mike_walker-iux9ccw4d__raw-synced-video-cfr_beyond-profit-finding-purpose--fulfillm_2023-aug-17-0208pm_twc_talks
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[00:00:00] Alright, welcome my friends. This is Mike Walker, client services director here at The Wealthy Consultant. And this of course is T W C Talks, the Wealthy Consultant Talks podcast. I'm excited to have you join us today. Um, we're going to break down into a topic that I believe is gonna be, uh, certainly impactful for pretty much everybody, uh, regardless of where you find yourself in your personal journey, um, in business in particular, uh, whether you've been in, in the space, in the markets, uh, for, for decades, or whether you're just venturing out on your own.

[00:00:58] Um, what we're gonna discuss today is a critically important, um, component to your overall success. It's very much a, what I would consider a macro, uh, topic, meaning it's going to touch on every element of your business and of your life. And if you get it wrong, I. You're gonna be missing a big piece of the entire equation of what we're even doing here in the first place.

[00:01:19] And so, uh, I wanna dive right into it. It's a deep one, so bear with me. Buckle down and then I'm gonna, um, wrap up with some tips and some insights that I believe you'll be able to deploy into your life and business starting immediately today. Sound good? Excellent. Glad to have you here. Um, again, let's get into it.

[00:01:36] Uh, today's topic is Beyond Profit, finding purpose and Fulfillment as an entrepreneur. One of my jobs here at the Wealthy Consultant is to, uh, you know, engage with all our top tier clients, um, in our modern day, day consultant program. It's one of my favorite things that I do throughout the week, um, just getting to engage with all our clients.

[00:01:56] Um, they're, you know, various subject matter experts, coaches, consultants, educators, authors, speakers, you name it. We've got quite the spectrum of specialists in, um, in, in the, the world, in the different markets all over the world. And it's just so fascinating. You know, it really is, it's just so fascinating.

[00:02:15] It's such a creative environment to get to engage with so many different entrepreneurs, different levels of success from, you know, multi eight, even nine figure earners to people that are just kind of starting to break through and finding their stride, finding, you know, true market message match and all the other things that we help them do.

[00:02:33] It's just, it's really, really interesting, um, as a consultant myself and help guiding these people through the different elements of their evolution. Um, but I will say that regardless of where you would find them, In terms of the ladder of success, quote unquote, right? We're gonna talk about what that means, success.

[00:02:51] But, uh, regardless to where we find these people, what's really fascinating is when I get a lot of, uh, one-on-one requests, you know, uh, one-on-one calls basically. And so, um, you know, obviously these are the times where we're not necessarily talking to group, it's just them and myself. And we're, we're on Zoom usually.

[00:03:08] And really just kind of getting deep into a particular topic or something that they may be, you know, challenged with. And what I found really, really fa fascinating is that, again, regardless of where they find themselves in terms of monetary success or business growth, um, development and all the things, uh, a topic that comes up a lot is the issue of fulfillment and a sense of wanting to find purpose.

[00:03:32] And this is a big one because like I said at the top of the, the episode here, if you get this wrong, You know the, the very negative element that the worst case scenario is that you get to the end of your life, you look back and you go, yeah, I crushed business. I hit my goals. I own a X, you know, whatever, millions or billion dollar company, blah, blah, blah, right?

[00:03:54] But you look back and you have regret. Now, how is that possible that you could be so successful and yet lack that sense of fulfillment? Right. And now obviously this is gonna start touching in on the, the metaphysical, the spiritual, all those things. All right. And. You know, there's certainly, this is a huge, huge topic, so we're not gonna get into all of it today, but I'm gonna narrow the focus down towards a few key components that I know we can, uh, you know, uncover today.

[00:04:21] And that again, you can start to deploy into your life and business right away. Okay, so let's get into it. Um, defining purpose and entrepreneurship. First, let's just get clear on what, uh, pur, you know, the word purpose even means in context of entrepreneurship. Okay? Again, purpose is a massive word. It's a massive life, you know, fulfillment element.

[00:04:41] But let's just talk about purpose in the context of entrepreneurship, because success isn't necessarily the same as true fulfillment. Lemme say that one more time. Success isn't necessarily the same as true fulfillment. Here's the interesting thing. True fulfillment contains success. Alright? You can actually be fulfilled and have success, but you can have success and not necessarily feel fulfilled, right?

[00:05:11] It's kind of a weird dichotomy there. And so what we really wanna do is discuss the difference between just chasing profits and having a purpose-driven business. And this can be really challenging for people because sometimes, not always, but sometimes it can be tough to really draw out, you know, well, is my business, is this my true calling?

[00:05:30] Is this really what I'm supposed to be doing? All these things, right? And we're gonna break through some of these questions and some of these mindsets, um, as we go here. But it is important to have that distinction, that success doesn't necessarily. Always directly correlate to fulfillment. And so what we wanna do is make sure that we have.

[00:05:50] Understanding that monetary success and all these big goals that we have, you know, our quarterly objectives, all the things, right? These are all great things. There's nothing wrong with them whatsoever, but it is critical to understand that those things alone are not necessarily gonna give us that fulfillment.

[00:06:06] It's kind of that man on the moon situation, right? Where you, you work, you know your entire career, you, you do everything possible to get yourself up, and now you've landed on the moon, you're looking back at Earth, and now you're like, now what? Right. Like, I'm here and now what do I do? And it's, it's a real thing, right?

[00:06:24] It's a very real thing, especially if you're goal orientated, success driven, all those things. This, these are great attributes. However, we cannot go blindly and think that if I just hit another goal, I'm gonna fulfill. Feel or feel fulfilled, right? That that's not necessarily a thing. Well, maybe if I just do more, right?

[00:06:42] If I achieve more, if I make more, if I grow my business bigger, if I get more people to follow me on social media, then I'm gonna, you know, feel that sense of like, wholeness that you're looking for. And the reality is that's just simply not gonna be the case. Um, this is something you see a lot in the, in the realm of celebrity and why people chase fame so hard is because that fame, uh, You know, really feeds the, the desire to feel as though they're needed and that they're filling their purpose.

[00:07:11] And they may, but it's a very shallow element and you have to be very careful as to where you gauge yourself in all of that. So now let's explore the process of self-discovery and reflection, because that's a big one. You know, people kinda loop here a lot. Um, a lot of the people that I get on, on the phone with a lot of clients, you know, they're like, Kind of looping in questions, well, I could do this and, and then I, but I could do that over there.

[00:07:35] And I've tried this, but, you know, and I'm making money now, but now I don't really know what to do. And, and they're just kind of like looping around and around and around. And the problem I see with that and, and why that's so easy to get into that kind of death spiral, if you will, in terms of thinking process, is that you're basically using the same data over and over and over again.

[00:07:58] You're just kind of asking, it's like a computer asking itself, where's my problem? And then how do I solve it? You may be able to identify the virus or the, the issue in your data, in your software, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have the. The technology inherently built in to solve for that just yet.

[00:08:17] Right? And so I'm gonna give you some tips at the end that will help you get out of that mode. Uh, where if you do find yourself just kind of wandering, if you feel a little lost in the area of fulfillment, I want to um, assure you that you're certainly not alone. It's a very, um, common thing that we experience here, especially.

[00:08:34] This is interesting, especially for people that are. Achieving quite well in, in the world. You know, they, they are successful. They are hitting the metrics, they are putting money in the bank and all the things that are driving the nice cars, they have the nice homes. This really starts to hit home as you get farther and farther up the, you know, again, quote unquote success ladder.

[00:08:54] It's really interesting. Typically when you're in survival mode, you're just trying to get something started. You're just trying to pay the bills. You're just trying to get that one extra team member, so it's not all on you, right? You're in such a survival mode that you can't necessarily. Put your head up far enough and look far enough down the road to even be thinking about purpose or fulfillment.

[00:09:13] You're just like, I just need to get the rent paid next week. You know what I mean? You're, you're just full survival mode. But once you're out of that realm, you free up mental bandwidth to all of a sudden realize, okay, I'm good. I'm safe. Right? That hierarchy of needs, I feel safe now. So then what? What am I doing here?

[00:09:30] Why, why am I doing this? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Why am I not feeling, you know, completely fulfilled every day? And all these things, these higher level macro thinking questions really start to come to light because you're outside of survival mode. So if you're like, Hey, Mike, I, I'm good. I'm just, I'm just trying to make it, I get it.

[00:09:47] I totally, totally get it because you're, you may still be, find yourself in kind of a scrappy season where you're just trying to break through some of the, the more immediate. Um, functions of your life or your business. Um, but again, as you start to get up the ladder and as you start to find some of the success, inevitably you're going to face some of the bigger questions of, what am I doing here?

[00:10:08] Why, you know, why don't I feel like I. This matters as much, right? You start to really start to second guess yourself. And I think this is healthy. This is a, a, you know, a, a maturing process for sure, and it's one that we all have to go through. And so I just want those that are in that particular space to understand that this is normal.

[00:10:27] You are certainly not alone. Um, and there's, there's a lot of different elements that you can bring to light and, and to. Even questions you can ask yourself to kind of break through this loop. And we're gonna cover some of those, um, here shortly. Um, you know, here's another EL element. When you're navigating the journey, um, and finding purpose, it's an interesting thing, but it's good to point out that sometimes your life's purpose isn't directly tied to your business.

[00:10:55] I'll say that one more time. Sometimes your life's purpose isn't necessarily directly tied to your business. You know, a lot of entrepreneurs, they start their business because they're passionate about specific skillset they have or initiative or, you know, a, a service or product that they really wanna bring to market.

[00:11:11] And that's, that's feels exciting. And they, and they do so and they're successful with it. But, and that's great if you can truly link your life's purpose. Again, your life's purpose to your business. Great, fantastic. That's exciting and that's awesome. But I will say that it doesn't have to be that way. You can actually be quite successful and feel extremely fulfilled and have the, uh, space between your business and where your true calling in life is.

[00:11:42] You know, I was speaking to a, uh, One of our clients just, um, this earlier this week and, you know, he had these other passions. You know, he had these other things in his life that he found a lot of excitement about, and I could tell he lit up when he talked about it. You know, his eyes kind of changed a little bit.

[00:11:59] His energies, his state changed, his shoulders kinda went back a little bit more. And, you know, he started talking about these things that he was actually really interested in doing in this town and, and these different functions. And um, you know, I just reminded him, I said, look, You can use your business as a platform for financial stability or for, for the ability financially to go and do these other things.

[00:12:24] You can design a business that is the, the platform for you to then go and, you know, pursue your true calling. The, the things that you find you get the most, uh, energy from. Right? So you do not have to have a business that is like, oh my God, this is why I'm here on the planet. You don't have to do that if you can again, great.

[00:12:46] That's awesome. But I do want to bring to light for people that it doesn't have to be that way. You can actually just create a business that allows the space, the time, the effort, you know, the time and space and the money to, to go and do these other things that you are more called to, that you do feel is like, yes, this is my true North Star, you know, life's purpose.

[00:13:08] So it's just something to, you know, again, bring to mind that hey, look, if you don't necessarily know if, if your business is the end all be all like this is why I'm on the planet, that's totally okay. It can simply be a vehicle to get you to some of those other things that are alright. Um, another element here too is the happiness plateau.

[00:13:32] A lot of people will get to a certain place and then. You just start to kind of, you know, plateau out. You're like, you've been fighting hard and you've been feeling that sense of growth. Typically, whenever you're growing as a human, you're learning more, you're getting better at things whenever you're expanding.

[00:13:48] We are, we are inherently designed to expand and, and to learn and to grow. Like that's, that's the human d n a, that's how we're wired. And we will typically feel very, um, Energized and fulfilled when we're growing in a season of growth. But when you plateau, what's interesting is that this can happen. You know, you've probably even heard it, you know, uh, the happiness factor starts to plateau at, you know, whatever it is, a hundred thousand dollars a year in revenue.

[00:14:14] You start to realize that, well, maybe. Yeah, I can buy more things, but because my needs are met, my immediate needs, I'm not in survival mode anymore. Buying a new widget, buying a new car, buying this, buying that, you know, the money all of a sudden doesn't necessarily directly correlate to you being that much more happy.

[00:14:34] Right? So, you know, someone with a million dollars in the bank and someone with $10 million in the bank, Yeah, it's great to have more, but that doesn't necessarily directly correlate to being 10 times happier, right? I think most people would understand that concept. And so we need to be aware of that and understand that when we're growing, when we're pushing our limits, when we're on the fringes of our ability, we're typically gonna feel happier.

[00:14:57] So if you do find yourself kind of stale, uh, you know, kind of plateaued, Um, I would encourage you look for ways of getting uncomfortable, pushing the fringes of your abilities. Go try to learn something new. Just that alone can really bring a new level of energy to yourself and to, to your, you know, daily routine.

[00:15:14] I. Now when it comes to balancing, um, purpose and profit, this is an interesting element too. 'cause a lot of people have a misconception that, you know, a purpose-driven business can't necessarily be profitable instantly. Their mind goes towards, you know, charities and, and, um, for non-profits and, and that type of thing, which is fine.

[00:15:33] You can absolutely have those, but you can actually have a purpose driven business that's also profitable. Um, You know, you, it's, it's not always the case, but you absolutely can. And I don't think that, um, you know, earning, being profitable, even being extremely profitable is a bad thing. You know, a lot of people have kind of a weird connection to money.

[00:15:56] I. Um, I did a post on this, uh, earlier this week about how, you know, a lot of people have grown up with a very, um, skewed relationship with money. And they have this whole, you know, money is evil concept and money is not evil. It's the love of money that is evil, right? And money is just a magnifier. Money is just simply an inanimate object that we as a society have become programmed to associate to value.

[00:16:20] And value is just transfer, you know? So as you become more, you can. You know, demand more in the marketplace, right? And so as you grow, as you become better, as you bring more value to the marketplace, you can therefore demand more value or money, uh, for those services, for those products, right? When you have more, you can give more.

[00:16:43] And giving is living. You know, as cute as that may be, it really is true. If you feel a sense of lack or if you find yourself kind of wandering a little bit, my encouragement to you would be to look for opportunities to give. Get out there and do something that's not about you. A lot of this looping, a lot of this, like, oh, what should I do?

[00:17:02] I need to find my purpose. I feel lost. I, I introspective, I'm reading books. I'm listening to even the TWC podcast, right? Doing all these things is fine, but remember what I said earlier. If, if you find yourself just kind of looping on this, it's because you're using the same data. You know, you're, you're in your own head and the answers very likely are not gonna be found in your own head.

[00:17:26] You know, the same thing begets the same thing. You just do it over and over and over again, right? We all know where that goes. And so my encouragement to you would be to get outside of yourself. Look for ways to turn from introspection outwards and put your focus on other things, other people, other events.

[00:17:43] Um, that alone, even if it's not necessarily directly correlated to your life's purpose, it will get you out of your own way. And that's a big, big key for when you're trying to find that balance. Um, you know, when we talk about synergy between purpose and profit, They do reinforce each other. You know, when you, when you have that passion, when you're, you're dead set on your purpose.

[00:18:09] You know why you're here, you know what you're excited about, you know what you're doing. I. That alone will feed profit. Now here's the interesting thing. That passion and purpose, again, does not have to be directly tied to your business. You can be out there doing amazing things for other people, for other organizations, uh, whatever it may be, other charitable groups, whatever, right?

[00:18:29] You can be passionate and purposeful in those areas, that energy, that excitement, that feeling, that energy. Is going to be implanted within you, the business owner. And that energy will then be deployed in other areas of your life, including your business. So you can draw from the energy and life experience from these other, you know, groups or, or things that you're, you're pursuing and feed that into your business.

[00:18:56] And that can happen at a very even subconscious level. So again, if you feel good, if you are excited, if you're passionate, if you feel like you're pursuing something that truly resonates with your soul at the the inner core level, that type of energy is naturally going to exude into your other areas of business and life.

[00:19:14] Okay? So again, you don't necessarily have to have your. Life's purpose completely tied to your business. And this is especially true if you're, say, an employee for a, for another organization. Maybe you have a nine to five and, and you just, you know, you just work for other people and you do a task and you get paid well for it.

[00:19:31] Awesome. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you somehow have to say, well, I shouldn't have this job because it's not my life's purpose. Well, that may or may not be true. I can't answer that for you. But again, you can use that great salary, stable, you know, income, and use that as a platform for then having the space and the time available to go and.

[00:19:53] Pursue something that is your life's purpose. See what I mean? So you don't have to find it necessarily directly in your life or in your, in your, uh, business or, um, job. All right. Now I, let's summarize real quick. I'm gonna give you some takeaways. Like I said, um, you know, when you're in overload mode, when you're just kind of looping on this topic in particular, one of the first things I always tell our clients to do is to just write it out.

[00:20:17] Literally pen and paper, not on keypad, but literally with a piece of blank paper and a pen. Sit quietly, turn off the notifications. Get away from all screens, you know, get into a quiet space, whether it be a library, the beach, you know, somewhere quiet without distraction, and just unload your brain. Onto paper.

[00:20:35] Just get it out. Every, everything that comes to mind. It doesn't have to be connected, doesn't have to be prioritized, nothing. Just get it outta your mind. Get, you know, all these bouncing, pinging pong balls all over the place. Get 'em out of your mind and onto paper. Start there first. Once you have that walk away from it.

[00:20:51] 24 hours later with fresh eyes and a good sleep, come back to that piece of paper, bring a second clean, clear piece of P paper and start to pull over core concepts. And you start to kind of group things like, oh wow, okay. Here's all the different things that are going on in my personal life. These are all the different things in my business.

[00:21:07] These are, you start to categorize, like kind of group them up a little bit. You know, erasing or ignoring the things that are pointless, like, yeah, okay. I don't know why I wrote that. You know, I'm really hungry right now, but that doesn't serve me anymore. You know what I mean? Like, it doesn't matter. Just focus on the things that, that do stand out to you.

[00:21:23] And what will happen is you're gonna start to organize your mind. And this is a really important piece because a lot of times people are trying to find purpose and, and fulfillment with a, in a state that's just not gonna facilitate it. One of the analogies I use a lot is, is just imagine a, a really tumultuous ocean, right?

[00:21:40] With waves and crashing and, and spray and, and huge rolling waves and crashing, uh, seas, right? We can take a Statue of Liberty, literally a full scale Statue of Liberty and throw it into that massive ocean, crazy waves, and it will certainly make a splash. But would we see it? Would we actually be able to distinguish the splash from the, the Statue of Liberty being dropped in the ocean versus these massive crashing waves and this rolling ocean all over the place?

[00:22:09] Right? We may or may not, but it, it wouldn't stand out necessarily, so. Well, now the reverse of this is true. Now I want you to imagine a crystal clear, perfectly calm lake, not even a whisper of wind, right? It literally looks like glass. We could take the smallest of pebbles, throw it into the middle of that lake.

[00:22:29] Within seconds, ripples will be crossing over the entire, uh, surface that we would naturally be able to see just rippling out, out to the edges and the perimeter of the lake. Right now, how is that possible that one Little Rock could make such a noticeable ripple across? Uh, water when we literally had the entire Statue of Liberty, and we could barely see its its impact because of the state that it was thrown in.

[00:22:51] And this is how your mind must work. You gotta clear the mind, get it clear, crystal clear and calm, so that even the small ideas can get seen and like, oh wow, that was interesting. Okay, I'm gonna write that down. But that type of introspection, that type of unlocking of thought cannot happen in a state of chaos.

[00:23:09] So write it all out. Another element. When you're considering your trying to find your purpose, what do you enjoy talking about? You know, just get left unto your own devices sitting at, you know, a coffee shop with a friend. What would you naturally be drawn to? That's an interesting thing. Again, is it directly correlated to your business?

[00:23:28] It may or may not be, but pursue that. What is that thing that you just naturally like to talk about? Can you monetize it? Well, that would be fantastic, but that doesn't necessarily. Have to be the case. Remember, monetization profit is not the same as purpose. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. You can be profitable in one area of your life as a function for generating profit and be purposeful in another.

[00:23:52] All right? And then designed the ideal life. First, then build a business that supports that. So if you are in the entrepreneurial space, if you are in an element of discovery of creation, just getting started, a big mistake that I see entrepreneurs make, and I've seen this over, over years and years and years working with different, uh, founders in particular, is they're so focused on creating a profitable entity, which is fine and great, but they're so focused on the KPIs and the building of the team and all the things that are required to build that entity.

[00:24:21] That they don't necessarily know what to do with it when it's done, because what they've done is they've created this machine, but then they try to cram their, their life in between the cracks. 'cause they only have so much time left. Right? And so my, my, uh, suggestion to you today is to, if you do find yourself in creating something new first, design your ideal life.

[00:24:41] Spell that out in very clear terms. Write it out. What does the ideal day look like for you? What does the ideal week, what does the ideal month look like? Write that out. Get clear on those non-negotiables in your life. First, the things that you, you don't wanna regret when you're, you know, 90 looking backwards.

[00:25:00] And then build a business that can support that ideal life, not the other way around. So many people are, are pursuing profit, but then they can never find purpose and fulfillment because the, those things aren't necessarily connected. They haven't designed the purpose into the, the business. They've just designed it for profit.

[00:25:19] A really good way to find that as well is the eulogy exercise at first. For some, this may seem a little bit morbid, but the reality is it's very true and it very much ties to starting with the end in mind. Like we do so much in business. You know, you can't hit a target, you can't see, and so we have to know where we're going if we're ever gonna get there in the first place.

[00:25:37] Well, that's exactly what this eulogy exercise does, is it forces you to. Write out your own eulogy, what would it be like? What do you want people to talk about? What do you want to be able to say at the end of your life? You need to have those things written out and then start designing your life and your business in a way that's going to make that happen.

[00:25:55] You know, a lot of people struggle. They're like, well, I don't necessarily know what my three year goal is or, or what the next five years should look like or the next 10 years. That's fine. It can get kind of foggy the farther and farther you go. But at the same time, the things that you and I would be worried about and really focused on three years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, as business owners when we're 80, 90 or a hundred, looking back, those things might not even matter.

[00:26:18] So isn't that interesting? I. Isn't that interesting that those would be the most forefront. These are the my big goals. I'm trying to hit three years from now, or five years from now, and 10 years from now, I want to have X, Y, and Z. Right? All these things. And yet, if you go farther than that, out to 80, 90, a hundred, looking back, those things might not even register on your radar.

[00:26:37] You're like, okay, yeah, we did that. That's fine. But what I'm really happy about is I got to see my grandkids do X, Y, Z, or you know what I mean? Like you can start to really. Prioritizing it, it opens up the light into what's truly non-negotiable for your life. Focus on those things first, focus on those macro non-negotiables, and then worry about finding the, uh, the drive and, and the, the why behind your business, um, after those first things have been sorted out.

[00:27:04] And then lastly, guys, um, Service to many leads to greatness. So if you do find yourself stuck, if you do find yourself kind of wandering and unclear, my biggest proposition would for you would be to just focus on. Other people turn the introspection in outward and let's just focus on other people.

[00:27:23] Because what what's really interesting is if you turn the focus towards helping others, changing your scenery, changing your routine, exposure to new people, places, all these things are gonna draw in new data. Remember what I talked about, if you're just. Getting stuck is because you're just trying to find new answers out of old data, and that's why you'll never do it.

[00:27:44] And that's why you can be in that loop for years because you're like, man, I just can't figure it out. I'm reading the books, I'm doing the thing, blah, blah, blah. Okay, those can help books, podcasts, all these things can help. But if you can turn that introspection outwards and focus on others first, that will naturally start to draw in opportunities.

[00:28:01] Because at the end of the day, giving is living and service to many leads to greatness. So if you can focus on those things naturally, I think you're gonna find fulfillment and that purpose. And again, that may not even come directly. Uh, from your business, but it, it very well can come from other areas of your life and that will feed your business, that will feed the passion and the desire and the, the good things that you need, uh, energetically in your business.

[00:28:24] All right, so hopefully this helps guys. Um, appreciate you guys tuning in. Uh, certainly don't forget to, uh, subscribe to our podcast if, if you haven't already, wealthy consultant.com/twc talks. Again, my name is Mike Walker. I'm glad to have you guys with us today and look forward to, uh, jamming with you on another episode.

[00:28:41] Of the podcast. Take care, guys. Talk soon.