Living The Red Life - Secret Time + System Strategies Of The Ultra Rich & Successful w/Dan Martell

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

In this episode, Dan Martell delves into the concept of "buying back time," a strategy crucial for entrepreneurs and business leaders looking to scale their ventures without burning out. He discusses his personal journey to understanding time management and introduces the core idea behind his "Buy Back Principle." Dan emphasizes the importance of conducting a time audit, delegating tasks effectively using the 80% rule, and focusing on energy management to optimize productivity. He also shares practical tools and strategies for delegating tasks, overcoming common challenges, and building a business that can operate independently of its owner.The episode highlights the mindset shifts necessary for successful delegation and scaling, featuring case studies of entrepreneurs who have implemented these principles with great success. Dan provides actionable advice for those looking to implement the Buy Back Principle, stressing the importance of starting small and gradually building systems that allow for efficient delegation. The episode wraps up with final thoughts and key takeaways, encouraging listeners to embrace the concept of buying back time to achieve sustainable business growth and personal fulfillment.CHAPTER TITLES00:45 - The Importance of Buying Back Time01:52 - Dan's Journey to Understanding Time Management03:07 - The Core Concept: Buy Back Principle04:32 - The 80% Rule for Delegation05:23 - Conducting a Time Audit06:41 - The Significance of Energy Management08:15 - How to Start Buying Back Time09:28 - Tools and Strategies for Effective Delegation10:47 - Overcoming Common Challenges in Delegation12:04 - Building a Business That Operates Without You13:22 - The Mindset Shift Required14:35 - Case Studies: Success Stories16:07 - Scaling Your Business Efficiently17:45 - Practical Tips for Implementing the Buy Back Principle19:28 - Final Thoughts and TakeawaysConnect with Dan Martell:IG - Dan MartellYoutube - Dan MartellWebsite - Danmartell.comBook - Buybackyourtime.comConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

If you want to be rich, be lazy. But if you want to be wealthy, be incompetent. And most people are like, that makes no sense. And the truth is, you can't build a million dollar company doing $10 tasks. It's impossible. There's not enough hours in the day. What are like, for everyone listening, free, you know, maybe they don't have millions of dollars for all these employees, but free simple things they can do from these principles.

I always look at the skills I got to acquire to get to the next level. The beliefs around the world, right? Money beliefs, you know? If I want it done right, I got to acquire to get to the next level, the beliefs around the world, right? Money beliefs, you know, if I want it done right, I got to do it myself. And then there's the... My name is Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Living the Red Life. And today,

we're going to talk about buying back your time. I'm here with my friend Dan, bestselling author. You can see the book right there if you're watching on video. And let me tell you, I have seen this book everywhere. It's blowing up because it's full of knowledge you need as an entrepreneur. Dan, welcome to the show. It's an honor to be here. I'm excited. So buy back your time. Like, you know, I grew my company to over 100 staff and a lot of people hire me for marketing. But after I get them going with marketing,

a lot of my conversation is building a team, outsourcing, delegating, automation systems, and it's probably a lost art of entrepreneurship. So buy back your time. What does that mean to you and how did it come about? Well, it came because I think like most entrepreneurs starting off, I struggled. I mean, my first company, I was 24 when I started it. I only had one gear, which is working my buttock.

I was working 100-hour weeks. And, you know, as much as that company became successful, it took a while. What I learned from that is that if I just couldn't run like that for a change. Yeah. The candle on both ends, the red lining, et cetera. So what changed for me was I moved to San Francisco and I met a mentor, a guy named Naval Ravikant. And Naval was the one that showed me, you know, how did these 20 year old Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, you know, run these thousand personperson companies, raise billions of dollars in funding? And that was the premise at, I was 28 at the time when I

learned it, to build buyback. So buyback your time, the principle, buyback principle states, you don't hire people to grow your business, you hire people to buyback your time. Because if you don't, you'll end up building a business you grow to hate. And that's unfortunate. Most people don't realize failure isn't the business doesn't have opportunity in the markets out there. It's the CEO, the entrepreneur, the owner going, I just don't want to do this. Yeah.

Yeah, I meet so many like they have, you know, we obviously that a lot of them, they come to me for marketing and we work on the offer, the funnels, the ads. But then it's like, they're still doing everything, you know, and we're making them get a VA to start then delegating this then automating this and it's like you know I think to some entrepreneurs like me like I read the four-hour work week when I was 18 and that was my catalyst and that stuff stuck with me forever and I've always been good at delegating as a

leader but for a lot of people it's so hard so why I mean we'll get into a lot of it but why i think that's like a limited belief almost even before the systems and frameworks come in yeah what why do you think that is well i mean if you think about it if somebody else does something for you there's a chance that they could do it wrong so that'll likely yeah they can embarrass you and the worst one that's real is that they could do something that would cost you your business sure so there's like real emotional pressure that's felt when you hand something off yeah that's that's like pure and on it well i think also i think the first reality is those three things are actually going to happen and they almost have to happen like that's going to happen

and by learning you know stuff in this book and mentors for like, that stuff can happen to a lesser degree and less often. But it's always going to happen. Right. And it's like once you realize that, that can be actually, I think, the first limiting belief to get over. Right. And I teach my members, I'm like, only ever expect it to be 80 percent as good as you could do it. Now, you will get some people that are even better at what they do than you, and that's a bonus. But if you go in with 100% expectation, you're going to just be disappointed. Disappointing all the time. Yeah, in my book, I have a quote that I talk about often. It's 80% done by somebody else is 100% free.

I love it. Yeah, and the truth is you can't build a million-dollar company doing $10 tasks. It's impossible. There's not enough hours in the day. And the truth is most broke people spend time to save save money but rich people might be to save time so as soon as you hear that you're like oh like it's just impossible if you have big dreams and aspirations to try to do everything yourself so learning to let go is definitely part of the equation yeah i think like i got to so the last three years i actually had four assistants and i quadruped, like put them into quadrants basically of my

personal life. Cause I got so like, once I got past 10 million, I got like even more hyper obsessed with like every little aspect. So one around like my home life and getting a chef and little tiny things there, one over here. And, and I'm interested, like, do you mean that level of obsession is what makes like the ultra millionaires? Like, are they that religious on those things? Well, you know, there's this great quote that says, if you want to be rich, be lazy. But if you want to be wealthy, be incompetent. And most people are like, that makes no sense.

I'm like, you've never like you. I'm sure you've met these people that are super rich and you're like, how did this person do it? And it's because, like, if I owned a restaurant and the chef quit, I'm not jumping in the kitchen to cook. And that's the mindset that somebody that's like, look, I'm building this machine and I'm going to design it so that it runs a machine. I can't, you know,

I always say that if you buy back your time, make sure it stays sold. Cause it's really easy to buy back your time and then get in there as soon as something happens. But the obsession with essentially evaluating your hour and saying, am I getting leverage? Because at the end of the day, that's all we're doing, right? There's effort times leverage equals output. And the difference between Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson is that their ability to get leverage is just way higher than us.

So their output is massive. Well, Rich is a great example because i know him spend time with him and when i'm speaking to him about stuff i ask him a question about some part of his business he's like oh you'd have to ask blah blah blah right and that's even like and i'm asking him a piece of the business that i would know and expect him to know but he's so far removed that he doesn't even know like a key part right and that's like that you're into the mastery level now where a hundred million dollar companies ran without him right and and that's like mastery level but if we go back to ground roots level what are like for everyone listening free you know maybe they don't have millions of dollars for all these employees but

three simple things they can do from these principles yeah i mean even i because i think the book what blew me off my, even because I think the book, what blew me off my seat a little bit when the book came out was the amount of people, founders, that were buying it for their teams. A lot of people think it's an awesome book, but it's not. It's an issue book, and you're leading yourself first and foremost. So you'll never get a penny more than you think you deserve, and it starts with value.

So most people just don't value their time, so they don't fight for it. They don't renegotiate. They don't look for productivity. They don't think about like, how can I get more like instead of going out and running three errands in my day, can I just make a list, ask him about spending anything, do one errand or even hire somebody to run for you. So I think the home's a great one. I mean, anybody that doesn't have, if you, if you have a business and you don't have somebody helping you out at home, cleaning, maybe some meal prep, definitely laundry, all that stuff.

Low, low cost, high leverage of time. Then we go into our business world. And for me, I just look at my account. And when you're starting off, you just look at it and say, what are things that I don't like doing, okay, that I hate doing, take my energy, that would cost very little to pay somebody else.

See, most people make the mistake of hiring somebody to do the work. So if they're a logo designer, they hire a logo designer. If they're a programmer, they write it. Or if they're a painter, they hire a painter. Or the thing they're great at instead of all the rubbish. Yeah. And then they end up doing the thing like painting and also doing all the rubbish stuff. And then they get, again, they grow a business. They build a business. They grow to hate. Yeah. Yeah. Well, a good example of that is, you know, I built the team from zero to over a hundred staff, but the two things that i

was world class that i actually kept right like i still occasionally look at the ads and i occasionally help with offer creation leverage be because it's like yeah i can spend 30 minutes a week and create tens of thousands of dollars in ripple effect but i'm like so obsessive in the other stuff even to a point where everyone thinks i'm ridiculous which is okay as you can tell i don't care if you think i'm ridiculous but like and and john goodman i don't know if you know john from toronto oh yeah he's a good friend of mine he always says well i mean he's admired and respected about me as rudy doesn't care what anyone thinks and so much like i quit driving two years ago because i saw like like i didn't actually know that okay yeah it's gotta get yeah i didn't enjoy that and think about the time you get back well and and okay and the bad habit

of like with ADHD and entrepreneur if you are driving you check your phone there's one mistake and ruin a life right so I was like hard cut rule um and then just little things like uh every little area I can improve and save time I do to like a ridiculous degree. And I think like a lot of people, it's not just knowing how to do it. They're almost embarrassed. Like some people would be embarrassed to like ask someone to do that. Somebody reply to your email. I see that with the entrepreneurs.

They're almost embarrassed to like ask or pay because they mean it's bad. But it's like what all successful people do. I also think it's because they have a belief that it's crap work. And it's not. Like, I always call it supporting. Like, anybody that comes in my life to support me, to give me back some time, I'm like crazy grateful, superstars. Like, I can't even, I don't have the time to do what I want to do. But the feel, you mentioned that even with driving. See, sometimes it's not even about buying back the time to do something more productive. It's creating the space for you not to have emotional.

Somebody else processing my schedule, my calendar, keeps me here with you in an energy of just pure soul. I'm not thinking, where am I supposed to be? Am I running late at the time? Literally, and sitting there going, okay, you got to go, blah, blah, blah. Just the ability to stay in that energy, what I call green energy all day long. Well, I think that's key

yeah so we've talked a lot about time minutes as a numerical value but then like i you know everyone always says time is your most precious asset and i started to say i agree by assuming energy is equally precious asset so like anything that can buy back your time and or energy right because you can still you could do something that's 10 minutes a day it doesn't take a lot of time but if it's a 10 minute refund call that absolutely ruins your day that costs you more than a two hour car ride or two hours of cleaning the floor when if it didn't ruin your day yeah so that's really interesting like i don't think many people get that and and i didn't get that until a few years ago like i used to it's a big part of my yeah yeah i mean the energy aspect

can't be undervalued and that's that's the next step i mean once you've got the basics the va the cleaner yeah it's like now what might not take a lot of numerical time but drains me from an energy soundly yeah just i mean like you said if i'm about to get on a sales call or i gotta pitch a big idea to you know some execs and i just go from a call where I'm dealing with like HR issues whatever I mean yeah that's gonna have huge costs for sure and even that like I'd say listening to this so you know I started with nothing not in a big business parents weren't entrepreneurs and the like I remember the first time I hired an attorney and was paying four hundred dollars an hour I thought that was wild Whereas now I have an in-house attorney and paid 10, 20 grand a month to a law firm, right? And then I remember the first time I had some small potential legal issue that was nothing. And now I'm at a point where

even like, you know, an employment lawsuit or whatever, I don't even deal with. It goes to my HR director, my head of people and my law firm. And I just say, yeah, tell me the summary on 30 days. And the reason I'm bringing that up is like, you have to believe that you can get to that point. So I think be able to implement a lot of these things and actually build the stuff around it. Because if you never believe, it's like believing you can make a million dollars

or believing you can run a four minute mile. If you don't believe those things, you're probably going to create reasons to not do them. So how'd you get over that side with people? Well, so it all comes down to that. There's a whole chapter called the five time assassins, which I try to go through because I don't want people to spend a dollar. They don't have to. They're just going to stop giving up the time that they're creating themselves. Yeah. But the belief part is interesting because in the framework, the buyback loop that I talk about in the book, there's audit, transfer, fill. And audit is time and energy. So literally energy, I love that you brought that up. Transfer is take the stuff that

takes your energy that costs very little, give it to somebody else. Then fill though is what you were just talking about is like the belief. How do you get to a place where you actually believe you can do more? And the truth is, is in the fill, I always look at the skills I got to acquire to get to the next level. Where's my bottleneck? Yeah. The beliefs around the world, right? Money beliefs, you know, if I want it done right, I got to do it myself. Like we're born with these things that we never even audit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then there's the habits. I mean, you could have the skillset and the beliefs and you don't have the right habits to transform that knowing and effectiveness into actually results, you know, because you sleep until 10 a.m. and you're lazy, then you'll never get the results. So there's no point in buying back your time if you don't actually fill it with becoming a better version of yourself to finish. I love the holistic approach, right? It's like diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep. Like, yeah, you'll get some results if you do one, but if you really take care of like what I used to call the triangle, right? Your sleep hormones, nutrition, and fitness, that's when it like starts to snowball and compound. And it's compound. It's not one-to-one. Yeah, it's compound for sure.

I make more money when I'm dialed in on my macros. Yeah. A hundred percent compounding. Yeah. Great. So I would love to talk a little, we talked about some implementable things and how the book came about, but how did you, the business success, you've had a lot of that too. What have you done and how was this so incremental in that success? So what's interesting is a lot of people, if they look into my story, I'm a software guy. So I built software when I was young, 17, 20, sold three software companies. I buy a software company every month right now. I have a hundred million dollar hold co. I do probably think I've done over a hundred investments, somebody like Udemy and Unbounce and Hootsuite,

a bunch of platforms over the years. And I even have a venture studio where we incubate ideas. So kind of like you do as influencers on the publishing side, I do it the software side. And none of that is possible. Like people go, how do you deal? I also have two young boys and a wife that absent the door and we want to like spend time together. And I just, I use the same framework for my life today.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I feel like I've hit what I call the pain line. I look at my calendar, I sit down with my assistant, we go, okay, what are the reds? Yeah, yeah. The things that I don't want to do anymore that's taking my energy. Now, the hires now, for the most part, are C-level people.

They're COOs, CMOs, CEOs. But the principle flows the same. So I just wouldn't be here. I could have never wrote that book, you know, even five years ago because I was still trying to extract the way I thought about what I was doing. And it's allowed me to literally, I mean, it's kind of funny. The cool thing about writing about stuff like this is it just makes me want to do it at the highest level. Yeah. You break it down. You don't write a book and go like, well, I don't do it. So I am an example at the highest level for that. So now I coach, like I coach billion dollar CEOs that might have the billion dollar

business. Man, their home life is a wreck. even i mean they don't have like you said a house man yeah somebody helping out and even when you get to high level like some stuff epson flows you slack in areas like i sometimes teach a lot i do a live every monday i'm marketing i'll teach this principle that like i've built and then i'll look and go in this company i own why are we not we've dropped off that where's the sop who dropped well we fired that employee that was doing it and no that like i've built and then i'll look and go in this company i own why are we not we've dropped off that where's the sop who dropped well we fired that employee that was doing it and no one took it and then you get it going again so i think it's it's not like a said and done right it's like oh with me we lose an assistant then i'm back doing this and i'm like okay well someone else needs to

do this i gotta get new you know so you have to make it like eating healthfully it has to become a life principle i I think, right? Not just like a short term thing. The easy way to do that for people listening is literally saying, what's my hourly rate? What is it? What is my? Yeah, it's a great way to do it. Because if not, there's no forcing function.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You almost have to act as if your hour is worth more than it actually is to then fight for the time to do the things that make you more valuable. Well, I even argue with some of my staff. I tell them all like, I'm like, don't ever walk into a grocery store unless you love shopping there's this thing called instacart and that and i'm like and then they'll like battle with me i'm like dude it takes you an hour to go there this is what i pay you i know how much your hour's worth because i'm paying your salary instacart adds 10 of your orders, $150, that costs you $15 versus $35,

and you don't enjoy it, that hour you can go to the gym and now be healthier and have more energy every day and look better and be better, look more confident. And then they're like, you know, but it's like people... Yeah, that's why this is not entrepreneurial. Yeah. Even though I use that frame, it's really like my team has to use this framework. Well, I think entrepreneurs, we have's really like my team has to use this framework.

Well, I think entrepreneurs, we have to have stumbled into a lot of this to be naturally successful. Whereas normal people, they haven't, right? So to them, it's like mind-blown Instacart. Oh, yeah, that does make sense now, Rudy. So I do love the idea of the team. One book that I've done for many years with my team when they come in is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, every new employee goes through and they have to write a report. And then we anchor back to it when they get overwhelmed.

Right. And we always do time analysis with every employee and their manager does it weekly on where's your time going. And then whenever they start to burn out or get full, we just do an analysis. What can we drop out the bottom to a VA or remove what can we add in and that's how employees should progress and grow you know so yeah it's it's uh these things like we talk so much on this podcast about marketing and entrepreneurship and ads and funnels and social but this is the bread and butter that if you or the foundations if you don't get this right, you'll never live up to, you know, 10% of the success you could have, right? If you employ these things. What you mentioned earlier that I actually talked about in the book is some

people, especially creatives, like you talked about ads. So I call it the 10, 80, 10 rule. So what I like to be as an editor, not an author. So the first 10% is the idea. So if it's ads, I'm sitting on, if it's video scripts with Sam or my team, I want to figure out these are the angles, these are the hooks. That's that first 10%. It's the funnest part, isn't it? Yeah, high leverage. High level, high ideation.

Then it's execution. They run with that. They go into production. They build stuff. And they present it to you. And the integration is the last 10%. And that's how Tom Clancy is not even alive anymore, and he continues to write best-selling books. There's a reason why. Steve Jobs used to do this with Johnny Ives in the

design studio where he would spend that 10% on crazy ideas and Johnny would go off and prototype and Steve would come in and he'd do the presentation on stage, but he wasn't involved in the production of it. And I think that's where like some people that are very creative think, well, I can't do this. I'm unique. I'm not, you know, it's just, I'm like a special, you know, snowflake. And I think that's where like some people that are very creative think, well, I can't do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm unique. I'm like a special snowflake. And I'm like, no, there's actually a creative process. Yeah, well, even my new studio you saw, right? I'm taking the screenshots of how I want the room to look.

I'm putting a list. And then I'm having to go find all of these items on Google and build a spreadsheet of each item and the prices. And then the handyman's building it. And I'm tweaking it and that's that same principle and and i think yeah you you can like if you're listening you can apply this to every aspect of your business whether it's making a hire for example maybe setting the job post and expectations is that 10 that's super critical and then we have a process where they all go through 15 minute interviews, the best people, you know, get moved to the second phase, HR manager then goes through those. And then the last 10% is me again, it's given the final

approval. And we interview 800 people a month with that process. But if someone says how you do 800, it's like, well, I do about four I do about four or five, the best and someone else does the rest. So yeah, I love that. So for anyone that, you know, is geeking out on this stuff, they're excited listening. They know they need to implement this. Where do they find you the book? How do they get more of this? I mean, the best place you can get it all over where books are sold, Amazon, et cetera. But I mean, I have a, I have my admin playbook and I'd love to share with you too. So 47 pages, Google doc, direct link. But I mean, I have my admin playbook and I'd love to share it with you too. So 47 pages, Google doc, direct link. If somebody wants to follow me on Instagram

and just message me EA and Rudy or Redlink or whatever, I'll send them that. But it's my internal document that my assistant manages, sanitized with all my preference information out of it. Yeah. Google, like literally it's the North Star principles. Yeah, yeah. Because I think the admin is the first role. Of course. You know, get somebody in there to really understand how to free up your time. Yep. And once you find the right person, as you know, it is, it's magical.

Yeah. I think the leverage and the opportunity and the headspace, the energy is just super fun. Good. All right. Well, there you have it, guys. Another episode in the wraps. A really important episode no matter where you are are if you're starting out or you're super advanced we can always be better at this it's still a you know a work in progress for me i'm sure even for you to

this day still right and because as you grow you have to change and reset so that's a wrap go check out the book and download this and take advantage of that free download i'm excited to dig into that myself and i'll see you guys very very soon take care and keep living the red life