How to NOT Get Your Ass Kicked in Business and Life with Michael McLean: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how to not get your ass kicked in business and life. And to draw these value bonds, I brought Michael McLean into EO Fire Studios. Michael's a former hockey coach, multi-millionaire entrepreneur, author, and speaker. He consults elite businessmen worldwide through his book and badass millionaire world building consulting company. And today we talk about how there are no silos in life. Success gives back and world building unites everything and how personal freedom comes from running your own show and oh so much more.

0:40John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Michael and our sponsors. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments and course hosting all on one platform. plus award-winning 24-7 support. Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 50-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com. Fire Nation, 50 days will fly right on by. The only question is, will you have something to show for it? I created a free YouTube series called 50 Days to Something, a step-by-step path to build a real product, service, or offer in just 50 focused days.

1:23John Lee Dumas:Start today for free at eofire.com slash YouTube. Michael, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What is up, Fire Nation? Michael McClain, this is Christmas day for me. Biggest day of the year, JLD. Yes! Never, ever follow the crowd. Ever. Period. period my uh my father who's 88 years old he actually just retired at age 85 after 67 years as a business operator entrepreneur i had the uh i had the honor of working with my father for 17 glorious years in the insurance business and we used to meet on mondays for a sandwich and a beer and these father-son meetings are uh you know we used they used to go three and four hours where we would talk about family and business and marketing and politics and all these great things.

2:26And I remember talking to my dad on one of these father son lunches. And, you know, my dad, my dad was actually a lot of people don't know, but my father, after, you know, being an entrepreneur for 65 years, 13 different companies, a lot of people didn't understand or weren't aware of how tough his upbringing was. And my dad was abandoned as a newborn baby at the hospital. After 30 days, he became a part of foster care. And he was actually adopted into a family that was, you know, let's just say less than the perfect entrepreneurial environment. A lot of addiction, you know, not a lot of ambition.

3:08And here's my dad, you know, at the age of 85, and he's had all this success. Tremendous father, tremendous grandfather, tremendous entrepreneur. So I looked across the table at him at one of these lunches and I said, I said, Dad, you know, you got to tell me what is your secret? What is your secret? You were surrounded by all these difficulties and challenges. You didn't have very many positive role models in your childhood. And he looked across JLD and he said to me, he goes, son, he says from the word go, I looked around, he says, I took a page out of Earl Nightingale's book and I looked around at what everybody else was doing and I decided right then and there that I was going to do the exact opposite of the crowd.

3:53He said that applied to my marriage. He said that applied to raising new children. That applied to my marketing business, my physical and mental health. He said I looked around at what everybody else was doing and he says as a young man I decided to do the exact opposite.

4:09John Lee Dumas:And that's powerful, Fire Nation, for a lot of reasons. There's actually a quote that I love from Mark Twain that's, if you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect because there could be something that you need to shift about your behavior. And I'm actually rewatching all the old Seinfeld episodes right now, pretty classic. They have them on Netflix. And one of them is George Costanza, who, you know, has all the bad luck in the world with women and with his profession, with health. He decides to do everything opposite. of what he always does, what everybody else always does.

4:42John Lee Dumas:And it just works out incredibly well for him. It's kind of a funny episode, but about the truth of this as well. And Fire Nation, as I mentioned during the intro, we're talking about how to not get your ass kicked in business and life. And Michael, you were a professional and amateur championship hockey coach and team franchise owner. And this actually means that you were working with some of the most mentally tough and competitive athletes on planet Earth. What did this experience teach you as an entrepreneur, as a marketer, as a husband, as a father, and as a community leader? Tell us about it.

5:18In pro sport, I learned, JLD, how hard winning is. I grew up in the back of a general store watching my dad work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, every day, but Christmas with my mom raising three children in the back of the store in the area that we lived in. So I knew what hard work looked like. But I also, you know, being in pro and amateur sport, it just took it to the next level of what mental toughness looks like, what measuring success, if you if you want to achieve things and you need to measure things, what a blueprint and a game plan look like. And I took all of those qualities that I learned from being immersed, absolutely immersed in excellence for a number of years.

6:03And I took those into business. I took those into my marriage. I took those into my consulting business and other businesses. And it just taught me how hard winning is. And it taught me what I call 365x, where if you want to be the best at whatever it is, if you want to be what I call a top one percenter, there's no days off. And the one thing about pro sport is no matter what, whether it's football, whether it's hockey, whether it's golf, whether it's soccer, whether it's hiking, it doesn't make any difference. Those athletes, at least they have a break. I mean, Tom Brady, he plays football eight months a year.

6:42Sidney Crosby plays hockey eight months. But being an entrepreneur, there's no days off. It's 12 months a year. And that's what I learned from watching my dad every single day. But it just brought to me also the importance of systems and procedures. When I would show up to the arena for a game, I just didn't show up and wing it. I didn't freelance. So I took that those teachings of how, you know, putting a game plan together, having systems, having procedures, having rituals. And that served me well in business because then I could have predictable income or outcomes in my business and also just build it the right way.

7:20And what I'm talking about is culture is if you're going to build a business, build it the right way. Build it where it allows you to do what you want to do. And you build it with that personal sovereignty in mind, your freedom and your autonomy. So, you know, just being around those guys, I was coaching in a league, you know, about three levels from the NHL. I called it the Hatfields and the McCoys, like right out of the Slapshot movie where every day was a different bloodbath. But, you know, when I own my own teams, I had to sell out those arenas every three or four days. I had to win hockey games every three or four days.

7:58And I took that mindset into business where I would measure myself, you know, 15 minutes at a time, an hour at a time. And I would set these real small micro goals. And I just took that attitude into entrepreneurship. And it served me very, very well. just how hard winning really is and how true champions operate 365 days a year.

8:23John Lee Dumas:This is powerful stuff, Fire Nation. And again, we're going to keep on this theme of not getting your ass kicked in business and in life, because it is that combo that we need to focus on. And you are actually able to transition from marketing and promoting a hockey team franchise to marketing and promoting an insurance agency. So that was kind of an interesting shift. Talk to us about that transition and most importantly, the lessons you learned. Well, I joined my dad's insurance agency after I was fired after two and a half years of my first pro coaching job. I mean, if you're a coach in professional sports, you're hired to be fired.

8:58And I returned home and my dad and mom sat down at the kitchen table and they said, you know, we think the insurance business is the best business in the world for lifestyle, for marriage, for, you know, autonomy, all that good stuff, freedom. And at the time I was like, well, you know, I'm in the most exciting business in the world. I'm coaching this sport of my dreams. But my dad and mom said, you know, you'll never, ever, ever have personal autonomy and freedom unless you run your own show. In other words, unless you're an entrepreneur. So I actually left what I consider the most exciting business in the world for the stale, dull and boring reality of insurance.

9:36And my dad and mom said to me at the kitchen table, they said, do one thing if you decide to join the insurance agency and eventually buy this company. They said, do not change your mindset or your attitude towards business or marketing. They said, bring that same that swagger, that same personality marketing style into what I considered a very stale, dull and boring business. So that's exactly what I did instead of, you know, entering the insurance business and saying, OK, okay, I'm going to do exactly what everybody else does here. I brought that same mentality from pro sports and amateur sports.

10:12And I said, okay, this is how I filled arenas. This is how I recruited top-notch talent. And I applied that same personality marketing style to the insurance agency. And that's how we were able to 3X our bottom line in the first 36 months. I mean, I didn't even have an insurance license. I had never worked in my dad's agency. But literally by, you know, refusing to, you know, fit into that box of insurance, it made such a difference. So I just decided to bring what I had learned in the in pro sport and amateur sport. I applied it to a completely different niche, a completely different industry.

10:52I made it fun. I made it about personality. I made it about Michael McLean as the spokesperson for my dad's insurance agency. And the results followed.

11:02John Lee Dumas:Now, what I want to move into next is what it means to be a badass millionaire world builder. I mean, these are strong words. These are powerful words. You've had the experience, as we've already talked about in both the professional and amateur hockey. We've talked about how you made that transition into the insurance agency field and how you did that successfully by bringing lessons you learned from your prior careers. How does all of that mix in for our listeners, for Fire Nation, to become badass millionaire world builders? Badass millionaire means one thing to me. It means actually two words, personal sovereignty, and that's different for every person, completely different.

11:45But being a badass millionaire to me, and it's the blueprint that I've used over the last 19 years, is build your business around your life. In other words, you know, if you want to work, you work. If you want to, if you want to go on a vacation, you go on a vacation. If you want to read in the mornings, you read in the mornings. If you want to go hiking, you go hiking in the mornings. But I learned 19 years ago that when I'm in the process of building something, whether it's a consulting company, a barbershop franchise, a window washing company, an insurance agency, or an amateur hockey team, is I have to constantly ask myself, does this decision fit inside my world?

12:26I have a friend by the name of Jeff Hunt, who sold his carpet cleaning business about a decade ago for about$30 million to the old Sears franchise. And he's the type of guy who lives completely on his own terms. He's married, he's got three young children. He's just a guy who, you know, he's got that replica of personal sovereignty and one time i was talking to jeff on the phone and i said you know jeff you've got your own teams you've got your own freedom i said how in the world do you get it all done but still have an incredible life and he said to me he said michael he says vitamin n vitamin n as in as in the letter n he says i say no to almost everything and it just clicked for me there.

13:14And this was 19 years ago. He says, you know, he says, if I'm if I'm offered an opportunity, the first thing he says, I always my default now is no. But if it's something that really resonates with me, if it's something that I really maybe want to consider doing, he said, I asked myself a second question. And that question is, if I do take on this new responsibility, what do I have to stop doing uh do i have to stop driving my daughter to school do i have to stop chess lessons with my daughter do i have to you know walk less in the morning or or take less uh you know sunday afternoon hikes with my wife so he taught me the power of what he called vitamin n just no no no and when you listen to warren buffett and all the greats those guys are are no machines they if it doesn't fit in their world like einstein said the only reason to put something into your personal world, your personal life is that you want it to be there.

14:11So I've really disciplined myself over the last 19 years to say no to almost everything. And to me, that's what a badass millionaire is. You live life and do business on your own terms, but you build your business around your life, not your life around your business.

14:28John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, what kind of business do you want to build? What kind of life do you want to create? That's what we're talking about here. We're talking about being intentional about this. And I do love that N word, no. I mean, I will say at the beginning of my journey, I had to use a yes word a lot because I didn't know which opportunities were going to turn into awesome opportunities. And I wanted to experience as much as I could. But pretty quickly, when things started rolling in a positive direction, I had to employ the word no very often to keep focused on what I was creating, what I wanted to create in this world, both business and lifestyle.

15:02John Lee Dumas:So we have so much more to talk about when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business. And their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most.

15:37John Lee Dumas:When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Fire Nation, if you've ever thought, I know I'm capable of more, but you're not sure where to start, I've created something for you. It's called 50 Days to Something. Not 50 Days to Perfection, not 50 Days to Overnight Millions, just 50 Focus Days to build something that matters.

16:19John Lee Dumas:Maybe a product, a service, a course, a coaching offer, something real, and something that will generate real revenue. 50 days to something is my passion project. Each video is short, is tactical, and it's designed for you to take one meaningful step forward each day. Picture this, in just 50 days, you will have built an asset. And the best part, it's completely free and is on my YouTube channel right now. If you are ready to create something that matters, visit eofire.com slash YouTube. That's eofire.com slash YouTube and start your 50-day journey today. 50 days will pass in the blink of an eye.

16:57John Lee Dumas:The question is, will you have something to show for it? So Michael, you wrote a book, How to Not Get Your Ass Kicked in Life and Business. Also, there's a pretty big tagline that goes along with this. So talk to us about that tagline and some of the key takeaways from this book. Get Fire Nation Fired Up. I have a nine-year-old daughter and for the last four and a half years since I've gone into monk mode, for the last four and a half years, I sold my insurance agency five years ago and walked away into the sunset. And for the last four and a half years, I coached my hockey team. I hung out with my wife and daughter at our lake home.

17:34You know, we bought a place in Naples, Florida. And it's been about family and it's been about giving back and volunteering for the last four and a half years. But since I've returned to the coaching and consulting business over the last year, one of the things that that's been speaking to me has been you know if I wrote a game plan or if I wrote a blueprint for my daughter Emery who's nine years old what would that book look like what what would be in that book and because I mean I'm an entrepreneur my father was an entrepreneur my grandfather was an entrepreneur what's the book that I would write for my nine-year-old daughter and that's when I started JLD putting this together and it's my 25 rules and the reason it's a book of rules for men and women who usually hate rules.

18:21I mean, we're entrepreneurs. We hate restrictions. We hate rules. We hate being boxed in. But the one thing I learned in pro sport is that rules are more powerful than habits. They're more powerful than, you know, goals. There's nothing more powerful than simplistic rules. So I put this book together as almost a playbook for my daughter once she's an entrepreneur, once she's doing her thing as an adult. But the 25 rules that I put in here, they give immediate discipline. They give immediately a blueprint for somebody who's in that entrepreneurial battlefield every single day. If you truly want to build your own personal world, if you truly want what people call freedom and autonomy, then these are the rules that I put together over the last 19 years to get me there.

19:18And we talked about rule number one, never, ever, ever follow the crowd. And I think these are the rules that a person can implement into their life that give you peace of mind. Like I have personal rules in my life saying things like, you know, I don't drink alcohol or I copyright write for one hour per day or I walk at least one hour per day. These are rules that I put into my life that I no longer need to expend willpower on. I don't need to set goals. I don't have to have a daily ritual. When I made them rules, I immediately closed the loop on that mentality. In other words, it's part of my life.

19:57It's a lifestyle now. So these are 25 rules that an entrepreneur can can look at and read and say, you know, that's going to make an impact on my life. And it all gets back to that taking your life from ordinary to extraordinary. I don't think you can do it without rules. I mean, you can't win pro hockey games without rules. You can't be successful in life or business without personal rules. And I just have found rules so much more powerful than habits and rituals that that's the reason that that's the playbook that I've written for my daughter.

20:28John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, this is the type of experience, of life experience, you come to the show to listen to. People like Michael who have been there, who have done that, who have had seven, eight-figure successes in multiple fields because they know a system. They know rules to live by. They make things happen. They are productive. They are disciplined. They are focused. These are key traits that you need to listen to over and over again and continue to learn from. Now, Michael, do you have an audio book for this as well? I do have an audio book. The physical book and the audio book are available at noblebook.com.

21:04And I encourage my personal students and stuff to read the book and to listen to the audio at the same time. That's a pro tip that I learned a long, long time ago from Anthony Robbins in terms of retention. So yes, we do have an audio book as well.

21:18John Lee Dumas:Love that. You talk about entrepreneurs being the heroes in the story. Can you expound upon that thesis? Entrepreneurs like your listeners are bombarded in 2022 by anti-business, anti-achievement, anti-goal setting, anti-capitalism. So and I'm part of it. I mean, I hear it every single day. And I think it's really important that entrepreneurs today vaccinate themselves mentally against this barrage of negativity. um if if people like you and your listeners took a nap for six months we wouldn't have an economy we wouldn't have you know um we wouldn't have an economy we wouldn't have roads we wouldn't have bridges we wouldn't have schools so it all to me starts and ends with the um the guts and the courage of the entrepreneur i've watched men like my dad for 65 years i've watched you know People like yourself who create things, who build things, who hire people, who sponsor things.

22:24And you're the heroes in our society. And for me, I encourage my guys. I said, what happens in the White House and what happens in politics? To me, politics is theater for ugly people. I mean, if we're going to take things to the next level in terms of our society, I think the greatest example that we can set is as serial entrepreneurs. I'll never forget my dad and I sitting down one time and I said, you know, dad, I think I'm going to run for mayor because I think I can make a really big difference in our community. And my dad looked across the table and he says, if you don't want to make a difference, he says, do that.

23:01He says, if you want to make a difference in this community for the people that support you, he said, start another business. And he said to me, he said, you know, entrepreneurs, that's the man and the woman that's in the arena. That's the person that's putting their neck on the line. That's the person that is trying to make payroll. And those are the heroes in the story. And that's why I wrote this book as a vaccination for those top one percenters, those entrepreneurs, the business owners, because all that other stuff out there is so negative. and just insulate. This is the reason that I don't listen to the regular news.

23:34I don't participate in anti-social media, any of that stuff. I just worry about the heroes and the stories and the entrepreneurs listening to this call and men like yourself and women out there that are building things. You are the heroes in our society.

23:48John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, you are the heroes in our society. And I love that phrase. I had to write it down, actually, that politics is the theater for ugly people. I mean, Fire Nation, if you're not chuckling at that, I don't know what's going to get you to chuckle because that is a funny, true reality type of statement. So Michael, I want to end with a bang here. Give us one key takeaway from everything that we talked about here today that you really want to make sure Fire Nation walks away with. There's no silos in life. There's no business, but a troubled marriage. There's no successful marriage but a troubled relationship with your children there's not a multi-million dollar business but not giving back in the community there's no silos in building a badass millionaire world world building brings everything under one umbrella and it's so important to that to understand that personal sovereignty uh freedom autonomy control independence all those good things, there's no such thing as a successful business without a successful life.

24:56And I know that you've gone through that. I know that I've gone through that. It's constantly asking yourself the question, if I want to be a seven-figure businessman, I want to be a connected father, I want to be an excellent husband, I want to be a hero in my own home, what kind of man or what kind of woman or what kind of a person do I have to become to make that happen in my life and you reference it in your book becoming a person of value and I couldn't agree with you more who do I have to become every single day to make sure that I build a world that I don't have to vacation from who who's the person I have to become to you know every single day become the best version of myself.