Think Like a Lazy Person with Blake Johnson: 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 Online Marketing Made Easy. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, so the giveaway may not be active, and we'll be breaking down how to think like a lazy person. To drop these value bombs, I brought Blake Johnson into EO Fire Studios. Blake is a LA-based entrepreneur who has successfully founded and sold a variety of businesses that currently exceed $550 million in valuations.

0:36In today's Fire Nation, we will talk about inventing and consistently thinking outside the box on how you can get from point A to point B the quickest way, how whatever your current plans are, starting a business as an entrepreneur is not exactly what it should be or will be in the end, and being persistent in identifying opportunities, developing a system, scaling, and focusing on customer satisfaction and profitability. We'll talk about these things in more Fire Nation. And a big thank you for sponsoring Today's episode goes to Blake and our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

1:12Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business. Join my friend, Donald Miller, each week as he shares value bombs on topics like the secret to making better marketing decisions. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Belay has spent over a decade helping thousands of leaders increase efficiency and productivity by leveraging flexible staffing solutions. Download Belay's delegation guide and learn six specific things that busy leaders must start delegating today. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to download the guide and get started. Blake, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know.

1:57What's up, Fire Nation? Happy to be on with you guys today and wanted to thank everybody for their time. Something interesting that a lot of people don't know about me, especially in the context of today, that everybody, when they get to know me a little bit better and I share this point, I always get a sideways look as if I'm making this up. But I grew up in a really, really small community down on the Mexican border. It's statistically, arguably the most poor community in the United States with the undisputed number one all-time unemployment rate. I grew up working from a really young age on a cattle ranch.

2:42It's really a feed lot cattle ranch makes it sound romantic and sexy, but it, it, nothing is romantic nor sexy about this place. It was 120 degrees in the summer, 12 ,000 head of cattle. We were up, you know, three in the morning, had to be working by four and did some of the most miserable jobs known to man. And the funny part about that is when I got home from work every day, the, the Wrangler, the pair of Wrangler jeans that I was wearing would inevitably stand up by themselves. They They were so caked in all this dirt. Dirt puts it lightly, all the other cow excrement. But they could actually stand out by themselves.

3:22And now I live in Los Angeles and live a very different life. But comparing those two and sharing that with people, I always get an interesting look, so to speak. Well, I find that fascinating for a number of reasons. And I'm going to be curious how this ties into the main topic that we're chatting about today, which Fire Nation, as you know, is thinking like a lazy man. And Blake, you have this concept, think like a lazy man. So break it down for us because, you know, it's one of those really kind of head scratching type of topics. So how is Fire Nation going to benefit from this concept? So it's interesting.

4:04And ironically, you know, that first point we started out with kind of ties well into this. something that I learned early on or something rather that was taught to me. Because El Centro and that community was on the Mexican border, it worked with everybody kind of crossing the border from Mexicali and worked with about 30 guys working cattle each day. And the first year I got out there, I was about 13 years old, kind of kept to myself. I got regulated to the worst of the worst jobs, which was scooping out water troughs, which were filled with all kinds of things except water. the cattle would stand in, in the water drops all day.

4:42So you imagine, you know, getting cattle in there and standing all day, what comes out of those cattle and what had to be removed. And with a five gallon bucket, you know, go through all 117 pins, which took me from Monday morning to Thursday afternoon to get through. But, you know, so I kept to myself the first year, second year, the guys in the feedlot started to warm up to me. They, you know, would have lunch, which was really our breakfast, um, about, you know, eight 30 in the morning. And so I started getting invited to, you know, eat with them, which was, you know, big accomplishment for me at that age.

5:20Really good. God was proud of that for a while. And, you know, they took a liking to me because I kept to myself. I just worked. I didn't complain. And into that second year, I had one of the managers who, you know, was, was always, he was the clear, the jefe, right? He was the boss. And he came over one day and asked me in Spanish. And he said, he said, hey, you know, Blake, if you had to pick one of these 30 guys to do a job to, you know, translate a little bit better. But to my satisfaction, the quickest way, you know, the smartest way, who would you pick? And I looked across, you know, all 30 guys sitting there eating.

6:03And I said, you know, I'll pick that guy over there. And he asked me why. I said, look, that guy's always on time. He works really hard. You know, he never complains. It's always clean cut. He's the most clean cut of the guy. And he kind of shook his head and looked at me and started to walk off. And I was like, hold on, who would you pick? And literally all 30 guys were together with the exception of this one guy. And underneath this like little bush tree was the kind of inappropriate to say, but, you know, without, without trying to filter, it was like the fattest, laziest guy of the whole group, right?

6:40I mean, he would complain about X, Y, and Z. You know, if you asked him to pick up a bucket and walk 10 yards, I mean, it was not without a complaint or moaning. And so I'm like, you got to be kidding me. And I'm like, you'd pick that guy? And he's always late. I mean, just, it was almost a guy out of a movie, like a character. And he shook his head, yeah. And he goes, look, he goes, that guy's so lazy. he'll think of something that nobody else will think of in order to get the job done expending the least amount of effort without getting fired and he started to name off all these inventions that were very particular to the feedlot including a siphon system that nobody had told me about to pull out all the water from the feed from the from the troughs and a pulley system at the mill for hay bales and all these crazy, crazy things that were really, really ingenious.

7:40And I was a little stunned, even being a young teenager, I was a little stunned. And he took me aside and said, look, you work really hard. But if you want to succeed in life, you'll maintain your work ethic and also think like him. So I've really taken that kind of throughout my whole life, my whole business career and trying to get, you know, understanding, Hey, we're at point A today and we're going to point B or we need to get to point B. What's the quickest way to reverse engineer that? And I hate the term of thinking out of the box and everything, but I've really haven't found a better term, but it is really that concept of, you know, question the standard way of doing things.

8:24And if you know where your destination is, what's the quickest point from where you're at today to that point? And what can you invent and what can you think of in order to get there in the most expeditious fashion? You know, this really resonates with me, Blake, for a lot of reasons. I mean, you know, I look back over my journey. You know, I was an officer in the army for eight years. I went to law school. I tried corporate finance. I was in commercial real estate. and a lot of those things took a lot of work. I mean, it's a lot of work being in the army, especially in the time of war, which I was.

9:00It's a lot of work in law school. I dropped out as a result. It's a lot of work being in corporate finance. It's a lot of work being in commercial real estate, knocking on a lot of doors. It's work, work, work, work, work. And a lot of people are like, John, like, man, you're such a hard worker. Like you did a daily podcast every day for 2000 days in a row. And guess what? That was a lot of work. but to me you know it was me getting up walking five feet to my in in-home studio and having a conversation like I'm having with you right now Blake for 25 35 minutes like that was literally what I was doing for 2 ,000 days and by the way I was also batching them all together because I was too lazy to do that every single day so I figured out ways to batch them and do all my interviews on one day per week for the whole week's worth of interviews and I've always kind of taken this like attitude of, you know, if I wanted to work really hard, I would have stayed in law school.

9:54I would have stayed in corporate finance. I would have stayed in commercial real estate, but no, like in a lot of ways I'm lazy. And like, I don't want people a telling me what to do, but also B, I don't necessarily want a lot to do. Like I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. And in a way that kind of makes me lazy, but it's allowed me to build this business I have. So take that kind of understanding of what it means to think like a lazy man, Fire Nation, and potentially look at it up and applying to your life and things that you can do. And one thing that I'm kind of curious about for you, Blake, is these core elements that you've identified that we have to have rights before we're launching a business around this whole core concept of thinking like a lazy man.

10:34Absolutely. And so when I kind of think, and for context for the audience, I founded five businesses. I've successfully exited my last forum on my fifth. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I'll be out of my current job. We're looking to sell my current company, Byte. And I've already started my sixth. And Byte was a great story, which we can get into. But it was really the accumulation of all the learnings I've had from the previous four. and you know really kind of looking at that you know we obviously make a lot of mistakes i always you know say i make guaranteed more mistakes than anybody else but you learn from those mistakes and you and you refine your palette on what are the kind of core tenants that you have to you know to have in in in the makeup of a business to to get right and and by it was started in march of 2017 We're three and a half years into it.

11:30We didn't have any investors. We became cash flow positive relatively quick. We have now squarely a billion dollar plus valuation. And, you know, that, you know, people are always like, wow, how did how did that ramp so quickly, profitably and to that level? And, you know, I've said on multiple occasion that, you know, while Byte was only three years old and arguably grew faster and more profitable than most any other company in any other industry in existence, it truly is not a startup because it had the same DNA as, you know, the previous company, which is a company I had called Currency Capital that I grew, you know, at that same pace, not quite as big.

12:16and the company prayer to that. And so when you're thinking about these things and what you have to do, my dad always had, you know, he's cattle and business guy and in that farming community, spent a lot of time, you know, getting exposure to a lot of businesses, ironically, in that small community, both successful and not most important farming. But he always would remind me when you're starting out in business, whatever you think it is, it's going to be, it's going to take twice as long. It's going to cost twice as much, and it's going to be twice as hard. And, you know, that, that was kind of one lens I always put on everything when I'm, when I'm thinking about my own businesses, where I'm hearing about others, you know, that to be really sober on, to recognize that, you know, whatever you think your budget is, double it.

13:08However long you think it's going to take to make a dollar, double that, Whatever the challenges are going to be, double those. And most of the times, I would say triple nowadays. But when I kind of think about these core components and really kind of taking that next step, which is being really sober on your addressable market. How big is your addressable market? Is what you're trying to sell or whatever it is, I always say we're very agnostic on what we sell. We just want to check a few core boxes in order to get into a business. Those core boxes for me are really understanding a few things.

13:49One is budget, running pro formas, running a P &L, really getting granular and sober on how much things are going to cost from top to the bottom, from the top being marketing. that I would say is one of the most key components I think that's overlooked. What does it cost you to acquire a customer? And how many customers are available for you to acquire en masse? You know, as simple as that sounds, a lot of people don't spend enough time thinking about that. And then, you know, really what is going to be the lifetime, you know, value of that customer? People often overestimate how much they believe a customer will pay them.

14:39You know, if you get those two things wrong, even one degree off, it's deadly. It's deadly. You know, one degree today or tomorrow is indetectable. But you multiply that over a week, or excuse me, I forget about a week, a month, a year, you know, multiple years, that one degree, you know, if you're trying to shoot, right, now you're missing your target by a mile, you know, the further you go out. So those core components are, you know, really understanding your marketing costs. I always say I'm a gravestone, you know, that's going to be CPA, cost per acquisition or a CAC, right? Cost per acquisition cost.

15:17Really understanding that and then getting sober and understanding what your core components are in order to operate the business and how those fluctuate with scale. A lot of people think there's economies of scale as you get up and they factor those in, but what they're not accounting for is all those extra costs to run the business as you scale too. You get economies of scale in certain areas, but the very opposite in other areas. A lot of things I took away, Fire Nation. I won't repeat what Blake shared at the end right there, but one thing that he said a little more towards the middle was, how big is your addressable market?

15:51I want to make sure you understand that concept and you're really thinking about that as you're driving forward. and we have more value bombs coming up Fire Nation when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, the holidays are near and I know you're rocking your year-end goals. It's crunch time. And if you're ready to hit your revenue targets and finish the year strong, then I've got the perfect tool to help you fill your pipeline, nurture prospects, and close deals. Meet the new HubSpot Sales Hub. The HubSpot Sales Hub supercharges your sales process so you can find, track, and close deals all in one powerful, easy-to-use platform.

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18:09Maybe you've automated with AI or hacked your morning routine to get more done in a day. While productivity tips and tricks can help, the best way to increase efficiency and productivity is to work on what you're best at and delegate the rest. Not sure how? Belay can help. After over a decade spent helping thousands of leaders increase efficiency and productivity by leveraging flexible staffing solutions, Belay is an expert in all things delegation. Belay's exceptional virtual assistants, accounting professionals, and social media managers can take care of the details so you can focus on the most productive ways to use your time.

18:41To see where you could benefit from delegating, Belay is offering a free download of their delegation guide. They outline six specific things that busy leaders must start delegating to take their leadership and results to the next level. Text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to download the guide and get started. Delegate to Belay so you can focus on what matters most. So Blake, we're back and a lot of people, and I mean a lot of people, specifically entrepreneurs, They struggle with mindsets at the beginning stages of their entrepreneurial journey. So what is the right frame of mind for those people who are listening who are in the first two or so years of launching their business?

19:21So I always love this question. And I constantly have to remind myself of this. And what I've found to be true and what I've found to be consistent is that whatever we're thinking about today as entrepreneurs, whatever our plan is today, or more so if you're starting a business or if you're in your first year or second year, whatever you plan on is wrong. It's simply wrong. Nobody ever started a business and had this beautiful mindset and beautiful business model. And when they get over the hump and they create a successful business, it happens exactly as if it was scripted at the beginning. We have to be constantly aware that whatever we're thinking today is not exactly what it should be or what it will be in the end.

20:14And I've come to just soberly recognize that, that, you know, okay, I have a plan today. I've started this new business altar. And I have this theory of how it should go. But I also know that that theory is wrong and that I have to start walking down the road and getting data real time, seeing how the market evolves, seeing how consumer behavior evolves, seeing, for instance, how COVID, you know, nobody would have predicted COVID, you know, a number of months ago. But now that's shifted everybody's kind of belief system and buying habits, good and bad. And so as entrepreneurs, I really, really want to stress that, you know, If you're in the first few innings of the game, first year, two years, three years, the end result, which is going to make you the most successful, is not what you're doing today.

21:06You've got to constantly evolve. You've got to identify where you can take some shortcuts. You've got to identify evolving market opportunities. And so if you approach it with that mindset, it's incredibly valuable, I think, because it keeps you light on your feet. it keeps you sober to like what you're doing today. Something, something could be better. There could be a better solution, a better process, a better angle for you that you come across next week, the week, you know, after that, you know, I had my first job out of college, you know, I had this manager, Tommy Romero. I don't know what he's doing now, but, um, he, he told me something and he said, are you hunting in, you know, are you hunting in a crouch position?

21:54Are you just hunting, like standing up straight, like walking? And what I think he meant by that was, you know, are you ready to pounce when you see an opportunity come ahead of you? And, you know, I think that that as entrepreneurs, you know, we get so, you know, stuck in, in this straightforward path and we're just, we're focused on, you know, 12 o 'clock straight ahead that we're, we're, and it's the easy thing to do to just kind of focus and rinse, wash, repeat, which I'm still a big fan of, but also are you constantly scanning for the better way to do it? Goes back to thinking like a lazy man, right?

22:31There is a better solution out there, but you've got to be looking for it and hungry for it and trying to sniff it out, 24 hours a day. So one thing that I really try to focus on is maximizing the outcome of my business. I mean, this is one way and one reason why we are always publishing our income reports on a month over month basis. I mean, we share them publicly, but even if we didn't share them publicly, I would still honestly be doing these on an internal basis, just keeping the finger on the pulse, letting us know where's our major profit coming in, where's our big expenses, Are those expenses worth it?

23:08Like what's really working and trending right now for us? What maybe trends that worked for us last year aren't working anymore? And like these income reports really help me understand this focus and these trends and the projections that we can make and as well as where we should be focusing. So once a company is up and running, Blake, how can we maximize our outcome? Another great question and one that I see commonly overlooked, but we've become very religious and not, we weren't like this a number of years ago, but have become, you know, with each iteration and each passing month year, really start to become bigger and bigger believers in being highly, highly metric driven.

23:51You know, we often at Biden, previous companies, you know, we use this term, kind of hit the button, get the cheese, you know, where we're focused on a process. We're focused on metrics. We're focused on measuring each one of our steps from the very start to the very end and then devising a system. And there's various ways in software systems and everything out there available to all of us that can be purchased and customized to a specific business to help you better understand really where you're going right and where you're going wrong and where the areas are that need improvement. it. And one of those things along those lines is just, you know, is just really letting, you know, both, you know, what I'd say the IQ and the EQ, the emotional side of it, you know, you can feel culturally about your business.

24:48You understand people's mindsets, but the IQ part of it is letting the data speak for itself. And then breaking down your company into specific segments, whether it be customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, manufacturing, whatever the component is to your business, think about it from a number standpoint. Can I get better at that? And then start to measure it. Fire Nation, what gets measured gets improved. It's a great Peter Drucker quote. I need you to understand that. I need you to really realize that a lot of our successes come from measuring our things and improving those things. And this is what Blake is talking about when he says maximizing our outcomes.

25:35So Blake, we've talked about a lot of awesomeness today. Give us what you consider the biggest takeaway from everything that we chatted about here today. Give us ways that we can connect with you going forward and any call to action or gift you have for Fire Nation. And then we'll say goodbye. No, absolutely. I love Fire Nation. It's been amazing. It's been a great group of people would be more than happy. I love talking about businesses. I love helping anybody who reaches out. It's been a big thing in my life that I've been the benefactor of a lot of people reaching down and giving me a hand and playing an appropriate role in my life at the right time and feel compelled to do that.

26:23Again, the best things that I think we can do and think about is just the persistence of this. This is a long, constant solving of a Rubik's Cube and constant surveying of the land and identifying opportunities. It's the discipline side, and sometimes it's not fun, of all the metrics and measurement that come into the business and really having a system and creating a system that does that. However small the business is, however big the business is, that needs to be inherent in that. And just making sure if you're waking up every morning, do the mundane things, do these things that will dramatically increase the probability that you have a successful business that ends up scaling.

27:18And most of all, focus on profitability. You know, that's the key component, you know, is to focus on, we always talk about two things, focus on customer satisfaction and customer journey and then profitability on, you know, as a close second. If you get those two things right, you know, life's going to be a lot better than if you don't get those two things right. Now, how can we connect with you and any call to action you might have? A number of ways to connect with me. my personal email which I'd love to receive emails on is my first initial B last name Johnson j-o-h-n-s-o-n at toyopa t-o-y-o-p-a dot com and feel free to email me there at any point would love to hear from anybody and the call to action is is I would just really start to encourage people listening to this you know to really you know take another look at their budgets at their revenue what they believe their revenue trajectory is and really understand every single cost associated with their business like the back of their hand.

28:27Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with Blake and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And I love his final takeaway of focusing on profitability, focusing on customer service. You focus on those two things, Fire Nation, you will win. And of course, shoot Blake an email, bjohnson at toyopa.com. All the links will be in the show notes page when you head over to eofire.com and just type Blake in the search bar. We'll link up everything right over there. And Blake, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.