Re-using Your Entrepreneurial Skills to Build Amazing New Businesses with Doug Goldstein: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like the Ops Authority. Today, we're pulling a classic episode from the archives, and we'll be breaking down how to reuse your entrepreneurial skills and build amazing new businesses. To drop these value bombs, I brought Doug Goldstein into EO Fire Studios. Doug is an investment advisor. He hosts people around the world with their US investment accounts. He's also the bestselling author of the Constant Happiness Gratitude Journal.

0:35In today's foundation, we'll talk about finding great people and bringing them on board. If you have that entrepreneurial spirit, you will come up with a business and there are people out there who want to help you out. Constant gratitude becomes a habit, Fire Nation. We talk about this in detail and oh so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Doug and our sponsors. DTC Pod, hosted by Ramon Berrios and Blaine Bolas, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. DTC Pod is a podcast about all things direct to consumer, Ramon and Blaine cover everything from starting, growing, and optimizing e-commerce stores in DTC brands.

1:11If you're interested in the stories behind your favorite consumer brands, this podcast is for you. One recent episode on how the best brands are built is a must listen. Listen to DTC Pod wherever you get your podcasts. Doug, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Very happy to be here on Fire Nation. Welcome. Welcome to everyone. It's super to be back. One of the things I think that a lot of people believe about entrepreneurs is that once they hit their stride and they're doing really well, everyone thinks, wow, everyone loves this guy, has a lot of friends, everyone's around him.

1:50But the fact is, there is a huge amount of loneliness, I think, that entrepreneurs have because whether it's natural or something that people just haven't learned, most people don't appreciate the heart of an entrepreneur. And therefore, they can't relate to him or her. And therefore, the entrepreneurs are kind of often stuck in their own little world, which, by the way, John, is really one of perhaps the reason I really like listening to entrepreneurs on fire because I say, wait, these are all my friends. These are the people that I hang out with, even though it's just you talking to them. That's exactly how I felt actually back in 2012 when I was listening to other podcasts or interviewing entrepreneurs.

2:28I'm like, these are my people. These are my friends. How do I talk to them? How do I actually engage them? How do I hang around with them more? So I started a podcast and 3 ,000 episodes later, I'm talking to Doug Goldstein and life is good. So listen, brother, one thing that I admire about you is that you do a great job leveraging virtual team members to create not old, but new income streams. So for Fire Nation, share some examples of how you've done this. Most recently, I was thinking about this concept of gratitude. And in fact, John, I will tell you again, you inspired me. Yes. You've been a journaler for many, many years.

3:06Many. And you've spoken about it and you got people going. I had like a certain take on it that I thought was different, which was I thought that the concept of constant happiness was something that people should be talking about. My concern was people would write in their journal once a week, twice a week, once a night. I believe that by writing in a journal about the things you're grateful for, that's how you're going to develop happiness. This was my idea and I decided I want to share this with people and I experimented and frankly I experimented on myself a lot. And then I said, I'm going to make this happen.

3:43What resources do I have? So having now been an entrepreneur for 30 years, my day job is that I'm an investment advisor, but I've done a lot of other entrepreneurial things, let's say, frequently around books, but the book is just the platform that I can launch an idea. So I said, I'm going to write the constant happiness gratitude journal. But who do I have to help me? And I have a whole list of people. I've got my video guy who was able to make fantastic videos about it. I have all my Fiverr and Upwork people. And of course, using and finding new ones there was fantastic. You know, in fact, John, when I wanted to do the internal layout for the book, I said, I'm just going to hire two interior layout companies and see which one I like best.

4:26Just the idea that I was able to have people around me who would be able to help me do everything that I shouldn't be doing, that's an eye-opener. And I mean, you've spoken to many entrepreneurs and you know it's so hard for them to give away the work because they think, only I can really do the layout because I understand or the cover design or the writing or the editing. And that's just not true. The best entrepreneurs focus on one thing that they do. And Fire Nation, this is a key takeaway. In the world that we live in now, there are so many people out there who are raising their hands saying, I'm great at this one thing, this one thing.

5:04And guess what? In exchange for something called money, I will do this one thing for you. And I'm only good at a couple of things in this world, period. it. But guess what? I have a team around me and I've leveraged teams and people and virtual staff members, independent contractors to build the entire brand that I built. And those journals that I've done that Douglas mentions, man, did I leverage a lot of people for that as well. I mean, think about the people that actually made the book and put the bindings together and did all this stuff and then shipped it over here. The captain that was captaining the ship and getting it over to California.

5:42And then the people that shipped it to the warehouse and the warehouse people that unpacked it and got them all set up. And then everything that Amazon's, I mean, think about everything that had to happen to allow me to just for some clicks in a lot of time, really have hundreds of thousands of journals available and distributed to people around this world. So the dream of passive income, Doug, is to delegate and automate everything. So talk Talk specifically how you were able to prove to yourself that you can delegate almost everything. In my core business as an investment advisor, just like everyone who starts out, I was doing everything.

6:21Literally, I was plugging in the phones and setting up the phone system and running the computers. This is 20-something years ago that I was still doing this. Then one day, I said, I'm going to hire a computer guy. The computer guy said to me, I can handle your phones also. I go, great. And in fact, the way I got my office manager, who's still with me decades later, is she wrote to me. She goes, she sent in a letter, you know, I've been following you for a while. And it seems to me that I could be doing pretty much everything that you're doing except the financial advising. And it did take a while.

6:55There is a learning curve to give it away. But at the end of the day, I realized that the number one thing for me to do is speak with clients and speak with prospects. Everything else, whether it's arranging those meetings, getting them to mail in their statements, filling in the documentation, the account, everything else is someone else's job. No one pays me to fill in an account for them. No one pays me at all. And I'm not adding value. And every time I feel bad about it, I got to tell you, every time I do something that's not speaking to a client or prospect, I'm kind of ripping off my clients and prospects because they expect me.

7:29That's what they want me to be doing. they don't want me to be the guy who is figuring out why I have the blue screen of death on my computer instead of just calling in the computer guy to come do it. And Fire Nation, this is just one example about ways you can delegate and automate, but let's kind of get into some maybe more specific details. Like what are some things that you delegate in your business every single day and also share some tips, some strategies, some tactics that Fire Nation can employ in their own business, in their own life along this realm? I think like all entrepreneurs, I live a little bit in the world of my imagination.

8:05So I often imagine I'm the president of the United States, but only in a good way, not all the politics. I imagine what it's like to walk into the office, and I've got a whole entourage walking with me, and I say, you know, I think we should do XYZ today. And they say, yes, sir, we'll do that. And, you know, I'd like to meet with people who are doing something else. And they say, yes, sir, we'll arrange that. And then I realized that if I'm the president of my company or the founder of the Constant Happiness Gratitude Journal, all I really need to do is steer the ship and I need to get other people to handle the details.

8:41One of the real tactics which I love doing, it's funny, as I'm saying it out loud, it may sound a little bit goofy, but I like to go to Upwork and I just like to look at who the people are out there who are available. And that just inspires me. Say, wow, there's someone who does this type of web design or this type of SEO. I'd love to have that guy on my team. And then all of a sudden, I begin to think of a new business where I could use these employees. And as we all know, in fact, one of the best podcasters I ever heard likes to say, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

9:17So if you're going to develop your team, find these great people and just bring them on board. and you will come up, if you have the entrepreneurial spirit, you will come up with a business and those people are out there to help you out. Put yourself in situations, Fire Nation. Like I love saying, walk out the door every day with your eyes open and your ears open. I mean, listen to what people are saying. What are they complaining about? What things do you see that are just wrong in this world? And 99 % of them, you shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole because it's not the thing you should be doing.

9:47But one day, something's gonna be like, whoa, that could be my thing. That could be where I fill a void, where I become the niche, the number one solution to that real problem in this world. And we have a lot of value bombs like this coming up, Fire Nation. When we get back from thanking our sponsors. Marketers have never been spread so thin. Trust me, I feel it too. Between creating content, launching campaigns, generating leads, nurturing your prospects, and more, you barely have a second to breathe, let alone do your best marketing. But I've got some great news. There's a better way to do things, and it's with the help of HubSpot and Breeze, its new built-in AI.

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10:59Stop spreading yourself thin and start making major moves with HubSpot. Visit hubspot.com slash marketers to learn more. So Doug, we're back and you used website design and your SEO skills that you learned in one company. You actually applied these skills to another opportunity. And I think this is going to be really relevant for Fire Nation because my listeners, you have skills right now. You've learned things along the time that you spent working in other businesses over the years you've lived. So there are opportunities to apply them in different ways. So Doug, share that story with us. So when I was working on the Constant Happiness Gratitude Journal, after I wrote the book, like any writer, the first thing to do is just get all the words onto the page.

11:43Then you have to go back and edit and edit and edit and cut and edit, which is the hard part. And quite frankly, that's really the work. Because if you have the idea, you'll just get it down. What I realized though was even in the book, every word in the book had to be something that would grab the attention of the reader. I wanted when someone would pick up the book or skim through the website, he or she would say, you know, this looks good. And it's funny as we're talking, I just picked up the book and I opened it to page 12. And one of the headlines, which I know, or the chapter headings, which I know was not what I originally wrote, was the question, why do people get angry quickly but happy slowly?

12:22And I got to tell you, I worked a lot of time on that. I think that is a great, if I may say so, I think that's a great headline. It's something that if someone thinks about, you know, he'll say, wow, that's true. You know, you're driving and you cut someone off by accident. And boy, that guy hates you. He would literally slit your throat. Why couldn't he just, you know, why does he have to get angry so quickly, but it would take forever to make this guy happy? So using the skills that I had learned in writing articles, which we put on our corporate website for the financial industry, and we use, I like using the co-schedule headline analyzer to help out.

12:56But using that, I was able to adapt those skills in order to make a book, which was absolutely, I think, which would absolutely attract people because of the way it's presented to them, just like a great website or a great blog title. Boom, Fire Nation. That's what I want you to understand is that you can utilize skills, knowledge, expertise you already have into something you're going to do, into that next opportunity that, by the way, is there. It's just over the horizon. And now we talked a lot about gratitude, so let's talk about it. You believe in daily gratitude. How can developing gratitude as a habit inspire us to create products that will truly help others?

13:41I want to touch back, John, on something you said a couple of minutes ago, which is you have to walk outside and see what's going on. And one of the things that I saw, and I know that many, many people saw, and in fact, the University of Chicago did a study on it last year, they showed that about 90 % of Americans said that they were not very happy. This is huge. If you look at it, I mean, first off, it's depressing when you think about it. But if you look at a marketing opportunity, you'll say to yourself, 90 % of the people are not so happy. What can I do to increase happiness? And when you realize that unhappiness is on the rise, and I thought that I had a solution, I thought my idea was that instead of just occasionally being grateful for things, you know, some people go to church or synagogue, you know, they'll say a prayer here and there, which is hopefully the sign that they're grateful.

14:30Instead, they should say, listen, and by the way, it's just like what you were doing before. I'm so happy that there was the captain of the ship who was able to bring the books over and there was a guy who could find it. Imagine if all day, every day, you were able to appreciate the glass of water that you have in front of you and the magic that the water appeared there when you turned on the tap, that kind of constant gratitude, and I mean constant all the time, becomes a habit. Anything you do over and over and over again makes you smile, and that smile is the reward for developing the habit, and you'll just become a happier person.

15:02And that, by the way, is what everyone said who read the book. You know, I actually have on the top of my workflow, which is my to-do list that I look at every single day, the word smile. Like the top thing on my to-do list, and it just stays there, it's in bold, underlined. So one thing that never comes off the to-do list is smile, because just like you said, that then becomes a habit. And I smile and it makes me think of something that I'm grateful for. And it's just kind of like that cue. So what are you doing for your cue, Fire Nation? Now, Doug, you've talked quite a bit about the Constant Happiness Gratitude Journal.

15:38Take us home. What do you want Fire Nation to know about this journal and all the details about where they can pick up a very brand spanking new copy of their own? Certainly, you can buy a copy at Amazon or you can just check out the book at constant-happiness.com. I got to tell you, I was thrilled to get that URL. I was like, wow, that's my title, Constant Happiness, constant-happiness.com. It explains the philosophy behind the book, the things that you need to do to make yourself happy. Frankly, I also think it's a great gift for people simply because we all know someone who's not feeling at his or her best and this is a tool that's going to make some, it doesn't take long to read.

16:18Literally, you can read the bulk of the text in an hour, and you're going to get a sense of what to do. And once you get started on the journey of constant happiness, it literally will change your life. Now, I'm looking at the cover right now, and the image on the cover has a big resemblance to Ernie. Am I just making things up here? So, okay, he actually looks like Ernie, but the fact is his name is Zach. He is a puppet that we have in the house, which we've had for many, many years. My kids grew up with him. And in fact, my granddaughter particularly likes to pull on his nose. And he's like the epitome of happy.

16:53So, okay, it's a little weird. Don't tell anyone. But when I come down in the morning, Zach always says, good morning, Mr. G. And I say, good morning, Zach. And then I go get my coffee. But I think just having the things around you that make you happy. And if you don't have a puppet and it's not your thing, whatever you have, literally, it could be your cup of coffee. If you're not appreciating it, stop. Take a minute. it, smell it. Literally stop and smell the coffee, smell the flowers. If you're not doing that, you are missing out on the best present that we all got, which is our lives. And if you're not appreciating every little thing along the way, you're never going to be happy.

17:32Fire Nation, wow. I mean, what are you doing every day to give yourself that little smile, that little trigger that's going to lead in a waterfall to gratitude? Now, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with DG and JLD today, so make sure you keep up the heat. And make sure you head over to eofire.com to type Doug in the search bar, and his show notes page will pop right up. And by the way, he did a previous episode with us that was also straight fire. Listen to that one while you're at it. And your call to action, Fire Nation, constant-happiness.com.

18:08Go check it out. Go to Amazon. Go see what the Ernie character looks like on his book cover. And Doug, thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, knowledge, and value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks for everything you do, John. Hey, Fire Nation. Today's value bomb content was brought to you by Doug. And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Well, check out our free podcasting course where I teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free. Freepodcastcourse.com. That's freepodcastcourse.com. I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side.

19:12must listen. Listen to DTC pod wherever you get your podcasts.