Lisa Larter (00:01):
Welcome to, She Talks Business. If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner or aspiring mogul, chances are you want to learn more about marketing and mastering and monetizing your business. She Talks Business is where you’ll learn all of that and more. My name is Lisa Larter and I’m an entrepreneur, high school dropout, wiener dog enthusiast and your host. Let’s get started.

Lisa Larter (00:25):
Hello and welcome to episode number 36, Intentional Wealth Building for Entrepreneurs. And I say intentional for a reason, as an entrepreneur, you don’t have a pension and unless you were born with a silver spoon, you need to be intentional around how you build wealth for your future. Now I know that sometimes wealth feels like a dirty little word. People don’t like to talk about it. People don’t like to think about it, and they definitely don’t want to get honest about it. So I’m hoping that today’s episode will encourage you to really stop and think a little bit more about wealth building in your life.

Lisa Larter (01:11):
And wealth is really, it’s not about being a millionaire or a billionaire or… You define wealth on your own terms, Alan Weiss considers wealth, discretionary time, someone else might consider wealth, a minimum of X amount in the bank. You get to define wealth. But one thing that you cannot avoid is you cannot avoid the fact that it takes money to live. And therefore, if at some point in your life, you want to work less then you have a responsibility to start thinking about and planning for your future. We’ve only got a couple shows left in season three on Money, Metrics, and Measurements. We’ve done a lot of talking about money and numbers and the myths that people buy into and the things that you should measure, et cetera, et cetera. And I hope that by, if you’ve been listening to all of these episodes, that by kind of steeping you into some of that thinking, you are ready to really think about how to do I create wealth in my business and how do you create wealth unapologetically so that you don’t have to feel embarrassed or ashamed by it?

Lisa Larter (02:34):
There’s two quotes that I wrote down in preparation for this particular episode. One is “Too many people spend money they earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.”, which is Will Rogers. The second is “The person who doesn’t know where his next dollar is coming from usually doesn’t know where his last dollar went.” So, you need dollars to survive. So let’s talk about how to make that happen. I know the idea of wealth building is uncomfortable and it can feel insurmountable, so we avoid it. And if you’re an entrepreneur wealth building is really all about planning for your long term future. You can’t afford not to think about it. I also want to encourage that when you consider wealth building it allows you to break down your number and not shrink your lifestyle. And I’m going to talk to you about what I mean by break down your number.

Lisa Larter (03:52):
So people always ask me like, where do you start? I don’t even know how to build wealth, what should I do? And there are four things that I think are really, really important when it comes to where you need to start. And really they all fall under the same umbrella, which is really take a look at your current situation. What is your net worth? And if you don’t know how to calculate your net worth, it’s easy. Take out a piece of paper and write down how much money you have in all your different bank accounts, in all of your investments and how much is your home worth and all that kind of stuff. And then write out another column and write down, how much do you owe? How much credit card debt do you have? How much do you owe on your mortgage? How much do you owe in your line of credit? All of the debt that needs to be paid off and then subtract that from what you have, that’s worth something. And you will find out what your net worth is.

Lisa Larter (04:54):
And sometimes you do that exercise and you’re in the hole and sometimes you do that exercise and the number’s not very big. And I know because I started doing that exercise in my twenties. And I remember looking at the number thinking, “Oh my God, how am I ever going to change the situation?” But if you don’t look at what your current situation is, if you don’t actually look at what your current net worth is, then you can’t change it. The second thing that you need to do is you need to figure out what is your cost of living and what is your cost of doing business?

Lisa Larter (05:31):
Do you really know how much money you need to live? Do you know how much money you need for your car, your rent or your mortgage, your taxes, your food, your clothing, your entertainment? Do you really have a sense of what it costs you to maintain the lifestyle you have right now? And do you really have a sense of what it costs you, what the true hard costs of running your business are? You really want to know what those numbers are because in order to improve your situation, you need to make more money than you spend. So if you don’t know what it costs, then it’s really hard to be able to look at what you need to make. And then the thing that you want to do is you want to look at how much debt you have. Debt is a great big fat liability. And yes, there are some situations where having debt makes sense. And we’re going to talk about that.

Lisa Larter (06:29):
But if you have consumer debt, you’ve got credit card debt personally, or in your business, just because you bought stuff on your credit card and haven’t paid it off, you want to know what your debt liability looks like, because one of the places that you need to start is chipping away at that debt. Because every dollar you reduce on the right side of that sheet, where you write down all the money you owe, helps you to increase the number at the bottom line. So if, for example, you have a hundred thousand dollars in assets between your home. And you have a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, but you owe 99,000. Then your net worth is a thousand. But if you reduce that 99,000 to 98, now your net worth is two thousand. So you have to understand what your debt implication or your debt liability is so that you can look at the progress you’re making when you start to chip away at it.

Lisa Larter (07:28):
Now, when you look at your current situation and you get clinical clarity on where you’re at, you now have a baseline that you can grow from. But one of the things that you really need to do is you need to remove shame and judgment from the numbers. All right? The number is a number. It is what it is. It is your current situation. I have been in financial situations where I owed way more money than I made and I struggled to pay my bills on a monthly basis. And I had to change that in my life. So when I looked at my numbers then, it was always demoralizing to think about where I had put myself in comparison to how much I earned. So I understand that it can feel uncomfortable to do this, but let’s talk about why you’re doing this.

Lisa Larter (08:26):
You’re doing this because you want to change your situation. And if you want to change your situation, then you need to know what baseline you are starting from in order to make that change. So that’s what you really need to do. That’s where you need to start. Figure out your net worth, figure out your cost of living, figure out how much debt you have, and figure out what your baseline is, so that you can start to grow from that baseline.

Lisa Larter (08:54):
All right. So the next thing you might be thinking is, “Well, that all sounds fine and dandy, Lisa, but how do you build wealth if you don’t have any money?” And this is a really great question because many people are in this situation, and when they’re in this situation, they don’t know where to start. So there’s one thing you could do. And it’s really, really, really simple.

Lisa Larter (09:17):
You need to spend less than you bring in. That’s it. Which means that you either need to find ways to earn more money, or you need to find ways to reduce your costs. You can’t do that and know that you’re doing it if you don’t know what your baseline is. Once you find ways to earn more and you find ways to reduce costs, then what you can do is you can start to automate some forced savings and or investments so that that money is being removed from your bank account right away. So I remember years ago when I was in my reckless spending years in my twenties, when I had more debt than brains at the time I got a big fat raise, I was recruited to work for another company and I negotiated a 50% increase in pay.

Lisa Larter (10:12):
And before I got my first paycheck, I went to the bank and I told them to take X amount every two weeks out of my bank account towards the debt that I needed to pay off. I went to the bank and I did that automatically so that I didn’t even see the money because I knew that if I left the money in my bank account, I would be faced with the emotional decision of whether to spend it or whether to put it on my debt. So sometimes automating savings or automating payments and, or investments, removing the money before you even see it is a really great way to start to change your situation. The next thing that you want to do is you want to calculate your progress regularly. You want to pay attention to your bank balance. You want to pay attention to how much debt you have.

Lisa Larter (11:08):
You want to pay attention to what is the equity or the value of your home? How much equity do you have in your home? That’s the difference between what the house next door sold for, assuming it is the same house that you have, and how much you owe on your mortgage. That’s going to tell you what your equity is. And then in your business, pay attention to what your balance sheet says your business is actually worth. When you measure those four things regularly, they’re great markers for progress, because you can see if you look at your bank statement on the 30th of every month or the first of every month, you can see whether you have more money this month than you had last month at the same time. You can see whether that balance is growing or getting smaller, same thing with your debt.

Lisa Larter (11:56):
If you look at the balance on your credit card, the balance on your line of credit, and you can look and see from one month to the next, did it get better or did it get worse. When it comes to your home, you probably don’t need to do this on a monthly basis, but maybe quarterly or twice a year, really looking at what is the equity that you have available to you in your home. Looking at the equity is important because you can leverage equity in your home to invest in other things to earn money. So you want to pay attention to that because at some point in time, if you have a sizeable chunk of money, you can use that. We used the equity in our homes to basically fund the first two businesses that my husband and I sold. And so there are ways that you can leverage equity in your home in order to generate a positive return.

Lisa Larter (12:48):
And then your balance sheet will always tell you what the value of your company is. And so I am always looking at not just my P&L to see what my profit line is, but I’m always looking at what my balance sheet says. What is the actual value of my business? You want to calculate the progress on those things on a regular basis so that you are aware. Now you might be thinking all right, Lisa, you said, find ways to earn more. Easy to say, what do I just go plant a money tree in the backyard? No, but there are things that you can do. All right? You can raise your prices in the work that you do. You could take on an additional client. You could offer another service. You could ask your boss for a raise, if you still have a job.

Lisa Larter (13:31):
If you have a job, you could start a side hustle. You could also do something, really, really, really simple to just learn how to sell. And that simple thing is practice selling the things that you don’t need. I am a Facebook marketplace… I don’t… I hate the word guru. And I’m going to say I’m a Facebook marketplace guru. My husband laughs at me because I’ll say, “I’m going to put that on Facebook marketplace.” And he’ll say, “Nobody’s going to buy that.” And the next thing you know I’m negotiating over how much somebody’s going to pay me for the thing that I put on marketplace. I use Facebook marketplace as a place to model for my clients that there’s money everywhere. You can make money easily, if you actually look for the opportunity or you can stay stuck in your existing situation. So I’m constantly putting things on Facebook and I’m putting a price on Facebook.

Lisa Larter (14:19):
And I have a rule. I actually don’t care how much money I make on Facebook, but I do care that I practice asking for more, because asking for more, especially for women is not something that we have been taught to do. So if I put something on Facebook for a hundred dollars and somebody offers me 80, I will ask them for 90. I will counter. I never accept an offer that is below the price that I’m asking without countering. I have even asked somebody to come up by five bucks before, because that is a skill that helps you build wealth in your life, is learning how to negotiate, learning how to ask for more. So if you really want to build wealth, look at all the stuff you have in your house that you don’t need.

Lisa Larter (15:07):
Now I have a little bit of a cheat thing in my head. My cheat is if I haven’t used it in over a year, or if I haven’t used it in, let’s say two years, I don’t need it. I’m going to sell it. And I’m going to give myself permission to buy it again should I need it. Do you know how many times I’ve had to buy something again, because I suddenly realized I needed it? Zero. Yeah. That Kitchen Aid mixer, zero. That old, I don’t know the whatever it is, anything that I’ve sold, I’ve never had to go buy it again. So start letting go of the things that you don’t need, but not because I’m trying to teach you to be some minimalist, because I want you to learn how to generate income and feel confident doing at it. The next thing you can do is look at what things build wealth. So there are different ways that you can build wealth and I should probably have had a caveat at the very, very beginning of this, that I am not a financial advisor.
Lisa Larter (16:13):
So I am sharing my own personal insights and wisdoms in building a business over the last 15 years and really impacting my own personal wealth. But you can invest in real estate. You can invest in private lending. You can invest in the stock market or mutual fund or RSPs, 401ks, all of that stuff. But don’t invest blindly. My husband and I have invested in real estate and we’ve lost money. We’ve invested in real estate, we’ve made a lot of money. We’ve done investing in small other businesses as shareholders and lost money. We’ve done private lending and made money. So you have to figure out what your comfort level is when it comes to building wealth. But if you want to truly build wealth, it’s not just by saving pennies. It’s by looking at the opportunities to create leverage through the money that you have.

Lisa Larter (17:11):
So start to think about what are some of the things that can help me to build wealth in other areas outside of my life and business. The next thing you can do is read more and learn more about money. Stop avoiding it. Okay? I’m going to give you a couple of books that I think are just fantastic. One is The Psychology of Money. Fantastic, fantastic book. Really, really, really recommend it. We read that book in Thought Readers, and it really… I read that book in 2021 and it really made me start thinking about my own life and what the definition of financial success meant for my husband and I, because once you get clear on what the definition of success means for you, if you stick with that definition and you don’t move the goalpost because the person the next door moved their goal post, you actually can probably attain it a lot faster than you think.

Lisa Larter (18:14):
The next book, this is a really hard one to read. It’s a really big, heavy book. So you might want to listen to this on audio, but it’s Money Master the Game. It’s a Tony Robbins book. It is fantastic. And then a book that really changed my life years ago was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the whole series by Robert Kiyosaki. It really changed the way that I thought about money. And I think that as a business owner and entrepreneur, if you really want to create wealth, you have to commit to learning more about more things. That’s why I run Thought Readers. That’s why we read interesting and different books every single month, because I want people to build their knowledge bank. Because when you build your knowledge bank, you build your bank account. So if you want to read with me, go to thoughtreaders.com.
Lisa Larter (19:09):
The other way that we learn about money inside of my community is through the Strategy Lab. Because in the Strategy Lab, we’re not afraid to talk about money. We’re not afraid to talk about how to price things, how to price things for profit, what numbers you need to look at in your business, all the things that are important for entrepreneurs, when it comes to creating a successful and profitable business. If your business is not profitable, it is a hobby, it’s not a business. So those are some things that you can do to learn more about money. Don’t learn about money from someone that you don’t aspire to be like. So if you aspire to… If you look at me as an example, we’ve got homes in two different countries. We have a pretty awesome lifestyle. I could work from anywhere. If that’s the type of lifestyle that you aspire to have, then you should try to learn from me. But be careful when you are looking for mentors and models to learn from that, you’re not buying into what I call top line marketing.

Lisa Larter (20:18):
People do things out there where they base their whole marketing on top line sales, instead of really talking about money and breaking things down. Aspiring to be like somebody who just had a hundred thousand dollars launch or a million dollar launch, doesn’t tell you the true picture of their success. It doesn’t tell you how much money they kept. I’m more interested in knowing the difference between the top and the bottom line than I am the top line. Because if it cost you 110,000 to get that a hundred thousand in sales, that don’t impress me much. So choose your mentors wisely, but recommit to learning about money on a regular basis, if you want to change your financial situation.

Lisa Larter (21:03):
And then the last thing is you need to get honest about your needs. So a couple of things you need to think about, and I know there’s no magic wand, but how long do you plan on living? Honestly, I mean, I plan on living to be at least a hundred. Both of my grandmothers lived into their eighties and I have a healthier lifestyle than they did, and my great-grandmother lived into her nineties. So for me to say, I plan on living to a hundred is probably, God willing nothing crazy happens, there’s probably a pretty good chance that I could do that. So when I’m thinking about my life, I need to think about how much money do I need to make it that long. And I also need to ask myself, how do I want to live later in life? Do I want to live in an apartment and eat cat food? Or do I want to live in a really, really, really nice senior’s condo where I have every amenity available to me, but it costs me tens of thousand dollars a month to live there?

Lisa Larter (22:03):
I don’t know. I don’t want to eat cat food, but I know that I want my life to be okay. So you need to be honest about what you really want your life to be like. And then my dear friend, my dear listener, you have to recognize you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t spend all your money right now and expect that you will have enough money for the future. You got to plan for the future. You’ve got to think about the future and you’ve got to set money aside for that future. You don’t want to use debt for consumer goods anymore. You only need to make a decision that you do not do that. If I put something on my credit card, I pay it off right away. Don’t use debt to buy stuff you can’t afford to buy right now. Use debt only to bridge or leverage.

Lisa Larter (22:58):
That means you’re using debt to get you from one situation to the next but you know the money is coming to take that off, like bridge financing. When you buy another house or use the money for leverage. When we took money out of the equity in our home to start our business, that was using debt for leverage. So be smart about how you use debt. If you do not change your relationship with debt, you will not build wealth.

Lisa Larter (23:24):
Okay. The last thing we need to talk about is you need to know your number, not your numbers, your number. What is your bottom line number for retirement? And The Psychology of Money goes into this. I’ve done this exercise with girlfriends. I’ve actually done this exercise with a margarita in the backyard this summer with my husband. Grab a piece of paper and write down every single thing you need money for. Write down your property taxes, write down how much it costs you to buy groceries, write down how much you want to spend on travel and entertainment. Whatever it is. I mean, my list includes a budget for wine. And in part of that budget, it includes how many really good bottles of wine I want to buy on a monthly basis. And it includes a budget to buy myself a really nice new handbag at least once a year. And it includes a price for flying business class. I am not shrinking. What I’m doing is I’m getting real and honest about how much money we need to maintain the lifestyle that we want to have in the future. Don’t shrink. If anything, inflate those numbers, especially with what we’re seeing about inflation right now, it’s going to cost more to live in 10 years than it costs right now. Then once you know your number, you want to ask yourself how much money do you need to generate that amount of money passively in order to live?

Lisa Larter (24:58):
So let me give you an example. Let’s say you calculated your number and you need a hundred thousand dollars a year to live. How much money do you need to invest somewhere to generate a hundred thousand dollars a year passively? There are ways to do this. Maybe it’s a million dollars and it’s in private lending and you get a 10% return. That’s one way you could do it. Maybe it’s a million dollars that’s invested in 10 rental properties that are $10,000 a year cashflow positive. Maybe it’s more than a million dollars a year that is a lower rate of return. Start to ask yourself, how can I generate this amount of money? How much money do I need? And what are the different places that I could put it in order to generate that type of return? The other thing you can consider is a reverse mortgage, for example. If your home is worth a million dollars, and let’s just say, you only need $50,000 a year to live, you could literally draw $50,000 a year over a 20 year period out of your home.

Lisa Larter (26:09):
So you just want to start thinking differently about how you want to fund the future and how you want to accumulate wealth. True freedom from my perspective is when you don’t have to worry about money. When not… I’m not talking about Jeff Bezos rich, I’m just talking about having enough wealth set aside that you have the freedom to decide how much or how little you want to work. You have the freedom to decide between whether you want to buy the organic or the regular produce at the grocery store. You have the freedom to decide whether you want to go out for dinner at a restaurant or eat from home. It gives you options and choices. It does not necessarily make you happy. Money does not make you happy, but it eliminates a lot of the stress of being able to choose to do what you want in life.

Lisa Larter (27:02):
All right. I want to wrap up with a story and I want to give a shout out to a colleague of mine. His name is Colin Cox and the link to this article that… I’m not going to read the whole article. I’m just going to read a little bit from it is on his LinkedIn profile. If you go to the show notes, you can find this link. The article that he wrote is called “Never Ending Pursuit of Success”. And it’s really a story about Tony Robbins, and a man who thought he needed a billion dollars. So I’m going to read this to you. And I don’t normally read my notes. So I may trip over my words a little bit. Forgive me.

Lisa Larter (27:41):
Tony Robbins tells an insightful story in his book, Money Master the Game. During one of Tony’s seminars, a young man shares with Tony that the price of his dream is $1 billion. Tony asked him what that number really meant. He broke it down to living in New York, having a private jet, having a private island where he could take his family and friends. They discussed the specifics of what it would mean to have access to a private jet and island. They discussed how the young man could meet his goals, not through full ownership but through chartering a jet and renting a private island like Richard Branson’s Necker Island. The actual price of the lifestyle this young man wanted? It wasn’t a billion dollars, it was 10 million. The difference between $10 million and a billion dollars is astronomical. $1 billion might not be the price of your dreams. $10 million might not even be the price of your dreams, but you may have a number that is unnecessarily higher than your actual dream life. And it may be causing you stress and anxiety.

Lisa Larter (29:02):
All right, that my friends is why I recommend you read these books. You do these exercises. If you really want to work through your numbers for financial security, independence, and freedom Tony Robbins has a great exercise in chapter three of his book, which will help you get more clarity. There’s an exercise in The Psychology of Money, which is probably the size of one of the chapters in Tony’s book. I don’t care which book you read, but I care that you do the exercise. I care that you have a rich and rewarding life because you were brave enough to risk the journey of entrepreneurship. I want you to reap the rewards. A business does not… A business exists to generate a profit. If your business is not generating a profit, you have a hobby. You do not have a business. And I would like to see you change that. If you want my help at this, you know where to find me. But in summary, here’s what I want to say.

Lisa Larter (29:59):
There are no shortcuts. You have to define what wealth means to you and then you have to look at the numbers and align your actions with what you want. You can’t shortcut financial success. The odds of winning the lottery are way too slim of a retirement strategy. You need to be thinking about these things now, and as a business owner, you need broad expertise. And that includes money, finance, investing, and wealth building. If it feels uncomfortable, all the more reason for you to lean into these things and learn more. I promise you the more you know, the better you do, but the more you avoid, the more nothing changes, it all stays the same. So if you want to get intentional about building wealth in your life and in your business, you need to do some of these things. Otherwise, a year from now, chances are not much will have changed.

Lisa Larter (30:56):
All right, our next episode is How to Choose the Right Measurements of Success for Your Business. We’re going to talk about KPIs, which are key performance indicators that you should be measuring in your business in order for you to really see the gains and successes that you are making in your business. If you want to learn more about Thought Readers, you can go to thoughtreaders.com. If want to learn more about The Strategy Lab, go to the show notes, because I don’t actually know the URL for the strategy lab because that’s how organized I am. But I do know that this was a great episode and I hope it inspired you in some way to think about how you accumulate wealth in your life and business on a different level. Thank you for listening. I appreciate your time.

Lisa Larter (31:42):
Thank you for joining me for this episode of She Talks Business. If you enjoyed the show, you know the drill, leave us a review, tell someone about it and join the conversation on social media. Thanks for listening and until next time remember, done is always better than perfect.

Lisa Larter (00:01):
Welcome to, She Talks Business. If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner or aspiring mogul, chances are you want to learn more about marketing and mastering and monetizing your business. She Talks Business is where you’ll learn all of that and more. My name is Lisa Larter and I’m an entrepreneur, high school dropout, wiener dog enthusiast and your host. Let’s get started.

Lisa Larter (00:24):
Hello, hello, and welcome to this episode of She Talks Business, which is going to be a little bit of an interesting show. We are going to talk about putting growth odds in your favor, or how to maybe stack luck so that it’s always on your side. A lot of times people have these beliefs that building a business is hard, it requires so much work, time, energy, and effort, and all of those things are very true. But there are some things that you can intentionally and deliberately do that make your ability to grow and get better results a little easier to do.

Lisa Larter (01:10):
And so, I’m joined today by a founding member of The Strategy Lab, a dear colleague, client, person that I really, really, really like Nabil Ould-Brahim. And I asked Nabil to join me for this conversation today for a couple of reasons. I have worked with him and his lovely wife, Michelle, for a number of years privately, and I find the… First of all, their personalities are very different, but I love that Nabil is as interested in some of the things that I do, as his wife is. And so, I feel like he just brings this really unique perspective to the table that I wanted to talk to him about. So, I wish I had been recording earlier on because, Nabil, you said something about networking and luck stacking which was just awesome. Can you tell me what your perception is on why community helps you make money in business?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (02:17):
Absolutely. So, first of all, welcome to anyone listening in on this. It’s a pleasure to be here. And I can jump right into my perspective of why networking and belonging to a community is so vital to the growth of your business. So, imagine just being a solopreneur, an entrepreneur, or even an employee inside a business: you’re working really, really hard day in, day out. But it’s really, really tough to hear about opportunities and different ways that you can partner with people or different things that are happening around in your space unless you network. And so, when you network, you grow those connections, you find like-minded people that you like, you have discussions with them, maybe coffee or something, you grow that grouping of people.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (03:07):
And the way that I perceive it is that that is how you stack luck in your side. Because if you’re top of mind, they know you, they know your name, that’s when opportunities show up at the most arbitrary times. Sometimes when you’re in the worst position in your life, that’s when these opportunities show up, and then you feel super lucky. But you don’t realize all the work that you put in to foster this network has really just put it all on your side. It’s like going to the casino with stacked dice.

Lisa Larter (03:39):
Right. As I listen to you say that I’m thinking that it’s almost like you’re building a spider web around you and every relationship and connection is a strand, but it’s not a strand that is weak, it’s a strand that is strong. And so, you can pull those people closer to you when you see opportunities for them, and they pull you closer to them when they see opportunities for you. But it is that mutual respect and trust for one another that is what makes it luck. And it’s not luck as in, “I’m going to hit the slot machine and hopefully I jackpot.” It’s more luck by design. Because if I don’t know you and I don’t know what you do, and I don’t know you exist, then I can’t tell somebody about you. But the more people who know you, like you, trust you, and believe in you, the more people that are in your web, the greater the chances are that they will actually tell someone about you.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (04:41):
100% agree. We can’t all do everything in the world that we’re interested in so we end up focusing on the thing that we’re the strongest at or that makes us the most happy, and in your path in life, you’re going to find other people that are doing the exact same thing on things that you wish you did. And that’s a fantastic opportunity to be able to partnership with these like-minded people by just being friends with them or acquaintances with them and helping them out when opportunities show up.

Lisa Larter (05:12):
Absolutely. When I think back to 2006, when I first opened… And you’ll relate to this. Because Nabil is a brilliant software engineer, he has worked for Research in Motion, otherwise known as Blackberry, he’s worked for Apple, he’s worked for QNX. He’s done some really, really, really impressive things in his corporate career prior to working in his own business. I come from a tech background, as well, and when I worked in technology, networking to me was when you went to an event and you bought a table for eight and you sat with people you know.

Lisa Larter (05:48):
When I opened my own business in 2006, I realized that networking was when you went to a room full of strangers and you met new people, and that the vast majority of people that went to network were actually going with the intention of trying to sell you something. And those people, you didn’t build an affinity for, the people you built an affinity for were the people that actually wanted to get to know you, the people where value was reciprocated. And every single organization, every networking group I became part of, what I noticed is I ended up getting business, and I didn’t get business because I was trying to sell, I got business because I was building relationships. It really does work.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (06:34):
100% agree. And if you were an employee… I remember being at QNX as an employee, and my first year I worked so hard. I put in so much overtime. I was like, “I’m going to get the best raise of my life.” And my raise was lackluster, and I was like, “Why?” And the way that usually the corporate world is structured is that your boss reviews your performance, then he goes with all the other bosses, and then they review the performance across the board of everyone. So, now, you have to rank all the employees in the business and then they get the top whatever, get the highest raises, and so on and so forth. And so, I realized that, “Hey, I could stack the odds in my favor if I got to know all the other managers, and if I networked that way and I could show that I’m a strong, intelligent individual who’s very, very driven and wants to just grow and learn.” And so, I did that, and literally the next year I got the highest raise that they could award.

Lisa Larter (07:27):
Yeah. Smart. Same thing is true in business. The more relationships you build with people, the more value you provide to other people, the more value you attract back to you. So, it’s interesting because when I think about community, I also think about the value of learning. You said something to me that really shifted my thinking a couple of years ago. We were on a call one day, and I said to you that at some point in time, you would outgrow me as a business advisor. And I said that I wanted you guys to know that when that time came, it does not have to be an awkward conversation, that I respect that coaching relationships typically have a shelf span and at some point you’re looking for something different. And we would still always be friends regardless of when the time came that you wanted to work with someone else.

Lisa Larter (08:33):
And you looked at me and said, “I disagree. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.” And I looked at you like you were crazy because I fully expected it to happen. And you said something that will forever change my perception of myself. You said, “Lisa, you are always learning, and because you are always learning, I feel like you’re always teaching us something new and I am always trying to keep up with you. Therefore, I don’t feel that I am ever going to outgrow what you offer unless you stop learning.” Do you remember saying that?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (09:11):
I stand by that to this day. In fact, it’s even more imperative on the learning front. So, I’m in Lisa’s Thought Readers community and it’s fantastic. We read awesome business books every single month and talk about them, and Lisa brings in cool authors so that we can ask them questions. And we most recently read Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. And I had already read this about six years ago, so I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m really well versed. I’ll just skim through this and fly by. It won’t be anything too challenging for me,” because I’d already done Scrum in my corporate world. And I went through it and I realized that the perspective that I had when I read it six years ago and the perspective that I have now are completely different. So, what I took out from the book was very different, even though it’s the same book. So, it just goes to show that you’re constantly learning. Even if you and I learn the exact same thing at the same time, you’re gonna take it in differently than I am.
Lisa Larter (10:18):
Yeah. Insights and perspective. Right? We had a conversation about that book and I was looking at the Scrum approach from a service business perspective, and you are looking at it from a software engineering perspective, and so there was really mutual learning, which I love. I think that we all have so much to learn from each other when we take the time to listen to different points of view. Which leads me to The Strategy Lab. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about The Strategy Lab today, because I believe The Strategy Lab is one way that you can put growth odds in your favor. And the reason that I believe that is because it is a community that is rooted in learning, and it’s not just rooted in learning from me, it’s rooted in co-creation, collaboration, and even member-led learning.

Lisa Larter (11:21):
So, to give the audience, those of you listening, a little bit of background, The Strategy Lab is a program that I created partway through 2021, and I really wanted to create a community of like-minded people who are interested in learning growth strategies to help them build their business. But I didn’t want it to be the type of community where you try to keep everyone at arm’s length and they DIY it; I wanted it to be a community where people co-created, where we had conversations about what the next learning should be, where we had regular quarterly planning sessions to remind ourselves of what our priorities and goals and objectives really were. And I wanted to foster an environment where members are always helping members or members are being given opportunities to help members.
Lisa Larter (12:20):
And so, Nabil, I’m curious. I’m curious as to what your experience has been as a founding member of The Strategy Lab, because you’ve done a lot of the… You’ve worked with me privately, you’ve come to Roadmaps, you’ve been in Thought Readers, so you’ve done a lot of things. And so, what is your take on The Strategy Lab as an entrepreneur who is in the lab with your partner and spouse, your wife, what is your take on being a founding member in The Strategy Lab?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (12:59):
So far, it’s been fantastic. I think if you’re listening into this and you’re wondering how you would feel being inside this community, it’s very comforting, it’s very cozy in a positive way. I find the last couple years, the last year and a bit with COVID, it’s been very isolating. We haven’t been able to go out and do networking opportunities and everything’s moved online. There’s something missing. And then, Lisa opened up this Strategy Lab and she asked us by invitation if we wanted to join, and we came in and it’s been fantastic ever since. Even though everything is online, remote, I still feel like there’s a sense of belonging. I go inside The Strategy Lab, I follow each and every single one of the monthly lessons, we do the quarterly plans, and it’s great.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (14:00):
I’m able to learn from Lisa, her team, other people, I’m able to create and foster relationships with regular and successful business owners, which is fantastic. And I’ve been able to pitch in ideas to Lisa and tailor the community to ways that I really, really enjoy. So, one of the most recent things that I did was an AMA and I asked Lisa if I could contribute my knowledge in an Ask Me Anything so that the community had easy access to just bring up a whole bunch of questions on things that they don’t know about on the technical fronts of any sort of technology, and I’d be more than happy to jump into them, whether I had expertise in them or not. And that’s what we recently did and it was fantastic.

Lisa Larter (14:50):
And that is a perfect example of luck stacking because you volunteered, I did not pay you, to do an AMA. You volunteered to do an AMA on your own time at a time that worked for you. You received a ton of questions in the thread prior to the AMA. You set up a Zoom link and brought people in and you answered all of their questions and then published the recording. But by showcasing your gifts and talents, there are now people in that community that know you, know what you do, know what your technical abilities are, and so they have their own spiderwebs. And when they’re looking for people who know how to do things that they know you know how to do, you have once again, essentially, stacked luck in your corner, which is a really awesome thing.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (15:43):
100%.

Lisa Larter (15:47):
So, let’s talk a little bit about planning sprints. So, in The Strategy Lab, we have quarterly planning sprints, and the reason that I believe quarterly planning sprints are so important is it’s foundational to my corporate career. When I worked for a multi-billion dollar corporation, you plan quarterly. You did not plan once a year, you plan quarterly and you measured progress and you evaluated things and you re-forecasted, and it was a really important part of achieving organizational goals in a big organization. And so, I believe that small business owners have never been taught how to plan properly and that we get so busy and distracted by what’s going on in our day-to-day lives and businesses, that we often lose sight of the big goals and dreams that we have because we get overwhelmed and just mired down in the work that we have to do.

Lisa Larter (16:43):
So, Nabil, what do you like about the planning sprints, and how do they help you, especially given that both you and your wife are participating as individuals… So, it’s not like you’re on Zoom together. You’re doing planning sprints separately in your business. So, can you just talk to us a little bit about what you like and what the value’s been and why that works for you guys? Because God knows, if I put you in a breakout group together, somebody sends me a message and says, “Move one of us.”

Nabil Ould-Brahim (17:20):
That’s very true. So, planning sprints, why I like them. If I didn’t have a plan, I’m usually pretty much running blind. I’m putting out fires, I’m just focusing on what I need to get done right now, and I end up, since my business is a service-based business, I end up fulfilling all the demands for my clients and I’m not growing my own business in a strategic, methodical way. I’m letting the way that I operate and the way that I service my clients dictate my growth, which is pretty much losing control of how you want to organize your business. And so, I find the value of those planning sprints, very, very vital, and I like that they’re quarterly because it’s a piece meal amount. It’s every three months I’m able to make a plan for those three months and then tangibly work towards a goal that’s going to meet my end goals for the end of the year.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (18:25):
Otherwise, if I don’t do it on a quarterly basis and I don’t have these rather large check-ins like four times a year, I end up coming into like November, December and being like, “Oh my God, all my goals that I set at the beginning of the year, I haven’t even made any progress. Well, guess I’m just going to push it by another year.” And guess what I’m going to do next year. Push it again by another year. And now, I’ve just completely drifted and let somebody else guide where I’m going to grow my business.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (18:52):
And then to answer the question about how Michelle and I like to be individuals in these, it’s super, super valuable. We bring completely different perspectives to our business. So, we jump into these breakouts, we get access to more people to discuss, we each come up with our own plans for the same business, and then we meet together and we figure out what are the things that worked, what are the things that didn’t, what are the things that we both want to get done collectively, and what are the things that we want to do individually? So, there’s often times where I come up with an idea and it’s not the right formulation of it based on more information that Michelle’s had, and vice versa. So, its as if I get a chance at doing my planning sprint twice for every single individual one.

Lisa Larter (19:43):
Yeah. There’s another member of the community whose daughter is part of the business and she invested in her daughter being part of the lab, as well, and they do their sprint separately. They feel like they get a tremendous amount of value from each other’s perspectives, because it’s like you’ve got two people working on the business instead of one person working on the business, so it’s almost like you get double the benefit of doing the planning. I think it’s great.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (20:15):
Yes. Double the brain power.

Lisa Larter (20:17):
So, tell me, the Learning Labs have been foundational to what we’ve done as a community, and the way that we’ve structured Learning Labs is… The community often votes on what they want for the next couple of labs. The community often tells me, “Hey, I’d love a lab on this,” or, “I’d love a lab on that.” We just recently did a lab on best practices for copywriting, and that was the result of somebody specifically asking me, “Could you please do something on copywriting because I’d really like to learn how you know how to write such and such a way.” So, tell me a little bit about the labs. What do you like about the Learning Labs opposed to when you buy a program, for example, and it’s a DIY, “I got to watch all these modules,” whereas the labs are live, they’re interactive, we have breakouts? What do you like about the labs? How do they benefit you? And which lab has been your favorite?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (21:18):
Love to answer that. So, the first thing you need to know about programs that you buy online is that the minute that you make that buying decision, you’re at the biggest high of your life for that program. You’re like, “Oh yeah, I’m the most motivated I’m ever going to be. I’m going to do this.” Tomorrow, you’re not as motivated. The day after, you’re less so. A month from now, you probably don’t even remember that you bought it. And then a year from now, you have no idea what the login is anymore. And the end result is that about like 50% of the people don’t even take it. And I think the stats for like 75% don’t even go halfway through a course.

Lisa Larter (21:56):
I have a lot of shelf help.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (21:57):
Yeah. So, they don’t work. No matter how much you think it’s going to work for you, it doesn’t work. So, I find the benefit of these labs is that I get to ask for the most important thing that I need right now. And then Lisa aggregates everybody’s needs and she makes a lab, and you know that your lab’s going to come eventually to answer your question. And you’re always learning something every single month and you want to show up to these things because it’s live, you can ask questions, there’s a community. It’s not like a pre-recorded thing that you can watch whenever you want, however you want. That type of learning doesn’t work for me that well. The live ones work well. And especially within these, we get to have discussions, and it’s an extra opportunity to network with other people in the lab and foster those relationships. So, it’s not that big of a commitment once or twice a month, and you’re continually learning. And once you carve it out in your calendar, it’s in there. It actually gets done unlike other things. That’s what I love about it.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (23:09):
My most favorite lab, I think my most favorite lab was one that you did on rocks, pebbles, sands. I’ve done it so many times. I’ve been with Lisa for several years and I’ve probably done this exercise about six times, and every single time I do it differently. And every single time I learn something differently. And the most recent one is that Lisa… So, to explain rocks, pebble, sands, you categorize all your product offerings by the ones that bring in the most value like monetarily, all the way down to the ones that bring in the least amount of value monetarily. So, your rocks are the ones that are the heavy hitters, your sands and stuff that falls in, and then you want to categorize your business as if you’re focusing on the rocks, then the pebbles, then the sand, because if you focus on them the other way, then you don’t get enough done.

Lisa Larter (24:02):
Right. You get stuck in the sand and it becomes a much, much heavier lift to get growth.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (24:07):
Exactly. And the most recent thing that we did was that Lisa made us draw on a scale where your rocks and your pebbles and your sand were, and we realized that we had a massive gap between where a rock was and where our pebble started and we had nothing to fill in in-between. So, that’s my favorite one because I wasn’t expecting to learn much and I ended up learning a lot.
Lisa Larter (24:35):
Yeah. When you look at the progression, you can see where the areas of opportunity are. Because if your pebble for example… And the value of a rock, pebble, and sand, there’s no hard, fast rule. One person’s rock could be $100 and another person’s rock could be 100,000 depending on the type of business they have. Right? If you own a candy shop and you sell single gumballs for 25 cents, and then you have a box of a candy that’s 100, well the gumball would be your sand and the box of candy would be the rock. So, it’s not about the price, it’s about the lineup of products and/or services and the pricing and the placement on that continuum and thinking about your customer and the progression that they want go on when they’re on this journey of doing business with you.

Lisa Larter (25:31):
And so, I love the rock, pebble, sand exercise, and I love that continuum or that progression pathway because it really does highlight not only what’s missing in between, but where do you go next. So, let say your big rock is 50,000. Well, what’s the next big rock? What’s bigger than the rock already? So, it just challenges you to think differently about your business. So everybody tells me that… I’d love to say everybody tells me their most favorite part of the labs is what I teach, but everyone tells me the most favorite part of the labs is really the breakout sessions. Why do people love these breakout sessions so much? Is it because I give you the most thought-provoking questions ever? What is it?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (26:20):
Yes. It’s 100% the thought-provoking questions every time, Lisa. Being an entrepreneur is so isolating. You feel lonely even if you’re in a crowd of other entrepreneurs. The thing that you’re doing is unique. No one else is usually doing that or they’re not doing it the same way that you’re doing it. And so, these breakout sessions are so crucial because we get to talk about our businesses with other people. And we take this lesson that we learned and, in essence, you break it out into the breakout session, you’re like, “Okay, well I’m going to talk about how I understood this. You’re going to talk about how you understood this. The other people are going to talk about the exact same thing. And then I’m going to tell you what my business is about and give me feedback on it.” Introspection is not a skill that we’re naturally born with. It’s one that we have to work really, really, really hard at. And it is not a strength of mine. It’s something that I’ve been carefully and methodically working on.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (27:30):
But the most effective thing that I found is just asking other people their perspective on my business, and they bring in perspectives that I would’ve never guessed or things… Lisa’s told me this countless numbers at times, but she tells me that I’m a fish in water being able to breathe oxygen, not realizing how special being able to breathe underwater is for others. And so, that’s what those breakout sessions are. I’m able to get the perspective of people who don’t breathe underwater to explain to me how important breathing underwater is.

Lisa Larter (28:04):
Yeah. I think that there’s an expression, and I’m going to botch it, but Anna Levesque blogged about this. She’s part of The Strategy Lab as well. And its like there’s two fish swimming along in the water and an older fish goes by and says, “Oh, you’re breathing like a fish in water,” or something, and the little fish says, “What’s breathing?” It’s like sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, and I think that’s why… That’s what I love about Thought Readers is, and I guess it applies to The Strategy Lab too, which is insights, is really being able to learn and grow and benefit from the insights that other people have. When I’m reading a book, I’m always thinking that I’m masterminding with the author because as I read their words and their methodologies and their IP, it’s triggering ideas for me, and those ideas for me wouldn’t have come about if I hadn’t been reading the words that they wrote. And so, it’s so powerful to think and discuss things with other like-minded people.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (29:12):
I agree. The way I think you should look at this community is that being in it doesn’t automatically make you successful. It doesn’t automatically stack the odds in your favor. Being a part of it and actively contributing and trying to learn is a catalyst for your success. It allows you to stack those odds. It’s an accelerant.

Lisa Larter (29:35):
Yeah, I agree. I agree. And I think that it also creates a safe space for you to… When we look at member-led learning and ask me anything sessions, I think it creates a safe space for members to even test things out with a control group and get feedback before they go to market. I think that when you’re doing member-led training, if you want to test a concept before you do a webinar, before you create a program that people are going to pay for, you would get lots of valuable feedback from the community that you’re in, which I think is another added bonus.

Lisa Larter (30:15):
We’ve talked a lot about The Strategy Lab, and really, the reason that I wanted to talk to you about The Strategy Lab is twofold, maybe threefold. So, one, our next planning sprint is December 6th, and so anyone who’s interested in learning more about The Strategy Lab should go to lisalarter.com/thelab to get on the wait list to learn more about The Strategy Lab. Because as of now, we only have founding members and this will be the first time that we’ve opened the doors up to other people to join the lab, so I really wanted to talk a little bit about it. But I also, as we are talking about money and metrics and measurements of success, want to make sure that people don’t lose sight of the fact that community and connection is a driver for results. And if you are operating your business in isolation, you’re doing yourself a disservice. You need to meet and interact with other people in order to expand your network.

Lisa Larter (31:15):
And as a business owner, you have to become well-rounded in business. It’s not enough to be a subject matter expert on what you know; you need to keep learning. And the reason you want to keep learning is because the more you know, the more value you can provide to your clients, but the more you know, the more confident you become about things, too. I think that we change as human beings when we are exposed to new ideas and we learn different things because we can synthesize that information and contextualize it in different areas of our business, and in the absence of that learning, we’re actually doing a disservice to ourselves.

Lisa Larter (32:00):
And then the third reason that I wanted to have Nabil on is I actually think that the best way to learn whether a program is, or a coach or anything, is good for you is to ask somebody else what the experience has been like for them. If you look at restaurants as an example, what do you do when you go to a new city and you want to go out for Indian food, you Google, “Best Indian food,” and then you read the reviews on Google or on Yelp and you make a decision based on the experiences that other people have had. And so, I can tell you, The Strategy Lab is the best thing since sliced bread, but I’m biased. Whereas, Nabil is a member of that community, and so I’m hoping that what he is sharing gives you a perspective on the types of communities that are available.

Lisa Larter (32:53):
The way that I see the online space right now is there’s a lot of people doing DIY learning, where you can buy a program and you get modules dripped to you and you learn in isolation. There’s a lot of people that are doing live learning, so get on Zoom, if you haven’t had enough Zoom every week and learn something for a period of time. And then there’s a lot of people that are doing communities, and you join this community and you’re part of a network, and there’s the odd thing that gets thrown in there but it’s really community centric. There’s not as many people doing the learning, the strategy, the community, and the member-led co-creation, and so I really do think that The Strategy Lab is different in that respect.

Lisa Larter (33:41):
But I’m curious, Nabil, what do you think the value is in being part of The Strategy Lab? Because you work with me privately so you really don’t have to be part of The Strategy Lab. And then my second follow up to that question is, what would you tell someone who is considering investing in their growth who wants to be part of a community like The Strategy Lab? What should they be thinking about as they choose whether it’s The Strategy Lab or it’s Joe’s Coffee Shop, or whatever it is in the online space, what would you suggest they consider?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (34:23):
Those are some excellent questions. Let’s see if I can break them down and remember them so that I can answer. I think the first one was why do I like The Strategy Lab?

Lisa Larter (34:34):
Yeah. And what is the value of being part of that community for you?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (34:38):
Absolutely. so-

Lisa Larter (34:38):
Because you can shortcut the answers because you work with me privately.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (34:44):
You’re right. I can just go to you.
Lisa Larter (34:45):
So, you don’t need a Learning Lab on anything. You can go direct to me. And so, you have direct access to my business advisement at any time on any topic, but you and your wife both regularly show up for every planning sprint and every Learning Lab. So, there’s got to be value there or you wouldn’t keep showing up for those things, too.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (35:13):
100%. There is a tremendous amount of value there, and I find it’s usually around how structured it is and the fact that there is a cadence to it and it is locked into my calendar. It is not me-led, it is led for me in a way that I’ve agreed to. If I don’t show up, I’m saying no to the person that I want to become, to the business that I want to grow every single time. So, I’m saying yes every time so that I could show up and actually grow my business and learn. And the alternate value, since I privately coach with you, is that not only do I get your perspectives when we privately coach and you personalize the information for us, in the lab, I get to learn more generic things that other people find useful that I may not have valued because of my background. Right?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (36:14):
I know a lot about a lot of technical things, I know a decent amount about business things, but there’s always something that I don’t know, and there’s always something that I don’t know and something super basic that I thought I knew. And so, rerunning that in my head and refreshing my mind on those topics, really awakens creativity in my business and unlocks potential growth that is completely hidden to me that could be there. And I get to be with other like-minded people who feel very similarly about their business, who want to succeed and want everybody else within the community to succeed. It’s super warm and friendly. There’s no one that’s trying to beat you over something else. The competition, if there is any, is usually on-

Lisa Larter (37:04):
There isn’t.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (37:05):
… individuals themselves to be better, not against each other. And so, it’s a great space to be in and that’s why I love it. And that’s why it adds a different dimension and value to my life and my business than just exclusively private coaching with you.

Lisa Larter (37:23):
All right. And so, the last part of that question was what would you tell someone who is looking to invest in their growth about what they should consider in joining a community like The Strategy Lab? So, let me preface… This is not a sales pitch for The Strategy Lab. It is what do you think that people should be considering before they invest in any type of community and/or learning that is group-centric like this?

Nabil Ould-Brahim (37:58):
I think the first things you should consider, you’re most likely a business owner of some kind, entrepreneur, solopreneur, really doesn’t matter the scale of your business, and you’ve got to look at what you’re feeling and what your pain points and frustrations are. You’re most likely in a position where you’ve had some success, you know that you can keep this going the same way for a long time, but it requires a lot of work from you. Some days you’re like, “Do I even bother? Why do I even have a business? I could just switch and become employed.” And so, there’s a lot of these feelings that you can have, a lot of you’re just working nonstop and you’re not really seeing where it’s going to take you, and you don’t spend the time to plan.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (38:48):
If you look back at your last two, three years, how much of your growth has been meaningful, planned, and strategic, and very enjoyable for you to do? And so, if the answers to those are, “No, I haven’t really thought about it. I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t think I’m learning enough about stuff. I’m lacking the creativity. I’m lacking the personalization on that stuff,” and you’re looking at investing in your learning, there’s plenty of different areas that you can invest in. And I would suggest The Strategy Lab, because it’s a community where you’re no longer going to feel isolated. Everybody has the same feelings that you’re going to have at some point. It’s as if you’ve cloned yourselves in multiple different realities and you’re in the same group trying to grow your business.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (39:45):
The second aspect of it is that every single month, you’re learning. Even if the topic is something that you already know, you’re going to learn something about it that you didn’t know before. It just happens. Or rehashing it will trigger something new and creative in your business. And then the last component is the planning gives you that cadence that I talked about that really gets you to… It really gets you to strategically and intentionally plan the growth of your business and allows you to show up.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (40:19):
And then the thing that I think encompasses all of that and really brings it all in together is the fact that Lisa Larter is the one that’s leading this, and if you’re on this podcast and you don’t know her enough, she’s like a phenomenal business strategist. I could go up to the top of Mount Everest and scream as loud as I can and it still wouldn’t be enough as to how talented she is when it comes to that. And when you’re in this community and you’re asking questions, she not only will help you understand the topic, but she will personalize it to you and your business with the current context that you’re facing. It’s not generic advice. It’s not like joining on a webinar and asking a question and the person just takes your question and turns it into the most generic thing that makes as many people happy as possible. It’s very direct, it’s very pointed, and it’s very, very valuable to you. Even when other people ask those questions, you get value from the way that Lisa strategizes the answer for their business.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (41:24):
And so, that’s what I find brings the whole thing together. And you have some drive and some say in it. If you want something, you can ask for it, someone will provide it. That’s why I think it’s valuable, and that’s why if you’re feeling like that, if you’re feeling like you’re drifting in your business, this is a no-brainer decision in my opinion. Just take a look at it. Based on what I said, if I were you, not buying it would be saying yes to what you’ve been doing for the last little bit and no to the future business that you want to have.

Lisa Larter (42:00):
I love that expression. Saying no to the future desires you have for yourself professionally and for your business. And thank you for the very kind words. I appreciate you saying that. I’m blushing on camera, so thank you for that. There was one other thing that you said that I think is really important. It’s really easy to drift as an entrepreneur because you don’t have a boss. And so, I always joke that every entrepreneur really needs a boss, and that’s why I think my nickname is Bossy Pants because I tend to boss people around a little bit when I care about them and I want them to do well.

Lisa Larter (42:34):
But you talked about the fact that you take the programming from The Strategy Lab and you put it in your calendar and you set those appointments up and you then show up for those appointments. I think that regardless of what program anyone invests in, whether it’s a Strategy Lab or something else, you have to show up to grow up. So, if you don’t show up, you’re not going to get the growth that you want in your business. You’re going to continue to get what you get right now. I know entrepreneurs that have worked with me who have more than 10X the size of their business, have even sold their business, and then I know other entrepreneurs that are still at the same level pretty much they were five or 10 years ago because they haven’t chosen to invest in themselves, they haven’t chosen to show up in order to grow up to the level that they really aspire to be at.

Lisa Larter (43:41):
I think that next year is going to be a pivotal year for many business owners. I think that small business owners are naive if they don’t think that everything that’s going on with inflation and supply chain and the world economy isn’t going to have an impact on their business. And so, I think being astute about business is more important today than it’s ever been if you want your business to survive. You can’t afford to continue to do things the way you’ve always done it. You’ve got to challenge yourself to think differently and do differently if you want to get better and different results. Otherwise, you’re probably going to start to see a decline in your results if you haven’t already seen that happen.

Lisa Larter (44:25):
I know there are people out there that are already seeing their sales are not as strong as they once were, they’re having a harder time hiring, they’re having a harder time retaining customers, and they’re having a harder time managing the profitability of their business. And I think that when people are experiencing those things, it’s because they don’t understand the financial aspect of their business, they don’t understand how to price for profit, which is another one of my favorite labs in The Strategy Lab, and the lack of knowledge of those things actually hinders them from the growth that they would like to have.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (45:00):
I completely agree. I think if you look at the landscape of the most successful entrepreneurs, not just the crazy billionaires that you see out there, but just the common day successful business owners that you see around, they all have knowledge and learnings that they’ve had that looks like a T. And it’s the super, super broad T. The vertical a part of the T is what they’re technically good at, whether that’s baking cakes or making sandwiches or something, they’re really, really, really deep in that and they’re really, really successful at that. But that in itself isn’t going to make a business. You need to have the top part of the T, and you want that as broad as possible, go as far out as possible. Learn as much at a high level of everything and then a little bit into like the details to make sure that you know what’s going on. And having that picture of knowledge is a really challenging thing to do.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (46:11):
Usually in school and stuff we talk about like, “Let’s make sure you’re well-rounded and you’re really, really good at that.” I hated that when I was in university. I loved just my computer science program, that’s what I really, really liked, that’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t want to take anything else. I wanted to have the deepest T possible and the narrowest T imaginable. And when I came out of the technical world, I realized how unlearned I was. I didn’t know an absurd amount of stuff that is relatively basic things that you need to know. I didn’t even have a clue that I didn’t know them.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (46:55):
And so, it’s always vital that you invest in your own learning. And even when you look at the most successful people out there, like there’s a Bill Gates documentary on Netflix, and he is continually learning every single year. Whenever he has an important topic, he flies out to his cabin, grabs a stack of 10 books, and then devours every single one of those 10 books. So, be like Bill Gates. You need to learn. You need to be able to consume information and filter that out and figure out what’s important, valuable to your business, so that you can leverage it to grow.
Lisa Larter (47:33):
Yeah, I agree. I always tell people don’t judge me because I read Fox News. I also read CNN and the Wall Street Journal because I want perspectives from all different places in order to be able to form my own opinion and understand what’s going on in the world. I think you’re right, and I think a lot of times you don’t know what you don’t know until you know. And your success, I believe, is dependent on your willingness to learn and expose yourself to new things and to build and grow your community. So, if you take anything away from this session, I want you to remember that you can stack luck on your side and you can put growth odds in your favor by design if you’re willing to show up and you’re willing to connect and you’re willing to do the things that are proven practices to build a business.

Lisa Larter (48:27):
Nabil, thank you for being here with me today. I really, really enjoyed it. If you want to learn more about Nabil, him and his lovely wife Michelle Weger own Venture Creative Collective. You can find venture Creative Collective online. We will have a link to their website in the show notes, which, ooh, you’re getting an inbound link for SEO. That’s a great thing.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (48:49):
Nice.

Lisa Larter (48:50):
Sorry. We all love a little bit of SEO juice. So, thank you for your time, Nabil, and for your contribution. It was great having this conversation with you.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (48:59):
Thank you so much for having me, Lisa. It was an absolute pleasure. And if anyone who’s listening in is going to join Thought Readers, please don’t hesitate to come say hello in the community and I’d be more than delighted to get to know you and meet you.

Lisa Larter (49:13):
Or The Strategy Lab.

Nabil Ould-Brahim (49:14):
Yes.
Lisa Larter (49:15):
That too. He’s everywhere, guys. Everywhere. Just ask me, “Where’s Nabil?” and I’ll point you to the different places you can find him. Thanks everyone for listening. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And if you want to learn more about The Strategy Lab, go to Lisalarder.com/thelab. Talk to you next week. Bye for now.

Lisa Larter (49:35):
Thank you for joining me for this episode of She Talks Business. If you enjoyed the show, you know the drill, leave us a review, tell someone about it and join the conversation on social media. Thanks for listening and until next time remember, done is always better than perfect.