Why Not

On today’s fifth and final day of goal setting, Johnny led us off with continuing his theme of the week and wrote down 10 goals that he’d like to accomplish for the year, from getting clients for Summa to learning a song on the piano. Danae then talked about the 10 rules confident people live by, and we discussed the final one, which was surrounding yourself with people that believe in you. This got Ryan talking about a list of 10 goals and the ways we’ve used those templates for our own goals. Chris then brought up Tony Robbins, a goal setter extraordinaire. And Nick closed our week of goal setting talking about the mindset you need to be in to achieve your goals, which is simply to believe that you can do it, and then talked about having a fixed mindset vs a growth mindset and how that affects the way you look at goals and obstacles.

On Thursday’s edition of Summa Sessions, we continued our goal setting conversation by first talking about Bruce Lee’s letter to himself from 1969, which stated that he’d be the most famous Asian movie star, a goal which he achieved in just 4 years before he died. We moved on to a quote from Danae that said, “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan, not the goal”, which is a good segue into Ryan’s topic which was to keep the end goal in mind. If you see obstacles in your way, that means they’re covering the view of the goal. This obstacle talk got Chris’s topic under way, which was about knowing your resources and asking for help if you need to. Nick ended it by talking about accountability, which got us talking about how we use that for our goals every morning. He also discussed knowing your why, the reason behind your goal, and the self-sabotage that can occur when you get close to your goal, making you think, “Do I deserve this?”

On today’s Summa Session, we continued the goal setting conversation. Johnny started us off with a quote from Michael Jordan about taking each goal step by step- if you want to be a doctor and are getting a C in biology, your first goal should be getting a B. Danae then touched on the 3 goals for balance and harmony- the what (business, career, financial), the why (family, friends, health), and the how (where the growth comes in) and we discussed if you can strive for all at once or if you need to focus on one or the other. Ryan then brought in the 5 golden rules of setting goals and that led to us talking about how we implement these rules every morning we set our goals. Chris’s topic was one of our latest services- cold e-mails- and how each step of the process has its own goal in mind, from the subject line to the call to action. Nick finished us off by talking about how a goal is a road map leading you to where you want to be, where sacrifices must be made and you acquire the skills needed to accomplish that goal along the way.

On today’s Summa Session, we continue our talk on setting goals. Johnny led us off talking about Octavia Butler, who wrote on the inside of her notebook her goals of becoming a best-selling author and turned those dreams into a reality. That led to Danae talking about a podcast she listened to where they discussed setting their goals in the present tense- not “I will” but “I am”- and crossing them off once achieved to start a new goal. She also had two quotes, one from Disney about setting your goals early, and one from Michelangelo about not being afraid to set high goals and fail, but to be wary of setting too easy of goals that are easily achievable. Chris then discussed the 7 pillars of setting goals- deadline, plan, self-discipline, self-control, focusing, systems, and taking action, and we talked about how this strategy applies to our daily goal setting. Nick finished it off on how to transform your thoughts to reality with a quote from The Ultimate Guide to Success.

On this Monday’s edition of Summa Sessions, we are on to the topic of goal setting. Our founder, Nick, just hit the insane goal of running 100 miles, so we decided this would be a fun one for this week. We started off talking about Morolake Akinosun, the US Olympian runner who called her shot on Twitter. She tweeted that in 5 years she would be graduating from college and going to the Olympics and followed it up with confirmation that 5 years later, she accomplished her goals. We then talked about the 5 principles of goal setting- commitment, clarity, challenge, complexity, and feedback, and how these apply to our day to day, where we are constantly setting goals for the day, week, month, and year. Nick then wrapped it up by showing us a note he wrote in July of 2018 that said one of his goals was to run 100 miles. He had attempted it once before but had a setback when he tore his meniscus, but instead of letting that derail him, he just pushed himself even more and was able to accomplish that incredible feat.

On today’s Summa Session, we continue the dive into the world of problem solving. It started with a talk about the famous quote, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” and the mindset of someone in a problem vs someone who has conquered and is looking back at a problem. This led to another quote, “Problem solving leaders have one thing in common: a faith that there is always a better way,” and how we apply this thought to our work and everyday life. Our next topic was from a Tim Ferris TEDTalk, which discusses the DSSS system: Deconstruction, Selection, Sequence, Stakes. Our team talked about how we can improve our system by using this process, especially sequencing. And we ended with a talk on how the haters will always come out when you’re doing something big, and how you need to ignore them because they’ll only bring you down. We also looked at a list of world-changing inventions and talked about how the naysayers were probably all out while those were being invented and look at them now!

Our team spends the first 20-30 minutes of the day with a brainstorming session. We pick a weekly topic to focus on. From there, each of us shares our thoughts and perspective. Our first week is covering problem solving.

Paul Pendergast has been on a journey of advocacy and advancing of LGBTQ businesses since 1992. Doors started opening when leaders of big businesses in San Francisco such as Bank of America and Gap realized that, to be successful advocates for business at large, they’d have to make sure that all groups were benefiting from their actions, and that included LGBTQ ones. Suddenly, Paul found himself sitting next to these CEOs at the table, all advocating for the same business issues, which was a major milestone to be included in these discussions and meetings. These connections continue to have far-reaching effects on the LGBTQ business community today.

With $300 to her name, Lorena Cantarovici came to the states without knowing a word of English. Since then, she became the Founder of Maria Empanada with five locations in the Denver area, won 2017 Colorado Small Business Person of the Year, and earned a spot with Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Our next guest, Fran Roman AKA “The King”, has built a financial and family empire. Fran has always been an extraordinary athlete. In high school, he won the state championship in basketball and led his school to their only undefeated season in football. At the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Fran’s success in sports earned him the honor of being inducted into the 1980 Hall of Fame for football and baseball. Fran has been playing racquetball three times a day for 50 years. His unbelievable backhand won him 5 State Single Championships and he finished 3rd in Doubles Nations.

Fran’s passion for sports led him to a career in coaching. He started out at Pardeeville High school in Wisconsin. While coaching football, Fran had an undefeated season, won 24 straight games, and helped develop an All-State Quarterback. He became the Athletic Director and also coached baseball and basketball. For additional four years, Fran was the Athletic Director, Head Football & Head Baseball coach at Stevens Point High School

Then, Fran got into business. He fell in love with the idea of being his own boss where he could control his time. It worked well with his, “work hard, play hard” mentality. Fran has been working for Equitable for 50 years. He was awarded 35+ times for bringing in $100,000 in production credits and hit $250,000 in production 3 times.

Fran’s dedication to his work has allowed him to build a financial and family empire. Today, he shares with us how we can do the same.