Ever wondered how letting go can actually mean gaining more? That's exactly what Michael Tucker of The Funnel Pros teaches us as he recounts his metamorphosis from a childhood entrepreneur to a digital marketing maestro. By embracing the art of delegation, Michael found freedom and success, and in this heart-to-heart, he'll reveal how shedding the solopreneur skin is key to expanding your business empire.
Our conversation with Michael Tucker takes a deep dive into the necessity of a resilient mindset and the transformative power of passion in business. From overcoming personal adversities to harnessing the strength found in partnerships and virtual events, Michael's narrative is a treasure trove of insights for entrepreneurs on the verge of breakthrough. His story is not just about the growth of a business, but also about the evolution of an entrepreneur.
Wrapping up, Michael imparts strategic wisdom for scaling up operations, charging what you're worth, and the significance of crafting thoughtful job descriptions. For those hungry to revolutionize their entrepreneurial journey, this episode is a roadmap. Michael leaves us with actionable guidance and resources for leveraging virtual events, ensuring listeners walk away with the tools to elevate their ventures and their spirits.
Michael Tucker: The Funnel Pros Website - https://www.thefunnelpros.com/
Mentions: BOSS Delegation Quadrant - https://www.businessownershipsimplified.com/delegation-quadrant-workbook
Book - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Book - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck PhD
Ever wondered how letting go can actually mean gaining more? That's exactly what Michael Tucker of The Funnel Pros teaches us as he recounts his metamorphosis from a childhood entrepreneur to a digital marketing maestro. By embracing the art of delegation, Michael found freedom and success, and in this heart-to-heart, he'll reveal how shedding the solopreneur skin is key to expanding your business empire.
Our conversation with Michael Tucker takes a deep dive into the necessity of a resilient mindset and the transformative power of passion in business. From overcoming personal adversities to harnessing the strength found in partnerships and virtual events, Michael's narrative is a treasure trove of insights for entrepreneurs on the verge of breakthrough. His story is not just about the growth of a business, but also about the evolution of an entrepreneur.
Wrapping up, Michael imparts strategic wisdom for scaling up operations, charging what you're worth, and the significance of crafting thoughtful job descriptions. For those hungry to revolutionize their entrepreneurial journey, this episode is a roadmap. Michael leaves us with actionable guidance and resources for leveraging virtual events, ensuring listeners walk away with the tools to elevate their ventures and their spirits.
Michael Tucker: The Funnel Pros Website - https://www.thefunnelpros.com/
Mentions: BOSS Delegation Quadrant - https://www.businessownershipsimplified.com/delegation-quadrant-workbook
Book - Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan, Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Book - Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck PhD
The confidence I got from seeing other people do the stuff I used to do changed everything for me. You know, whenever I did make that first hire and then I was like, oh wow, they can actually do these things. I've been holding on for so long and I think a lot of us business owners were afraid to give up stuff because we're saying, oh, I'm the only one that can do this, I'm the only one can do this. That's not true, I mean most of the things you're saying you're right Like that's not true.
Speaker 1:
I mean most of the things you're doing your business, like there's somebody else in this world that can do it. Welcome to.
Speaker 2:
Small Business Pivots, a podcast designed for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, a small business coach and founder of Boss, where we make business ownership simplified so that you can create a business that runs without you. To learn more, go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom and make sure to stay tuned until the end of this episode for my recap and coach's corner In it. I'll challenge you with actionable steps that will significantly impact your business before our next episode.
Speaker 2:
Our guest today is Michael Tucker. Creating unprecedented income and influence can take years to do, but Michael has found a way to shorten that time span to just days through his virtual event and digital marketing secrets. After generating over $30 million in profit over just two to three years for his clients, he is now ready to share his secret formulas for running successful virtual events and marketing tips with any online entrepreneur who's ready to grow their influence and their income fast. Let's get to our guest now to learn his business growth strategies that you can implement to take your business to the next level. Welcome to another Small Business Pivots. Today. We have a very special guest from around the world, and I know that no one can pronounce their name and company better than the owner. Introduce yourself, even though I know who you are.
Speaker 1:
Hey, nice to be here. My name is Michael Tucker, with the Funnel Pros, and I'm so excited to be here with you, michael. Listen, when there's two Michaels in the room, you know it's bound for greatness. Yeah, well, I hope so.
Speaker 2:
You just set the bar way up here, so let's see what we can do to help people. So tell us a little bit about your background, your upbringing. I know with most small business owners we have some type of story.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean, I grew up I'm here in Kentucky, so middle of nowhere, grew up in the hills of Kentucky and, you know, always felt, always knew I was supposed to be in business, like a lot of your listeners right Probably, grew up, you know, in entrepreneurship, maybe selling lemonade. That was me. You know, typical kid just want to make some extra money. And then, as I grew up, I was like you know, what am I going to do with my life? And so, trying to figure things out, I tried everything and anything to make a dollar.
Speaker 1:
You know I was looking for the thing and you know it took me a while. You know I went from thing to thing to things, tried starting so many small businesses. You know we had a wholesale kettle corn company where we were bagging up kettle corn, selling it to restaurants, selling it to grocery stores. You know we had so many things but nothing seemed to work. And eventually I ran into digital marketing and you know this online digital space really intrigued me and now we own an agency where we help on, I should say, you know, online entrepreneurs, but then just business owners in general, take their message online and reach more people. So that's a little bit about me, and that's what we do.
Speaker 2:
I have a question about your. You said you moved from business to business to business. Was that because you were chasing the money and not your passion?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, probably. So. You know, business for me is a passion. You know I love creating stuff, and that's probably like. I don't know if you can relate. Maybe you can, maybe you can't but I just love building stuff. I'm a builder, right. So, like ever since I was little, like I love creating things, like creating websites, creating, you know, marketing plans, like that's just I love it, right.
Speaker 1:
And so for me, I think I bounced from thing to thing to thing because I was looking for the you know, the thing that would solve all my money problems, and what I didn't realize was that all the vehicles I was jumping into worked right. All the things that I was trying and I was diving into had the capacity to be successful. It just I wasn't committing long enough to see them through. And so maybe a quick lesson there for some people that are listening is like if you're beating your head, you know, trying to figure out why is this not working? Maybe you just haven't been taking the right actions long enough.
Speaker 1:
And that was me. I was taking the actions that were needed to be taken to see it through. I just wasn't doing it long enough and I didn't have enough patience and enough commitment. So for me. I don't think it was necessarily a passion issue. I think it was just more of the shiny object syndrome that a lot of us have and we just aren't content where we're at. And so if you're here and you're struggling with that, I would say just commit to one thing, see it through, give it more than a month, give it more than two months, commit to something long-term and see how it turns out. And that's what I did, and the fruits eventually came after a lot of sowing, but it eventually panned out.
Speaker 2:
Well, I think we're done here. That was the best advice I've heard all day.
Speaker 1:
No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:
No, that I for most of our listeners they, they know I've filed bankruptcy in the past due to a business partnership that imploded and I went into the coaching full time. I'd been doing that simultaneously, you know, while I owned other businesses. But one of my mentors, he said you know the reason you're not fulfilled right now? Because I wasn't doing just business coaching. He said because you'd like to build things, build a company, and for a lot of business owners I think that's golden advice, because maybe you're not building the thing that is fulfilling you or maybe you need to stick with that thing, like you said, and make it happen, make it work, see it through fruition. I see a lot of business owners where they're always chasing that shiny penny. So that's a decision.
Speaker 1:
I'm curious. You piqued my interest here so you filed bankruptcy. How did that turn around for you happen? Because when you're in a low place like that, like I get it like you're in a low place. I'm imagining that was probably the low around, like most people when they talk about things of that, that's probably like the lowest you've probably ever been. I could be wrong, but I would imagine that was a pretty low area in your life. So for you, was that like a rekindling of your passion that you had to find, or or was that something after that partnership imploded? Was that something that you already knew what your passion was? You just had to pivot a little bit.
Speaker 2:
So I'm a big believer in plans. You got to have a plan. Without a plan, you don't know where you're going. And so, luckily, thankfully, I had great business coaches, mentors in my life for decades and one of the things that I learned without a plan, you don't know where you're going. And so I had a plan that I had made probably 10 years, 5, 10 years before that and I updated every year, updated every year, and so when that happened, I was like this is just a road bump in my plan.
Speaker 2:
It's not the end all, end all, because that's not the only thing that that business right there, was not the only thing I was counting on. I had other aspirations, other dreams, other things that I was after, some passions, and so really that's what helped me get motivated to continue down the path that I had already set forth in the future. Like I said, that was just a little road bump, you know in the way. So you know a lot of people are like I just cannot even imagine and I'm like, well, if you have a plan, it can happen, because now you have something else to focus on. I like that, yeah. So tell us a little bit about this company Funnel Pros how it helps business owners, and then we'll get to the actual strategies and things of how you've built this company.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, well, let's start at the very beginning. So I think it's important that people hear the whole story. So whenever I was first starting out, you know I didn't I didn't bump into digital marketing and things, like most people would assume. I was searching for that business, the thing, and I was going from here to there, to here to there, and then eventually one of my friends said hey, michael, you should try real estate. Now, this isn't a real estate podcast, but it's a very important part of my story. He said hey, you should try this real estate thing. I think you'd be good at it.
Speaker 1:
And at the time I'd just gotten married, I had just gotten out of college, and so I didn't know, like I didn't have money. So I was like, dude, how am I supposed to get into real estate? Like you would think you need a lot of money. He said I'm going to show you like how to build partnerships and like leverage other people's money. He said but you know, there's a fee for coaching. I was like, dude, I got no money. Like I just told you, you know, I know for a coach, and rightfully so. You should invest for a coach, because that that'll move you into action. And so I just said I don't have that finances. And he said how about we work out a barter? You work in my business and I'll coach you? And this was a godsend for me. This was amazing Because at the time I was looking for that thing and I didn't really have the money for the coaching. But he opened the door for me. So I stepped into his business as like a systems marketing. I had no clue what I was doing, by the way. I just kind of stepped in there. I was like I think I can make this work, I can learn, I can watch YouTube videos and that was like my first introduction to the digital marketing space. And I can watch YouTube videos. And that was like my first introduction to the digital marketing space. And so little I like to stop and like give tips for people.
Speaker 1:
If you're here and you ever come up in a situation like that, remember you are only limited by your own creativity. Let me say that again you are only limited by your own creativity. You heard Michael was talking about when that bankruptcy. He had a pivot. It was just a in his mind. That was just a bump in the road. It was because his creativity allowed him to move past that. And so for me, at this point in my life, I was like, well, I'm either going to have to go pick up more hours working at a restaurant as a restaurant server to pay for this mentorship. And then we came up with a barter, and so that was the creativity of two minds coming together. So I still use this today, I still barter with people, I still find ways to get creative.
Speaker 1:
And so if you're here and you hit a brick wall, ask yourself, how can I get creative to see this through? And so that's what we did, and so I jumped into his business. We bartered, he coached me in real estate, I went ahead and I started helping him with his marketing and, long story short, we found that there was one vehicle that got us a lot of success. One vehicle, one tool that we used, and it took us to $750,000 in 10 months. And the cool thing is, we were a small business. We weren't like some big, we didn't have all these emails, we didn't have all this money for advertising. We started out very basic, just me and him, advertising. We started out very basic, just me and him, started this small business online and we grew $750,000 in 10 months, and that vehicle was virtual events, and so you may have a brick and mortar you may be listening to this and you may have an online business.
Speaker 1:
I don't know where you're at, but I truly believe that virtual events can be a great way for you to get your exposure out there. Whether you're a life insurance agent, whether you're a real estate agent I'm just making stuff up here Virtual events, I truly believe, can be one of the best ways for you to get your message out there. And one example and I'll pass it back over to you, mike is we have a friend right now. He exploded his life insurance agency, literally exploded it to millions of dollars a year in just a couple years through virtual events only. And you would be like what? An insurance agent? How does that work? When you dive into what's possible online, it'll blow your mind.
Speaker 1:
So after seeing that, like the success of me and my real estate coach going and helping so many others, we decided, hey, we should start an agency and help other people run virtual events to get their message out into the world. So that's what we do. We step in, we say, hey, michael, you want to get your message out? Let's set you up some high converting events. Let's set you out some really methodical, strategically built events and we run these events online to share your mission, to share our mission to the world in hopes of turning those people into clients and part of your family. So I hope that I know that was a little longer answer than you probably were wanting.
Speaker 2:
No, that was. That was good stuff, and I'm still digesting and I want to help small business owners, cause I know sometimes when we are under pressure, a trial or tribulation, sometimes we can't be creative, and so I want to kind of give an example of how I pivoted. It's not all about me, but I want to piggyback on top of what you were talking about. So another thing that I did was I was like, okay, there's a lot of business partnerships that do work and they're very successful, but most of them don't, so why? So, as a coach, I was like I need to create a course. So my focus was on how can I move past this and help other people see the red flags be a better whatever it is human or partner or whatever it is. And so we created an online course of what what it takes to make a successful business partnership, and it's on our website.
Speaker 2:
And one of the things that I found was that, for most partnerships that don't work, it's a misalignment of core values. That's it. It's how are we going to get where we want to go? And we don't see eye to eye, and that's usually what causes the tiff or the disagreements and things like that, and that's usually what causes the TIF or the disagreements and things like that. Well, when you are creative like that, like you mentioned, it takes thinking outside the box. And how can I keep moving on and learn from this and help others? And so I just want to. That's so valuable. I don't know that anyone's mentioned that coming out of a trial or tribulation, of how to get past it, so I'd love that. The second thing is when did you start?
Speaker 1:
this company. So we started this. I was a solopreneur for about a year myself, so we started doing this actively. I would say 2017, 2018, something like that. I was doing it solopreneur for my real estate mentor and then after about a year helping him, we grew from really just referrals only up to this point, and so around 2018, 2019, I hired my first assistant, which was like a big deal for me.
Speaker 2:
I was like that was the first time I ever hired really anybody.
Speaker 1:
So I was like that was a big deal and I truly believe if you feel like you're maxed out right now in your small business, you're feeling stress like find a way to delegate, because the only way you can elevate is if you delegate. So, um, that's that's one thing that changed for me. It was at 2019, ish, 2018, hired our first um employee and then from there, I think now we have like seven of us. So we're not super big team, we're still a small business six to seven of us but we operate pretty efficiently. I would say Fantastic.
Speaker 2:
So we have a lot to talk about, then, because you created this before COVID, which a lot of people got into this because of COVID, covid, which a lot of people got into this because of COVID. So let's start from day one, because I recall that Zoom was not a big deal. Online meetings were not a big deal until Zoom, when we were forced to do that. So how did you get that momentum going with something that people weren't familiar with in that space? It wasn't a big thing. Everybody went to live trade shows and events. So tell us a little bit about that for business owners that are struggling, kind of getting that momentum of getting that word out, getting your brand known.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think it all comes down to messaging. To be honest, it wasn't hard for us because we were selling something that was irresistible in the eyes of the people, and so why wouldn't they show up to a Zoom, like even if it was inconvenient for them at the time? And so I think a lot of people maybe this is me reading wrong and maybe others will not agree with this I think a lot of times the reason why people struggle may just be because they're not selling passionately enough and they're not. You know, for us we were pushing something we were super passionate about. I mean my real estate coach. He was passionate about this real estate industry. You could tell through his messaging, his marketing, everything he did was big, and so for us it wasn't an issue. It was easy for people to show up and spend an hour and a half, two hours for us inside of Zoom because we were sharing in a way that was easily pull people in.
Speaker 1:
So the question is right now, with your guys' marketing, with whatever you're putting out there, online or maybe even person, regardless, do people see the passion in your eyes? Do people feel the excitement coming from you? And I know that's hard because I'm going to be honest. I'm here speaking on a podcast, but I like my alone time. I'm one of those I can like kind of withdraw to an island by myself and I'll be cool, you know. So I know there's a lot of effort and energy for some of us to go out there and do that.
Speaker 1:
But listen, I'll say this when you can get good at the transfer, the transferring of belief, everything will change. What do you mean, michael? If you can get your belief so high that it transfers over to other people, you're going to see better sales. You're going to see better community in your company. It's going to be, it's going to be crazy. So for us, we just got really good man long story short at sharing our belief and sharing our passions with people, and it made it a lot easier at the beginning, even though a lot of people were going to in-person events. It just people believed and saw what we were doing, and so it was a lot easier. So I'm not going to say there was a magic pill or a magic answer to why the virtuals did better at the time. I think it just we were creating something that people wanted to latch on to.
Speaker 2:
Mindset. It's critical and for those of us business owners that are lacking the mindset that we need to build something big. There's a great book called Mindset by Carol Dweck, and I will forewarn all of our listeners, it is a very long read, but it is a great book. Great book. It really helps you to think differently. I grew up most of our listeners know as an introvert, kidnapped by gunpoint by my father at a very young age and on and on, and so I had to really work on my mindset as well, and so owning a business was kind of my escape, if you will. It was something I could control, not in a manipulative way, but just something that I could put my fingers on it. And this was my world, you know, and so nobody could disrupt my world, and so that really helped me too, and I know a lot of business owners have that kind of those thoughts. So you know, and so nobody could disrupt my world, and so that really helped me too, and I know a lot of business owners have that kind of those thoughts.
Speaker 1:
So you know, I've never heard of. I've never heard of that like as an introvert stepping into a business as a different world, like that you can craft and create. I never really thought of business like that's really cool. Thanks for the new perspective. I'm like that makes sense, Like I could see a few people. Yeah, Nevermind, I'm not going to go into all that, but that's cool. Thanks for sharing.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's just how my world works up here in my head. So anything that helps with your own mindset that gets you through. I think we're all human and so, anyways that. So you hired your first employee, which is a big deal. How did you adjust? How did you, how did you structure that so that you got the best out of your employee, your company, how did you get take that to the next level after you made that first big leap?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So for me, um, you know, I think just this is basic. Um, you know, I I'm not going to say basic because maybe not everybody knows this, but for me, starting out, whenever I was first, you know, deciding, am I, how am I going to hire, how am I going to do this? I started going to coaches and YouTube videos just studying how to do this. Well, because I didn't want to be, uh, you know, an employer or a leader that, um, you know, wasn't, wasn't, let me say this, wasn't operating at a level that was best for their employees or for the team. So, you know, the first thing I did was I decided to, um, you know, document everything, everything I did in my business, and that's something that I'm sure Michael would tell you to do, to document every single thing.
Speaker 1:
It doesn't matter if you're checking emails, yeah, like. So I had to sit down and document everything I did in a day and said, okay, what are the things that are my strengths, that I need to stay with, and then what are the things I could probably delegate and task to somebody else? And the things I task out, I need to find somebody that those are their strengths, not their weaknesses their strengths. And so for me, a lot of the things like, I'm horrible whenever it comes to admin work, like organization of documents, like all that stuff planning, I can do high level planning, but whenever it comes to intricate details, that's just not me. I'm not a very detailed person. So I needed to find somebody who was detailed, who could pick that up.
Speaker 1:
And so for me, starting out, I think that transition was just saying was detailed, who could pick that up? And so for me, starting out, I think that transition was just saying, hey, let's look inside, what are your strengths? And then let's just outline everything, let's document everything to figure out, um, what those you know details I'm sorry, what those strengths are a little bit more detail and then just outsource the rest. And so, um, that's kind of how I've been operating up to this point, and that was what kind of helped me during that transition.
Speaker 2:
Well, you forewarned everybody. When you get two Michaels on a show, it's kind of dangerous, and so everything you're saying I'm like yep, yep, we got a workbook for that. Yep, we do that. Yep, we coach that.
Speaker 1:
So you're doing it right. It sounds like you guys that are listening to this are listening to the right coach. That's all I got to say.
Speaker 2:
Well, I appreciate that. So you're listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is sponsored by Boss, where business ownership is simplified for success. Boss helps business owners create a business that runs without them, with business consulting, business loans and much, much more. Go to businessownershipsimplifiedcom to learn why small business success starts with Boss. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to stay up to date with all of our episodes, make sure to hit that subscribe button, give us a thumbs up or leave a positive review. Let's get back to our guest. I know a lot of business owners get stuck and a lot of our listeners are like I've watched the YouTubes, I've read the books and nothing's changing. What was that point or pivot that you made that you felt like you're not working in the business? Because, obviously, if you got to the point that you're creating systems and processes, now you're working on the business. What was that shift that you feel that helped you be able to do that?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I'm going to say, I mean, there's still times where I feel like I'm working in the business. I'm definitely working more on the business now than ever, so I don't want to seem like everything's hunky dory and I'm, you know, not in the business, you know, cause we, we do operate at a very high level with a lot of work. But I will say this I think once you delegate that first time and you can realize that when you can give up, uh, the I was going to say something really weird and I don't want it to come off weird. So let me, let me rephrase this the confidence I got from seeing other people do the stuff I used to do changed everything for me. Um, you know, whenever I I did make that first hire and then I was like, oh wow, they can actually do these things that I've been holding on for so long. And I think a lot of us business owners, we're afraid to give up stuff because we're saying, oh, I'm the only one that can do this, I'm the only one can do this.
Speaker 1:
That's not true, I mean most of the things you're saying you're right, like most of the time, the things you're doing your business, like there's somebody else in this world that can do it, and even if they do it 80% better than you, it's probably just better to hand that off. So for me, I'd say, what kind of helped me was that? Just that new confidence that came from the delegation there. That's my story, you know. I don't know how it would be for everybody else, but that just whenever you step can step into a new confidence. You know, like that you can operate at a different level. You know your mindset starts to think differently, you start to look differently at your business, because now you have all this space up here that's free now, right, all this space that you were worrying about the emails, you were worrying about the clients, and now that it's all gone, you can actually dream again, you can actually think again. And so for me, whenever I first started out you know I maybe you guys talk about this, maybe you haven't, but um, for small business owners, I think virtual assistants are a great way to start out.
Speaker 1:
And if you don't know what a virtual assistant is cause I'm not up to date on what you guys have talked about in the past, it's we hire individuals outside of the US or outside of our country and bring them in, and it's very affordable. And you may say, michael, like what do you mean very affordable? Well, there's some of these countries that their average pay is like fractions of what it is here in the US, and that's not a bad thing. It's like we're providing a lot of employees across the world with amazing jobs. They're getting paid amazingly well. It's just their currency is different, right, and so like, for example, we pay some of our employees in the Philippines. We may pay them five $6 an hour.
Speaker 1:
And you said, michael, that's, that's horrible. You know US standards, yes, but over there, you know, some of them are only making $2 an hour, you know, and so for us, that was a big step. So this is totally off the rails here. But if you're a small business owner and you want to hit that confidence faster that I experienced and you want to delegate faster, maybe start out with something more affordable, like a virtual assistant that can step in virtually to help you get the loads off your plate, right.
Speaker 1:
So for me, like my mom, she has a small boutique, a clothing like kind of brand, and so I was telling her. I was like you're fulfilling all these orders yourself, you're responding to people's emails, their invoicing, like you could outsource this to somebody else for $500 a month, $400 a month. It would open up so much space. So I think a lot of us just have never experienced that freedom and that confidence before, and I think that would change so much for a small business owner is when you can finally back away and breathe a little bit and step out of the mess to think Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:
Oh, a hundred percent. In other words, give up control. You're not the only one that can do what you think you can. And I hate to sound mean, if you will, but, mr or Ms Business Owner, you're not the best employee. Okay, I tell that to all my clients. I'm like. You're not the best employee. That's why you own the business, so let your employees do what they're great at. You own the business, so let your employees do what they're great at.
Speaker 2:
And did you leave a job? Because most of us left a job to start a business? Did you leave a job to get another job? Okay, change your mindset and think. I had a guest on, maybe about six months ago and he said it best. He said when he takes on a new project or a new customer, he doesn't think about how am I going to get this done. He thinks about who can I get to get this done, who can I use or get to get this done? And I was like man, that's a great framework to think about, so that you're not getting stressed over Like we got so much work and I don't know how many get all this done.
Speaker 1:
No, you shouldn't be doing that. You know so I love it. I think there's a book, right, there's a book called who, not how, so go check that out. It's been a while since I've read it, but definitely, definitely, and I'll say this as well One of one of my clients does this exceptionally well, which he's made a lot of money, you know, online, and just not just online, but he has a firm of his own in person, started out a small business owner and grew up to now he's doing seven, eight figures a year.
Speaker 1:
And one thing he's done really well is this what you're talking about he will not start a business until he knows who his operator is, until he knows, like, who his marketing lead is going to be. Like, I've never even experienced that Like, growing up, I was always like, oh, start a new business, I was going to go do it myself, kind of like you were just starting right. But that was the thing. I think that a lot of non-successful I'm not going to say non-successful, but people that are stuck and those that maybe have scaled up, maybe those that are doing bigger things, maybe it's just that mindset shift of how they look at business and in totality, and so for him, he didn't look at a business, like you mentioned, as me being the core of it, but my team being the core of it, and so that just always blew me away.
Speaker 1:
I just want to give that example was like, because he did this recently, he started a new business about eight months ago and I was actually a part of the marketing team. He selected me to be a part of that, and so he was like, no, no, I'm still working, I'm finding my operator, I'm still working on finding this person, that person. I'm like I would already started the business by now. I've been doing stuff, but he was like, no, I'm not starting anything. And so I know. So thanks for sharing that, because that's just to step back and, like you said, plan out the process, and I think once you do that with employees, it makes everything a lot better and a lot easier. We had Mike Beckham.
Speaker 2:
He's the co-founder, ceo of Simple Modern, so they're the drinkware, and he's here in our state of Oklahoma. He was on our podcast and that's exactly how they started. They hit the hundred hundred million dollar mark in less than 10 years. The first thing step he did was he hired those key people and they didn't even have a product okay, let's, let's, what are our strengths and weaknesses? And they all agreed that they were probably really good in the e-commerce space. And then they said, okay, what can we sell in the e-commerce space? And they just kind of went down this trail. And so you're you're dead on first of all, have clarity. Secondly, have the right people delegate, know what you need to delegate, have systems and processes, and so you're just following the pattern of very wealthy people as well. So I have no doubt here, in a few years, we're going to see your name on Forbes magazine.
Speaker 1:
That'd be amazing. But you know, more importantly, it's really cool when you can step in and you start doing these things and your business starts to grow. It's amazing the new confidence you get from seeing other people win and that's why I feel like we're in business. Regardless if you have a burger joint or you are, you know, making clothes, the satisfaction of somebody biting into that burger right or somebody trying on those clothes, the satisfaction that can bring is great. So for us, you know, you know we started at the one employee. We scaled up. You know.
Speaker 1:
Now I think I think at the most we had like 10 people on our team and it's not been, it's not been, like I said, magical the whole way across. There's a lot of hiring people. Then a week later they quit. There's a lot of, you know, I think we've done hundreds of interviews right. So one thing I did want to say, though, through that process, was the screening process, because I know we're talking about a lot of hiring and that's kind of where we went down this route. But what has helped us really good is getting a really good idea of what that job position is and who we want to bring in, and not settling for less, and so for us we have a super great screening process where we may have a hundred people apply but we only interview four to five people, and so we've really dialed in on our expectations, what we want to see from those in our company, and that's helped tremendously as well.
Speaker 1:
Stop a lot of the heartache, because if you are here and you've experienced the hiring process the human resources side of business it can be draining, and so maybe ask yourself, for those of you all that are maybe in that mid-intermediate level where you're trying to bring on maybe a few more team members and you have been doing it unsuccessfully ask yourself, what's my screening process like? Do I have expectations of who I actually want in this role, or am I just kind of going out there and interviewing everybody and anyone you know? So that was one thing, as we kind of went from that first employee to the next ones was like, okay, we got to figure out a whole streamline process for this, and so that's going to be different for every business, because I mean, the frameworks may be close but every business is totally different, and so you just got to figure out what that looks like for you, and that's what we did and that helped out tremendously. That's great advice.
Speaker 2:
I've got some clients that former clients that we've worked with that just couldn't find that right employee. And I said, maybe you don't know what you're looking for. And they're like, well, I don't have time to go through here and write all the functions and the descriptions and the org chart. And I was like, well, if you think about this, it might take you a few hours to do that one time. And, like you said, after you figured that out, now you just follow that system and it's a lot easier. You know, you have the criteria, you know exactly who you're looking for. So I always say go slow to go fast. You know exactly who you're looking for, so I always say go slow to go fast. So take that time, all this golden advice that you're sharing. Take that time to just do it, get it done, and it's so much easier in the future.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, a hundred percent golden golden advice.
Speaker 2:
Love it. So what is one other thing that you would like to tell small business owners that you've learned? Maybe it's something you did that you wish you wouldn't have advised people against, or maybe something this is really what changed the pivot of my business.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I would say this there's a lot of things I would say there's. Can I give two? Is that right? Sure, I have permission to give two, absolutely. The number one thing I say I would tell myself if I was to go back and I mentioned this a lot on shows I speak on is I would have told myself earlier and I would tell you all the same thing is Michael, value yourself, your skills, your talents more. And so you're a small business owner right now. You're just getting your business up.
Speaker 1:
It's easy to undercharge, it's easy to not know your worth because you're a small business owner right now, you're just getting your business up. It's easy to undercharge, it's easy to not know your worth because you're brand new, you're just starting out. So for me, at the very beginning, whenever I was starting this agency and stuff, I think I left a lot of revenue on the table just because I didn't have enough confidence in my talents and my skills. And so I want to just speak life into you and just say that what you have in your heart and your mind right now is more valuable than you probably think and you probably know. So step into that, don't be afraid to step into that profound skill, that confidence, because for me, I really struggled with that. Whenever I first started my business, I was like I'm not going to charge this because I don't feel like maybe it's worth it, but like really really know that what you have been working years on, what you have been perfecting over time, is valuable and people need it. So don't be afraid to charge premium, don't be afraid to put yourself in that zone of premium service providers or a premium business owner, and so I can go deep into that. But I'll just say know your worth. Know your worth and that was something I struggled with at the beginning.
Speaker 1:
And then, secondly, I'll just say from a more technical side and a more strategic side, is really get good at making more offers. A lot of times the reason like revenue wise I think a lot of us you know may have struggled in the past is because we get so stuck in like the figuring out how to operate the business that we don't make enough offers for people to take. So this is a totally different belief and a totally different thought here compared to the other one. But don't be afraid to make more offers, because the more offers and the more people you can get in front of the more money you can make. So just ask yourself, how can I get my message, my product, in front of the eyes of more people today and that could lead to the new revenue goals that you want to hit. So just a few simple words for you, but those are pretty profound to me because those are things I've had to work on in the past.
Speaker 2:
How can your product help a business owner grow their business, and what size of business is this a fit for?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so we are very. Let me say this we work primarily with very certain individuals, so I'm not going to say that I can sit here and describe that, because I would be talking for five or 10 more minutes. But let me just say this our services are very done for you, um, so what we do is we work with intermediate to larger businesses. If you're a smaller business, I will say we have resources and it's okay if I give. Give a free resource out today.
Speaker 2:
There's no sales or anything with it, totally.
Speaker 1:
So we have an ebook that you know lays out how we use virtual events to grow online Totally free. I think it's like five, 10 pages just high level overview of you know, some things you can implement. If you go to virtualstagesecretscom, you can check that out Totally free. Just put in your email, boom, you can go there. But you know, if you're here and you have a medium to larger business, you're like, hey, I'd love to maybe see about how we can use some events, some webinars, some seminars of some sort to get more leads for our sales team or get more sales for our company, then yeah, you go download the book. There's actually um. Once you get that, just reply back to the email and I'll, you know, my team or myself we can, you know, chat further Um, but I think the ebook for most of your audience will probably be a good start for them. So just go to virtual stage secretscom and you can go check it all out there.
Speaker 2:
Fantastic, we'll put that in the show notes too. Any, if you had a room full of business owners, is there something that would be relatable to all of them that you would like to share?
Speaker 1:
Is there something that would be relatable to all of them that you would like to share? As a speaker, you want to say everything. So if I had a room full of business owners, I would just say this really get good at crafting your communication skills. I see this time and time again the people who know how to speak whether that's on a public speaking stage, whether that's in a sales call they're often the ones that are finding a lot of the wins that I'm seeing. I'm not saying that you have to have that skill to win in business, but I'm seeing the people that really get good at communication, and that's why I love virtual events, because you can show that, or you can show your skill at speaking and use that as a tool to get more revenue and to get more leads.
Speaker 1:
But I would say really work on this year at this moment in time, saying, hey, how can I be a better communicator? Communication is the key to a lot of things if you go back and trace the steps, and so that's something that I've been working on. I'm not the best communicator, but I'm working on it, and I've seen a lot of our clients the ones that can communicate very well, whether it's online in a virtual event or an in-person virtual stage or on a one-on-one sales call, they are the ones that are finding a lot more wins. So very universal message there, and I hope that's what you wanted.
Speaker 2:
That's great advice. I once heard someone say and I don't know who it was, so I apologize for not mentioning your name if you're listening to this but I heard someone say it's not always the person, the best company that wins the project, the bid, the you know, the job, it's the one that can tell their story the best. The job, it's the one that can tell their story the best. So, talking about communication, that's that's dialed in. How can people follow you, get in touch with you? What platform are you on the most?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I'm on social media quite a bit. The one I'm on probably most would be Instagram, so just go to official Michael Tucker. That's official Michael Tucker. There I post digital marketing tips, just life updates on what's going on, but a lot of times we also have a podcast, which is a great podcast. I would encourage everybody here leave a review for Michael, if you enjoy these conversations. By the way, he's taken hours and hours out of his time to do these for you guys, so leave a review. Definitely, share this show with a friend, but we also have shows similar to this. I don't know if they're as good as Michael's shows, but they're there, I'm sure they are.
Speaker 1:
They're there. They're there on social media as well, at my Instagram. So, official, michael Tucker, and I'd love to connect with you. Just hit me up, send me a message, or Sally just sent me a message. So I would love to hear from you. What's the name of your podcast podcast is million dollar secrets. Um, we have multiple podcasts, um, and maybe, mike, maybe we can bring you on sometime We'll talk about that offline if you're interested. But we have one called the Daily Gems podcast, where every morning at 5 am we drop a quick little 10 minute motivational spill for business owners. But then we have a more strategic podcast that's on like marketing and sales, called the Million Dollar Secrets podcast. So both of those are there. But, yeah, mike, let's talk about maybe doing some collaboration in the future. That'd be amazing.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely Well. You've been a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate your time today and you've helped a lot of people, so we'll connect after the show. So I appreciate you again and, for our listeners, do what Michael says. All of it, it's right. That's what we coach to help you scale and grow your business as well. We have tools on our website. He's talking about delegation. We have a delegation quadrant everything that he's talked about. We have workbooks as well. So you know this is coming from firsthand, from a business owner that actually implemented these things and it's working. So follow Michael. I appreciate you again and we'll talk soon. All right, thanks guys, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the recap and coaches corner, where I recap the overall theme of our episode today and then challenge you with one actionable task, aligned with what we learned today, that will move the needle in your business. In this episode, we heard another insightful journey into the world of entrepreneurship and growth. Michael's story teaches us that sometimes, letting go can be the key to unlocking immense potential. As you reflect on today's episode, remember that delegation isn't just about lightening your workload. It's about strategically building a team that shares your vision and propels your business forward In order to effectively delegate as a small business owner, you must have a plan, and that leads us into our coach's corner. In our coach's corner, I'm challenging you to take one action on your business that could lead to moving the needle in your business. Take a moment to evaluate one task or responsibility that you've been reluctant to delegate. Consider the impact it could have on the business if you were to entrust it to someone else. Then make a plan to either delegate it, eliminate it or automate it. As a business coach, I find this is extremely difficult for many small business owners, so our team at Boss has created a wonderful workbook called the Delegation Quadrant. This workbook is perfect for the small business owners looking to build a strong team, to learn how to delegate like a pro with ease, to hire new employees your company truly needs and to learn how to create a business that works without you.
Speaker 2:
To download our free Delegation Quadrant Workbook, go to our website businessownershipsimplifiedcom. You can find the free workbook under the services tab and click free resources. While you're there, poke around. You'll find many other resources to help you create a business that can run without you. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. Please don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast If your business is stuck or you need help creating your business to run without you, go to our website businessownershipsimplifiedcom and schedule a free consultation to learn why small business success starts with boss. If you have a guest or topic suggestion for our podcast or just want to talk anything small business related, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small business pivots.