2186 - How to Work Smart and Play Hard as an Entrepreneur with Jake Smolarek

0:05Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, influencers, influencers, and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt-in required where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100 % inbound in your industry over the next six to eight months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments.

0:51Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you.

1:05With us right now, it's Jake Smolarik. Jake, you are a life and business coach. You work with established entrepreneurs, folks that, you know, again, fairly established in life and they want to do great things. And Jake, we'll definitely get into that. Your website, by the way, is jakesmolarik.com. To our friend that's listening, just click around in your podcast app so you can follow along. You can see pictures of Jake, articles, resources, and so forth while we chat. Jake, before we kind of get into your superpowers, what are you currently doing for fun or what are you geeking out on lately?

1:46Well, not a lot of people know that I actually love video games. I love gaming, you know. Yeah. And funny enough, more often than not, sometimes I close my coaching clients just because we have something in common and we start talking about gaming. so not a lot of people know about it another thing i love doing is cooking i'm really good yeah i love it it's my kind of a meditation i cannot just sit down and meditate but when i cook just don't go to the kitchen you know like this is my kingdom don't go i could i could definitely talk about that for a while but i'm curious to talk about are you a console or pc gamer both oh no kidding all right so of all the games you play which one do you think that you are probably ranked highest, or you would be ranked fairly high in the world in terms of players?

2:40It would be The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. I'm not sure if you heard about this one, but it's one of the best games in the world. Wow. What is it called again? The Witcher. Oh, The Witcher 3. Correct. Oh, wow. Okay, well, is it connected to the TV series as well? uh what yeah it's the same universe oh okay well i'm gonna do some research on this oh my god if you if you like video games you're going to love it it's it's not the newest game it's 10 years old but it looks like it looks like it was released a year ago or something no kidding well the original 2007 uh that's the that's the first one because there are three games yeah yeah and so now i'm seeing all of the uh um the witcher 3 wild hunt that's the one you were talking about that's correct yeah yeah game of the year okay it's on sale for 22 right now on walmart yeah you should get it if you love it you should get it it's amazing the story is just incredible oh i love that.

3:51You know, I think that there's such a goldmine to, you know, my wife and I are watching The Last of Us. And it's just amazing how much great storytelling there is in games. And so here's our segue is what can entrepreneurs learn from either games or games that may be valuable? Oh, I love that. I love that you just asked this question. So live is a little bit like a video game you know when you play a video game you make a mistake you know you don't really worry about it because it's just a game life is exactly the same life is just a game don't worry about if you failed i always say to people a fail it's the it's the wrong f word it's not failure it's feedback we always get feedback if you fail you just you just get some information back that's it so what we can get from gaming is actually learn that have fun if you make a mistake just continue having fun start again don't worry about it because when you play a video game when you play a video game you you just want to continue having fun right when you play video game you don't want to stop you don't win and just stop playing no you want to play again you want to have more fun in life is exactly the same the only difference is we make loads of progress when we play a video game very fast.

5:14In life, we have to wait for that progress a little bit longer. But I think it's a great analogy. You know, and I love that, you know, yeah, it's disappointing when, you know, we die, for example, but generally, you know, in games, you get to respawn. You don't have to, if you lose in a game, you don't have to take the whole game and throw it in the trash bin. you know you just you know you go to it you probably don't even have to some games make you start over from the very beginning that's awful that's terrible uh but most of them you know you'll respawn from you know portion back and that's exactly because you need that momentum likely to kind of get through to whatever that big challenge is and you know it's it's interesting when you think about the best gamers in the world uh jake they and you think about well what did they do to get so good at that game can i let you take that and and maybe share your thoughts on that topic it it's the same like in life it's practice it's just playing this game all over again one more time second time third time in life is exactly the same look if you want to be good at something if you want to be a good podcaster what do you do you start your first podcast and you're really bad at it you know and then you do the second one like all of us right and and then you do you know and then you do 100 podcasts and you're quite decent and then you and do another 200 podcast and you're very good at it and then you another free 300 podcast and you're like one of the best of the best it's the same with playing games it's the same like with building a business just practice it and you know when people say like oh you need to have 10 000 hours of practice to be very good at something right and for some people it's 20 000 for some people it's 5 000 the rule is it's all about practice and just keep doing the damn thing and you're going to be very good at it i remember i had a a public speaking event when i was doing a speech and one of the other guys who was also speaking at that event, he asked me like, wow, that was a really good presentation.

7:27How did you do that? And I said, very simple. I already done it like 300 times. That's it. Yeah. You know, I wish I could remember the book reference, but, you know, I happen to, and maybe by the end of the podcast, I'll remember this. If not, I will put this in the notes. I'll figure it out later after I look through my Kindle library. but I learned to play a music instrument about a year and a half, two years ago. For those of you playing the Thoughtful Entrepreneur drinking game, this is where you take a drink because I'm mentioning this again. But I read a book, I said, you know what? I wanna read a book about learning to play an instrument.

8:11Like I wanna know how the brain works, like how we learn to do stuff. And the line that was just like the biggest aha moment for me was, it doesn't matter if you think you're improving or getting better or getting smarter or getting more talented or learning what you're doing. If you're doing the activity, you are progressing. You are learning. It doesn't matter what your conscious brain thinks. In the back of your brain, it's registering everything. You're developing that muscle memory. You're developing that comfort. And a lot of times it's that comfort as an entrepreneur that allows us to swing for the fences, perhaps.

8:53100 you see i i created a framework that i called no zero percent days and this is exactly what you just said that no zero percent days is saying that do something every single day that will take you closer to your goal or to your vision or to something that you want to achieve every single day do something even if it's just one percent do something and don't be harsh on yourself when you have a bad day and you only do very little because I always say to my clients and everyone, progress is progress. It doesn't matter how small. Yeah. Jake, tell me about, I mean, we've been talking about gaming as kind of a template and I think it's an appropriate template for those of us who are entrepreneurs.

9:41But when you are working with your clients, um tell me about maybe the major areas that you find yourself um doing a lot of coaching around uh poor time management this is the top of the top oh yeah it's it's when i hear from someone oh my god i don't have the time i have to say like no no that's not true you have wrong priorities if you if you say you don't have time for something it doesn't mean it's not important to you you it's not your priority and this is like almost every single entrepreneur who is coming for me to to work with me they said i don't have the time for this and i don't have the time for family and i don't have the time for my hobbies blah blah blah blah no it's just wrong priorities and if we're talking about time management i would say number one thing in time management is delegation People, they want to do everything themselves.

10:40I call it a Superman or Superman syndrome. Oh, I'll do, I'll do just everything. No, no, you cannot do everything. Only focus on a few things that you are very good at, especially like if you are an entrepreneur, it probably is going to be sales or something sales related, like marketing, building the brand or something, anything with regards to lead generation, because in any business, Doesn't matter what business you are in. Everything is up to lead generation. You have to have clients. If you don't have clients, then sorry, but you're not going to survive for long. Yeah. So when you think about time management, I mean, we only have so many hours in a day, so many hours in a week, in a month.

11:26I mean, it's a finite resource. So, you know, I like the idea of, you know, when we think about time management more being a topic of prioritization or prioritizing or, you know, better delegating and systemization. Do you mind maybe taking this thought a little bit further? Yeah, I mean, we're talking about books, right? It looks like you like reading books. I love reading books. I'm a reader and there's this beautiful book by Timothy Ferris, The 4-Hour Workweek, right? Yes. Yeah. It's 2007. So this book is almost 20 years old, 18 years old now, right? So this book can drink now, at least in the UK.

12:11So he is talking about delegation in 2007. In 2025, we can almost delegate everything. Now with ChatGPT, you can have all the information you want in a few seconds. in a few touches of your keyboard, right? So today we should delegate everything or at least as much as we can. Because when you ask me like, okay, so I'm running three businesses, three separate businesses, coaching business, marketing business and lead generation business for construction companies, three separate businesses. And people ask me, you must be very busy. And I usually say like, no, I'm not busy. because I'm very productive.

12:59Busy people, they're not productive. You have to be productive, not busy. That's why I have the time to play my lovely video games. I put them in my schedule. Like I always say to people, be master of your schedule. Don't let your schedule be master of you. When I have people, I have entrepreneurs or any coaching clients coming to me and they would say like, oh, I love traveling, but I don't have the time I would have to say either it's not very important to you or you don't know how to prioritize it because if traveler would be important to you book your holiday or vacation as you say in the US put it in your schedule and you know organize everything around your holiday or your vacation if this is so important to you it's as simple as that You know, if you don't have the time to delegate to your virtual assistant or personal assistant or executive assistant, ChatGPT can help you with finding the next trip or whatever.

13:59You can delegate almost everything. Sometimes people say like, yeah, but you have to pay for it. Well, yes and no, because you can also delegate things to other people. Sometimes when I want free consultation, I will meet with some of my either clients or friends and I will ask them the question, What do you think about this? And because people love sharing their knowledge and experience, they will just talk and I will have free information and I just delegate something. I just delegate thinking to someone else. Yeah, boy, one last thing I want to talk to you about, because I think we've been dancing around this topic, is the difference between free time and availability, because I think that that's such an important topic that we've been bringing up in this conversation.

14:46One more thought on that topic, and then I want to talk specifically about what you do with your clients and, you know, help our friend that's listening, you know, maybe on their next steps with you. But do you mind maybe sharing just a little bit about the difference between free time and availability? What do you mean exactly? Well, right. So free time, availability for work, meaning that, you know, you're just like we want to treasure our downtime, our free time. And and that to me is just as important as my on time, because if I don't get good free time. So just because I have a lot of free time in my schedule, like I tried not to work more than 30 hours a week because I, you know, my 30 hours, I don't have to do everything.

15:35Like I have to do some very particular things. And so those 30 hours, I want to be the best on the planet rather than trying to squish that out to 50, 60 hours. Is it possible I could get more done? Yeah. But at what cost? I'm just not willing to do that. I would rather be the best in the world. So, yeah, I game. Yeah, I play. Yeah, I've got a lot of hobbies. Yeah, I love my Netflix and streaming shows and stuff like that. That's what makes Josh a better guy and a better leader and a better executive and maybe a better podcaster. I don't know. definitely i mean again we're coming back to making priorities and what is it important to you i've got another interesting framework that i created exactly 10 years ago and i call it vision gps vision is something that you want call it a dream call it a vision call it your best life however you want to call it that's your vision that's i call it also at your destination and And the GPS, it's an acronym from goals, planning process, not just the plan, planning process and systems.

16:39And this GPS acts like a GPS in your car. If you have the destination, if you want to go from Orlando to Chicago, you know where you're heading, right? You know your destination. The GPS will take you there, even if half of the roads will be closed. It's as simple as that. And also your vision helps you with making decisions. Most people, they don't know how to make decisions or they're not making decisions because their vision is not clear enough. They don't have the focus. That's why they're not making decisions. That's why most people procrastinate. But if you know what you want, if you know what your vision is, you will always find time for what you want to do.

17:20And you will always prioritize what is important to you. I think it was Jim Rohn who said, when you work, work. When you play, play, don't mix. Just don't mix them. I was oom-ing over those last couple words. Can you say that last little bit again? I'm so sorry. Again. So I think it was Jim Rohn who said, when you work, work. When you play, play, don't mix those two. Which means be there. Because a lot of people, what they do is like, they know that they have to go to, they need some rest. They need to go on vacation. and they go and then during the vacation, they think about work. And when they're at work, they're thinking, oh, I need to take my family to a holiday, to a vacation somewhere, right?

18:07And they keep mixing and they're never there. They're never at the moment enjoying life. And then, especially this is big for entrepreneurs, they just keep overthinking, overthinking, overthinking and then suddenly life just will just fly. Yeah, yeah. Hey, Jake, tell me about the work that you do. And your website, by the way, is jasmalarick.com. We've got the link to that in the show notes. But I want to make sure that folks who are listening to this, because they're interested in you, know what engagement looks like. How can you help them? You've had over 1 ,500 happy clients. You've got over 17 years of experience getting on 20 years.

18:50um you've got the goods 27 000 hours more than that that you've spent coaching i'm just kind of going off the stats on your website so i suspect that some of those numbers have tipped up a little bit but um yeah uh share with us how you work with uh your with your clients so most of my clients are busy entrepreneurs you know they will come to me and they say like you know i'm i've i wanted to run my business but it looked like my business is running me i don't have the time i have to work seven days a week 24 7 almost i just don't have the time for anything blah blah blah blah the same story all over again uh no priorities they just they just don't they don't they don't have the time and we just have to sit down and start work on what is actually important to you sometimes I just ask them a very simple question.

19:43Listen, what is it that you want? As cliche as it sounds, most people, they will never ask themselves that question. And sometimes I will ask that question and they will say, this is the most difficult question someone ever asked me because it's so important. And we don't ask that question ever. We just go through life, getting, being busy. So important. What is it important? Is your wife important to you? Well, I think so. Either yes or no yeah you know sometimes i say to people listen i don't need a story i just need yes or no because there's not maybe if you ask your wife are you important to me and you say maybe she will bash you right you're right rightly so yeah and you deserve it um so you have to start asking what is it important what is it not important and we have to start prioritize because um more often than not i hear something that like oh the fear of missing out i don't want to leave that i don't want to leave the money on the table you're going to leave the money on the table many many many many times you cannot do everything in your life you cannot have everything uh that's why you have to prioritize because at the end of the day i teach my people my my people yeah i call them my people my customers how to make decision faster because success whatever that success means to you success like speed success like quick decisions and interestingly enough if you know your vision it's very easy to make decisions i'll give you a very simple example i had a very successful person who came to me he became a client he was very successful in quite a few different fields he was a professional athlete then he was a professional army person and now he's a very professional guy in film industry.

21:32And he kind of knew his vision, but it was a little bit blurry. And we sit down for about three hours. We kind of make that vision a little bit more shiny, a little bit more, you know, easy to understand. And then he had a few decisions to make and he could make them on the spot. He said like, well, this is important. This is important. This is, I have to remove from my to-do list because it's not, it looks like it's not important. it just doesn't support my vision that's why having a clear vision knowing exactly what is it that you want at this moment in your life is so important to to to make those decisions and to make those decisions fast because at the end of the day there's only one thing that make us happy and it's progress if we make progress now i will go back to that video gaming that i mean when you make progress you are happy even if you make a mistake from time to time in in general you're happy you're making progress that's amazing in life is exactly the same but one mistake that i noticed a lot of entrepreneurs do is they run and run and run and they never stop for a moment and measure the progress that they did and actually celebrate that progress i i meet people in their 40s 50s saying like oh my god i haven't achieved anything and i have to bash them and say like what the hell are you talking about you achieved so much you just never stop for a moment and smell the roses as they say.

22:59Yeah. Jake, your website, jakesmalaric.com. To a friend that's listening, what are their next steps? We've got 30 seconds. Sorry, this has been a great conversation. What do you mean? I mean, yeah, if you want to visit, just go to my website, send me a quick email and you can always chat and see what we can do next. Excellent. jakesmalaric.com. It's been a fun conversation. You're a good guy. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much.

23:30Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

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