Taking My Own 7-Figure Leap: The Good, the Bad, and the Insightful from 2024 with Cassie Shea

[00:00:00] Cassie: Boredom is actually rich fodder for creativity, but as entrepreneurs
The reason why it's important to do identity work is because we are not our business. Our business is something separate. It's a different energetic entity from who we are.
And if we make ourselves the business, then if the business succeeds or fails, it's about us. And if you were blaming the business because you weren't in alignment with your value of family at that moment, you absolutely could have burnt it down or you could have sabotaged your success. and your ability to sit with the EQ portion, raising your EQ and emotional intelligence around how do I have this relationship with my business as it's grown and blown up and become this sort of behemoth that now I don't know how to tame.
How do I stay as the leader? [00:01:00]
Dustin: Welcome back to the seven figure leap. I am Dustin Reikman, and I am your special guest today. So we did this one other time, which we're going to go back and talk about why we're doing it again. And to introduce, this experiment or this experience that we want to bring you into today in this special episode,
I'd like to introduce Cassie Shea.
And as we're getting into this conversation, you're going to find out just how instrumental Cassie has been and continues to be in all the things we do here at seven figure leap. And today she has a special role of being the host of my podcast and having me as the guest. So Cassie, you want to give us a little context for the conversation we're about to have?
Yeah,
Cassie: really cool about this is actually, Dustin, November is our two year friendship anniversary. So we met two years ago and Dustin was pulling a Dustin, which has become a [00:02:00] very loving phrase of Dustin doing what he does best, which is going into communities, helping other people, and making an impression.
And that was the first experience I had with Dustin two years ago. And so this is a really fun day because our seats have changed multiple times between who's. In the coaching chair, giving advice, input, speaking truth into the other person's business. I've been Dustin's client, Dustin's been my client, and really we're doing a reflection over the last 12 months of the leaps and the changes that have occurred in Dustin's business.
And I've had a really unique perspective as kind of a co pilot in a lot of ways. , we've gone to outer space, we've got to the space station. We're coming back to report to you. What have we learned and really just have a really deep and hopefully fun time recounting the last year and the lessons we've learned.
So it's not just the Dustin or Cassie show, but hopefully giving more inspiration to people who want to take an exponential leap forward in their business, they might have a really big growth goal and dream. I think [00:03:00] part of what we're going to discover together through this conversation is it's not always the quantity of time, but also the quality of time.
How are you using your time? Who are you choosing to become that will really define your results? And so this is a fun juxtaposition of both some really cool results. We're going to peel back the curtain on the things that also didn't go well and have some laughs, like the good, the bad, and the ugly. And celebrate the process itself.
What did it take to create, to your brand's name, the true seven figure leap that you've experienced? So I'm going to be in the seat asking you questions, and we're going to go back and forth to pull the curtain back and, as you mentioned earlier, almost have a coffee chat. We're sitting down recounting the year together.
We just wanted to bring more people into that conversation because there's some fun learnings and principles we can extract that'll help others. Ha
Dustin: I've enjoyed a lot this year is doing a better job of sort of building in public and, you know, really trying to wear the hat of mentor as much as possible, where I'm not in a posture of like, you should go do this and you should go [00:04:00] try this, but just showing people what I do.
And then where appropriate, they can pick up those things and apply them into their own business and life. And so, radical transparency has always been one of my values. And I'm sure Cassie will reflect a little bit over, you know, kind of the past year. But if you're listening to this and it's kind of one of your first
times listening to the podcast, I just wanna point out that the very first episode of this episode, 46 ish episodes back was this, and it was Cassie interviewing me about.
How we got to that point, which was the launch of the podcast and the seven figure leap brand and where my business was really 12 months ago today. And we both thought, man, wouldn't it be fun? And we actually talked on that episode. Hey, let's do this again in a year. So we are here. We made it. We did it.
We did it. And so we're going to talk about it. The year this transpired. So as we sit here in November, 2024, we've got a whole new perspective and a whole new snapshot over what's possible over 12 months. And so I'm going to let Cassie kind of lead that conversation, ask me questions and just dig in and see what here will be [00:05:00] useful for the listener.
Cassie: Yeah, I love it. And it really speaks to the principles of discipline and consistency. You've showed up every single week on this podcast to build in public, interview other marketers, creators, business owners, entrepreneurs, and expanded your impact. So one thing I want to start with that made such a big impression on me from our last episode was really defining impact.
Why seven figure leap? Take us back to the brand DNA. Like, why did you choose that name? And I was there in the room when you chose it. So what was that conversation like? Why did we land on that name? And what were you hoping for? If you could take us back to the beginning, what were you hoping the brand would become at the time you named it?
Dustin: Yeah. So, and I dissected this, you know, more in depth in that original episode, but the the sort of. Current summary of this, because the, the, the thinking has evolved as well. The seven figure leap is really a bit of an aspirational identity for people. Like, man, if I'm a solopreneur [00:06:00] expert mission driven entrepreneur, which are basically my people and the people that listen to the show Many of us, myself included, have this aspiration of if I could build a seven figure business like that would really be something.
And so we all think of seven figures in terms of revenue. We're going to talk about, you know, have I got there and where I'm at in my own journey with that. But it starts with a seven figure impact and the whole idea of impacting people, meaning your clients and the people that you serve in your business.
And whatever form and fashion that takes, that if you can impact people in a deep way. You can provide a 10 X value to them. So even a six figure income can generate a seven figure impact. And of course the seven figure income can create an eight figure impact. So that's kind of the seven figure part of this.
And then the leap is this idea of quantum leaps, which we talked a lot about in the initial episode where we talked about my own quantum leaps, my values, how that's informed sort of these future pacing, future self zone of genius, you, you knew. Unique ability, all these like really rich terms that we like to dissect and, and kind of [00:07:00] put on and try on for size, but seven figure leap is the idea of making quantum leaps through rich relationships and smart strategies, which is kind of the opening tagline to this podcast and doing that.
In the service of others so that you can have a big impact and hopefully ultimately generate a seven figure revenue or a seven figure value to your business and beyond, which
Cassie: Where, where I'm curious to dive a little deeper and just really kind of pull back the curtain is we're near the end of 2024. And we had set out some really ambitious goals around this time last year. And in particular, you and I were together in person with. The seven figure leak mastermind.
We met up in Orlando, Florida, a pod fest in January of 2024, which feels like a decade ago, 10, 11 months ago. And we did not quite napkin math, but we actually built a business model on the back of a receipt, which I think is still at your desk.
Dustin: is if you're seeing the video is literally on camera right now. It's the receipt from that lunch lunch meeting.[00:08:00]
Cassie: So, When, when we were there in person, we laid out this idea of, of challenging you to think bigger about what was possible for you. When we talk about quantum leaps forward many of us go through life, we have this sort of linear trajectory. We do the next thing in front of us. We do the next thing in front of us.
Entrepreneurs or creators, we often have fractured attention, right? We want to do 17 things at once. It's hard to know what the right lever is to get to our growth path. And a quantum leap forward is not just about the speed, but also choosing the things of highest impact that will create the most value and really focus and clarity.
I know clarity is one of the words that you use to talk about yourself. So take, take us back maybe to January of this year that will help frame out the conversation. What were you thinking this year was going to mean? And then what did we end up shifting in that conversation as we joked that it's on the receipt the, the receipt business model, what shifted in you that day around impact and identity and how you were thinking about the year ahead?
Dustin: [00:09:00] Yeah, great question. And this is Moment in time that I reflected a lot on this year because it's really been instrumental into a lot of the changes that we made in the company and a lot of the changes I've made personally. So to give people context what January 2024 means in Dustin's world, it was a very crazy month.
So I spent the first week of that month in Las Vegas, speaking on the biggest stage of my life at Traffic and Conversion Summit. I was home for a very quick break. Not really respite, I was physically home. Maybe not mentally. I was home for a very busy time and then left again the week after that for Orlando, Florida, where.
I was speaking at podfest and it was our first ever in person meetup for what was, you know, now, now known as the seven figure leap mastermind. So we started this mastermind shortly, you know, a few months before our last recording. It had grown substantially by, January and we were doing this, you know, in person meetup for the first time.
So I came into January, And Really focused on these two speaking opportunities and honestly was [00:10:00] looking to kind of rinse and repeat the business model that I had last year. And so I'm not going to keep saying in the previous episode, but the last thing, the last time I'll say this we left off last year and at the fact that I had hit a 500, 000 revenue mark and the year prior 2022, I had only done 50, 000 in this business.
Right. So I literally had a 10 X leap in terms of revenue. And so I, you know, I'm a, I'm a big fan of the written goal and the post it note that I'm, I'm holding up again for the camera. And so this post it note actually didn't change at all, which is really kind of interesting. What's on this post it note didn't change, but the way I got to it changed pretty dramatically over the course of the year.
And a lot of it had to do with this, this time that we spent together in Orlando and this lunch meeting. So what this says is 500, 000 in net profit. Very different than the revenue from the previous year before taxes with the resting heart rate of 59 beats per minute. And we can, we can unpack all that.
So how I thought I was going to do that when I wrote this card at the end of 2023 was basically, Hey, let's keep doing the main programs we [00:11:00] have, which is the accelerator and the mastermind. And if you just kind of extrapolate out, you know, a pretty decent growth rate and Dustin keeps doing most of the things Dustin does at the same kind of profit margin that I'm doing, like I should be able to hit this.
And this is pretty reasonable. And that all seemed to be going well until this third or fourth week of January, where I was coming off these two speaking opportunities and actually right before Cassie and I met for lunch, I'd had a coffee with someone, a guy named Peter, who I've grown to really adore.
He works at a company called self publishing. And they were there at the conference, I was supposed to meet him for like a 10 minute coffee chat, and I had these big ideas of how we could partner. And so I sat down with Peter and, you know, these things go when you really find someone you resonate with that 15 minutes turned into two hours plus of a conversation talking about our values and our family and our faith and all these more deeper conversations.
And he was literally looking over my shoulder and I'm showing them my programs and how I'm rolling things out and how I'm delivering this value. Cause at that point I had delivered five [00:12:00] cohorts of the podcast profits accelerator, you know, our, our flagship thing. And I'm like, man, if I could partner with self publishing, we could really do big things.
And he's like, dude, I totally agree. He, and he's just like, you know, he's so excited for me. And he's like, I just have one question though. Like how many people could we actually send you before your whole thing breaks? And I'm like, Ooh, I had this like, like visceral, like he's totally right. You know, like I, I can't deliver anymore.
And so what I realized in that moment, and then just a few hours later at lunch and we had just come off out of all this kind of deep thinking with the mastermind dinner we'd had a couple of days prior is like, I had literally hit my personal capacity, right? And that is a weird place to be because I'm like, I was on the run rate, like the first quarter, I literally did 250, 000 in revenue this calendar year.
So that's a, that is literally a seven figure run rate, right? The seven figure leap is here. I'm a seven figure solopreneur. I'm delivering the flagship program. I hit the numbers. I'm speaking from the stage. I'm. In my, I'm with my mastermind
group for the first, I [00:13:00] was like, everything's right. And also true is I feel completely capped out.
I'm like starting to kind of resent showing up on some of my zoom calls for the first time. And I'm like, what in the world am I, what's going on? You know, like I I've achieved it and now I'm kind of resenting it and I was feeling stuck. And I think the word I would use to. Maybe burnt out and maybe more like, as I reflect on it, maybe like bored.
I was getting a little bored with the idea of where I was at. And so we had this conversation and Cassie was challenging me about like. What you do is great. And you're getting this amazing value and impact for people, but you know, you don't have to deliver it the same way you've delivered it for the past, you know, 16 months or whatever at that point.
And then the napkin math came out and we started just playing with different business models. And like, how could you deliver value? In a way that's not 100 percent Dustin doing marketing, sales, fulfillment, admin, financing, like all the things because I literally had, you know, some contractor help, but I didn't have any help.
And the entire business of [00:14:00] January 2024 was in my head. And that was scary. And Exciting and a little bit ego, you know, is a little bit of a ego driver is like, you know, look what I did. And at the same time, like I said, it was also uncomfortable. And so that's, where I'm at. When I think back to that, that conversation walked away from with a lot of joy and this idea of like, there's more freedom here to explore.
But also a little lost and a bit overwhelmed as I was flying back home and felt like I'd been gone for a month for my family. And just like, I built this thing and now it's sort of out of control. And it was a little scary to be honest.
Cassie: I remember you expressing the The tension between feeling like you were suddenly stepping literally onto stages that you had dreamt of that other marketers who had gone before you that you admire greatly have been alumni of those stages. You hosted the mastermind like we talked about was the first time we all met up in person, which was so joyful.
So one of the my favorite days and and there was this contrast of I think 2 things. One, you were really missing your family. I [00:15:00] remember that was actually a really big theme and that felt out of alignment for you. Because family is a core value of yours, faith and family are foundational. And so to feel
like you were experiencing the business success while Missing some of that critical time With your loved ones was actually really painful Like I remember that discomfort and there was also this discomfort of holy cannoli Like have I built a business that's kind of a behemoth now like now what do I do with it?
it's successful and people want to partner with me and It's bigger than I thought it was going to be and so I remember There was Some periods of deep reflection, and there's also some periods of having to make some choices around what are the decisions that I'm going to make that are actually going to create more of what I want.
And I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we can look at everything we don't want and we can define what we do want by everything we don't want and at a higher level of creation. I believe in what you and I have worked on a lot together in [00:16:00] these conversations is what do you actually want? And it's such a hard question.
Dustin: question,
Cassie: It's the hardest question. Why is it so hard? So I would love to kind of break down even quarter by quarter. So you go back to quarter one, you had this, I want to say existential crisis, cause it was more of like an existential reckoning. I think of where you were out of alignment with your values. You were sensing the bigger opportunity.
You didn't feel totally aligned to the day to day, but you still love the people you work with. You love the clients, you love the product. And I think if I were even to go a layer deeper, it was almost like this sense of being feeling a little guilty, maybe of wanting more. So take us back to just even quarter one.
What were some of the decisions you were making that helped the leap kind of continue? And I know we've joked that the seven figure leap happened in a lot of ways with the run rate, and we'll talk a little bit more deeper about numbers
on this podcast. But what were some of the decisions you started to make in January that set the tone for the [00:17:00] rest of the year?
And how did you get back into alignment with your values? That can be kind of part two, because I think that's really critical is especially in this community and your business and just who you are as a person, business growth at the expense of Your personal values isn't worth it.
Dustin: Yes. Great question. And I won't get too philosophical here. I do, I do think it's relevant as you were speaking, I kind of had this core memory come back to that. You know, I've been in Las Vegas and came home. Like I said, I
was kind of home, but not home. I was home, but I was like so, so busy because I was running two cohorts at that point by myself that were overlapping with each other, two of the Accelerator cohorts.
I just left Vegas. I was preparing not only to speak at PodFest, but to host this mastermind group. And we had, you know, we made that pretty big shin dig out of that and had a videographer and lots of stuff to coordinate. And so, to say I was feeling a lot of pressure Pressure would be an understatement.
And because she's not only a Saint, but like season to my soul, my wife, I know this Sunday when I'm getting ready to leave again to go to Orlando. She's like, she said something to the effect [00:18:00] of, Hey, like, I'm really proud of you. And I really hope you have a great week and something affect that you need to get honest with yourself.
Like, you don't like that you were here, but you weren't here is basically what this boiled down to, like not judging me, but sort of saying. Hey, man, I've noticed that you are physically here for a week and not here. And now you're leaving again. We need to, you know, we need to figure this out. So she planted that seed.
And then, like I said, all the, all the energy and things that come from all the people and the experiences of happening in person, that was basically January. And then on the bookend of Q Q one in March. I was also in Austin, Texas, at a small mastermind with digital marketer, and I met my mentor, my mentor is Ryan Dice, and we had a really rich conversation.
He eventually came on this podcast and we did a whole really deep dive about scaling and what that really means, especially in this stage of business that, you know, The people he works with are like me, right? They're doing 300 to 500 K and they're wanting to get over seven figures. And you got to make some very conscious decisions in [00:19:00] that.
And he talked about his own journey and he had a much more articulate way of this moment with his own wife, or he came home at, you know, midnight, one night after working 14 days in a row. And she said, Hey, Ryan, like I married you. I know who you are. You're an entrepreneur. I'm not trying to change you at all.
And I don't even require that you change what you're doing, but you've got to quit saying you're doing it for us. Like you're doing this for yourself. And when he said that, I was like, that's exactly this moment I had in January. Right. It wasn't quite as visceral as, as where he was at. Cause I feel like I got ahead of it.
In, in, in no small part with your help and helping the mastermind. So that sort of bookends my psychological state in Q1 at the same time that I'm having my best revenue months ever, the accelerator sold out, you know, several cohorts out. And it was like. Financially great. Mentally not great.
Cassie: 100k month as well that quarter.
Dustin: of 2024 is the first hundred came month for the business also. So you can kind of see the acceleration of things happening. And and at the same time I'm wrestling [00:20:00] with like, is this really, I really want, and I knew I had to get really honest with myself that whether this is what I want or not, what I want, it's not sustainable, like.
For the first time in my professional career, I was using the words, I'm starting to feel a little burnt out and I'm starting to have these inclinations that entrepreneurs often go through. What if I just burned it all down and started something new? You know, it would seem so crazy because logically you would never do that.
But as a creative entrepreneur, you do think that way. And what you helped me unpack. And this is why I want to kind of cut, cut to the chase. Q1 was those things, lots of events, lots of energy, record, record revenue, meeting a mastermind, meeting Ryan, being at another mastermind and getting lots of really rich input.
And it was admitting to myself that. I can't sustain this, then leads to new questions and better quality questions about what do I actually want? Like, I've, I've got this amazing asset. Something's working really well. I've got an amazing community and great people that trust me and I have no help, [00:21:00] you know, practically speaking.
So what do I want? And so. The last thing I think that happened in Q1 was Cassie and I had this amazing session where she's like, you know, Dustin, I think we really need to work on your identity story, you know, like your identity and what we determined and I've, I've referenced this regularly. Still, we got this Google sheet, very simple exercise, and it was like, Hey, let's bring it up.
What are all the things you're doing? What are all the roles you are being right? Like, what are all the roles you're fulfilling in your business right now? And just like brained up and it was dozens and dozens because literally I'm doing almost
every role in the business. Right. And then we got really clear on what would you want to be doing?
Right. And, and the, the big shift here for me was going from this identity of a seven figure solopreneur, kind of like the badge of honor of like, I can do it all again. I do all my marketing, my sales, my fulfillment, everything into what if this was a 10 million business? [00:22:00] You cannot do all the things if you're
running a 10 million business and you actually have the identity of a CEO, right?
So I was shifting in my thought of like, what if I put on the hat of CEO and took off the hat of just like founder, scrappy entrepreneur, solo dude doing my thing. And I wasn't of course going to do that in an instant, but the thought exercise was extremely motivating and freeing. And so in doing this exercise, we really define like, what are the things Dustin would do as the CEO of a 10 million company.
What would that identity look like? And then that very clearly started to identify like action steps. Like, okay, so like, what are the most critical things we need to do to start moving in that direction, realizing we're not getting a 10 million business overnight, I can't shift from what I'm doing to a CEO only role overnight.
But I can start making some overtures and start making, you know, like changes in that direction. And so that was a very pivotal moment. And that was, I think it was like March 17th or something like that of of 2024, where I just tried on this new identity and it started to inform a lot of [00:23:00] new.
Decisions about what, what would ensue the rest of the year. And of course, we're going to get into Q2, Q3 and beyond about how we actually implemented that, but that was like the moment, but that moment wouldn't have happened without everything. I just said, like, it was all this like pressure and momentum that was building from the previous months that kind of culminated in this moment in March.
Of like something's going to change and now I actually have a direction and the final thing I want to say on this, I'm sure you'll unpack a little bit more is what I realized is I wasn't burnt out. I was bored. And the distinction there is like I am a creative entrepreneur. Business is my playground. I love to create.
I'm not like an artist, but I love to create through business and I needed a new creative challenge. And even the thought exercise of what would it take to be a 10 million CEO started to unlock all this new creativity and new ideas and new challenges that were all very healthy. And they made me just have refreshed energy.
And it made me comfortable to put some things down and not feel this like frenetic need to control everything [00:24:00] because I knew in that new identity, I couldn't.
Cassie: I remember that day so clearly and It's been a conversation that we've picked up, I mean, dozens of times at this point, and for those listening, if you're tracking, Dustin had this 10 figure leap in his business, so in 2022, you did 50k, in 2023, you did 500k, and then you were on a million dollar run rate by the beginning of 2024.
Dustin: Yes.
Cassie: And what's interesting about taking a really big goal. So not for the sake of being delusional, but like, okay, now we had a million dollars. Now it's about 10. Like it, the spirit of this exercise is not about just how do we rush to the next achievement, but it created a forcing function, I think, in your brain to organize.
And distill if you were only able to take the actions that would lead to massive impact, massive leverage what I would call outsized results, doing less or [00:25:00] fewer things, but better like choosing the things where you can work in your unique ability. Which is another thing we worked really on defining in the first year of working together.
You knew going into this year what your unique ability was, and it's the intersection of clarity and community. Helping other people find clarity, helping other people plug into the communities where their unique gifts and talents can be served through that community. And that Phrase that we adopted was relationships are really the currency of going 10 X, not because it's transactional, but because it's actually transformational when you are clear on who you are and what your gifts are that you bring to the table, you can more easily serve others.
It's easier to build a business. What stands out though about the 10 million CEO identity is we actually extracted some of the principles from that and said, okay, well, we have a million dollar business right now. You're running a million dollar run rate a year business. And we'll talk about kind of where we're ending
in terms of the numbers this year, as we get to, to that point in the, in the story, [00:26:00] but we took that.
We actually said, what would we need to do to operationalize this 1 million business to actually create the conditions or the possibility of increased success? And what I want to hear from you or what, what do we do practically and tactically because there's some really smart moves we made and it's not always about doing all the things.
It's really about doing less, but better. I think that's a huge takeaway or principle people can take from this conversation. I think the other thing I want to comment on really briefly is it's hard to distinguish the burnout from the boredom. And so you sitting in that difficulty of discernment and really sitting with what am I feeling this is uncomfortable.
I don't know. It's unfamiliar. Boredom is actually rich fodder for creativity, but as entrepreneurs as high level creatives who want to express ourselves through our business. The reason why it's important to do identity work is because we are not our business. Our business is something separate. It's a different energetic entity from who we are.
And if we make ourselves the business, then if the business [00:27:00] succeeds or fails, it's about us. And if you were blaming the business because you weren't in alignment with your value of family at that moment, you absolutely could have burnt it down or you could have sabotaged your success. and your ability to sit with the EQ portion, raising your EQ and emotional intelligence around how do I have this relationship with my business as it's grown and blown up and become this sort of behemoth that now I don't know how to tame.
How do I stay as the leader? And so I want to get into like the practical in Q2, like what do we start doing practically and tactically? But the last thing I'll say about that, the 10 million leap forward is you learned. Not to resent your business, but to look for more opportunity in the business that wasn't about burning it down and starting over so you could have that creative fulfillment. What's been really interesting as a theme this year is actually doubling down on the essence of what makes you, you. [00:28:00] And so every progressive step we've taken forward, every time we do this exponential thought exercise this year, we've always come back to how do we just double down on that value we're already giving, enhance the current experience.
and ultimately make that more welcoming and bigger and reach more people, which is a really interesting application of essentialism to the whole process this
year. So what ended up happening in quarter two from a practical tactical standpoint of what did you do now that you've had this material success, the business has increased, you've also realized it's unsustainable.
What did we start doing?
Dustin: Yeah. And so I think of Q2 Q3 of this year, it's a lot of internal work, right? And some of that's internal to Dustin. But what I mostly mean is internal to the business. And what's really interesting to me is Cassie knows better, but and people in the mastermind know better. But most people, if we had a conversation in January or March, we had a conversation now, and I just kind of told you or showed you the external realities of the business, you'd be like, cool, [00:29:00] like you just did what you said you're going to do, right?
Yes. Because externally, it doesn't really look like much has changed, whereas internally has changed dramatically as a result of this work. And so when I start to describe some of these things, you're going to be like, Oh, I couldn't see that.
If you follow me and you listen to this podcast and you wouldn't see these things, but some of the practical things we did heading into April, we created a circle community for our company.
So basically all of our client interface now has a platform, a community. It's all community based. That was a huge step towards better fulfillment and fulfillment that didn't require a ton of things in my head to manage. Right. So that was one thing. The other huge thing. Cassie referred someone to me named Natalie, and Natalie became my fractional COO for three months.
So you think of April, May, June she came in and she did some very actionable, practical sort of things, right? Like we tracked my time and things that I knew better and things I had tried many times in the past and just could not like, Make happen, but we track my time. [00:30:00] We installed a project management system.
So we use ClickUp, like the first time I'd ever had a project management system. We installed a rudimentary version of a CRM, like a customer relationship management system. So I'm literally running a seven figure business on paper and my brain and posted notes. Like I literally had no CRM. If people are having people like what I'm like, no, I didn't.
And so I didn't have that. And then we created a hiring funnel. So basically a system by which I could start to hire. Key roles in the business and the first role
that I hired and this is getting into July was an executive assistant and her name is Tiffany and she is now getting ready to go full time in my business.
But we hired her as a part time executive assistant to start doing inbox and calendar and she owns ClickUp. Right? And so. What's emerged over those kind of blending. Those two things together is platform specific systems in the business. So we have click up, which is project management, internal communication, S.
O. P. Stuff. We have circle, which is all of our client [00:31:00] interactions or courses. Our community. Someone needs to get ahold of me or as we'll get into other people on my team that do fulfillment now. That's that right. And then in
Q4, one of our big initiatives is sales and marketing, and we're moving everything to high level.
So there are platforms that serve specific roles. And what's really important about that and in my own piece and in my own identity transformation is different. People can own those, right? And that's ownership is a really big key here. It's not just that Dustin has three different tools to do the things Dustin does.
But now Tiffany owns ClickUp and Tiffany in a large part owns our Circle experience. And we were working towards an agency partner and eventually an internal resource to own our high level, which is our sales and marketing platform. So that's, that's a lot, right? But those are all internal systems with those come things like some SOPs and some.
Delegation and some ownership of things like inbox management, calendar management. We also centralized. I had like. [00:32:00] I don't know, 10 different email addresses. I had outlook calendars and a Gmail account, everything all over the place. We got everything centralized in a Google account to where there's one source of truth and that makes it manageable.
And so all of that sort of happened over the summer months or, you know, spring and summer, April through July. A key event in there that was another great forcing function was July. Or I'm sorry, June, mid June, the last two weeks of June, my wife and I went to Italy our first overseas trip ever, two weeks, no work and no laptop.
And so Natalie and I had the shared mission of let's get all this stuff built and have it running before you leave. And then we created the job description and she helped me post it. And then she actually managed the first round, really 65
applicants for this executive assistant position, which was my first team hire, I would say like true team hire.
And she actually did the first rounds of interviews. So when I came back from Italy, I had a project management system running a CRM running. And I had three top candidates sitting there waiting for me to [00:33:00] do on my calendar already waiting for me to interview to take over this executive assistant position that happened in July.
So that was operational systems, Important things. And then I'll say this and I'll take a breath. The other thing that happened was, you know, I still love to fulfill. So I like, I love to lead group coaching. I love to lead masterminds. And you know, to that, to that point, I led every single zoom call that was ever done in our business and didn't hate that part, but is also not very scalable or sustainable.
And it didn't give me a lot of freedom. And so the other thing I wanted to do was kind of reimagine our fulfillment. Yeah. And in a process of like, who could come in and help me fulfill. And so I started to identify alumni of our program and people that are mastermind members who had that desire. And then I hired my first person to do that also.
So, Tony DeLorenzo became our first, effectively our first coach. And he co hosted. Our cohort that started in July. So a lot of stuff happening all in the same time. And [00:34:00] again, externally, it's kind of like, Oh, it's business as usual, but there's a lot of things happening that were starting to free me up, forcing me to think differently, become a leader and delegate and, and empower others and give other people ownership of functions in my business for the first time.
So that was a lot, but that's kind of Q2 and Q3 in a, in a snapshot.
Cassie: Yeah, one principle that you and I've talked about a lot, Dustin, is who not how, and that's a book by Dr. Ben Hardy and Dan Sullivan, and the principle is we stop asking how. How do we get better at operations? How do we pick a CRM? First of all, Dustin or Cass should not be in that conversation. We should give input to it, but we are not the final decision maker.
But who not how is essentially as a principle of leadership and something I've seen you do again and again, is. You keep asking who are your who's and so when we started out as baby entrepreneurs, we're a little bit transactional where
it's like, Oh, I just need clients. If I could only find the right clients, then I'd have a great business, which personally is true.
Like cash is the way to have a great [00:35:00] business. It's the lifeblood of business. If you have clients, you have business. Great. But as we continue to spiral and evolution as entrepreneurs, we need to continue to expand our definition of who do we need on the team. And Dustin, I hear that you did kind of three key hires. Number one, you hired a fractional COO who could really interview you about business process and then set up systems that were simple, but could succeed. And I think that's a really critical thing to mention, especially as you get to that million dollar run rate, that the business, it's not that you can't do it all.
It's also, there is a cost now to you doing the project management where you could have been giving a webinar and developing a strategic partnership and having other opportunities. There's now an opportunity cost. And so I think you started evaluating that really clearly and carefully. The other hire you made that I think is really smart, and I recommend this for.
Everyone in the seven figure leap journey is you [00:36:00] started with your executive assistant part time and then had a really clear road map of other ways. She could plug in depending on her or his skills, gifts and talents and really areas of energy. Like, where did they light up? What was interesting to them?
And so it's super cool when you made the higher in July, you gave your story of what was possible. In the business, and you allowed her to grow into warning about the business, helping out in different functions. And now she's going to be coming on full time soon, which I would highly recommend for anybody that's building a team is build slow to start in terms of scope, have a tight scope.
So you can really measure and manage. The work output, but then give a growth story of what's possible. Like give that story of excitement and your business is growing. So how wonderful is it to bring in other people who can grow with you? And then you also identified people that shared your values to come on as coaches on the team.
Which is kind of three different levels of hiring that you did. You hired somebody at an executive level, fractionally, you hired somebody that's going to be soon [00:37:00] full time on your team and you hired a coach, which is a lot of values transmission. So it needed to be somebody that you really trusted. I know you and Tony have known each other for the better part of now, what, 15 years.
So it's somebody you have a deep relationship with, you have history. But one of the, one of the pieces in the identity story, if we go back to March that you and I talked about quite a bit over the last few years of knowing each other is that you were super resistant to the idea of managing other humans.
And so that was, I would say, somewhat of a limiting belief in how you could think about growing your business. So what changed in terms of your perception of yourself as a leader and being willing to build a team to support your unique ability and also give the spotlight to others on your team to thrive in their unique ability?
What changed in you?
Dustin: Yeah. So. I think the the root of that, just to give a little context, I had an engineering career and I eventually managed a lot of people. I mean, when I, in high school, I was the I was a shift manager, crew chief at McDonald's, right? So it's not like I haven't managed people. I've kind of done that throughout my career, but it was always forced upon me.
And I always felt like, man, I'm a really good technician. [00:38:00] Like, why do I have to now be a manager and all that comes with that? So people have been in the corporate environment, you know, the hiring, firing, the drama performance reviews, all this like perfunctory stuff that was not. Yeah. Filling me in a creative way.
And so there's two things I would say. One is just a practical reality and working with Natalie as the COO. She's like, well, we're going to set up your org chart first. Right. And it's like, what's the org chart of the 10 million version of this realizing that Dustin's names on all the, all the roles at first.
But she said really importantly. We're not going to have you in managerial roles like you can be the leader of this company, the CEO, and you don't have to manage people. You can hire people that manage people. Right? And so that was a very freeing idea. And so even Tiffany as an executive assistant, she has people that she, you know, contractors that she manages.
So I actually have less managerial responsibilities sitting here today than I did at that time, because I even even with one sort of, you know, Part time and now going full time role that that less than my managerial load, but it was more the freedom that comes from realizing that I don't have to [00:39:00] being a CEO does not necessarily mean being a people manager and two.
I think the other really important thing here, starting with that self publishing conversation and going to the Ryan dice conversation and being involved in story brand and and, and several other companies. I started to just started to see for the first time all of these companies I admire that did go 10 million, 20 million in revenue, and they still had the soul of the founder.
And that was really important to me. So part of my fear around the even taking on this thought of a 10 million CEO is like, I don't want to run a big corporation. I like want this to be Dustin's company. And I want people to feel the level of care and love and community that you know that that makes it so special.
And I found that I can do that because I have these other examples. So I look at these companies I just named and several others, they are sizable companies and they are, they were created by a founder with a very specific gift. And that gift has actually been transferred into the culture of other people in the [00:40:00] company.
So that when you go to a story brand event, it feels like Donald Miller's thing. And it still is Donald Miller's thing, but you don't expect Donald Miller to take every zoom call. Right. And so just this like. Oh, my gosh, like now I can see it. I just didn't see it before. And so it had some really insightful conversations.
We've done interviews on this podcast with some of those founders. So I think both seeing how the other people have done it and having the internal resource, you know, between you and Natalie and some people in our mastermind to be like, These aren't it's still your business and you get to decide the things that you want to do.
And if I don't feel like managing a lot of people day to day, I don't need to do that. And that was very freeing because that was not my experience in the past.
Cassie: One thing that I've observed, Dustin, in this, in this year, and I'd love to, as we're transitioning the conversation, kind of come to, like, what does today look like? Where are we at today? What's happened? Let's really get transparent with the numbers and also maybe do a little future casting of what comes next, because I can't help myself.
But one thing that I think is actually, it [00:41:00] stands to talk about as we're kind of threading. Quarters one, two and three together as you stepped into being a leader of leaders, and that was a huge identity shift, and I think it happened on two levels. One happened just to kind of encapsulate the
conversation we just had around bringing in different people at different skill sets and levels under the organization to help propel you forward in your zone of genius or your unique ability where you can really add value and It's never, I don't think hiring should be about filling your skill deficits as a CEO or as an entrepreneur, but I really think it's, it's energy, right?
It's mapping out like, where are you most energized by the business? How can you bring in other people where your energy is just drained? Like one of my favorite things I've done this year is I really built out my money team. So now I have a CPA, I have a tech strategist, and I have a bookkeeper. It's three different people, but All of that just literally drains the life out of me.
It's like me studying QuickBooks, managing transactions is the last thing on earth you [00:42:00] need me to do. But I built a team. I built a bench to support me in that. And it wasn't just what are my skill gaps? Although I found out I actually overpaid in taxes. So oops, like definitely have a CPA. That's great learning, right?
Oh, not how I don't need to do my taxes ever again. But But it's really letting the energy guide you and saying like, Hey, this is where I'm really, really lit up in my business. I think that's part of the way we can avoid burning our business down, but also realizing that the boredom you've experienced at different points in the year was actually really rich, creative fodder.
I think in other times and other conversations with other people entrepreneurs, I coach, they're like, Hey, I'm bored. Something's wrong. I got to like, get out of here. And actually, yeah. What I've seen with you, Dustin, is being bored was actually great fodder because you got curious and you investigated, like, why am I bored?
But when you stepped into being a leader of leaders, it wasn't just about building your team. It was actually also about leading your clients in a different way. And so you went back through, and we, we've done this many times this year is looking at the client journey, mapping out [00:43:00] where do clients come in?
What do they need help with? Where are they psychologically, emotionally, relationally, With their business, with their community, as a leader, how can we actually help them be a leader? And so you stepping in as a mentor was one identity we came up with. You've walked this path. You can give knowledge, not from like a chair on high, but from a, hey, I have the scars, I have some of the scrapes, I have the wins, like I have the trophies, I have the triumphs and the
trials, to really prove that I've done it and it's possible, and I think for you, knowing you so well, you want other people to take that hope.
To know it's also possible for them. So let's talk about what became possible for you this year. I'd love to know, like, where are we sitting? It's November. Where are we sitting today in the business? What's going on? Let's pull the curtain back and kind of celebrate because there's, there have been some really heart wrenching, I wouldn't call it even lows, but there's been some heart wrenching times of feedback from loved ones, especially that [00:44:00] probably was really hard to hear.
And there's been some significant successes that also came with really deep questions. So where are we at today?
Dustin: Most importantly, I would say, you know, my marriage, which has been And 10, I feel like every year for 23 years and counting is really pegged out at its max. I mean, I feel like I'm in a better place ever with my family and with my wife, and that has a lot to do with some of these tough conversations, shifts, bringing her into the fold more.
I also have some financial advising help and she's sitting in the chair next to me for those conversations for the first time ever. So just inviting her and more into this full experience and celebrating a lot of these wins together has been important. Part of this new identity has been a lot of what I would call like personal mastery discipline, health, stop drinking alcohol.
I've done some, fitness sort of, endeavors and she has really been loved by that rather than quality times, her love language. And so also be able to unplug and have just less raw working hours has been a huge benefit and just more recreation time. I mentioned Italy and we make.
[00:45:00] Trips and experiences of priority. So that's most important. So I want to kind of let people know that that's going really well, despite sort of that, that low point back in January where we started our story financially, because people always care about that. Right. And and that's why I listen when I usually hear these year end reviews sort of, of podcasts.
We will in the year for sure, at least cash collected of 800, 000. And deferred payments, you know, some people are on payment plans and things like that. Like we have another Basically right at 200, 000 in money that's been sold, but not collected, if you will. So in effect, we hit the seven figure leap, right?
And so we've, we've hit those a few six figure months. We had, you know, the, the 250, 000 quarter. So it's not exactly like cash collected in the bank will be seven figures. That was never my intent, but I feel very, sincere and saying we're running a seven figure business at this point. Right. And, and we're on an upward trajectory from here.
So I feel like we have completed the seven figure leap. and while we, while we did that we took on a whole new identity of what this is going to look like moving forward. And then I think on [00:46:00] the. Going back to the original posted note for the year you know, the 500, 000 net profit as the, as the goal, we hit five 50 and that's awesome.
Right. And so that, and we'll get into a bit of future casting here for just a minute. What that tells me is two things. Wow. Whatever it's like, you know, like, wow. So it's an amazing blessing and it's allowed us to be very generous and there's a lot of cool things that come with that. Yeah. And it's a 70 percent profit margin, which sounds amazing.
And I know I need to improve me. I need to actually lower that because now I know the mindset is I actually need more help. So as this is going to go from 800, 25 million, which is, you know, the goal next year for revenue, I actually want to have a lower margin and have more help. And so that's a total shift in mindset from where I was a year ago, sitting in this chair and in the same sort of interview.
So that's where we're at financially. And then I would say looking at the business as a whole, we still have the same two main offers. So we still do the accelerator and we still have the seven figure lead mastermind. The mastermind has doubled since last year and we've held it at where it's [00:47:00] at. Cause we want to be very careful about how we expand that over time and how we handle that.
We had another amazing event just in September in Franklin, another in person event. And then the accelerator, we've added some cohorts this year that we more than last year, I've got again, some help. In fulfilling that, and I think we've really perfected. We're always trying to make it better.
We've really improved the experience. So we've had 100 percent success rate all the time that we've been doing this, which I'm very excited and humbled and proud of at the same time, and it's got a lot better. And a lot of that has to do with the community focus. So I feel like from a. Client experience perspective.
The thing we've done really well this year is bring people into a tighter community and that community has actually become the biggest value add in this whole company. Uh, it's probably my biggest business asset is the community we've created of clients and alumni and. Of course, that's very fulfilling to me, because that's one of my core values.
And so, and while all this internal work has been happening, we have also really doubled down on our client experience. [00:48:00] And Tiffany, the executive assistant we've talked about, her full time role is not only executive assistant, but client success manager. So, my first full time hire is also about client success.
And so, that feels really good to me, because that's first and foremost in my business what I care about.
Cassie: , let's do a little bit of a lightning round as we're kind of coming to, to close here. What's the number one thing you're most grateful for this year?
Dustin: I mean, definitely my family. And feeling like I got things right sized with controlling growth in a way that serves my family better versus pulling me away from them, which I feel like is the direction I was inadvertently heading a year ago.
Cassie: If you could recommend just one book that's made a huge impact over the last two years, what would it be?
Dustin: Yeah, it's cliche at this point, but 10x is easier than 2x and let the book tell
Cassie: mad if you didn't say that
Dustin: And the book is amazing. But the book plus Cassie is actually what unlocked everything for me. I read the book, you know, and it's good, but like working on it proactively with Cassie in my corner has made all the difference because it's she's she actually helps me apply it [00:49:00] and get the real results from it.
Cassie: If you could give entrepreneurs one piece of advice as they're making their seven figure leap and maybe they're facing some of that uncertainty that you faced in, let's say, quarter one of this year of, Oh my gosh, my business is
bigger than I thought, and I need to do some right sizing. What would you recommend that they do if they're in that position?
Dustin: Find a mentor, seek help. Whether that's Cassie, whether that's me in our community, whether it's a mastermind or whether that's even a sort of a mentor from afar that you can find and model. To me, that's, that's been a huge game changer. I've had all of the above, which has been a super blessing, but I think trying to go down this journey without the mentorship of someone who's been just a few steps ahead of you would be a huge mistake.
And it's, it's very accessible to you and ask me if you're looking for help and I will find the right, the right person to pull you into. And I'll probably point you to Cassie. But yeah, finding a mentor or a coach to be in your corner is a huge, huge, Yeah,
Cassie: this conversation this time next year, you know, I had to ask this question. We're having this conversation [00:50:00] this time next year, which I fully intend to show up and make room on my calendar for our third friendship anniversary. What do you hope 2025 brings for your business and the seven figure loop community?
Dustin: I think, I mean, number wise, I would like to grow another 50% and I would like to do that at a 50 percent margin. So having, and as I just said, have more revenue, but also more help to where it's a very sustainable, fun and enriching experience. And first and foremost, I would just want people to look at seven figure league community and what we're doing as a whole with all of our different programs and masterminds and all that stuff and be like, That is the place like the go to source for people who are on this seven figure journey.
Like that's what I really want. I want to be a mentor to each of our clients and at, at the plate and meet them at the place where they, they need that help in the moment. So I think that's really it is very client focused, small team, a little bit bigger than where we're at now and just, and just loving life and having fun staying [00:51:00] in my, in my zone of genius.
Cassie: I love it. Is there anything we missed? Is there anything we need to leave the listeners with in terms of this year in review?
Dustin: I don't think so. We covered a lot. We went fast. I would be remiss as we get ready to close here. I mean, I do definitely Cassie. I want people to know how to get ahold of you. You've been at my side from 50, 000 to 500 to, you know, basically at the 7 figure right now. Couldn't have done it without you.
And I didn't know I needed you until we started working together. And so I wouldn't want people to make that same mistake. So if people are looking for
rapid growth or in the middle of rapid growth, they're dealing with some identity issues and knowing that they need to change, but they don't know how to put their finger on how to do that.
Like, how should people. Get ahold of you. And then then I'll close out the show with, with final thoughts.
Cassie: Yeah, awesome. Well, Dustin, it's been a pleasure. Privilege. And that feels like not quite a strong enough word, but truly you've just become such an important person in my life, both as a friend and a client and just somebody that I truly look up to and admire. You, you walk the walk. And I love how you brought in your [00:52:00] family to this conversation because that's just so core and central to who you are.
And so if you want to get a hold of me, I absolutely love this change cycle. I love imagining bigger possibilities and really creating a system for exponential growth. So you can outgrow the old you and welcome in the new. So you can find me on LinkedIn would be a great place. I hang out also Cassie shade.
com. We can include that in the show notes. You can read a little bit more about our work. And what we do, and then also book a discovery call. I'd love to meet you and figure out where you're at in your journey. And I would just say that to
me, the biggest change that I've seen in my own business as I've taken steps on this leap myself is yes, having a coach.
I think Dustin distinguishes himself as a mentor. He's walked the path and done the thing. I feel like I'm a little bit more like, I don't know, Steve Kerr. I love the NBA. you know, I've, I've gotten the distance, I've done the things, but I also love to activate potential in other people and help you see possibilities you can't see in yourself.
And for me, the, the biggest leap forward has been pairing the [00:53:00] coaching with the actual community that Dustin provides. I work on a very deep level one to one with my clients. I get to know you in a deep way. I literally walked this journey with you, but then having that community outlet to plug into keeps You going on the days where it's easy as an entrepreneur to give up and that's what Dustin's provided It's literally become my tribe.
Like I call them my business families. Everyone in my real life knows Oh thursday mornings. I've seen my business family and it's very rare that I don't so Thank you. Dustin for having me not just on the show, but as a really front row seat and a Intimate participant in this growth journey. It's really been an honor
Dustin: Absolutely. Yeah. And obviously, you know, I feel the same and I've shared throughout this episode and your name's come up and a lot of these seven fairly episodes, cause you're an integral part and and what we've done and where we're going, you know, going forward. So, so yeah, thank you so much for giving me the the freedom to be able to express a lot of this stuff and open up and hopefully help some other people see what's.
What really happens when you go through some of these [00:54:00] transformations, because I don't hear this anywhere else. And I would have would have loved to hear this a year ago myself. So I very much value the ability to reflect back and share it with others. So, so definitely, yeah, hit Cassie Shay dot com or hit Cassie on LinkedIn or just ask me for an introduction.
I would be very, very happy to do that. And if you're listening and you're like, I want to grow a seven figure business. I am this solopreneur, this expert, this someone, someone with a mission and wants to make this big impact. And it would be really awesome to do that in a way that's aligned with my values.
Like that's what we do. So we do that through marketing. We do that through masterminds. We do that through community. And so if you're curious about that, you can go to seven figure leap. com. Click a button right there. Probably me, maybe someone on my team he'll talk to the coach, but if they're on my team, they're going to be an alumni who shares the values and are all in on your success.
So yeah, definitely go to seven, three leap. com. Check out what we have to offer. We'd love to welcome you into our amazing community, perhaps our mastermind. If that's something that would be a value to you and you can hang out with me and Cassie and 22 other. Amazing seven figure leapers as we [00:55:00] like to call ourselves.
So awesome, Cassie. Well, thanks again for being here. This has been an amazing episode. I look forward to next year. I'm already thinking, thinking ahead of all the things I need to get done. So we have a great story to tell again, one year from now.
Cassie: it's gonna be awesome. Thanks dustin [00:56:00]