The CEO Trap: Why Founders Self-Sabotage

Mindy Price (00:00) What if the biggest mistake you're making in your business has nothing to do with marketing, nothing to do with your leads, nothing to do with your money? What if the problem is you? That's what we're gonna be talking about today. We have a guest here who has built a business around coaching. He's a pilot. He has done so many things for so many people. And we're gonna pick his brain just a little bit. And I wanna say, I can't wait for you to hear. Mindy Price (00:25) what we've got going on. And before we do that and introduce the one and only Steve Rosenberg to you, we're gonna tell you a little bit about our sip of the day that Steve chose. So Steve, what are we drinking today? With Big Cube. Well cheers to you. Cheers Steve Rozenberg (00:37) Woodford Reserve. Big Cube. Cheers. Cheers. KELLY (00:41) Got it. Steve Rozenberg (00:49) it's good. KELLY (00:50) That is good. Mindy Price (00:51) Good. Mindy Price (00:52) Very nice and smooth. I like the big cube. Steve Rozenberg (00:54) Yeah, you gotta have the cu especially on weather like today with a little hot so it's a little Mindy Price (00:57) Sweltering. Mindy Price (00:58) Glowing. That's right. Let's call it what it is. Yes. Of course. That's why he's the coach. Steve Rozenberg (01:02) Isn't it calling? Mindy Price (01:04) That's right. So Steve Rozenberg (01:08) He's better work. KELLY (01:09) He's better words. Choose your words. Mindy Price (01:11) Coming from somebody who focuses on communication. Yes! All right, Steve. We're so thankful to have you here on Sugar Spice and Spirits. Cheers to the spirits. Cheers. and so I want to know, you are a business coach, but you're also a pilot. Yes. How did you go from aviation to helping people grow their business? KELLY (01:32) us. Steve Rozenberg (01:33) Yeah, that's a very long tangled question, I would say. it actually started around the time I met Natalie back in after 9-11, 2001. I was an airline pilot. I still am to this day, but during that timeframe with 9-11, I got furloughed from the airlines. And so as an airline pilot, you assume that you have a safe and secure job. Mindy Price (01:55) You what happens when you assume, right? Steve Rozenberg (01:56) Yes, and that's what happened to me. And I ended up getting for a load and the safe, secure job was not safe. It wasn't secure. So I I thought to myself, maybe, you know, maybe I could buy real estate, maybe I could start a business, maybe I could do this or that. And I remember thinking to myself, like, that's not me. Like that's not what I do. Like, I'm a pilot. I fly planes. Like that that's that's what I do. That's my career. I don't do those other things. I don't I don't have what other people have because I'm a pilot. Steve Rozenberg (02:26) And you know, my belief was that I was that was me. That was my belief of that. I stay in my lane, I do what I'm told. My identity was I'm a pilot. I'm not a real estate investor, I'm not any of these other things. And I I ended up realizing that that that identity, it it was, it was not only keeping me held back, but it was dangerous because if anything ever happened again, I would always for the rest of my life be at the mercy of Steve Rozenberg (02:55) Someone or something dictating my life. And I kind of got more upset at myself thinking like you let this happen to you. Like you became this person that all of a sudden now you don't do these things. And and I don't know if anyone's ever been there, but I I had to make a decision. And the decision was is I have to kill off my past identity. And I have to step into a new identity. Steve Rozenberg (03:19) Of someone who is self-sufficient, someone that can do what they want to do, that doesn't get dictated the terms of their life. And it's really, it's a it's a very tough thing. Yeah. So I made that decision. And you know, when you think of decisions, decisions don't take months and years like people think. It takes a second. It takes a second to decide enough is enough. Steve Rozenberg (03:42) And I got to that point and I said, that's it. Enough is enough. I'm deciding, I'm shedding the past because I wasn't that person anymore. And if I wanted to stay being that person, I would have always had fear and doubt creeping into my head, saying, You're not gonna do it, you're not worthy, you're never gonna make this work. So I had to become someone else. And I went to this building, it had books in it, it's called the library. Steve Rozenberg (04:08) And I got a library card and I started reading books and I read a book a week. And I was just like, what do people that are wealthy do? Like because all I had done my whole life was be a pilot. And everything wealth-wise started turning to real estate. And I started thinking, I don't know anything about real estate, but I'm Mindy Price (04:27) Yeah. Steve Rozenberg (04:27) gonna go down this path. And so I just started reading a book a week on real estate. And I started learning all these terms and all these acronyms and things that I had, it was like another language. And so I thought to myself, okay. Steve Rozenberg (04:38) I don't know if this is something for me, but I know I can't go backwards. So I started going into real estate. I joined a bunch of local real estate investing groups and I started going down the path of buying real estate. And that is what started me on the path of where I am today, which is a longer story I won't go into because I don't want get a tan a tangent alert. but I've been warned. but that that's how I started. I I started Steve Rozenberg (05:08) from from a a I would say a tragedy, you know, obviously. you know they they say in life that we get we get signs. We get signals. sometimes the signals a tap on the shoulder that something bad is coming and we ignore those. Steve Rozenberg (05:24) Other times it's a two by four smacking you across the face, saying it's going to get a lot worse very quickly. and the third is a wrecking ball that basically comes right through your front door of life. And the thing about wrecking balls is they don't discriminate, they don't delay, they don't care how you feel, they don't care if you're ready. They come when they're ready. For me, 9-11 was really, I would say it was a two by four. Steve Rozenberg (05:53) that something was about to change, the wrecking ball for me came forty eight hours later when I got furloughed. KELLY (05:59) Thank Mindy Price (06:00) So Mindy Price (06:00) let's think about that for just a minute because a lot of things that I see with my clients and people that I work with, they're they're saying, I'll do that if, I'll wait till when. And so you had a two by four. Yep. And then you had this wrecking ball. So somebody go might say, Well, it was easy for you to do that. But you didn't find something in aviation to completely reinvent yourself. You decided and you made the switch and you said, I'm gonna figure out what do people do. And it Mindy Price (06:29) led you to real estate. But that wasn't an easy decision. That had to be scary as all get out. Steve Rozenberg (06:35) Very Steve Rozenberg (06:35) scary. Because you know, the you know one thing. I know I you know it's like it's like switching from Apple to IBM or whatever people use these days. I just remember thinking Android. KELLY (06:43) Thank you. Steve Rozenberg (06:44) Sorry, Android, yeah. IBM I'm dating myself. so for the wrong people that use Android, that's totally fine. But for the Apple people out there, you know, what what I've learned is is Steve Rozenberg (06:55) It's the dialogue we tell ourselves. It's it's that internal voice and I realized that if I wanted to build a business or to have a life, it's really, it's not even the business. A lot of people get confused on the business and they identify with what they're doing. And it's not the business, it's what the business gives you. It's the result of the business that gives you the life that you want to have. And if you want that, you have to ask yourself, who is that person that owns that business that has that life? Because it's not this person anymore. Steve Rozenberg (07:24) So you have to, you you have to be very humble to the fact of saying, I don't, I don't know who that person is yet. And what I find interesting when you talk about people that say, you know, they they have these ideas, we fear and doubt, right? You can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't taste it, you can't identify it. If fear was sitting right there in their seat, we couldn't say that's fear. Steve Rozenberg (07:48) But yet we let it control our lives. We let it dictate what we're gonna do. And when has it ever happened that it's come out exactly what we catastrophize in our mind? Never. Yeah. But we let it dictate our lives. Cheers to that. Cheers to that, right? Yeah. There we go. I got one. KELLY (08:02) F here. Mindy Price (08:04) Well, hold on. Fear. Face everything and run or face everything and rise. So fall great. KELLY (08:11) evidence KELLY (08:12) appearing. Mindy Price (08:12) Real Mindy Price (08:13) false evidence appearing real. There's so many acronyms. We were talking about acronym acronyms earlier and different things. And you you mentioned real estate. What's great is you had a successful career in real estate. Yeah. And you left that. You're still involved in real estate. You still have some investments, but you still are in aviation, but you also coach businesses. You have really niched down and you have a very specific group that you go in. At first you were helping everyone and we have different backgrounds. You've helped me in so many ways. I know Kelly as well as Natalie. Mindy Price (08:43) And I'm really curious what you learned from aviation that you realize, whoa, all of these skills translate over to this. And I think that's something, before you say that, I think that's something that most people don't realize. A number of jobs that are out there, a number of things that we see ourselves as, we identify as in our jobs, and something crazy happens, those skills are transferable. You just have to be into that. Good and back. Yes. So in aviation. Mindy Price (09:13) How did that help you in real estate? How did that help you with where you are now? Steve Rozenberg (09:17) Yeah, that's a good question. you know, the thing about other jobs, if we see other people doing things, there there's there's no there's not as much standardization. And we can look at it, we can go behind the curtain, if you will, and we can dissect that. But when you get on a plane, you sit down, the door is shut, and you have no idea what is going on. You don't know how your bags are reaching the to do are are the are my is my luggage loaded? Did my dog make it on board? Do we have enough fuel? Has anyone checked the hydraulics? Has anyone checked Steve Rozenberg (09:47) the tires of this aircraft. What is this? Nobody knows that. KELLY (09:50) I don't ever think about any of that. Like that's not right. I'm flying out next week and now you just gave me a. Steve Rozenberg (09:59) Unknown trust, you're like, how do they do it? And you know, for me, the going back to your question, the epiphany I had is is one day I was I was sitting at the gate and I was about to take a flight out to Tokyo, Japan. And I fly a Boeing 777, which is a very large aircraft, and we had problems in our business. We were growing our business so fast that we were actually growing ourselves into bankruptcy because we had no systems and no controls. Our success was the the death of us, basically. Steve Rozenberg (10:29) You know, you're turning them out the backside and all this other stuff. Yes, KELLY (10:31) This wasn't the airline, this was your business. Steve Rozenberg (10:34) I'm sorry. This is the the the real estate property management company. KELLY (10:36) business that you started in your pivot from piloting. Steve Rozenberg (10:40) And now I'm a pilot, I got my job back and I'm flying again. So I'm doing both roles. And I'm sitting there, and sometimes you have these aha moments where all of a sudden things just happen, they're always in front of you, but you don't realize it. And I'm sitting there and I'm watching this plane come to the gate and I'm watching 380 passengers disembark. All these doors open up, all their bags are offloaded, and they're getting dispersed either to the baggage carousel or to other flights. Steve Rozenberg (11:07) Cleaners come from the back, they start cleaning all the trash. Catering comes from the front, they start cleaning off, restocking all the water food. The fueler, fueler hooks up this 250,000 gallon tanks in the wings, and that for an hour they're pushing high pressure fuel into this plane. You've got maintenance walking around, make sure this thing is airworthy, flight attendants there in the back. Steve Rozenberg (11:31) They're checking oxygen, safety exits, all that stuff. And the pilots, we're up front, we're checking the routing, the weather, destinations, alternates. We're talking about emergencies, everything that could go wrong. We're running scenarios, all these things. 380 passengers somehow, miraculously, get corralled in the airport and loaded onto this plane where they have a seat that they bought six months prior. They all sit down, they have their seat, they sit down, their bags are found, they're loaded, and in one hour, this plane pushes back. Steve Rozenberg (12:01) And not one person had to talk to anyone else to do their job. That's a system. And that's a perfect system because that happens in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, South Africa. It doesn't matter. 24 hours a day, every second, the system is running. And I thought to myself, as I'm watching this, I'm like, why can't I put this system in my business? And the answer was you could. Steve Rozenberg (12:25) Yeah. And so I started basically running my business, and me and Pete, my old business partner, we ran it basically like an airline. Systems, processes, checklists. Any business runs that way. The biggest factor why they don't is the human factor. But if you think about it, we just talked about all the things that happened that you're like, I never thought about that. But you feel safe on an airplane. Like if if if the the plane was hitting a bunch of turbulence or things happening, or God forbid you lose an engine. Steve Rozenberg (12:53) You wouldn't run up and kick the door down and be like, hey, get out of the seat. You're obviously having a shitty day. You wouldn't say that. But if you had a if you had a an employee that was messing up their books, you may push them aside. So why is it that you would push an employee aside, but you never push a pilot aside? It's because you don't have systems and you don't have processes to back up your systems. And so pilots make mistakes. We make errors. Things happen. Steve Rozenberg (13:18) But the system catches the mistakes. So to answer your question, going back to what works, it's it's the system that catches the mistakes to make a business run on its own. It doesn't matter what it is. The airlines have proven that that is the best system ever created and it works in any weather situation scenario. Like when you see a bad weather day, a big snowstorm in Northeast, and you see all these planes grounded and stranded. Does anyone ever notice that within 24 hours, those planes are back up in the air, all the passengers are redirected? Steve Rozenberg (13:48) Everybody goes along their way and everyone's like, yeah, it sucked for a day. Could you imagine if that happened in most people's businesses? They'd probably go out of business. Yeah? KELLY (13:57) Like HEV just had their whole shutdown of their delivery, whatever happened with hacking or glitch or something, but they were up and running very quickly right after that glitch. Steve Rozenberg (14:08) And Steve Rozenberg (14:08) no one ever thinks about it's the system. Yeah. Mindy Price (14:11) So do you think smaller entrepreneurs, smaller companies, you you think airlines are like, yeah, Steve, that's easy because you had all of these systems in place. You had all of these things. So then you get these smaller companies that they're just trying to stay above water. They're doing what they know to do. Let's provide good customer service. Let's provide a good let's get the job done. Let's think of a a a plumber or a a a roofing contractor. If as long as we put a good roof on and I don't know that trade, okay, so forgive me for more to say that my Mindy Price (14:41) But you know, plumber comes in. I've got this. Steve Rozenberg (14:43) Cheers for that one. Mindy Price (14:45) You know, you go in and they they think but then there I I think of family that I have that you know runs an AC business. It it for a while they were for years, for 40 years they were manual. Everything that they did was manual. And then when they put systems in place, they realized all of a sudden, wow, this can be so much better. But I think smaller solopreneurs and entrepreneurs in some of the different trades, they they don't understand how much more that would help. Mindy Price (15:15) them. If if you had just a single piece of advice they could implement tomorrow, what would that be? That maybe you learn from aviation or just over time working with different companies? Steve Rozenberg (15:25) That's a good question. it's it's actually very simple. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a a an analogy to explain it. Let's say we're in Houston where we're at right now and we want to fly to Hawaii. Mindy Price (15:40) Okay. Okay. Alright, are you guys in? Cheers to them! KELLY (15:48) private jet I mean Steve Rozenberg (15:51) Probably fly anything. You can do anything you want once, remember. KELLY (15:55) Yeah. Mindy Price (15:55) Ha ha ha. Steve Rozenberg (15:56) So Steve Rozenberg (15:56) let's say we're going to Hawaii. Everything we do before we ever take off is predicated on us landing in Honolulu, Hawaii, runway 8 left at 1.53 p.m. The routing, the fuel, the weather, the alternates, the emergencies, contingencies, everything is predicated on the destination, not the departure. Okay? Steve Rozenberg (16:20) Before we've ever gotten in the cockpit and we've done our pre-flight briefing, everything we know everything about what's going on and what it's going to take. We don't just take off and be like, where do you guys want to go today? You want to go to Alaska? Hawaii? And KELLY (16:30) Go to the restaurant like what are we eating? Steve Rozenberg (16:33) it's like and then if you said, hey, I've never been there before. I have no idea what it looks like. I'm not even sure how to get there, but I got a good gut feeling that I'm just gonna work hard and I'm gonna imagine that it's going to work out. How comfortable would you guys feel being on that airplane? Mindy Price (16:49) No, no. Negative ghostwriter. Steve Rozenberg (16:52) How many people start their business and they have no destination? They don't know where they're going. They don't know the end date that their business is actually built out. Something as simple as Google Maps. When I came here, I had to plug this address in Google Maps. And based on where I was and where I was going, it gave me a strategy. And if I deviated from that map, it would reroute me, not back to where I started, but to where I was going. Steve Rozenberg (17:18) You couldn't even use Google Maps if you're like, I just wanna get somewhere and they're gonna go, where do you wanna go? Mindy Price (17:24) Texas Hideout and thanks to Texas Hideout for having us. KELLY (17:27) Thank KELLY (17:27) you. Why didn't you use Apple Maps? I mean, Google, Android. I'm just asking for a friend. God. You know, just. Steve Rozenberg (17:34) I will say Steve Rozenberg (17:35) I am a definite Google Map patronage. Okay. Yes. But not their phone, because they're horribles. Anyways, they're all green. Green messages. She's you know that they're w when someone's in the group and it's green, you're like, Mindy Price (17:48) They're gonna mess it up. You can't play here anytime. KELLY (17:50) It's KELLY (17:51) me. Steve Rozenberg (17:51) It's kinda like the people that don't have Harleys, and all they do is they talk about how great their bike is to Harley when no one asks them. That's the Android people. KELLY (17:58) I heard a Harley. But you know what? Like, Androids don't have the issues that Apples do. Just saying. Mindy Price (18:06) Anyway, tangent tax. KELLY (18:08) There you go. That was a good tap though. That was a good one. Steve Rozenberg (18:14) So destination. Destination. If they've got it, that when they start their business, they should take their time to fit first figure out what does the business look like when it's built out? What is the day, month, and year that it is a saleable asset, meaning it is running without them? Processes, procedures, and structure. What is the revenue at that date and what is the profit margin? That's the destination that they're landing that plane. So if they never do that, how can they ever know that they reached a destination and built a successful business? Because they can't define success. KELLY (18:43) Well, and I think that kind of parlay's into the question that I was going to ask. Why do so many small business owners plateau? Like they work hard, they're doing the efforts, they're putting in the time, they're going to do everything. Why are they plateauing? Steve Rozenberg (18:55) It's the law of the lid because they are only going to their level of of skill sets that they possess. And you know, it's kind of like, you know, let's let's say you you you you get someone coaching. I tell people, you're gonna pay the bill either way. You're either gonna pay in time or you're gonna pay in money. But the bill will be paid. So you can try it on your own, and it could take you 12 or 15 years hunting and pecking and hoping that you get it right. Or you can buy other people's mistakes. Steve Rozenberg (19:24) Because that's what when you're when you're hiring a mentor or a coach or whatever, which we all believe in, you're buying the mistakes that they made or people had made before you so you don't make them. It's a fast track. So the reason is pride. Ego and pride are the biggest success inhibitors because they don't want to look dumb on something that they've never done before. Steve Rozenberg (19:44) They can't even and again and to to your going back to questions how would you define success? I ask people all the time do you even know what success looks like? Like how what what is success? I want to make money. Well you made a dollar. Congratulations. Well that's not enough. Well you gotta quantify it. So if you don't know success, does success even know what you look like? Because you probably walk past it every day and you don't even know it because you can't even identify what it looks like. Mindy Price (20:08) Will you say something to our listeners right now? Because you I don't remember exactly how you just said it. Steve Rozenberg (20:15) I don't either. Mindy Price (20:15) But no, seriously, asking the questions. So many new entrepreneurs, so many CEOs, so many executives, so many new managers are so afraid to ask questions because they feel like it makes them look less than. They feel like they're they're always in this, I've got to prove that I'm worthy. I gotta prove instead of improving the situation or serving, they're in that prove mode. Mindy Price (20:38) You have run successful businesses. You have helped multi-million dollar companies 10x it. So when they're afraid to ask those questions, is there anything that you say to them to know it is okay? There is you know, we always hear there there's no dumb question, there's no stupid question. The problem is the one that's dumb or stupid is the one that's not asked. Have you ever gotten through to somebody to let them know it's okay to be vulnerable? Steve Rozenberg (21:01) Yeah, Steve Rozenberg (21:01) you know, I get a lot of people that that you know they they just don't know. And that that it's and and it you could we can label it ego, pride, it's they don't know because they've never been in this environment. So it's like taking someone that's never swam and throwing them in the water and going swim. And they're like, I don't know how. So someone has to show them like anything. When I was when I was learning to fly, I read books, I watched videos. Steve Rozenberg (21:25) But if I said, hey, I just read a book and I watched a video on flying, you want to go give it a shot? You'd be like, no. Because I had to get a flight instructor to teach me how to fly. When I was learning real estate, I went to the library, I read books, I watched videos. But I still didn't know how to do it. I had to get a mentor to teach me real estate. Right. How is that different in anything? Information. Steve Rozenberg (21:45) Without proper implementation is a waste of time. So the the challenge is is I have never met, never met a successful person that said, Steve, I did it all on my own and I never failed. I just hit it out of the park on day one and I was a champion. I've never met that person. Every single person that is successful, they say I have a team and the team helped me. You it's like saying I beat a football, I I played the San Francisco 49ers and I played it all by myself and I won. Steve Rozenberg (22:14) You're gonna go, bullshit, didn't happen. So I think the problem is the perception that they have to be the one doing it is totally wrong. The narrative is wrong. And and the self-talk that they have. And I don't think it's because of you know listen, people don't fail in business because they're lazy. We all know entrepreneurs are not lazy. We all know they're not dumb. They have hard work ethics. So Steve Rozenberg (22:37) Maybe it's the law of sequence. Maybe they're doing the right things, but maybe they're doing them in the wrong order. It's like baking a cake and putting frosting on the cake before you put it in the oven. And you're like, well, that didn't work. I guess I'll do it again. And I'll do it again. At some point you may go, hey, maybe you should wait or follow the recipe for success. So there is a recipe to win, and there's a recipe to fail. KELLY (23:01) And like you said, it's not a mat. It's not it's not the matter of being dumb No, there's a difference between being dumb but not having the proper knowledge Correct move forward because you're right. I mean when I when I took over the business that my father and I started I'm in health care. I treated the patients and then suddenly I walked out of that and then went to the business side of things and I didn't know which end was up Yeah, and I had to learn a lot Steve Rozenberg (23:28) And how would you though? How like who like you're gonna magically it's gonna it's gonna like seep into your pores as you're driving into the parking lot? Like now I know. Like it doesn't work that way and that's the ch KELLY (23:37) Exactly and that's the whole KELLY (23:39) purpose of like you spoke about the mentors. I actually went to one of your one of your courses and one of your strategist was there and I visited with him and as a result of just a short session with him, I completely changed my website, almost rebranded, changed color. He said it's too harsh. It's too this that I took his advice, completely changed everything and it made a tremendous impact on my business now and I'll never forget speaking of KELLY (24:09) Doing everything by hand when I first started got in the business with my father I was so proud because I took the big green columnar pad Yeah to the CPA and he was like what the hell did you just bring me and I KELLY (24:22) it's color-coded Steve Rozenberg (24:23) I got tabs and everything. KELLY (24:26) So when I threw QuickBooks at the time out to my father. He was like no no no no no no no So when I learned about CRMs with with these ladies and everything I we still use I'm trying KELLY (24:39) Natalie, Tracy, I love y'all, but they still do stuff on paper. I'm like, we gotta do the CRM. What, what, what? So it is in its own, it's that fear of not having the knowledge of how to implement the system, what system works best. And the thing is that when I went to, we all three went to your seminar, and even though the majority of the people that were there were Mindy Price (25:07) Yeah. KELLY (25:09) roofing businesses, construction businesses, what you taught us could be implemented into any type of business that you have. I'm healthcare, she's real estate, she's coaching, leadership, I got it right that time, leadership, I mean, just everything. And it's just having that. KELLY (25:29) Knowing that you can't draw that line in the sand, you have to erase it and be willing to step over it and know that that's what's going to have to break that fear factor and go into that. yeah, it was. Mindy Price (25:41) Well first off because Mindy Price (25:41) of course it's hot and we need another drink. I wanna say cheers to Steve for helping her do what she did in her business because she's being a little modest because the phone calls that are coming in and the business that they're getting when she rebranded because of your marketing strategist, it's made a big impact on our business. Steve Rozenberg (25:57) True to that Steve Rozenberg (25:58) one. KELLY (25:59) Cheers to Personal Home Care Services in Ferry and Louisville, Mississippi. Mindy Price (26:02) Louisiana. KELLY (26:05) but yeah, it's a business that my father and I started 28 years ago and it will always continue to work its magic, but now it's just working it a lot more efficiently. Steve Rozenberg (26:15) Well and and what something I think is very important to to note here is that you've had to change as a person to build the business as opposed to being the operator. There's a difference between operator and business owner. Yes. Mm-hmm. And just like there's a difference between an investor and a landlord. Steve Rozenberg (26:32) Same thing, right? So you've had to change. And so my point is, is the person you were, let's say the person that that has a business that's doing a hundred thousand dollars is not going to be the same person that builds a million dollar business. Right. And to become a ten million dollar business, you're not gonna be able to work ten times harder. So that variable goes out the window. So what is the variable that has to change? It's who you are, it's who you have to become. You have to become someone that you haven't met yet, and that person Steve Rozenberg (27:00) is behind fear and doubt. And you have to push past fear and push past doubt. And all the naysayers that really listen, we all we have all been around people that do not want us to be successful. Yep. Mm-hmm. Sometimes you're related to them, right? It's just it's just the reality is is not everybody wants to see you succeed. So listening to the people that you're around here to get here, how could they give you advice if they've never been there before? Or KELLY (27:26) Right. if they don't think you can. Steve Rozenberg (27:28) they or they don't want you to do it. Yeah, right. Steve Rozenberg (27:30) You know, 'cause I'm not like exactly. And there's KELLY (27:31) success is Steve Rozenberg (27:33) nothing wrong with that, but if you want to get here, you have to change your circle. KELLY (27:37) Well, you something that you said a moment ago and it just dawned on me when you said if you don't have a destination. So just not too long ago and I spoke to Mindy about this, you know, I'm almost 60 and my business partner is a couple years younger than me and then we have one that's younger than us and KELLY (27:56) We all had to sit down one day and say, okay, we need an end game. We need an end plan. Because if I decide I want to, I mean, I consider myself semi-retired because God bless those ladies, they run that place for me. But if I decide I want to completely retire and walk away from it, we had to have that very difficult conversation. How big do we want to build it? How hard do we want to work for the next five years if we want to sell it? If we want to pass it on to our children? You know, what do we want to do? KELLY (28:27) we kind of have a good idea and we're still trying to implement it, but we had to have that very difficult conversation about where we were all going to be. And at first, we, all three of us did not have the same end results. Yeah, we didn't. And so we all have to be on board with that. Steve Rozenberg (28:46) I Steve Rozenberg (28:46) I do a lot of times for for people, they'll have me come in and do an alignment conversation. And the alignment conversation is very similar to what you talked about, but a little bit more in depth of like, okay, what is the goal? Can everyone and and not just let's just say it's you three, for example. Spouses or significant other need to be in this conversation. Because if the business goes bankrupt and it affects your family. Steve Rozenberg (29:11) They are a stakeholder. They don't have to be in the business, but they have to be aware of what's going on. Okay, what is the revenue goal and what is the date? Not five or ten years. It's January 1st, 2030. What is the date we're hitting this number? Do we all agree? You may go, I never said that. They may, she may say three years. You may go, I'm thinking a year. Okay, we have an align we have a misalignment. And and the the problem with misalignment is lack of clarity. Steve Rozenberg (29:36) So we've got to become crystal clear on where we are going. Where is this ship going? Now, what is your role? What is your role? What is your role? What are the roles and responsibilities? Are we missing any gaps? Every business has marketing, sales, operations, finance, leadership. Who owns only one person can own each role. Who owns these roles? That's the next question. Okay, what are your responsibilities or key performance indicators? So we go through all that. What is your time commitment? Steve Rozenberg (30:04) Who's putting capital into this thing if there's a capital call? We all know real estate that happened. Who's doing this? Right? Who's putting equity in? You may say, I'm willing to put in more time, but I'm not putting in money. Are you guys okay with that? And then the big thing: what happens if us three get divorced from each other? How do we separate the business contractually, stay as close to friends as we can? KELLY (30:26) We have a shovel. Steve Rozenberg (30:27) Well, or shovel and duct tape, that works too. Steve Rozenberg (30:30) but but it's it's you know and I tell people it's gotta be documented. It's gotta be in writing because if it doesn't happen when things are well, do you think when the shit's hitting the fan and you guys are yelling at each other, you're gonna have a logical civil conversation? Like you may burn it to the ground out of spite, you know? Just because I know you so Mindy Price (30:47) Yeah. KELLY (30:56) She shows up with matches, we know we're in trouble. And a civil inductive. Steve Rozenberg (31:00) But Steve Rozenberg (31:01) again, these just things we don't think about. You know, we don't we don't have these conversations entrepreneurs. We always think everything's gonna be great, we're always gonna get along. Yeah, that's great day one through 30. Yeah. What happens on day 31? Yeah. You know, there's bills, there's tough times. You're always gonna have tough times. But if it's set out, and the and the and again, I do these alignment conversations quite often. And then the next question is, is if you are a business, businesses have boards. Steve Rozenberg (31:24) Do you have a board of directors meetings? Once a quarter, once a month, going over PL, forecast, cash flow, like hot big, big boy, big girl conversations of what are we doing? How are we out on our goals? Are we tracking, not tracking? This is where you're just bringing in paperwork and you're having intelligent conversations and the stakeholders are there. So that they at least they're in the loop. KELLY (31:46) So we have a lot of smaller business owners and entrepreneurs that follow us. Steve Rozenberg (31:51) In Ireland. KELLY (31:52) In Ireland, have. Thank you Ireland. We have, we have, you know, people that are starting out, they don't know how much time to put in, when to throw in the towel, when is it just a hobby, when is it a business? Like, what would you say to the starting out the person that's doing the side hustle, trying to make it their primary? Just give some advice for the newbies. Steve Rozenberg (32:14) I I I always go back to the destination, number one. I think that's important. Number two is, you know, are they living and most of the time they are, are they living their life reactionary? Are they constantly bouncing and ping-ponging all day long? Because if you look at people that are successful, right? Let's say he's right here and he's saying, I'm just, I'm like right here, I'm just trying to survive. But if you look at someone else that's doing, let's say, a hundred million in revenue, well, they don't get twenty-five hours. They have the same 24 hours. They sleep like all of us do. Steve Rozenberg (32:43) So what is it they're doing different with their useful time? They're probably not being reactive. They're probably being proactive and their days are set, their weeks are set, their quarters are set. Like like KELLY (32:54) when you say set. Steve Rozenberg (32:56) yeah, their calendars. And so the the as to start as simple as it is, I recommend if you're a small entrepreneur and you're trying to figure it out, take four hours a week. Steve Rozenberg (33:08) To work on the business, not in the business. On the business means creating standard operating procedures. What is our policy? What are our procedures? Do we have some checklists? You can have Chat GPT create it nowadays or AI, whatever, but have something, but take four hours a week, whether that's 30 minutes a day, an hour on, you know, two hours on Saturday, two hours on Sunday, whatever it is. But take the time to work on the business because even though that's the underlying foundational work, you don't see it, but it's also the thing that Steve Rozenberg (33:38) moves the needle the most. And that's the thing that's the most important thing that people need to think about. KELLY (33:43) So with that And then I'll let the next person go what sure because when you're speaking it makes me think of the emith or cash flow quadrant Those those are some good books that come in and think younger rich What is a good book for a starting entrepreneur to read? Steve Rozenberg (33:58) I mean I think I think emoth is good. I I I do think that's a good book. Atomic Habits. one book I read a long time ago, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. That was a really good book. Steve Rozenberg (34:09) you know, you listen, there's not one magic pill as we all know. There's not one special thing. It's it's the compound of a bunch of things doing over and over again. Not one is gonna be perfect. They're probably never gonna be perfect. You're gonna make mistakes. It's okay. It's a matter of you are gonna get knocked down. You get taps on the shoulder. Address the taps before they become two by fours or wrecking balls. Yeah. Because they are gonna come. We are listening one thing I can guarantee is we all know we are gonna have good days, we are gonna have horrible days, we're gonna have days that we're gonna throw in the towel. Steve Rozenberg (34:39) could all be the same day before noon. And we're like, what time tomorrow are we doing this again? KELLY (34:44) And that's just before you even get out of bed. Steve Rozenberg (34:46) Exactly. That's just looking at your phone and checking your emails, you know? So I don't think there's a there's a right answer or right book. The answer is more. Like I I I I say this to people and I say it very respectfully. Like if your business, if you are not doing, let's just say a certain number, whether it's a hundred thousand a month or a million dollars a month. Steve Rozenberg (35:03) The answer is you have to do more. You just have to do more of what you're doing. Stop with all the maybe this, just do more. If you make 10 calls, make a hundred. If you if you talk to 10 people, talk to 100 people. Just do more. Volume negates weaknesses in many areas. You don't have to be good. You don't have to be great. You don't have to be graceful. You just have to do more. KELLY (35:24) from the beginnings. Steve Rozenberg (35:25) That's in the beginning. I mean when you look at a a rocket taking off, that rocket, eighty percent of the fuel is used just at liftoff. Right. So think of a business. How much time, energy, effort, money, blood, sweat, tears is used just to get this thing moving? KELLY (35:41) 80 % of fuel Steve Rozenberg (35:43) Eighty percent. KELLY (35:44) is taken at liftoff. Yeah. So that's that stopping three feet short of gold, when you're like that people just think like, I've been doing this. You're stuffing that pipeline. You're working at it. You're going Steve Rozenberg (35:55) Yeah. KELLY (35:56) and you Yeah. Mindy Price (35:57) books. Mindy Price (35:58) Ed Milot, I don't Mylot, I don't know how you say his Millet, his book Power of One More. Like there it you think it's just one more thing, but you read it and it's just it's there's so much behind it. It's just having the confidence to say, what's that one more thing? You know, I woke up today, so what am I gonna do? Thank you for this one more and just really focusing in on that. And and on that note, Steve, I want to give space for this. Steve Rozenberg (36:22) D. Mindy Price (36:23) And I want to not cry for this. Mindy Price (36:26) Because I think it's important to bring up because you had something very life changing that happened to you. And with that, I would like for you, if you are okay with it, to tell us a little bit about your sunjet. You've been very open about his passing. Yeah. And there's a lot of things that you've been able to choose to take from that because you could have gone a very different direction. Do you mind sharing? Steve Rozenberg (36:53) Sure, Steve Rozenberg (36:53) absolutely. so I had a son, his name is Jet, and you know, i the the kid lived the life that that I think we all wish kids had, right? traveled to twenty countries by the time he was nineteen years old, played rugby, second degree black belt, he was a drubber a metallica band. I mean just just KELLY (37:14) his whole life is a highlight reel. Steve Rozenberg (37:15) It is, Steve Rozenberg (37:16) it a major highlight. It is, it really is. And you you think of all the things that that that the kid did. I grew up my whole life riding motorcycles. riding motorcycles with my family, my brothers, we'd ride all over the United States, all over Canada. And my dream was to always ride motorcycles with my son. And at nineteen years old, he w he wanted a motorcycle and I was so excited because I I was a yes. and and we got to ride and I and I remember like Steve Rozenberg (37:43) You know, you have these moments in life that that you're like, I can't believe like I'm riding with my son. Like looking in the rearview mirror, seeing him and just going like, wow. And it was amazing. sorry. Yeah. There were 300 people at his tutorial. Steve Rozenberg (38:03) And you know, I I look back, he he passed away on a motorcycle, just about a mile from here. And I look back on on everything, and a lot in the the the what I've learned from this, if there's something to learn, is that we all think that was there a lesson? Was there a lesson here? What what did you learn? Did you start living more after? And I would say no, because Steve Rozenberg (38:33) I was learning the lesson before. We're already living the life. It just proved the fact that you don't know when your time is up. And you don't know your there's a big assumption, and I and to your point is I talk to a lot of people, a lot of people, and I speak all over the world about this thing. And a lot of people say, I'm building my business for my family. I'm working my ass off for my family. And so I'll ask them. Steve Rozenberg (39:02) If I call your family right now, will they agree that they're getting the benefits that you just told me that you're doing? Mindy Price (39:10) Thank you. Steve Rozenberg (39:11) Because if not, you're lying to someone. You're either lying to yourself, you're lying to me, you're lying to your family, but someone is being lied to. There is a big assumption that tomorrow exists, that tomorrow exists for you, that tomorrow is going to exist for them. And I I've learned that obviously the hard way. and I always tell people, I'm glad. Steve Rozenberg (39:33) With what happened, that I can be the person that says, I'm glad I did, instead of being the person that says, I wish I would have. Mindy Price (39:41) Mm. KELLY (39:42) We've had so many conversations about regrets. Do you want to wake up one day and regret the things that you did? Or regret the things that you didn't do? And I would by far don't want to wake up and say, damn, I wish I had. I wish I could Steve Rozenberg (39:55) I would KELLY (39:56) have. And when you talk about the benefits, I think the definition of benefits for lot of people lies in, it? KELLY (40:03) you're benefiting them financially or you're benefiting with your time. And it sounds like they had the best of both worlds because you can look back at, like you said, you look in your review mirror and there he was. And you've got memories that no one can ever take away from you because you took the time to explore that benefit, which was your time with him. And that's something, thank God you did. Steve Rozenberg (40:24) And and I, you know, you know, we created a a scholarship foundation for high school kids in the area that cannot afford trade school. So w this year we put seven kids through school. Wow. And these are these are you know welders, electricians, things that are needed, right? KELLY (40:44) Absolutely. Steve Rozenberg (40:45) and Mindy Price (40:46) Please. Steve Rozenberg (40:47) Yeah, Steve Rozenberg (40:47) it's called Liveliket, J-E-T-T, Live Like Jet Foundation. It's Liveliket.com. and we we have you know a lot of people interested, a lot of schools that love, you know, obviously what we're doing. and it's been it's it's a it's it's bittersweet because it's in honor of him, but he can't be here to see it. You know, so it's Steve Rozenberg (41:14) It's it's it's it's a very I know that these kids lives are changed. But my life is changed too. So not not being selfish, but I would rather him be here. But of course. I obviously we know that kinda just like you with the loss, we we know that can't happen. So I I I talk a lot to entrepreneurs in the fact that sometimes we can be the most selfish people. Steve Rozenberg (41:42) Because we read books, we go to these seminars, we do all these things, we spend all this time on our business doing it, quote unquote, for our family and loved ones, but they never see it. So it's like the most selfish thing that you could do because they're not giving them what they want. And there is a big assumption, and I'm sure the n the majority of the world does not have to worry or think about this. But if you ever get a knock on the door. Steve Rozenberg (42:13) At 10 30 at night, all those things that you thought you were gonna do the next morning are done. Every future, you know, I every future thing that you ever thought you were gonna do doesn't happen. And I tell people all the time, you know, you've got to remember that kids, they spell love T-I-M-E. Steve Rozenberg (42:34) You can you can take them to the park. You can you you can go on a family trip down the street. It doesn't matter. You know, we get caught up in what social media thinks a vacation should be. It doesn't have to be. You know, I mean it it's so simple. We have overcomplicated it and said, well, I can't go on vacation because I can't afford it. Well, you can just spend a day with your family and your kids, you know, without your phone. That's that's a possibility. Steve Rozenberg (42:59) And so again, I I back to your question of of what I'm doing is I'm just trying to make it more aware that unfortunately bad things do happen. And you can't plan it, you can't nothing. It just happens. And so I hope no one ever deals with it. But if they do, who do you want to be when you wake up the next day? I wish I would have or I'm glad I did. That's it. Mindy Price (43:23) So one more time, if somebody wants to know about Live Like Jet, tell them where they can find information. Steve Rozenberg (43:28) Yeah, so it's Liveliket, J-E-T-T dot com. it's the Live Like Jet Foundation and it's to help high school kids that are in the trade industry trying to get into the trades and they can't afford it. So we help them financially to get them in involved. Mindy Price (43:47) I would imagine as a driving factor for the entrepreneurs and the businesses and the different trades that you work with and you sit with, there's something in there. You think of JET, you think of the time, you think of these things. And as you're coaching them, they're they're ha I see your passion. Yeah. So there has to be a big piece of that that maybe wasn't there before, and you're shedding that light to help that person see it's not just KPIs. It's also what are the KPIs for your family? Mindy Price (44:17) What are your KPIs for life? Steve Rozenberg (44:19) Well, you know, and again I go back to a lot of people, they they they say they want to build a business to their and they start identifying as the business and that becomes them. And they forget the reason they're doing it. And they forget who they're doing it for. And they get so consumed by the business which is now a job and you know it's that brick by brick theory. It it can either create a pedestal to rise you up or it can create a prison. Steve Rozenberg (44:48) To block you in. And most entrepreneurs create this prison. And I'm like, why are you doing this? Like, when's the last time you saw your family? Like when's last time? Like, and and there are people that come and they bring their they bring their teenage kids and they bring their kids and they're like, is it okay? I'm like, absolutely. Like I would love, everyone is welcome to bring their kids to my events and stuff, because I think that's great, you know, and and so I just think that where are the where do these rules come up that we can't have our family involved in what we're doing or be more inclusive of it? because we Steve Rozenberg (45:18) put on this suit of who we think a business owner is. Where did that come from? Like what who who created that rule? There's no rule. You're an entrepreneur because you wanted to dictate life on your terms, but yet you don't bring your family along. So you kind of do have terms that you've created that are probably not aligned with where your family's going. And it's it's it's tough being an entrepreneur and it's tough, you know, having kids and and doing all that and being stressed. Why not have them involved? So yes. KELLY (45:45) You mentioned your event. You do these events quarterly or how often and who can come and where do people Steve Rozenberg (45:50) Yeah, so I I Steve Rozenberg (45:53) do the events, they can go to my website, Steve Rosenberg.com, R-Z-E-N-B-E-R-G. and I I do these events. I've got one coming up middle of August. I'm not sure when this will be aired. but middle of August, we we have an event coming up and it's it's all about teaching people how to build a business that can run without you. Steve Rozenberg (46:12) Because no one ever shows that. They don't show that. They they have their hand in their pocket and they want to sell this stupid course or whatever. But nobody ever actually takes the time and says, hey, look, this is how you do it. This is the recipe to do it. Now, you can take that recipe and you can go off on your own and you can run it or I can help you with it. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. I at least feel like, let me give you the recipe to determine how to do it. Because this isn't, you know, when when people come to my events, Steve Rozenberg (46:39) This isn't a last minute decision. You've probably been thinking about this for years. You've had sleepless nights, you've been stressed, you've been wanting a solution. I'm not asking for anything. I'm giving you the solution because I know what it's like to know what if. What if, what, what if could happen to you. And I just don't want that. And so, you know, you get you get to a point in life that money is not the driver. Steve Rozenberg (47:05) Money's great, don't get me wrong. I love making money. Everyone does. But that's not the driver. That's not why I do things. I don't do it for money. I don't do it for any other reason except I think when I see people that come to me and they're like, Steve, you change my life. Like you literally changed my life. That to me is worth it. And that's what I like. And that's why I do it. Mindy Price (47:22) So I wanna put you cheers to that. Cheers So KELLY (47:25) Let's hear that. Mindy Price (47:26) I wanna put you on the spot for a minute. Alright. Okay, you ready for this? KELLY (47:30) if you KELLY (47:30) haven't been on this spot for last 30, 40 minutes. Mindy Price (47:34) So I'm gonna put us on the spot actually. These ladies did not know that I was going to do this. All right. Steve Rozenberg (47:41) Yeah. Mindy Price (47:42) We each have our own businesses. Okay. We're not gonna do that for those right now. Natalie Real Estate speaking, coaching, consulting Kelly with her non-medical home health care. We have that. But we have sugar, spice, and spirits. Yep. And it is a business. Mindy Price (47:59) From what you know about us as the coach that you are and some of the things that we've shared with you over time, be our Steve Rozenberg (48:06) Yeah. Mindy Price (48:07) CEO. Tell us what you see, what we should be doing, give us some advice, Steve. Steve Rozenberg (48:12) So I'm going to answer that with a question for each of you. For sugar, spice, and spirits, what business are you in? KELLY (48:21) entertainment communications. Mindy Price (48:24) Lifestyle Mindy Price (48:24) and entertainment, business communications. Steve Rozenberg (48:27) Teaching. Mindy Price (48:30) Point proven. Steve Rozenberg (48:32) First of all, you guys are all different. That's misalignment. Number one, number two, you are all in the sales and marketing business. You are just selling and marketing a different product, service, concept, or idea. So my question is: how much effort and focus is being put on marketing and selling the product of your business? A business makes if you're a business, a business creates revenue. Yeah. What is the marketing for the business? What is the focus? Steve Rozenberg (48:58) That's it. So so if you were to ask me where would you spend the focus, I would say, tell me, tell me what the marketing plan is. What is what is the client acquisition cost? What is the marketing strategy? The lead cost. As a CEO, when I would sit down in a meeting, I would say, give me some data. So who is your target client? Again, I you don't have to answer that, but I'm a I would I would want to know who is your ICP or your avatar, whatever you want to use. Who are they? Steve Rozenberg (49:23) The biggest question is what problem are you solving? Because if you are not solving a problem, nobody is gonna pay for a solution. People pay to solve problems with their wallets. That's a we just said we're a business, business makes money. What problem do you solve, and what is the cost of that solution? So that that's where I would start with. And how do we get it? And where is that client at? Steve Rozenberg (49:51) Are they on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, like what Tinder? Like what where are these people? Ireland? Yeah, I mean, where where are these people that is hitting their problem? Ideal customer. Mindy Price (50:04) Ideal customer. Steve Rozenberg (50:06) Ideal customer, yes, thank you. Persona. Thank you. the I, yeah. so so that that would be my CEO hat going. First of all, we obviously there's a misalignment because not everyone answered the same question. Steve Rozenberg (50:21) So I would say, okay, we need to get aligned. Now we gotta say, now we gotta get aligned on the right thing. We are a listen, I don't care if you're, you know, United Airlines, Fritolet, Chevrolet, MeU, we are all a marketing and sales business. Yeah. We need eyeballs. That's it. You can have that, and that's that's where most entrepreneurs fail. Is they focus on the product before they focus on the marketing. The first thing you should be focusing on, and the marketing is a very slow. Steve Rozenberg (50:49) wheel to turn, as we all know. Yes. It is not easy. That is the first thing that has to happen. Is my and now you're asking me because I I think marketing and sales is listen, you if you take if you are the best hamburger maker and you went to the hills of Lima, Peru, and you you learned how to make the best hamburgers that existed and you came down and you started your hamburger stand right next to McDonald's, who's gonna go out of business first? You or McDonald's. Why? KELLY (51:15) Yeah. Steve Rozenberg (51:17) It's not because they make a better burger. Steve Rozenberg (51:19) It's because they have a better marketing machine. The best known beats the best all day long. Yeah. So my question to you is, is how are you the best? What differentiates you from your target client solving their problem? You can't be everything to everybody. The more niche you are, the more you're solving the problem. So that would be my question. Mindy Price (51:39) I love that. And so Steve, I bet our listeners do as well. So how do they reach you? Steve Rozenberg (51:43) Well, they can go to my website, Steve Rosenberg.com, R-O-Z-E-N-B-E-R-G. they can find me on Instagram, Rosenberg Steve. They can find me on all the social media channels. You punch my name in the computer and you will find me. And you can get a hold of me and all the stuff that I do is on there. my podcast, all the shows I've been on, etc. Speaking events I'm at, I speak three or four times a month, different venues all over the country. and you know, maybe you'll learn a little something from me when they when they come out. Mindy Price (52:12) A little something. Mindy Price (52:13) We've learned a lot from Steve and we've got a lot to continue to learn. So we're super thankful, thankful for you. And if you've got an idea or a show topic, you can go to sugarspiceandspirits.com. You can spill the tea. You can give us a drink suggestion. You can give us a topic. If you want to reach out to Steve, for some reason he's ignoring you. He won't ignore us because we're diligent. That's KELLY (52:33) And we know how to find him. Mindy Price (52:35) true. So we want to say first, cheers to you, Steve. So cheers to you. Steve Rozenberg (52:38) Great seeing you. KELLY (52:39) Cheers.