“It doesn't matter if you feel uncomfortable as long as you know you've made the right choice.”
In this episode of the Elite Performance Podcast, I interview a 1 on 1 client, Jason Barnard on how he overcame a fear of growth, starting closing 6-figure deals and graduated from being a savvy marketer to a powerful CEO.
We covered how to identify when emotions negatively impact decision making, how to overcome that… but more importantly when it’s helpful vs unhelpful to put emotions aside.
Topics covered:
- Viewing Your Brand as an Investment Changes Everything: Jason’s most significant shift came when he started presenting his services as an investment, not a cost. He gained this conviction only after making a significant investment in his own coaching and seeing it deliver a multifold return. This genuine belief now makes his sales conversations more powerful and authentic.
- A Calm Demeanor Closes Deals: Jason directly attributes over $150,000 in new deals signed over the previous weeks to his ability to remain calm and separate emotion from pragmatic decision-making. By not getting over-excited, he projects a calm confidence that builds trust with potential clients and has dramatically improved his sales effectiveness and he expects that to bring in $400,000 additional revenue in the last quarter of 2024.
- Structured Communication Normalizes Difficult Conversations: Implementing structured, weekly meetings with a dedicated format for feedback transformed the company’s dynamics. It created a safe, normalized environment for having difficult conversations, which broke down fear barriers between Jason and his team, leading to greater honesty and employee autonomy.
- Don't Expect Your Team to Work Like You: Jason shares a key leadership lesson: it was a "huge mistake" to expect his team members to operate with his same work style and motivations. He learned that everyone works their own way and that effective management requires adapting to their styles rather than imposing his own
- You Must Confront the Fear of Scaling: Many entrepreneurs are subconsciously held back by a fear of growth, often due to a past negative business experience. Jason confronted this fear directly, and by building a reliable team and systems, he gained the confidence that his company could get bigger without failing.
- Consistency from Leadership is Non-Negotiable: For new systems to work, the leader must demonstrate unwavering commitment. Jason emphasizes that he never misses his weekly team meetings, even if it means rearranging his entire day. This consistency signals the importance of the process to the team and ensures they take it seriously.
- Use Physical Tokens to Manage Personas: To effectively manage his different roles, Jason uses a system of colored shirts. The red shirt is for his public-facing "The Brand SERP Guy" persona during public performances and client meetings. A green shirt is for internal team management, and other colors are for his personal life. This tangible practice helps him consciously shift his mindset to be most effective in any given context.
- The "SEO to CEO" Transition Requires Trust: A significant part of Jason's growth involved graduating from a hands-on marketer to a true CEO. This required learning to trust his team, delegating daily responsibilities, and letting go of the need to be involved in every detail, which freed up his mental space to focus on high-level strategy.
To learn more about Jason and what he does:
https://kalicube.com/
Guides to help you manage your brand online: https://kalicube.com/guides/
The Google search result for Jason Barnard: https://www.google.com/search?q=jason+barnard
Jason's personal website: https://jasonbarnard.com/
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