329. Finding Your Purpose in Leadership

Speaker A: Are you tired of growing by mistake? If so, then we want to welcome you to this week's edition of the Positive Polarity podcast. This amazing podcast is where we interview thought leaders from around the globe and ask them to share secrets from their entrepreneurial journey. Having recently just entered in a league group of podcasts, we have been ranked in the top 2% of all podcasts in the world according to listennotes.com we are here to help you successfully navigate your business to greatness. So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. One more thing. If you have gained value from this episode, we'd love for you to leave us a review on itunes and do someone you know a favor and ask them to listen to. Now here is your host, Amazon number one best selling author, Dave Melenda.

Speaker B: Well, hey, Dave Melenda here. Positive Polarity Podcast. Hope things are going awesome for you this week. I got four simple words in form of a question that like, can rock your world if you really let it. And so I have an expert today to help us unpack this. And it's a simple question, but like every time I sit and try to ponder this question, I struggle with it. Um, so I'm like, I gotta get this guy on. He's an expert in this. So we are gonna unpack this awesome topic today. And these four simple words in this question is, what is your purpose? And it feels like again, uh, with the speed of this world and all the things going on purpose feels like it always takes a backseat to really paying the bills, making payroll, selling the next job, whatever it is that's in your day. So I want to just kind of take a breath here and I want to unp, unpack this topic. I'm honored to be hanging out with Reed Niffler. How are you today, my friend?

Speaker C: I'm doing great, Dave. Thanks for having me.

Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm super excited you're founder and CEO at Signal, so fill us in first of all on what Signal is.

Speaker C: We're a global franchisor of security services. So we have physical security officers in 48 states, nine countries. Uh, and we're continuing to expand. I've uh, been at this for about 20 years now. So, uh, continue to build the business and grow and have ah, franchisees who are a franchise network. That's how we expand. And so we're getting early entrepreneurs into their journey and then teaching them systems and processes to grow their security businesses in their local marketplaces.

Speaker B: Wow, that's pretty cool, I tell you. I looked on your site trying to see How Milwaukee was covered. And I was like, huh, look at this. There's actually signal people around here. So that was pretty cool. Uh, excited to unpack this today with you about our purpose. Um, and again, I want to understand, like, right off the bat, I want to hit the ground running, because there's a ton of people, Reid, right now listening, that are in corporate America or in corporate, whatever country that they're listening to, and they have this desire to jump and own their own company. But there's a ton of issues. Financial fear, some real issues, some fake. So you jump from, um, corporate into owning your own business. So kind of take us on that journey if you can, can and, you know, hit. Hit some things that people, you know, may not know either about you or about that journey, because some people think it's really hard. Other people think we just sit around all day and sit on the beach and. And laptop out for an hour or two. So what was that journey like for you, Reed?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think, uh, early on. And it coincides with me understanding my purpose. Right. So I graduated college, went to work for a Fortune 500 company. And I thought, you know, I think part of this is we're indoctrinated to. To see that path. And it may not be for everyone. Right. Because early on, you're young, and they're like, what do you want to be when you grow up? And we're thinking teacher or firefighter or police officer or something that we can see.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: And then somewhere along the way, and maybe it was in high school, I was like, oh, these economics classes and. And business was interesting to me. And so I went to college, and of course I got a communications major. And then I jumped right into that. And then quickly as I'm sitting there and I'm working for these organizations, I realize I can do this way better. Right. I mean, I am stuck in the flywheel, and I gotta follow the process. I can do this way better. And I think if you're someone that thinks that, saying, man, if I were in charge, if only, right? If I could make these decisions culturally, if I would be able to price this, etcetera, Then you're an entrepreneur. And every day from that day forward was drudgery. Sitting there, just banging my head against the wall, saying, you know, what do I do? What do I do? And then you're like, all right, I gotta get out of here. And then many people stand at the end of the diving board there and saying, I can't. I see a better way. I wish I was Only in charge. And how do I get out of here? And then the other side of that is that big pool and it's like, I can't swim. I've never ran a business before. What do I do? And I think, then we go to the things we think we know. And then that's where I think you see a lot of business failure and the things instead of pursuing what is really worth knowing. And, uh, so what do we know? So if I go off of what I know, that's an industry. Well, I've always been in X, Y and Z industry and I need to start a business in that industry. And sometimes that works. But the best businesses are solving a problem that hasn't been solved in the same way before. Where I see, I'm in franchising and you know, I look around at franchisors and I'll give you, uh, an example. And people don't know this about McDonald's, but they see McDonald's, right? McDonald's is not the first burger place. They weren't even the first burger franchise. Right. A w Root beer was. Right. They were the first franchisor here. And what McDonald's understood and what they changed and what changed the world, it wasn't a drive in anymore because that was popular back in the 50s and 60s. They were the first ones to innovate the drive through.

Speaker D: Okay?

Speaker C: And so they solved a service. So if you are trying to build a business or start one, save people time and money in a way that isn't saving them time and money now. And that's what, that's what McDonald's. I said, instead of waiting 19 minutes and 30 seconds more than you needed to for your burger, we'll give you 90 seconds. Wow. And they simply figure that out. Go look. They, they reorganized how they made a burger, right? They said, okay, we're going to shorten our menu and we're going to have a handful of ingredients. Then we're going to have a point of sale kiosk that you drive through, you order it, and then we are going to give all that information, all the people making your burger and your fries and your drink, and we're going to hand that to you while you're paying and creating an efficient system. Then look at franchising after that. Look at how many people came after that. And far and away, go look at McDonald's compared to Burger King, which might be second. Now we're all so far and away. Why? Because they innovated first. And so go find an industry. You can innovate first. And that's what I did. And so you were asking about my journey. I left that I was not in security ever before. Had no idea. But what I saw was a huge industry, $250 billion global industry, that had largely become commoditized. They didn't leverage technology. Right. And those are the things that changed the world. And I'll give a couple of other examples as to how it changed the world and how it was missed. Kodak invented the digital camera and they wanted to stay analog, but they recognized people want those pictures faster. Right. Time and money again. And if you saw the Polaroid, right. It printed there for you that it gave it time, that's why it took off. People want time and money. And so then what happened with the digital photo? Even faster. Here you go. I'll show it to you on your phone immediately. And no storage requirements. And so if you're looking to innovate in an industry, I think a lot of people make a mistake of picking something they know instead of something worth knowing. And so if you can see an industry just like I did, Insecurity said, okay, how can this be done better? And I said, first of all, two huge gaps I saw in the security industry as I built this business. Number one is I said if we could bring ownership down to the front lines, that would improve the level of service. And that's franchise ownership. Right. Not a big multinational organization that has shareholders that are all over the globe that don't even have any daily operational business expertise. Uh, and then secondarily create visibility through technology efficiency and visibility. It was largely paper reports, you know, your old timestamps to clock in and out. I'm saying, wow, think of how much time and effort would be saved as a result. And so 20 years ago, just as the air cards were getting installed into laptops, I could take that digitization of that same point of sale solution that McDonald's had and bring it to the customers. Buy a in the vehicle, we'd have a computer. Now it's all on the phone. It's an app on the phone. And we can deliver that immediate expertise and give the touch point for the franchise owner to have interaction. And so that's where I built my business on that flat, uh, that whole business model. Wow.

Speaker B: So it's interesting, Reid, because so you, you graduate with a communications degree, but yet you end up in, you know, knee deep in business. Did you learn academically or did you learn in the school of hard knocks like a lot of people, which, which One would you say you got more out of?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think the reality. Hard knocks for sure. I think absolutely. I chose that major because I wanted to know something, I wanted to learn something I would use the rest of my life. And as I'm doing now, I'm communicating my minors was in English. I figured I better master this language since the primary and exclusive of what I know. And so it's really learning things I could do long term. And I think so many of us learn a lot of temporal things, you know, things we need to know about, uh, the weather today or what we want to have for lunch. And we don't spend time on the long term things. And so early on, if I'm going to learn and retain information, it's not words to a song, it's things I can apply on a daily basis. Right. Because that was key. And so that's where that education came in. And then I, uh, think the other thing that can be a trap in going to schooling too long is you can get indoctrinated to have your answers in a multiple choice or true false format. Right. And I always maintain curiosity to say the answers provided are not the only answers. Right. It's not just A, B, C and D. But I really want to understand the problem, Right. And I'm not just understanding the problem to provide an answer, I'm understanding the problem to solve it. Uh, and I think many times we live in a business environment to make that transition and we're living in a world that we just have to provide the answer our boss is looking for instead of solve the problem. And we say that politically.

Speaker B: Yeah, that just feels really, um, like hard for people like they should. A lot of people that I talk to that are afraid to jump off the cliff, so to speak, or whatever it looks like in your world to go from corporate into owning your own business, they feel like they have to have it all planned out, you know, where they got to have everything. Like there's this clear roadmap, like right now you can, um, from whatever city you're in, you can click on your phone, whatever city you want to go to, and it gives you a turn by turn map, which again is pretty easy in comparison to how it used to be when we were kids. Did you have that turn by turn map or were you just out there like guessing, jumping, learning?

Speaker C: Yeah. First and foremost, I think, uh, I meet with a lot of people that are at this same stage and I ask them, what are you going to regret more? Not taking the opportunity or taking the opportunity and failing. And if it's not taking the opportunity, I didn't want to live in that drudgery anymore. Right. And so when I launched this business, I had three young children, two, four and six. And uh, I was the sole provider. My wife stayed at home and we had no health insurance. And at the same time is, I knew that other organizations had bet on me. They employed me and I got great return for them. So then I decided, if they're going to bet on me, why am I betting on myself?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: And then I'm a calculated risk taker. Right. And so I am looking at that and saying, okay, how quickly could I acquire a client? And then why would I, why would I look at it differently? Why would a client sign with me? And then eventually I said, why wouldn't they sign with me? Right. I mean, I'll be engaging, I'll respond, I'll give them great feedback, I'll provide the information. Then I'm saying, okay, if I did get them to respond to me, could I make money doing that?

Speaker D: Sure.

Speaker C: And so I think many people look at the salary they're making right now and they're saying, how do I get there quickly? I'm looking at what customer, single customer could I serve. I remember getting my first customer and off that first customer, we probably made about $2,000 a month. And of course I was making more than that at the time. But, uh, if I could sign one customer in two weeks, how long would it take me to do that? And so we started the micro one customer. How would it take? How long would it take one customer? I'm launching a brand new business, Filter Go. And this Filter Go is a filter replacement business for commercial companies. And, and if there's business owners that want to leave right now, they can go and jump into this. They can go to our lots marketplace and click on available markets. We only have three franchisees. This is the first franchise we're launching. Now it's available across the country. And what is the business model? You go into commercial companies like restaurants, uh, self care facilities and say, hey, who changes your air filters? And for $30, we'll change your air filter. You make about $20 an install. And so literally as we speak today, I hired three interns. They're basically college sophomores and juniors for the summer.

Speaker D: Sure.

Speaker C: I trained them yesterday and this morning. And then within the first hour, each of them signed a contract.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Within the first hour. And so in that first hour, our average contract's 150 bucks a quarter. Or 600 a year. And so basically they'll make 300 in a year off that one contract. So if you then look at that, that's a math equation. So if I put, uh, you know, 300 a year and let's say you're making 30,000. Right. So a hundred contracts would get you your income or 30,300 contract give you nine grand. So if I sold one contract an hour and I worked 300 hours, I would be making what I make. Now that's a math equation. Then the question is, you're going to work 300 hours at the current job. Are you going to have the autonomy of a business owner? Yeah. Uh, if you stayed there, are you building equity or are you willing to work those same 300 hours for yourself and build your income to where it would be replace that? And 300 hours is what, you know, a quarter, 90 days, give or take. And are you willing and able to hustle and learn? Right. And these guys had no sales experience. They'd never been in the filter replacement business. But that's the power of a franchise system. Right. It teaches you how to do it quick, quickly, you eliminate all the mistakes. Right. I was a. I, uh, knew I wanted to build a franchise system for this reason because you essentially are making a choice. And trust me, I've spent millions of dollars on things, literally probably tens of millions on things that didn't work. However, I'm not advising a franchisee to do that. So your choice is when the millions of dollars and make mistakes as a business owner or listen to a guy that had a path that already spent those m mistakes and you pay a money on upfront a small poultry money. So in our business model, uh, you can buy a territory for $5,000.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker C: Yes, that's. And I've done. That's pretty real. I'm limiting all the barriers those business owners would otherwise have. Right. Because it's funny, the only barrier is amount of your time. Right. The only barrier is do you want to sacrifice your present income to earn it over time? And of course you can hire college like I did. I'm not out there selling directly myself. And these are interns selling on my behalf and they're going to go away and I hire somebody to do the installation. But I got to manage and lead them. And the choice is I'm going to pay them to go sell for me or I'm going to sell for myself. Those are the two paths for, uh, this particular business. But that's an eliminated barrier. Low cost of Entry. The only barrier is your cost of your time that you feel like is worth and how long it'll take you to recover that.

Speaker B: Sure. Wow. That's pretty cool. So here's the million dollar question, Reid. What does security have to do with purpose? Because that seems like a huge jump. You know, you're going along, you know, excited, happy, and all of a sudden this purpose piece kind of hits you in the face. We, we, you know, did a book on growing on purpose, which is more growing intentionally rather than an actual purpose. So how do you kind of make those two connections there?

Speaker C: Yeah, so it's transformed through purpose. So as I was looking at my next venture, uh, from corporate America into starting my own business, I said, wait a minute, who am I? What's my identity? Right. And who do I want to be eternally, transcendently, and universally meaning for the rest of my life? What are skills and abilities? I was created on purpose for a purpose that I was gifted with, that I can apply the rest of my life eternally, that will apply universally in every area of my life and ultimately transcendently. It can't be about me. So then I wrote my purpose statement, uh, shortly thereafter, which is through intuitive interaction, propel leaders over their self imposed barriers to live out their unique purpose. So I understood that through intuitive interaction. Just like a conversation we're having now, Dave. Sure.

Speaker B: Huh.

Speaker C: You know, I want to help empower those leaders. Right? Propel leaders. And so I have to be working with people that can be a multiplier, just like yourself and your audience, over their self imposed barriers. I believe a lot of the things that we hold that we believe are holding us back is really in our mind only. Right. And then they can live out their purpose, not my purpose, their own unique purpose. And so that's where that book came in. And it started with, okay, what are my values in order as a framework to decide where I'm at? Faith for me, first, second, family, third, productivity. And then fourth, fun. And then second would be okay. When I'm applying that, how and when and where do I want to apply that? So now that I understood who I was, then I'm saying, okay, where can I most leverage that? And for me, it was in a service business. And that's how I got to security. I'm saying, okay, one, propel leaders. Franchise owners are leaders.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: So now, uh, I need to be in a franchise organization. I knew that before security, actually, I knew that I wanted to create a franchise organization. And then I thought, okay, if I'm Gonna what's their self imposed barriers? I know businesses of huge value are built on recurring monthly revenue that It's a client 24 7, you have security. So it's recurring monthly revenue. Now that shrunk the pool down a little bit further. So I've written a third book that'll be released in 2026 called and that was all about selecting the right venture. Not the one that you have experience in, but the one that will be an impact going forward. It's really this question about where to go. And I'm giving you some of the tools that I used at that time to select the one I'm in now. Uh, and it was recurring monthly revenue. And then I'm saying, okay, I need to be have something that's a unique selling, uh, proposition. What's different? And for me that was franchise ownership in security services and technology. Those are the two things that really differentiate us and continue to do so. And so then once, uh, I understood that, I said, okay, we're gonna leverage those two things. How do we deliver this different to the service clients? And I thought through all that before I made the jump. Right. And so the next thing was, all right, what is already out there in the security industry? You're, you know, largely it's, you're billing an hour and you're paying someone an hour. So they would contract someone for eight hours to stand in front of a store and then you'd bill them for eight hours and pay them for eight hours. And I asked the client the question, this is my first client. I said, what do you want that officer to do for those eight hours? And they said, well, I want them to walk around the property every two to four hours. I said, okay, and how long do you expect that to take? About 15 minutes. I said, okay, what if I only charge you for that 15 minutes? What do you mean? Well, what if I had a patrol and I come to your location for 15 minutes, then I leave, I go to another location for 15 minutes and I come back in an hour and a half to two hours. Uh, okay. And I said, how about I reduce your cost by 50% to do that? They're like perfect. And I said, and we'll get them a high visibility vehicle to do it. So I built a patrol model by understanding what they wanted us to accomplish. And this happened to be a strip mall, a commercial strip mall that had, you know, all sorts of your notable brand names in the stores. And I would go control that every couple of hours with patrol. And it became m Way more profitable. It leveraged technology, and it leveraged our, uh, franchise owners who had experience doing patrols. And then, uh, clearly I got that client and about 350 more here in the Omaha area. And then we launched our first franchise and ran from there.

Speaker B: Wow. Well, and it's interesting because you talk about this book brand new, and I wrote down Comfort Zone, because I got to believe this is where people have to get out of their comfort zone because you're learning something new. And. And the reality is, is I'm a firm believer there's not a lot of growth that happens in a comfort zone. So you got to jump out to do this hard for people to really try something brand new, especially in a business setting.

Speaker C: Absolutely. And what I effectively do is deconstruct what got you into that comfort zone. Right. So, uh, you know, something we're comfortable doing. And I can just tell by your disposition, you're comfortable talking about positive things, right? You love. If somebody comes negative, you're out of your comfort zone. You're like, oh, come on. I gotta. Right? I want to have something positive that's your comfort zone. But, uh, why. Why are you comfortable in the positive area? Because that was your purpose, right? Your purpose was to be a positive person, to bring enjoy and energy. I can even tell by the shirt you're wearing, that's your natural disposition. Right? That's where you're comfortable. And so what led to that? Right? Because I can just assume that you got energy out of positivity, and other people were drawn to you as that energy. And so now you're really comfortable there. And so where I'm going to is, where does your energy come from and where do you give it? And sometimes we're so far down. And I'll give an example, many people, there are a handful of people, not me being one of them, that enjoy working out. Right. My daughter, my oldest daughter loves working out everywhere. She's trying to get everybody else to love working out. And, of course, why do you like working out? It's not a matter of the lifts she does or the run she does. It's a matter of improving oneself. And so you're saying, I love improving myself around a routine and discipline. So that's deconstructing that to say, okay, where can I improve myself? And what is the routine and discipline I can have? And so, again, around positivity, I enjoy, you know, let's say, for example, uh, just using you as an example, Dave. You can be positive about a lot of things, right? You can be positive that a team is going to win the Super Bowl. You can be positive that this is the best meal ever made. You can be positive, but you want to infuse positivity in others so they can live a better life. Right? If I am, um, in positive about a team winning a Super bowl, that's finite. But if you're positive and you're driving them on purpose, that gives them a better life that's more enduring. So if we look at those critical founding factors in our lives that lead to our comfort zone, we determine, hey, if I'm going to be positive, I might as well be positive, encouraging other people to live a better life, then be positive about a team winning a Super bowl. That's finite. And so that's really the application of our brand new. And so I broke that down myself, fundamentally, and I said, hey, I am good at leading leaders, and if I'm going to lead a leader to something, I should lead a leader to a business that builds equity, that can perform better for the sake of their family. That's a transferable asset they can sell. And so that's what led to me m choosing security and ultimately the filter business I referred to before.

Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome. Hey, we're going to take a break. When we come back, I want to unpack this leadership piece because you work with a lot of leaders, uh, emerging leaders, people that probably don't even think that they're a leader. So we're going to take a break and we'll be right back.

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Speaker B: Welcome back. Honored to be hanging out with Reid Niffler, the Founder and CEO at Signal. And we are deep into a discussion about our purpose. And I love the connections that, um, Reid's making here. I'm taking notes and learning a ton as we go. So thank you again for hanging out with us today. Um, as you, you have a new podcast called Next in Leadership, and you've kind of transitioned into more of the leadership pieces. So when you're looking at like, somebody calls and says, I'm interested in one of your franchises, like, what are some of the key traits that you look for in these emerging leaders? Is there anything that just kind rises to the top for you?

Speaker C: Yeah. And it's very sequential. Right. If I look at my leadership journey and what you're going to find on Next in Leadership, uh, dot com and all the podcasts and the content of the interviews that we share is, first, you have to be good at leading self. Right? If you can't show up on time or manage or lead yourself, then the second step is leading others. Well, as you start leading a small business, you're leading others. So if you're bad at leading self, trust me, you'll be terrible at leading others. And so then it's really, as I look at the next in leadership, I remember being a young employee starting at a Fortune 500 company like Reed. These are the skills you need to learn. Here's your development curriculum. Go learn them now. This generation doesn't have that. Right. And so we can go search on AI and tell me, tell, uh, me how to be a better leader. And we don't know where the content will be or where it's going to come from. And it's definitely not sequential and didn't consider where we're uniquely at. So that whole process is sequential. So we start by leading self. And maybe you've gotten very good at mastering that and now you're ready to lead others. And so that's the next dynamic. Ah. And as we start leading others, that's a learning process for all of us as we do that. And then the third step, and, uh, my books coincide with that. The first one, transform through purpose. Second, lead exponentially. And third is brand new. The brand new is leading organizations.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: Because now, uh, when you're leading others, typically you're able to communicate with them routinely and regularly. But when you're leading an organization, I have 8,500 people in my organization. I may never talk to some of them, and some I can talk to maybe annually, and many I talk to on a daily basis. But that's very few And I may need to make sure they have impact. And so as I'm looking through that, this whole podcast, this whole direction, what I'm looking for, are they good at leading self, then can they lead others? And maybe they're taking that step now and have they demonstrated that in uh, their career? And then ultimately now will they be able to lead an organization as that business builds and scales? And that's what I'm looking for next in leadership at the same time as this is really philanthropic in that regard, because I know the world is better with better leaders and there's a leadership void in America and quite frankly the world and where are they learning from? And that's why that, uh, next2leadership.com is available for, for help leaders become better so their followers live a better life.

Speaker B: That's awesome. So it's leading yourself, leading others, and then leading an organization. So my next book that I'm working on is on, um, business Blind Spots. And I gotta believe that somebody that you may ask about them, their self, whatever, that, you know, not themselves. But you know, I'm saying that self piece.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: People must have a blind spot. Like, oh, I'm fine, let's move on. You know, that would be really seemed to be real easy to kind of gloss over that self piece. Do you notice a lot of people kind of have that blind spot and they just kind of want to jump into leading others and leading the organization.

Speaker C: Absolutely. And that's when you get exposed. Right. And so throughout the, all the books, there's authenticity is critical. And authenticity essentially means understanding who you really are. Right. I always say, you know, I hire to my weaknesses, so I go to find one and I can hire. That's why we have 8500 employees. I've identified 8500 weaknesses. And uh, I know I have a list more than I'm working on. We hire daily, but ultimately it's uh, you know, they're, they're following because they understand that and ultimately what has led to success. I recognize my strengths, but I more importantly recognize my weaknesses, those blind spots and others when you're. They already see it. Right. We see others weaknesses easily, more easily than we see our blind spots. I'm sure your book is about that. And at the same time is if we don't see it and they do, there inherently is the blind spot. And at the same time is if we see it and they see it, they're willing to help. Right. So, you know, I have uh, an executive admin and I believe me both of us would agree. I don't want to do her job and she doesn't want to do my job. And we both have blind spots that are, uh, natural to who we are, that are complementary in that regard. And so she's more administrative and can organize and make sure that I know where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing. And then I'll say something that makes sense in those conversations, and she'll just put me in the right room. And hence how I got this podcast, Dave, uh, is, uh, you know, we have to understand our roles. And then, then it's complimentary, and it's a good working environment when both parties admit where their weaknesses are and then ultimately lean, uh, on the other to fill in those gaps.

Speaker B: Well, and that feels like a big weakness of entrepreneurs, especially starting out, because they feel like they have to do everything. They're the attorney, they're the cpa, they're the salesperson, they're the driver, they're the phone answer. And maybe the model that you've created is that wave that person's created. But I gotta believe the sooner you understand your strengths, the better off you're going to be to be able to lead others and then eventually that organization. How do you, how do you help people with that self piece? Like, how do you help them learn their strengths, for example?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think one, um, naturally, the question is why do they feel like they have to do all that? Right? And I think the reality of it is because we feel the pressure and responsibility, right? We want to. We understand we're the owners and we own the outcome. Right? But unfortunately, we don't release the process, and we can go get people that can do it better and more efficiently on the other side. But we, you know, I always say that I have to deal with the mistakes of our employees. And so I think the challenge inherently is we don't delegate well. And so I have an audit of my schedule I do every week, and I determine, okay, where am I required, where am I needed, and where am I not needed? And so the easiest thing to do, that. That's in the first book. It says, okay, if there's something, and here's the place to start, practically, if you're somebody that's listening, if there's something that you do every half hour or every hour, start there, then, uh, you need a great assistant and hire someone to do it, because you'll forever be stuck there. Then if you've mastered the hour, what's something you do Every day, same routine every day. Opening the store. Right. Whatever it is. And then once you've handed that off and created a system to do that, then what do I do every week? Right. As a leader, eventually you need to be involved every month and every quarter and then ultimately every year at least. Right. But if you're every day, if the business is required for you to do something every hour. Right. Man, the cash, train someone how to do that. Uh, open the store, train someone how to do that. Right. Stock the shelves, train someone how to do that. Right. But you definitely need to be present. And I think entrepreneurs can swing the other direction where they're not involved at all. Uh, and the business will decline because they're working for you. And so the owner needs to be present. And then what's the greatest use of your time? And I always say, new to you, this is just an easy reminder. If it's brand new, a new decision, a new employee, a new location, make sure you as the owner are involved in that.

Speaker E: Right.

Speaker C: If it's new, you need to be aware of it and understand it. If it's routine, you need to hand it off, sir.

Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome. Well, and so continuing on with that thought process on self, I'm, um, guessing there, like we said, there are people that just want to brush over that and just jump into leading others. I'm also guessing there's people that are in that perfection mode where they never want to leave, you know, working on themselves. They're never good enough, they're never right enough, whatever that looks like, to be able to jump into the next section. Do you run into people like that, Reed, that don't want to lead others? They just kind of get stuck in that first box.

Speaker C: Yeah. And honestly, that's okay. I think, uh, you know, sometimes we have to recognize that about ourselves. Right. And I think if you understand why you want to lead others. Right. I think that's the first step. And if you are not service oriented or servant minded, you don't. You shouldn't lead others. Right. Leading others is never about you. And perfect is, is in the eye of the beholder. Right. You know, if I were to ask my family, all I have four kids and a wife, what the perfect meal is, all six of us would have a different answer. Uh, right. And we're all the same family. And largely my wife cooks every meal, but it's all different. And so perfection in the eye of the beholder. And so I'm not perfect according to what standard? Right. And so then we the don't take a risk. And I'll tell you right now, none of us were able to do what we do now when we were born. And so we've learned things through trial and error so many times. Perfect is, is the, uh, opposite of making progress. What we should do is try and improve. And so I'm, every day, I'm not striving for, uh, perfection. I'm striving for progress. And so I would challenge everybody to say, if perfection is holding you back, focus on progress. And if you don't desire to serve others, don't lead others, because that's inherently what it is. And so many people try to, you know, just have. Be served by the others. They won't build a business with anybody or be successful.

Speaker B: Uh, so telling others what to do is probably not the right reason to be a leader, right?

Speaker C: No.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: I think what you do is you ask three questions to understand them. Who are you, why are you here, and what are your plans? And then you can lead them the direction they want to go. It's a lot easier than forcing them down your direction.

Speaker D: Wow.

Speaker B: Serving others versus telling others what to do. Two completely different things. So I love that piece. Um, a question for you though. I'm curious, like, for new people that are just early in their leadership career, what advice do you give people early on? Let's say that they understand themselves and they're just starting to, you know, um, lead others. They're maybe looking at that organization as a longer term goal. What do you generally tell that new emerging leader about? You know, what, what do you get? What advice do you give them?

Speaker C: Yeah, and first and foremost, test when the stakes aren't high. And so, you know, many times, uh, sports, uh, teams are a place you can be a team captain. Philanthropic places where you're kind of falling in under a leader. But it's really defined by three stages. One, own your role. Right. Essentially, regardless of the job description, own your role. That's the first stage to owning and leading. Lead yourself well and do it beyond the job description. Right. And so I was on a flight at one point, and, um, there was a flight attendant that I believed owned her role. And I said, why do you do that? She said, because I want to serve the way I would want to be served. That's owning the role. She was saying that, hey, I'm not just giving you your drink and throwing your napkin at you and giving you the peanuts on the plane. Right? I'm saying, hey, I want you to be cared for. Do so In a very courteous, uh, manner, etc. And then the second is come alongside an owner, maybe you own your role and you do a good job. Second is come alongside an owner that's looking ahead to see, okay, what are some challenges the owner has that I can take off their plate. Right? And I get a lot of people that come alongside the owner and say, hey, there's some areas in my life that uh, as a leader I'm responsible for, but others could probably do a little bit more efficiently. And certainly those who want to step into a leadership role can begin to cut their teeth in by taking them from me. I said, I don't give opportunity, you take it. Because if I give opportunity, they feel entitled and they're going to try to earn it instead of trying to get strong enough to take it. Right. And the best leaders are the ones that take that, they take that mantle and run with it. Right? And then the third step is become an owner. But if you didn't own your role and you become an owner, you're not ready, right? You didn't develop self, you didn't own your role and you're going to be in a new role and you've hired, I was telling new franchise owners this, you've hired someone, it's you, are you a good employee or not? That's the question, right? Are you able to show up every day without management and authority? Are you able to lead yourself? Well, if not, you're going to be exposed and your business will suffer.

Speaker B: Yeah, uh, yeah, well, and that's why it's so important to invest that energy on that self side. Because bad leaders create bad teams. I'm guessing that you're on board with that. You're also talking about this concept of working in the business versus working on the business and we see this a lot. Um, and I'm just curious, how do you, for somebody listening today that may be so knee deep in their business, you know, making sure again, payroll happens, keeping the rent paid, you know, making sure the lights are on. All these things that are going on on a day to day basis, they don't think about plans ahead, they're not thinking, what is this going to look like in three to five years? How do you help them, um, lift their head up and look ahead? Is there anything that you've learned in your journey on how to help somebody do that?

Speaker C: For sure. And it's a matter of employee or owner. And I have owners that have an employee mindset and I have employees that have an owner's mindset. And it always starts in the mindset. So in the employee mindset, it's saying, here's what I deserve, here's what I am entitled to, etc. Etc. Is an owner's mindset saying, here's the return I provide.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Uh, right. And so that is the mindset that shifts. So if you're an employee, you're a cog and you're producing something for someone else. If you're an owner, you're building something. Right. So production versus building. And it's really a matter of a mindset. There's this old adage that says there was three, uh, block layers. The first one was like, what are you doing? I'm laying bricks. The second one it says, uh, I'm building a wall. The third one says, I'm building a church. Right. And they understood they're still laying bricks. But it's really the difference was their mindset and they knew what they were working on and why. And so there are seasons, like very early on in, uh, this business, I had to do physical patrols, like driving in that patrol vehicle I described earlier.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: And I wasn't just doing that job. I was thinking, and I still lean on this now, how can I make this better for the next officer that's coming in? How can I make this more efficient? How can I design technology to build that system that could otherwise replace? And that was an employee job with an owner mindset. I was driving around saying, what is the traps of this role that others will fall into, as I am doing? And so that allowed for us to add GPS to get there quick, more quickly, to allow photos to write a report, to leverage now in these present day AI to make it even more streamlined, deliver appropriately. Right. Because I was looking at as an owner.

Speaker D: Mhm.

Speaker C: Not as an employee.

Speaker B: Yeah. I'm just curious on this because I wrote this down and I'm like, do you help people with that? Trying to. So if somebody's listening right now and they've never heard this concept of owner versus employee mindset, and they're like, man, maybe I have it, but maybe there's some blind spots there. Do you help people with this or where do you kind of jump in and get involved in this? Reid.

Speaker C: Yeah. And you know, one thing that's really important to me is my faith. And you know, for a long time I lived in the faith of statements instead of the faith of questions. Okay. Uh, and so it'd be don't do this. You know, we can go and look at the Proverbial ten Commandments, Right? And, uh, quite frankly, as we look at Moses, he wrote down those 10 Commandments that actually didn't change society. Right. You live in according to the law. And then we saw when Jesus came and he was asking questions and he met people where they were and that, uh, leadership at Impact, he would go meet the people that were there, not the people that were prognosticating from the pulpits, but those who are standing by the well in trouble and said, hey, can I help you? Right. And he did not condemn. He asked questions. And even when he was saying who, when people came to him and said, who are you? They would say, he said, uh, who do you think I am? Yeah, that statement. So I said, you know what? I can answer. I can ask questions instead of provide a statement. And so what do I do practically to those individuals that I've learned, anytime you're going to make it a statement to an employee, make a question, uh, frame it in a question, saying, hey, you need to go empty the trash. And saying, hey, what would be a good use of your time right now? Yeah, uh, I could go empty the trash. Right. And so in that case, make us take that statement and make it a question. And that's a practical way to begin to think like an owner, because you're investing that in others. An owner would make a statement to an employee. An employee that's an owner would ask a question to appear. And so the first thing to do is, if you are going to make a statement, phrase it in a question, and you will see people take ownership. Because a question is a powerful tool that makes you think and decide your position. A statement is yes or no. Wow.

Speaker B: It took me a long time to learn that piece because my mom said, don't answer a question with a question. I don't know why she told me that, but it was like, as a kid, you know, go, how about cleaning your room? I don't know. Should I? You know, I don't know exactly.

Speaker C: You know, there are times where you need to say yes or no. Yes, Mom.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker C: I'm gonna say that, Dave, you probably said, don't ask, why do I need to clean my room? At the same time as I think we do have a generation. Yeah. And so, you know, I'll give an example, because this came up when I was kids, we were kids, is that we would tell our kids to put their seatbelt on. No, no, they're fighting you. Right. And, uh, and so then you're saying, hey, because I care about your Long term safety. And I know that there's a higher probability, but I remember when my oldest daughter was 2 years old, and my wife, uh, you know, said, hey, go have Emma brush her teeth. And I said, hey, honey, you need to brush your teeth. She's like, no. I'm like, oh, great, here we go. And she goes, you're doing it all wrong. And my wife said to me, you're

Speaker B: doing it all wrong.

Speaker C: Like, I think I can help her brush her four teeth. I mean, it's not that hard. I've done it for a long period of time. It's not that complicated. And she goes, emma, uh, who do you want to brush your teeth? Daddy or you? And she goes, me? I'm like, perfect. Even better. I don't have to brush my teeth. And it really was just dreaming it as a question. I gave her an option. Both could be an outcome I'd accept. And so if you're a leader, ask a question, and it can be a multiple choice, just as that instance was. Both of which would you want to accept? Like, would you want to take the trash out at the beginning of your shift or at the end of your shift?

Speaker B: Yeah, right.

Speaker C: That's a question. And that's giving them the power to own that outcome. And, uh, then they're still doing what you're asking. And so, again, there's so many ways to phrase a question that can get the outcome you're looking for, that can empower that individual to give them a sense of ownership.

Speaker B: Um. That's brilliant. That's awesome. Hey, Reid, one last question before I let you go. What would your tip of the day be today for somebody? Maybe it's something we covered. Maybe it's something that hasn't got out of your heart. Start yet. But what would you, uh, say is your tip of the day today?

Speaker C: Well, I want to challenge your audience. I want them to make a decision today that if they want to live a default life, choose that you can live a default life. You'll get default outcomes.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker C: But today, you can choose to live a life of purpose. You can live a life of purpose and on purpose. And today make that decision. That's what I tell them. And if you're deciding to not live your life on purpose, you've defaulted. That's fine. That many people live a default life, and they're completely happy with it.

Speaker D: It.

Speaker C: But if you don't want a default life, decide today to live a life on purpose. And I know the information that we share today will help you with that. And likewise, Dave's content will help you with that as well. But decide today to live life on purpose and then don't stop until you figure out your purpose. And once you do, don't stop living it because you went all the way through to figure it out. Now live it. So that's my tip of the day.

Speaker B: That's awesome. And you never know who's watching because you know, I've done things that I just do as natural. Don't even think twice about it and then somehow you get recognized for it, somebody says something, whatever, and it's just crazy. So I love that piece. If you're gonna do it on purpose and you are going to do it with purpose, somebody's gonna watch, somebody's gonna notice. And I think that there's some real power there. You're not doing it for that reason. It just is one of those byproducts. And um, and, and again, we want to make sure and push people to your new podcast, it's nextinleadership.com and make sure and check out that new podcast. You said it's live, so fill us in on how that works.

Speaker C: Yeah, uh, every Friday at 10 o' clock Central Time there'll be a live uh, conversation that we're having around a quote and uh, there's polls that are there that, that people can engage as to what stage they're in, whether self leading, self, others, organization and, and really the principle we're discussing in that particular day, they uh, can engage. There's uh, a chat that I'll respond to at the same time and then we have a recorded interview that we release every Tuesday for those who are there. And that, that live, uh, on Fridays is released. If you want to subscribe, it's released about an hour later so you can see what about 80, 100 people are attending on a regular basis. That audience continues to build and they're providing real time feedback.

Speaker B: Awesome. And that's atnext in leadership.com for those that are listening and want to jump over to that when you're done with this. So Reid, thank you so much for this. This was so powerful. I was nervous about purpose because it's such a, like a nebulous word and you know, you never really know exactly what people are going to say with it. I love all the stuff that you said today and, and how pinpoint it was and it sure helped me. So for anyone else listening, if it helps you, great. If not, hey, I'm blessed by it today. So, um, if people want to connect with you. Read and learn more about Signal, um, or more about Filter Go. Or they have a question about something that we covered today. What's the best way for people to connect with you?

Speaker C: Well, next in leadership.com, all my content and contact information is there. They can go there. Team signal.com is our signal website. And then filter-go is our.com is our filter Go website. You can go to any of those places to learn more about those businesses as well. Uh, but ultimately team, uh, nextinleadership.com will get you a back channel link to all those as well.

Speaker B: Uh, awesome. Thank you Reed, so much for sharing some time out of your busy day. I'm, uh, glad you're in the big ten. So you know, go Nebraska and unless, uh, you're playing the Badgers, then I. Sorry, I gotta, I gotta trump you on that one. But thank you so much for hanging out with us today and I can't wait to see where this goes. And when will your next book be out?

Speaker C: Uh, this fall. It'll be the fall of 2026 and so yeah, we're excited to release that, uh, some sometime around October. They haven't given me official date but right around October.

Speaker B: And it's called brand new. So again, if you're thinking about, you know, trying something new, this is a great, a great read for you. And uh, is it going to be audible? Is it going to be

Speaker C: the books audible on Amazon and all the other places you can buy a book?

Speaker B: Excellent.

Speaker D: Perfect.

Speaker B: Well, thank you again, Reed so much for this. This was great. And uh, I will. Can't wait to see the book come out and we'll keep learning from you. Appreciate all you've done.

Speaker C: Thanks, Dave.

Speaker B: Hey, Dave here again. Thanks so much for listening to the Positive Polarity podcast. Be sure to visit positive polaritypodcast.com to join the conversation, access your show notes or discover some fantastic bonus content that we have for you. If you've enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to subscribe, rate, even give us a review on itunes. Thank you again for listening and hey, why don't you come back again real soon. Take care.