Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

Entrepreneurs always want to be moving forward. But sometimes it’s like their feet are stuck to the ground because something is holding them back. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explain how you can always use friction, the very thing that seems to hold you back, to achieve the next step of your business growth.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Several types of friction commonly encountered by entrepreneurs.
• The Four Freedoms that all entrepreneurs are striving for.
• The difference between obstacles and friction.
• Why you need other people in order to deal with friction.
• How control issues can get in an entrepreneur’s way.
• The real role of an entrepreneur at their company.

Show Notes:

All entrepreneurs have an overriding purpose.

Having friction that you can’t solve is very frustrating.

Obstacles don’t have the emotional hit that friction does.

You can define friction as anything that stops or slows down progress.

The reason entrepreneurs do anything is for freedom.

Friction is not something you can work around.

When you’re experiencing friction, you don’t have full use of your capabilities.

Anytime you venture into new territory, there’s immediately friction.

To transform friction, you have to identify it, then face it squarely.

Transforming friction is energizing for entrepreneurs.

Greater freedom only comes if you have teamwork.

Most entrepreneurs have to start as lone individuals.

Other people pausing and being indecisive causes friction for entrepreneurs.

It's the job of the entrepreneur to give a vision to their company, but it's the job of their skilled people to actually turn the vision into reality.

Entrepreneurs create value by transforming friction for other people.

Boredom means that you’re not looking at the next big friction that you have to transform.

At the heart of boredom is the terror of taking the next big step.

Resources:

Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

Article: “The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs”

Unique Ability®

Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Shannon Waller’s Team Success Podcast

EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, was developed by a Strategic Coach® member who envisioned an extension of the Coach Program. Now, EOS and Strategic Coach are on parallel tracks in helping entrepreneurs live their best lives. In this episode, Strategic Coach business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller are joined by EOS Worldwide’s leadership duo, Kelly Knight and Mark O’Donnell, to discuss all the ways entrepreneurs can benefit by taking advantage of both EOS and Coach.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

·     How Mark and Kelly each became involved in EOS.

·     What led to EOS being implemented in Strategic Coach.

·     How Strategic Coach was pivotal in the development of EOS.

·     What’s allowed EOS to scale enormously over the past few years.

·     The strategic by-products that came from EOS becoming a franchiser.

Show Notes:

Roughly 30% of the EOS community is in The Strategic Coach® Program.

There is no point in competing in the marketplace.

Benefiting from EOS was a very profound shift for Strategic Coach.

Being able to conduct sessions virtually has opened up a tremendous opportunity for EOS Implementers®.

Today, EOS has over 850 Implementers doing business in 40 countries, and there are quite a few virtual-only EOS Implementers.

To get the most out of EOS, everybody at the company has to be using it.

Strategic Coach is very much a mindset program.

Team members don’t always know that they need to have an entrepreneurial attitude.

To connect teamwork and technology, you need coaching.

Coaching is to the 21st century what management was to the 20th century.

Resources:

Traction by Gino Wickman

CliftonStrengths®

Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Strategic Coach Team Programs

The Experience Transformer®: “Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers”

The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller

The Impact Filter™

Unique Ability®

Kolbe

Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff

Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel

The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan

Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

The DIKW Pyramid

The Positive Focus®

André Brisson was working as a structural engineer when he decided to start his own engineering company. Like a great many entrepreneurs, André knew he needed to be able to do things his way. In this episode, André shares with business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller how he’s found freedom and business success on his entrepreneurial journey.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• How the company André worked for became a toxic environment for him.
• What helped André realize that he doesn’t need anyone’s permission.
• Why André’s opinions aren’t popular in bureaucracies or in politics.
• André’s biggest challenges in the construction site field.
• An incredible resource available for entrepreneurs with ADHD.

Show Notes:

If you want to do things differently, you have to find ways of negotiating with people who oppose you.

Entrepreneurial thinking can put other people off because it’s unconventional.

Non-entrepreneurs can only rationalize entrepreneurism.

Entrepreneurism is about freedom, and money is one of the tools you have to have to gain more freedom.

The two types of entrepreneurial freedom are freedom from and freedom to.

Personality and behavioral profiles provide a common language.

It’s useful for people who are different to recognize that the world wasn’t made with them in mind.

Just because something’s been done for a hundred years doesn’t mean it’s applicable right now.

Instead of competing with what someone else is doing, innovate something new.

People will show up if your message is about them.

It’s the check writer who determines whether you’re correct.

If you want to find people who are like you, you have to really know who you are.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff

The Unique EDGE® Workshops for young adults

The Impulsive Thinker™

The Impulsive Thinker Podcast

ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer’s World by Thom Hartmann

The Positive Focus®

The Impact Filter™

What if the key to unlocking your entrepreneurial potential lies in embracing discomfort? In this episode, Associate Coach David Braithwaite shares his inspiring journey from a "rubbish" student to a thriving entrepreneur and coach. Discover how embracing risk, fostering genuine connections, and prioritizing personal growth can transform your business and life.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why David never saw the point of school.
• How David got into financial planning.
• What prevents people from becoming incredible entrepreneurs.
• Why David considers products secondary in his work.
• What entrepreneurs have the freedom to do that others don’t.
• What people will remember you for.
• Why David wishes he’d joined Strategic Coach® sooner.

Show Notes:

• David’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early, with multiple jobs during school despite struggling academically.
• Traditional education often overlooks the relevance of real-world skills, leaving many feeling disconnected.
• Risk-taking is essential for entrepreneurial success, yet many entrepreneurs don’t take enough risks.
• Being an entrepreneur is a career path for people who don’t fit the typical mold.
• Your interest determines how much effort you’re willing to put into something.
• Embracing experimentation can lead to valuable insights and breakthroughs in business.
•  Genuine client relationships are built on trust and honesty rather than just selling products.
• David's Unique Ability® is communicating complex ideas with empathy and clarity.
• The definition of community is a group of people who agree to grow together, and community plays a vital role in entrepreneurial success.
• At Strategic Coach, you’re in a room filled with people who are just like you.
• Imposter syndrome can indicate you’re in the right environment for growth and learning.
• Growth and discomfort go hand in hand.
• People want to learn from other people's mistakes rather than make their own.
• Every coach at Strategic Coach is also a client.
• With business growth comes complexity.
• When you have the right mindsets, the right behaviors follow.

Resources:

Learn more about David Braithwaite

Unique Ability®

Podcast: Shannon Waller’s Team Success

Podcast: Inside Strategic Coach

Poem: "The Dash" by Linda Ellis

Book: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Blog: What Is a Self-Managing Company®?

Book: The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan

Blog: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs

What’s the difference between being in charge and being in control? In this episode, Dan Sullivan shares his surprising insights on managing teams and creating a productive work environment, offering practical strategies for empowering team members, fostering independence, and creating a thriving organizational culture. Tune in to discover Dan's proven approach to entrepreneurial leadership!

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why self-managing has to be built in from the very beginning.
• What gives Dan confidence in his concepts and tools.
• What people rely on entrepreneurs for as leaders.
• Why Dan doesn’t intervene when a team member might fail on a project.
• The difference between leadership and management—and being in charge versus being in control.
• How Strategic Coach® makes sure their team members don’t get burned out.
• Why Dan doesn’t even think about anyone who might be competing with Strategic Coach.

Show Notes:

• The number one skill for having a Self-Managing Company® is profound ignorance. The number one structure is Unique Ability Teamwork®.
• If you don’t get everyone’s roles right, you won’t get anything else right.
• It’s hard to correct a mistake you’ve made from the beginning.
• Confidence in your concepts and team is more crucial than trust.
• Confidence can come from knowing that you’ll always transform when you fail.
• A truly Self-Managing Company operates successfully independent of your constant oversight.
• Giving your team members the freedom to innovate, contribute, and pursue their Unique Ability® is essential to long-term business growth and success.
• Many entrepreneurs pride themselves on being hands-on with everything that happens at their company, but it’s important to resist the urge to rescue struggling teams.
• Being hands-off means allowing your team to learn from failures and trusting that they’ll develop problem-solving skills.
• Trust means that you’re taking a risk, and entrepreneurship is founded on risk.
• Everything that Strategic Coach needs to be is organized on teamwork.
• Strategic Coach has great institutional habits and institutional wisdom.
• In science, the experiment cannot depend upon the experimenter. The same applies to business.
• Being in control is management; being in charge is leadership.
• Make sure the little things that have to be there every day are right—the freedoms and supports that allow team members to thrive—and everything else will fall into place.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

Blog: What Is A Self-Managing Company®?

Blog: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage

Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

Blog: Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers

A Free Day™ is a 24-hour period with no work-related activity whatsoever. A great many entrepreneurs struggle with taking true Free Days™. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk about The Entrepreneurial Time System®—which consists of Free Days, Focus Days™, and Buffer Days™—and why it’s essential for you to provide structure to your Free Days if you want the greatest business success.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The purpose of each of the three types of days in The Entrepreneurial Time System.
• Some non-work activities you can use to structure your days.
• Why it can be much easier to work than to take a day off.
• Why entrepreneurs are so resistant to taking days off entirely without work.
• Why you shouldn’t have an unplanned Free Day.

Show Notes:

You gravitate to the part of your life that has the most structure.

Taking a day as if it were a Free Day, but structuring it with activities that are business activities, means that you're not going to be rejuvenated by the day.

You can have a lot of structure to your days even when you’re not working.

You can do activities on Free Days that you would never touch on a workday.

Structure means that you’ll be supported by things that are already planned.

If you have an idea on a Free Day, wait to see if it sticks with you until a workday.

It’s a lot easier to set out to write 100 books than to set out to write only one book.

An idea that is really great bothers you because it wants to be born into the world.

You can still use all your strengths when you’re on a Free Day.

Profitability means you’re not only making money, you’re keeping money.

Your plans regarding retirement affect how you take your Free Days.

Resources:

Article: What Free Days Are, And How To Know When You Need Them

Perplexity app

Article: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage

The Impact Filter™

In this episode, Shannon Waller interviews Associate Coach Ben Laws, exploring his entrepreneurial journey and insights on self-discovery. Ben shares how intentional structures and relationships have fueled his success across multiple businesses and offers a unique perspective on business, life, and family. Tune in to uncover the mindset that drives impactful entrepreneurship and personal growth!

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

·     How Strategic Coach®has influenced much of how Ben’s personal life functions.

·     What Ben considers to be the ultimate freedom.

·     How Ben demonstrated an entrepreneurial attitude at just four years old. 

·     The key to Ben’s exponential growth. 

·     Why setting out as an entrepreneur didn’t seem that risky to Ben.

·     What to do if you’re considering becoming part of the Strategic Coach community.

Show Notes

Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.

Forming connections and helping people solve problems are entrepreneurial social skills. 

Entrepreneurs seek to innovate and drive change. Business owners try to maintain the status quo.

If you name the game, you own the game.

The further your company gets from where you started, the greater the risk of diluting what made your company great.

Experience is the one thing that can’t be commoditized.

Entrepreneurs are always discovering who they want to be.

There's no greater call to loving your neighbor than being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are always being challenged.

Entrepreneurs are exponentially more self-aware than other people. 

People often think that life is happening to them rather than for them.

As an entrepreneur, your number one job is to protect your confidence.

Resources:

Learn more about Ben Laws

Unique Ability®

Book: The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller

Book: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy 

Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith

Perplexity

Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs

Blog: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs 

Blog: What Is A Self-Managing Company®?

The Six Ds Of Exponentials

In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the philosophical and moral foundations of entrepreneurism, tracing its roots from Adam Smith's theories to present-day insights. They explore the correlation between creating value, self-interest, and moral philosophy, providing valuable insights for entrepreneurs today and proving that entrepreneurship lies at the foundation of a prosperous world.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The rewards—financial and otherwise—for being an entrepreneur.
• The prevalent attitudes in higher education that often stand in opposition to entrepreneurialism.
• How Dan has used setbacks on his entrepreneurial journey to his advantage.
• The type of organization you can create when you embrace the entrepreneurial way of thinking.
• Why bureaucratic environments stifle creativity and limit money-making opportunities.

Show Notes:

Being an entrepreneur is a very intelligent way of planning out and living your economic life.

Many successful individuals are often perceived to be driven by past traumas, but entrepreneurship can simply be a means to pursue your passions and get paid for it.

When people within a company feel they can’t be themselves, politicking and bureaucracy take over.

When you work with entrepreneurs, you know when they’re happy and you know when they’re not.

Entrepreneurial instincts can only take you so far. You also need hard, bankable skills in order to be successful.

Entrepreneurism is the only economic forum where you have a direct, interactive relationship with the actual marketplace.

The closer you are to understanding why someone is willing to pay for the results your skills produce, the more knowledgeable, capable, and confident you will become.

When you use your capabilities to continually create increasing value for others, they’ll continually write you bigger and bigger checks.

Every corporation that exists today began with an entrepreneur having a direct relationship with the marketplace.

Dan defines two universal entrepreneurial laws: You must depend upon your own capabilities for your financial security and you should not expect any reward unless you've first created value.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith

Book: The Theory Of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

Book: The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

In this episode, Dan Sullivan reveals his secret weapon for entrepreneurial success: The Impact Filter™. Learn how this powerful tool can boost your confidence, sharpen your focus, and dramatically increase your productivity. Also, discover how Dan uses it to clarify his thoughts, set intentions, and make decisions rapidly—all while reducing meetings by two-thirds!

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Dan Sullivan uses Fast Filters (the “sprint” version of The Impact Filter) to have focused conversations with himself before important events.
• The importance of being in teamwork with yourself first to enhance collaboration and productivity with others.
• How the Fast Filter can help you decide which ideas are worth pursuing (and which aren’t).
• The value of clarifying your thoughts and setting context before meetings, leading to more efficient and productive interactions.
• Dan's practice of reviewing five major life goals daily and aligning his actions to support these long-term objectives.

Show Notes:

• Dan uses Fast Filters to have focused conversations with himself before important events, boosting his confidence and intentionality.
• Engaging in self-conversations can also improve focus and productivity. By defining goals and action steps, you can prioritize tasks, eliminate distractions, and make progress toward your goals.
• Being in teamwork with yourself leads to better collaboration and productivity with others.
• It can also lead to more intentional decision making in entrepreneurship. By aligning your thoughts, actions, and goals, you can make informed choices that support your long-term vision.
• Fast Filters provide mental focus and energy and help you decide which ideas are worth scheduling meetings for.
• Clarifying thoughts and setting context before meetings leads to more efficient and productive interactions—and reduces the number of meetings you end up having!
• Dan’s approach has reduced his meetings by two-thirds over the past 10 years.
• There’s a difference between your "thinking brain" and your "acting brain," and Coach tools help you get them in teamwork with each other.
• Focused thinking time directly impacts entrepreneurial success.
• Fixating on an unpredictable future limits your productivity in the present, similar to being trapped in the past.

Resources:

Perplexity

The Kolbe A™ Index

In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Shannon and Dan discuss the profound impact of setting context over focusing on content. Renowned for his ability to create powerful contexts in coaching, Dan shares insights on how this approach shapes thinking and decision making among entrepreneurs. Through real-life examples and coaching strategies, they explore how clarity of context not only simplifies complexities but also enhances community building, personal growth, and self-confidence.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The distinction between context and content in coaching and communication.
• How setting a clear context enhances decision making and clarity.
• Examples of powerful contextual frameworks in history and technology.
• The impact of context on community building and personal growth.
• Practical applications of context-setting in everyday communication.

Show Notes:

• Setting context empowers people to think independently.
• Context allows you to focus on what's most important to you rather than conforming to external influences.
• Content is what is discussed or shared, while context defines why it matters and how it relates to personal experience.
• Dan offers the example of Steve Jobs, whose ability to redefine contexts, such as with iTunes, simplified music consumption.
• Context also simplifies decision making and reduces mental clutter by providing a clear framework for action.
• Context ensures clarity in communication by explaining the purpose or relevance of information.
• Community building and productive conversations are a natural result of context-setting.
• Macro contexts, like demographic shifts and geopolitical factors, significantly impact daily experiences, such as economic decisions made at grocery stores or reactions to political messaging.
• Demographic shifts, such as the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, are altering economic landscapes globally, and understanding demographic changes can help anticipate shifts in consumer behavior, workforce dynamics, and economic policies.
• Understanding both these contexts helps individuals and businesses navigate uncertainties and make informed decisions that align with broader trends and changes.
• Thinking about your thinking and focusing on context leads to more confidence and independence in all areas of your life.
• Contextual understanding also empowers people to resist manipulation and make informed decisions.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

The Strategy Circle®

The CliftonStrengths® Assessment

The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management