Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Scaling Secrets: Transforming Your Business with Automation and Effective Systems

Starting point is 00:00:00 If you made, and it's a formula, right? X minus Y equals Z. X is how much you make. Y is what it would cost to pay someone else to do your job. Z is what's left over. Could you have the life you want with Z? This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production.

Starting point is 00:00:17 We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts Right About Now. What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Hey, we're powered today by Exponent. Hey, that's that clean energy. Zero sugar, plant-powered, adaptogens, nootropics. It's tasty. You know what else is tasty? My friend, Charles Schwartz. What's up, Charles? Hey, man.

Starting point is 00:00:50 Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. I want some of that now. Send it on over. I got to say what. Hey, we got all the flavors here. I got Eclipse and Blue Nova. Blue Nova.

Starting point is 00:01:01 Yes, yes. We'll send you some. He is the host of Scale It lab he's a wall street journal best-selling author and just a cool dude you know like for those that know him know him the way i do charles what's happening today brother man it's been great just went through a birthday and it's just been really busy and and just really excited to be here yeah man really appreciate it hey i'm glad we're gonna talk scaling it i've been really impressed and just really excited to be here. Yeah, man. Really appreciate it. Hey, I'm glad we're going to talk scaling it. I've been really impressed what you've done with your show.

Starting point is 00:01:30 And I know there might be a name change to come. We'll talk about that. There might be an engine to come. But whatever it's called, it's the substance behind it that's been impressive. So I know we'll get down that path. But let's set the table for everyone. Who the hell is Charles Schwartz? So a lot of what we're talking about here, specifically with Scale Lab is I've been scaling companies for the last 20 years.

Starting point is 00:01:54 And the whole reason I created Scale Lab was there was all these secrets. The running joke is Jesus didn't walk on water. He knew where the rocks were. There's always been these rocks. We know where these rocks are. And I wanted to get those rocks out to people because every time I go into these corporations and some of it's seven, I want to make eight figures wherever they are. Some guy will come in and share this one thing and the entire org changes.

Starting point is 00:02:12 And all of a sudden profits change and everything gets easier. And there's some very simple rules when it comes to scaling. And there's three that are just constantly across the board that we always do that everyone always breaks and I'll go into them in a second.

Starting point is 00:02:24 But I really want to say, hey, there are specific tools and there are specific systems and things you can do. And I want to be able to give it out to everybody. So that's why we honestly created scale lab. And that's, I think how we caught each other's attention. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, I think that, and I just, it was like when I found your show and I listened, I love this too. I was like, all right, I like Charles. I like, like your cadence, the way you do the episodes, like the structure of it and the value. Like you set it up perfect.

Starting point is 00:02:52 Cause it's like, I don't think you gave me the analogy. Like maybe when you were, we were talking before, like sometimes you listen to shows, you're like, okay, all this is great. But tell me how you did the thing, whatever that thing is. Right. All these podcasts, I don't care what the name of your dog was in high school. but tell me how you did the thing, whatever that thing is, right? All these podcasts, I don't care what the name of your dog was in high school. I don't care what color your car was. I don't give a damn about any of that. I just want to know this one thing. Just shut up and tell me this one thing so I can pull over, write it in my hand, give me actionable

Starting point is 00:03:17 steps so that I can do it right now. And all of this started, you know, because the idea of doing a podcast wasn't something I wanted to do in any way, shape or form. But the rules and entrepreneurs real simple. If you complain about something, you got to bring me two solutions to it. So I was complaining about it. My buddies were very drunk and they're like, hey, come on, give me two. So his awesome bitch. And that's literally how it happened.

Starting point is 00:03:38 And we I mean, it was horrible in the beginning. So for those of you just finding out about it, the first season, everyone's like, it's a webcam. It's I had no idea about microphones. I don't have a beautiful screen webcam it's i had no idea about microphones i don't have a beautiful screen behind me i had no idea you know we it's we jokingly talk about that i was the beyonce of podcast but in like the 1990s because she went on star search and she got kicked off i was like yeah it was horrible it was really bad charlotte what's what i do think this is interesting. I don't know that anybody cares what your dog name was, but something framed your point of view of the world and scaling and business. I mean, what did frame you?

Starting point is 00:04:16 Like, what were your influences? A lot of it's been your real experience. We're about the same age, and so you've done a lot. But what kind of guides your view of, of the business world and just in general? Three things, poverty, death, and laziness. So I just, I grew up, I couldn't afford the last few letters of poor. And I then spent eight years in a hospice till I paid for college, watching people die, ran their IT systems. And that'll reset your ego really fast. And then I realized as an entrepreneur, I was instinctively lazy.

Starting point is 00:04:47 And most entrepreneurs have a real hard time having other people tell us what to do. And that's normal for entrepreneurs. Being instinctively lazy was something that I brought in. I was like, well, shit, now it's going to be worse. So now I've got this. I don't like being told what to do and I am lazy. So what is the way that I can get from A to B with the least amount of effort with the maximum result?

Starting point is 00:05:06 And that's really what got me rocking and rolling. Because I was sitting down and I did IT. I worked with people. And the owners of the companies were out on a boat, smoking cigars, hanging out, making six-figure weekends while their employers are getting crushed. I was like, time out. This is working hard, getting married to the grind, having this hustle porn idea of getting up at four in the morning, working out five times,

Starting point is 00:05:29 having 15 meetings. It's just not the reality I was seeing for most business owners. They were using and they're using systems and they were scaling in a really effective way because they got out of their own way. They didn't have their ego involved. And that changed a lot of things for me because I really didn't care where the residual income came in. I just wanted automated residual income as quickly as I could with the least amount of effort. So I started hunting scaling and that's really where it all started. And you brought up a good, a word there. And I think that's big with founders and young Trump, the ego word, you know, like we, and, and your book even, I mean, you know, to go right at

Starting point is 00:06:08 it. I mean, it's all about this in some ways. I'll let you talk about that, but you know, I do think that's what gets in the way of a lot of, it's like, I really almost, I believe this to a, to a degree, either your idea is so good that your ego can't get in the way and your execution of it, or you've figured out how to get it out of your way. And for most of us, you have to figure out the latter, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. And I think when it comes to a business owner, ego is helpful in the beginning because it's going to be brute force. You're going to pull in the 80 to 100 hour weeks. That's brute force. And that'll get you, if you're good, half a million, $750,000 a year. That'll get you there.

Starting point is 00:06:48 But we talk about this with scaling. The biggest problem with scaling, bar none, is that ego. It's the owner. It's that owner not realizing that there's a huge difference between being an owner and a founder. And being an owner and an owner operator, all that's going to do is tie you up, raise your blood pressure, and make you just hate your life. Your health is going to fall apart. Everything's going to fall apart until you can step back as that founder. And we talk about it being like Tarzan. Tarzan swings

Starting point is 00:07:12 through the jungles, goes vine to vine. Most owners will hold onto that vine that got them where they were going and they won't let go. So the momentum instantaneously stops. They think, hey, I've got the connections. I know how to do this. I knew when this was this. I'm the man, blah, blah, blah. You're not. You're not. So whenever I work with clients, I always say, you're the problem. My job is to fire you. If you want automated residual income, my job is to fire you. So that's the biggest problem with all scaling. It's not such an operation. It's not fulfillment. It's not procedures. It's not SOP. It's none of that crap. It's the owner. Once I can get the owner out of the way, and it's a really simple process that we do this with. It comes down to kind of a simple exercise.

Starting point is 00:07:49 We walk through them. It's all right. Here's what you're doing. And you can do it for the next five years. And you're going to pull your 80 plus hours a week. Because you and I both know that's a light week for most entrepreneurs. And you might double your income.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Or that's option A. Option B, you can sell, I don't care, cat dildos, I'm giving it down. You'll make half as much, but you'll never answer the phone. Which one do you want? And most business owners are like, option B, I can spend time with my family and my health.

Starting point is 00:08:16 I'm like, cool. Now, if you're listening right now and you're an option A person, I can't help you. Please stop listening, go away. I just assume you're not my people. I'm like, I got nothing for you. Just check out now, get your half hour back. Go be a passion project. You're not my people just check out now get your get your go be a passion project you're not my people i mean as the host of the show i'd i'd and wanting

Starting point is 00:08:31 our listen times to go up if you just stay on just for me that i'd appreciate it but for most business operators they get to the point where you know they had this idea as you were talking about they had this beautiful idea and they become their khakis from a fight club reference. They'd be like, this is who I am. This is what I do. And I've always been this guy. And I was like, what if I can make it so you don't have to be that guy and you never have to get out of bed anymore if you don't want to? What if I can create that residual? And all of a sudden, they're like, wait, what? I'm like, what do you can be there and watch your kids grow up? What if you can get into these investments? We can do this and automate your residual income.

Starting point is 00:09:06 The game starts changing. So that's the first hurdle that anyone goes into is this Tarzan effect. Thinking that you're the man holding onto the vine that got you here. It's not going to get you there. You got to pivot out. You got to go from being an owner to a founder. And it's a massive mindset shift. And most owners never get to it unless someone either comes in and smacks them upside the head with it or they just have massive burnout in the heart of things.

Starting point is 00:09:29 Yes. Seen that a lot. I keep thinking of, I'm thinking of, you know, someone swinging through the jungle making the, oh, you know. That's exactly what it is. And they're just stuck and they don't move. That, yeah, you know, when you've worked with people, when you've counseled people, where does that light flip? Like where's, what does it take to make that switch for that founder? So we talk about it with future focus and we just can get really honest. And, you know, normally I'm working with them one-on-one.

Starting point is 00:10:12 And before I work with their C-level individuals and their senior staff, we sit down and said, are you happy? Is this, is this really what you want? If your last year was what your next five years will look like, is this what you want? And if you've got kids, the switch happens fast. They're like, I don't care anymore. I'm exhausted. I've got to deal with, you know, manufacturers and I've got to deal with suppliers and I got to deal with employees who are always a nightmare. And I've got to deal with all, I'm just, I'm just tired. I'm like, cool. If you made, and it's a formula, right? X minus Y equals Z. X is how much you make.

Starting point is 00:10:43 Y is what it would cost to pay someone else to do your job. Z is what's left over. Could you have the life you want with Z? And the minute they lay that out and they see it, they go, oh yeah, I'm done. I don't need $5 million a year. I can absolutely live on a million or I don't need a million. I can live on half a million. Absolutely. Give me my time back. Because one of the things that people think when they retire, like, well, I can't be part of my business anymore. you can do whatever you want and that's the difference having that freedom you know we were talking about earlier about where to live and where not live this is one of the things i love about being an american we love freedom and when we realize that

Starting point is 00:11:17 we've we've given up our freedom and our health most people don't catch it till it's too late and all of a sudden they're like wow my kid is going to prom i thought my kid was just going to kindergarten what the hell i i don't i miss my kid and my wife's late. And all of a sudden they're like, wow, my kid is going to prom. I thought my kid was just going to kindergarten. What the hell? I don't, I miss my kid. And my wife's a stranger and all of those things. And like, wow, my God, I've got prediabetes and all this other stuff. When you start thinking disconnected from the business and I've already shown them how to systematize and automate themselves out, then they're like, all right, clearly on the problem. And the ironic thing is once we automate them out, the business skyrockets every single time

Starting point is 00:11:49 because they are the bottleneck because we talked about before, ego, got to come out. And it's hard for them to see that sometimes. Is, you know, talking with Charles Schwartz, he's the host of Skillet Lab podcast, maybe soon to be the Charles Schwartz show or all about Charles. Charles in charge.

Starting point is 00:12:08 We'll just do that. See, there we go. We can get a naming exercise here. We'll just do a whole naming exercise. It'll work. We'll come up with you guys. What else do we got to do to scale it, man? And what's like two-part question?

Starting point is 00:12:24 Let's focus this one first. I'm really fascinated, like with your show. What's something with a guest that you've had on talking about ways to scale and like, again, extracting those secrets or those nuggets? Is there anything that's just really surprised you? You know, you're a smart guy. You're an intuitive guy, naturally. I'll say that for you. Thank you. And so, you know, but is there anything you're like, okay, I didn't know that. And that's really interesting. Yeah. So I get really excited about the people who have automated things and the stuff that surprised me. We had a guy on who did all about AI for sales and he talked about building out these entire funnels and the newsletter campaign and all that. And he literally, you know, he got on with my team and he showed me and within six minutes, he did something we would have paid tens of thousands of dollars for.

Starting point is 00:13:13 And he taught my team how to do it. And I was like, I'm out. How the hell do you do that? And it really goes into kind of that flow. And one of the things that we do to answer kind of two questions at once, when we work with, when I work with the owners of companies, I say, okay, map out your entire process. Here's a marker. Here's a black marker. Map out. You got 15 minutes. I'm going to go out and probably have a donut because I normally still don't. That's what I'm working because it's the only time I get to have nasty food. I still don't. And I have them map everything out. And so it looks from acquisition of the client all the way to fulfillment. Just map it out. And they map it out and they go, they do the thing and i come back and say cool i go it's not perfect but 15 minutes close enough for government work give me the pen and

Starting point is 00:13:51 a hand of a red marker and i said circle anywhere that you are directly involved where you are that involvement and the minute that felt of that marker touches that i throw the other marker out of my congratulations you made a present. I'm like, you have failed. So when I've got guests that come on and they talk about that automation and how to get them out of it so they can automate their residual income, having business owners go, oh my God, I have built a prison for myself. I'm involved. It's something that's so counterintuitive because you and I both have podcasts.

Starting point is 00:14:20 This doesn't work unless I'm physically here, which is absolutely ineffective for when it comes to scaling businesses, but to give value, it is the best way to give value. And you know, there's certain things you have to be there for. You're going to the gym. Sorry, you can't outsource that. You can't automate that. That doesn't work. You got to put it in there. You got to grind. That is what it is. I've been an athlete my whole life. You got to grind. But when it comes to your business, if you just do an exercise, if your listeners do an exercise and they map it out and they circle anything that they're directly involved in, they haven't built a business.

Starting point is 00:14:49 They can't scale that business. They built a prison. And it might be a very nice prison. They might be making $6, $7 million a year, but it's still a prison. And it's brutal. So I think having people come on and they show how they've automated themselves out of it and how they've used very specific things to do that. That's always made me really excited, but it also, cause you know, our listeners come out

Starting point is 00:15:10 and they're like, Hey, I want this strategy or I want this process. That's where they fail. And you know, that's always the third thing we talk about with them is how strategies and your processes are poison. We talk about all the time processes are poison. And you know, I can go into that, you know, if you want, where we talk about this and it's all the time, processes are poison. And I can go into that if you want, where we talk about this, and it's all based off McDonald's. So McDonald's, very early on in the 80s and 90s, when I used to eat it, but I was a teenager, so I could eat Tupperware and it just didn't matter. McDonald's was known for hiring people with special needs, and they were great for it. They were just wonderful. And they were in the process of redoing their POS, the point

Starting point is 00:15:43 of sale system, which it's a cash register. Nicely done. They have this grid layout. And one of the guys was sitting there and was working on it. And one of the employees had special needs, came over and he goes, what is this? What are you doing? Because it looked like a big checkers board to him. He goes, well, no, this is our new point of sales. This is our new cash register. And he's like, okay. He goes, well, this is how you order things, how you order drinks. And the guy goes, how would you order a drink? And the guy was like, I don't know. He goes, well, this is how you order things, how you order drinks. And the guy goes, how would you order a drink? And the guy was like, I don't know. He goes, well, what do you like?

Starting point is 00:16:09 He's like, I like Coke. And he's like, well, you would press here. He goes, I don't know what that says. He couldn't read it. And the guy's like, well, time out. How do you know what Coke to get? How do you know how to do this? So the guy, the gentleman with special needs, walked over and pointed to the soda dispenser.

Starting point is 00:16:23 He goes, that's Coke. That's Sprite. That's this. That's that. Cause he knew it by the graphic. He knew it by the logo. And he's like, so Mitch. So he went over and he changed on the POS pictures of the Cokes of the, of the sodas. And he's like, what do you normally get? And he's like, I don't know, number three, which was, God, I can't really remember. This was a double quarter pounder with cheese and fries. I can't really I remember that, but it's there. And he showed him the POS, which is his grid. He goes, how would you order it?

Starting point is 00:16:50 And he goes, and he waited. He was like, where's the number three? And the guy's like, oh, my God. I was going through press double quarter pounder with cheese, press fries, press this, press this, do this. And so just press number three. The difference between a process and a system is systems will set you free. Processes are designed that if you have to train someone, that is a process. If you can take someone off the street and implement it like that,

Starting point is 00:17:19 and no one is mission critical to the entire thing, that is a system. And I don't care if it's the most insignificant thing. Henry Ford taught us this. Built cars off systems. People just did it. They did that one thing over and over again. You can systematize your practice. You can scale it. And when business are running into problems, there's a lot of employees who have as big of an ego, if not more of an ego, than the founders. So when I work with them, I'm like, listen, I'm going to fire a bunch of your staff. And I might fire some people that have been with you for a real long time. Because I'm going to automate everything they do.

Starting point is 00:17:53 And when the guests come on, scale it, and they show us these systems that they've created, that's what gets me the most excited. What turns me off is when people come in and they're like, oh, I want a strategy. Strategy's not going to save you. System will save you. System's the only thing that'll ever set you free. And when you go through kind of these three-step processes to get someone to scale, scaling, it's easy. It's unbelievably fast because you've gotten out of the biggest problem in the environment, which is humans. Get them out of the way. We're the problem. out of the way. We're the problem. How do you work with employees? Okay. So obviously if they can't adapt, you get the power from the owner to fire them or whatever you do. But like, how do you get

Starting point is 00:18:36 their buy-in and how do you get them to see it differently? And to sort of, I mean, on one service, you'd be like, look how much easier this makes your life, you know, and, and standardize things. But, you know, it's natural just like it is for me as the founder. I mean, I can be self-aware and go, sometimes I think I know best, you know, and I've figured it out or I've done all these things. How do you sort of get buy-in for the ones that aren't toxic and just can't be changed? Right. So it's all human behavior at that point, right? So there's never been an employee that's super duper happy. They're all disgruntled about something.

Starting point is 00:19:11 So you build rapport and you have a conversation with them. And one of the first things I do, I bring them all together and I go, here's the staff. And I've already rehearsed this with the owners. And the owners will come in and I'm like, all right, guys, I go, we're going to have a meeting. I go, and I'm going to do something that none of y'all can do. And I turn to the owners and I go, get the hell out of my meeting, go away. And they all go away. I said, all right, go away.

Starting point is 00:19:28 And, you know, they sit there and we've already established that whatever anybody says, no one can be fired. And nothing's being recorded. We need to talk it out. You're in a trust tree. Yeah. And they get it. All right, cool. And then we implement, and the military does this really well.

Starting point is 00:19:42 The SEALs do this better than anybody else. It's called decentralized command. We start pushing down command up and down the chain. And we just listen to them. We get the rapport in and we talk about it. And if you have that individual who is just a nightmare, the easiest way to do that is build rapport and over-enable them. You give them enough rope so that they're just going to hang themselves. There's always that one employee who has a God complex because this is their entire life. I'm like, you know what? You're right.

Starting point is 00:20:08 Absolutely. Go for it. Run with it. And you just give and give and then they just burn out and they realize just, nope, I'm just, I'm just combat ineffective. Yeah, that didn't work. And then you just, you sit down and you realize, hey, this can be done this way and this can be done.

Starting point is 00:20:20 And then we incentivize them and you find out what they want. And everyone has different human needs, right? Some people want certainty. Some people want significance. Some, you know, there's all these different human needs that human, that people want. Some people are like, oh, I want more money. All right, cool. You hit these marks. I'll make you more money. Some people are like, you know what? I just want to be able to work from home. Some people are like, I just want to pick up my kids from school. I'm like, all right, how do we do that? How are we getting in that environment? So understanding that each individual

Starting point is 00:20:42 person is an individual and has different needs. So you come in and seeing them take the power away from the owners instantaneously. And I normally get a little vulgar with them. I get the fuck out of my meeting. They're like, oh, okay. And they walk away. I'm like, go away. You're done. We're not having this conversation anymore. Get in here and let's have a conversation where we can empower them and listening to them because most founders are horrible listeners because they think they know better. And they're just like, this is what I'm going to do. Here's my plan. I came up with this idea, implement it. And my job is to fire them. My job is to fire owners. Get out of the way. I'm going to create the residual income you want so you can go live on that boat. And

Starting point is 00:21:16 they're going to, this is a cash cow now. And then normally once you start working with the founder and they detach from the emotional detachment to I'm a widget company or whatever it is that they built up because their granddaddy's granddaddy, whatever. Once they get out of that and they start getting married to this residual income, they then go, how do I exit? What is my exit? What is my three-year exit? How do I get out of this? And then, you know, one of the things that you're running into now is how do I then get into an

Starting point is 00:21:41 investment group where I can leverage that cash? How can I be in that environment where, Hey, I've never invested before in my life. I've got seven figures now because I just exited out of my company. What do I do so my great-great-grandchildren never have to work? And it's a different conversation versus how do I pay the bills or how do I make this business thrive to how do I make sure my kids never have to worry about food ever again and have to suffer? And I think going back to your original question, that's what causes the pivot. It's getting that zooming out a whole lot more versus the everyday just onslaught that people run into. Talking with a really smart guy, Charles Schwartz, host of the Scalette Lab. And yeah, as you can imagine, a Wall Street Journal bestselling author,

Starting point is 00:22:21 go figure. Hey, Charles, I don't know like i was kind of like i'm taking notes like mentally while you're going like because you know i run multiple companies and you're going yep yep yep i need to do that i don't need to do this and 100 but i do think it is fascinating you kind of went there at the end of you kind of almost answered my question without me asking you that's how you know you got somebody smart on with you the uh the but because some companies scale like the owner's gotten out of the way you know and move the ego he doesn't want to be involved he doesn't need to be involved it at the high level vision only whatever but there's still opportunity to scale is that just where you're doubling down on those systems i mean like you know like is it more than that? Because if the owner's out of the way, where do you start that

Starting point is 00:23:09 sort of scale process? You hunt the market. So you find out, does the market actually want to buy what you're selling? And are you the best option in that? You know, so many people try and sell, and where the analogy is, they try and sell vitamins instead of, instead of Adden or, you know, the pain pill. Don't try and fix their health, get them out of pain first. And there's all these people who sit there and they've, they brought their product to a market that, hey, it may have been great three years ago, four years ago. It's not great now. The market changes too darn quickly. So are you listening? Are you, you know, are you doing those peer reviews? Are you working with the clients? Are you getting that information back to say, hey, is this the best

Starting point is 00:23:44 product that we need to be doing? This is what we need to be selling. You know, I only used to own an IT company. We were, it was known as an MSP, which was a managed service provider. And we just like, we're your IT department. And that was our thing. We're your IT department. I live in South Florida. We had hurricanes all the time. So people don't give a damn about your damn IT department. The only thing they care about is, are my computers never going to go down, no matter what? And we found a way,

Starting point is 00:24:08 and this was back then, you know, to do VMs. And no one had heard it before. No one was. And a virtual machine, basically you mirror whatever's going on into the cloud. And I would walk in and I was talking to a client

Starting point is 00:24:17 and I was like, yeah, they were really worried about it because there's construction going on in the building. I said, well, I can make it that if a purple dragon shows up and eats your whole building and you have no computers that I can ship you off, well, I can make it that if a purple dragon shows up and eats your whole building and you have no computers

Starting point is 00:24:25 that I can ship you off to Rome, you can log into a laptop you've never touched before and you can still do payroll and still be fully operational. And they're like, you can do that? I was like, yeah, it's no big deal. And they're like, I want that.

Starting point is 00:24:36 So all of a sudden overnight, our business went, we're not an IT company anymore. Well, no, that's not who we are. That's not what the market wants. I can, the markup on this is unreal. So I said, listen, I go, I can do it, but it's going to cost X amount of dollars. And then we have to maintain it and all of that. And it was nothing. And I can say this now because I'm way out of my NDA, but it was the easiest thing we could do. And our markup

Starting point is 00:25:00 was, you know, seven, eight times what it was. It was ridiculous. And people were just jumping at the door and they were firing their other IT departments. I was like, no, no, keep your IT department. I don't want to be your IT department. I don't care that Susie doesn't know how to put paper in a printer. I'm going to make it so you never go down ever again. So when you're in that and you're running that problem where you're not scaling, it's looking at the market. If you've already sat there and you're like, okay, the owner's out of the way, you've got people on board, you know, you've got decentralized command, you've already redesigned the culture and you're like, okay, the owner's out of the way. You've got people on board. You've got decentralized command. You've already redesigned the culture and you dove into that. Part of that process now is what does the market actually want? Does the market want another, we were talking

Starting point is 00:25:32 about this before, does the market want another podcast that's going to tell me all about what you did in high school or does the market want something that's going to be radical value that I can work on and implement right now? There's 3.2 million podcasts. You're number one in marketing forever. The reason that happens is because you provide phenomenal value and because you listen to the market. And if you're not doing that, you lose. I don't care how good everything else is. You lose. So you have to constantly readjust to what the market actually wants. Yep. Pivot at the right time, baby. Pivot as much as you can.

Starting point is 00:26:05 I do think, I mean, pivot is an interesting word though, I think for scaling, because I think in today's world with technology and AI and how fast things change. Yeah. I don't know a business that,

Starting point is 00:26:19 you know, Amazon may not pivot a ton, but they kind of do. So like, I mean, their, their core is, you know, e-commerce, but you So, like, I mean, their core is e-commerce. But, you know, like, damn, let's hear them.

Starting point is 00:26:30 We had a guy actually on the podcast, and he wrote a book called The Bezos Letters or something. Yeah. And the core of Amazon is that he wrote, Jeff wrote, we are going to be obsessed about our customers. And that word obsessed changed the ballgame. They are obsessed with the customer experience. It's why I pay $150 a year for Prime. Because if I return, they don't have to meet with me. Nothing.

Starting point is 00:26:58 I've got right down the street from me is a Target. I could literally walk into Target and get whatever I wanted. I'll rather wait the 24 hours because I know the return is going to be so simple. And I'm just like, whatever, I can just give it a shot. And I bought so much more because of that. The core of what Amazon does so well is they chose to obsess about customers. And that's something the market wasn't doing. And that was their pivot. And they've never lost it. You know, it's Costco with the $1.50 hot dogs and the $4.99 or whatever it is, chicken. They're like, no, screw you.

Starting point is 00:27:27 This is what we're going to do because they know that, yeah, it might be a loss leader for them, but it's going to bring people in. So if you're in that situation where you're struggling, really figure out how you're showing up to the market. Because if you're racing on price, you lose because there's always going to be someone cheaper and there's always going to be someone faster can do it. You know, we talked about, you know, technology. I can literally with, there's a program with AI called 11 labs that

Starting point is 00:27:47 knows my voice well enough that can do an entire podcast for me, automate it every single day. And I never even have to be involved. So the market's changing so quickly, but is that going to give the value what the audience actually wants? No, it's not. So it's pivoting around in that way very quickly. I love that you brought up Costco. I, uh, as a marketing guy, lifelong marketer, I use the, I referenced Costco a lot as a, uh, as a point of reference for different things. And as a brand that's like, figured it out, they, uh, that damn hot dog, that dollar slice of pizza, that's still, you know, like eight inches thick, the amount of people that go with eat like's still, you know, like eight inches thick.

Starting point is 00:28:25 Yeah, it's huge. The amount of people that go and eat like their full, you know, family meal. My family included occasionally. Like for that. Go in there. Have fun, kids. But then I go buy, you know, 484 rolls of toilet paper. Yes, because that's what we need.

Starting point is 00:28:44 We need that much toilet paper in our life. It's COVID again. We have to hoard the toilet paper. 17 yeah because that's what we need we need that much toilet paper in our life it's covid again we have to hoard the toilet paper 17 cases of mustard but that hot dog was good but the hot i saved money on the hot dog honey what the hell yeah i so it's funny i literally went to costco today i went and got the hot dog i'm not proud of it my trainer will kill me and when i was there i was like hey they have these shrimp cocktail things this thing of shrimp that i got a bunch of those and i got a bunch of other stuff i walk out of costco and i'm like we're 250 dollars i just went in for a damn hot dog and that's exactly that's what they charge at the door i think i think it's like that's a minimum now i can't get out it really is go back and shop for more just go back get more with the kids with four boys i'll go in there i'm like you know i'll man you talk about

Starting point is 00:29:26 convincing yourself of like uh buys like you know damn i really needed that shirt you know that'll have the most random like i gotta know who they're like their buyers are you know and that's you know that's behavioral economics right yeah and they've got it nailed down you know my favorite example of behavioral economics is wine. There's a, they did the study and the people came in for wine and like, we want you to buy more French wine. So we just played French music. We want you to buy more Italian wine. Cause we always like, we're just gonna play Italian music. And the customer has no clue. They have no clue. They're like, I feel like buying Italian wine today. I'm like, Oh magic. Look at that. Humans are so predictable, so

Starting point is 00:30:01 predictable. So it's fun watching them kind of go through that process and not, and not understanding that all of this has been predefined and you can, you can leverage all of this if you know what you're doing. So like, let's talk about whatever it becomes, but scale it lab today, you know, and what you've built there and you're scaling it. What is it ultimately like, you know, you're, you're building a funnel there of sorts of knowledge and information and doing things like, where are you driving people to and how are you helping people? So this is exactly what we were talking about before. I had no idea where we were going with it. We had no intent, but the goal was I want to create something that people pull over and write stuff on their hands. So we created a lab report. So in other words, if you hear Ryan come on the

Starting point is 00:30:44 show and talk on the show, we're going to break that down into a 70 page lab report, which is nothing more than a massive workbook where you're like, oh, I could do this and I could do that and I could do this. Okay. That makes sense. But what we found from our listeners, they're like, listen, entrepreneurship is isolation. We need to talk to people. How can I sit down and how can I talk to you, Charles? How can I talk to Ryan? How can I talk to your guests? How can I talk to each other? Where, you know, I, we were talking about this before the show came on. I've now entered the world of Mac. Sorry, everybody who knows me, I have a Mac now and I don't know how to do dilly poop with it. I just go, Oh, so I'll just go online and I'll be like, okay, there it is.

Starting point is 00:31:16 That's how I do it. But there isn't that for entrepreneurs. We don't have this ability to come together and say, Hey, I'm struggling through this. I have my, my name, my newsletter that's acting up. I have my mastermind that's walking. Hey, I got this thing with accounting and taxes and fulfillment and blah, blah, blah. I'm having these issues. We don't have that ability to come together. So we're creating over at ScaleLab because this is what everyone's demanded from me. They're like, hey, can we have a community? Can we come together? Can we have access to your guests? Can we ask them questions live that I'm too embarrassed or too shy or I just can't get access to them? Because some of ask them questions live that I'm too embarrassed or too shy,

Starting point is 00:31:46 or I just can't get access to them? Because some of our guests are $200,000 a year just to interact with them and work with them as a client. You're not going to talk to them. So to be able to bring people in and say, hey, here's Ryan. He's been doing this a really long time. He's the best in marketing podcasts forever. Getting a hold of him is a small act of God. He's got four boys.

Starting point is 00:32:02 He's run multiple businesses. You're not going to get a hold of him. But in this environment, in this ecosystem, not only are you going to be able to access to him, but you're going to have the behind the scenes and you can watch him answer someone else's question live. Everything at scale, it's designed around being practical. How can I use this now?

Starting point is 00:32:17 How can I implement this immediately? And that's where it's really running towards. And what's interesting is we're finding that the higher end scalers, my normal clients, the seven figures and up, they want a community as well. They want a fireside chat because what happens at a six figure level is not the same at a seven figure level. It's just not, it's a totally different world. And they don't want to sit there and go through the minutia of, oh, you just started a company. Great. Okay. They want to sit there and say, Hey, I'm running into this. My distributor out in China is running into issues.

Starting point is 00:32:46 How do I find three more distributors? I've got tax changes. I've got finance changes. I had a partner that stole money from me. Those are the type of questions that most people in six years, they're not there yet. And they will. They'll get there. They really wanted to have a high-end community.

Starting point is 00:32:59 So that's the other thing that we found, that people really want that very high end community that can come together. So that's kind of where we're going with it. Yeah. And you use the word, you know, I was thinking like, how would I describe Charles? Like there's this black and white practicality with you. Like it's like I'm sure that, you know, you can go watch a funny movie and let your hair down. But I do think it's like, but I do think Charles, like he's like, look, all right,

Starting point is 00:33:28 I need practicality here. Like, you know, what are the systems? What's the process? Like you're clearly, you know. I'm tactical as fuck. Yeah, I'm just tactical as hell.

Starting point is 00:33:37 Just tell me exactly what I need to do. And I think it comes from, again, running operations or running computer systems with people dying. I'm like, I don't need fluff. I don't have time for fluff.

Starting point is 00:33:48 We did it for finance institutions as well. I was like, listen, they're a high-end trading company. If they go down, they're losing tens of thousands of dollars every second they're down. We don't have this luxury. Tell me what works. We'll talk about how great you are and how pretty you are later. What's tactical? What can I do now?

Starting point is 00:34:04 I don't want to sit there and be like, yes, honey, you're very pretty. Shut up. We got stuff to do. And there's a time and a place, but going through there and you know, everyone, the nickname everyone gives me, the one word everyone describes me is intense. Like you're intense. And the goal is get in, let's execute. And then we can breathe after. Cause you know, as for what I do and for what, you know, I've done for a really long time, I'm not brought in because people are having a good day. I'm brought in because people are having a good day. I'm brought in because there's a fire. Well, let's put the fire out and then we can talk about something else.

Starting point is 00:34:30 But, yeah, it's been about very tactical with all of this. And that's why I hate processes and I hate standard operating procedures. Give me systems. It's the only thing I'll set you free. You got time for a little lightning round QA? Oh, God. Okay, sure. Bring it.

Starting point is 00:34:44 Let me drink some water. My team put this list of questions and I was like, you know, I like this a little bit. I'll see what Charles thinks. You know, we can always edit it out of it if we don't like it, but I over there. What's your favorite startup success story? Oh geez. Uh, I don't have, um, I actually don't have one. No, that's not true. Guy worked for, he was a army guy. He was completely lost. He didn't know what to do. Him and his partner were, you know, he was, one was an Ivy league school grad. This guy was the other guy. They were just burning out as lawyers. They went

Starting point is 00:35:14 in and they bought this company that was, they put a pickled pig's feet and pickled eggs. They bought this company. I was like, what the hell are you doing? Why would you buy this? What's wrong with you? I'm like, you're an Ivy league school crowd. What the hell's wrong with you? And he goes, let me show you my process. Once every two, three weeks, they would put the eggs in the pig's feet. Disgusting. In these jars, they'd hire people to do it. They filled it up with the whatever, sealed them and then put them on the shelf. I was like, what are you doing? He goes, seven figure business. We're never involved. Our stuff never goes bad. And it was the first time I ever saw ego being taken out. You've got an Ivy league guy who owns a pickling pig's feet company. And I was like, you've got to be

Starting point is 00:35:49 kidding me. What I love about that was they didn't try and build it. They bought it from someone, which is, this is the greatest opportunity in history where you've got these boomers who are exhausted. Their kids don't want their companies. These, you can get these companies pennies on a dollar. They're about, I mean, they're nothing to do it. You can bring a little bit of automation and you can scale it. that's what these guys did 20 years ago they bought it for a couple hundred thousand dollars and they sold it for eight figures in like five years love it yeah pickles pickled pickled eggs and eggs it was disgusting i mean literally a trough of pigs oh jesus hey you can make money doing a lot of different things.

Starting point is 00:36:25 That'd be a great example. What's your go-to productivity tool? Writing things down, writing all the things that I want to get done, and then choosing the two things that'll create the most radical change for me and putting those as my first things. Because I think one of the things that we don't do as a system, as a society, is we don't measure the cost of today's decisions. In other words, what is this going to cost me to be lazy? What is this going to cost me to not do this now?

Starting point is 00:36:51 What is the long-term cost of that? We just don't do that. So we get messed up and we get caught up in the idea of productive procrastination. I'm going to clean my house. I'm going to shave. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. Ineffective.

Starting point is 00:37:02 What are the two things that if you do this will create the most radical change? And those are the first things you do every morning. And sometimes that's your business stuff. Sometimes it's your health stuff. Sometimes it's taking your wife out and take her to the beach. There's, you know, there's these different things, but you're writing everything down and then saying, okay, what are the two things? And you only get two that'll radically change my life.

Starting point is 00:37:19 Any software back to that AI that you found or like, like an actual tool, like software, anything that's like changed your world in like the last year? Yeah. My VAs. Yeah. I, yeah, there's nothing else. I, you know, I hire them, I give them the software tools, but everything I do has a system involved.

Starting point is 00:37:39 Everything is that, you know, I'm not going to get married to, you know, Chapaget GPT is amazing. It's amazing. There's a couple of things that I've learned on the Mac that are really great, but are they going to change my bottom line? Are they going to give me more freedom? Are they going to give me more residual income? No. The most powerful thing I have is working with my VA. So if there's a software connected to that, boom. So I don't have to talk to them, but no, really it's just implementing and systematizing my VAs more than getting married to a specific strategy or piece of software.

Starting point is 00:38:06 Who was or has been your most memorable guest on your show? I get asked that a lot. It's like, I've had 500 episodes. I'm about to hit that milestone. And I'm like, you're asking me to choose one of my babies. I think the one that blew my mind the most was Andy, who did the AI. Yeah. That blew my mind.

Starting point is 00:38:29 And then Leanne, who gave me the harsh reality of dropshipping and affiliate marketing. She came in and it was one of the first episodes she did. And I adore her. She was just raw, authentic, no BS about what affiliate marketing is. And this is a woman with 25 years experience. And I remember when we finished recording, for those of you don't record podcasts, there's a whole huge conversation that happens behind the scenes as soon as we stop recording. As soon as we turned off the mic and the recording, I was like, holy crap.

Starting point is 00:39:00 I was like, it was like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat relentlessly because I had all these preconceived notions about affiliate marketing. She's like, no, no, don't, don't listen to Instagram. It's not true. This is the real way you make money in it. And I remember at the end going, oh my God, it was, it felt like the first time you saw the first scene in Save a Private Ryan, where the doors come down, the first road just gets wiped out at the beach in Normandy. That's what it felt like. I was like, holy Christ. It was intense. Finally, if you could start a business

Starting point is 00:39:29 in the industry today, what would it be? Maybe you could even like a- I would never start a business. Okay. That's the, I would never start a business. I would go find a service-based business, probably in the healthcare industry where I'm taking care

Starting point is 00:39:45 of elderly people. And I would probably purchase one of the home health agencies. And I would systematize all those, get those and go in and scale those because that's going to be a huge boom. But I would never start a business. It's probably the, you know, it's why I didn't name it, you know, start it. I named it scaling. Starting a business is, I would never recommend it. It's horrible. I would never recommend it. It's horrible. I would always recommend purchase something that's already established so you have income and you have cash flow day one and then go from there. So I'd probably be in the healthcare industry. And then if you're in the Dallas, Austin, Houston area, if you're in that little triangle, jump into manufacturing with everything you have, everything you've got.

Starting point is 00:40:22 Interesting. Smart man from someone who started five companies. I'm gunning for punishment. I took on way more than... It's not easy. I mean, I've done it too. What's the startup failure rate? Oh my God.

Starting point is 00:40:38 It's brutal. I mean, you have a better chance of surviving a car crash. So I just, I would never do it. And because it's just ineffective of your time. Purchase it, scale it, systematize it, hire people smarter than you pay them more than what they're worth. Get out of their way. There you have it. Charles, where can everybody keep up with everything you've got going on show book life. So if you want, if you want the book, uh, it's, it's yours for free. We've been giving away since 2019. Just go to go on my Instagram. We have

Starting point is 00:41:05 a link there. Just I am Charles Schwartz. I am Charles Schwartz.com goes from there and then scale lab. You know, if you want to get access, we have all the episodes and all the lab reports and all that's there for you. If you want to listen to the podcast, please, by all means, give feedback. Yes, I know my AV does not work very well. We are working on it. But you know, perfection is the enemy of execution. I'm working on it. But yeah, that's, that's where they can track me down. I am Charles Schwartz is probably the best on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. I'll say this in, you know, partly why Charles is here. You know, I, I caught his show and then went down the rabbit hole. And I'll tell you as someone that helps,

Starting point is 00:41:40 you know, shows scale and grow the formula formula that Charles developed that was so clear, like the journey from, okay, why is he doing the show? The content of the show, who is, who's it helping? And the funnel and the flow, I, you know, for me being marketer, knowing it was just crystal clear. And it's a blueprint for really, I think, how to build, grow a show, create something of value, and then sort of have that leverage. And I think you've done a great job, Charles. Man, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Especially from you, because you've got the whole network over there and you've been doing this a lot. You know what you're doing and, you know, it's marketing and I'm still learning. The one thing I was not prepared for was the absolute onslaught of people that are, that are interested. When you, again,

Starting point is 00:42:29 give something of value they're going to be there. I was not prepared for that. I'm grateful for it, but we're working on it. There you go. Charles, we really appreciate you, brother. Look forward to following you and obviously collaborating whatever and however we can. Thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate it. Hey guys, you know, to find us, ryanisright.com. You'll find all the highlight clips, the full episode, the audio, the video. Go over there to YouTube.

Starting point is 00:42:51 Watch Charles. Pretty boy. You can go see Charles in person. He looks good. He talks good. He is good. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time.

Starting point is 00:43:00 All right. About now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Scaling Secrets: Transforming Your Business with Automation and Effective Systems

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.