This is the Jockel Underground podcast number 202 sitting here with echo turt...
You have sent questions and we have possibly answers, possible recommendations,
“at a minimum courses of action that you can follow to proceed forward.”
Of course it's a action. Let's do. All right. First question. Good morning, Jockel.
My name is Max and I'm reaching out for guidance on both mindset and practical business growth. I dropped out of college 2022 to pursue an online business. I started. It has allowed me to support my family. I purchased two houses, but I realized it isn't scalable beyond its current level.
Over the past year I started a junk removal and foreclosure cleanup business, which is now replaced my income and presents far greater growth potential. What I find challenging is the mental shift from operating as one-man business to building and leading a real company with employees. I've only ever been surrounded by middle and working class environments.
I understand how to work extremely hard and push forward, but scaling into something larger than a familiar territory. How can I strengthen my mindset to take that next step? From a practical standpoint, what advice do you would you give someone transitioning from solo operator to building a team?
Thank you for your time.
Yeah, right on, man. Well, first of all, congratulations.
It sounds like you're making things happen, which is kind of awesome. And you have the foresight to recognize that the most challenging thing about a business. It's not the market, it's not the product, it's not the supply chain, it's not the regulations, it's not the science, it's not the financing, nope, it's the people.
“People are always the biggest challenge, and of course, that's why it pays the biggest reward.”
And it's how we accomplish great things, it is through leadership. But it's good that you're recognizing the situation that you're going into. And one nice thing here is you, this is not going to happen overnight. In other words, you're not hiring 100 people into your team tomorrow. You're going to hire two or three, and then you're going to get four or five,
and then you're going to have ten and twelve, and then fifteen, and that's going to grow. So it's going to grow, and it's going to give you some time to learn to lead. And listen, I don't know any other way to say this. I would start off immediately by getting the book, Leadership Strategy and Tactics Field Manual, and I would immediately open up to a page 157158, I would read those,
and then I would go read that whole book, and then I would use that book as a reference. I would then read the book, Extreme Ownership, and then I would read the book that I caught of me of Leadership, and listen, you're asking the questions about Leadership, and the answers are what we wrote the books about. This is why we wrote those books. They are filled with the answers to your questions. So read those books, and then what I think is is the part
“that can help you, that I can give you right now, is you have to take the context that you're”
in and overlay the principles of what you read so that you understand how they impact. Right, a lot of times people think of it too abstractly, like, oh,
Extreme Ownership is a principle that I read about, but they never say, wait a second,
the situation that I'm in right now, how do I apply cover and move in this situation right now? How do I apply building relationships in this situation that I'm in right now? So you've got to take it out of the abstract, and out of the theoretical, it's a book, you're going to drag it out of there, and you've got to put it into the situation that you're in. And you do that on like an almost like a twice a day, like once in the morning, once it launched
maybe three times a day, you look at the end of the day and do a review and see how these things fit in there because it's not natural, leadership is counterintuitive, right? So you have to kind of constantly force yourself back on track. And then you know, so do that, obviously listen to podcast, listen to debrief podcast, good things on there, listen to this podcast, obviously you already are, you know, join, join the
Ashland Front Online Academy, Extreme Ownership.com, like that's, we have people all the time that are on there, we're asking answering questions, giving feedback to, there's a bunch of courses on there to take, again, all this will help you build this framework that then you can put the context of your world into. So like this is a giant question, you know, hey, well, what advice you have for leadership? Pro, it's a big deal, it's a big deal, it's not, it's not instinctual,
it's not easy, you're not born or that you actually have to learn it. You know, you actually
Have to learn it.
got to write a report on the Civil War, what can you tell me about the Civil War?
You know what I mean? Like, that's a huge question, that's a huge question, or like,
“hey, Jockel, I just got a guitar, what should I do? Yep, you should get a, you should get a book,”
about how to play guitar. That's one's a little bit different, because this is like guitars, but you're going to need to learn how to tune the guitar. You're going to learn how to know what the chords are. Like, there's things you're going to have to do, because it's a big subject, and leadership is a bigger subject than either of those, bigger subject than the Civil War, bigger subject than playing guitar. So get those books, and then, you know, those things will
be helpful, and just to get you started here, like, what's the vision that you're looking for? Make sure the people understand what the mission is. Make sure you know what the mission is. Right? Make sure you know what it is you're trying to do. And then, you know, when you hire people, build relationships with them, and you've heard me saying, "I don't hear trustless, I don't hear trustless, I don't know what's in here." That's what we're
doing, and you build a good relationship with people, and you're going to build a solid team, and you take care of them, and they're going to take care of you, and things are going to be good to go.
“So, that's what we're at, man. Just just know those principles, and then force yourself to”
apply them into the world that you're living in. That's what we got. I think that he said something that was actually more important than I feel like a lot of us realize, and that is like, "Where do you want to go?" You know, like, what's the, so back when I was a personal trainer, they, uh, through certification, they tell you, like, this is a very important element of a being a trainer. When someone's like, "Hey, I want to
get in shape. I want to like, I need a personal trainer, or is this a good exercise?" Or, or, you know, any question that someone asks a potential client, or client asks you,
"It's supplies to this." You always have to ask them, "What are your goals for this thing?"
'Cause they're, yeah, you still do that. If anybody sends, anytime someone's talking about working out, you're always like, "What do we do with their goals?" What are we trying to do exactly right? And it's, then it's not just happening, it's absolutely true, just like this, where it's like, "Hey, what advice do you have?" It's like, "Oh, well, depends, right?" You know, totally depends. So, A, identifying where you, where you want to go, and, you know, being conscious of where you are
now, and then kind of reverse engineering, kind of a thing, and then, yes, using all the strategies and tactics for sure. But, 'cause a lot of times, even in just everyday life, sometimes we can forget these things. So, like, when you're like, "Hey, where do I want to be?" Like, "When I was young, you know how people ask you?" Like, "Where do you want to be in five years?" I was like, "Pretty don't think I ever thought about that." Five years? That's a long time from now,
like, "I don't think about that kind of stuff." I'm thinking about today, or 10, a lot of loan 10 years. So, but if you kind of like, "Hey, just take a minute," and be like, "Well, where do you want to be in, however long, where do you want to be five years or whatever?" It's like, "Oh, shit, that kind of turns on some light bulbs there." Seems like they're okay. And then, you know, you can get little tactics, which one that I heard that I was like, "Oh, that's a useful, just little thing to ask yourself."
“It's like, "Hey, where do you have to get done today for it to be," they call it a win,”
or, "What do you have to do today to make it a successful day?" It's kind of like that. Like, we don't, like, I don't think about that kind of stuff back before, like, long time ago, I just think about, "Okay, I got something to do, and I'm too busy, quote-unquote, doing it, rather than, like, stopping and be like, "Okay, where do you want to be, and kind of mapping it out," they seem saying, "Then you can start to make appropriate decisions."
Otherwise, you're just with your head down going through, freaking, you seem saying, "Hey, you got to look up, got to have a plan, and I don't know where you're going." And then that iterative steps thing, and you mentioned it, where it's like, "Don't hire 100 people," just be like, "Hey, if I know where we want to be next week, and I can see the discrepancy between where I am now, and where I want to be, I can be like, "Okay, I can do this, this, this, that's it, though,"
seems saying, and then we'll re-valuate next week, seems saying. You ever get asked, like, "Hey, if you could, if you could learn one thing as a white belt, what would the one thing be?" You know, I get those kind of questions, you know, going into
sealed training, what's the one thing you would, like, people always looking for a kind of a
shortcut or kind of that distilled, like thing, and really it's very, it's very difficult to answer that question properly, because who am I talking to? Because if you're a dude that habitually overtrains and goes overboard and gets hurt, and you come to me and I don't know you and you say, "Hey, you know, I'm just starting to get you to what's the one thing that I should do?" And I'm like, "Make sure you train as much as you can." And you go, "Cool, got it."
And you train for two months, and you're injured, you know, or burnt out, or like, it's like, "I don't like it that much." Or, you know, "Hey, what's the one thing you should do to get ready for sealed training?" Well, if you're a crappy runner, you should run. If you're a crappy swimmer,
You should swim.
running?" And you go, "Cool, you run more, but you've got to do pull-ups?" You see what I'm saying?
“So, it's like, with this leadership question, it's like, "Well, you know, what's the most important”
guidance when I start a new bit?" Well, it depends on who you are. Maybe you're a type of person that builds great relationships with people. Cool, and I tell you, "Hey, we're actually doing
most important." But then you get buddy buddy with everyone, and there's no lines and no noses
“in charge and going to any plans. So, really, that's why I can't give this just kind of simple,”
"Hey, when you even the thing that you just said, like, "Hey, you've got to make sure you come up with
a plan." Because there are some people that have already been planning. Oh. So, that is a little
excerpt of what we are doing on the Jocco Underground podcast. So, if you want to continue to listen,
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