“As business owners we’re going to find ourselves in 'the crunch' sometimes, and that’s okay, let’s just not be there too long.” 

Balancing family and a flexible job, new ideas of how to run your business flying at you from all directions, feeling stressed the minute you wake up–these major obstacles lead to shipwrecks in business all the time. Big A and Wally throw you a lifeline today as they open up about their own battles with the tumultuous sea of business. They've seen the highs, weathered the lows, and miraculously, found hidden opportunities amidst all the chaos. 

Have you ever felt like your business partner (or maybe it's you!) always has a new idea about once every team meeting? Kevin dives deep into the "how-to" of working with a visionary and the chaos it can create when it's not kept in check.

Key Takeaways:

• How to work with a visionary that has new ideas all the time
• The great balancing act business owners face: flexibility in their job
• Learn ways to time block, delegate and reduce chaos
• Zone of competence vs. zone of genius

There are no shortcuts to success, but with a bit of guidance, you can navigate the chaos and emerge triumphantly.

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

"Every single individual has to own the outcome. Not just your role–of course you gotta do your job–I want you to own the outcome.” Blue Angel John Foley recounts the dangers of complacency–and how a poorly-timed missile almost got him fired. To survive as a Blue Angel Lead Solo Pilot, he relied on a culture of high trust, leadership, and teamwork that he brings the table in this episode. 

Join Big A and Wally as they have Foley, host of The High Performance Zone Podcast, dive into what it takes to have a great business culture using the powerful tool of debriefing. He will challenge you to re-evaluate what success means to you, and what taking responsibility for your actions has to do with being an amazing leader. 

Key Takeaways:

• How John Foley fired a missile accidentally 
• Step by step on how to debrief in your business
• The dangers of complacency as a leader
• What owning the outcome of your mistakes looks like

As they wrap up the episode, Foley introduces you to the concept 'Glad to Be Here', a mindset born out of gratitude. We believe that this attitude can be a game-changer in your life and business. We urge you, our listeners, to absorb the wisdom shared in this episode and take it into your spheres of influence.

More About John Gucci Foley:
Keynote Speaker to over 1500 Organizations Worldwide, Blue Angel Lead Solo Pilot, Stanford Fellow, Bestselling Author and 'Mindset Master'. ’ As a Blue Angel, John consistently performed in an extreme, high-stakes environment, flying at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour in formations as close as 18 inches apart. To survive in those circumstances he relied on a culture of high trust, leadership and teamwork.
John employs the intense realities of his aviation career as a metaphor to inspire - breathe life into - teams to reach for their highest potential and sustain excellence under dynamic change.

Connect with John Gucci Foley:
Foley's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnguccifoley
Foley's website: https://www.johnfoleyinc.com/
Foley's book: Fearless Success

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

“When you’re alone, the gravity, the weightiness, the consequence of the choices that you make... they usually go really deep.” Every entrepreneur feels lonely at times in his business. There are unique challenges that are exclusive to building your own business and seeking success when everything is riding on you. 

Today Big A and Wally get personal about the experiences they've had feeling isolated and alone in their business success and failures. Big A drops some amazing truth bombs about isolation that are based off his own story and the stories of hundreds of men that he's heard time and time again. Wally shares about a man who couldn't get out of his own way enough to change his circumstances... sound like anybody you know? 

Key Takeaways: 

• What makes entrepreneurs feel so alone while building their businesses
• The damage your ego can have on building a significant life
• What causes feelings of aloneness and how to minimize them for good

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

"Good leaders make people believe in them, great leaders make people believe in themselves." Building a great team that exceeds expectations starts with building trust between you and your employees.  Mike Michalowicz, a leader in developing unstoppable teams and author of "Profit First: Transform Your Business From a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine," shares his insights on building great teams and the unique challenges small businesses face in finding, retaining, and raising up exceptional team members.

Big A and Wally discuss how Mike uses the FASO team model to build his teams, how crucial it is to identify potential skill and ability in people you'd want on your team, and what leadership looks like in the post-COVID work environment. 

Key Takeaways:

• How to build an unstoppable team of employees
• What to do in the post-COVID work environment as a leader
•  The importance of one-on-one conversations, personal goal alignment, and socialization for employee well-being. 

Connect with Mike Michalowicz:
Read Mike's book: Profit First
Mike Michalowicz website: https://mikemichalowicz.com/

About Mike:
Mike Michalowicz is ranked as one of the most engaging and informative active business speakers as well as a celebrity business author of multiple books, including Profit First. By his 35th birthday had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies. Confident that he had the formula to success, he became a small business angel investor… and proceeded to lose his entire fortune. Then he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Mike has devoted his life to the research and delivery of innovative, impactful entrepreneurial strategies to you. Check out his website for more info. 

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

Ever feel like no matter what you do, you keep hitting the ceiling and can't grow or scale your business? How do you beat the challenges that come with breaking through business plateaus? Big A and Wally share their own experiences with not knowing how to scale and the importance of realizing that what brought their success in the past may not be the key to future growth. 

Today they explore the concept of being 'out of season' as a leader and the effects of feeling plateaued. They examine how this can impact not only our businesses, but also our personal relationships. As they navigate the challenges of innovation and staying competitive, they emphasize the crucial role of understanding and developing your team's potential to prevent stagnation.

Key Takeaways:

• How to scale your business faster
• What to do when you've hit a plateau in business and aren't growing
• Where our identity lies and what that has to do with business
• The main reasons businesses plateau and what to do about it
• The importance of having a network of supportive businessmen

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

We've all fallen into the trap of "I can do it better myself," haven't we? It's probably true–you probably CAN do it better yourself! But Big A and Wally discuss not only how it creates a huge gap between your employees and yourself, it also leaves very little room for you to scale your business. If you're ready to arrive at your view from the top, you'll want to listen in to hear the steps on delegating well and the dangers of believing you can do it better than anyone else.

Key Takeaways: 

• The dangers of believing you can and should just do it yourself
• Why men struggle with celebrating wins + why it's crucial for wellbeing
• How to create confidence in yourself and your employees
• What time management and delegation have in common

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

“I have to actually spend time getting to know the person–the wounds as well as the superpowers… so that I can become more connected. Because ultimately, that’s what I want… what we really want is connection.” 

Big A and Wally interview Anthony Witt, licensed counselor and business owner, about how to design the elusive work-life balance in your own life. Entrepreneurs live hard lifestyles, and Witt dives deep into what it takes to have a healthy marriage and healthy children while running a business. 

Ranging from the most inevitable stressors in relationships to what it looks like to take risks in your business with a hesitant spouse, this episode hits a wide scope of issues that business owners face daily. What does it look like to make it work? 

Key Takeaways:

• The large scope of issues that may be hindering your marriage as an entrepreneur
• Where is our safe space and how can we recognize it?
• How to live the life we want to live using our innate creativity

About Anthony Witt:
Anthony Witt is a professional licensed counselor and a business owner with a deep understanding of how entrepreneurship impacts personal health and those around them. Having bought, sold, and started multiple businesses, he has gained valuable
experience at the intersection of personal health and business. His belief that "a healthy business owner creates a healthy business" underscores his approach to helping entrepreneurs thrive.

Connect with Anthony Witt: witthouse.com or anthonywitt.com

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

“When I’m not seeing the progress that I’d like to see... instead of passively waiting for something to happen, go out and be the change.” 

In this episode, we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Andy Garrett, a clinical psychologist who preaches Radical Resilience to men across the country. We deep dive into how resilience is the key to getting the results we want to see in life. How do we make it happen? Garrett argues that because 70% of men have not fostered real friendships, most men are lacking in real resilience. 

Big A and Wally give Dr. Garrett the go-around with questions from how to be a more resilient man to what to do about post-Covid work related issues and how to be resilient enough to stand against whatever comes. 

Key Takeaways:

• What identifying your feelings has to do with becoming resilient
• What do we do when our close friends are going through hard seasons of life?
• How Covid killed people's motivation to work and what to do about it
• If you want good results, you have to be willing to become a resilient business

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

Connect with Andy Garrett: ag-thrive.com

 "If we can make our young people successful, then we’re successful." Let's tackle burnout as a business owner, having the best employee relationships, and building an amazing leadership system with Mark Nichols, Chick-Fil-A Franchisee. This episode is chock-full of amazing wisdom on employee systems from the best in the business.

Join Big A and Wally as they interview Nichols about his transition from working the day-to-day operations when he realized he was getting sucked into this never-ending cycle. He goes deep into what it looks like to be a leader and drive the future of the business forward, giving hot tips on how to expect much of your team while balancing real friendships with them.

Key Takeaways:

• When is it time to stop working IN the business and instead work ON the business? 
• How to have the best working and personal relationships with your employees and those under you in positions of leadership. 
• Why trust is ESSENTIAL to have a leadership system that works both for you and for your workers. 
• How do we maintain a level of accountability with those employees that you build friendships with? 

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

More about Mark:

"My wife, Jennifer and I have been married for 37 years and have three boys, Brad (Holly), Wes (Karla) and Trey as well as 4 wonderful grandchildren. I am a born-again Jesus-follower who enjoys my spending time with grandkids, fishing, the mountains, friends and playing tournament poker. I am a Franchise Owner with Chick-fil-A, operating two free-standing locations as well as owning commercial and residential rental real estate. I started working at Chick-fil-A as a team member for $3.50 an hour as a teenager."

"I don’t want to go through life not living life to its fullest. I don’t want to kick it in neutral, I want the best… the only way I can do that is if I’m willing to subject myself to the scrutiny of other people that have context to my life.”

Why does it matter if we have people in our life that know our story or not? Join Big A and Wally as they get vulnerable about their own friendships and what it's taken to get where they are.

Hard stuff happens, who do you have in your life right now that would be able to handle helping you get it together when you're working through something difficult? Relationships matter because humans sustain one another–we need one another to live life successfully. Big A tells the story of the "Gun Thief" and how it almost stopped him from ever trusting anyone again, but then gets into what made him ultimately decide that relationships matter more.

Key Takeaways:
- What happens when you don't have close relationships in your life
- Limiting beliefs that stop us from pursuing necessary friendships
- Being distrustful of others will get you nowhere in life
- How to build new relationships

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/