MA Business Success 36: Rising to Success

https://soundcloud.com/tima-38/tima-podcasts-episode-36

Alex: Now, today we're looking at being successful, getting to the top, staying at the top of the food chain, hopefully, and how to handle it once you're there. So, Phil, it must be a pretty nice problem to have, really, being at the top of the food chain. Phil: Top of the food chain, yeah. No, everyone probably thinks that when you get there you're in this ivory tower and that you've got all your... Alex: Yes, absolutely. Looking down on all your minions. Phil: Washing your face, and someone's feeding you grapes. But this is probably a really great follow-on from the last podcast when we talked about managing your time, because if you're at that level, then I would say you're at the top of the food chain. The first thing that keeps coming to my mind is remember that you're always a student. You're a student always, in life and in martial arts, and continually trying to learn as much as you can. Then we all know, as instructors, the best way to learn is then to teach that again. So find places to learn stuff, whether it's martial arts-oriented stuff, business stuff. Be a sponge learner. Embrace it, consolidate it, and then teach it to someone else so it reiterates or reaffirms that within you. I just think if you're going to be continually at the top of your food chain, you're going to always have the people nipping at your heels trying to get you down for whatever reason. So to keep at the top, you've got to continually sharpen the saw, pushing yourself past the comfort zone, both in learning martial arts as a martial arts business owner because I believe that if you are an owner of a martial arts business, you should be pretty well-skilled and continually practicing as well. It always frustrates Graham and myself when we see the Jabba the Hut-style instructor pointing a finger. When was the last time you did a class? So each to their own, but I just think that if you're going to be at the top of the food chain, you've got to symbolize that as well. Alex: Is it a mindset that you get that you suddenly look around and go "Hey, actually we're doing quite well here?" Is it something that you, because your brand is out there and suddenly you're realizing that you're doing really well and your company's very well-recognized, how do you know that you're at the top of the food chain? Graham: It's a toughie. I suppose it's just looking around and just being that benchmark that people are always trying to replicate what you're doing. It's nice sometimes to be imitated. But at the end of the day, too, you've always got to ...and we've said this multiple times, you've got to innovate and continually stay ahead. I guess, really, that's a reflection. It's not so much an ego thing like beating my chest, I'm at the top. But when people are really looking to you for that advice on benchmarking, what you're doing as the standard or the norm in your area or industry, then you know that okay, you've got some sway. So we've always got to continually grow in all aspects. As Phil pointed out, physically is one thing. But how do you, as a business owner, continue to grow? Because I know that if you know what you do all day long and can do it with your eyes closed, what's next? That's where myself and Phil have always looked, okay, what's next for us? What do we do? Alex: Yeah. You're not complacent, are you really, boys? Graham: No, no. As we sit here, what's next, what's next? But it comes through education because if you're not learning, you're dying. If you're not growing, you die in that sense. So how do you continue to grow for yourself? There's personal development things that you can do personally for you. What about your staff? What can you learn? It's great that the listeners are listening to this podcast. But I know that Phil and myself listen to plenty of podcasts in our car that are related to business or could be health, nutrition. Whatever it is that you're so interested in, but taking that information for yourself, but also then replicating it and regurgitating out for some of your team. It could just be your staff, educating them. It could be something you pass on to your students. So always looking to learn, learn, learn. Be a sponge, as Phil pointed out, many times. Alex: Yeah, because, as you say, the next people are coming up and biting at your heels, aren't they? Phil: Absolutely, yeah. It's a tough world out there, and people want to be where you are. And that's great. We've always said be replaceable to our staff, and we want the same too. I want the guys who are just under us to be where I'm at. But I want them to do it faster and even better. For most of the guys out there who are martial artists, when you look at your founder of your style...I know our founder, for him to get to the highest rank, the 10th belt, he has to promote someone to 9th degree. You know what I mean? So it's the same to apply. You've got to bring people up with you, take them with you. Get the focus off of you, put it on other people, and you'll grow ten-fold. Alex: Absolutely. Graham: Alex, there's a couple of things that myself and Phil have done many times in the past and we still strive to do more and more is mastermind groups, is getting in and around other people from all walks of life. Myself and Phil have been part of this institution here in WI, which is the CEO Institute, where there in and around other business owners. Completely different to martial arts, obviously. But talking and communicating with them and saying, "Wow, there's some similarities in what challenges we face." You may not be part of an organization. You might have a circle of friends that are higher up in their industries, whatever that may be. They could be senior manager, they could be business owners. But getting together on a regular basis and conversing over different topics, not just having a drink and having something to eat, but what have you read? What have you learned? What are you implementing? Because there's a few guys I know that are looking into share trading and what not. Although I'm not, it's still a great thing to go, "Wow, I'm listening. I'm learning this sort of role," which fulfills yourself. Then when they ask you questions, there's nothing better than to be able to answer questions wholeheartedly and also with great education behind it because they're interested in your business. So it really is a great way to stimulate conversation, but also help you keep accountable if you set some goals. I know there's been times when myself and Phil have had these mastermind groups. You give them a commitment of something you're going to accomplish. They don't know what it is in regards to we're going to finish curriculum in our business, for example. They may be completely separate businesses, so they don't really care. But the next time you meet, "ow did you go with that curriculum? Did you get it done?" So it's just having those accountabilities there, which are also going to help you to grow. When there's no one else to keep you in check at the top of your food chain, how else can you have others keep you accountable? So that works very well. Alex: Do you think it's easier being in business together? Because I imagine that if you're just in business by yourself, you haven't got that person to bounce off all the time, have you? Do you think that's a benefit? Phil: Absolutely. There's lots of statistics out there about business partnerships and is it worth it and do not fail and...exactly. That's fine, it just means that you haven't found someone to gel with. I guess it's like being married to someone. You know what I mean? You're either going to find your life partner of marriage...no, Graham, I'm not. Alex: Steady on, Graham. Phil: But, in saying that, if you find someone who brings something to the table, why wouldn't you go in business partnership with him? That goes down to the next part of this, for me, is finding inspiration and even inspiration outside of your industry or area. So even though we're talking about martial arts business success here and trying to help martial arts business owners succeed, I suggest and I would recommend one of the biggest things that we did to grow was look outside of our industry. Like Graham said, go to these business networking groups. Just chew the fat, and meet new people, and look at other different business models. Apple, why are they so awesome? Why do people want to buy an iPhone all the time? Alex: Yes. Is there an example that you can give to me where something you've done outside of the business and you've gone, "Ah, lightbulb moment. I could do some equivalent in our business or..." Phil: On one trip, we went to the States with a business owner, a martial arts business owner. But he got us onto a book from Starbucks. What was his name? Graham: It was Howard Schultz. Phil: Yeah and it was all about creating a vision. That was probably a light bulb moment that we needed to create a bloody good vision for our team. Then we came back from that trip going, "All right, we're going to be now vision driven - vision, mission, and values." We came back with this next wave of culture for our business, and that was a huge turning point. But yes, we got the idea from a martial arts business owner. But we actually got the kick up the butt from a coffee shop guy. You know? Alex: Yes, yeah. Phil: So there's exactly a great example. Going to seminars. We've been to all the Tony Robbins stuff. Yeah, it costs a lot of money, but what's the cost or what's the investment? The cost of inaction or the investment of action? So we're continually trying to push ourselves, practice what we teach as well, and just always look at finding inspirations within our circle and outside as well. Alex, we are continually experimenting and trying different and hence these companies that keep spawning and growing for some reason. Because we look at things, and we speak to people at conferences and seminars. I think that will definitely be a productive business idea or model. How much time are we going to invest in that at this stage? Not much at this moment. That's fine, shelve it. In six months' time, we may have a bit more free time. Let's explore that. So we're never saying no. Alex: Never say never. Phil: That can be to our detriment sometimes. But it's definitely prioritizing and understanding and just really seeing the benefit coming back. It's also given us the confidence to grow multiply in schools. We've traveled the world and had people tell us, "No, no, no. Don't ever have multiple schools. You'll be bald by your 20." But in saying that, too, we also looked around and thought "Wow, multiple store owners - Starbucks and whatnot - systemizing so well." What do they do to make that culture and that business grow so much? How can we relate that back to our martial arts school? How can we systematise things in that sense? So a lot of our systems training, although not directly from different companies, has definitely shown us that if you want to be big and you want to be successful in what you do, you need to be organized, and you need to have the ability to scale. That was something that resonated with us. May not be for all the listeners. But for us, that's what we wanted to do. When you're at the top, you definitely need to look left, right, up and down, every which way. Alex: You're talking about taking inspiration from outside. Obviously, that's fantastic advice. Do you ever look internally and get...do you encourage internal ideas and innovative approaches to class activities or...? Graham: That's something myself and Phil have always encouraged our staff to do. This is probably a real feather in the hat and also, a pat on the back for us and our staff is that we'll say, "Hey, guys, we created this system. But now that you guys are front lining, and you guys are actually dealing with the coffers, if you need refinements to be made to this, you guys let us know why they need to happen. If we think they're valid, go for it." It's having that opportunity where people can be creative in their job role. I know we've maybe mentioned this in previous podcasts, that with a younger generation coming through now, they're not so reactive in the fact that okay, you tell them what to do, yes, they'll do it. But they want to be creative as well too. Alex: They want to question it. They want to... Graham: Of course, of course. They also want to have their own stamp on it. So if you can give them an opportunity to put 20% of their own flare in that project, wow, you've now got a pretty motivated young person to make it work. We just had an event just run recently where we had one young lady who, basically, was the event manager, and pulled it off brilliantly. You tell us what you need. You run with it. You organize it, and we'll be there to support you. She did a phenomenal job. It was magic. So when you give them that little bit of room to play, you'll be very, very surprised at what can happen. Alex: Yeah, absolutely. So being at the top of the food chain has its difficulties in that we have to keep looking outside and inside and the rest of it. But do you celebrate your successes as well at being where you are? I think that's almost one of the hardest parts. Phil: But nowhere near enough. I'd like to celebrate more. Alex: No, no, no. I'm not saying Yeah, sure. Phil: Matter of fact, let's do that this weekend. Alex: Okay. We've made a plan, yeah. Phil: But I'd like to just finish with, and it's something that we tell our instructors, is always train harder than your students. If you can take that into business as well...so always train harder than the managers. Be inspirational to them and keep leading the way. Be an inspiration, keep pushing past your comfort zone and bringing these guys up. That's how you stay ahead of the game. That's how you stay on top of the food chain, by continually growing, trying to make sure that you'll be better than the people under you, not as a competition, but just these guys are here. They're nipping at my heels. I've got to keep going, not just ah, well. Alex: They're taking over. Phil: Just to add to that too, Alex, there's something I was reading through the States that some of the big Fortune 500 companies are being rather complacent with their standpoint. They're at the top of their game. There's a lot of startup companies, a lot of popup companies, that are now innovating and doing better products and better, more profitable products because the big guys have never taken any notice to change. They're like, "What are these younglings going to do? What are these young companies...they won't ever make any difference." But the way that information or products are consumed nowadays, it's young people buying them. So if you don't continually look around you and understand what the economy and the market's doing, you may find that you're at the top and suddenly you're on a slippery slope on the way down. Alex: There's somebody with a chainsaw at the bottom of the tree. Phil: Indeed, so that's where it really helps you to be aware, both innovating, inspiring, staying motivated as a team, but also making sure you're still very current in your workplace or your environment that you're in. So keep your eyes and ears open always. Alex: Okay, will do. Thank you very much indeed. Phil: Absolute pleasure. Graham: Thanks.