131. Fight Mediocrity with Kevin Kartchner

Do you fear you're not capable of greatness? Do you ever feel inadequate? Are you looking for ways to become the business owner you wish you could be? We talk with Kevin Kartchner, consultant, coach, and world-class extreme unicyclist. Kevin works to help Stage 1 entrepreneurs Fight Against Mediocrity and succeed in business.

Connect with Kevin Kartchner:
Website: http://www.talkischeapbook.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinkartchner/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnMuZawyVQU7suLSyk3AOOQ
Podcast: The Fight Against Mediocrity

BOOK: Talk is Cheap

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You can find Dana @adashofboss, @dana.dowdell and @hrfanatic
Dana Dowdell – Boss Consulting – HR Consulting
Google -  https://tinyurl.com/y4wxnavx

You can find Russ @reliable.remediation
Russ Harlow – Reliable Remediation – Disaster Restoration
Google: https://g.page/r/CXogeisZHEjMEB

Transcript

Dana Dowdell  00:04

Hi, Russ.

Russ Harlow  00:05

Dana, how are you today?

Dana Dowdell  00:07

I'm good. How are you?

Russ Harlow  00:08

I'm living the dream.

Dana Dowdell  00:10

Are you in Mexico?

Russ Harlow  00:11

I am not in Mexico.

Dana Dowdell  00:13

Would that be living the dream?

Russ Harlow  00:15

It could be? I don't know, maybe a nice place like Cancun?

Dana Dowdell  00:18

Oh, maybe we are going to speak to someone whose sounds like he's living the dream and I can't wait to hear more. We're joined by Kevin Kartchner. He is a coach and author, a world champion extreme unicyclist and a podcast host. So, Kevin, welcome to It's Just Business.

Kevin Kartchner  00:35

Thank you so much for having me on. I'm super excited to be here with you guys. Sounds like just a party. You guys just have a party on here. I'm sure every week,

Dana Dowdell  00:42

You know, it's not formal. We're just like having a good conversation. That's where like the knowledge and the you know, the takeaways come from so. So, tell us about your journey from doing sales to becoming an entrepreneur.

Kevin Kartchner  00:59

Yeah, for sure all, I'll give you the cliff note version, then if you want to dive into any part specifically, you can ask me for more. When I was 13 years old, I read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. And there's a lot of ways you can screw up a kid that just happens to be one of them. And so, while everyone else it was actually the pirated audio version that my uncle put on my mp3 player. And so, while everyone else was listening to AC DC and Britney Spears on the way to school, I was being indoctrinated by Robert Kiyosaki on the reasons I should start a business and be an investor. And so ever since then, I was like, that's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna be a business owner and be an investor. And unfortunately, it didn't like happen as fast as I wanted it to I, I, when I was 19, I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Cancun, Mexico, which seems like a weird mission. But that's kind of what tied me back to living here. And so I got home, and I'm like, I have no idea what I want to do, I don't know how to start a business. And so I studied accounting, because everyone told me it was the language of business, which it is, but accounting doesn't really like help you start a business at all, like, doesn't matter how, how good, you know, the numbers of, you know, can't get a new customer. And so I was like, I don't know. So I graduated, and got a job doing accounting for big real estate company in Salt Lake City, Utah. And about nine months in, I was like, this, just, this isn't gonna get me where I want to go is like very plain black and white. Like, if I keep on this path, I will not get to where I want to go. So I had a choice, I could either just give that up, and just keep going that accounting route, or I could make a change. And I was like, I would rather be broke living in a cardboard box under a bridge, then then give up and keep going down this path. So I quit my job and started doing sales for a startup software company. And my first day, I remember I was in my kitchen at the time that I was rent, renting a room at this house. And I call my boss and like, Hey, first day, I'm super excited, like, what do I do? He's like, You got a cell phone. I'm like, Yeah, I'm on my cell phone. He's like, Okay, you have internet. I'm like, Yeah, I have internet. It's like, okay, Google businesses in the area, call them and try to sell them software. I was like, what he's like, Hey, I gotta go. Good luck, and hangs up the phone. So what? And so for the next year, I just cold call businesses all day, every day. From my cell phone, we didn't even have a dialer. And that's where I learned outbound sales. And it taught me that like, I can create my own economy. Like, we didn't have any marketing materials. We didn't have any marketing of any kind, no ads or anything. It was literally me, picking up the phone, Googling a business, calling them and trying to sell them software. And it taught me a ton of resilience, and sales. And then around that time, my dad who happens to be a good salesperson calls me and he's like, Yo, Kev. I've got this huge homebuilding company that I'm running. I'd love for you to come to help out. You've been doing sales, you should come to sales for me selling homes. I was like, I don't know. Like, I wanted to do that down the road. I wanted to get some experience for the next five years. I don't know I just wasn't ready. He's a good salesperson. So, you know, prayed about it, thought about it. I was like, Okay, let's do it. And what happened that I could have never predicted was, and if any home salespeople are listening to this, I'm sorry. But this is just how it is. New home sales agents, they do not know how to hunt. They sit at their desk and wait for leads to come in. That's my has been my experience. But that's not what I had learned. I had learned, hey, you pick up the phone and call. And so I get there and there's a slow day and everyone just kind of sitting around. I'm like, What are you guys doing? They're like, Oh, it's just a slow day. No leads coming in. I'm like, Okay, so like, are we gonna do something like now? It's just like, No, that's not how I work. So I started doing outbound and I ended up outselling everyone else by double the amount of homes are selling and made a ton of money and it was awesome. And I got promoted to director of sales. And then about a it was Almost two years in, I had this like thought of, what if I don't take over my dad's homebuilding company, which had never like is a scary thought, because I don't want to let my dad down. He's who I care about most right? And I care about his opinion most about what I do. But I kept having that thought, like, what if I don't take it over. And I just felt like, being called to do something different being called to do something that wasn't homebuilding. And fast forward through a crazy rollercoaster of a ride. On a Friday afternoon at 3:30pm. I was had a meeting with my dad, I told him, Hey, I'm done. I'm gonna go start my own business. And he's like, Well, can you just do that on the side and like, do this too. And that's like, the curse of every entrepreneur, right is, you know, trying to do multiple things. And I knew that that was a curse. And so I said, No, I have to go all in on this. And he said, Well, what if it doesn't work? And I was like, it will work, I will make it work. And I left and started the fight against mediocrity. And it started really differently than it is right now. I had to pivot a lot. But yeah, we help stage one entrepreneurs grow, which stage one is like zero to a million. That's, that's kind of our niche. And that's what we've been doing. And we've had a lot of success and helped a lot of businesses succeed. So that's, that's the short story of how I went from account to what I'm doing right now.

Dana Dowdell  06:26

When you were when you met with your dad on that Friday, did you know what business you were going to start?

Kevin Kartchner  06:34

I knew that I wanted. So I have ever since Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I've loved self development courses, coaching program conferences, like the whole thing. And I always thought like, especially when I listened to Darren Hardy, like big Darren Hardy fan, I'd always be like, Man, I would love to do something like this, I would love to inspire and teach others. But for 10 years, I was just a student of it, like taking in everything I can, I could. And so that was the plan was to do something and like, coaching, but I was like, it was very vague. It was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. But the one piece I forgot to say that really, like, helped me make that leap of faith without really knowing exactly what I was gonna do. was one of my neighbors. At the time. He doesn't want to Mexico one of my neighbors at the time, was like, Yo, Kevin, I know you're in sales. Can you help me out? I was like, Yeah, sure. I guess I've never done anything like this. But sure, come on over. So he comes over to my house sits down across from me at my desk, oh, my God, what's going on? He's like this, this and this. I'm like, Okay, well read this book. Say this one. They say no, and do this. And, like, let me know how it goes. And he's like, okay, cool. And I hear back from him a week later. And I'm like, Dude, how did it go? He's like, Dude, I closed five deals last week. That's more than I've ever closed in my life, more money I made last week than I ever have in my life. I was like, wow, okay. Like, maybe I can do something like this. And that's what I think gave me like the push in the back of, hey, who knows? But if you can help Zach, maybe you can help other people.

Russ Harlow  08:11

So what do you like his big thing was he just didn't know the right thing to do and say, or what was what was the book that you recommend it to?

Kevin Kartchner  08:20

I reckon everyone asked that I recommended there. I've talked to a lot of salespeople I've done a lot of sales are two places where most people get hung up and getting from a no to a yes. And it's the objection handling and the follow up. And that was where he was getting hung up was the objection handling. So I recommended the closer Survival Guide by Grant Cardone, there are other good books that have a lot of closes that you can say. But it was just it was one specific phrase that I told him, because everyone who he would talk to, he told me they'd say, I want to but just not right now. I want to but just not right now. So I said, I say this to them. I said, ask them if they're going to do something like this sooner or later. And they'd always say, Yeah, I want to do it sooner or later. And then he'd say, Okay, well, if you're gonna do it sooner or later, like, let's just take care of it right now. Like, we're right here. We'll save you some time. Let's rock and roll. Are you ready? And he's like, that was the magic thing of just that confidence of being like, well, you're gonna do it sooner or later. Like, let's just do it right now. And, and helping people get over the edge. So for him in that moment, it was just that small tweak.

Russ Harlow  09:26

Yeah, but I gotta ask my wife or I gotta save up the money or I gotta.

Kevin Kartchner  09:30

And there's the list of objections. And I'm sure

Russ Harlow  09:33

that's part of what you're talking about. Do you find that people struggle all over the place? Or there's one main thing that entrepreneurs struggle with in that first, you know, zero to a million that is more common than not?

Kevin Kartchner  09:49

That's a really good question. I think the big one is obviously just sales because we're taught our whole lives. Don't talk to strangers, and don't talk about money. Sales is literally asking strangers for money. So there's some obvious hesitancy around there, which plays into the second thing, which I feel like is mindset. And if you would have asked me that two years ago, I probably wouldn't have said that. But the more I'm in this, the more I realized that one of the reasons people don't succeed in the digital level, and to the degree that they want is just their mindset. You know, they, they don't believe deep down that they can do it. And that's a self fulfilling prophecy. So I think those are probably the two biggest things are cells in mindset.

Dana Dowdell  10:31

I'm curious, you mentioned you had resiliency in in your journey. How did that come to be? How did you always have that?

Kevin Kartchner  10:43

That's a really good question. I actually learned it on my mission when I was serving in, in Mexico in Cancun. I It's a funny story. So one of the other books that I was indoctrinated with, from a young age, I think, like, probably around that same time, like 14 was the book and the movie, The Secret came out, which talks a lot about the law of attraction. And if you've heard it or seen it, they do a phenomenal job of convincing you that if you want to get something in life, all you have to do is put it out into the universe. And just like a chef delivers your food on a silver platter, the universe will deliver your dreams, your goals on a silver platter, you don't have to do anything. And I took that to heart. And so I remember one of the examples that I was shares, I remember specifically wanting this read go kart, it was like 2000 bucks. And I was like, wrote it down and visualized it printed it off all this stuff that the secret said, and I never got the go kart never got my red go kart. And on my mission that was kind of a recurring theme for me was like set big goals, but just visualize it and really take the action behind it, which is why my book is called Talk is cheap. The fight against media activism, like so passionate about, like, you have to take action on your goals. So up until that point on my mission, I'd really just set these big goals, but never really done anything about it. And I had a companion, we were in twos, if you've ever seen the missionaries around, we're in pairs of twos, and my companions, like we're gonna set these big goals. And I'm like, Okay, I've been down this road before, like, let's do it. But I don't know if we're actually going to get them or not. That would just been my mindset. And he's like, No, we're gonna do it. And I kid you not, we talked to, if it had two feet, and could breathe, we talked to like, every 10 minutes of every day, to the point that in the city we were in, there's one taxi company that would not pick us up anymore, because they knew what we were going to do is try to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And they're like, what's not gonna pick them up anymore. And we talked to everyone, you know, on our on our morning run, we talked to, you know, the parents taking their kids to school and just relentless. And we started to see the success that we wanted and hit the goals that we wanted. And it like clicked on like, oh, that's the part I was missing was just the resilience and taking action and stuff. And so when I went into that sales role at the startup software company, that was my mentality of like, okay, I knew it worked here on my mission. Let's see if will work here in business as well.

Russ Harlow  13:20

So with the you mentioned, the book, you mentioned the podcast, it's all got that same theme that fight against mediocrity. Is that is mediocrity, the enemy? I mean, is it that force of average, where everyone else is just kind of there in the middle? And when you start to move up a little bit, everyone else who doesn't want to work as hard have you starts to pull you back down that force of average? Is that our enemy? Is that what we're really battling?

Kevin Kartchner  13:47

I mean, you said it, you said it, right. Like, it's really there, the pool of average and mediocre is there for sure. And wanting to please people and you know, some people, you can't tell your goals to Blizzard be like, Oh, that's too crazy. It's too big or whatever. It's funny story. The reason that's the name of everything is during this time period of when I was working for my dad wondering if I should do something else, praying about it. Like what, what should I do? I was listening to the entrepreneurship roller coaster by Darren Hardy. And I remember I was had my headphones and I was at the gym, listening to it. And Darren said, for some people, what drives them is what they love. That's why they do what they do. That's why they started their business. But he said, everything has its opposites. God and the devil sun and the moon, ying and yang. And he's like, so sometimes what might drive you isn't what you love, but what you hate. I was like, that's interesting. And I remember thinking about I was like, Okay, well, you know, I really want to, you know, grow into my potential. I want to leave this earth, knowing that I gave everything I did everything I could do to achieve my potential. And I thought, what's the opposite of that? And it was like a lightning bolt. It was like, the fight against mediocrity, and I got good As bumps when I like set it out loud for the first time, the fight against mediocrity, like, that's what I'm fighting. And I think a big part of it, if I can be completely honest with you guys is hopefully no one there listens to this. But at the end the role that I was in with the company I was at. That's, as far as I'll say, there was a lot of complacency. For example, I had everyone read the compound effect by Darren Hardy, and I had a couple people who were like, I never will read anything by that author again, nor anyone that he mentioned in that book was like, what? And then I had another person say, like, I'm just not really into self development. And I was like, Well, if you're not end up improving yourself, like, what are you into, like, making yourself worse? I don't get it. And it was kind of in that in that environment that I was like, I hate being around this. I hate being around the complacency, the negativity, the No, we can't do it because of this the excuses. So I think that's kind of what fueled that fire is like, I hate this. And so that the fight against mediocrity just clicked. And it just, that's, that's what it is.

Dana Dowdell  16:10

I feel like that's a common position a lot of people are in before they start their own business. I think Russ, Russ has talked about that, where he was working for an employer, and he's like, I'm making the same amount of money, and I'm working 20 times harder than everybody else, right. Yeah, I think and I think it just like propels people into to being an entrepreneur. But I'm curious. So the you said mindset, right. And I think there's, we've softened Russ into the woowoo stuff on this podcast a little bit, but just a little bit, but I'm very curious like what you know, I think about myself, right? I'm sometimes complain that I don't have enough time or you know, when people ask how I'm doing, I'm like, I'm living the dream, surviving, right? So that mindset is a huge thing. So what do you do to maintain the mindset that you need for success?

Kevin Kartchner  17:03

It's a really good question. There's a really good book that I read, I don't get any I'm not affiliated with him or anything. His name is Christopher Avery, it's called the responsibility process. Really, really good book. And when I read it, it taught me a lot about how humans what we don't take responsibility. Initially, we put it off on to people circumstances, we shame ourselves. And then we, we also feel obligated, like, oh, I have to do this. And so there are ways that we cope with not wanting to take responsibility. I don't know why. But I just wanted to mention that book before I go into this for whatever reason. But how I've done it recently, is when I first started, it's funny, when I first started my business, I, the very first thing I did was actually hire a business coach to help me grow my company, they had already done what I wanted to do. And I was like, I don't want to reinvent the wheel. So I paid him $18,000 To teach me how to do it. And at one point, I was looking to hire my first team members. And I was telling, you know, my coach about this, and he's like, You should talk to a mindset coach we have here on the program. And I immediately thought, like, now my mind sets good, like, I was professional unicyclist. I've done like, my mind sets good. I don't need that. And he's like, Okay, you probably don't, but just go talk to her. So I hopped on a call with her, and I kid you not after 60 minutes, I was like, Alright, I'm ready to hire in the next week, I hired my first two team members. And I was just like, boom, snap, like my mindset. And so that's the first time I was I was I really came to the conclusion that my mindset was limiting me in some ways. And then I recently had an and then I joined another different coaching program. And one of the things that they said was, whenever you're in a spot where you're feeling negative or frustrated, or something's not going the way you want, you should ask yourself the question, what do I want instead? Because ever heard that before? There were anyway, so it seems to be a common theme between among mindset coaches and stuff, but you ask yourself the question, what do I want instead? And I was like, alright, that's too simple. That doesn't work. And I kind of like discounted it was the first time I heard it. But then about four months ago, we were prepping for our annual event called the Korean economy conference that we host. And I was just getting discouraged. I was like, man, we're going to spend like $100,000 on this thing. What if nobody shows up? What if nobody likes it? What if, what if, what if, what if, what if, and one day I caught myself on my I am literally focusing on everything I don't want to happen. And so I asked myself the question, what do I want instead? And as soon as I thought that I was like, Okay, well, I want to walk out on the stage. I want the crowd to be full I want everyone to be on their feet screaming, I want them to love it. I want lives to be changed. And I felt it. I thought about I visualized it. I heard the crowd applauding. And as soon as I thought about what I wanted, instead, I had the impression or the thought, like, you should text this person and ask them how they fill their event. One of my buddies he does, and he was did an event this year, that was 2500 people. So I wonder why I didn't think of that before. So I texted him. And he's like, oh, yeah, cool. This person who does 5000 person events told us this. And this is what we're doing. This is what you should do. I was like, Okay. And so I was like, let's just try it. And it was webinars in case you ever thrown event. They're like, webinars is what we sell our tickets with. So it's like, I've never done a webinar before. But let's try it. And we sold 50% more tickets through those webinars than we had with anything else that we tried up until that point. And it all started with me asking myself like, what do I want instead? And focusing on the thing that I did want, because it's free to think about what you don't want, it's free to think about what you want. So why not think about what you don't want? Or that what you want? And that's a long answer to a simple question of like, asking yourself, like, what do I want instead? And then focusing on that instead of the negative?

Russ Harlow  21:18

I mean, mindset can always make a huge difference. Because when you're looking for something in particular, you're going to find it. You know, it's the I, I never see yellow Ferraris. Right. And all of a sudden, you're like, holy cow, I saw yellow Ferrari today, because you're thinking about it. Now we're looking for it. And if I'm looking for ways to grow my business, people to connect with instead of no one ever calls me. How come? No one ever calls me? Well, instead of asking those questions, it's about what do I want different? Instead of asking, Why does no one call me? What can I do to have more people call me just changed? From why to what? Right? Same concept, which is really great. I'm curious, as you continue to work with people and coach people and talk about mindset and your whole fight against mediocrity. I'm curious, for the average listener and business owner and entrepreneur. What does mediocrity look like? Like? Is it different for everybody? Is it just? Or is there something out there? You're like, oh, yeah, that everybody struggles with

Kevin Kartchner  22:19

that? Yeah, I think that's a good question. For me, mediocrity is settling for less than what you're capable of. And so it's different for everybody. Right? But settling for less than what you're capable of?

Russ Harlow  22:32

And then how do we start to figure out what we can do more? Like, am I capable of running a company of 100? People? I got six people. Am I capable of running a company of 100? People? Or do I have to find somebody else to run it for me? I mean, so as we continue, because we all want to grow, and we want to build a business? I mean, what is it? Is it those limiting thoughts? Right, or does it all go into something else?

Kevin Kartchner  22:57

That's good question. I think the question even before, so like, what am I capable of, I think is a different question than, like, what do I want out of life? Kinda, you'd have to kind of pair those two together, right? Because you don't want to get caught up. And this is something that I'm realizing with business owners is sometimes we just want more for more sake. Right? Like, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, because why not? But asking yourself the question like, What type of life do I want to live? And then designing your business around that life versus vice versa? And I know, that's not what you're asking. But and so how does someone know? What was your question? Sorry?

Russ Harlow  23:37

Is it limiting thoughts? Is it what is it that standing in our way, keeping us mediocre? I mean, what other things are we battling? Do we have to overcome that you can guide us around to get us to where we need to be? So that we're not mediocre?

Kevin Kartchner  23:54

Yeah, for sure. I think it's, for me, it's a mixture of like mindset, mindset, attitude, skills and knowledge, right? Because we all know the person who's just like, overly optimistic all the time, but then they don't really do anything about it. And they're just like, happy, who we also know the person who's really, really, really smart and has all these great ideas, but he's just like, Yeah, but it won't work for me, like someone else can do it. And so I think it's a mix of everything. Of like, getting the skills and the knowledge you need, and then also have an attitude of like, I can do this, and I can I can go for it. And one of the experiences that I had that helped me understand my limitless potential. And, and most of it really is just the mindset of believing that you can or believing that you can't is Do you guys know who Grant Cardone is. Anyways, love them or hate them. I had the opportunity to sit down with him and talk to him for a little bit at his office when one day I was at an event and I knew one of the team Members and long story short was able to sit with him. And when I was selling, like I said, when I was selling software, he was one of the big influences in my sales journey of teaching me and helping me and stuff. And at the very end, I remembered hearing someone say, if you're in front of someone who's doing a lot more than you, any question you ask is gonna be kind of silly, because you just had a different thinking level. And so they said, instead of asking questions, say, Hey, if you were me in my shoes, what would you ask yourself? So that's what I asked her. I said, if you are me, now, nice shoes. What would you what would you ask you? And it stumped him for a second. He said, You know, that's a good question. He's like, you've probably watched all my stuff. So you probably know, like, a lot of that he's like, you know, if I could tell you one thing, it's that it's easier than you think it is. I was like, what it's like, it's easier than you think it is. He's like, and you can do more than you think you can do. He says, For example, you know, when you first get a bike, you're like, Man, this is impossible, like, how am I gonna ride this bike? And then three months later, next thing, you know, you're like doing tricks and flips and all these things he's like, same thing, it's easier than you think it is. But you won't know it until you do it. Because like, if you want to be a billionaire, $10 billion, if you want to be the richest person in the world, like you can do it. That's easier than you think it is. And it was interesting that he said that. Because he could have said anything to me. Right? He could have said anything to me. But what he said was, it's easier than you think it is. You can do more than what you think you can do. And so your question of, well, how much can you can do it? As much as you want as much as you if you can believe it, you can conceive it

Dana Dowdell  26:48

was just about to say I feel like it's a limiting beliefs thing. But I also, I want to ask you, because you, you clearly have a very strong faith. And I think that a lot of success and failure in business is around how much either faith you have in yourself or faith that someone else has a new. And I'm curious with the business owners that you're working with? What do you see them? What do you see them doing to kind of like ground themselves in believing in themselves in a way?

Kevin Kartchner  27:22

Yeah, that's a good question. Because almost every entrepreneur I talked to has this like, impostor syndrome, right? Of like, while everyone else is already doing it, why should I do it and this and that. I personally, having faith in God, or a higher being, I think helps a lot. For me, that's a big anchor in my life is my belief in God. And that helps me helps me a lot. I also think that some of just the phrases that I've learned over time have helped me. For example, a lot of business owners think, Who am I to help this person? And Russell Brunson teaches, you don't have to know everything, you just have to be a few steps in front of those that you're leading. Also, like, everyone starts at zero. So for example, when someone's starting a business, and they're like, you know, I always for some reason, I always think of like homebuilding businesses, because that's what my dad has. I'm like, when my dad started, like, I think if I were to start a home building business, right now, I could go and say, well, this person, this person, this person already has a big homebuilding business, like, why am I going to try? But you can look at it on the flip side and say, like, when my dad started 26 years ago, he could have said the exact same thing. But now he's the one who other people are saying, like, Why can't do it? Because he's doing it. Like he started a zero, just like you're starting at zero. So, I mean, there's no difference, why not just start? But yeah, I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with, can I do it? Is it possible and all that stuff, and you have to believe in you, you have to be your biggest cheerleader, you have to be your biggest supporter. One of the lessons that I teach is, you have to get sold on yourself. And so if you're struggling with believing in yourself, I always say, write down everything good about you, your product and your company. Just put it on a piece of paper and put it up where you can see it every day. Because like your customers are going to come to you and be like, This is why you're so good. This is why your product is so good. This is why your business like you have to believe it. And so you have to kind of brainwash yourself with that belief of Yes, I can do it. I mean, I did a try. I've done triathlons and I did a marathon. And when I'm doing those and I get like, stuck. I learned from Jesse. It's sort of just say, I feel amazing. I feel great. I feel amazing. I feel great. And like just keep going and that's kind of what you have to do as a business owner, is when it gets hard. Just be like, I can do it. I feel amazing. I feel great. Let's go well and take

Dana Dowdell  29:59

it takes practice, right? It's like, I want like the overnight fix.

Kevin Kartchner  30:05

There's the entrepreneurship roller coaster.

Russ Harlow  30:10

I guess I have a new mantra, I can do it. I can. It's like The Little Engine That Could Exactly. Alright, right. So I think that's that was leading me into the question and I was thinking of earlier. And that's how do you help people picture what their life can look like what their business can look like. After overcoming this kind of mediocrity or whatever self limiting things they're doing within their life and business, how do you help them envision and then start reaching towards that goal, and what their life and business can look like? And worse, what it might look like if they don't do those things?

Kevin Kartchner  30:53

Yeah, that's funny. That's a good question. When I'm on sales calls, one of the things that I teach in the sales process is like, well, people buy 100%, emotionally, and then justify it logically. So one of the questions I ask is, hey, if in six, if we got in a time machine and went forward six months, and you were in the exact same spot you're in right now, what would that feel like? And I just say, like that, like, what would that feel like? And then I just silence. And you would be, like, blown away by some of the responses that I get of just like people breaking down and crying and like, No, I like that can't happen. I need to make a change. I need to do this for my family for my future, like, so I think for most people, me included, and motivates me more like, what will happen if I don't do it, versus if I do it. People are at 80% of people are more motivated by losing something than gaining something, he has heard that right. Like, if I lose $100, I'm going to be way ticked off. Versus if I find $100, I'm like, excited, but I'll be more mad if I lose $100. So I, it's in the Bible, right? If there's no vision, the people perish. And so really having that vision of like, what, it's what got me to quit my accounting job was, this is what my life will look like, if I keep going. And I want this. And so having that long term vision of what you want your life to look like, whether that's a vision board, whether that's writing down on paper, like, whatever you need to do, I would say entrepreneurs are pretty predictable. In that regard. Like if I asked most entrepreneurs, why did you start your business? What are they gonna say? Time, freedom, financial freedom, take more vacations, have a bigger house, buy my dream car, spend more time with family, like, more or less along those lines is what they're gonna tell me. And so whatever it is, for people, you have to find that anchor of like, this is what I'm working towards. This is what drives me forward. And it's different for everybody. I think, I don't think there's a magic bullet. You know, Darren talks about four switches of entrepreneurs. If you guys ever heard about those, he says, Some people and this is like Simon Sinek thing is, like, start with why you have to know your why you have to know why you're doing it. And Darren says, yeah, for some people that works, but for some people, it doesn't. So he says there's why there's how, like some people just love how they do it. Car detailers and landscapers, they just love looking at the finished project. I mean, like I did that. Some people who they do it for is really important to them. You know, that's a lot of the health care profession, like who they serve is really important to them. And then other people, it's what they do. They just love what they do. I know someone in Las Vegas who owns a car dealership, and they just love everything about owning a car dealership, like what they do just drives them. So there are different switches for everybody. But you just got to find what motivates you. For me personally, when things get hard. I'm like when I'm 40 years old, I want to be able to drop everything and go serve more missions with my wife, more missions for my church. And will does it have to be 14, maybe, maybe God needs me in a different time or whatever. But like, when I get discouraged or things are hard or whatever, I'm like, I have to keep going. Because that's my vision. That's what I want. And it took me probably like three or four years to really figure out that as my wife because I thought it was like a big house or a new car or whatever. But I realized that's what drives me the most. So you have to take some time and figure it out and figure out what's going to take you to the next level when things get tough.

Russ Harlow  34:48

I think I would settle just for being 40 again. But that one's not going to be possible. So you know, I'm curious, you talked about motivation and I have the I'm sure you get questioned about this, but what is your what was the motivation to become a unicyclists? And how does one become a professional extreme? unicyclist? And what does that look like?

Kevin Kartchner  35:13

By accident by mistake, I don't know, something like that. It's a funny story. I wanted to be in the NBA. Like second grade, they say dress up as your career. I wear an NBA jersey, I'm going to be in the NBA, I don't know what you guys are doing. When I was 11 years old, I was outside playing basketball like I did every day after school for three or four hours. And my I see out of the corner of my one of my neighbors, his name's John. And he's like, trying to like ride this bike thing. And I was like, What is he doing? I look over and it's like, not a bike. It's this one wheel thing. It's a unicycle, and he can't really ride it. And it's funny, because I remember thinking, That is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I remember thinking that. I don't know why anyone would want to do that. That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen. But we went to the same church building, and he would bring it and write it there. And so I'd be like, Oh, let me try this thing and ended up learning and be like, Man, that's really fun. And then, four years later, I'm the president of the unicycle club at my high school. And around that time, yeah, right. Around that time, I'm plateaued. And I'm like, Man, how do I do all these tricks that these other people on YouTube are doing? And I found out that there was actually an North America unicycle championship and convention, it's a real thing. So when I was 15 years old, it was in South Dakota. And I convinced my parents to let me go hang out with other people who wrote one wheel things. And that kind of went from there. And I, I competed for five years in that. And then I went to the World Championships when I was 19. In Italy, and placed fourth, but it's like, basically skateboarding but on a unicycle you can google Kevin cartoner unicycle freestyle. And I'm in the most viewed extreme unicycle video in the world that has like 2.6 million views. I didn't make the video, but I'm the star of the video. His name's Devin Supertramp. That made it but yeah, super random. But that's how I got into it and just went from there.

Dana Dowdell  37:14

I love that flex ache, what a good flex.

Russ Harlow  37:19

And there's so many metaphors that go along with it. I mean, you could use it on your coaching and talking about business with balance and, you know, trying to, you know, learning something that's hard. I mean, riding the bike with two wheels was hard. But now, it's easier than you think. Right?

Kevin Kartchner  37:35

Yeah, it's funny, because I've kind of like avoided, avoided talking about it, because I was like, people don't want to, people don't want to associate it with the weird unicyclists. But I've realized that it's in business and marketing and whatever, you have to figure out those unique things about you that set you apart. And so I've been talking about it more and more, and people are like, well, that's so cool. So it's funny, like, what you should share, you don't want to share?

Russ Harlow  38:00

That's great. So one of the things that we do is we do a lightning round with all of our guests, Kevin and a window, what's one thing you wish you knew before starting a business? Marketing?

Dana Dowdell  38:15

So with that, what is your favorite way to market your business?

Kevin Kartchner  38:20

That's a good question. Probably, I mean, up until this point, most of it's been social media. So I guess I'll say that, but anything that gets me out of obscurity, so that people know me, is great. I think one of the I think the coolest ways to market is using the dream 100 concept, which is say, say this is an example I always use, say I invent a new unicycle part, I have two options, right? I could go door to door, and I could, you know, go to the city center and try to market it that way or whatever. Or I could just go to the unicycle convention. And just, that's where they're all huddled and gathered anyway, and I could just sell it to him there. So my favorite form of marketing is like, don't try to create market go to where people are already out in the market.

Dana Dowdell  39:12

Yeah, I feel like that's a common theme that we talk about is like find, find where your ideal customer is. What about one business platform that has changed your life?

Kevin Kartchner  39:22

When you say platform, could that be a book?

Dana Dowdell  39:26

Well, that the next question is about books. So maybe, maybe hold the book, business, you could say can you know that your Kindle?

Kevin Kartchner  39:34

What would you consider a platform?

Dana Dowdell  39:36

We I mean, our guests have said, you know, HubSpot they've said zoom, they've said it's random. It could be anything.

Kevin Kartchner  39:49

Oh, okay. I see. Sorry, this isn't as rapid fire as you would probably okay. I'm one business platform that has changed your life. I'm Gonna say let's say Zoom connect with people 

Dana Dowdell  40:08

You've mentioned probably the most books that any guest has mentioned. So Russ is probably so freakin excited because he just likes to take all of these recommendations and add him to his list. But if you had to pick your top favorite business book, can you pick one?

Kevin Kartchner  40:26

Probably not. But if I had to, can I say two? I would say either 100 Million Dollar Offers by Alex Hormozi or Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson.

Dana Dowdell  40:40

Okay. And then last question, and I can't wait to hear answers. When did you feel like you made it?

Kevin Kartchner  40:48

Um, do people really? I don't know. I think the tough part about being a business owner is like whenever you say like, Oh, I'll have made it when I hit this. And then you hit it. And you're like, well, that wasn't that was I thought it would be like, that's nice. Yeah, but I will say this. I thought when I started my business, I was like, if I can just make $100,000 in a month. I'm good. I'm golden. Like, that's it. And it was eight months into my business. I did it. And I have a picture of me and my wife when it happened. And that's probably like, one of the coolest feelings I've ever had in my life was like, We did it. We made $100,000 in a month. And then you're like, Okay, now we got to do 200. But for that, for that moment, I was like, this is amazing. It actually works like we can do it.

Dana Dowdell  41:33

I love it. Um, you have a podcast, there's a place that listeners can get free copy of your book for free. So where can listeners connect with you?

Kevin Kartchner  41:44

Yeah, I mean, I looked at who you guys have had on your podcast, and you guys have a really good podcast. So you guys are looking for podcasts. I would just stick with you guys. I thought it was really good. Like Anthony Annarino. He's one of my heroes. I love I love.

Dana Dowdell  41:58

He was rad. He was rad. 

Kevin Kartchner  42:01

But you can go grab my book at talkischeapbook.com and just $9 for shipping. And then I already bought the book for you. I'll send it to you guys need to get some cool bonuses as well.

Dana Dowdell  42:12

Awesome. And of course, we'll make sure that all of that information, the link to the free book, where to catch Kevin on his podcast are all in the show notes. And as always, thank you for tuning in to another episode of it's just business. We very much appreciate you sticking around till the end of the episode. Make sure you connect with us on social Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and remember it's not personal. It's Just Business.