The School of Greatness - 172 Putting People Over Profit in Business and Life with Dale Partridge

Episode Date: May 4, 2015

"Profit is easy, people are hard." - Dale Partridge If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/172.

This is episode number 172 with Dale Partridge. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Today's guest, his name is Mr. Dale Partridge.

He's a good friend of mine that I connected with a little over almost a year ago now. For those that don't know who Dale is, he is an entrepreneur who's launched seven companies and is most known for one of the companies called Sevenly. And each week, Sevenly partners with one qualified nonprofit and Sevenly donates $7 for every product sold to support the charity's cause. In less than two years, Sevenly has given over $3 million in $7 donations to charities across the world. He's also the author of a new book called People Over Profit, which is about breaking the system, living with purpose, and being more successful. And I've had a great opportunity to connect with Dale.

I call him a dear friend of mine now. We chat all the time. And this guy just knows a lot about business. He knows a lot about the social landscape. There are a few people that I'm really impressed with in the social media space, and he is one of them based on all the things he can do to drive traffic,

and he's just really bright the way he breaks things down. So we're going to talk about some of the things he does in business, why people overprofit is the most powerful thing, and how to take your business to the next level. So let me introduce you to the one and only Dale Partridge. Welcome everyone back to the School of Greatness podcast with my man, Dale Partridge on the line. How's it going, brother?

What up? I'm excited, man. We've been talking about this for like seven months now since we hung out at a little mastermind up in Bend, Oregon. Was that that long ago? I know, right? Yeah. I mean, out of all the podcasts I've been doing the last couple months, I've been super stoked about this one. I think that you and I are definitely the closest out of everybody I've talked to.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think I – well, I like to think that I inspired you to start your own podcast. Yeah, you definitely did. It's in one of my podcasts. I said, I was talking to John Lee Dumas and I said, you know what, between you and Lewis, but I'll have to give Lewis the credit. He was kind of the starter point. Exactly.

Well, for those that don't know who Dale is, we met probably about a year ago. You hit me up on Twitter. And then we finally, we started talking back and forth. And then I came up to Ben and we met in person for a few days. And here's what I want to tell people is that I love to build relationships and I love to be connected to influencers and people that are like-minded but are doing big things and bigger things than me. And I feel pretty well connected to a lot of the big players in the online marketing space, the entrepreneurship space. And I remember thinking to myself, I'm getting the same results I've been getting for the last year to two years in terms of traffic

and engagement on social media and traffic to my website. And I remember thinking to myself, there's got to be another way to figure out how to get more traffic and leads. And the people that I already know aren't helping me. You know, I'm not learning anything new from the people I already know. And I was like, what is that thing? What's it going to take? And I remember meeting you and being like, this is it.

Because I met you and this group of like these other online marketers who aren't well known, let's say in the online marketing influence space, but you guys are just killing it financially and traffic wise. And I was like, these are the type of guys I need to be meeting who are thinking and doing things on a different level. And so I'm excited. So a lot of people are starting to learn more about you who are in my space, or let's say who follow me because I promote a lot of your content on my Facebook page. And I know you share a lot of your content on your page from me.

So a lot of people are emailing me saying thank you for introducing me to Dale and his content. I love his stuff, his blog, everything that he stands for. thing that he stands for. And since the moment I met you, my traffic has quadrupled from the month before I met you to the month after and since then and stayed at that level because of the stuff you taught me and the stuff I learned that you and your other friends are doing. And that's what it was about for me. It's about meeting the people that can really take you to the next level. And I want to talk about that because you have a new book out called People Over Profit, Break the System, Live with Purpose, and Be the next level. And I want to talk about that because you have a new book out called People Over Profit, Break the System, Live with Purpose, and Be More Successful.

And I think a lot of people want to get to the next level, but they keep doing the same things and they keep staying in the same circles and they keep engaging in the same conversation. But if you want to get different results, you got to mix it up and you got to think differently and hang out with people who do things differently at another level. And that's what you talk about in your book. And we'll get into that. But really about, you know, connecting with people and making sure that they're taken care of more so than worrying about profit. Isn't that right? Absolutely. I mean, when you get a chance to have a company of people that feel like people instead of parts of your machine, they work harder and more dedicated and more passionately than any other employees ever will. So the idea is that when you care for the people, you're actually going to be more profitable.

And we see this in some of the top performing companies in the world. Yeah. some of the top performing companies in the world. Yeah. And one of the quotes that I have right here that my actually assistant printed out and put it on my table for me while I'm interviewing you is a quote from the book that says, how you make employees feel about themselves says a lot about your business. And I love that because when people really feel cared about, like you said, when they feel loved, when they just feel understood and heard, as opposed to what are the numbers today? What are the sales? What are, you

know, give me the stats, the stats and the data. When people feel cared about, they really want to work harder. They want to, they want to, you know, make sure that you're cared for and your business is successful. So, um, I love that attitude, that energy. And let's talk about it with the way you built up Sevenly, your company that was a multimillion dollar company that you're now no longer there. But what did you really practice there? And did you know this from the beginning or did you have to learn the hard way? Yeah, you know, I started a couple of companies before this and, you know, been fired from my own companies, but got through the ringer in many ways of learning about my leadership. And I remember a mentor came up to me one day and said, can I talk to you? And he took me in

the other room and he said, Dale, when you talk to people, you hurt people. And I remember thinking, whoa. And at the time, I had 42 employees. And I was thinking, I looked at my past and the history of the relationships that I had, and I saw a wake of destruction. I mean, just of people that I had not cared for. And I think that this might be one of the reasons that qualifies me to write this book, is because I struggle here, but I'm also winning here. And in this time at Sevenly, I had to really regain this trust. And I mean, remember that the marketplace left to itself, it doesn't see people. It sees pieces to a puzzle. It sees potential purchasers. It sees zeros and dollar signs and credit card swipes and bottom lines. And every dollar our company makes is a reason not to change. That worked. Let's just

not let... I don't need to change. It's keeping a jerk. Right. Yeah, exactly. So what we've done is we've tied a lot of the negative things that we've done in our past, we've tied that to our success. We say, well, lying, I've lied for 10 years, and I'm really successful and very wealthy. And so I'm going to keep doing that because I've tied lying to my success. And so it's really hard to be able to pick and choose and go, what do I need to get rid of? That's actually bad. And what do I need to keep? It's actually good. Um, and you know, so it's, this is the depth of, of kind of real emotional leadership because you know leadership. Because what got us here isn't going to get us there. And you saw that even in the marketing. You're doing the same thing

over and over and you go, man, I need to jump to the next level. Same thing with leadership. So we look at the strongest companies in the world. And it's so funny because let's talk about like Patagonia or North Face or Whole Foods or In-N-Out or Chick-fil-A or Ben & Jerry's. These companies that just crush it in the marketplace. Their leaders, they all do the same thing and they have no idea that they're doing this. They're not tattooed on their HQ. They're not in their mission statements.

They're not in their business plans. And they're not things that you're going to find in Fast Company or Inc. or Harvard Business Review. Instead, they're things that your parents taught us in kindergarten. They're like the very basic principles of life, like don't lie, love one another, be kind, share, and be generous. And at this basic level is where these leaders are crushing it because it's very difficult. It's very difficult. I'm talking, these are the things that humans have struggled with forever,

right? We, you know, I'm 30 years old and I was still telling my wife that I'm around the corner and I'm not, I'm lying. Right. And so it's like, you know, it's, we still struggle with these things as leaders. And, um, and this is where we find success is when we can be these moral, And this is where we find success is when we can be these moral, ethical, incredibly, you know, strong-willed, you know, built with integrity type of leaders that can take over our companies and lead our companies to success. So what would you say is the most important ingredient to running and then growing a successful company? You know, for me, it's emotional leadership for sure. So I mean, this has been being able to become that leader. And I remember switching my thoughts. So I thought, as soon as I switched and stopped seeing money as the primary goal,

but as a byproduct of helping a million people, that was the big shift. I got into Sevlin. I said, my whole focus was just changing a million people's lives. And that was the focus. And the result was a multi-million dollar company. And so shifting that into purpose and shifting that into caring. And as the CEOs of our companies, whether we're two employees, five employees, or 500 employees, it's our ability to nurture and to care and to love. And I see this in so many different ways where people... I'll give you a great example of one thing that we did at Sevenly that I think was completely different from anybody else. And just so people know, will you explain what Sevenly is for a moment? Yeah. So Sevenly is a social good company where every week we partner with a new nonprofit and we would sell products like hats and beanies and shirts and jackets and bags. And anytime somebody bought a product,

we would give that charity $7. And so if we sold a thousand products, we'd give the charity $7,000. We grew the company to about almost 50 employees, almost $10 million a year in revenue. And we actually gave away $4.2 million in $7 donations, which is crazy to think about. But one thing that we changed in my leadership, I said, okay, if I'm going to believe that people are more valuable than profit... I mean, remember, the book title is not People Instead of Profit. We need profit, but it's people over profit. I redefined the golden rule. And the golden rule is we fire people the way we would like to be fired. Nobody likes to get fired. I mean, it's a crappy day for anybody, right? And I remember thinking, man, companies ask for two-week notice when people quit.

Yet we just drop people any day of the week, right? You go, Hey, sorry, man. We got to let you go. And we don't give them two weeks notice. And so I thought, Why are we doing these things? Tradition is powerful. Pattern is powerful. So we've been doing things. And just because it's been around for a long time doesn't mean that it's the right way to do it. And so I said, okay, let's instead, let's start firing on Fridays. Let's give them notice. And if not notice, then what we'll do

is we'll actually extend their pay for at least two weeks, sometimes longer. We have to remember that these people are parents. They're husbands and wives. They have mortgages and bills, and they're people just like us, right? And we made a policy to never speak to the person, only to the problem. And I would even write them a letter of recommendation for the things that

they were good at. And we would sometimes extend their benefits. I mean, we had one time where a guy's wife was about to have a baby. Let's be known as the company that changes the world but then lets our employee go into a birth without insurance. So we had to think about those things. And every person is unique. So one other thing that we did that was different is we would tell these people, because a lot of the times it was just, hey, the initiative is no longer needed,

so we had to let people go. It might not be that they're just bad employees. And we'd say, hey, do you want to come back on Monday? And we'd like to go around the room, all the staff, and tell you how great you are. Wow. And 80% of the people would do that. And they'd come back and they'd sit in the center of the room. And we would walk around and say, man, John, you know, your ability to draw is incredible. I love just coming over at lunch and just sitting over your shoulder and watching you draw. You're so gifted. And then the next guy say like, you know, you make me laugh. You're the reason I get up in the morning to come here because you make me laugh. And this person leaves

feeling not as a past employee, but as like alumni. And, and, and this is, this is the difference. And this is what, what happens. And everybody feels safe in this company because they go, you know what, if there's a day that I do get transitioned out of this company, it's not going to be horrible. It's not going to be bloody and it's not going to leave me hanging. Wow. That's pretty powerful. So really you focus on acknowledging everyone for their gifts, not for their downfalls. Yeah. Right. I mean, I mean, remember that the longer that someone stays there, that's not gifted in the ways that you need it. It's, it's, it's crappy for them and for you. Yeah. Yeah. And, and people aren't, you know, just because they're bad for your company doesn't make them bad people.

Right. Sure. Sure. Do you think people should be implementing some type of plan or tracking system of their employees on their happiness or their levels of fulfillment? Or how can someone manage that? And if you have three employees or 300, how do you manage that if you do? Yeah. I mean, I think it's incredibly irresponsible for a leader to not employ someone to be, especially when your staff gets large, to not employ someone to be, especially when your staff gets large, to take care of this kind of stuff. So what we did is once we had about 20 employees, we said, hey, we need to have someone who's in charge of this. And I hired a guy who was our chief culture director. And all he did, he's pretty much like a therapist for the staff, right? It was totally not HR because HR is so boring and it's legal. But this guy, his whole goal was to make people know that the executive team, the shareholders, that we love

them and that we want to care for them. And so we would do things like, I remember our tagline for the company was People Matter. And it's kind of the banner of my leadership style. And I remember it was Father's Day. It was coming up actually two days before my leadership style. And I remember it was Father's Day. It was coming up actually two days before Father's Day. And I was thinking like Mother's Day gets so much attention, right? So much attention. You know, it's like one of the busiest holidays of the year. But fathers sometimes feel left out.

And I thought if people matter, then fathers matter. And I think that that relationship sometimes is a difficult relationship for a lot of people. And so I told LV, the guy that was running it, and I said, Hey man, why don't you give everybody $100 each employee to take out their dad's or their father figure on Father's Day? And so we made this announcement and we wanted our company to be known for the reason that maybe rekindled a relationship between a father and a daughter or son. And it's again like, at what point did companies stop caring about people? I feel like, where did we lose this?

And we see it in a lot of startups today. But we lost it in a lot of the big corporations of today as well. So this is kind of the shift. It's just how can we really start looking past the bottom line and into the souls and eyes of those who work for us? Why do you think so many startups have lost that? I'm sure there are some and we hear stories about some. But why do you think the majority of them don't focus on happiness within their team necessarily as a main focus, but more on profit or leads or sales or whatever. Yeah. You know, I, one thing I'm saying is this, I'm learning is that

making money is one of the easiest things people can do. Um, I think that most of the people listening today and, and, and, you know, most of the people that Lewis and I know here are very easy that we're good at making money. Right. And that's an easy thing to figure out. One of the hardest things to figure out is to be able to make money and be liked by almost everybody that you do business with. These people that say, oh, man, it's not business or it's not personal. It's just business. Right.

Those are like the most dangerous leaders out there. Yeah. You're like, no, everything's personal, bro. Like this is, this is, this is personal. Um, and so I think that the focus on profit is easy. It's really easy to focus on. And, and it, especially like the COO types, the logistics, you know, the, the left brain people that, that are very focused on just kind of the black and white, who are kind of a little bit emotionally handicapped in some way. And I know this because I'm struggling with the

same thing. It's difficult, man. It's difficult to look at people and go, you're not part of our plan and I need to think about you in a different way. So that's what I'd say is that profit is easy. People is hard. And I remember our tagline, our tagline for Sevenly was do good. It used to be do good. And I was so stoked about it. I was like, yeah, do good. And when I switched it to people matter, I remember thinking, man, do good is easy. People matter is really hard. And, and,, to, to walk into a room and be like, man, you know, that guy right there is just as valuable as me. And I think that, um, uh, Bill Gates said it best is there, there's no human life. Every human life is worth exactly the same. And, and when you think

about that, you go, I got to walk into Walmart and look at that dude in the eye and be like, man, that guy is worth exactly the same as me. And, and that changes your shift in your leadership style. I don't want to alienate everyone who's listening because there might be a few people listening who's saying, wow, you know, making money is not easy for me. And it's been a struggle. It's been a challenge. And it's the one thing I can't figure out. I can love everyone and be supportive, but money is really a struggle for me to make. And at one point I was there for a few years, I wasn't making anything. And I was like, is this ever going to work? And at one point I was there for a few years, I wasn't making

anything. And I was like, is this ever going to work? You know, am I ever going to be able to make money? So, you know, I, what I would say is once you figure it out, how to do it, it becomes very easy to replicate over and over. And I think sometimes guys like you and I forget that because we know how to just turn it on at any moment. But I know that. And what it is is also is that it's that those people have it a little bit easier because it's really hard to learn how to love people. If you're not born with that, man, that's like a thing. You're going to read 100 books and make very little progress, right? Exactly. But if you want to figure out how to make money, you could read 100 books and make a good chunk of distance,

right? Exactly. So yeah, you're right. It's definitely something that's still a struggle. But yeah, I sometimes wish that I had that struggle than the one that I have now. Exactly. So when did you first start making your first dollars or when was your first entrepreneurial success? Yeah. So I thought for sure I was going to be a professional baseball player. Like it was, it was like in the cards, I got a full scholarship to one of the greatest baseball schools. And, and in the summer between, um, between high school and college, I was playing baseball of course. And, and, uh, you know, is the end of a game. I'm ninth inning and I'm, I'm watching every pitch is radar guns up, radar guns up, radar guns up and, and notes. Right. And so I'm, I'm pitching hard. I'm throwing 87

miles an hour, which is really fast. Yes. I'm a pitcher. Yeah. Left-handed pitcher and 87 miles an hour for a five foot nine guys really fast. Sure. And, um, boom, my elbow, just like the bone. If you reach down on the inside of your elbow, that bone was like down on my tricep and it was it. That was, that was, that was done, man. Like every scout in the world would, would note about that and say, this guy broke his arm when he was young. He ain't playing. So I stopped baseball. I started my first company thinking that I could learn how to fix myself, which is a fitness company. And grew that to about five or six employees in about almost a half million a year. And realized that I was training overweight, wealthy women. And I was a therapist and not a trainer. And I hated it. So I was training overweight, wealthy women and I was a therapist and not a

trainer and I hated it. So I, I, uh, I was also, you know, 19 or 20 years old. I sold that company to a young couple for 50 grand. Um, and I was the wealthiest 19 year old I've ever met. And I was thinking, oh my gosh, what am I going to do with all this money? I don't ever have to work again. And I took that money because I was an addict of Chipotle. I mean, I ate Chipotle. Oh, it's so good. And I walked in one day and the guy literally knew my name. He's like, hey, Dale. He's like, we went public today. And I was like, oh, really? And I had this money and I was thinking about playing the stock market. And I was like, oh, really? I was like, you know, and I had this money and I was thinking about playing the stock market.

We IPO'd at $21 a share. And I said, huh. I went home and I funded $10,000 into my account and invested into Chipotle. And I just lucked out because Chipotle happened to go up to like $121 a share in like a couple months. It went so fast. And I thought, oh my God, I have to sell.

There's no way that I'm going to make any more money. So I sold. If you look today, it's at like $600 a share. I lost a bunch of money on solar stocks. Um, and, uh, you know, it was definitely, you know, the biggest idiot on the stock market for a long time. And, uh, and then started a rock climbing gym, uh, raised a half million dollars from my, from, overweight clients' husbands, which is a fun experience. And I started this rock climbing gym and got fired from that company. Then this is just that process of me trying to figure out who I was as an entrepreneur. And that was the journey. And I remember thinking that it takes 10 years to build an overnight success. It's that it's that, that process. We're so eager to like make this business work. And I remember thinking so many

times that this is it. Like, I'm going to be building rock climbing gyms for the rest of my life. Like, and then like, Oh, I'm going to own this branding agency for the rest of my life. And, and, and then, Oh, sevenly, this is it for sure. You know, but we, we transition. And I think that also there's, there's a bit of the human mind that craves variety and um and and that that journey is it's just remember the more you start the more you get on that dream the faster you get at doing it and and so for me i can start a company in three months and make it work but i couldn't do that seven years ago right you know so it's just getting out there and and i always say entrepreneurs learn by doing, not learning to do.

So just get out there and start crushing. Now you've been transitioning over the last, I guess, year and a half, two years since leaving Sevenly and now kind of starting your own online brand and business and following and everything that you've been doing. And you've done an incredible job and you've been doing and you've done an incredible job and you've been learning a lot. What's the biggest lesson you learned from, let's say, traditional offline business with a bunch of employees to basically having maybe one or two employees working virtual and running an online business?

So one of the things that people don't know about me is, is I'm a bad business partner. And it doesn't mean that I'm like a deceptive, horrible person. It's just that I'm just not good at being a partner. I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm really need to be in control and I need to lead. And that's just who I am. And I struggle with that for a long time. Cause this is this, this business that I started now, startupcamp.com is the first company that I've done on my own. And so this is unique because I think there's still a little piece of me that goes, man, can I do this on my own? So I understand that struggle where people say, I need partners because it's an insecurity that I can't do it on my own. And I'm married with a little baby and it's really hard for me to be good at this marriage. Right. So I don't need another marriage, right. To, to say, Oh yeah, you know, let's, let's be good at two or three

marriages. And, um, so, so that's one thing I'm on my own now, which is, it feels really good to, to, to, it feels right. So if you're that guy that's questioning that all the time, just know that it's okay to, to say that I'm just not a good business partner. Um, but yes, I have the highest, you know, my whole goal now is highest amount of revenue, least amount of employees, geographically independent, having purpose freedom at the core. And I've been able to create this new business with very little employees, high revenue. It's very intriguing. It's exciting. It's freedom. It's the real idea of the entrepreneur. And I'll tell you a story.

I owned a house in the mountains when I lived in California, in Lake Arrowhead, California. And I walked up there. It was in the middle of the summer. And it was at night. And I'm walking around the lake. And I'm looking at these $3-4 million homes. Beautiful homes. And I'm walking around with my wife. And I look and nobody's there. Nobody's at these houses. And I thought to myself, these people don't own their businesses. Their businesses own them. And they are stuck chasing the things that don't matter. And they have these beautiful opportunities. It's summertime. You should be with your family. And they have these massive companies that just

own their time. And I thought, I don't want to do that. It's for some people. It's not for me. I want to be a great dad. I want to be a great husband. I want to be a good friend. I want to be a good son, a good brother. And to be great at those things takes time. So this is the new journey. And I'll tell you, it's really brilliant, I guess, when people go, oh, I have a giant company and I make $500,000 a year. It's okay, cool. But I think, and they work 80 hours a week, right? And I think that's even more successful when you go, I have a really small company and I work about 15 hours a week and I make a half million a year.

And that's been my new entrepreneurial chase, you know, it's like, how effective can I be with my time? And I think that's really what makes a great entrepreneur, um, is, is being able to do that. So remember that, you know, an entrepreneur isn't, you know, you don't want to be an employee for your own company. You want to do it so that you can, you can have that freedom to, to do the things that matter, relationships, right? Not revenue all the time. Exactly. What do you think are the two, three, four few things that every entrepreneur, if they're starting their own venture online right now, needs to have in order to be successful?

What are the things that if there's a brand new person listening who's like, okay, I want to start this thing online and I want to get moving and my goal is to make a half a million to seven figures a year within the next couple of years. What are the key ingredients you would say that they need to have, whether it be technical things or vision based, what would those things be that they must have in order to set a clear foundation and a solid foundation for themselves moving forward? I have three. Okay. So design, marketing, and fear. And I'll talk about them in that order. So for me, design has been, we live in the aesthetic generation. We live in a time where

millennials are driven by fear and are driven by beauty. And so you look at this and you go, oh my gosh, like this company is so beautiful. That's credibility in your design. So when someone sees good design, they go, if they care this much about the smallest details, they must care about me. And so design is this instant trust, consumer trust that's built from it. So if you have bad design, you will almost for sure not work. Your company won't work. And I'll tell you, I can look at a company's logo if they're a startup and pretty much from their logo be able to say if they're going to be successful or not. And because the rest of the

stuff on the back end of business, again, you can read a book to learn that. But design is something that you have to develop. And it has nothing to do with Photoshop. It has nothing to do with Illustrator. It has everything to do with your eye. So you develop your eye. That's how you get better at design. So for me, I look at furniture and interior design and fashion and web design and product design. And every possible element of my life is curated. Because remember, the way we do one thing is the way we do almost everything. And so for me, everything must be beautiful. It cannot diminish the content. So the content still needs to be solid, not just good content, but useful content. But it has to be beautiful as

well. And people that don't understand this and don't understand the power and design typically are in the back of the race. So that's one, um, marketing. And just to, just to clarify there and, uh, emphasize that, you know, I had pretty, let's say basic average boring design probably about four years ago, you know, uh, and when I was starting out, you know, five, six years ago, I had basic design, and I was getting basic results. You know, at one point, my business started to make more money with still basic design. And I thought to myself, well, you know, I don't really need to focus on this design thing. Because I'm able to jump on a webinar and, and,

and create great value and content that I'm generating sales anyways. So it doesn't matter. I didn't have a beautiful website. I didn't have a beautiful logo. It was just kind of like a quick 99 design thing that didn't matter. But what I realized is that if I wanted to make it to the next level, if I wanted to really connect with the influencers, connect with the media in such a powerful way so that

they wanted to bring me on, if I wanted to have a book agent take me seriously, get to the next level of credibility and influence in the world that design did matter. And so I spent a good three, four months creating a whole branding doc of how I wanted my online image to look, how I wanted my new website design to look, working with the highest, the best designers that I could find. And I implemented it over two years ago. I still get emails every week from people saying, gosh, your website is beautiful. And like telling me they're copying it basically. And you know, when people talk about your design alone, it brings more attention to you and your business. So yeah, you're, you're, yeah, you become more referable, more talkable because remember, nobody wants to say, Hey, check out this

website that I love and it's really ugly. Right. So, and, and you're, you're so right with the press and with other influencers. And that's why I like, you know, Lewis, one thing that you've done that I've done also is, is you hire always a professional photographer to take your photos. Yes. I have, I have 40 different headshots that I could use for is you hire always a professional photographer to take your photos. I have 40 different headshots that I could use for different things. And you need that because remember, you are marketing yourself and you can't do iPhone photos from your buddy that thinks he's a photographer. You've got to spend the money. And because that kind of stuff is incredibly important. So number two is marketing. And it sounds so simple. Oh, marketing. Well, marketing for me is that I don't care if you have a PhD from Harvard in marketing,

it doesn't matter anymore because every day you wake up and you go to school, you have to figure out, okay, what changed on Pinterest this morning? What is email marketing shifting into? What did Google AdSense change today? And so marketing is, it's a brutal industry to be in today. Because it's always changing. You, right when you figure it out and you're like, oh man, it's crushing. Facebook ads is doing well. It changes. It changes. And then you're like, crap. Right. And you know, with, with like Facebook never sharing their algorithms, you know, or you know, you, you never know. So you constantly have to test and you constantly have to be in it.

And if you're out for say three to four months, you're lost again. I mean, you have to consistently be on it. And that's why it's testing. It's doing it. It's following the right people that are winning. And then another part of marketing, what I'll say is own your audience instead of buy your audience. So I'm a big fan of... I try to build big audiences and own them and then market to those people. So I own lots of social media, real estate is what you can call it, Instagram accounts and Pinterest accounts and different things that I have built over the last few years that can't be taken away from me. And that's the one thing is you're constantly needing to protect that. So that's something I would consider

is work on building it now because a year from now, you'll wish you did. Yeah, I mean, the social media is still powerful. Some people say, well, Twitter and Facebook are gonna die eventually, this and that. But the thing is, it's so powerful right now to get instant traffic and instant connections and referrals through these social media channels. And Dale's one of the guys

I learned from on how to really acquire these accounts and how to grow them and how to leverage them from networks of people. And what's your top two or three traffic sources right now? And what's your top two or three traffic sources right now? You know, number one is Pinterest, which always shocks people, right? Pinterest is such a great traffic tool. And then number two is Facebook still. It would go back and forth sometimes between Twitter and Facebook. But Twitter is tough.

Twitter is a hard spot to be in. It's a great spot you need to be in. And I think Twitter is becoming like the next generation's news source. So I would say it's got a pretty long life cycle. But Facebook with Facebook ads and then the virality component still is great. But Instagram is coming up as a major player still. And I know people are jumping on Snapchat like crazy right now. And I think that maybe has some potential in the future too. The big thing is constantly being everywhere. It's tough. It's tough.

And remember that do what you do and do it well. And what you don't do well, don't do it. If you can't crush on Facebook or on Instagram or on Snapchat, then don't there. I own at Dale Partridge on Snapchat. I haven't done any Snapchats yet because I just don't have the time right now and I can't crush it there. Yeah, you know, Snapchat, it's been like a battle for the last year and a half for me because everyone's like, you got to get on, you got to get on. And I've tried to a couple of times, but I don't like my content disappearing. It's gone. That means no one else can see it. And I'm like,

why am I going to create something that no one can see in a year? I've got YouTube videos that people email me about from years ago. They're like, I love this interview you did that you had on YouTube. And I'm like, oh, I'm glad it's available for people to search and find. Can't do that on Snapchat. Yeah, it's not a content space for sure. So I don't know. I know it has its benefits and you're connecting with people in a different way, but it's tough.

You've got to figure out things that you can do well. Focus on those first. Don't try to do it all unless you you're doing it all well, because you have a system in place for each one, then you can start implementing all of them. But you know, I didn't do Pinterest until I met Dale and learned his system on it, and how to really leverage it. Because I didn't understand it. And I was like, I don't understand this. You know, I'm gonna stick to Twitter and Facebook. So. And check this out. I mean, Lewis, we always forget that there's all – I guess anybody that's listening to this,

that there's normal people out there that use these things because they don't have a business to be marketing on or whatever. Right. And my wife loves Snapchat because she just uses it like a consumer would. chat, right? Because she just uses it like a consumer would, you know? And I thought, I think to myself, man, I wonder what it's like to, to use Facebook because like, I actually want to talk to people, you know, not to market something. Yeah. Yeah. Like not to market something, meaning that I have my own personal Facebook page for my, for my family and friends that with, you know, a hundred people on there. Yeah. And I love that. And I get a chance to see my dad and who doesn't live in Oregon with me. And so, but I understand that purpose, but I thought about it. I'm like, man, like I'm constantly

in marketing mode. I'm trying to be as authentic as I possibly can. So it's one of those things as leaders and as marketers, we got to constantly be reminding ourselves that the rest of the world's not like us. Yeah. Okay. If you were, so if you're going to invest in, so if you're a new entrepreneur or you're an entrepreneur who's stuck and you can invest in one to three things marketing wise, what would you be investing your time in right now knowing what's happening over the next year or two? Man, I would invest my time into, I don't think Facebook's going anywhere. I'm pretty confident in what they're doing. They're constantly changing and the Facebook ad function is still pretty stinking powerful

right now. Um, I think that, uh, Pinterest is a great future, uh, has a really great future. And I think that email is going to be sustainable. Um, email has the, at least so far, the longest track record of success. And, um, you know, it's obviously owned by Google because they run Gmail and, and, you know, majority of the emails in the world. But I think that email marketing is becoming cleaner as we learn how to get rid of the crap that we don't want and we unsubscribe from the many things that we want. But we also actually say, hey, I actually subscribe to three or four blogs or to three or four podcasts. And then I guess podcasting, man. I mean, I think podcasting has got a great future. I mean, we're all radio show hosts now, you know, it's, it's, um, it's hard to get to the

top. I mean, I I'm what, 19 shows in with a pretty massive platform and I'm still, you know, working, working hard to catch up to guys like Lewis. So, uh, you know, but yeah, so it's, it's, um, that's what I would jump in. I think that Pinterest is very unique. And I think you got to play with these, be on them for at least 20 minutes a day. Because I think that's really what it takes. You got to know the culture of each one. And then get into a mastermind group. Even if it's just five guys or girls

that are just like you, they're all, the power of five over power of one is so much greater. So, um, jump in one, you know, create one, take, take charge and say, Hey, we're going to put one together. Yes. Okay. And the third thing that you were talking about. Yeah. The last thing, the last thing is fear. Um, so fear has kept so many would be leaders, uh, so many would be entrepreneurs on the sidelines, you know, uh, on the sidelines. While these good opportunities and

ideas just paraded by, they're not lacking insight. They're lacking courage. And I'll tell you, this life that you're living right now, this is not rehearsal. This is your life today. And if you sit there and you watch your dreams just die in front of you because you're too busy or because of circumstances or whatever it might be, you don't get a second chance. This is it. And so I constantly try to encourage people to say, chase those things. Get on them. Build time You know, Dave Ramsey says a great quote says live like no one else so that eventually you can live like no one else. And I think that's true is that today you got to live like no one else, which means that you're working more. Maybe you're working at night and, and you're not spending money and you're learning how to save.

And, but you know, if you do those things, then a couple of years from now, you're going to be living like no one else. You're going to have freedom and you're not going to have to go to work and you're going to, you're going to have that time with your family, you're going to be living like no one else. You're going to have freedom and you're not going to have to go to work and you're going to have that time with your family and you're going to get to be the dad or mother you wanted to be. And so I'd say, you know, just focus on that. Focus on that courage. I mean, many who lack the courage to forge ahead alone, they're always looking for someone to take the first step, to go first, to show the way. But I can argue that the dark provides the optimal context for an entrepreneur. If the path was well lit, it'd be crowded and it's not.

That's true. I like that. What's your biggest fear then moving forward? For me, I actually recently told my wife, I think my biggest fear is being irrelevant. Um, I actually recently told my wife, I think my biggest fear is being irrelevant. And, and it's, I'm constantly like making sure that people know who I am and that I have this message to tell and that, that I'm, that I'm, you know, I'm influential and that I want to be successful. And I don't just want to be successful in business, but it's successful as a man, as

at home and as a friend, like I said earlier. And my fear sometimes is that people just don't know who I am. And it's an insecurity. It's a shame. And it hurts me in a major way because I hustle sometimes harder than I need to. Because sometimes I have to remember that I can't take any of this stuff with me, right? This stuff is... I'm not going to sit on my deathbed. that like, I can't take any of this stuff with me, right? You know, like this, this stuff is,

I'm going to, I'm not going to sit on my deathbed. We know this because there's the hundreds of studies done on people dying. No one's going to say, man, I'm so pissed that I didn't work more. You know, like, it's going to be like, I wish that I spent more time with the people that matter. And, um, so that's, that's the big encouragement is to, you know, to focus on that. And my biggest fear, and I think many, many leaders fear is that is that if we stop, we won't be relevant. And I don't think that's true. That's a good point. What do you think is the biggest lesson you still need to learn that you haven't learned? Oh, man.

I think it has to do with probably mentorship. You know, I would say the, you know, self-evaluation. So I would say self-evaluation is helpful, but evaluation from someone else is essential. And giving someone permission, one or two safe people permission to speak into your life at a very raw level. I mean, nobody likes to tell anybody that they have a booger on their face, right? At dinner, you're like, oh man, I got to tell them that. But it's true. Sometimes we do things. We let fear run our lives. We're in a relationship that's not good for us. We get caught in lies. We are sarcastic or we exaggerate too much or we mislead people or we're rude to one another. And if you

don't have anybody that can go up to you and go, man, you hurt people, then you're never going to grow. So you got to find that one or two or three people, safe people that'll say, Hey man, like you can't do that anymore because, um, that's, that's what real growth happens. And if you can sit there humbly and go, damn, like, okay, all right. I can, I can focus on that and ensure it's going to take you months, maybe even years to fix some of those things. But that's how people win right there. Yeah. I like that. And I, you know, I, I've had many mentors, official and unofficial for years, and people that I just look up to and admire that I reach out to for feedback all the time. And now I, I, you know, I hire someone that I who's a good friend of mine,

I pay him monthly to get on a call 30 minutes once a week and literally give me feedback, listen to what I've been up to. Sometimes he gives me good feedback and other times he's just like, okay, keep doing what you're doing. And that's the feedback I need. But I feel it's so valuable and important, specifically at the level I'm at, to have someone always checking me and making sure that they're giving me their 100% honest feedback about everything, about my business, about the way I show up, about a podcast episode

that I did, whatever it may be, but just being so honest with me. And some of it lands where I'm like, okay, yeah, I see that. And I'll make a shift. And some of it doesn't, where I'm like, man, I don't feel like an authentic here. I feel like I'm good, actually. But I think it's good to have that feedback. So you hear it either way. Yeah. You know, I had one story. Um, I don't know, you know, I know we're coming close on time here, but I want to tell you the one that the thing a couple of years ago, this made me

really think I had a, I had a woman come up to me who was 39 years old. Uh, she was telling me her story. Um, I was actually at the airport and I got to know this woman and just briefly because we were sitting in the airport for a couple hours together. And she's telling me, you know, about her past and about her relationships and stuff and that she had so many relationships that she would date for three or four years and then, you know, break it up in three or four years and then break it up in three or four years and break it up. And she said she struggled with settling with, you know, good enough. Right. And, um, uh, she says, you know, and now I find myself 39 years old and, um, you know, I've always wanted to be a mother and I feel like that dream is slipping through my hands. And she says, all I do every day is wish that somebody told me when I was younger to like,

like the things that I struggle with so that I can make one of those relationships work. And I know this is a business podcast and this is a personal topic, but I'll tell you, the personal life extends into your business life. We get so caught in running that we forget. We get so busy making a living that we forget to make a life, that one great quote. And so that's the big thing is that self-evaluation is something that, yeah, your business world, someone's going to tell you, man, dude, you need to do this instead of that. But having someone that's like you said, Lewis, that's in your life that says, I'm going to tell you about your business life, but I'm also going to tell you about your personal life because that's where professionals grow, right? Personal development

equals professional success. I mean, that's what has to happen. And, um, you know, and make sure that you start asking those hard questions, right? Like And, um, you know, and make sure that you start asking those hard questions, right? Like those, like, do you want to be married? Do you want to be a business partner? Do you want to be an entrepreneur? Do you want to have children? Do you want to travel? Like, what are those things that you really do want? Do you want, do you, do you have a religion? Do you like, don't just like ignore those questions, you know, and tell that person who's going to evaluate you like those things are important to you. They don't need to be handled right now, but just say like, keep hounding me about this stuff because I need someone to hold me accountable, you know, otherwise we get lost.

So exactly. I love that. I got a couple of questions left for you and I want to make sure to send people back to the website. I'll tell you guys where to get this book, but it's people over profit, break the's People Over Profit, Break the System, Live with Purpose, Be More Successful with Dale Partridge. I'll tell you guys where to go in a second for that. A couple of questions left for you. I've been asking people at the end of the podcast lately,

which I've been enjoying the responses, so I'll ask you. It's the end of your life. I know it's kind of morbid sounding, but it's the end of your life in 100 years. And the last day, all of your work has been deleted and removed from the internet. All of your books are gone for whatever reason. It just, they vanished. And you have a pen and a paper. You're on your bed. You've got a few hours left. You've got an opportunity to write down three truths that you know about life. What would

those three truths be that you know? And this would be for the world to see the only work that you ever create is these three truths that they see. Your family, your friends, the world, what would they be? Well, definitely one would be don't get too busy making a living that you forget to make a life. So I think that's a massive struggle for many. The other would be promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate. I think there's a lot of the world needs a little bit more of that. We need we need it's there's so much controversy and so much, you know, clashing between people. You know, then the last thing would probably be something about something about God. Just to say, you know, make sure between people, you know, then the last thing would probably be something about,

something about God, just to say, you know, make sure you ask those questions, like make sure you find out because, um, you know, one friend told me when I was 19, he said, you know, it's interesting that he says, I'd rather live, I'd rather live life, believing there was a God and finding out that there wasn't that living life, not believing that there was a God and finding out there was. And I thought, he says the risks are just too big. And that's not the reason you want to follow God anyways. But the idea is that I thought, wow, that's heavy. That's a heavy thought. So I've been pondering that one for 10 years still. And so yeah, those are the three that I would probably leave. Okay. Great answers. And what are you most grateful for recently in your life? You know, um, being a dad and I know it's very cliche, um, to say something

like this, but I'll tell you, um, being a father, I get a chance to learn how humans grow and, and I get to, you don't remember how you learned how to drink, you know, like you don't, you don't remember that stuff. Like you don't remember how you learned how to, uh, you know, pick things up, you know? And so when you get to, to be a dad, you get a chance to see, uh, learn about the earlier phases of life that you forgot. And, um, I really just enjoy looking at creation like this, this little human that lives in our house. Right. And she, she is so cute by the way. She is so cute and she's so fun. And, um, so I think that for me, it's also made me realize that I just want way more kids. And I'll tell you, having kids is way easier than people make it out to be. And it's, it's way easier. It's way better. Yeah. It seems scary.

Um, and remember, like I would say the, the, the people that, that say kids are so hard is the people that don't have any, right. So it's, it's, uh, it's, it's true. And when you talk to parents, typically parents are like, it's easier, it's better and it's cheaper. I mean, it's super cheap. And so, um, yeah, we're, we're hoping to have actually like five, six, seven kids. I mean, it's super cheap. And so, um, yeah, we're, we're hoping to have actually like five, six, seven kids. I mean, we're going to go, we're going to go for the, for the, for the, for the, you know, a hundred yard line for there. You're crazy, man. I love it though. I think it's all about your attitude too. If you think it's hard, it's going to be hard. If you think it's easy, it's going to be enjoyable. Exactly. Exactly. I'll tell you being a woman,

I don't know. I can't speak for women, so I can only speak. I only speak for men, but I'll tell you, being a woman, I don't know. I can't speak for women. So I can only speak for men. I just have way more respect for women after seeing my wife become a mother. That's for sure. That's awesome. Okay. Well, I got one more question for you. Before I do ask you that, I want to acknowledge you, Dale, for a moment because I am so proud to be your friend and proud to know you, for starters. And I acknowledge you for all that you inspire to the world. You have been constantly creating great information and resources and content since the moment I met you that so many people are touched by. And when I share your information on my page or to my audience, people thank me for sharing it because they're inspired by you. So I want to acknowledge you for your ability to grow, your ability to be introspective

and learn about yourself and share your mistakes and know where you're making mistakes and be willing and vulnerable to talk about those because those are the biggest lessons that people learn and that's where other people grow. So I want to acknowledge you for the inspiration you are in the world and for all the good that you do to show people that they matter. So thank you for that.

Dude, thank you. Yeah, man. And the final question is, what's your definition of greatness? Oh man, I'll go with this one. I think that today we are, we are chasing one dimensional greatness too often. And we, we hustle hard for, you know, business success or for friendship success or whatever those, you know, these one dimensions are. And I think, um, a couple of years ago I stopped following people that were just successful in business. And I wanted to find

these men and women that were successful in relationships and at home. They had marriages that were 25 years and multiple children that respected them and that were also running multimillion dollar companies and, and like had a good name, you know, in the community that were wise. And like, I literally conquered some of the hardest arenas of life, you know, cause it being a parent, you, you conquer that one. Well, like you're, you're a rockstar. You, you be a husband or a wife and you conquer that one. Awesome. You conquer business on top of that. You're a beast. And, um, so this, this for me, I, and those people are, they're very rare and they're hard to find. It takes time, right? You need to, you're a beast. And so this for me, and those people, they're very rare and they're hard to find. It takes time, right? You need to get married, have multiple children, conquer those

areas, conquer long enough to have a large business and success under your belt. So those people are greatness to me. And I'm looking for those people all the time. And anytime I get a chance to meet one or two of them, I'm like, oh, let me spend time with you because teach me the ways of balance, right? Because it's so hard to be great in all the areas. Dale Partridge, thanks so much for coming on, my man. I appreciate you. Dude, super stoked. Thank you, Lewis. Your friendship means a lot as well. Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much again for joining me today on this episode. To get the full show notes, make sure to head back to lewishouse.com slash 172.

Again, lewishouse.com slash 172. And make sure to sign up for our free newsletter, guys. If you are listening to the podcast, you're a fan of the podcast, I send out weekly updates with some behind-the-scenes videos, footage, tips, tools, resources that you don't get on the podcast. So, again, make sure to go to lewishouse.com slash 172. You'll see a place to sign up for the free newsletter. And I would love to see you on there more often and saying hi to me. And I respond to a lot of emails.

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So again, thank you if you're joining for the first time. Very grateful you're on here. And please keep coming back because if you keep coming back, I'm going to keep bringing you some incredible guests. And we do this three times a week. So it's going to be coming a lot more in the near future. Very excited about who we've got coming out in the near future. Make sure to stick around.

I appreciate you guys. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. ស្រូវនប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ Bye.