Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

For 35 years now, The Strategic Coach® Program has been helping entrepreneurs to achieve business success and business growth while living happy lives. But Dan Sullivan didn’t set out to create a program for entrepreneurs. He set out to create a thinking program, and entrepreneurs are the ones who took to it the most. In this episode, Dan talks with fellow business coach Shannon Waller about the genesis of Strategic Coach® and why it works so well for entrepreneurs. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The learning experience created by others that’s had the most influence on Dan’s thinking today.The ways of thinking on which Dan based The Strategic Coach Program.How constantly growing in capability and confidence protects you from worrying about the future.What lets Dan know he’s created a timeless thinking tool.Where all Strategic Coach thinking tools come from.Show Notes: The entrepreneurial game will continue for as long as you’re up to it. Each person can take the actual experiences of their daily life and develop them into knowledge. The challenges you face each day are sufficient to create a lifetime learning program. It's easier to get things created and produced these days than it was in the old days. Entrepreneurs have to be learning on a daily basis, while many non-entrepreneurs don’t have to do much learning after they get the job. Some non-entrepreneurs view having to learn new things as a chore, while entrepreneurs see it as an advantage. The bigger the problem and the faster the solution, the bigger the check for the entrepreneur. Strategic Coach clients are never told what they should learn from using a Coach thinking tool. It’s dangerous for an entrepreneur to get bored. Entrepreneurs get punished most heavily for not changing their minds. Entrepreneurs can make greater progress from thinking than people in most other lines of work. As a group, Strategic Coach clients are uniquely confident and feel a unique sense of capability and confidence about the future. Strategic Coach clients make more money and take more free time than a comparable group of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the only people whose success depends upon being transformative. Strategic Coach clients have a shared language thanks to the Program’s thinking tools. The cause of most entrepreneurial problems is loneliness.Resources: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs [Article] Unique Ability® Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Entrepreneurial Time System®—The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time Management The Experience Transformer®—Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers [Article] The Impact Filter™

Everyone knows that AI is going to be an increasing factor in business success and business growth, and it’s essential that entrepreneurs are aware of the technology’s limitations as well as its potential. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller speak with special guest, AI expert Evan Ryan, about what’s holding back the productive application of AI and what you can do instead to best take advantage of AI in your organization. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How to use AI, an intangible, to achieve measurable goals.Where Evan has seen the most success in companies’ use of AI.The first question every executive asks Evan.Ways of thinking that make AI more accessible.Why many people are hesitating to adopt AI in their businesses.Examples of where hesitation to use AI has prevented business growth.Entrepreneur ideas supporting making the change to AI.How to convince people to take a big leap using AI.The way AI disrupts established thinking about budgets.Why the successful use of AI requires a growth mindset. Show Notes: No matter how fast the technology itself moves, it's as slow as the humans that are adopting it. If a solution works for one person, you know 50% of what it would take to work for 10 people. Humans don't naturally think in terms of exponentials because nothing in our world really operates exponentially. If you experience sudden growth, and it’s behind you, you can do your own exponentials going forward. If you don't know where the leadership is, you don't know where the rest of the organization is. It's hard for people to grasp intangibles unless they're conceptually prone, so you need tangible proof of selling an intangible. If software is magic, AI is magic times a million. Something that’s inherently unclear and inherently vague is inherently a little scary. Technology doesn't become normal until it becomes boring. We have to normalize our way into the future. And that means that you have to start small and get used to it. San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the media talk about AI like it's the end times. A lot of what goes on in Silicon Valley is getting people to bet on the bet. They're not actually betting on the technology. One new capability always introduces new capabilities. That's a feature of technology. The problems we want to solve are the same. We just keep getting better technology with which to solve them. To grasp future jumps, people need to grasp past jumps. Technology is automated teamwork. AI won't necessarily replace people, but people who know AI will replace people who don't. Resources: AI As Your Teammate by Evan Ryan TeammateAI.com The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan ChatGPT Perplexity.ai Unique Ability® Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan Article about The Experience Transformer®: “Transforming Experiences Into Multipliers” Article: “What Free Days Are, And How To Know When You Need Them” Deep D.O.S. Innovation by Dan Sullivan

Business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the importance of deep thinking for entrepreneurs and how The Strategic Coach Program helps. They delve into the fear of introspective thinking, the levels of thinking, and the necessity of consciously learning to think about one's thinking. The episode highlights the transformative power of unlocking thinking potential within a supportive community, optimizing productivity through thoughtful scheduling, and enhancing decision-making with strategic thinking tools.

Podcasting is the future of content. Are you ready to master it? Join Dan Sullivan, Shannon Waller, and industry veteran Paul Colligan as they dive into the business of podcasting, from where it was to where it’s going. With over 20 years of trailblazing experience, Paul shares secrets to podcasting success and the mindsets that separate the amateurs from the pros. Learn how to create a hit show and leverage this booming medium to skyrocket your business influence and growth. Here's some of what you'll learn in this episodeWhat it was like in the early days of podcasting.The factors that led to podcasting becoming what it is today.What entrepreneurs love about podcasting.Dan and Shannon’s early experiences with podcasting.How podcasts let you find people who share your mindset and values.The type of people who are plugged into podcasting.Predictions on the future of podcasts. Show Notes: It takes less than five minutes to submit your podcast to Audible for free. And you’re in the directory less than 10 minutes later. It's always mindset that stops people from trying something new. The value of the content needs to be understood as greater than its packaging. The best thing about podcasting is the speed of creation. It’s easy to tell when a podcaster is following a script. In a good podcast, you don't know what the second question will be until you've asked the first question. If you try to control the experience of a podcast, you lose the authenticity of the end product. Listeners feel like they have a personal relationship with podcasters. Podcasting has had a profound impact on how politicians speak. People now use the podcast standard for judging all public speaking. Podcasts are only popular in countries where they have cell phones. The only problem with new media is when you treat it like old media. Resources: The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Ben HardyPodcast: Podcast Payoffs with Dan Sullivan and Gord VickmanPodcast: 10xTalk with Dan Sullivan and Joe PolishPodcast: Shannon Waller’s Team SuccessThe Team Success Handbook by Shannon WallerAI As Your Teammate by Evan RyanWho Not How by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardydescript.comArticle: “Scary Times” Success Manual: How To Be A Leader When Times Get ToughArticle: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front StageThe Positive Focus®Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good by Sarah Lacy

Kenny Chapman, CEO of The Blue Collar Success Group, shares his journey from military to entrepreneur, highlighting the value of blue-collar skills. Topics include mindset, leadership, education paths, pricing strategies, and the importance of practical skills in a technology-driven world.

Every great entrepreneur wants (and deserves) to have a dependable team around them so they can be freed up to develop new ideas and focus on growing their business. But how do you get one? After all, the first question most entrepreneurs ask when they join The StrategicⓇ Program is, “Where do you find such great team members?” In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller finally answer this question in-depth. From identifying and nurturing your team’s areas of Unique AbilityⓇ and creating a positive and collaborative work culture to investing in team members’ growth, Dan and Shannon share everything that makes Strategic CoachⓇ a magnet for skilled and passionate talent—and how your business can become one too. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:  The number one tool necessary for building and maintaining a great team. How to determine if an activity is right for an individual. Why Strategic Coach team members don’t really need to be managed, monitored, or motivated.How Strategic Coach creates an incredible sense of safety for its team members.The two things that team members are looking for.Why you should think of hiring someone as an investment, not a cost.Show Notes: At Strategic Coach, you’re always either winning or learning. There are a lot of Coach tools that support having a great team. Everybody's on their own unique growth path in terms of who they are and the kind of work they’re most likely to enjoy and excel at. Strategic Coach team members can continually focus their time at work on doing what they’re excited about. The moment someone is hired, Coach invests in learning about who that person is and how they can grow their skills. At Strategic Coach, if something doesn’t work, the system gets blamed, not the individual. The four core values of Strategic Coach (PAGE) are: positive and collaborative teamwork; being alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful; getting results; and providing an excellent first-class experience. Strategic Coach has uniformly very helpful and very positive team members. Some Coach clients have been with the company for 15, 20, 25 years, and so have some team members. The educational system generally disparages successful business people. Almost all Coach team members are directly in contact on a person-to-person level with the company’s clients. A team member can’t be at their best if they don’t feel safe. If you want great team members, you have to be a great entrepreneur. And that also includes being a great person. Great team members who want a bigger future aren't interested in being with someone who doesn't have any future. If you're going to be able to attract and retain the best people out there, you can’t have an entitled attitude.Resources: Unique AbilityⓇ Article: Your Business Is a Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller Everyone And Everything Grows by Dan Sullivan Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Learn how entrepreneurs can achieve more by doing less through efficient delegation and focusing on tasks that lead to profit. Discover the three rules for a friction-free future, emphasizing finding the right people to handle tasks and instigating achievements through effective teamwork.

Entrepreneurial success is rooted in language proficiency, allowing for effective thinking and communication. Dan Sullivan shares insights on creating new thinking tools to address business challenges and prompts entrepreneurs to shift their thinking for growth. With 250 thinking tools developed over 35 years, Strategic Coach empowers clients to navigate the entrepreneurial landscape with innovative solutions.

Description:Since 1989, Strategic Coach® has been helping entrepreneurs find greater happiness and business success. In this episode, Gord Vickman and business coach Dan Sullivan talk about how the company has grown over nearly 35 years and how they’re catering to the needs of successful, collaborative entrepreneurs with growth mindsets.Here's some of what you'll learn in this episodeWhat entrepreneurs get out of each of the three Strategic Coach program levels.Why additional program levels were created Why there’s no competition for entrepreneurs in the “Free Zone.”Why Dan considers himself only 50% of the creative team when it comes to innovating new thinking tools.How entrepreneurism is like jazz music. The future of The Free Zone Frontier® Program.Show Notes:Thinking tools enable structured thinking. Strategic Coach thinking tools are all about entrepreneurs thinking about their thinking. Strategic Coach has 240 trademarked thinking tools. And by this time next year, they’ll have 50 patents. A Self-Managing Company® is one where team members manage what already exists, and the entrepreneur creates what's higher, better, and bigger. A Self-Multiplying Company™ is where individual team members create new productivity, creativity, and profitability in the world. For entrepreneurs in the “Free Zone,” their competition wants to be their customers. Sometimes, your mistakes are your biggest breakthroughs. Strategic Coach’s ideas come from ongoing experimentation with entrepreneurs. All entrepreneurs are outliers. The more thinking tools you have, the more flexible an entrepreneur you are. Intellectual property—copyrights, trademarks, and patents—is backed up by major governments.Resources:The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan

Business coach Dan Sullivan, with a goal to live to age 156, discusses the impact of his growth mindset on longevity. He shares simple thinking exercises and major breakthroughs in the longevity field. The podcast explores the mindset change in medicine towards viewing diseases as aspects of aging and discusses the desire for longevity in the baby boom generation.