Scaling for Freedom: The New Entrepreneurial Mindset | Mac Lackey

27:43Like I literally put that filter and that weight on her because she's, you know, she's good at what she does, but she has broad insight into what's on my list and what really matters to me. She'll tell me almost every day I'll agree to meet with someone. And this is tough for me. I try to be a nice, good, friendly person and she'll, and I'll say, Oh, my friend from high school wanted to have a coffee next week. And she'll literally be, as I'm saying it, shaking her head no. And I'm looking at her and she's like, remember, you don't have time to do that. Like you're trying to impact the world and help more people.

28:18You can definitely send a nice note to your friend, but you can't meet him for a coffee. You know, and of course I can override that and say, as one of my best friends, I am going to meet him. But having that sort of accountability and filter to like, I don't waste time on stuff that's not going to be aligned for me and help try to do what I want to do in life. yeah I um dude talking about the deleted part I uh I had this awakening again at at the last company I was I had like a hundred and something emails in my inbox which is crazy right I hadn't I hadn't gotten an assistant yet at that point and like one Saturday morning I woke up and I'm like I'm just gonna go all the way to that bottom and like see what's there and I'm looking at these things.

29:00And like at the time they seemed important enough to like keep as unread. And I'm going, well, that delete, delete, delete. And I got all the way down to like 15 emails. And I was like, oh my God, like, look how many things that were completely unimportant that had zero impact that I actually didn't need to follow up on or whatever that were just sitting in my inbox, creating like noise in my brain. Cause I'm looking at a hundred emails and it feels overwhelming every day when really there's only 15 in here and probably even 10 of those are simple, just, you know, one sentence follow-ups and we, we allow ourselves to, to get caught in, well, geez, I got to respond to everything.

29:39And it's just simply not true. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, if I could say, I mean, the to-do list, I'm glad, I'm glad we talked about that. There's, there's three things I end up spending a lot of time with entrepreneurs on because there's the mindset and strategic and all the stuff that feels great. And then there's the practical reality of your day-to-day life as an entrepreneur. And for most every entrepreneur, there's three things on there that are the things that truly destroy us tactically. One is the to-do list that we kind of talked about high level. The other is our calendar and what we allow on our calendar and how we block time and manage time.

30:17And the third is the inbox. And yeah, I'm literally looking at, I have my two monitors up as we're recording this. And my inbox that I'm staring at says you've hit inbox zero 65 weeks in a row. And that is, that is, doesn't mean I don't, I get a bunch of emails, but my very strict kind of, you know, guidelines on how I follow up. If I follow up, if my assistant follows up, if this is better done, I do a lot of asynchronous, you know, record a quick video because I care about people that I'm working with or in my life. So I'd rather record a nice video and, you know, send you the link to it because it's when I'm sitting on the back porch later in the day, but I send a nice note, Ryan, you know, great talking to you, blah, blah, blah.

31:02You know, here's the three things we talked about. So I try to really let my inbox not dictate my day at all. And then the final one is the calendar, which is it just destroys people. And I do this coaching session with my group and I'll show them even, you know, again, I know this stuff, I've lived it a lot of my life, but of course I'm guilty of letting things drift. And I show people what my calendar looked like two years ago and just pick a random week versus what it looks like now. And now my pre-block calendar, like my mornings every single day is the same. I start at the same time. I have pre-block time for, you know, flow state and mental health and, you know, things that are priorities for me.

31:44When I'm in Barcelona, I have lunch with my wife every day. And those things are non-negotiable, non-movable. And then I have a few blocks where I'm like, this is when I'm going to coach or work with clients or help friends. And that ability to kind of get in the zone versus what it used to look like. I'm running multiple companies and I'm going between sales meetings and talking about product and I'm talking to my financial advisor. I mean, like context switching all day, different times every day. So I'm not one of those morning routine people. Personally, I actually like a very clean calendar.

32:25So I pre block a lot of time, which just basically means I have total flexibility. If I decide to just go for a walk and not do anything for half a day, like my calendar kind of accommodates that, that scheduling 15 minute increments and being at the gym by this time, like that feels anti what I'm trying to do with my life, which is live happy and free. And so it works for some people, but for me, I have to pre-block time. So I have a lot more control of my calendar. So those three things, if you, if you get those three things, right, then I think it literally transforms your life as an entrepreneur.

33:01Yeah. And I think that the, one of the main ideas that I take from that is I think a derivative thing that not people, that people do not give enough conversation to is this idea of noise, right? That's constantly in your head. And when you don't know what your day is going to be because it's different every day and people are randomly dropping stuff into your calendar that you don't know is there, you don't know why it's there, et cetera, et cetera. And you even said it, context switching, right? All these things create noise that doesn't allow you to reach one, your peak energy state or two, your peak clarity or focus on the topic that you're supposed to be talking about.

33:40Because now you're like going, all right, I just got off a sales call. Now I'm talking to HR. And it takes you time to get in and you're not listening or you're thinking about the last call you had. You know, one of the things that I've really tried to work on in 2025, and I would put this noise underneath this topic, is energy management, right? Like I find, similar to you, I put blocks. I use like the focus time in the Google Calendar as my way of having that. like I will not allow someone to schedule something over the top of focus time. And I've gotten pushback from the team. They're like, well, we need to talk to you.

34:15I'm like, then find another time. Or like you said, create a quick loom video, explain it to me, and I'll watch it as soon as I can. And I'll be able to give you an answer. Because if I don't have those blocks of time in there, I can't actually do, right? We don't actually get the space to do the creative work in whatever capacity that creative work takes to solve the big problems, which is ultimately, you know, what we're doing most days. And that, I mean, guys, if you're listening to this, you know, and go back and re-listen to that section, and I'll probably end up pulling that section out as well because it's, this is the core.

34:52I mean, if you want to hear about, like, some crazy marketing strategy you had that, you know, blew your company up X amount, but you can't even get to that if you don't have those three core things settled in your brain. Like you literally can't even, you don't have the brain capacity to come up with the idea to implement the strategy. Yeah, it's the one that's really, I mean, again, to-do list, inbox, and calendar are all like equally challenging for most people. The one that I think is the easiest to solve for, but for whatever reason, a lot of people struggle with is calendar. And I always say like, let's talk about what your calendar looks like today, current state versus what I call the dream calendar.

35:31What would your dream calendar be considering exactly like you said, Ryan? What's your energy, right? Like, are you energetic in the afternoon? That's when you want to be doing sales calls or are you creative in the morning? So you want to like be thinking or meditating or writing and let's forget all the stuff that you have. Let's just lay it out like it would be amazing. And then let's consider things like, do you want to, you know, take Fridays off? Do you want to be able to travel on the weekends? Do you want to take one week a month off? Not that you can do it yet, but that's the goal. And so we start off with current state and future state.

36:07And then it's just a simple reverse engineering thing. And when I'm coaching someone, that's what we'll do is we'll say, all right, well, in order to get from where you are to where you want to go, let's just do two things for the next two weeks. Let's block Friday afternoon after one o 'clock and just literally block on your calendar. You and I both know that if you have an emergency, you can open it up. but let's just go ahead and pre-block it going forward. And then let's take a, whatever, some other day and put a two hour block for nothing but creative thinking strategy. Can you do that? And most people are like, yeah, I can do it as long as I know I can change it.

36:44Great, do that. And then you just start picking away. And then before, you know, it's another three or four weeks. It's like, I think we can probably take Fridays off now, you know, and let's just go ahead and pre-block it. There's always emergencies. There's always exceptions. Let's pre-block it. And then you literally watch people's lives and the way they run their business transform because they control their calendar. And it's just that simple. Like you said, all the brilliant marketing strategies and distribution plans and code that you can write, those things are, of course, critical. But none of them can happen the way they should happen at scale.

37:18Or, and or, your life on the journey is going to suck if you don't manage those three things. and I have way too many friends that they're, you know, plus or minus my age. I'm 54 now and they're, you know, my kids are, you know, one's out of college, one's about finished with college and I'm an empty nester. And I look back and say like, I enjoyed and spent so much time with my kids. I have a lot of friends that are, they just sold their business or they've, you know, semi-retiring and they've made so much money and they're like, but I miss my kids growing up or I'm, falling apart mentally and physically because I neglected my health for 20 years while I was grinding.

37:59And I finally sold my company for$50 million and now it doesn't matter. I can't travel anyway. So I really feel so strongly that people make these changes because that's what leads to a more scalable business, a business you can sell, but it's your option versus being forced to sell it. And so, yeah, this is, this is as sexy as the other stuff is. These three things are what really make the difference in an entrepreneur's life. You know, what's really funny too. And I'm sure you know this as much as I do. When you, when you sit with like other successful entrepreneurs, a lot of times, this is the stuff they want to talk about.

38:36Like the real primetime players, like they don't care about the marketing strategy or the big sale, or even, I mean, they'll talk about product a little bit once in a while, more, more like, you know, maybe a little bit of, um, uh, aggrandizing what they did, right? Like, oh, we built this cool thing, whatever. It's fun. But when you, like when you're sitting in a story, I mean, they're talking about time. How do I get more time with my family? How are you managing comms? How are you making sure you have, I mean, this is the core stuff that people really dig into when you're actually having these conversations with, with high level successful people.

39:09Um, and I, I just want to touch on, and I'm interested in this for you. And then I want to move on to a different topic, but health management, right? I've been saying for years on this show, your health is a competitive advantage. If I'm sitting across a negotiation table, whether it's virtually or in person from someone who is not physically fit, I can tell doesn't manage their energy, they look hungover or whatever, right? Like, you know, you're going to win that negotiation. Like you're going to, you're going to out think them, you're going to outmaneuver them, you're going to outpace them because they just haven't managed their energy and they may be smart as hell and they may have been successful, but you can outmaneuver them simply because of your health.

39:53How were you able to, I mean, again, I know this kind of goes into your whole, you know, taking control of your life, but how were you able to fit energy in and how did you prioritize your health and stuff along this journey? I mean, six successful exits is incredible in and of itself, let alone you look like a very fit, healthy guy? And, you know, how were you able to get through all that? Well, well, I appreciate the kind words. I, um, yeah, I think a lot of it, you know, I was soccer was my kind of passion, you know, growing up, I played at a, at a pretty high level and post, uh, playing, I, you know, I continue to use soccer as an outlet for kind of the mental and physical, you know, part of my, my non-work life, my non-family life.

40:39And so I continued to play up until not terribly long ago, I was playing four or five days a week, you know, pickup games, indoor, outdoor. And that was great physical, you know, kind of the physical side of my health. But also a massive stress reliever, you know, like I just, I just love playing soccer. And so, you know, prioritizing that, I was very fortunate that I found a group that was willing to, because I mentioned earlier, I was a very early morning person. Most people play soccer on the weekends or after work. And I found a group here in the U.S. where I am now that was playing three mornings a week before people go to the office.

41:21So we'd meet at 5.30, 6, 6.15, depending on when the sun came up, play soccer for an hour, then shower, then go to the office. And to me, it was like my day is already so good because I've had fun. I've hung out with some friends. I played soccer. I got some fitness in. So that was a big part of it. And now, I mean, I'd be the first to admit if you knew me really well, people know that soccer was such a big thing. I don't love to run. There's not a lot of other forms of exercises. One of the big reasons we live half the year in Barcelona is it's a lot easier for me to be intentional about those things when I'm in Barcelona.

42:02I walk everywhere. Every day, I walk to get coffee. I walk to have lunch with my wife. I walk my dog. I get fresh air. I get sun. And where I grew up in the US, in Charlotte, North Carolina, it's a great city, but I have to get in my car to drive to get a cup of coffee or drive to meet someone for dinner. And so I don't, I have to be much more intentional. I try to design my life where I don't have to think about those things so much, you know, and that's why Barcelona for us is wonderful, because just by doing the things that I naturally want to do, I'm getting more exercise, I'm eating healthier food, etc.

42:39If I was in, you know, some other city, I wouldn't have those same kind of benefits. And so I try to be, you know, intentional and sort of design my life around what makes that stuff easy for me. Yeah. And that, that feels like a through line for your success. And I think for many people is, is this intentionality, right? Like setting boundaries and being intentional about the things you want and going and getting them. Uh, so you've, you've now, uh, uh, parlayed all this success and, and, and business knowledge and love for soccer. And now you own your own, you own a soccer club. Uh, talk to me a little bit about that decision because, uh, you know, I've never owned a professional sports team myself, although hearing from different people on pie, you know, That can be a hit or miss relationship and opportunity, but I'd love the decision to purchase the team and how has applying your entrepreneurial skills to a sports franchise, how has that translated?

43:38Yeah, it's been a really, really fun chapter. So as I mentioned, I literally have been a lifelong soccer enthusiast. I used to call myself player. Now I say fan because I don't play anymore. But it's been a big part of my life. I mean, you know, growing up, it's all I thought about, all I wanted to do, all my goals and dreams were soccer related. And I was very fortunate to check off a lot of those, you know, kind of goals. And then I got into the business world. A lot of my companies were I kept weaving back around to, you know, soccer was a through line for me. So my first company, which was an early internet company, some of our biggest clients were soccer businesses and, you know, cause that's what I wanted to work on.

44:25My second company was kind of the fusion of early technology with the sport of soccer. I built one of the largest kind of media platforms on the internet. So it's been a through line. My family and I, I pulled my daughters out of school when they were nine and 12 to travel the world. That's really, again, uniquely possible because of the way I designed my companies. I was still running companies while doing it. We ultimately moved to Barcelona to have a new experience. And while I was living there, it sort of became this almost like bucket list dream, but it was very far out in time and the future of like, it would just be so cool to buy a soccer team in Spain.

45:10And maybe when I retire, that was kind of my thinking is I'll get a little place in Spain and retire. And I would love to own a little team. But, you know, fast forward and really about five or six years ago, I just started thinking about what's going on in the global kind of game and the business. What I feel like the American side of sports business is really being, you know, kind of cast around the world. You can see it across a lot of sports. the entertainment value and pregame and all the things that really didn't exist in Spain. And I was like, you know what? This isn't a retirement thing.

45:47This is a business opportunity. I want to do it. You know, and so kind of sped up the timeline. And yeah, it's been about three and a half, four years ago that we bought a team and it's 115 year old team in Southern Spain. So multi-generational, it's beautiful right at the Strait of Gibraltar. So if I'm sitting in my seat, I'm literally looking at the Rock of Gibraltar over the back of the stadium. Morocco is 14 kilometers away. So it's just a beautiful location. And then to kind of answer your question, you know, it's I hired a CEO. I have a whole, you know, much more qualified group of people that make day to day decisions and coaching staff and recruiting players.

46:29I have no role in the club other than, you know, I mean, I own it, but I get involved in things that I'm excited about. but I know that there are other people that are better at making decisions than me. So it's been a lot of fun. I've tried to apply a lot of lessons learned and business lessons to it, but it's a very different business. In 115 years of doing things, I underestimated how resistant to change people would be. I come up with something like, oh, I'm a big brand guy. I love brands and logos. I'm like, let's update this and let's change that. And I mean, people are like, whoa, can't touch the logo.

47:10That's been here a hundred years. So it's been a funny experience. In some ways, there've been some challenges. I mean, I've learned already some crazy lessons that, you know, come along with sports team ownership at any level. But yeah, it's been a really, really fun chapter overall. Where does the teams and I'm not as familiar with how, I mean, I know there's like different leagues and stuff. Where does it fall like in relation to some of the other teams that maybe a U.S. audience might know well? Yeah. So, yeah, so it's a good question. So in Spain, there are five tiers of professional soccer.

47:52We are in the dead center. So third division technically and in Europe in general, in Spain, certainly, you know, it's the system of promotion and relegation. So at the end of every season, teams are moving up and down from first division to second division to third division to up. And so, you know, for example, over the past year or two in our division, we play against, you know, teams like Malaga and Ibiza that were formerly first division teams. Malaga was in Champions League eight years ago, but they've been relegated down to our division. And so and we're also playing against teams that started, you know, in very low divisions, maybe even pre professional like amateur level that have just over decades have become professional.

48:40So it's it's really crazy competitive in terms of comparing it to the US. I mean, if some people think, oh, it's, you know, third division Spain and like, you know, we probably would beat at least half of the MLS teams in the United States. I mean, there are a few MLS teams that are, of course, at another level. But this level is really competitive. And it's neat to see, you know, we have a range of very young players that turn professional. They sign their first contract with a club like ours. We sold a player to Real Madrid two years ago. We have some players that are at the end of their career, and they played in Germany or Russia or somewhere.

49:20But now they're older and can no longer play first division. So we might be the last club they play for before they retire. So it's a neat, you know, there are a lot of stories built into any sports team, but, you know, young players that are hoping to make it, that, you know, don't go to school, dropped out of high school to turn pro, won't go to college. And so this is their one shot in life. A lot of that human interest kind of stuff wrapped into it. Is the goal always to ascend? Are you trying to just be the best in your division? Like, how do you manage, are you, are you constantly managing to ascend to the next level?

49:56Or like, I guess, how do you, how do you work all that out? Like, what's your, how are you structuring your, your strategy there? Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, ultimately most clubs, certainly our club, the goal would be to promote to the next division. There are, you know, very real, significant, meaningful financial benefits to that. You know, we have a TV contract. It goes up by seven and a half million a year just with one promotion. I mean, it's a very meaningful, you know, scenario. But where we're different than, I don't know, other people, perhaps, a lot of people look at sports team ownership and it is kind of an ego or trophy thing.

50:41You know, like they just want to say, I won the championship, I won the trophy. And they'll overfund and lose crazy money to win a trophy. Like that's just not our strategy. I mean, we do want to promote in the future by building very methodically. We started two years ago with the back office. Like I inherited a group of players and coaches and didn't change anything. Started with how do we run finance? How do we run operations? How do we, you know, literally in the back of the house and we've slowly moved up to last year, we traded 15 players. We got a new coaching staff. And so we're just kind of, you know, trying to make smarter decisions, run it like a business.

51:22And over time, if we're so fortunate to, you know, run it well and assemble a group of players that, you know, fight for promotion. And this season, we really, towards the end of the season, we were kind of a winning streak and really found our rhythm. And the difference between where we ended up at the end of the season versus going into the playoffs was one win. And I think if we'd had like two or three more games, we would have been fighting for the playoffs. And then it comes down to do you do well in the playoffs and get promoted or not. But for me, I was very happy with where we ended up.

51:58I thought it was a great season. you know, we're not doing it again for ego. And even if we, even if we did promote, it's not like, you know, we would do anything different. It would be that same strategy again, you know, hiring good people, managing day to day. So it's, I've learned a lot, but it's been a really fun experience thus far. Yeah. One last question on the, on the soccer piece. how is it different managing fans as customers than say customers as customers? Because it seems like, you know, you have things like if you change the logo, most of your customer would be like, okay, well, you know, I like your product or I don't.

52:38But a fan might say, I love you guys, but now I'm going to, you know, shitpost on some Reddit board or whatever the equivalent is, because I don't like the logo anymore. And now you got to deal with that. Like, how is that dynamic? And you've run a media company before, so maybe it's similar in a little bit, but like, I'm very interested in that. No, it's, it's such a good and funny question because that was, was, and has been an eye opener for me. Um, my CEO, who's, you know, a business partner of mine now that runs the day to day, he lives in Southern Spain. He, he was formerly a first division, uh, or CEO in La Liga in Barcelona.

53:16And, and, you know, so he's overqualified. And he told me, he said, look, every decision you make, no matter what it is, good or bad, for any reason, some percentage, 5 to 10 percent of the supporters or the fans are going to hate it and going to be very vocal about it. And early on, I felt incredibly welcome. I was, candidly, I was a little bit worried as an American buying this team that they were going to be like, oh, you know, capitalist, doesn't know anything about soccer. And so I spent the first year going to every home game, letting people know that I cared and I wanted to be there. It wasn't just a, you know, capitalist thing.

53:54And it was like, I really love it. I would just sometimes sit up in the box with their jackets on and like, I'm down in the sports bar with our fans having a beer before the game, you know? So I really wanted it to be different, feel different. But the reality is after a short period of time when people are just excited because there's change and there's something new, then it segments into those people that understand what you're doing and probably get it and are supportive and those that you can do no right I mean there's literally so I get direct messages to my social media accounts sometimes for people about like which players playing or not I'm like I have nothing to do with that like I have a coach I don't decide who plays you know and it's and and I you know they're passionate which is such a good thing and and they're they care so much about their team and their club.

54:42And as a human, especially one that actually, again, try to be a good person, I want to explain to people like, hey, we've invested, you know, a million dollars over budget this year to make things better. But then people will literally send me messages and be like, just put more money in the club. And it's like, you don't understand actually what we're doing. We've put a lot more than we probably should have in so yeah I smile just because it is true like I've just decided like there's going to be some fans that it doesn't matter what we do we could win the championship and they're going to complain about how we want it you know it's like well as a lifelong Bills fan I can say I completely understand their side of the aisle even though yeah I mean you you I got buddies it's it's so funny you know I I feel for you and it I was you know in getting ready to to chat with you I I I really wanted to spend some time in the Sour Club because I find it, I find that business model so intriguing.

55:36I'm a lifelong baseball player and played football. I unfortunately got injured or I probably would have played football in college, but ended up playing baseball because of an injury. But like it's, it is a wild dynamic, right? No matter how good a service you have, no matter where you are, like from a standard business perspective, no one's tattooing your logo on, on their arm or their leg. right but when you have a sports club you know they they're gonna tattoo it they're gonna wear the jersey the hat they're gonna you know they're gonna do all these crazy have flags and shrines I mean I don't know if you've ever driven through Buffalo New York but literally their thing there is they these guys build shrines and I mean that in the purest sense of the term to the bills in their garages and on game day all their garages are open and you can drive through neighborhoods and it's like, you're like, what is going on?

56:27You know, and the amount of passion and Josh Allen can throw 39 touchdowns and people are still talking about how, well, if only he was a more accurate passer. It's like, he won the MVP this year. What are we talking about? So true. Well, Mac, dude, I could talk to you for hours. I appreciate you. This has been wonderful. And I really appreciate the tactical stuff because I do think that it is very easy, especially with social media and with a lot of, you know, maybe even people that are trying to do the right thing, but aren't necessarily giving the right advice or they're going for the wrong types of metrics in their advice.

57:02They don't slow down to talk about these actual tactical things that drive true leadership and how we actually get there. So I appreciate that, man. If someone wants to just get in your world more and just kind of be in what you're creating, what you're talking about, where can they go to get involved in your work? Yeah, thank you. So I have a personal website. It's basically maclackey.com. So M-A-C-L-A-C-K-E-Y. So maclackey.com is my kind of core website on social media. It's kind of at Mac Lackey on YouTube and across the social channels. And literally just in the past few months, I have made a commitment to try to truly put out more content for the reason you said, which is I feel like there are a lot of people talking about these very esoteric high-level things.

57:53And those things are important too. But I've just been trying to share very tactical changes people can make. I want to help people. I know that for every person that joins one of my group programs or coaches with me, there's a thousand more I can help that they'll never need or want to join something. And that's great. I want to put a lot of stuff out there. So, yeah, I think if people are interested, follow me on social media and send me a message. You know, my team and I, we really, truly try to help. And if, you know, we can help someone, send them a free resource, recommend something, send them to someone else that can help them.

58:29We certainly want to do that. Well, I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

58:39Let's go. Yeah, make it look, make it look, make it look easy. Thank you for listening to The Ryan Hanley Show. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts.

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