🧠 Inventive Expert+ | Where Smart Founders Share Their Cheat Codes

People think that when you go to a training, it's a one and done. If you're in a training you actually have to be immersed in it, you've to keep doing it. Training that Ryan finds very valuable, he does them multiple times. The books that Ryan read are very valuable he would read them multiple times. The first you go through anything you're only going to absorb 10-20% of that at a retention level. There are still 80% of things that were said or covered that you're not going to retain after a 24-hour period.

One of the biggest myths is that accountants in general are seen as boring people. They sit behind a desk, they do the numbers and all. Dave thinks that accountants are not that, there are a lot of other firms where accountants are very forward-thinking, utilize the technology well, have a great personality, and know how to talk to clients.

One thing as a business owner, as a entrepreneur, that your going to run into is your going to find people that are going to tell you that you can't do something. That you can't make it. That your doing it wrong. What you will find a lot times is the people who are telling you those things are actually a bit envious of the direction your going. So they want to sit on the outside and tell you don't do this, don't do this when they haven't even had the courage to take the leap themselves. While it can be really difficult, especially if it's people that you're close to telling you that you can't do something or you shouldn't do something, if it's something that you feel like is part of you and you're passionate about you have to just do your best to block out that noise. Go your direction and go take what's yours, because you're always going to have people that are telling you that you can't do it.

The second you say brand to somebody they are like, oh, I have the greatest logo and name. Hopefully, the conversation we just had shows you that's really not what a brand is. A logo and a name that's a visual and a verbal queue of what your brand is. But that's not your brand. Just because you come up with a great logo or a great name does not mean you have a brand.

When you think you want to venture off and work for yourself, a lot of people will try to push you or steer you away. It scares them but comes from a loving place usually. A lot of people told me with real estate it is a high turnover rate. Every year about 87% don't renew their license. And people told me it takes like two to three years to really get off the ground. I just feel like if you have that limited mindset then, of course, you won't. I feel like if you grind it out and work really hard, I did it in six months. I tripled my business in just a year's time. It's all mindset. So, don't let people with their perceived timeline of when. If you feel like you can do it, then you can totally do it. You feel like you can do it in six months, you can absolutely do it in six months.

My advice is always to put your thoughts on paper. A lot of things are in your head. As you put things on paper, it becomes a bit clearer how you are going to delegate them. It does not need to be very complicated at first. You write down this is my idea and, then you start to break it down. This is my idea; what is my product or service? What is my market? How do I sell to my customer? You try to answer these questions. After that, you start breaking down all these items. Putting things on paper because if it sits in your head it may be super clear to you. But as you put your idea on paper, you will already judge your idea. It's also what you can share.

You don't have to use or make your own technology. You can just go online a free API free open source code and just start using AI. It can really improve your business and improve your customer experience. So, I think that leveraging artificial intelligence with any company or most companies rather is super important, and it defiantly has a big application.

We can change to be better. It is something we are all going to be able to accept. So, the problem you have to face there is you don't want staff thinking, oh this is the flavor of the month, don't worry, it will be gone next month, and he will come up with something new. We created an environment and a culture where we were willing to take a risk and go do something. If it did not work, we were going to change things.

You need to write in one column what you think your message is for your product. What do you think your value proposition is for your product? Who do you think your target customer is for your product? What people would say to describe your product on one side of the column. On the other side, the other column is the feedback you get from people. What actually do people say when you ask them those questions? How to get value for my product? How would you describe my product? Who would be a perfect customer for your product? Then compare those side by side and continuously do that. That will lead you down the path of one knowing who you're selling to. We know how to talk to them. We know what's important to them. And we know how to describe our product.

I would say go, sell something. If you are trying to determine whether your concept is going to work, then whether this is a viable business, you can't figure that out in a conference room. You've got to go get in front of people that have needs for your services. Call them prototype conversations. Call them whatever you want. Get out in the market in front of people that buy the thing you are selling. That's the only way that you can validate the concept. Understand whether your pitch and business that you want to start is going to work.