Capacity: Building Your Business Bigger than You with Dustin Hillis

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level Level, the all in one sales and marketing. platform. Today, we'll be breaking down capacity, building your business bigger than you. To drop these vibe bombs, I brought Dustin Hillis and EO Fire Studios. Dustin is a global CEO, investor builder, and he scales ventures to over$100 million, leading international teams and driving rapid growth at companies like Safe Space Global, Southwestern Coaching, and Tough Stump Technologies. And today, we'll talk about the executive strategy, the business development strategy, the marketing machine.

0:37We'll talk about the legal strategy, the optimal capacity, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Dustin and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Dustin, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation?

1:19I love this question. And my very first year in business, people actually thought I was going to quit. And it was mainly because I questioned what I was being told using critical thinking. And it's funny, my sales manager, my very first year set me down and said, Hey, I don't think you're ready to go out and do this door to door book selling gig. And I said, wait, let me make sure I have this right. I'm straight commission. And I'm pretty sure you get paid something if I sell something. Is that right? And he goes, yeah. And I said, now as a 1099 contractor, is it even legal for you to tell me something like this.

1:59And his face got white and he goes, Oh my gosh, like, I'm just trying to help you out here. And I said, look, I'm going to study my scripts. I'm going to work as hard as I can. But the main thing that I need to know from you is what are the basics to get started? And he just kind of looked at me and he goes, look, the top people work 80 hours a week. The top people do 30 demos. I also questioned the package size. He said that you needed to sell a three book set. And I said, you know, selling the seven books that, that all the experienced people are selling seems to be smarter to me. And then they told me to go door to door to door.

2:33And I said, you know, going door to door to door when I know people aren't home, doesn't seem like the smartest thing to me. So I immediately started working referrals. I immediately started selling a bigger package. And the result of that was going from my very first week where being told that I'm, I'm not allowed to go to the, to the selling field to, uh, I finished number one at about, uh, 2000 first year dealers in my very first week. And I think that that lesson is a good one for entrepreneurs where you have to use critical thinking. You have to use your mind. You have to also be coachable at the same time.

3:12So there's a balance between being obstinate and being a complete renegade. Um, cause there are proven systems, there are proven structures. And if somebody has done something before and it was successful, it makes sense to listen to them. But then to have discernment, to be able to choose your own, play your game, and you don't have to just be a sheep 100 % of the time. So that would be my thought on that. Fire Nation, we're talking about capacity, building your business bigger than you. And of course, Dustin seemed to start off that way right at the beginning, figuring out his own path. And I want to start, Dustin, by talking about the executive strategy.

3:53This is defining our path to success. What is that? Yeah, executive strategy is a very important step. It's typically the first step when you're thinking of how to grow a business bigger than you. So a lot of these businesses that I personally have worked with over the past 20 years, I I find that there is a lid where the leader becomes the limit to the business. In other words, the leader is doing too much. So they're the top producer. They're the top product manager and designer. They're the innovator. They're the rainmaker. They're doing it all. And at the end of the day, taking time to sit down and think, what is the executive growth plan?

4:38What is the hiring strategy? What is the current team that I have? And is the current team doing the right things? Do I have the right people on the bus? And do I have the people on the bus doing the thing that's their biggest strength? So that's the first step. Then the second, you're doing the accounting or your business partner might be doing accounting. But the reality is you don't have a CPA. You're not a CFO. So being humble enough to put that executive strategy together to say, I need the right people on the right on the bus. I need the right people doing the right things. And I need to identify constantly how to grow my business based on putting new systems, new people in place to take things off my plate as a leader so I can build the business and not be running the business.

5:27That's the biggest part of the executive strategy. And what that ultimately builds is a five-year business plan. So having a comprehensive five-year business plan is the end result of a true executive strategy. Now, let's move on to the business development strategy because when it comes to entrepreneurs and businesses, if you're not growing, if you're stagnating, you're dying. You are literally a melting ice cube. So we need to always be looking at growth, growing intelligently, growing the right way. How do we accelerate our growth with a business development strategy? Yes. The business development strategy is one that is the lifeblood of the business.

6:08If somebody is not selling something, then the business will end. The business will die. It is the infusion. It is. There's no gas in that car. You're not getting very far. And so putting a business development plan together, a strategy on how you're going to build your revenue side of the business is super important. Now, part of that is thinking through what is your market potential? what is the the way what is your your key avatar for your customer what does your key avatar for a salesperson look like then beyond that you think of what does your price point need to be in order to fulfill the need of that customer and what is the commission plan need to be to motivate a salesperson to go sell your product to that customer then beyond that is the the strategic piece of how to do it.

7:04So creating a cycle of, of your selling methodology, how do you generate leads? How do you call on those leads? How do you set appointments? How do you close those appointments? How do you win new business? How do you get referrals? All of that is part of the business development strategy, and it will take your business to the next level. And if you're the rainmaker, taking yourself out of that role to truly become a CEO is life-giving and it grows the business as a leader. I love that you use the word life giving because that's exactly what it is Fire Nation. You are literally breathing and giving life back into your organization by doing that.

7:42And Dustin, let's be real. Our listeners, they're entrepreneurs, they're small business owners. They know that marketing is a necessity, but you have to market the right way. So how the heck do we create a self-propelling marketing machine? Yes. The marketing strategy is something that often gets overlooked, especially at the CEO level. It almost becomes this thing that doesn't seem necessary, yet it is a pillar and a cornerstone of every business. So the marketing strategy starts with your brand identity. And the brand identity is what is the highest peak of the pyramid of your marketing strategy.

8:23So understanding your vision, your mission, your values, and then it extrapolates into the images of your business. So your logo, uh, what is your, even your company name? Uh, I've gone through three different company name changes, including the one where I'm the president at safe space, global corporation. Prior to that, it was healthcare integrated technologies and the name wasn't appropriate for the new evolution of the products in the business. So even starting that high level is marketing is, do you even have the right name for your company, then the identity is your logo. Do the fonts match, do the color schemes match.

9:02So rebranding, re-identifying your business is sometimes one of the biggest things you can do in your marketing strategy. Do your printed sales marketing materials, your brochures, and it goes all the way down even to your swag. What kind of coffee cups do you have? What kind of t-shirts do you have? And the granular pieces of it matter. Also social media marketing, That's a huge area where there are free mechanisms that you can apply within your marketing strategy with Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn and X that are powerful tools that you can either pay for or you can use for free. And the last part of the marketing strategy that most leaders miss is the leader is the personification of the brand.

9:51So in other words, you are the brand as the leader. So knowing you are the brand, everything you do, the way you present yourself matters. Fire Nation, Dustin's dropping value bombs about marketing, business development, executive strategies, and we are just getting going. A lot more to come when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business, and they are also our featured partner, high level. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack.

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13:29Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash fire. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Dustin, we're back. And listen, successful entrepreneurs, they have a financial strategy where they align their strengths with their opportunities. You've done this so well. Tell us more. Your strengths with your finances are paramount to leverage success. Partner, when I first started working with Elm, they were operating the business on a cash basis for seven years, meaning they would fire open their computer every day, look at their cash balance on their bank account and make decisions of whether they could buy new equipment or pay certain bills based on how much money was in the bank account that day.

14:15That sounds like hell to me, trying to manage a business based on just looking at how much money you have that day. So a sophisticated strategy with your finances would be to number one, hire a professional to do your books that has a CPA. So start with hiring the right people, which goes back to executive strategy. Take your business and create a P &L and a cash balance sheet and then have a financial review that you look at together with your executive team every single month. And I find most small business owners don't have their eye on the ball with their finances and that's how they get in trouble.

14:57So you can't expect unless you inspect. And the number one thing you should be inspecting are your finances. That is telling you the health of your company. If you're profitable, if you're growing, you have a healthy company. If you're not profitable and the money's going down, that is a danger zone where you won't last very long. So having a financial strategy, 13 week rolling cash forecast, you start looking at how to create leverage through getting things like a line of credit. You start creating strategic financial partnerships, maybe create an equity plan. And if you don't have enough cash to recruit people, to pay people, to bring on partners, then say, hey, we're going to create a private equity plan here and give you a piece of the rock in order for you to join the team because we don't have cash.

15:45So there are creative strategies you can do on the financial side of things to leverage and grow your business. Hey, Dustin, just like people can be nervous to really do a deep dive on their finances because they might be a little wary about what they're going to uncover. The same thing typically comes up around the legal side of things. But the reality is we need a legal strategy. We must have a legal strategy. Tell us more. Yeah. The legal side of things is where it will save your butt at some point by having an amazing legal strategy. So the basics with the legal strategy is number one, what do your contracts say?

16:28So you starting with your contract, do you have a contract as a leader? Sometimes you're beholden to a bank, you're beholden to shareholders, you might have a board of directors. But that would be one place to start. And then after that, start looking at all the contracts within your company. Sometimes they're really well written and they're protecting you and the company and your team members. And sometimes they're boilerplate, something you got off a chat GPT and, and there's, they're not solid. They're not specific to your industry, to your business, and they're not properly protecting the company in one way or another.

17:05The next is to look at the people that you're working with. So think of your vendor contracts, your partnership contracts and review them and just see, do these cover all the bases? So what are you looking for? You're looking for intellectual property rights. You know, as you build value within your business, the legal strategy can add multiples to the value of your business based on the intellectual property that you own. So if you have people working for hire, for example, you want to make sure the content, the copy, the technology they're building is owned by the company. And that's one of the basic principles that you can have within contracts or working with vendors to make sure the thing that the company is paying for, the company actually owns.

17:49Also on the vulnerability side, making sure that you're covered out there who are just going to try to get whatever money they can any way that they can. So if you end up getting sued, having really good legal contracts, really good legal protections, thinking through all the different scenarios that could happen is paramount. So obviously this circles back to the first pillar, which is executive strategy and having an amazing general counsel, not skimping and just hiring a cheap lawyer or your brother or a friend that's going to give you free legal counsel. Pay for some amazing legal counsel, get amazing contracts, partnership agreements, and think through your strategy of what does that legal strategy look like.

18:35And then the most advanced part of your legal strategy is what is your actual exit strategy? So do you want to go public? Do you want to have an IPO? Do you want to sell the company? Do you want to keep the company up forever and create generational wealth and pass your company and the inheritance and the equity down to your kids and their kids' kids? Well, all of that is legal structures. All of that matters if you're an LLC, an S-Corp, a C-Corp. That is all legal strategy behind your exit strategy. And those things will create more capacity and build your business bigger than you. So Dustin, let's end by talking about the optimal capacity.

19:17This is strategic wisdom for our whole life. How do you want to bring this home? Yeah, the optimal capacity is the bonus pillar, the last pillar of the book. And really what that is about is life is more than just working. I believe in God and I think God has a bigger purpose for all of us. I think we are designed to help people. I think we are designed to live into the fullness of our gifts and our abilities that we've been given by God. And I think that if work is just about making money, if work is just about you, that is limiting. I think that just doing things for selfish reasons has a limited impact to it.

20:01you'll die at the end of your life and you'll be alone and you'll have a ton of money in your bank account and be like, what do I do with this? So what optimal capacity is all about is focusing on your health, focusing on your family, focusing on your friends, focusing most importantly on your spiritual walk of whatever that is. And knowing that, that life is more than just you showing up and going to work every single day. And when you figure out your life purpose that God gave you, and you then tie in what you do with the purpose God gave you, you become an unstoppable force. And so at the end of the day, to have unlimited capacity, you need to tap into, have it be bigger than you, whether it's a family, whether it's friends, whether it's a charity, um, and, and driving towards your spiritual growth will make everything else in your life grow.

20:58Dustin, bring this home for us. You mentioned your book, Let Fire Nation Know Where They Can Go to Learn More About That. Any final call to action you have, and then we'll say goodbye. Yeah. Thanks, John. So right now, Capacity, Building a Business Bigger Than You is found on Amazon. It's a pre-order. We are trying to hit the list. So by pre-ordering, we really appreciate that. You could also go to Dustin Hillis.com. So my name, D-U-S-T-I-N-H-I-L-L-I-S.com. And you can pre-order the book there. Anybody that pre-orders more than 10 copies, we will have some free content sessions that we're giving away with advanced application to the principles in the book.

21:45And then if you order over a hundred copies, we're going to be giving away trips, such as going to Cabo at my house in Mexico and having a day with me where we integrate the principles of capacity into your life. And so by going to DustinHillis.com, you can hear about those bulk orders, or if you want a single copy, just go to Amazon and go ahead and pre-order a copy there on Amazon. And you can type in my name, Dustin Hillis, to find the book. Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, You've been hanging out with DH and JLD today, so keep up the heat. And for links to everything that we talked about, visit eofire.com, type Dustin, D-U-S-T-I-N, in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up.

22:29And Dustin, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, John. Thanks, Fire Nation. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Dustin for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation. Over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, which is personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk.

23:06The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams, visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit HighLevelFire.com to start your free trial today.