Unlocking Your Full Potential: Discovering Your Unique Life Vision with Mike Kaeding

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 Side Hustle Pro. Today, we'll be breaking down how to unlock your full potential, discovering your unique life vision. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Mike Kading into EO Fire Studios. Mike dreams big, works hard, and knows his life's vision. Every minute counts, and he strives to never waste a single one. As CEO of Norhart, he leads with this philosophy for success. and today at Fire Nation we'll talk about ignorance being an asset, the misconceptions about the way things are quote unquote supposed to be done, dreaming big, working hard, and so much more.

0:49And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Mike and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled, How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business?

1:24Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Mike, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I think the most important thing is to simply hire the very best people. When I say the best, I truly mean the world's best. A lot of people kind of hold back and say, well, that sounds really expensive. And the truth is, on a cost-per-person basis, that's true. But I think what most people fail to deeply understand is that the best people way outperform the average.

2:11And so hiring the best is actually a way not only to produce amazing results, but also to save money for your business because they're less expensive than a cost-per-unit produced. Fire Nation, that's a great way to kick off this episode because we're talking a lot today about some important things, unlocking your full potential, discovering your unique life vision. And something that really jumps off the page about me when it comes to you, Mike, is that you believe ignorance can be an asset. Tell us more about that. You know, a lot of us think we need to have everything put together. We need the knowledge, expertise and all of our I's dotted and our T's crossed.

2:53And that is valuable. Don't get me wrong. But I think people think that ignorance is actually a really big negative thing. But the reality is there's an element of value to it because you don't know what you don't know. So you can start asking questions that maybe other people aren't. You can start looking at the world differently, trying new things. And when you start exploring down that world, you discover new ways to do things, better ways to make things happen. And it's quite incredible. For me, in my journey, I joined my dad's business and my dad passed away unexpectedly. And at that point, I really didn't know what I was doing.

3:35But getting in there and exploring and trying new things enabled us to start changing the industry that we are in. And it's had a tremendous impact. So looking back, I actually started to value that ignorance because it helps you do things you can't normally do. Fire Nation, ignorance can be an asset for the reasons Mike just shared. And I want to move into the reality, Mike, that there are just misconceptions about the way things are, quote, supposed to be done. Tell us about this mindset. You know, in our industry, in the world of construction, we're building buildings, building homes for people.

4:16And in this world, people really get stuck in this notion of this is the way things are supposed to be done. You know, my granddad did it this way. My dad did it this way. And by golly, I should do it this way as well. But again, that's stuck in the old way of doing things. Just because we have done it a certain way for such a long period of time doesn't make it the right way to do it. One of my favorite authors talked about Thanksgiving dinner. And at Thanksgiving dinner, every Thanksgiving, they would cut off the end of the turkey. And the grandson looked at this and asked mom, and said, Mom, why do we cut off the end of the turkey?

4:58And the mom said, Well, that's the way we've always done it. It's our tradition. Okay, so he went to grandma. and grandma, why do we cut off the end of the turkey? And grandma shared, well, that's tradition. That's just the way we've always have done it. So we went to great-grandma. Great-grandma, why do we cut off the end of the turkey? And great-grandma shared that when she was younger, the oven was not large enough to fit the turkey. And see, that's the reality. There's so much of what we're doing today is done because that's the way we've always have done it. And there was a good reason for that.

5:34maybe years ago, that doesn't make it a good reason today. So I would challenge people to always question everything because there is a better way to do it. I love that story. And Fire Nation, it really kind of makes you chuckle because you're like, people were doing something thinking they were following this grand tradition. But at the end of the day, the great-great grandmother just had this small oven. That was just the reality. And she had to do it that way. and then it became a quote-unquote tradition by default. Now you believe, Mike, in naming the genius of others. What do you mean by this?

6:10And give us a real world example. Taking a high level approach first, the first thing is you need to hire the best people. But once you've done that, there's an aspect of you need to place those people in the right seat because an amazing cook is not necessarily going to be an amazing writer. You've got to understand what their genius is. And sometimes this can be nuanced. But not only understanding what their genius is, the greater power here is in actually naming it. It's calling it out. It's telling the world and the people around you that this person, they're amazing at this particular niche or this particular element.

6:53And if you can get that right, if you can get people right where their genius lies, that's where magic happens because they can produce so much more than if they're not quite in their element or in their genius. I'll give you an example of this. Actually, just recently, I had an interview a few days ago, and we had a candidate who was kind of hiring some people for video production, and they were passionate about producing films, about directing, about coordinating the elements that go into recording a video. And that's great, but what he's applying for is to be an editor. And if we were to put him into an editor spot, if that's where you'd actually sit, I could just tell, based on his passion, his energy, everything he was talking about, that he would be okay with it, but he wouldn't be like, it's not his true genius.

7:48It's not where his heart truly is at. So when we think about our whole organization, we think really deeply about every single position, every single person and making sure that we put them where their genius is at and to name that and to increase it and improve it and to challenge them to get better in that area. Fire Nation, I love this model of thoughts because if you can give somebody an opportunity in an area that they have excitement, passion, enthusiasm for, also having skills, knowledge, and expertise on that area, on that topic, that's what I love calling the zone of fire. Like that's their spot.

8:28That's where they should be. And if you have someone that's not there, you may not be getting out the best of them what you could be getting out of them. And we have a lot of things to talk about around this topic and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're anything like me, then you're looking forward to a lot of outdoor time this summer. I'm talking about hitting the pool, going on epic hikes, and maybe even getting in a few pickleball matches. But in order to do all that, you and your team need to work smarter, not harder. That's why we're so excited about HubSpot's integrated AI tech.

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9:39And it's so true. You've gotten this far in your business through your own hard work and dedication, but there are only so many hours in the day. If you're ready to stop trying to do it all yourself and start leveraging highly vetted US-based specialists to help take your business to the next level, then Belay can help. Belay has been helping entrepreneurs scale their business and find success for over a decade. Their goal to help busy leaders just like you delegate with specialists like virtual assistants, bookkeepers, social media managers, and more. It's time to get out of the administrative weeds of your business and start investing your time back into things that grow your business.

10:16To help you get started, Belay is offering Fire Nation the ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant. It's packed with helpful content about how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business. Just text FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to 55123 to get started. Mike, we're back. And one of your mantras that I really resonate with is dream big, work hard. Tell us more about this. You know, so many of us, sometimes a little afraid to dream really big. And I think the fear comes in, in that if I dream big, and if I miss it, do I look like a fool? Do my friends look at me and think that you're just a failure that you you didn't accomplish what you set out to accomplish?

11:04but I have heard from the most successful people they wish that they had actually dreamed bigger and so we for ourselves we set huge goals we set world changing goals and then what we say is that we want to shoot for the moon because even if we miss it we'll be among the stars I often tell our team that our prior goal we're working to produce of housing units for the United States market and to drive down the cost of housing. But I haven't told our team that our goal right now is to hit 192 ,000 units in the next 10 years. And they look at me and say, that sounds crazy. And it is. It's a big challenge.

11:51But then I tell them our prior goal is to hit just 4 ,000 units in that same time period. I said, now, let's think for a moment. Let's say we fail at the 192 ,000 units, but we only produce 100 ,000. That's still 96 ,000 more units than we would have if we had just kept the easy goal. So I challenge people to dream big, set the big goal, work hard to accomplish it, but be okay a little bit if you miss that goal because it's better than if you never set a hard goal to begin with. Fire Nation, again, really important to be thinking this process through. Are you dreaming big? Are you working hard?

12:32Are you willing to do these things? Which, Mike, I think leads us very naturally into the facts of visions and we needing to have a firm grasp on what our vision is for our lives, for our future. You're such a big proponent in this. Tell us why and what we can do to follow in your footsteps. It's critical to understand where you want to go so that you know what steps to take today. For me, our vision is to solve America's housing affordability crisis. Now, I think the first thing there is you need to spend time to understand what that vision is for your life. And it doesn't happen overnight. In fact, it's taken us years to really understand what our purpose, what our mission, what our vision is for our life, for my life, for our company.

13:27And then the next step is to really codify that. Write that down. Make it sure it's really clear, like one sentence. Very clearly outline what you're trying to accomplish. But the power behind that is once you set that up, that really helps you align day by day, month by month, year by year, what you need to hit to reach that wider vision. I had someone reach out to me recently, and they're getting involved in some larger chamber of commerce. And they were asking me, well, what event should I attend? Where should I be? Who should I be talking to? Who should I network with? And I said, dude, I'm super excited you're doing that.

14:07There's a lot of value in that networking, that connection. Let's take a step back. What is your wider vision? What are you trying to accomplish? Because the chamber of commerce may not actually be what you should be spending time on. There might be something that's a better use of your time. What I've learned is that anytime you choose to do something, that means you're choosing not to do something else. So how do you decide between what you should be doing and what you're not going to do? And the only way to do that is if you know your long-term vision first. Fire Nation, are you following this line of thought?

14:43Are you living in a world that Mike is talking about where you have that vision in grasp? Because the reality is this. So many of us, Mike, are just sleepwalking through life. And you're just a huge proponent of not wasting even a minute of this life. Tell us more. Yeah, my dad died at a relatively young age. And it really reminded me how short life really is. We only live about 5 ,000 weeks here on Earth. And I often ask myself the question, how do I want to spend the minutes of my life? and for me a big heart of that big part of that is about creating a meaningful positive impact on the world and i think we're going to be able to do that through solving housing affordability but again your life is short how do you want to spend the minutes of your life don't let it just be an accident and then 30 years later you wake up and wonder what you've been doing all this time make sure you understand what your dream is, what you're passionate about, and align your day by day, your week by week, your minute by minute life to help you accomplish that.

16:03You know, for me, I also go a little bit crazy at times, and I'm not saying people should always go to this extent, but even down to I make my dinner while I'm watching some educational content, while I'm eating it, right? Because that's a component of my life that I don't want to spend a lot of time in, And so I optimized that a way so I could focus more on spending time with my kids. So I spend more time on podcasts like this. We're connecting with the world or on our business. Understand your vision and then make sure you don't waste the minutes of your life. Mike, this is very inspirational.

16:36And I think Fire Nation is going to really take a hard look in the mirror and say, am I wasting minutes of my lives on a day-to-day basis that really adds up over time? And if the answer is yes, Fire Nation, hey, there's no time like the present. Let's just come up with a vision and start working towards that. The human mind loves progress. We don't always love reaching the destination, but we love the progress to get towards that destination. So start moving in that direction. And Mike, let's give one final value bomb to Fire Nation that ties everything together. Take it away. You know, the number one most important lesson that I've ever learned, and I kind of alluded to this at the beginning, is to hire the very best people.

17:23And I want to re-hit on this point because I think a lot of people say, hey, I do hire the best. I want to find the best people. We all want the best people. But they don't really believe it at their core. And that affects the decision making. It sometimes is very subtle. It's in what you don't say to your staff or what you just let slide past you. But if you truly understand hiring the best and you need to focus on how you're actually going to deliver on that, one way for us is we ended up hiring a huge number of recruiters on our team just to go out and find the world's best. Then you've got to be willing to pay top of market, which sounds scary.

18:05But as I said at the beginning, it's a way to actually save money because they are so much more productive. They produce so much more than the average people. Then they start, and this is where the magic happens. You put all the energy into finding the best people. They start unlocking doors. They start making things possible for you that you didn't know were even possible. You know, for us, there was a moment in my journey where I realized the importance of this point and we changed. We changed everything we were doing. We were growing at about a 10%, maybe 15 % per year pace before this. After we made the decision, we let most of our staff go.

18:51We rehired a team. We rebuilt them up. After that happened, we started doubling in size every single year. And it was simply because now we had the kind of people we needed to, to make the kind of impact we wanted to make. So hire the best. I love that as a closing note. And what is your final call to action for Fire Nation? If they want to connect with you and learn more, what do you want to tell them today? Yeah, you can learn more about our company by visiting our website, norhart.com that's n-o-r-h-a-r-t dot com but I'll leave you with this we've got a podcast called Zero to Unicorn it's about the journey of small business growing to billion dollar enterprise and taking a look a step back and asking the question is what is that journey really like what is the good the bad and the ugly so that we can learn from others who have had that kind of impact on the world.

19:59So join us in that podcast. It's a lot of fun. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with MK and JLD today, so keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Mike in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Mike, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, and value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Mike for sponsoring today's episode. Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast?

20:36Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free. Freepodcastcourse.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into.

21:08Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. Wondering how to leverage a virtual assistant to save you time and money all while growing your business? Get Belay's ultimate guide to working with a virtual assistant today. Just text fire, that's F-I-R-E to 55123 to get started.