Literary Insights

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The passage discusses some key lessons for business owners and leaders to achieve success with great intentionality. It emphasizes the importance of cultivating the right mindset and surrounding yourself with mentors and like-minded people who can help guide you.

Specifically, it discusses the importance of listening to mentors who have achieved what you want rather than friends and family. It also stresses thinking bigger about your potential and goals, rather than limiting yourself. Developing a “rich mindset” free of self-doubt and limiting beliefs is vital for success.

The author shares lessons from his own career journey and mentors, including taking full responsibility and accountability. Collaborating with and bringing others along is also important, rather than trying to do everything alone. Overall, the passage emphasizes intentionality, mindset, mentors, thinking big, accountability and collaboration as keys to creating success.

The book is about developing a growth mindset for building a successful business where everyone wins, including customers and employees.
The author started off complaining about his previous business struggles to his friend Hector on the golf course. Hector told him to stop dwelling on the past and focus on what worked instead.
The author saw Hector as very successful in business and life. Hector ran a consulting business that helped teams in financial services.
Their conversation was a wake-up call for the author to change his victim mindset. He wanted to emulate Hector’s positive qualities like confidence and ability to connect with others.
The book will share lessons on developing resilience, accountability, strategy, execution and leadership to help readers achieve their goals through difficult challenges of growing a business. It aims to inspire readers to fight for their vision and purpose.
The lessons are meant to benefit not only business owners but also their families and teams who support them through challenges. Success means leaving a positive legacy for others.
The author learned a lot about the hearing industry from working at Starkey, but did not learn leadership skills. He started his own company, Sonus, using an ego-driven leadership style like those he saw at Starkey.
As CEO of Sonus, the author was successful in raising capital and expanding the business. However, he rejected advice from others and pursued deals that went against his investors’ interests. This led the investors to remove him as CEO in 2002.
The author met Hector LaMarque, who gave him a blunt ultimatum on the golf course about changing his ways. This marked the start of their mentoring relationship.
Hector had the author identify his strengths and weaknesses. For weaknesses like leadership and finance, Hector assigned books to read. This was the author’s first real experience with mentorship.
The author realized he had been an “entrepreholic” - addicted to starting businesses without learning from mistakes. Hector helped him understand the need for personal development and change.

So in summary, the passage describes the author’s early entrepreneurial experiences, how he lacked mentorship, and how meeting Hector LaMarque began transforming him through their mentoring relationship.

The passage describes how the author had early exposure to entrepreneurship through working at his mother and stepfather’s hearing aid company Starkey during school breaks. This gave him first-hand experience in the business from manufacturing to distribution.
As a high school student, the author organized harvesting his family’s walnut orchard more efficiently, making $7,700 in profit. This taught him the value of collaboration and finding purpose in his work beyond just the task itself.
In college, the author had a natural talent for sales, working part-time selling hearing aids over the phone for Starkey’s Portland office. He had an instinctive sales technique of asking questions to understand customer needs and suggest how they could increase their business.
These early experiences exposed the author to entrepreneurship through hands-on work and demonstrated natural skills in leadership, collaboration, finding purpose in work, and sales - all of which would serve him well as a future entrepreneur. While nurtured through family circumstances, he seemed to have an innate drive and ability for business.
Brandon had been very successful as a salesperson for Starkey hearing aids, but eventually left due to family drama and wanting more independence.
He then moved to Atlanta and continued excelling in sales, but got fired after confronting his boss about an affair. This was a difficult time but taught him resilience.
Brandon then got back into sales at Starkey under his stepfather. He significantly exceeded sales goals through innovative coupon programs.
During this time, his parents’ divorce created family tensions. He decided it was time to fully strike out on his own.
At 27, Brandon quit Starkey to start his own business in hearing healthcare. He noticed clinics were being run less like businesses and more like medical practices.
His plan was to buy up existing clinics and have audiologists work for him, bringing both business and clinical skills. However, Starkey denied his idea of a new division to do this, seeing it as a conflict of interest.
Undaunted, Brandon moved to Oregon in 1995 with just 6-7 months of savings, confident he could recreate his success through a new business model in the hearing aid industry.
The author resigned from his previous company and launched his own business in February 1996. He met Doug Good, who owned a hearing care business in Canada and wanted to retire.
The author convinced Doug to sell him half the company on a long-term note. By April, he had run out of money and needed $1 million in funding to buy audiology clinics and consolidate the market.
Over two months, the author and Doug made 23 presentations to potential investors without success. On a drive to their 24th meeting, the author had an emotional breakdown but regained confidence.
At the meeting, the author made a bold case for why the investor should trust him with $1 million. The investor met with the author alone the next day, and was impressed with his answers. He provided the $1 million check.
With the funding, the author was able to buy and consolidate more clinics. Doug taught him how to run a publicly traded company. The company’s stock value increased, allowing the author to buy more clinics.
The author secured more funding from investors to continue expanding through acquiring clinics under letters of intent. This success led to a need for more capital.
The author presented to private equity groups in New York to raise funding for his hearing aid clinic business. After many rejections, he finally secured $18 million from Warburg Pincus instead of the $15 million requested.
With this funding, he listed his company on the American Stock Exchange instead of the Alberta Stock Exchange. At age 29, he became one of the youngest people to ring the opening bell on the AMEX.
However, his company lacked the proper teams to manage acquisitions, integrations, and innovation as it grew rapidly through acquisitions.
A receivables processing business he acquired to improve cash flow failed to collect bills for 5 months, causing payroll issues. This was a major learning experience about responsibility and oversight.
He secured emergency funding of $10 million from Warburg Pincus to solve cash flow problems, giving them controlling interest.
He expanded into Europe through interest-free loans from suppliers, against the advice of his board who wanted a separate company.
The loans were considered debt, and when he raised another $20 million, the board sold the company, firing him as CEO.
He realized he had changed the terms on the private equity investors and learned an expensive lesson about capital structures. Once again, he was left starting over after a period of success and growth.

After failing at his own company, Brandon decided it was time to learn from a mentor. His friend Hector, a successful businessman, agreed to mentor him. Brandon was eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible, so he prepared a long list of detailed questions and videotaped Hector’s answers over the course of five hours. Brandon’s approach was to get very specific answers he could refer back to later. He saw this as the best way to maximize his learning from Hector’s expertise in leadership and sales. The taping session at Hector’s home was Brandon’s way of attending the “University of Hector” - he was fully committing himself to gaining wisdom and advice from his experienced mentor.

The author had mentoring sessions with Hector where he asked many questions to understand not just Hector’s answers, but his thought process and why he thinks the way he does. The greatest value is understanding how a mentor thinks.
Some of the questions included how Hector would recruit someone to his company, talk about compensation, help them learn, and address their frustrations. Hector’s responses gave a clear picture of how to identify what’s important to people and help them achieve success.
The author continued asking Hector questions to learn, realizing the quality of the questions is important. He wanted to understand Hector’s goals, plans, and context for his billion dollar success.
A key lesson from Hector was his “3M” concept - model something, have others mimic it, and then master it. The next step after mastering something is teaching others to do it and teaching them to teach others, to create leverage.
Applying this multiplier effect, leaders should add value to employees to inspire and grow their careers. They should create clear models for others to mimic and master to expand the business through people, not just the leader’s individual efforts.
The author applied this by having his first hire mimic his sales calls before taking the lead and training others, freeing the author to focus on other things. The goal is understandign how a mentor thinks to apply those lessons to one’s own leadership and business.
During a sabbatical, the author researched failed M&A companies and realized their success depended on the emotional connection and alignment with acquired businesses/people, not just financial modeling.
The typical “roll-up” or franchise models were “cram-down” models that dictated how businesses operated rather than empowering owners. This led to resentment and underperformance.
The author conceived of a new model with shared ownership and personal/professional/financial goal planning to align interests and empower owners/teams through autonomy and flexibility.
The model focused on helping owners achieve their goals rather than just hitting company targets, as long as both benefited. It valued owners’ experience and respected building on their success.
Experiencing a public company taught the author governance, financial discipline, and decision-making skills to transfer to owners.
At Primerica, the author observed a motivational culture where people vigorously developed themselves and recruited others through a clearly outlined path for upward mobility and goals.
Traditional hierarchical structures tend to discourage risk-taking, “intrapreneurship,” and reward systems for ambitious goals, according to Collins’ books.
The passage discusses the owner’s vision for creating a career path at Audigy where employees could potentially become partners/owners in the company through professional and financial advancement.
It draws parallels to the Primerica model of tiered compensation where employees are incentivized to both sell products/services and recruit/train new employees.
The owner wanted to clearly show employees how they could progress through the company and achieve their career goals by helping the company succeed. This would prevent talent from leaving.
The concept of “reverse consolidation” is introduced, where the owner’s new company Audigy would provide operational support to client companies but take an equity stake in return. This would align incentives to help the client companies succeed.
By giving employees and clients an ownership stake, it motivates them to help grow the business for mutual benefit, rather than feeling constrained by traditional employment structures.
When starting Audigy, the author had to hand over his Primerica team and accounts to his mentor Hector since he could no longer legally sell securities only through Primerica. However, he brought a few promising people with him to Audigy as his first employees.
One of those first employees was Mason Walker, who the author met by chance at a Ferrari dealership where Mason worked part-time. The author saw Mason’s potential and engaged him in conversation, challenging his assumptions about what was possible in his career.
The author invited Mason to learn more about Primerica and his plans for Audigy. Mason was interested in the opportunity to earn $10 million by sticking with the author’s business until it was sold. This was how the author convinced Mason to take a risk working for someone he barely knew.
There was a strange coincidence where the furniture the author provided from a deceased friend’s apartment ended up in the same apartment unit that Mason had rented. The author took this as a sign that his friend was supportive of Mason joining the new company.
The author offered Mason a salary of $41k to join Audigy, which was less than half what Mason was earning previously. Mason pushed back on this offer.
The passage discusses the founding and early years of Audigy, a company created by the author to provide business coaching and services to small hearing care businesses.
In the early days they contacted potential clients and held recruitment presentations to sign on initial clients. Their goal was to generate enough revenue to cover operating expenses for the next few weeks/months to keep the business running.
The first presentation generated much more revenue than expected, allowing them to stay in business longer. The author emphasized fiscal prudence by putting extra money into reserves rather than spending it.
Over time Audigy proved its model of using cash flow rather than outside investment to grow the business smoothly. Revenues and cash reserves grew steadily as more clients were attracted to the coaching services.
The author’s presentations focused on getting clients to change their mindsets from just experts in healthcare to embracing business skills like leadership, systems and planning to grow their companies larger. He positioned Audigy as able to provide that support.
Initially the company had a family-like feel with Mason and his sister working there along with the author’s father. But the author also emphasized the need to treat it like a serious business.

So in summary, it outlines the founding and profitable early growth of Audigy through cash flow-based operations and client recruitment presentations by the author.

The passage describes Brandon’s leadership style and approach to growing his audiology business, Audigy Group.
In the early days, Brandon realized he needed to convince not just clinic owners to join Audigy, but also their employees. He would arrange meetings to translate his vision to the staff.
One clinic owned by the Wilkins family joined Audigy after their father retired. Brothers Jeff and Matt wanted to grow the business but felt “stuck”.
Brandon introduced them to new processes and systems through Audigy to help manage growth. A key challenge was gaining the staff’s buy-in to changes.
Brandon developed a “Patients for Life” approach to guide better hearing care over time. This required new sales scripts that staff initially resisted but later found effective.
Brandon helped the staff learn the new approach through role-playing exercises, playing both patient and staff roles. This cemented the training and helped the staff see “this guy Dawson knows what he’s doing.”
Audigy would conduct role-playing sessions where an experienced person would pretend to be a patient interacting with hearing aid sales staff. This allowed staff to practice handling common questions and objections in a safe environment.
For example, if a “patient” asked about cheaper alternatives, the role-player would engage them in a discussion about technology differences and customer satisfaction to educate them. This gave staff experience addressing such concerns.
Audigy’s patient-focused approach helped reduce staff reluctance over time as they saw it in action. One client, Jeff, brought Audigy in for training after his retirement and grew revenues to $14M from $4M working with Audigy for 9 years.
Audigy also helped a long-time client, Dr. Mary Lou Luebbe, grow her business significantly through skills training, employee development, and strategic planning support over many years of working together.
Brandon developed an “Employee Maturity Model” for Audigy to structure individualized career development rather than rigid promotions. This was exemplified through one early employee’s experience developing skills under various bosses over time before eventually leading the company.
Brandon aimed to achieve at least $250k in revenue per employee as a baseline, knowing that level typically supported a 20% profit margin for consultancies. He scaled Audigy accordingly over the years.
The author reflects on the challenges of balancing family life and business ownership as an entrepreneur, drawing from his own experiences in two previous marriages that ended in divorce.
His first marriage ended because he and his wife wanted very different lifestyles - he was drawn to corporate success while she wanted a quiet rural life on a farm. They amicably divorced when their differing visions made the marriage incompatible.
His second marriage lasted 13 years but tensions grew as his business Audigy became very successful. His wife Tammy ultimately gave him an “it’s me or the business” ultimatum when he did not meet her expectation to retire at age 45 and slow down.
The author realized that while he and his team felt proud of their success, it took him away from spending time with his family. Tammy understandably felt he prioritized work over their family life.
He concludes that while Tammy had a career, she did not share his deep passion and drive as an entrepreneur which made balancing work and family life very challenging in their marriage. Maintaining alignment between spouses is important for an entrepreneurial marriage to succeed.
The entrepreneur’s guiding light should be passion and total commitment to their work, not work-life balance. When you love what you do it feels like play, challenging you to achieve more.
The author realizes the importance of alignment between professional and personal life after two divorces. With his third wife, Natalie, they make sure they share the same vision and values for their life and careers together.
Natalie worked for the author’s company and proved herself intellectually and culturally. They started dating in 2015. There were challenges with Natalie finding her identity in the relationship and company due to the age gap.
They created a YouTube channel called “Age Gap Realness” to educate others and address challenges like identity, money, and stereotypes in their relationship.
The author learned never to assume his personal life will work itself out or that a spouse will automatically share his passion for work. Alignment from the start of a relationship is important, especially with children involved.
Breaking points can happen in business when it outgrows the founder, and similarly in marriage if professional passions are out of alignment with a spouse. The author wants others to learn from his relationship challenges.

Here is a summary of key points from the passage:

After selling his company Audigy, the author Grant Cardone was financially independent but still wanted to work on new projects.
He and his wife Natalie did a goal-setting exercise to determine their next steps, focusing on 1-year, 5-year and 10-year goals.
Some of their shared criteria for a new project included finding mentors who had achieved significant success (e.g. $500M net worth), complemented their skills, and who also enjoyed both work and play.
Natalie discovered Elena and Grant Cardone through their books as potential mentors who met these criteria. Grant had built multiple successful companies and real estate portfolio worth over $900M.
The author was initially skeptical of Grant, viewing him as just a “social media guy”. But after listening to Grant’s audiobooks on a long drive, he realized Grant knew what he was talking about for business.
This changed the author’s view and opened the possibility of partnering with Grant and Elena Cardone on a new venture, which became Cardone Ventures.
The author attended one of Grant Cardone’s conferences to see if partnering with him could help achieve his goals of growing businesses and achieving a high net worth.
He strategically sat in very visible seats and wore flashy shoes to get Grant’s attention from the stage.
Through their mutual friend John Maxwell, Grant took notice of the author and his wife.
Over subsequent conversations and meetings, the author and Grant realized they had complementary skills - Grant in sales training and the author in operationalizing companies.
They formed a partnership called 360 Management to provide business management programs and consulting to complement Grant’s existing offerings.
The partnership has been very successful, growing exponentially over 3 years to a potential multi-billion dollar company.
Their business model helps business owners scale their companies while aligning the interests of the owners and 360 Management through equity partnerships.
Cardone believes that too many people, including entrepreneurs, spend their time doing what they feel they “should” do rather than pursuing what truly excites them. This leads to quiet desperation.
Your ‘why’ doesn’t have to involve making the world better broadly, but can mean improving your own world and life. When Cardone started his own company, people told him to just get a new job rather than start something new, even though his previous work no longer brought him joy.
Life is too short to spend 70% of your time doing unfulfilling work and relying on the remaining 30% for compensation. This traps you in unfulfilling work just to pay for those compensatory activities.
Exploring your inner self through self-discovery, though uncomfortable, increases personal power. The fear of doing this self-work comes from resisting facing uncomfortable truths you’ve avoided.
To become a better version of yourself, you must be willing to struggle and discover both the good and bad within, then accept it without judgment as part of who you currently are, not as a life sentence.
Releasing judgment of yourself and others allows you to proceed from a rational viewpoint - that we are always learning and growing in a process that requires daily commitment and brings up past triggers, but also opportunities.
Not every opportunity is right for every person, and spiritual bypassing the self-discovery stage won’t work. True purpose is found through inner reflection and understanding oneself.
Comparing oneself to others is unhelpful. Focus on personal growth and lessons from failures/shortcomings. Though imperfect, one is a work in progress.
Some entrepreneurs are “entrepreholics” addicted to sustaining the status quo rather than growing. Honest self-reflection about what isn’t working is key to making positive changes.
Self-discovery requires acknowledging, accepting, acting on insights, and aggressively pursuing growth areas. Detach from judging strengths/weaknesses and see them as behaviors to improve.
Visualizing one’s ideal future self 10 years out and making decisions aligned with that vision, rather than past limitations, helps co-create a fulfilling future path through intention and action.
Gaining clarity on what truly brings joy through understanding enjoys and building goals around that is important for motivation and forward progress.

The passage discusses the importance of focusing on your own goals, passions and values when pursuing your personal and professional dreams, rather than trying to please others or prove something to them. It advocates discovering what you truly want for yourself through exercises like listing your “loves and hates.”

Some key points made:

Tying your self-worth to others’ approval will lead to disappointment, as you can’t please everyone. Others may project their own insecurities onto you.
Emulate the mindset and actions of successful people in your field, not those who have not achieved what you want.
Pursuing your dreams fully is likely to alienate some people who resent your success or commitment. Prioritize your own fulfillment over others’ potential resentment.
Developing self-worth from within, not from others’ opinions, allows you to truly love yourself. Stay committed to self-discovery.
While not seeking to please all others, don’t judge them either. Focus on pursuing your own spirit and purpose.

The overall message is about developing an internal focus on your own goals and values, through self-reflection, to guide your personal and professional path authentically rather than trying to gain affirmation from others.

The story describes Jacy Silva and her husband Thiago Silva’s journey starting their pool construction company Aquatic Pools and Spas. In the early days they relied on work from other pool companies, but when one went out of business they decided to start their own sales division.

They attended a Grant Cardone sales bootcamp which helped improve their sales. They then began working with Brandon Dawson who helped them understand how all parts of the business work together and prepare for growth.

Brandon’s team helped Jacy and Thiago learn to accept each other’s strengths - Thiago is the big thinker and driver with ideas, while Jacy thinks through details and implementation. They didn’t always agree on decisions. Learning to trust Thiago’s visions, like investing in working with Brandon’s team, helped take their company to the next level of growth. The goal-setting and alignment of visions provided a framework for their partnership and business success.

The company was doing $3 million in revenue and paying themselves $125k annually for 10 years. They wanted to buy their own home but couldn’t afford it.
They met Brandon, who had been successful after being in their same position. He convinced them to invest their life savings in working with him to build their business.
In the first year working with Brandon, they did over $8 million in revenue. The second year was $20 million, and the third year was $33 million.
Within 3 years of working with Brandon, they achieved their goal of having enough passive real estate income to never have to work again.
Brandon’s philosophy was to model the values and behavior they wanted in the company, then teach the team to do the same to create the company culture.
Working with Brandon, they improved communication, transparency, speed, and customer service. This helped them win bids and growth their business rapidly.
The company now has 54 employees between the sales, concrete, and construction divisions. They went from skeptical to seeing the power of belief in achieving dreams through hard work and mentors.

The passage discusses how beliefs can become like default settings or assumptions that are very difficult to change. Business owners and their teams often have strongly held beliefs about what their business can and cannot do that are not well-founded. These limiting beliefs stem from past failures or fears and act as an “invisible barrier” or “Jell-O wall” that prevents trying new things.

It provides examples of a couple, Stacy and Gary Conner, who owned a repair business. They struggled with selling subscriptions due to ingrained beliefs, but were able to adjust their mindset with help. The passage emphasizes that choosing to be positive instead of holding onto negative beliefs is a key decision point for growth. It also discusses the importance of cash flow management and holding beliefs that support business stability.

The core argument is that beliefs get in the way of achieving goals if one is not willing to challenge them. Adopting a learning mindset open to new ideas, even ones that contradict existing beliefs, is important for growth. As a leader, it is important to model empowering beliefs for one’s team to shape a high-performance culture and help individuals develop self-images that support the business’s goals. Changing beliefs requires making a desire for growth and change stronger than a desire to be right.

The passage discusses the importance of hiring employees with self-confidence and a problem-solving mindset. It provides example questions employers can ask during interviews to assess a candidate’s self-esteem and confidence levels.
Employees are trained to see themselves as problem-solvers and part of the company’s winning strategy, boosting their self-image.
Successful people see change as a friend rather than an enemy and channel anxiety into action. Leaders need to separate substantive concerns from fear when considering changes.
Attitudes are manifestations of beliefs and can be either limiting or liberating depending on one’s goals. Leaders should regularly assess employees’ attitudes to ensure alignment with company goals.
Stories of success can help replace negative beliefs with positive ones. Celebrating wins with employees builds confidence.
Leaders need to avoid being overly influenced by negative or unambitious dominant staff members. They should surround themselves with “can-do” people who share their vision and ambition.
There are two kinds of business owners - those whose business works for them, and those who work for their business. The goal should be to make your business serve you and provide the life you want, rather than being enslaved to it.
A business’s job is to create resources, opportunities, and results for its owners and team. The owner should force their business to comply with this.
Most owners start a business because they want to turn their ideas into action and have the vision, commitment and execution mindset for success. Employees generally won’t have all these traits naturally.
As a leader, it’s important to develop those traits in employees so the whole team is working towards the goals and mission. This requires genuine leadership from the owner.
By making your business work for you rather than you working for it, you can transform yourself from being enslaved to the business to having it serve your goals for lifestyle, opportunities and success for your team.

The passage discusses the importance of leaders clearly communicating their vision to employees and inspiring them towards organizational goals. It argues that employees are more motivated when they understand how their work contributes to the overall vision and how achieving company goals will also help them succeed personally and financially.

It says successful companies align employee and company interests so that employees are invested in the company’s success. Companies often fail to understand individual employees’ career goals and don’t show them how to achieve success. The passage advocates developing employees so they can contribute more and the company can grow.

It describes how entrepreneurs often try to do everything themselves because they don’t relate well to non-entrepreneurial employees. This limits a company’s growth. To address this, leaders must understand non-entrepreneurial employees, develop them well, and ensure goals are aligned so employees are committed to the vision. Overall it promotes effective leadership as translating a clear vision into reality by developing motivated employees who are invested in the company’s success.

The passage discusses the importance of training employees to take over tasks from the business owner so the owner has time for more strategic work.
It gives the example of how the author trained Mason Walker to make sales calls for a new industry, allowing the business to grow faster.
A key point is that the abilities required to be a good entrepreneur are different from those needed to be a good manager. Entrepreneurs often have a “sink or swim” mentality that does not work when managing others.
The author argues business owners must change their mindset from thinking they need to do everything to believing they can train others. This involves developing trust in employees and expecting the best from them.
The passage provides suggestions for how to train and develop employees, such as offering mentoring, setting clear expectations, and making employee growth a priority. The goal is to eventually hand off tasks so the business can function without the constant involvement of the owner.
Steve Lagomarsino grew up in an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather and father started TRC Electronics in 1982, which manufactures power conversion components for electronics companies.
Lagomarsino always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur and leader. He worked 60 hours a week in high school, including at TRC and a sporting goods store.
He earned an engineering degree and joined TRC full-time in 1998. At that point, the company was making $2 million annually.
Lagomarsino began forming his own ideas about growing the company more aggressively, while his father had a more cautious view of growth potential.
The story suggests Lagomarsino eventually took over leadership of TRC and looked to transition it from a transactional business focused just on sales, to a transformational business focused on employee development and long-term growth through partnerships.

This passage describes the speaker’s journey from taking over his family lighting business TRC to transforming it into a highly successful company through leadership development. Some key points:

He took over TRC in his early career and grew revenue to $8M by 2010 through e-commerce. But felt untapped potential.
In 2019 he and some team members attended a Grant Cardone event where they were mentored by Brandon Dawson on business leadership and developing a company culture/legacy.
This influenced him to focus on developing his employees as leaders. He shares examples of developing two early employees, AJ and Lisa, who significantly advanced their careers and skills.
Implementing accountability and metrics helped establish the new culture, even if it led to some turnover as not all employees adapted. Transparency was key.
The results included solidifying a high-performing team of 45, relocating remotely while revenue hits $50M, and passive income matching his prior salary.
He is now focused on business leadership over just ownership and changing employees’ lives through professional and personal development. The transformation vastly exceeded his expectations.
The passage discusses taking a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity when it comes to business, money, and life. It argues abundance is a mindset, not just about money itself.
If you believe in limits and think there is not enough, the “flow” of abundance will pass you by. But if you see infinite opportunities and possibilities, you can tap into that flow.
Money is the effect, not the cause - it comes from having an abundant mindset already. Changing circumstances won’t create lasting change without changing mindset first.
Affirming empowering beliefs about wealth and prosperity for yourself and your business can help clear limiting beliefs. Some sample affirmations are provided.
An abundant mindset believes there are opportunities for everyone, so it’s important to include others and see circulation/sharing of abundance, not hoarding.
The concept of a “universal bank” where giving creates deposits that always return in unexpected ways can counter scarcity mindsets about money. Having faith in abundance and karma can pay off greatly.
The passage discusses principles of abundance and circulation as they relate to finances. It encourages circulating money freely by spending and giving, as this allows more money to flow in.
It advises regularly clearing out unused possessions through decluttering, as this makes room for new things and puts what remains in better order. Emerson’s quote cautions against holding onto good things too tightly out of fear of loss.
Receiving is important to balance out giving. People should accept gifts, compliments, and opportunities freely to keep the flow of abundance going both ways between themselves and others.
“Seed money” refers to strategically giving money expecting a 10x return, similar to a farmer planting seeds. The key is giving where one believes it will do the most good and multiply.
Taking risks is inevitable, and doing nothing also risks missed opportunities. Success depends more on alignment of intentions, actions and results through a mindset of belief, courage and abundance versus fear and scarcity.
A case study highlights how changing one’s mindset from scarcity to abundance through this work helped a landscaping business exceed expectations and find far greater profitability and growth.
The business started in 2018 doing $1 million in revenue and $80-100k in profits, but was stuck and didn’t know how to grow beyond that.
The owner saw a TV show on Undercover Billionaire featuring Grant Cardone and was inspired to learn more about growing a business. He connected with Cardone’s partner Brandon Dawson.
Working with Dawson and his team, they developed a 10-year plan with quarterly checkpoints. This provided clarity on how to grow.
A key realization was that the owner needed to change his own mindset from cautious and limited to seeing abundance and opportunities. He read two books recommended by Dawson.
They implemented a process of setting personal, professional and financial (PPF) goals for each employee to align individually and collectively with company goals.
In the first two years working with Dawson, revenue grew to $3.5M then $4.5M, taking home $500K and $750K respectively, pulling ahead 15 years of income.
They developed a supportive culture through weekly “win meetings” and monthly PPF meetings to stay aligned and motivated.

The passage discusses how to thrive in times of crisis for a business. It emphasizes the importance of being mentally prepared in advance, rather than just reacting when a crisis hits.

When a crisis occurs, it’s important to first assess the situation - is your family, employees, etc. okay? How much time do you have to respond? Do you have trusted experts you can consult? Making rash decisions in a state of fear or panic can make things worse.

It’s crucial to gather context and contrasting perspectives on the crisis before deciding on a course of action. Getting the right information allows you to make strategic, goal-aligned choices rather than reactive ones. Experienced business leaders can systematically respond to emergencies in a trained, predictable way to work towards the best outcome.

Being prepared mentally is key - crises will come, and how a business owner responds separates the true entrepreneurs from those who aren’t fully committed. With the right mindset and process, it’s possible to not just survive but thrive during times of upheaval and uncertainty.

High-performing teams like basketball teams prepare for potential crises or issues that could arise during a game. They develop specific plays and strategies to address challenges.
In contrast, many business owners do not train or prepare extensively for potential emergencies or crises. When things are going well, they often do not prioritize such preparation.
However, properly preparing through training and experience helps one respond effectively during times of stress, fear and anxiety caused by a crisis. Taking no action or improper action will make the situation worse.
A crisis can conceal an opportunity. When the playing field shifts during a contraction like a pandemic, competitors may be eliminated if they freeze up or react incorrectly. But with the right mindset, a crisis can be a minor setback or a growth opportunity.
It’s important to view the situation positively as an opportunity rather than negatively. Well-prepared businesses can take advantage by recruiting talent, securing favorable market positions and dominating opportunities that arise.
The key is having the right mindset, being prepared, staying focused on goals, and knowing what your ideal future looks like. This allows one to recognize opportunities even in uncertain times.
The most important thing during a crisis is how the leader responds and remains calm. Employees and others will react based on how the leader reacts.
It’s important to learn from experts who have directly experienced crises and succeeded, like retired Navy SEAL Adam La Reau. He emphasized remaining positive and focusing on what you can control.
Equipment Experts owners Stacy and Greg Conner struggled for years with cash flow issues as they grew their mobile equipment repair business. They tried consultants but weren’t getting the business expertise they needed.
After attending a Grant Cardone conference, they met Brandon Dawson who walked them through emergency protocols when COVID hit. This included increasing their line of credit, accessing PPP loans, and keeping most of their team employed during the shutdown.
Following Brandon’s “lifeboat drill” protocol helped them evaluate and cut underperforming staff, making the company stronger. They are now training staff more to address labor shortages in their industry. Having the right expert guidance was critical for successfully navigating their crisis.

The passage advocates living in the present moment rather than being too focused on the future or what one wants to achieve/obtain. It argues that thinking “I’ll be happy when…” leads to constant dissatisfaction as goals are never fully satisfied. True happiness comes from being content in the present and focusing on doing what you love (Being-Doing-Having model) rather than having things determine your happiness or identity (Having-Doing-Being model). Living in the present means not accepting things as they are but also not deriving joy solely from external goals/possessions. It means exploring and creating from a place of inner satisfaction rather than lack or fear. This allows one to pursue passions freely without being controlled by desires. In short, the key is finding fulfillment from within rather than looking to the future or what one doesn’t have.

Life unfolds opposite to cause and effect - people who focus on being happy by doing what they love receive what they want. The same applies to business owners who focus on being owners rather than accumulating things.
Business owners start focused on building their business but later want more things, losing focus on being owners. They think happiness comes from acquiring things in the future, but life is a journey to be lived today.
The key is having a clear 10-year vision to work towards while also enjoying each day. Goals should be creating something fulfilling rather than just solving problems.
It’s important to spend time with family and friends rather than being stressed and distracted by work. Your personal relationships are more important.
Enjoy what you have today while working for tomorrow, rather than only living for the future. Focusing only on tomorrow risks failing businesses, marriages and families by losing sight of what matters.
To solve problems and live in the moment, focus on creating something that fulfills your purpose. Set goals that define a clear path forward while still allowing flexibility.
Write goals down to cement them and measure progress, motivating higher achievement. Goal setting must be part of the company culture.
Identify specific benefits for yourself and employees from achieving goals to get better alignment and motivation toward shared visions and plans. Celebrate accomplishments together.
The passage discusses the importance of goal setting for success. It emphasizes having a clear roadmap through goal setting rather than going through life without direction.
Goal setting should be incorporated as standard procedure in any organization. Goals provide a blueprint and plan for accomplishing tasks in a strategic way.
While committing to goals, make sure the goals still align with one’s passion and motivation. Goals can be changed if no longer relevant.
Momentum is important, so don’t get overwhelmed by the overall goal. Focus on achieving smaller milestones along the way.
A formula is provided for successful goal setting - start by defining a clear goal, then assess actions, adapt plans, measure progress, focus intently, assess and adapt again, and repeat the process.
The key message is to actually start taking action and not get stuck hypothesizing. Starting the process of goal setting is more important than being 100% certain of goals.
Sharing goals and progress with one’s team helps boost appreciation and morale. Goal setting should be a company-wide standard protocol.
You’ve learned from business owners’ experiences about both what to do and avoid in reaching your goals. Hearing from others facing similar challenges is inspiring.
Commit yourself completely to believing you will achieve your dreams, and teach others to do the same. Helping others amplifies your own success.
Developing a “nine-figure mindset” is an incremental process - start by focusing on six figures, then seven, and so on. Solve problems at a level you’re capable of now.
Seek mentors who have achieved what you want. Ask for advice only from those who have succeeded at your level or higher.
Master promoting your offerings, value, benefits, and people. Promotion is ongoing and should be amplified through teams.
Diversify your product base as you scale to serve existing customers more.
Build value in your business over time, not just income. Consider exits strategically to achieve the highest value.
The goal is for your business to fund your dreams and employees’ goals. Lead it purposefully to deliver remarkable value and returns through dedication and determination.

The passage promotes collaboration and teamwork as important for achieving success and a high net worth. It says pursuing goals alone is not effective and the “richest rewards” come through collaborating with others. Collaboration is described as the new “global currency” and advised to invest in collaboration daily.

The author claims that to truly progress and achieve 10x growth, one must be “unreasonable” with their current situation and never make excuses or settle for where they are now if it comes in the way of ambition. It invites the reader to access a free online training explaining how to scale a $1 million business to $125 million by learning the key elements the author discovered through experience.

It provides background on the author, Brandon Dawson, who is a serial entrepreneur and expert in scaling businesses, having sold one of his past companies for $151 million. He now advises business owners on achieving personal, professional and financial goals through growing their companies alongside partner Grant Cardone.

#book-summary

Nine-Figure Mindset How to Go from Zero to Over $100 Million in Net Worth - Brandon Dawson