2253 - Six Principles to Help Entrepreneurs Step Back and Thrive with Ral West: Livin’ The Dream's Ral West

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1:05with us right now it is ral west ral you are the founder of ral west living the dream your website is ralwest.com uh you live in beautiful sitka alaska uh ral it's great to have you thanks josh it's wonderful to be with you yeah so um listen before we talk about the work that you do and the impact you have in the world, it sounds like, I mean, kind of part of your brand is kind of the fun stuff that you get to do or that you do on a regular basis. And as of like right now, we're recording this, you know, in at the very end of June, 2025, what have you been currently doing for fun lately? That is kind of just part of that dream that you that you try to live?

1:51Well, thanks for asking that, Josh, because I love living the dream. And part of that is traveling around the world in luxury style. So we just got back from a month in Scotland and Norway, which included a cruise from Edinburgh, Scotland, up the coast of Norway to the very tippy top of Norway, and then northwest over to the Svalbard Islands, which are off the northeast coast of Greenland. So we were way further north than the Arctic Circle and just south of the North Pole. In fact, we were cruising in the polar ice pack. That was fabulous. So that's the kind of thing we do for fun. And next week, we're off to Australia and Fiji.

2:35So just living the dream. Well, Raoul, you work with a lot of business owners, a lot of entrepreneurs who probably are essentially just working for their businesses, maybe doing work that is not necessarily in their zone of genius. Maybe it's not a whole lot of fun. They have tasks to do because nobody else can do it. They can't seem to break out of it. And you help them kind of put some systems in place so that they can get out of the things that are just not, you know, again, Michael Gerber would probably have heartache with, you know, from E-Myth, right? It's easy for us to see on the outside, but when we're in it, sometimes it is.

3:18it's very, it's almost debilitating, right? Where we can't seem to break out and it requires some courage and maybe it requires some risk to kind of, you know, maybe put some new systems in, hire somebody or whatever. But there's some simple, I mean, just mathematical formulas. Like if, and I'll just say this, it's like if you're the founder and the business depends upon you to run itself, you know that is a business but it's a certain type of business that you probably feel the weight of. Raul can you talk about this topic here because it's I could I could talk for days about this. I can't imagine what percentage of business owners are in this situation but it's very common.

4:05Well yes and I was there for a very long time I was there. We started a business back in 1982 and we ran it for 25 years before selling it to Alaska Airlines. But in the beginning, my husband and I were doing everything, just as you were describing, and the business couldn't get along without us. So we were tied to the business. We couldn't go off and take a nice vacation like I was just talking about. No, we had to stay with our hands and eyes on the business every day. And in fact, we were having our daughter come to the office after school to do her homework and eat fast food for dinner because we weren't ready to go home until late at night.

4:48So this was not a great lifestyle. And I can totally identify with those business people who have their hands way too deep in the machinations of their business and all the minutia and all the operational details. And so I learned over the course of a few years how to get out of that. And Michael Gerper was definitely a mentor for me. Reading his book, The E-Myth, you know, was a life changer. And learning to systematize, to make sure that every role in the business was taken care of and that all of the processes, the standard operating procedures were spelled out. How to systematize, how to make it so that you set up a system so that you can teach anybody how to do any job.

5:33And then you gradually start realizing some freedom, freedom from that day to day, you know, clutch of the business. And that is how you can break away to start living your dream. But I've developed, well, I actually didn't develop, I recognized and identified six principles that were the keys to our success in moving from the mom and pop running the business to going off and getting our second home on Maui and having a yacht and really enjoying ourselves and letting our team run the business. And those six principles are what I teach now. I have a mastermind program and I teach entrepreneurs how to get their business set up so that they have the freedom to live life the way they want, whatever that looks like for them.

6:18Yeah. Well, one area we have, we work with a lot of, I'd say six and seven figure business owners where the founder is probably, I'd say a majority of our clients, the founder is still involved in founder-led sales in some way. So in many ways, kind of like what I do is kind of like the last bastion of hope for founders that are still involved in their sales, in terms of like making it as easy as possible for them, like if they don't want to grow in scale. But getting out of founder-led sales can be very challenging, I think, for some. Do you mind maybe explaining like that particular role, like how someone could break out of that?

6:56Well, the problem is that I see, right, is like nobody can sell as well as the founder. And maybe they've tried it. They've tried bringing some people in. It just didn't work. And the founder feels stuck because if they bring someone in, new income might go down a little bit. And that's really scary. Well, that's true. And in our first business, most of our sales came from advertising and through travel agents. so we didn't have to be as one-on-one to do the sales but in the business that i'm in now it definitely is you know reliant upon me but i you know i found teams of people who will help me and maybe it's not as effective as me doing it myself but i don't want to tie myself to the business so i build my business around the lifestyle that i want and not the other way around So yes, as you said, the sales might not be as great or as effective if the founder isn't doing it, but it depends on if that's what you want.

7:57Do you want to be tied to that role forever? And if you don't, you have to let go a bit. Now you can prescribe and you can outline and you can teach people, you can set up video courses, you can do all kinds of things to lay out a framework for your sales so that other people can do it almost as well as you can. but if you don't want to be tied to your business, you have to start letting other people do it. Yeah. All right. So what are your six pillars that we may not have time to go through all of them, but what are the six pillars that you go through in your mastermind to help founders kind of break out of all of this and truly enjoy their lifestyle while they put those systems in place?

8:39Yeah, I can name them rather quickly. First one is systems. That's a pretty obvious one. You have to develop systems from the very, very basic level on up to very complicated automations, depending on your company. The next one is to measure and track your data and make sure that you have reports set up so that you know how the company is doing at all times. Everything from your customer feedback to your sales, your revenue, et cetera. And the third is leverage. Make sure that you're using as much leverage as you can. as we were just talking about, getting other people to do the things that you always have done only by yourself.

9:21Letting go of some of that and using leverage is important. And then the fourth is to create your company culture very intentionally and purposefully so that you're building this business based on your own principles and values and so that your culture doesn't happen just by accident. So you want to make sure that it is an embodiment of what you stand for. and then you need to imbue that culture in your team and nurture your team, develop your team so that they can stand on their own, make sure that they have the guidelines and the parameters for doing the job that you want them to do, make sure that they know what a good job looks like, and then you empower your team and get them aligned towards your goals.

10:06And last, but certainly not least is your customer service. And I preach that you need to delight your customers. Don't merely provide good customer service, but you know, get out there and delight them, create raving fans, surprise them with how well they can be served by your business. And that's it. Those are the six principles. Yeah. Rouse, how do you do that in a mastermind? Like, so if someone wants to work with you? Like, how might that look? Well, we have a program that runs for 12 months, and we meet in a Zoom meeting for 90 minutes a month. Plus, there's an online community where you can share, you know, your concerns, your questions, and so forth with your fellow business owners, as well as myself.

10:55And we go through all six principles throughout this 12 months. I know six doesn't go into 12 in terms of like, is it one every two months? Well, it's going to be a little bit more organic depending on what the group really needs. But we're going to make sure that everybody understands all six principles and how to apply them to their business. And every business is unique. So it's going to be a small group of business owners in that seven to eight digit range, maybe high six digits. And there'll be people that can learn from each other as well as from me. And we'll be looking at what are the challenges?

11:32What are the stick points? You know, what do they need to get over? What is their mindset? And how do they need to change their mindset to allow themselves to grow into being a business owner instead of a business operator? So that's in a nutshell what the mastermind is. Yeah. Looking for more people to join. Yeah. How would someone know that they would be ready for you versus like they may not be yet ready for you? and how might they know where they fit? I think if you're feeling a bit exhausted and overwhelmed as a business owner and you'd like the business to grow, but you're just not seeing how that's possible because you've tapped out your time and there are no more hours in the day, you're ready.

12:17And you have to be willing to make some changes. If you're not willing to make any changes, then don't bother.

12:26Tough love. Yeah. Raoul, to our friend that's listening right now, I know you've got resources beyond just, hey, grab a call with me and let's see if you're a fit for our mastermind. But do you mind maybe sharing like how you help folks and maybe someone that might not be ready for the full mastermind, like what they might be able to take advantage of? Oh, yes, absolutely. I have tons of free resources available. Go to my LinkedIn page, RAL West, and I have a newsletter that comes out every week. And every week I outline very strategic things that you can do in your business right now to make some changes.

13:11And you can subscribe to the newsletter. It's called RAL's Success Principles. I have a YouTube channel that, guess what? It's called RAL West. And you subscribe to that. And there are hundreds of videos on there that give you information about what I teach, how I've done things in my business, and just tons of tips and strategies for you. And I also have a free video that outlines the six principles that I just told you, but in a bit more detail. And that video is available by going onto my website. or you can do www.ralwest.com-sixprinciples, spelling out that S-I-X principles. And yeah, I give and give and give all kinds of information so you don't have to pay for the mastermind, although I'd really love for you to pay for it.

14:08But there's a number of ways that you can get the information that I offer for free. I like it. All right. Your website is ralwest.com. For someone that would, you know, maybe they're considering, you know, maybe the mastermind would be appropriate for them. What does, what would they do? Well, there's a form to fill out on the website. It says, you know, are you interested in my mastermind? Apply today. And they go to that and it will give them a form to fill out and we'll have people contact you and see whether it's a good fit. I like it. Raoul West, your website, raoulwest.com. I appreciate the conversation.

14:54And Raoul, any final words for our entrepreneurial audience as they've been attentively leaning forward in their chairs, listening to what you've been sharing? Oh, well, I appreciate that. You know, from being an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur for over 40 years, people often ask me, well, what is the key to being a successful entrepreneur? And I think it is just taking action, just doing it and not being afraid to make mistakes. Take the risks, put yourself out there and have faith in yourself. Anything is possible, but you've got to just do it. Awesome. Raul West, RaulWest.com. Raul, thank you for joining us.

15:39Thanks, Josh.

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