1725 – Veteran’s Day Special: Unleashing the Power of Independent Thinking in Your Business with Total Business Results’ Robert Poole

0:28Hey there, thoughtful listener. million in revenue. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you.

0:58with us right now it's robert pool robert you are the co-founder and ceo of total business results you're found on the web at total business results.com robert also a fellow veteran thank you so much for joining us yes absolutely thank you for the opportunity josh great to meet you for sure all right give us a quick overview of what you do with total business results Yes, absolutely. We started, I co-founded the company about 22 years ago, so to speak, and kind of fell into it actually after a couple other companies that I started. And, you know, we started doing B2B cold calling was our business.

1:38And we built that up to a multimillion dollar business, my partner and I. And I had an unfortunate event. I came to work one day in 2017 and he didn't. turned out he had a heart attack the previous night. And so it was a real game changer in my life. And it made me realize that I was not really a true owner of the company, because I was so involved in it. And I realized I was overwhelmed very quickly and knew, hey, I can't do this all myself. I can't take a day off, I can't go anywhere. And so I spent a couple years trying to figure out how to get the business to function by itself and not only allow me to take time off, but to actually grow while I was gone.

2:20And so when I kind of figured that out, I started helping some of our own clients make that same transition. So that's really my focus today is helping other small business owners get that freedom back that we all get into entrepreneurship for and think, geez, you know, it's no boss and all that great stuff. And what we end up getting is longer hours and tied to our position more than anything, you know. So, yes, that's what I've been up to the last few years. Yeah, you know, and not only that, not that people who, you know, work a regular job don't think about their job, you know, in the evening hours.

2:51But I find for those of us who work from home, you know, we're just constantly plugged in with it. This is our baby. So we really, really, really want this to succeed. You know, I think for a lot of us, too, I mean, there's no plan B. You know, once we kind of pull the trigger on, you know, everything, everything invested, you know, we're going to obviously going to have teams, you're going to have payroll to make, you have responsibilities on that front, too. It's a lot. It's a lot. And, you know, if you don't build it and design it in a way, it can it really it could be quite taxing emotionally.

3:26Do you want maybe address that side just a little bit more? Yeah, absolutely. You know, and most entrepreneurs find that out pretty quickly that the whole reason they got into business, you know, hey, like I said, you know, I don't want to have, I want to be my own boss and I want to control my schedule and my time and, you know, I make more money and all that good stuff. And usually a year or two after they do it, you can check in and go, how's that working for you? Because we end up working longer hours, we're tied to things. And, you know, the stress that comes where suddenly you're responsible for other people, You know, if you're a good person like most of us, then, you know, you're actually worried and you know you're responsible for people's livelihood.

4:05And when you employ them and, you know, you've got to make that payroll, you've got to figure out, you know, how to grow the company and do all these things. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. And we also tend to be, you know, very hard workers as entrepreneurs, type A personalities that just want to get things done. and that just adds to the stress and I've just seen it unfortunately too many times I know in my own life you know family and personal life suffered because I was so focused on the business but I realized that I've never met anybody that you know was you know later in their you know in their 70s 80s that said you know what I wish I'd spent less time with my family and more time you know working and doing that you know so uh so that I kind of that was a realization for me you know, because I still have young kids and how important that is for me to make that.

4:57But you're right, the stress and all the other factors that come along with it make it critical that we really do have to figure out how to balance that with our personal lives. So let's talk about like who you work with, what you do and, you know, kind of what total business results superpowers are. Yes, absolutely. Well, as I mentioned, we started 22 plus years ago doing cold calling, and that was our primary way to do business because we started from nothing. We literally, my business partner and I had between us like$5 ,000, and we had no outside capital or anything. And so we couldn't really afford to advertise.

5:40And in that time, internet advertising was pretty limited. And so we figured, well, I know how to do that because I'd been in sales. And so we started that and built that up over the years. But at that same time where I lost my business partner, I was really reevaluating things and reevaluating my life. And I said, you know, I think that our clients are really missing out on helping them because all we're doing is giving them leads, setting them up on appointments and then saying, hey, good luck, you know. And we found our clients. We were kind of giving advice, you know, on the side and we were trying to help them.

6:18but really there was a need that people needed, you know, help in really running their business and, you know, getting free from some of those things we talked about, you know. And so it's not just about creating revenue. It's about all the other things, creating that right team and, you know, creating a culture in your company that's based upon everybody having an understanding of marketing and sales, putting the right systems and processes in place. and most importantly, working on you as the entrepreneur. You know, I used to kind of poo-poo the idea, but I really believe that, you know, our business is only going to grow to the extent that we do personally.

6:57If we don't grow our skillset and our business acumen, our business is not going to grow. So those are some of the things that I focus on when I'm working with clients these days. Yeah, I think I see a book in your background. I think it looks like a Tony Robbins book. But I had the opportunity to speak for Tony Robbins organization. I know one thing that Tony says is 95 % of the success or failure of a company comes down to the psychology of the business owner. Right. And so it's really, really important for us as the founders to continually be working on ourselves and getting better and growing.

7:35And, you know, it's not that we're not going to make any mistakes. You know, I make mistakes frequently, but I hope that we're really, really good at learning from them very quickly. Absolutely. I totally agree. And I like to say I have a Ph.D. in failure. I did a podcast once. It was I think I was entitled, you know, the best Ph.D. for making money and got huge downloads. And that was one of the most popular ones. I think people thought I was going to say, you know, you know, MBA and finance or, you know, whatever. But yeah, I said, hey, it's about failure and it's about what you do with that and what you learn.

8:10And because as human beings, that's unfortunately positivity is great. But a lot of times we respond better to negative motivation. And like Tony Robbins talks about, I've been following Tony Robbins since I was like 19. Yeah, you and me both. Yeah. So, OK, so what does it look like when you work together? you know, in particular, I'm thinking about, you know, a friend that may be listening to us and they know that something like they know what, here's what they may know, right? They know that they're working way too much and they may be frustrated that it could be, for example, that, you know, it seems like, you know, I think one thing I was just talking with someone earlier, it's like, man, I got to come up with all the good ideas here.

8:52And it's just like, at the end of the day, like, it's just exhausting. Like, you know, I have plenty of, I have plenty of doers. That's good. And I'm grateful for that. But, you know, like he and I were kind of talking about that, the importance of that kind of that the operators, you know, the folks that can oversee the whole project and also innovate as well. Is that common or what are what are some more common things that you see? And then how do you begin to chip away at that? And, you know, very tactically start to put those systems, processes and people in place. Yeah, absolutely. And I think what you hit on there, I'll put it this way.

9:32A lot of an outside investor, if they were to look at your company and want to purchase it, a lot of the value they're going to find is in your customer base. You know, it's like, you know, these large companies, Facebook didn't buy Instagram because they wanted the technology. They wanted the customer list. So I understand that. But from a small business owner's perspective, in my opinion, the biggest asset we have is our people. And it's because of exactly what you said that, you know, if we feel like we've got to be the person with all the ideas, all the strategy, all the, you know, the things to implement and not just, you know, yes, yes, sir, no, sir type of person, you know, then we're going to have problems.

10:14And again, it's dependent on us. But if we're able to build a team that that really encourages independent thinking and, you know, when you get employees in a team that start to think as owners, it's a whole different game because they start to do things and come up with ideas and start to have that vision that you do. because, you know, I used to think that, well, money is what matters, you know, where I'm going to hire best employees, I'm going to pay above the market. And as long as they get paid, they're great, you know, but it doesn't really work that way. If you do any kind of, or look at any surveys of employees, it's always, money is always like third or fourth down the list and the priority because it's about being part of something, being part of a team, you know, the change you're making and that can take time to create.

11:02But I would say that's probably one of the biggest things I did. And it was actually, I went to Tony Robbins' Business Mastery event back in 2017. And he had an idea about doing weekly meetings with all of your team and spending an hour, hour and a half going over, working on the business versus in it. And at first, it was really difficult because my employees didn't trust me. I was just this top-down kind of here, you do this type of person. And eventually, they started coming out a little bit. And it is absolutely amazing when people start to buy into the bigger vision of the company, how much they contribute.

11:40And it doesn't matter what their experience is. As an example, we had a receptionist who was, I think she was 20, maybe 21. And she came up with some of the best ideas that us 40 and 50-year-olds were clueless on. and because she felt comfortable in sharing. And so it's just an example of how you create that team. So if I was going to do one thing right now in somebody's business, I would say that whole meeting idea and getting the input of your whole team is so critical and figuring out a way to do that is probably going to make the biggest difference the quickest in your organization. Tell me more about that.

12:20Yeah, well, it's, you know, as I said, But, you know, when you start to realize that we don't have all the ideas, we're one person. And when you start to create a mastermind, so to speak, with your own employees, the trust that is built, not only between them and you, but between each other, when it becomes an organization that's closer to a family, that eliminates turnover. You know, I used to have, you know, I mean, the average employee was there like a year and a half. Now, I think our average is over seven years. And it's because of the culture that Kreek created. And when you start building that and start getting people to buy in and have that ownership mentality, that's where that vision comes from.

13:06And as I said, a lot of those ideas come from, you know, the team themselves. And then because they buy into it, buy into it as an owner mentality, even if they're technically not an owner, they have a vested interest in it, at least in their mind. And that's what allows you some freedom because you can realize I can trust these people, especially today in the environment of remote work. A lot of companies are struggling with, geez, how do I make sure this person is doing what they're doing? And we did a lot of remote before COVID, but it just enhanced it. But I have no problem in worrying about what my employees are doing on a daily basis because the trust is there and that can only be created if they have a buy-in mentality.

13:55And it's something that I think comes with maturity. I didn't get that when I was younger. You know, it took me a long time to figure that out and some significant events. But so, again, you know, creating that culture and, you know, creating many owners in your business, I think, is really the key, you know, one of the key areas anyway. Yeah. One area I know, Robert, that you talk about frequently is, you know, in B2B sales development, sales growth, B2B marketing. What do you, B2B lead gen, what do you see working really well right now? And what do you also see not working very well? Yeah, absolutely.

14:37And I'll give you a good lawyer answer. It depends. And, you know, there's, unfortunately, you know, every guru out there will tell you that their particular marketing strategy, you know, you've got to social media advertising, you've got to, you've got to do cold calling, you've got to do print, you've got to do whatever. and the truth is that most marketing techniques are not going to work for your company but there are a few that are going to work very well and there's a lot of factors that goes in or goes into it you know there's your industry you're in the size of your company your personal the culture you've created all those things but the like a lot of things with marketing is as you know josh you know it comes down to testing and you've got to try a lot of different things you know for example, you know, as I said, a big part of our business is still cold calling.

15:27But that only works in very specific industries, in specific circumstances, high ticket generally. And it's, you know, if you're selling a$27 widget, for instance, that's never going to work for you. And so as far as what is working better than other things, again, I don't think it's really driven by what's going on in the current environment. I think it's driven more on a company by company basis, if that makes sense. So I know that's not the easy answer, but in my opinion, you know, that's the reality. And if we try to, we're chasing that, that shiny object, whatever's the coolest trend in marketing, you know, that's where we get ourselves in trouble.

16:08So, so I think you, you have to evaluate where you are and what you're, you know, the type of company have all that kind of stuff and try different things. And, but a lot of us also try something and we'll prejudge it, you know, we'll try, okay, I'm going to do, you know, Facebook advertising for six weeks or whatever, and then we give up on it. When we don't have a large enough timeframe to evaluate things properly. So, so you, because it can give you false positives, so to speak, you can think, oh, this is working great. I got so many clients from this. and then but that just happened to be you know the results you happen to get that short period of time so it takes a certain amount of discipline to evaluate those things as well that's one of the things we focus is are on is is testing and giving things time because I know we are impatient people and don't like to wait but you know we want it done now you know hey we're type a personalities most of us but if we if we discipline ourselves to give things time that's how we figure out what is really working for us.

17:13So I know that's not the easy answer, but that's, in my opinion, that's the truth. No, it absolutely does. I agree with you. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we can make educated guesses, you know, based on maybe what other people are doing that's working or has worked pretty consistently. And I agree with you as well on the note that you had shared about, you know, by the time the gurus are teaching it and talking about it, it that those techniques, my in my experience have kind of largely been burned over a little bit. So, you know, it's kind of it's, you know, by the you know, by the time.

17:50Yeah, like, I have so much skepticism in that world, right? It's like marketers blocked all the good ideas until they ruin them. And then by the time, if you're not the first mover, it's like, you know, it's people are already getting wise to you, you know, where I generally lean toward is the thing that most, you know, amateur marketers aren't willing to do. And that's spending more time with fewer people spending, you know, really diving deep into relationships and, and investing in long term collaborations, that sort of thing, which I'm always a huge fan of. Hey, Robert, your website, I'd love for folks to connect with you.

18:31But someone that might be listening or a conversation wants to know, okay, uh, listen, I love what Robert's talking about. Um, how do you work together and what would you recommend kind of those next steps be if they're just kind of getting to know you for the first time here? Yeah, absolutely. Of course, uh, you can go to our website and there's, there's general information there. Um, and, uh, I'm on, you know, most of the social media platforms, um, a lot of my YouTube channel, uh, and it's all under the Robert pool within E on the end of it. and so you can certainly check out some of my stuff there and but I did want to offer your audience I don't have a ton of time but you know a couple individual consultations probably the first three people that contact me you can you can send me an email at robert.pool at operator to businessowner.com and we can set up a time to chat and I'll kind of help you evaluate where you are in that spectrum from operator to owner and give you some actionable tips that you can actually implement or implement the next 90 days that can actually make a difference and start getting a little bit of that freedom back.

19:36And so I'd like to help out your audience a little bit with that, but give you an idea of how I work. But it is a process. People, you know, I'll say this too, that people always ask, you know, well, geez, you know, how long does that take to make that transition? Well, again, the lawyer answer, it depends. It depends. How bad is your situation? and how much are the resources you have to work with. So that's why, yeah, I agree. This stuff's pretty custom, right? You gotta have, you gotta chat with smart people so they can figure out, okay, here's what you got access to. Here's your opportunity.

20:10You know, here's your best course of action right now. I agree. Yeah, it's different to change the direction of an ocean liner than a speedboat. So, you know, it really depends on the situation, but I would say, I mean, it can be anywhere from three months to a year, two years, whatever, you know, But a lot of it depends on your specific situation, of course. But in the end, it's worth it, in my opinion. Oh, yeah. Imagine what it'll be like when you get on the other side of that and solve that big problem that you might be dealing with right now that's stressing you out. Well, Robert Poole, again, co-founder, CEO of Total Business Results, found on the web at TotalBusinessResults.com.

20:47It's been a great conversation, Robert. Thank you so much for joining us. Yes, thank you, Josh.

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