Why Hustling Is Overrated – And What to Do Instead with Jason Lee

[00:00:00] Jason: I actually got started in entrepreneurship because, , I was really socially awkward, and I was a nerd.
I played video games, and basically like outside of a video game, you wouldn't really talk to me because I wouldn't talk to you. And, friend of mine had told me about this guy, like he was an entrepreneur. He was like in his twenties making multiple six figures, not selling drugs, you know, and I was immediately fascinated because we were in college, right?
We're at Berkeley. there's a lot of weeds circling around there. [00:01:00]
Dustin: Welcome back to the seven figure leap podcast. I have another amazing guest for you today, and I love the way that we met. I will introduce Jason here more formally in a second, but to kind of set the stage, I was coming from the stage at traffic and conversion summit in Las Vegas earlier this year.
I had one friend there who. we were friends outside of this networking group called JVMM that we're in, and she was way more involved. I'd been a member for like a year and done pretty much nothing with that group, but on the last day of the conference, she said, Hey, there's a group of us from the JVMM that are going to have lunch together.
Would you like to come over and meet us? And I said, Oh, sure. Absolutely. So I come sit down at this table. I think there's around eight people there. And I just immediately had this resonance with Jason, who was sitting at the same table and who I'd never met, even though I paid to be in this networking group to meet cool people like Jason.
So I'll let him kind of take it over from here. But I think from the moment we met, we're like, we're going to do some business together, probably on both sides of service. And so Jason Lee is my awesome [00:02:00] guest today, and he runs a company called CBA lifestyle and his concierge business advisors. So Jason, welcome.
Please, Expand on that a little bit if you want, and then we'll jump right into your story.
Jason: Yeah, definitely. and man, that was kind of like the link because Dustin spoke on stage and actually remember seeing his presentation on the podcast flywheel on the agenda and I didn't have time to go and I was like, man, want to go, but there was another one. Sorry, Dustin.
I mean, there was another one that was just really fascinating to me. So I went to that one. And then I saw him like I saw him at lunch and we ended up chatting and just talking a little bit about like what we did, but was pretty funny because like we had never met through the JVM networking group that we were in, but because of that kind of like a.
loose link, We were able to have lunch together, get to know each other and then, became clients of each other. And I went through the podcast accelerator and which was awesome. and now I'm on podcasts, which has been really cool. So I think I'm following through on what the accelerator [00:03:00] promised as well, which is great.
Dustin: Absolutely. You're sitting here being a guest on a show, right? So it's kind of meta. So yeah, the real reason I brought Jason here is to humiliate him for not attending my presentation. Cause I was deeply wounded. No, I actually didn't know you didn't know until right now you hadn't attended, but it all worked out.
cause yeah, Jason went through our accelerator. He's now in our seven figure lead mastermind. We've really gotten to dive in much deeper into his. Journey in his business. And as he noted there, I was actually the first to hire him. So he came in and helped me with some operational issues and some planning for the next stage of growth for seven figure leap.
So it's a very symbiotic relationship and you're going to hear, I think, as we get through Jason's journey, Why that is, because I think we both have very similar values and very similar approaches actually to how we treat people and run our businesses. But we have very different strengths, which is kind of fun to see
how we can assist each other in our own growth trajectories here.
So, Jason, I like to go back a little bit. I like to for you, this does not [00:04:00] have to be like when you're five years old, so on, baseball cards about the roadside or whatever. But a point of significance in your life where you're like, identify it as an entrepreneur and where this journey towards running your own business really began so that we can start to unpack maybe why that is and some of the things that drive you in your passion today for entrepreneurship.
Jason: Yeah, totally. so I'll start with a different one. Like I've been on a few others where I, talked about a certain part that was supposed to be like brand sensitive and things like that. but I'm going to start with a fun one today. Cause with you, Dustin. so I actually got started in entrepreneurship because, , I was really socially awkward, and I was a nerd.
I played video games, and basically like outside of a video game, you wouldn't really talk to me because I wouldn't talk to you. And, friend of mine had told me about this guy, like he was an entrepreneur. He was like in his twenties making multiple six figures, not selling drugs, you know, and I was immediately fascinated because we were in college, right?
We're at Berkeley. there's a lot of weeds circling around [00:05:00] there. and the thing that stuck to me though, is like, if I never learn how to talk to people, I'll never get a girlfriend. That was why I started intra entrepreneurship.
Dustin: That is an awesome read. It might be, first person who's used, his lack of a romantic life for starting a business. So this is good. I like it. and I love what you mentioned about drugs. Cause I think it's getting better now as you know, people are used to the internet and things, but I know in the early days where I'm like, yeah, I'm making this money, quote unquote passively, and I'm doing these things online.
People kind of look at you weird. Like, what do you mean? Like, are you selling drugs? Cause it sure sounds like you're selling drugs. So that's awesome.
Jason: Yeah. Yeah. It turns out he was selling supplements, so it was kind of close, but not really. it was good for your health. that started my journey. fast forwarded and what made me actually successful there though was because I was always more of like a gamer strategist.
So when I played games, like I always looked at things from kind of that standpoint of min maxing and min maxing is kind of this idea of. Doing the least or doing the least you need to get the maximum result. So it's, not [00:06:00] doing like as little as possible, but it's doing just enough to get the best result that you're doing.
I actually honed my, I guess, my ability to do that through playing a lot of different types of video games, like there's puzzle games. really got into final fantasy when it first started, And a lot of that is like stats, equipment and, your skills, so I brought a lot of that when I started to get into business as I studied engineering and as engineers, one of the things we're all about is efficiency or
what other people might call being lazy, right? It's like. What's the least I can do to get the maximum result and I brought that into, just really looking at business in that way.
and that really sprouted my passion for like operational systems, how to install business systems into someone's, into your setup so that you can really get amazing results, , while also having time for the rest of your life. Like I'm a father now, I have another kid coming pretty soon, I feel like life is only getting busier and busier and my business systems need to [00:07:00] kind of rise to that level because, if this were 10 years ago and I could just burn the midnight oil, working my butt off, just hustling, I never would have considered systems and that's actually what I did back then.
and now it's like, I don't got time for that. Literally, like I don't have any time to do all of those things, so I need systems to back me up. But in fact, thankfully those systems actually make my life feel a lot more full and, valuable. even as I'm doing them, even though I feel like I'm doing less than before.
Dustin: So you come from this mindset and this, viewpoint of engineering and Gaming and always trying to maximize for efficiency. And I know you had different businesses and we don't need to go through all of those. But, , so obviously the systematic thinking and the min max thinking, which I think is a really cool way to, to think about business are very prevalent themes.
you and I have talked a lot about. Quick start, not quick start. And some of the things that will unpack here in a minute, maybe with some assessments we've taken. But is there any other when you look back over the doing this to get a girlfriend to like now actually helping other people with business [00:08:00] systems and operations at a high level?
Any other themes or things in there that you would like to point out to the audience? This may be a little unique to your journey.
Jason: Yeah, I would say, uh, well, I don't know if this is unique, actually, like, Because I hear a lot of different stories where like some people knew exactly what they were going to do, from the moment they were born. but I tried a lot of different businesses. And so, I've recently been hearing that's more and more common than you might think.
and it just makes sense. Not a great origin story. So you don't really hear that part of people's story until you're really deep into their world. but it was I've
tried a lot. I was selling supplements, I did marketing. I did growth coaching here and there.
and I tried a lot of different things before I really arrived at. Knowing like, Oh, actually that through line of like what the skill and the kind of like unique ability that carried me through those businesses, success or failure, was strategy. and then kind of like the second aspect of it was actually, really being able to bring the right people together.
hadn't realized this in the beginning cause I was thinking like, Oh, like all one man [00:09:00] show. Cause I, that's what my mentor was doing, this one man making multiple six figures doing his thing. but what I didn't realize back then
too, was like, he had actually built a team around him that allowed him to be his most effective.
And probably in like the last four or five years, I really started to leverage that I found a partner who is actually incredible at operation. So I've been in sales and marketing myself for almost 10 years. But he's been in operations for more than that. so with our partnership, like I have a vast understanding of it because it
fascinates me and I always think like that, but I'm much more better at Communicating it than doing it. And when I partnered up with him, he was able to fill in all the nitty gritty aspects of the operation. so like we have, we now have a really great partnership and we're bringing on the right people. I guess that's one another through line of I couldn't do it alone.
but then when I found someone who was kind of like the other fit to that puzzle, we really started gaining traction as a business.
Dustin: Yeah, that's awesome. I love the reflection there on your unique [00:10:00] ability and the fact that, well, it's super strong for the type of business you want to create. It's incomplete, So you have a business partner and you guys really complement each other. And I've had. Businesses with partners in the past for those same reasons.
and I think there's a lot of benefit to that. but I also want to kind of point out a couple things there with kind of thinking about values and kind of why you do what you do. there's some real, I think, emotional ties to that. And I think the Thing I kept thinking of as you were speaking was identity.
It's like have this identity. I'm a gamer. I have this identity. I'm an engineer. and then as it evolves and you're like door to door selling supplements, you probably start to feel out of sorts with your identity and you're bouncing around to
different businesses, all the way up to today where you have a successful business with a business partner and you're looking to scale it.
how would you say your identity has, Either changed or like, maybe the identity stayed the same, but you're like recognition of it. It's bounced up and down off, the through line that you mentioned earlier.
Jason: That's good. really is. if your business doesn't match your identity, you're not going to keep that business for long. and I think that, in my [00:11:00] belief, I'm a Christian. so I believe that, You're born with an identity and over time though, society what people tell you to be like, my parents wanted me to be an engineer.
And guess what? I became an engineer before I became an entrepreneur. what people speak to you at a young age, like speak into you at a young age really shapes who you become. And sometimes it's not a fit. maybe it was a fit for what they wanted you to do or what they believed.
my parents believed I would be successful being an engineer. So they really encouraged me to be one, and I don't knock them on it. Like it's really like, well, I know they had my best interest at heart. and entrepreneurship is also not for the faint of heart. Like there's also tons of ups and downs.
my mentor used to call it eight till faint. that's how you worked back then. the funny thing is an entrepreneur is the one who quits a full time job working eight hours a day to work 16 hours a day, it was very true, especially when I was starting, so I guess my identity though, it shifted kind of in the beginning from being kind of unknown.
Like, I didn't know what my identity should have been. All I knew is I wanted to be successful. I [00:12:00] heard quotes, like do what they do, make what they make. So I said, all right, I'm really good at copying. I'm going to go copy the right, the people. and, I then realized that even though when you copy it, you don't always get what they get because your identity is different.
so my own journey and identity, and I won't go too deep into it unless we want to in this, episode. but it's been a journey of like, 10 years, just constantly seeking, constantly getting the feedback, It's kind of like even in sales, like when you go and make sales, you'll get feedback, some people say yes, some people say no, some people slam their door in your face if you're doing door to door, , and that's feedback, And you figure out ways to get around that. And as
I've been seeking my identity, I'm like, Oh, maybe it's this one. I'll try this identity on, you know, I'll try that identity on.
And then it's like, it don't fit. And I'm like, Oh, That sucks. Some identities I spent like six years creating. and when I realized it didn't fit, like I was really crushed. Like I had a, they call it like a sunk cost bias. It's like, well, I've already put so much time in it. Why don't I just keep going to make it , [00:13:00] to retirement or something like that?
but, I think some of the most valuable decisions I've ever made though, was turning down identities that kind of fit me, but didn't fit me truly.
Dustin: that is super powerful. What you just said. And, I think that's one of the reasons Jason and I just resonate so much. I mean, it's really interesting to hear you say you had like these parents that encouraged you, you should be an engineer, you'll be successful and. I don't know if your experience has been like mine.
I certainly don't regret being an engineer and going to engineering school because it really teaches you to think and be analytical and have strategic mind. but really interesting. I kind of got pushed in the same direction, but in almost the opposite way. Like for me, my dad was a laborer. So he was the guy with the shovel shoveling the asphalt and cussing out the engineers on site.
Right. but witnessed like, I don't want that. this sounds like a horrible lifestyle. He's laid off half the time and he's had a lot of struggles. but I really love the projects. I'm like seeing they're building a bridge, that's super cool. They're building a dam. That's super cool.
But I don't want to be the guy with the shovel. Like my dad was because he seemed to really suffer under all that. [00:14:00] And so I kind of looked for a way to get. Towards that without having that role. And I think that was a big jump towards the right identity. you described, I've had all these different businesses and all these different engineering roles and it's continuous evolution, but I'm also a Christian.
And I also totally believe you that like, we have a calling, we have a purpose, our vocation, it can evolve a bit over time. I do feel like we're born with a central identity or kind of always refining our way towards it. as we listen to God's voice and we try new things and take new risk and meet new people and a lot of the stuff you unpacked there.
So I really appreciate that. I'm a bit obsessed with like identity work because I feel the thing you close with there that one of the most, I don't know if risky is the right word, but one of the most disappointing things I think you can do is get like close in or get your business in your life.
Aligned almost with your identity and then be like, it's close enough because our true potential lies in really lining those things up. that kind of brings me to, I feel like when we met, we're both in the process of what I would call like professionalizing [00:15:00] our businesses, on a higher level for me, it was totally on the operation side and delivery and fulfillment for you.
I feel like it was a little more on the marketing side. Rounding out your team. But something I just want to talk about for the audience's sake, cause I was not aware of this until you and I kind of met on this point in our journeys. You went and did the Colby assessment. I did the same thing. My coach did the same thing.
And then someone I hired as a fractional COO did the same thing. And I actually just hired an executive assistant and had them in that process. Do it. It's been really insightful. So I would love to hear your. Takeaways from you doing the Colby assessment. I can share a little bit about mine and then maybe we can talk a little more about your current business status and where you're heading.
Jason: right. Co VA. now you'll know exactly how I am right after I give you these four numbers that they basically define you as an individual, not just kidding.
Dustin: This is your identity. It's four numbers.
Jason: What's interesting is I did hear from a Colby expert that like when you're in times of really heavy transition, your numbers will change and sometimes they change [00:16:00] permanently.
But what they noticed is if you have like several numbers that are exactly the same, Then, then you're usually in a time of transition, which I thought was really interesting. So someone who was another group that I was in, they had it was high number and then like three force and they're like, that's not really like me.
It was kind of confusing. And I was like, Oh, like, and then I heard about the transition part, which is really cool. So my numbers are 7563. so I'm high on the fact finder and I'm, I'm actually kind of a quick start, but I'm not in the realm of Dustin who is like the elite quick start energy of like run and gun and
Dustin: when I think of you, I think of really low quick start. It was actually because your business partner, Robert,
Jason: Yeah. Yeah. His quick start number is one.
Dustin: which is the lowest, it's a one through 10 scale. So
Jason: yeah. One through nine actually. And so, so, our average is like three. So maybe that's why from a business standpoint, you see us moving because, he balances me out really well. from that type of energy, because I mean, if I had a nine and he had a one, [00:17:00] we might not ever have just gotten along, because of how rapid I would be prototyping and trying stuff.
And he's like, we haven't even validated this. Like, what are you doing? And like, we'd be running out there. which was kind of what I was like when I was younger. I had known Robert for almost like 14 years now. when he knew me
back then, I was literally just throwing stuff at the wall and being like, we'll just have to see if it sticks.
Cause I can't figure anything else out right now. You know, we're just gonna throw. So talking about the number though, I guess what I really started to learn is that, when you're. building a business and building a team, you need a good compliment of the different numbers.
So I think, I believe it's fact finder follow through quick start and implementer. so for those four, as you're doing it, like you, you need a good mix and like the different roles end up in different places. So because I'm high in fact finder, as well as quick start, I'm what typical visionaries might look like.
do a lot of research and then I start stuff, and the follow through, though, on my end is kind of low. I'm in the middle range of follow through, which is what kept [00:18:00] me going as a solo. But my partner is extremely high and follow through, we're actually both low in implementation.
so the interesting part about implementation, though, is like, you might expect like, oh, it should be really high for someone who's like an integrator or someone who goes in and does the operations. but in fact, High implementers
are people who do the work with their hands. So they're actually typically the people who are really great in the field doing the thing.
and people who are higher on like fact finder or, A quick start, right? Are better as like the spearhead, the tip of the spear, so to speak, , taking the business out there, trying out new things and like innovating.
Dustin: That's very cool. Yeah. I'm glad you clarified. So it's people who are more opposite. Our patterns are actually very similar, but mine are a little more extreme, I guess. So I have seven to eight, two, so very high fact finder, very high quick start. And I think you, said it well, like for me, I'm very, it's very easy for me to make big decisions.
And then I go like, Do a lot of research before I like commit to it, so it's like I decide. And before I commit [00:19:00] though, I'm going to do a lot of research, gather a lot of information. I'm doing that right now as I'm, switching over sales and marketing systems. I'm talking to a lot of people.
I'm exploring a lot of like looking at every corner. Like I've already committed to exactly what system I want, but now it's like, now there's a lot of options on who I can partner with and who can help me. And, I, just thought of that in a moment. I'm like, this is like totally quick start fact finder.
You in the course of one day, I'm like, had this realization that I need a centralized system for my sales and marketing. I need someone to be able to own that in the future. So now's the time to build it. I know what platform I'm going to use. Like all that happened like that. And that's spent two weeks talking to different, options basically, under that umbrella.
that's kind of insightful for people who are entrepreneurs. And in two and two, I'm pretty, pretty excited. Quite low on implementation and follow through, which doesn't mean that when we promise something to a client, we don't deliver it. It just means that it will get done, but it will not get done.
Like consistently it'll get done. Like at the last minute with high quality still. Jason: It's
just more challenging, these numbers don't mean we can't do them. It's just not our nature, you know? So [00:20:00] like, even for my partner, as a one quick start, we had recently just had to talk about our strategy and, how I realized
there were some things that we really had to be aware of that we weren't thinking of before.
And he immediately said, all right, then we got to stop everything. we need a zero on this thing right now. Like we need to start it today. so it's not to say like as a one quick start, he would have like kind of ruminated on that for like a few months and then said, it's just not our typical behavior.
And at the same time, though, it doesn't mean that any of those qualities, like we're not good at them. more about, well, what's our tendency?
Dustin: Yes. what's our natural state?
Jason: Exactly. if we were a little less developed and less mature, then maybe our follow through would be absolute crap, right? It would be all the way down there and like we would never follow up anything.
but I think as part of personally as maturing through business, I realized how important follow through is to keep a business reputation and keep clients coming back and paying me money. so because of that, my follow through became really high on the things that were really important. but they were still kind of [00:21:00] low on the things that were, I thought were kind of like just secondary and didn't really matter, that only moved up to when it did matter,
Dustin: Yeah.
Jason: makes sense.
Oh,
Dustin: way to put it. I have a very long to do list but things very easily shortcut them ways to the top because there's, Oh, now there's urgency or now it's like. I can't, I will get it done. Like without a doubt, I've never not delivered on a promise, but if it's not like something that has to get done right now, it's going to stay on that list.
And so as I was looking for an executive assistant, I'm going to do a whole podcast episode on our hiring funnel, because I think it was very successful. But one of the things we did heading into the final interviews was have them do the Colby assessment and we paid for it. it was really insightful.
What was really cool is all the finalists basically had the same profile, which was like, that's good. We're attracting the right kind of people. And it was a very, I won't get into all these details now, but I'll say there was two candidates that were very difficult to distinguish between which one I should hire.
And I didn't only use the Colby, but the Colby really helped because one was much higher on quickstart and one was much lower. And I thought, I need the energy of someone who will [00:22:00] balance me out and, Be less quick starty. I'm not inclined to go start new things. and of course they were all way higher than me on implementation of follow through so they can start to methodically go through some of these to do's that are important, but not urgent.
Jason: what numbers were you looking for, for a good executive assistant? I know you'll go deeper into it. I'm just so curious now.
Dustin: Yeah. So for me, it was really, they all were high fact finders. So I don't really see that that was neither here nor there. Like, great. We can, either of us can do the research or either of us is going to, go in depth. I was looking for a lower quick start than me and especially a higher follow through and, implementation.
again, someone who's going to be who loves consistency, who loves systems, who, they're really what this person does best. His own project management system and own our internal communications. And so that was really it. it was sort of like my extremes on the graph.
There's where the opposite. that was really what I was looking for, because I see it as an operational partner and sort of a right hand person who could eventually be promoted and grown into, something like a director of operations [00:23:00] potentially. And. Therefore, I felt like it was good for their natural state of being to be different than mine.
Just like you have a business partner who's quite different than you in your, natural states. And those tend to be our natural strengths too, awesome. Thanks for bearing with us and going deep on Colby. I think that was fun. but Jason, I'd love to just tell us a little bit about what you guys do today.
So we can get really clear on who you serve and, your mission. And then let's talk a little bit about where you see yourself going over the next couple of years in your business.
Jason: Yeah. so we work with generally service based businesses. but recently you've been making a real push to create systems for like coaches, consultants and course creators, who want to build a scalable system into their, business. that's our biggest thing is like, how can we help you create regularity, and consistent quality of what you deliver when everything used to just rely on you.
Showing up, making all the calls. and how can we create that consistency? I won't go too far into the backstory, but like before I was a consultant, I was actually a growth coach for [00:24:00] like performance coaching, how to build habits, how to get really like high performance out of, you You as a individual, and I was in the coaching industry for several years, , just observing, getting my own clients as well.
Right. I was doing the thing, but I was also observing what some of the best coaches out there were doing. And that kind of created this kind of framework of. Oh, what are the coaching models out there? What's the best? And there is no one best. It's more of like the fit, like we were talking about identity before.
It's much more about the fit to your identity that will allow you to get to where you want to go. that's how we help people though. We help them identify like how to do it. And then we help them create a map on how to get there. and that gets down, it can go all the way just from a broad direction.
To like the nuts and bolts of do this at this time. we've done all types of that.
Dustin: Yeah, I love it. I can say I, hired Jason's company. they really helped me sort of get out of my own head, really apply a better way to say it's like get all the things out of my head onto, you know, a diagram where we could objectively look at them and [00:25:00] say, okay, like, some of these things are very aligned with your identity.
Some of these things are not. And if you're going to 10 X this business, what's going to break what's going to be the priority. And so it really helped me in the first half of this year, get really clear on like, how do I want to, you Change the fulfillment of how we deliver our promises.
How do I want to change operations and who do I need to hire? And now I'm back into the sales and marketing side of the equation. But I think there's so much value if you're sitting there listening, especially if you're like a solopreneur, you founded a company and you feel like it all lives in your head and you want to have relief from that and have what I would call it a real
business, like something that has value outside of, Only your brain, then you really need to do this deep dive process.
And so if you're like, yeah, that's totally what I need right now. I want to scale. I want to grow, but I feel like I'm the bottleneck. Definitely. we'll talk later about how to get ahold of Jason and his company, but I highly recommend you do a consultation with them and see how they can help.
I've talked on other episodes about where I see my company going, where do you see [00:26:00] your company going, over the next couple of years
Jason: number one, thank you so much for the kind words, Dustin, we had a lot of fun working with and it is just an incredible, it's just an incredible experience. Like you, you. Allowing us into your world to help you look at things from our lens. Cause that's all we really bring. We bring a different perspective, from our experience.
but at the same time too, it's like, we really try to make sure it's aligned to your business and your goals. and, I really want to get that out there.
Dustin: now, I appreciate that. and I also want to say to you
we're going to talk at the end when I kind of hand the mic to Jason here in a few minutes to talk
about what types of business you can be building toward. So a lot of us don't even like consciously make this choice. I was kind of saving that.
He really helped me get clarity on like, what are you actually building toward? And then you can go and look at what is in your brain, take it out, move the pieces around, see what needs addressed. And so, yeah, that was the ultimate goal. but yeah, just in gratitude back to you, Jason, like that's super helpful.
And so we're going to unpack that for people here as part of this episode. in helping people like me and all, our listeners, many of which are in a [00:27:00] similar situation, where do you see your own business going and staying in alignment with your identity or business partners identity?
You guys have a real dynamic at work.
Jason: Yeah, honestly, I'm not too sure at the moment. one of our, one of the things like, and we were talking about this before we started recording, is
alignment when we had first started the business, like we were very focused on, all right, What does the market need and how can we truly serve them?
How can we create real transformation and real change and that moving forward to where we're at today, that's still at the core of what we're trying to do. And we're honestly just really open. mean, of course, like we, we want to grow the business. We want to be making more revenue. we have revenue targets every, every quarter, to grow.
And like, Our goal is seven figures, that's always been like the rise. but how we want to do that is really through deeply serving the people that need our services. And, we have a variety, like we've helped people you discover more of like, okay, what, would really create the makeup of your business based on your goals and your [00:28:00] lifestyle and how you want to create, create, change and transformation.
we like to call it a calling of how we want to help the world. just the same, we want to do that as well for us. we're like, As much as we want to expand what we're currently up to, we've been actually getting a lot of different requests of like different places.
We could help entrepreneurs, whether they're solopreneurs or they've already built up a scaled business and they want to grow even further. or maybe their business is on fire. Like I've had a business come to me where They've built it
out. they hit 10, like 9 million in revenue, and it was kind of collapsing because they didn't have the system.
So we came in as kind of firefighters in that scenario. Um, quite stressful. our follow through went really high in that moment.
Dustin: And then you went and took a massive long nap afterward because it was exhausting. Probably.
Jason: Dude, I think hibernated for like a month after that. It was insane. but we're really just open to the call right now. just excited to be able to help people and grow the business and grow the company. but how I look at it, like you said this before, [00:29:00] Dustin, which is, well, if you want to make seven figures, you want to imagine creating a 10 X value to the clients that you've served.
So like, if I want a million dollars, then my goal is to create. A 10 million worth of transformations for our clients, and I'm open. Like if it decides that if it's one
client who ends up doing all of that for me, and I've created 10 million, like I'll be really excited because that's one client.
or if it's multiple, of the people we help. So like, we're just really excited to grow and serve.
Dustin: Yeah, I love it. you have clarity on what you do and who you're serving. It's the mechanism by which you will scale to seven figures and beyond that you're like, not sure yet. And that's awesome. If you were to ask me six months ago, I definitely couldn't have answered that question. And I, now I have an answer.
It might change though in the next six months, and that's the beauty of entrepreneurship and the journey that we're all on. So, this is Fascinating, really enjoyed hearing your history and unpacking Colby and talking about the unique ability that you have and how you found the right partner to express that and how you've helped me and can help others.
So I'd love to kind of close out the episode is [00:30:00] to let you teach us. And one of the things we've talked about in. The work you did with me and in our mastermind is this idea of building with purpose toward the type of business you want. And I believe you have basically four types. You're going to go over, kind of boil it down for us so that people listening can think, which of these do I think at this point I actually want to build, because that's going to have a huge impact on what you do today, tomorrow, and over the next three to five years as you're building towards that vision.
So the mic is yours, Jason, if you want to enlighten us a little bit on these business outcomes that we can be. Looking at,
Jason: Yeah, well, I'm excited. cause if you haven't heard these before, I mean, you've probably heard. each of these individually, but what I'll do is I'm going to try to put them together in a way that you can really take a look at your own business and decide if it's a good fit for you.
So, but before I talk about the four types, though, what I want the listener to do is similar to what I did with Dustin beginning, which is really clear on your goals. I mean, like who hasn't heard that before? what you want to do is [00:31:00] always just take a moment right now to think about what is it, where would I want to be in 5, 10 years?
how hard do I want to be working? What kind of value do I want to be creating and for your business also think about the lifestyle, Cause I'm like the reason why we named our website, CBA lifestyle. com is not because lifestyle is actually in the name. It's actually not in the name.
what we created though, is, the reason why I made this business in the first place is I wanted a business that supported my lifestyle rather than my lifestyle, supporting my business. think about that first. All right. And how would you want that now let's go into the four types.
So I like to call this like your business end games, and you can kind of develop this as you go. but there's four types and we're going to start from the least self managed to the most self managed. All right. And what self managed means is that other people are doing the work, at the most self managed you're actually,
you just own the thing and it somehow just gives you money, but you're not involved in the day to day anymore.
Okay. So let's talk for the [00:32:00] beginning. The first one is a solopreneur. and some people actually choose this as their end game as like a boutique solopreneur, and people can be incredibly good at this. They're usually like an artisan, someone who's just insanely good at what they do, that people are willing to pay like millions of dollars just to work with them.
know Tony Robbins doesn't have this setup, but for his own private practice, I remember at some, at one point he was charging a million dollars to work with him for one hour and you had to fly to him. He wasn't coming to you and I was like, just blown away by, by what that was. But like he could serve one client a year and basically make seven figures.
that's crazy. But he was so good at what he did and he had the clout, the reputation that he was able to do it. So for a solopreneur operation though, usually it's either just you, right. And you wear all the hats in that business. or you might have like a VA or two helping out on behind the scenes.
they tend to leverage a lot of systems. So I'll give like one or two pros and cons or else we'll be here for quite a while. but my favorite part about a [00:33:00] solopreneur though, is you can be incredibly agile. You can change, you can twit, you can turn at the drop of a hat.
You're like, I'm not selling this anymore. I'm selling that. It happened. you don't have, you don't have to inform anybody, you've just made the decision and you can be extremely flexible. in times like these where the market might change
really rapidly, if you have a good head on your shoulders and you're staying focused, you can be very.
Flexible in what you do to make sure your business stays afloat, , also the overhead is really low. basically it's just your lifestyle costs, You don't have a payroll or anything that taking up so much of your income and that's pretty great.
The con of that though, is that if you were to get sick and you weren't able to work for me, my value is in my brain, and when I got sick this one time, my brain literally slowed down to the point where I thought I was. like I went dumb, I couldn't think, and I couldn't work.
at that point I was a solopreneur. I had no income. Like I had to pause clients, I had to push them back, thankfully, they believed in me and like, and I recovered, I [00:34:00] was able to go again. but that was really a difficult time. So for solopreneurs, it's more of, you have like a really like a cushy job.
So to speak, I don't know how else to describe it. It's you have a job, but it's better paying and it's more flexible. So moving up though, like if you move one step up, you go to zone of genius. And this is a favorite of mine because you get to do what you love and what you're good at.
And as you build this, like what happens is you start to find other people who do the other parts better than you do. so for example, I brought in my partner because he's actually way more better at the details and follow through of operational systems than I was. and I made that transition to a zone of genius business, not entirely though, because in the beginning it was just the two of us.
so like, instead of one though, my roles were divided, and I was focused on a. half of the things I had to do before. And that already relieved me so much and allowed the business to grow faster. But a true zone of genius business though, is like really getting an idea of what you're really, really good at.
And building [00:35:00] systems and people around all the other parts. When that happens, you basically don't work another day in your life because you do what you love. You show up, you do the work Dustin's incredibly good at facilitating amazing conversations. Once his zone of genius business is built, he's just going to show up, have these calls and then go home.
and he's going to, I don't know, go to the beach or just relax, sipping my ties on the beach or something like that. zone of genius, like the great part about that is.
what I just said, you get to do what you like, only what you're good at, what you love to do, and you can design it in a way where you only do that part.
Everything else is taken care of now. I guess the con of that is how are you going to get everything else taken care of? you'll likely need leadership skills. you'll need to be able to lead a team, you'll need to be able to create systems for what they're going to do so that they can do things as good as you've done.
and like Dustin sharing that hiring process, like you have to try to hire people who are better at those aspects than you. How are you going to find them? those are the cons, like you can find them, of course, like you keep looking, but [00:36:00] like the con of that is the effort that needs to get put in to find those people.
you might have to go through several people to really identify who's key and who is a real fit. because I don't know, like people lie on their resumes sometimes, like who knew, so like you got to find out.
Dustin: I'll, quickly interject here because I feel like I've been in the process since Jason's met me basically of going from one to two, right? So from a true solopreneur business, a couple of VAs to purposefully building a zone of genius business. I want to hear what three and four are, and I'll let you know if I'm stopping here or moving further down.
But for the time being though, What I can express in that, as you kind of expressed as a con it's a whole different skill set. Hiring people is way different than selling stuff to clients. and leadership is a way different skill than, the thing you might do in coaching or consulting or whatever service you provide.
And I was very resistant to it. And mostly because of leadership experiences, I had had an engineering where I felt a little burnt out by the whole thing. but when I finally opened myself up to it, I was like, well, what if I [00:37:00] literally just showed up and did the things I was really, really good at and love to do, and other people were responsible for the other parts, that would be worth it.
So at some point I had to make the decision that would be worth. The pain of growth and getting good at hiring and trusting other people and all the stuff that comes with getting from level one to level two and the four parts that we're going through. So I kind of want to say that Jason, just to affirm it, I'm in it.
I'm living it. I think what you said, the upside is so worth. The downside, in my opinion, and other people may hear this and be like, heck, no, like I want no team ever. I'm cool wearing all the hats. I don't want to make that much more income. I just want to be where I'm at. that's all open to our mindset is where I lived for several years.
So, please continue to number three. I'm actually writing these down and I'm curious to hear what you have to say.
Jason: Yeah, totally. well, I mean, just kudos on the awareness. it's a growing experience. and I'll just say this too. It's like, there's no one size fits all. Like a progression in terms of like going from unmanaged to self managed. but it really is depending on the person. the next step though [00:38:00] is, exiting, So you're building to exit what you're basically doing at that point is let's say if you've built to a zone of genius business, now you're finding a genius to replace your genius. I don't know if that's even possible in some cases. Right. I were to say that to someone who was in the zone of genius and loving it, they'd be like, well, get out of here.
When you're building to exit though, they won't want to buy your business if it relies on you. no one's going to pay big money to get a business that is all still in your head.
So you need systems, you need SOPs. some people choose this, though, because maybe they found out that it wasn't really their identity. And so they've achieved success. They were good at that. one of two things might happen is that it wasn't their identity or their identity has leveled up and it's no longer their thing.
And it might have completely changed from where it was. And so for from when you decide to exit, though, you need to build systems and different things so that when someone else comes in, It's more of a plug and play. They can take over the business. They can run the systems and [00:39:00] do almost as well as you did, we can't promise they're going to do better or anything like that. but they need the systems to be able to get consistent results similar to you. the pro of this is absolute relinquishing of responsibilities. Like you've sold it, you're out of there. You had a huge check.
You're going to go run it right off into the sunset. Never looking back. and I guess the con if this could be called a con is no more money from that, Like get the big check and then you're off. I don't know, like from an exiting standpoint, though, it's a great way to, to take what you've already invested into and cash out, and then take that and move into a new phase of your life.
and like some people intentionally build towards this, like it's very common in SAS companies, software, where they build it to get acquired, right? Like Venmo, got acquired by Stripe, And I don't even know how much that costs, but it was probably incredible because I use Venmo all the time, and, you make that exit, I mean, you're done, right?
Like you don't got to do anything anymore. but. actually, so I look at it this way, though. There's one [00:40:00] more level. I actually put exiting, building to exit under this one because I think it's actually harder, which is the last level is self managed. And the self managed business is you own it.
But it's run by another team, you have management in place, you have another, someone else being the CEO, the frontline salesperson, all of those things. And you own it, or you're part of the board of directors where you still, so like you can still choose to give some guidance or you could just own it and have someone else run it.
I believe self managed is harder though, because you need to sustain that over time, right? Like just building up to exit, like you can get enough systems or someone's willing to buy it and then you're done when you're self managed though, those systems need to work. Or else you're going to rapidly go back into the business and have to help and kind of like put out the fires again.
so self manage is kind of like the golden, don't know, the holy grail of, how people imagine businesses, right? Like you just build it, it just pays you out and it's just running without you over there. well, okay, let me, the pros are quite [00:41:00] obvious. it's this thing that prints money for you while you're over here, there's some other ones, but I won't go too far into it. The cons of self managed are actually like less, usually less obvious. so it's like, well, you have to keep it running. So you have to take care of. the leads, the leaders of that company, the CEO, the vice, the presidents, the vice presidents, if your company is that big, you need to make sure that they're doing their job and that it's kind of like you become a coach in some respects of making sure that their mental wellbeing is, on track, they're going to be healthy for the long run so they can keep running the company.
will have to rise to a whole nother level or. you bring in a leader, but that's going to cost quite a bit of money, You can bring in someone to do that. So, so it's kind of like either you sacrifice or you invest, I say, invest, you invest a chunk of what income you would have made for a leader to take that over, or you have to do that yourself.
And oftentimes for self managed people, they want to do it themselves because they keep more of the money, So, your skills need to rise to that level to be able to lead a self managed company of that [00:42:00] size.
that's kind of the four types though.
you got, Oh, look, newer zone of genius building to exit and self managed.
Dustin: Yeah. And so I just the quick notes I put down here. So solar pannier growing to perhaps the level of a boutique solar pannier. thumbs up, it's agile, low overhead, thumbs down. Is it doesn't have any resilience, you hit by a bus. There is no more business. Uh, zone two is the zone of genius business where you really get to only do what you love, which is a huge pro the con, though.
You have to learn to run to find and lead a team empower that zone three building to exit. I think this is the one a lot of people. Default to or think of when I think of building a quote, unquote, real business or big business. so no responsibilities once you exit, which is awesome. and then you mentioned no cashflow when you sell on it.
I would say the other thing I've seen with people who have experienced this is, is a real jarring loss of identity. It's like, I built this great thing and I sold it and now who am I? You know? So there's definitely some of those dynamics. If you're not moving towards something, when you leave [00:43:00] the thing that you built and that you loved for so long.
And I really like that you put at the top, the self managed business. So it prints money, huge pro it's got the dream job. but the downside here is you're not completely removed. And if you're not careful with how the leadership is hired and maintained and mentored, slip really quickly back into level two, like basically having to do the things because other people aren't.
Aren't doing it or aren't capable. So that's super awesome, Jason. So I hope everyone can just kind of like envision what am I building to? And, that doesn't mean you have to do it today, but like the things you do now should be in alignment with your ultimate vision, at least as far forward as you can see now.
I kind of stumbled into creating this business a couple of years ago, like the ultimate success was like, Oh man, I can get like multiple six figures and run my own thing and have a couple of VAs and then I got that and I was like, that's awesome. , And I hit seven figures and I was like, Oh, wait, it's starting to be very painful in the fact that I'm not only in my zone of genius because there's so
much going on when the business gets to the size that I made a conscious [00:44:00] decision with Jason's help to be like, let's really get clear on what is your zone of genius and , what do you need to support you only being in your zone of genius?
I'd say I'm like halfway through that. And some of these hires I've made, some of the systems we've got in place. And that's really what this year is about is professionalizing the business. So I can be in my zone of genius. And the way I view the build to exit is like, today's literally my 45th birthday.
Like I'm not looking to retire anytime soon. I love what I do. So what I would love to build though, as a business that lets me be in my zone of genius until I don't want to, maybe my zone of genius changes or my interest change. And so I love to have the option to pretty quickly be able to.
Yeah. Sell it or make a decision to be self managed, find a CEO, step in while I go do something else. I feel like that's way down the road, but I feel like the critical thing now is getting Fully into this like zone of genius business. So I hope anyone listening that's in any variety of Places in your business with this.
I hope this gives you clarity On really the four options you should be building towards. So anything you want to add to that, Jason, before we start to wrap [00:45:00] up and you can tell people, what the next step is to learn more about you and the cool work that you guys do.
Jason: Yeah. Yeah. Well, actually it ties right into that. if you don't mind, I can just go directly in, which is if you want to discover kind of where you are on that continuum, , even as you're trying to like thinking about which one to go to, , I have a scorecard that I made that kind of helps you identify that.
And so that's at CBA lifestyle. com slash scorecard. and that is, what is it like Charlie Bravo, alpha lifestyle. com. Okay. Slash scorecard so go check it out. You can fill it in and what you'll also get is you'll also get what we wrote as a PDF called the five essential elements of a scalable business.
and it gives you all of those pieces. So No matter where you're at in that journey, just getting aware of those pieces and knowing like how to approach them as you're starting your business or growing at ready to scale your business, , is going to become really important.
Dustin: Yeah, that's awesome. And I've taken the quiz of the assessment scorecard with [00:46:00] all these terms around, cause I'm, creating my own
actually for what we do. but the scorecard, the business growth scorecard is super valuable on its own and he's given it to you access to it For free, it takes like five minutes, but you're going to go through and on a sliding scale and just answer, honestly, different questions about your business and where you're at with it.
And it's going to really help you get clarity on not only what's going on right now, but how that aligns with where you want to go. So definitely go take the assessment, the scorecard at CBA. Lifestyle. com slash scorecard. So Jason, I
highly recommend everyone go do that. And that's also going to pull people over to start thinking more about systems and scalability and.
If it makes sense, then obviously they can do a consultation with you and your team and see how you might be able to help them the way you've helped me. any final thoughts?
Jason: I'm just so excited to be able to share with you, what we're up to and what we're working on. one thing about the scorecard is at the end of the scorecard, if you qualify, you'll, just get offered a call with me. And right now I'm opening it up to, just anyone [00:47:00] who takes it so that they can get a better understanding.
And it's like, the consult, there's no sale to be had, Or we're just going to talk through like what you're looking for me to just get a better idea of what, you're working on. And if there is something you'd like me to do, I'll be happy to offer it. but if not, then I'm just glad to provide some information, point you in the right direction so that you can really take your business to the next level.
Dustin: Fantastic. All right, everyone go over to cbalifestyle. com slash scorecard, get started there. And that will, yeah, line you up to get a free consultation with Jason. If that's something you're looking to dive deeper into, and if not, you just want to do the scorecard and have the results to interpret yourself. So, Jason, it's awesome to spend this time with you, to get to hear more about your history and unpack. It's always fun when I can do these interviews with people I know, because now I know you in a much deeper way. it was really fun to be able to share how we've each served each other over this year as we, as we've grown.
Happened upon that fateful, uh, table at that traffic conversion summit. It's amazing what happens when you get out there, put yourself out there and, just get in a [00:48:00] circle of friends and see how you can serve. So thanks a lot, man. I will see you over in the seven figure elite mastermind community.
Jason: Awesome. See you. Thanks.