal life.
• The healthier you are as a person, the better you are in business and life.
• Step 1: You must accept yourself. Don’t self-sabotage.
• Step 2: Manage your ego. Your identity is not things, money, success, etc., it is internal.
• Step 3: Clarity. You need to know exactly where you are going and have a clear vision.
• Step 4: Take action. It comes down to consistent action. Fear is usually the #1 roadblock.
• Step 5: Gratitude. Serve and live with gratitude for all those around you and part of your journey.
• You must practice these things daily.

What should entrepreneurs know about how to prepare themselves and their business for a sale and what did you learn through your process?

• It starts at the very beginning.
• Covet thy equity. Protect every ounce of equity that you have.
• Never give more than you have to give up when it comes to equity. Stair-step your investment. Take a little bit more at each step to bring your business 18 months into the future at a time.
• Be prepared for a “down round.”
• Manage your board and investor as if they are employees otherwise, they will manage you.
• They must know you are the leader and are in charge.
• Do not have a “parent-child” relationship with your board or investors.
• In the end, you are 100% accountable for everything in your business.
• When going to sell, you must prepare at least 1 year in advance.
• Think about how to maximize every aspect of value.
• Try to find a strategy investor and partner with them ahead of time.

Anything you have seen that has worked for you consistently in building businesses?

• The bigger the problem, the more successful you can be. Start with the problem and find the solution.
• Finances. 3-5 year financial forecast and reviewing it each quarter keeps you on pace and helps to ensure you are on the right path.
• 5 clear, key initiatives per year that you are working toward that everyone knows in the business.
• Focus is widely important. Land and expand. Own a niche first and expand from there.

Best advice for an entrepreneur just starting out?

• Focus. Focus. Focus.
• Master, then move on.
• Take action. Action creates momentum.

Best Quote: You have to be in the game the win the game. A lot of entrepreneurs take themselves off the field because they are not willing to persist through the major barriers they encounter.

Ken's Misfit 3:

1. Practice the idea of fulfillment, joy, and happiness on a daily basis.
2. Leave your ego at the door. Avoid the judgement of yourself and those around you.
3. Know that it is impossible to fail. Growth is at the center of what you do.

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p>Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" Many years ago, I introduced a new format that alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

Lessons for Hannah are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

This week’s Lesson for Hannah

Hannah, I want to talk to you about the Bible. It is truly an amazing book – not just because it is God’s word and the story of our Christian faith, but because it offers such incredible wisdom for living your life in the best ways possible. I am particularly a big fan of proverbs as each proverb offers wonderful, practical wisdom for living from health to relationships to money, and much more.

A lot of people don’t realize how much the bible has an impact on our lives. In fact, many everyday sayings that people use, whether they are religious or not, originated in the Bible.

Here are just a few examples. ​

• Let there be light
• Forbidden fruit
• By the sweat of your brow
• Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
• Fire and brimstone
• Land of milk and honey
• Of biblical proportions
• An eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth
• Golden calf
• Scapegoat
• Apple of my eye
• A man after my own heart
• How the mighty have fallen
• Put words in one’s mouth
• Be a man
• Put your house in order
• Nothing but skin and bones
• By the skin of your teeth
• The root of the matter
• Broken heart
• Bite the dust
• Wits’ end
• Spare the rod, spoil the child
• Pride comes before a fall
• There’s nothing new under the sun
• Eat, drink, and be merry
• Fly in the ointment
• A little birdie told me
• Four corners of the earth
• Drop in a bucket
• See eye to eye
• No rest for the wicked
• Rise and shine
• Like a lamb led to the slaughter
• Sour grapes
• Writing is on the wall
• Salt of the earth
• Go the extra mile
• The love of money is the root of all evil
• Fight the good fight

I could have gone on and on, but I think you get the point. The Bible has much more of an impact on you, your life, culture, and the world on a daily basis than most people realize.

Now, imagine if you actually read the Bible and took the time to learn from it? What if you read a little bit every day? How much could you learn? How much wisdom could you gain from centuries of human experience? I know that it would be a lot. I take just a few minutes to read each day and I learn something every time I do.

Hannah, make the Bible part of your life, if not on a daily, on a weekly basis and take time to learn from it. One great place to start is with Proverbs. They are short, easy to read and understand, and will help you become a better, more rounded person. I can promise you, if you do, you will find that incorporating reading the Bible into your life will make a huge difference in your life and your success.

I love you,

Dad

Best Quote: Imagine if you actually read the Bible and took the time to learn from it? What if you read a little bit every day? How much could you learn? How much wisdom could you gain from centuries of human experience?

Misfit 3:

1. Whether you are religious our not, the Bible can teach you and help you gain wisdom.
2. Proverbs is a great place to state for every day practical wisdom from the Bible.
3. Reading the Bible every day will make a big difference in your life an success.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Tracy Lamourie. Tracy is a high-profile international award-winning publicist and the Founder and Managing Director of Lamourie Media Inc. Tracy has been Featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, The Hollywood Times, NBC TV, and other major media. She works across borders and across industries from major entertainment projects to small businesses.

There is a big difference between marketing and PR. And most people don’t understand it. So, I’ve asked Tracy to come on share the secrets of successful PR and how to maximize PR and marketing together.

https://www.lamouriemedia.com/​

Tracey wrote her first PR release when she was 28. It was for activist work to help an innocent man get off death row. That kicked off her career and a 20-year journey resulting in the release of the man after his conviction was overturned. During this time, she saw that she could use her skills in gaining press and attention to help businesses grow. She helps to make sure business are telling their stories in the best way and in the right places to help them stay ahead of their competition. She strategically uses media on a global scale and has never purchased an ad.

What is the difference between marketing and PR?

• Here’s an analogy: “If a young man how amazing he is, successful, and handsome he is – that is advertising. If he tells her how beautiful and intelligent she is - that is marketing. If someone else tells that man’s date how amazing, successful, and handsome he is – that is PR.”
• Everyone can create a beautiful deck and say great things about themselves, but where things really matter is when someone goes and searches a business or person, do they find a lot of what others say about them, where they are quoted, etc.
• Public relations fills the component to get you the earned media that you cannot buy.
• PR builds the 3rd party credibility necessary for validation and success.

What are the elements of a successful PR strategy?

• It elevates and celebrates the business or person.
• It positions the business or person as an expert.
• It provides 3rd party validation.
• It uses media to bring a business or person to a bigger stage.

Most effective mediums for PR?

• It varies based on the business or person.
• Tracey starts with traditional media. Radio, TV, Magazines, Podcast, etc.
• Tracey figures out the best places to showcase the client’s expertise.

Tips for gaining attention?

• Use podcast matchmaker services for podcasts.
• The #1 key is to understand the pitch. It is not your bio or ad for your company. It is your compelling story that grabs attention.
• At the 16 min mark, Tracey gives a good example of a compelling pitch she uses to gain attention.
• Think in terms of what will help them with a good story or angle.
• Use HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to get your pitch out to reporters looking for stories.
• A PR specialist will search and find all the best opportunities for their clients and pitch them.

What are the elements of a great pitch?

• Step 1 is to find resources at places like HARO.
• Whenever you reach out to an editor, remember they are not in the business of giving you free advertising – you are someone who give them great information for their audience.
• At the 25 min, Tracey gives an example of what not to do when pitching reporter/editor.
• You will need to tailor your pitch for each pitch you do so that is resonates with the reporter/editor you are sending it to.

How can an entrepreneur ensure they are maximizing their marketing and PR together?

• Don’t be afraid to go big or wide.
• Go beyond typical marketing/PR and go for rewards or speaking engagements.
• Look for local awards and publications to help get some visibility to start. They are easier.
• Anything you can bring your knowledge to and present yourself as a thought-leader/expert you should pitch to.

At the 32 min mark Tracey talks about the campaign to free a man from death row and lessons learned from their success.

• When Tracey met her husband, he had a radio show that focused on local issues and needs.
• They decided to get on the internet and start publishing links to what they were interested in (it was the early days of the internet).
• While searching for stories and links that interested them, they learned about the case of a man named Jimmy Dennis who claimed he was wrongly accused and was innocent.
• Jimmy had paid for a listing online that asked people to help find justice.
• They reached out and asked to learn more and Jimmy responded with 28 pages of details and court documents that showed he did not commit the crime and there were issues with his trial.
• They decided to take up the cause and share it on their site in 1998.
• 2 years later, a law firm saw what they had put out and got involved and over 18 years worked for free to help Jimmy get his freedom. ​

Anything else we should know about PR/Marketing?

• Authenticity – make sure you are authentic and show as you are. Do it.
• Don’t be afraid to get out there.

Best Quote: Don’t dream it. Be it. Don’t leave regrets. Give it a shot

Tracy's Misfit 3:

1. Learn to better manage your time between your business and personal life. We all have the same amount of time. It is critical make sure we use it in the best ways.
2. Don’t dream it. Be it. Don’t leave regrets. Give it a shot.
3. We didn’t get this far to only get this far. Don’t quit. Keep pushing to your next level.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Chris Heller. Chris is the former CEO of Keller Williams Realty International. Chris has been a driving force and innovator in the real estate industry for over 3 decades and personally has sold over 3400 homes and ranked top 10 in the USA year after year. He’s currently the Chief Real Estate Officer of OJO Labs, where he is shaping partner strategies, creating a cohesive structure and adoption between real estate professionals, consumers, and OJO.

But I didn’t ask Chris on to talk about how to sell homes, although we may get into some topics around that. No, I asked him to come on to discuss how he built his incredible businesses and to discuss his best-selling book, Dominant Thoughts – Things Grow Where Our Minds Go. ​

https://chrisheller.co/

When Chris was a sophomore in college, his dad called him up and told he was going to get his real estate license and work selling time shares in Lake Tahoe for the summer. He was super introverted. He was thrown into the deep end, but he quickly became very good at it. He then moved to San Diego where he bought his first real estate. He got burned out going to school part-time working 7 days a week selling time-shares. He then got into working in marketing. Eventually, he started a company with his roommate. Within 6 months, he had 40 employees. They were growing fast and moved into an office space. Within 6 months of that, they were out of business? His roommate/business partner had gotten into drugs and became an addict. It was dysfunctional and Chris had to get out. He did. It was 1989 and a real-estate broker whom he had met previously reached out to see if he wanted to sell homes. He took to gig and ended up being rookie of the year and never looked back. He went on to become one of Top 10 agents in the country out of 30,000+. He then went to Keller Williams and became a top agent there. He moved into leadership building out their international business. He didn’t know what he was doing but figured it out and made it successful. They then asked him to be CEO of the company, which he did. He left in 2017.

He met another self-made billionaire, the founder of Loan Depot and after meeting with him multiple times, he was asked to be the CEO of a new company funded by Loan Depot. He started on the board at OJO Labs and eventually moved over to be CEO.

You recently published Dominant Thoughts. Talk to us about our conditioning and the way we think determining our results…

• 90% of what it takes to be successful is how we think, how we approach things, and how we react to things.
• The strength of your mind is critical to succeed in life.

Rules for Winning and Rules for Life – can you give us some of those?

• Under promise and over deliver. When you do this, you set yourself and the client up for success.
• Do the RIGHT thing. In all areas of life, even when it is painful, hard, or not what everyone else is doing.
• Find the joy in everything you do.
• Do not worry what others think. Do not let what others think take you off your path or keep you from doing the right thing.

Best advice on how to train the brain and develop thought patterns to handle adversity?

• Chris used affirmations and visualizations to train his mind.
• “I’m never down. I’m either up or getting up.”
• Nothing forges steel like fire. Adversity and getting through prepares you and helps you to handle more of it.
• We all have fear. The issue is whether we let it control us or not. Move through your fear very fast. Acknowledge it, feel, but then move through it to the other side.
• The stronger the mindset, the better we are.
• How do you develop a strong mindset? Minimize negative inputs and maximize positive inputs.
• Don’t spend time with people who are negative or sap energy from you. Spend as much time as possible with those that challenge you and make you better and fill you with energy.
• Strong body, strong mind. When we are physically in a good place, we are better equipped to deal with adversity.
• Be proud to earn your stripes.

You talk about the one thing you can control to make the biggest difference in success, what is it?

• The honest answer is that there is more than one thing, but it is most important to show up mentally and emotionally prepared to take on the things you need to take on.
• Being present and not letting your mind be run by fears or insecurities.
• You also must develop discipline. Discipline is a muscle to be built. Your ability to follow a schedule and be disciplined day in and out helps to achieve mastery.
• The more discipline we are in area of life, the better that are of life.

Principles for making decisions. What should people consider?

• 2 pieces.
• The first is why are we making the decision?
• The second is what are we getting out of it?
• You have to think through what the best outcome is for all involved.
• It is also importantly how quickly we can learn to make good decisions.
• Learning to make quick decisions and deal with potential consequences, is important. There typically never a “perfect decision.”

What are some of the principles you’ve used to build great businesses?

• Lead by example.
• Being authentic and true to yourself.
• People appreciate the truth – whether is good or bad news.
• Help your people and don’t be afraid to stretch them to help develop them. Empower them – even when they don’t think they are capable.

Where do you see the real estate market going over the next 2 years and what opportunities do you see that people should look for?

• Markets always go through cycles.
• The next cycle is a downward trend after a 10-year uptrend with the last 2 years being almost turbocharged.
• In the next stage, there be more inventory, the velocity of sales will slow and there will be price pressure to go down. This creates opportunities for buyers and sellers. But where we have been in a seller’s market, things will shift.
• Things are relative. If a seller is selling their house for less, then they are buying a new house for less, etc.
• No one knows how much things will adjust, but we must be prepared for things to change and look for opportunities.

Best Quote: 90% of what it takes to be successful is how we think, how we approach things, and how we react to things...

Chris's Misfit 3:

1. Don't be emotionally attached to the outcome. Be committed.
2. Tell the truth. Simple, but important for all areas of life. There is never a good reason not to do it. Keep your integrity.
3. Always be working on your “2 E’s,” your effectiveness and efficiency. Where can you be more effective and more efficient.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Rob Cressy. You have probably heard of Rob, either from his top-rated podcast, Best Year Ever, or maybe have even seen him speak. Rob is an entrepreneur, prolific creator, and mastery coach. He is known as the happiest person earth. For over a decade, Rob has helped millions of people through his messages, businesses, podcasts, and content.

He is one of the best in helping people learn self-mastery and unlocking the next level of possibility for themselves in their lives and business.

If you listened to this show for a little while, you know how much I love to talk about the topics of mindset, reaching our true potential, and breaking the limits of our own human performance - so I’m excited to get into all of this in this episode.

www.RobCressy.com

Rob was deliberate in his path and designed where he wanted to go, but that is not how it started. When he graduated college, his dream was to work in ad agency in marketing, but found himself unemployed for 18 months, dead-broke living off credit cards. He finally got a job 5/3 Bank in a call center selling home equity loans making $10/hr. It was the complete opposite of where he wanted to go or be. For the next 10 years, he was in inside sales and was good at it, but not happy. He looked at his life and did not want the next 10 years to be at all like the last 10 – so he gave his dreams a shot. He went all in on himself as a creator and coach.

Two things happened. He became self-aware and he adopted a growth mindset. He realized that every day is an opportunity to make that day better than yesterday and that he was in control of his thoughts to his actions.

Let’s start with the foundation. You have 8 core values. Take us through them.

• Core values are the epitome of who you are.
• Without them, how can you know how to live your life?
• Rob’s 8 core values:
  • Radiate positivity
  • Always learning
  • Extreme ownership
  • Yes, and…
  • Live in action
  • Be relentless
  • Do what’s right
  • Talk with candor

This tells people how Rob will show up. How did you narrow down these 8?

• He decided what he wanted live into.
• Each value is something he lives every day.
• You have to brainstorm what is foundational to who you are? What is really important? This is how you find them.
• Core Values are DNA – you shouldn’t have to think about them. They are who you are.

Explain what it means to create the right mindset and how people can become their best…

• It is a “get to” not a “have to.”
• We all get to control the story that we tell ourselves.
• When we wake up in the morning, what do we tell ourselves? What are we thinking?
• We live in a world that is designed to put other people’s thoughts and actions in your mind.
• Email, News, TV, Netflix, Social Media, etc. are all someone else’s agenda. This is default.
• But we must live by design, not by default.
• Every day, you get to show up as the best version of yourself.
• To do it you must have your core values and then you must decide the story you are going to tell yourself from the moment you wake up every day.

At the 11 min mark, Rob gives an analogy of booting up a computer as it relates to your mindset.

• Every single day, you can boot up to your best version.
• The story you tell yourself will create your actions and your actions will create your results.
• It is the discipline to do this every day.

What do you personally do to boot yourself up each day?

• You must be intentional.
• 1 action is better than taking 0 actions.
• Change can happen one moment at a time.
• The way you start your day sets the tone for how the rest will go.
• Rob starts out by speaking “Today is going to be a great day.”
• While Rob brushes his teeth (trigger), he thinks of 3 things he is grateful thankful for.
• Next he reads for 30 mins first thing in the morning. For Rob this is game changing, and he has done it for over a decade.
• The average CEO reads 60 books a year. Success leaves clues – follow them.

Self-talk how do we use it to persist and power through…

• “I am that I never get tired.” Speak what you are into existence.
• Control your thoughts and mind.
• Rob has a document of what he is that speaks out loud every day.
• Examples include “I am infinite love.” “I am fearless…” “I am a champion for everyone”
• Self-limiting beliefs, fears, etc. will happen, but is our job through our routine and habits to prepare ourselves to overcome them through designing who we are.

Explain what it means to turn desires/judgement into gold…

• So many have self-limiting beliefs, and it is inevitable that there will be obstacles.
• We must design ourselves to be a person that overcomes adversity.
• Turn your fears, judgement, or obstacles into gold through using them as an opportunity to become better.
• Doing this becomes part of your story.
• It comes from being self-ware to recognize when these things are happening and change our self-talk to be what we are and who we are to overcome the obstacle, fear, judgment, etc.

At the 27 min mark, Rob talks about doing what you love and why it is a secret ingredient.

• We have the ability to create in our lives, but very few tap into this power.
• Remember, “No means yes.”
• When your mind is telling you no and you meet resistance internally, that is the time to push through and say yes.

What does it mean to be a prolific creator?

• Every single day, the second thing Rob states is “I am constant creation of who I am.”
• It is internal and external.
• You create who you want to be on the inside and then have the vision to create what you are and what you want externally.

Why are habits and routines so important and what are some of the most important one’s people should have to level up?

• If you are going to design your life and success, you must be consistent.
• Showing up as your best self every day requires a set of routines done day in and day out.
• 4 must have routines:
  • Morning routine: Be in control of how you start your day.
  • Evening routine: Tomorrow’s success starts today. Write down your wins for the day and visualize your success. Planning your day ahead is also a key element.
  • Reading routine: 30 mins a day
  • Shower routine: Things you do every day that can be a trigger to design growth. A shower is one of those. Brushing your teeth, etc. What can you do during these everyday routines to help yourself?

Bachelor party sponsored by Nascar?

• Rob got married when he was in his early 30’s and wanted to be creative for his bachelor party.
• At the time, he was in the sports business and had a contact a Nascar.
• He thought it would be great to do his bachelor party with Nascar and he pitched it as idea to show how fun and accessible Nascar is to the average sports fan. They loved it. Rob and 15 guys went to the Coca Cola 600 with VIP treatment.
• He documented everything as the day went and it was a great experience for him and Nascar.

Best Quote: We all get to control the story that we tell ourselves. You must decide the story you are going to tell yourself from the moment you wake up every day.

Rob's Misfit 3:

1. What is the first thought you have that you design every day? The first thing you say every day helps determine your day.
2. What is something new you are adding to your life? Newness is where life comes from.
3. Ask yourself, what is your default relationship to time story? Most people think about time and come from a place of “lack of time.” Create a new story of relationship to time.

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This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Yuri Elkaim. Yuri built Healthpreneur to over $200 million from scratch. No following, no pre-existing client base. Totally from scratch. Over the last 6 years, Yuri and his team have helped more than 1,200 health professionals get more clients and scale their coaching businesses online with a very simple business model that eliminates overwhelm and produces 5-7 years of business growth in just 12 months. And the best part is that the process can be applied to most businesses.

If that is not enough, Yuri is a former pro-athlete, had been featured everywhere from Entrepreneur to Forbes and CNBC, and is New York Time best-selling author multiple times over. He’s even been highlighted on Dr. Oz. Needless to say, Yuri has a wealth of entrepreneur experience and lessons that he can teach you and I’m excited for him to do so.

www.YuriElkaim.com

Yuri grew up as a competitive athlete. He was very fit, but he wasn’t healthy. In fact, he lost all his hair to an autoimmune disease at 17 years old. Within about 6 weeks, he lost all the hair on his body. This prompted him to get more immersed into studying health and start to study nutrition. He ended up playing professional soccer for a few years, but as he learned more about nutrition, he put it into practice changed his health – even growing back his hair.

One of the things he realized going through nutrition school was that there so much he just didn’t know. And he knows that if he didn’t know these things, so many others didn’t either, so it lit a fire under him to share the message of clean eating with as many people as possible.

He did find that working one on one with clients was burning him out, so in 2005, he launched his first products online. As he says, he didn’t know what he was doing. No one found his stuff and basically lived at the poverty level for 3 years. In 2010, he hired his first coach, and everything changed. He built his first business and then sold it. Along the way, he had a lot of people come to him and ask what he they were doing to be so successful in his companies and it was realizing that there was a gap that needed filled for people that spawned Healthpreneur.

What was the difference in getting a coach that put you on the trajectory to success?

• We don’t know what we don’t know.
• If you haven’t done what you want to do – how do you expect to get there?
• To be a great goalkeeper in soccer – Yuri had a number of coaches that he worked with every day. He realized he needed to do this in business.
• Getting a business coach helped give him direction and focus and opened his eyes to many things he did not understand about business systems, client acquisition, etc.
• Yuri was somewhat delusional thinking he knew everything to make a business succeed without any experience and a lot of entrepreneurs fall into that trap.

Simple business model that eliminates overwhelm and created a successful business in 12 months – what is the model?

• Yuri has done just about every business model online that you can imagine.
• In creating Healthpreneur, he wanted to simplify and focus on the best model that works most consistently.
• Webinars proved to be the best model.
• Evergreen webinar that you record once, and it runs over and over online as the main education and conversion tool.
• Organic growth is very hard. Yuri and his team focus on paid traffic on Facebook. They teach their clients Facebook ads and how to do them masterfully.
• They then have clients fill out an application for a phone call meeting.
• 4 Steps: Facebook ad to webinar to application to phone meeting.
• The phone call is “coach to close.” It is about assessing fit and making sure you can help the client. If there is a fit, then you discuss next steps and move forward.
• This model is more focused on higher ticket items.

Does this model scale down to lower ticket items?

• Yes, it can. You would just take out the application to phone call. It changes to giving the client the offer after the webinar.
• The model does work best with high ticket coaching or programs.
• With lower ticket items, you have to know your items very well because of the costs to drive traffic.

Is there a formula or structure that works best for getting webinars to convert?

• Think of a webinar as a documentary.
• The purpose of a webinar is the share your point of view or philosophy to introduce a new way of thinking around a topic.
• It is either going to challenge beliefs or confirm suspicions.
• The additional purpose of the webinar is not to give the “how to” but to give clarity to the prospect.
• It must be centered around the perfect client. You have to know them better than they know themselves.
• Everything must be backed up with logic and proof. Think of yourself like a lawyer making a case in court with evidence.

What holds back or constrains businesses the most?

• They don’t understand what their #1 constraint is.
• It is like a kink in a hose. No matter what you do, until that kink is unwound, no water is coming out of the hose.
• So, what is the #1 constraint that opens the floodgates for your business?
• This is an area where a coach can help in a big way.

At the 34-minute mark, Yuri talks about where he sees constraints the most.

Two important, but overlooked decisions that can make or break a business?

• Who are you serving? Who is your target market?
• Delivery of product/business model.
• If you serve a single target market with focus, it is easy to deliver.
• If you serve a bunch of markets, then it becomes a lot harder.

Four unpopular mindsets entrepreneurs need to succeed.

• Delusional optimism. You have to believe you can come back and succeed.
• Balance of setting intentions for things to be easy but expecting them to be hard.
• Greatness has help. You will need to collaborate with others and build a team to succeed.
• Be willing to pay to play. ​

What is important for entrepreneurs to perform at their best in health?

• The biggest bottleneck for any business is the entrepreneur and their health.
• Your health directly impacts your physical capacity. The energy, stamina, and focus needed to succeed are directly tied to your health.
• If we take care of ourselves, we can take care of others and have a better business.

Best Quote: Greatness has help. You will need to collaborate with others and build a team to succeed.

Yuri's Misfit 3:

1. Take 100% responsibility for everything that happens to you and for you in your life.
2. Never compromise your health for success.
3. Never do anything that will tarnish your reputation. Make decisions with a long-term perspective.

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Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" Many years ago, I introduced a new format that alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.

Lessons for Hannah are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.

Hannah,

I want to share some lessons from Nature. As I write this, we are traveling through Alaska, and I am sitting in the café of the Grande Denali Hotel looking out over the amazing expanse of land and snow-covered mountains. It’s a beautiful sunny day with a chill in the air. The temp is about 30 degrees, but the crisp mountain air feels wonderful. It truly a breathtaking sight that I hope you remember vividly for the rest of your life.

As I sit here, I cannot help but think of the great lessons that nature teaches us. We have been in the state for about a week after my Ironman even in Juneau and have been traveling up north with another few days of excursions and taking in the beautiful country of Alaska. Along the way I have been taking note of things and wanted to share some of them with you.

The first lesson is that nature, or really God, arranges things to operate in perfect harmony so that all life can function. It is amazing to see the salmon run to their eventual death, climbing rivers, waterfalls, etc. But, out of their death comes life in the new eggs that they lay. And even more important is how critical it is for them to go through this cycle for the eco-system to survive. While they live fairly short lives and ultimately die after spawning, they provide an indispensable food source for much of the wildlife that keeps the whole system going. Without them, many animals would die off. If you stop and think about it, everything in the universe has to work in perfect order for you to be sitting here right now. One little change in the course of history and you may not even exist. It truly is a spectacular, amazing, awe-inspiring orchestration that makes everything work at every level from the cells in our bodies to sun heating our planet and keeping us alive. Cherish every moment you have in this life.

The second lesson is the nature does not discriminate. As I hit the 80th mile on my 112-mile bike in the Ironman, the rain had intensified to a miserable driving downpour (it rained the whole race, but this stretch was particularly bad), I won’t lie, I cursed it a few times. But, in that moment, it occurred to me that all of us competing had to go through the same conditions and even more so, every living thing in nature has to live through those conditions every day and fight for survival. Nature doesn’t treat any creature different from another – everyone is on the same boat. And some creatures are food for others, like the salmon making the eco-system go, and still others are like a beetle that we were told about actually kill off trees that then die and allow for the forest growth to continue and new trees to grow. As I noted earlier, everything works in a beautiful harmony. But, nature treats everyone and everything the same and that is a great lesson for life. You should do the same – treat everyone with the same love and respect and not discriminate against others for any reason.

The third lesson is the nature is an entrepreneur and fosters entrepreneurship. I mentioned at the start of this lesson that I am sitting in café of the Grande Denali lodge that offers a breathtaking 360-degree view of the entire range. The hotel sits on the top of a plateau that is literally just big enough to fit the hotel. The edge of the hotel is on the edge of the cliff. Nature created the conditions to make this happen. It created the incredible mountain range and countryside that fills this area which drew humans to it for its beauty and everything the land offers. And at some point, someone took a look at the plateau the Grande now sits on from a thousand or so feet below and said, “That would be a great place to put a hotel for the best views in this area.” They then proceeded to make it a reality, cutting the curving winding road up the mountain, figuring out how to make the land work to accommodate a large lodge and hotel, and then everything needed to create the business and make it go. But it all started with nature creating the pull for people to explore and come here. Nature may be the ultimate entrepreneur for the reasons I have already stated, but also for the abundance of opportunity it creates. And the big lesson from nature is that there is opportunity all around you all the time. Once you learn to see it, it is abundant. ​

Hannah, nature offers so many lessons, I could go on for hours, but if you can take the time to understand the few that I’ve shared and keep them forefront in your life – they will help you live well. If you cherish every day, respect the world around you, and see the abundance of opportunity that exists for you; you will enjoy a great life and help others to do the same. And if you ever need a reminder, just look at a few pictures of your trip through Alaska!

I love you,

Dad

Best Quote: If you cherish every day, respect the world around you, and see the abundance of opportunity that exists for you; you will enjoy a great life and help others to do the same

Misfit 3:

Nature, or really God, arranges things to operate in perfect harmony so that all life can function.

Nature does not discriminate. You should follow it's example. Treat everyone with the same love and respect and not discriminate against others for any reason.

Nature is the ultimate entrepreneur and creates an abundance of opportunities all around us.

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