Episode 123 Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00):
As you grow and expand through life, it’s okay to move into different rooms, whatever that room is for you. And there’s going to be a point in time where you become a big fish in a little pond and then you move into a different room and you’re a small fish and a big pond. But you’ve just got to remember that your environment shapes you more than you realise. G’day everyone. Rob Kropp and Dan Stones here from Pravar Group and welcome back to another episode of The Trade Den. Good to have you back, Dan. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good to be back. Hi everyone. Yeah, looking forward to today. A bit of a different topic, a little bit of a different theme, something we haven’t talked about so far, but really looking forward to get stuck into the room you’re in, which is all around this idea that most trades business owners have figured out things by themselves usually the whole way through their career. You start as an apprentice, it’s rare you get all the answers in one go. You got to start figuring it out. It’s how you got to where you are today. You built things off your own back, your skills, your reputation, the risk you take, it’s all you, you, you. And that self-reliance is why the business does exist, which is a great thing. But at a certain point you get to this level where it becomes something that slows you down and that’s because the problems you start dealing with as the business changes aren’t problems that you can just think your way through.
(01:21):
It requires some input, it requires some knowledge sharing, it requires some support. And when that happens and you’re operating by yourself, even when you’re operating by yourself and things are okay even, when that happens, your frame of reference narrows. What we mean by that is your ability to get the answers, the options, the way forward, the pathways, they all start to shrink down to you. The room actually shrinks that you’re in. So what that feels like is you start to benchmark yourself against where you were last year. You start to think about, am I doing as good as opposed to where do I really want to go and step forward? So it becomes a real change and you start to think in terms of, am I getting through it? Are we surviving? And as we know, there’s a big difference between am I getting through it and surviving as to as are you actually thriving and actually making progress in your business?
(02:11):
So I think Rob, today, that thing about when you do shift the room you’re in, we’re blessed that we see this happen over and over again, but it’s quite remarkable what we see when guys step into a different room, regardless of what programme it is we’re running.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, environment’s key. And we’re going to talk a lot about that today, but you’re so right. You hear quotes like you become the product of the closest five people around you like, this is really the essence of what we’re talking around today, because you’re right. When you try and do things alone, I think this becomes where we speak to a lot of business owners and they think that their problems are unique or they’re different or their business is different and they think they’re unique in their own way. But really that so many business owners go through the same problems, the same struggles, the same pressures. And it’s not until you put yourself in a different environment till you realise that there is a bigger game out there to play.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah. Most people treat that environment as just sort of a background. It’s a place where the chair is. It’s the room you’re standing in. It’s where the computer is. It’s where the phone is, whatever it might be. But it’s so much more than that. It’s more than strategy and mindset and skills. If we talk about the room, let’s just focus on what we mean by that. It’s the people that you’re interacting with. It’s the conversations that you’re having and that is the environment, the room that we’re talking about today. Because when you ignore that or you just let it be just where you are and it is what it is type attitude, that’s the mistake that people make. They don’t pay enough attention to that room, the people, the conversations that are going on around them all day, every day. It’s like the air you breathe.
(03:42):
If it’s bad air, you’re going to get some pretty serious complications and I think it’s the same thing in business. So before we get stuck right into the conversation, into the depth of it, let’s just plan out what we’re going to actually talk about when it comes to the room. The first thing we’re going to talk about is your environment sets the ceiling and that’s more around how the environment you’re putting yourself in becomes the norm. It becomes the air you breathe. Part two then we’re going to turn the corner and have a look at, well, what changes when you get into the right room. If you’re not in the right room now, it’s hard to know what’s going to happen until you get there. So we’re going to lift the lid on what actually does happen when you get into that right room or a different room or a better room, however it is for you.
(04:20):
And then the third thing we’re going to talk about is a concept that I remember hearing this for the first time. It blew my mind when you really thought about it and went into it. But the idea of proximity is power. And what do we mean by proximity and what is the power you get when you live and breathe that sort of proximity is power as the way you go about setting up your environment. So I think Rob, there are three very important pieces of this puzzle. I remember even the first time I heard that idea about the five people that you hang around with is who you become. It blew my mind when I actually did the exercise and went, “Holy shit, that’s true.” And I was younger at the time and it was all brand new to me, but it was mind blowing when you really start to pay some attention to these topics and conversations and these ideas.
(05:00):
It really is interesting what can change in your world just from changing the environment you’re in.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, certainly. And so let’s get straight into part one, which is around the environment sets your ceiling to you, what does that mean to you when it says the environment sets your ceiling? What does that mean, do you think?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I think for me, the idea of first of all, what is the environment or the room that you’re in? I think it’s more than just the four walls that you operate in. It’s more than just your physical environment. For me, it’s the people and the conversations in this context. What are the conversations that you’re hearing? Who are the people that you’re interacting with? Who have you given permission to come into your world and start to, I suppose, have an input or have some weight in terms of the conversations that you’re having and the thoughts that you’re going to have based on those conversations? So for me, that’s what it is. And I think the idea of the ceiling is, like I said, as we’re getting in at the beginning, you reach a limit with the people you’re around, the ideas that are being shared.
(05:58):
It’s like if you only ever read one book in your whole life, you’d have that one book to reference as a point. As a ceiling in terms of your room, it’s the same sort of thing. The higher the ceiling, the more books, the different people, the inputs change, your ability to make connections and think and believe different things starts to change. So that’s what it is for me. What about you?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I think the environment really shapes a lot of things and you’re right. It’s more than just your physical environment. When, as you said, environment, people just think of your physical surroundings. Like they say, look at someone’s backseat of their car and it’ll give you insight into their life. I think, but to me, the environment shapes so much and it shapes your values, it shapes your beliefs, it shapes how far you think you can go in life, like your vision and your goals. And so I think so many people are looking for the next tactic, the next hack, the next strategy, the next thing that’s going to help them move forward, but you can learn all the very best things in the world, but if you’re not in a positive environment that’s conducive to growth and expansion and putting yourself in that place where other people are also on that journey, then you’re going to get to the point where you will just hit a ceiling no matter what you do because your environment becomes your biggest limitation.
(07:21):
And that’s the biggest takeaway from today is your environment becomes your biggest limitation. You can have the skills, you can have the strategy, but your environment then limits what you perceive as possible, what you perceive as achievable and what you believe you can do in your world. So this is why we talk around mindsets, so important in success in life.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It really is. And I think as you talk, the idea of it, your environment also shaping what’s normal for you, that comfort zone comes from the environment you’re in, that sense of what does feel normal. If you’re around … I remember being in businesses where conflict was the modus operator. That was how we operated. That conflict’s normal, it’s great. And I didn’t really like that, but it was normal to everyone else. But there they might have been on a five out of 10 in terms of grind and stress and fighting fires and that’s just normal. It’s a five out of 10. For me, I’m like, “This is crazy to me. I’m way out of a different environment to what I’d expect to be in here.” So I think that idea of as you go in your environment, the people you’re surrounded by, that’s the normal that comes.
(08:25):
So if it’s stress that you’re either listening to or you’re around all the time, there’s going to be stress in your world and to an extent that’ll be normal, but how do you go beyond that? Same if it’s anxiety. You pick any emotion or anything that’s attached to a group, I think that’s what you’ll feel in your environment. And that’s sort of the starting point to come into this idea around, well, is there anything you can do about it or is that what’s just going to be normal for you?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
This is why that quote is so powerful around you become the product and the five people around you is because that environment normalises things. So let’s use a size of even before business. If you are surrounded by people who are in employment and who aren’t on that entrepreneurial journey, then that will shape who you are. If you’re in an environment where it’s socialising and partying and going and drinking, that behaviour becomes normal to you. If you’re in a loving, caring, family first type of environment, then that’s going to shape your values and beliefs around the importance of family. So in the business world, if you’re listening here right now and you’re looking around and thinking, “Well, who am I surrounding myself with? ” Then that environment becomes normal because if you go to barbecues or go to the pub or whatever and all the conversation is there’s no work out there, you can’t find good people.
(09:49):
It’s easy just to be a one-man band. “Oh, gee, isn’t it bloody hard?” The environment’s not conducive to growth right now. If that’s the environment, the conversation and the normality of what’s going on in your ward right now, then guess what? That’s going to be your beliefs. That’s going to be your attitude. That’s going to be your perception of what normal is in business. So it’s going to be very hard to push to another level if that’s your norm in your environment.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, it really is. And then I think this leads onto our next thing. You just said, if you’re going to push through to a next level, your environment then plays the part, not just in terms of normal, but this idea that there’s evidence of the group, they will bring their evidence, whether it’s that group you’re trying to move from or when you move into, there’s going to be evidence. And as we like to say, evidence lasts, but motivation fades. Everyone wants to get to that next level. There’s motivation to do it. You do it for a while, you fall back, you stay still with the same group, same environment. But when you shift an environment, there’s a big difference between being told that it’s possible and watching people do it over and over and over again. When you’re watching a group of people going out and firing great tradesmen and things like that for their business as opposed to there’s no good people out there, the evidence lasts, that motivation might wane, it might get difficult, but you can’t deny the facts are that there is people that are doing what I’m trying to do and these are the people I need to hang around with.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
There’s one big mantra that I know that I’ve lived and breathed in my world is that, well, if they can do it, so can I. If they can do it, so can I. And that’s been something that’s really driven me and motivated me in my journey in business ownership. And that idea is that, well, if you can look at someone else, like success leaves clues, look at what they do, look at what they think, look at how they operate. And that’s the clue in terms of what’s possible for you because as human beings, we put self-imposed limitations in our mind of what we think we can and can, can’t achieve. And then that environment that we live in helps shape and reinforce and mould that belief within ourselves. But the moment you put yourself in that other environment of growth, expansion, like you were talking around, you can have someone say, “Hey, Dan, do this. Hey, Dan, do that. Hey, Dan, this is the next strategy.” But if that person, that environment’s looking and going, look what they’re doing, they can do it so can I. If they can do it, so can I, what it does is that environment then starts to shift those belief patterns and that’s why the evidence lasts compared to motivation because motivation only gets you so far, but if there’s evidence and proof out there in a different environment that’s totally possible, that’s what’s going to help you get off your ass and go and do that because you’re going to start to believe something different that you currently believe right now.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah. And as you talk through that motivation equation, the idea that if I’m motivated to make a shift or a change and I put myself in that room for a little bit of time and I have that motivation, I’ll stay in that room for as long as I’m motivated to. But if I understand the other half of it, which is that idea that evidence does last and the evidence always is around me, I’ve always got that almost like a safety or a stop gap, which sort of goes, “Hey, don’t dip out of this. There are people still doing it. You just haven’t done it yet.” And I see so many client stories if I think back over the years of this and one of them is Danny who’s in our programme. He’s been around for a while now and he’s making some amazing strides at the moment, but it’s as a result of, it’s years of work, but years of staying in the right room, it’s years of that evidence being around him all the time.
(13:27):
He’s been motivated to give it a shot and failed, but the evidence has always been there to keep him there because it’s like, well, not yet, but it’s still working. It just hasn’t worked for me yet, but I’m going to stick in this room and he’s now made that shift. And it’s like the strides he’s making because he’s still in the room with the evidence and he’s got the motivation, it’s now starting to feel like it’s just clicked, but it’s an immersion over time in the right room that’s had to happen with Danny to get to where he is.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah. When you look at someone like Danny, he doesn’t live in a capital city. He lives in a regional area and he doesn’t have big social networks of guys growing larger lifestyle businesses. He doesn’t come from … Like he’s forging his own..
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That’s not his normal.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That’s not his normal. And so he hasn’t come from that environment of wealthy families and big business and making money and all those types of things. That’s not his norm. And so naturally when you’re in that environment, you’ve got those self-imposed limitations of what you believe is possible. And as you said, as Danny moved into those environments, it stretched him. It forced him to stretch. And that’s what we love seeing with Danny and all our other clients in our programmes is the environment stretches you to create a new norm. It raises the ceiling of what’s possible because it really starts to change and shape the beliefs of what’s totally possible in your world and more repeated proof of what can be done, you start to believe it, then you crack on and get it done within yourself.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah. It’s amazing. I love that when that does happen. It’s so cool. Let’s move on to part two then. What changes when you’re in the right room? Okay. We’re going to now talk about a couple of things to expect when it does. And the main thing I want to talk about or focus on, get your thoughts on is more around the problems and people want to change rooms because something’s not working in the room they’re in. So I want to make a change, a shift. I’ve got a problem to overcome. It requires me to step up or step out and into a new room. If I do that, I think the first thing that happens or what you can expect to change is that your perspective does immediately change of what that problem is. All of a sudden what you’ve thought is now different because you’ve changed rooms or changed the environment you’re in.
(15:44):
Just talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, it’s interesting. I was actually having a conversation with a business owner today, he’s a Sparky and he’s doing pretty well. He’s running around one and a half, $1.6 million in revenue and he’s lonely in business. He doesn’t have a lot of mates around him who are operating at that level. And he made the comment going, “Yeah, but Rob, these are my problems.” I’m like, “Mate, your problems are not unique. Your business is not unique, your problems are not unique. The challenges you’re facing right now are not unique. It’s just reflective of the journey that you’re in and where you’re at in business between that one and two-ish million dollar mark, you’re moving away from a tool belt into an owner-operator business and you’re going through the challenges of growing that company. I didn’t say not as special, but you’re not as unique as you think.” And he goes, but he pushed back on that. I’m like, “But mate, we’ve got a room over here of guys who are going through the exact same shit as you are right now and when you get into that room, you will realise that the problems you’ve got aren’t unique and there’s other guys going through them. And once you get in there, you’ll realise that someone’s either going through it or been through it and they’re going to be there to support you through that problem.” And the moment he realised that you could tell already his perspective has changed before he even got into that room.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, huge. Now there’s a trap here too, right? And that is that you think by getting in the right room, all my problems are going to disappear. And that’s not the case either. I think we’ve got to stress that, that the perspective of the problem will change. You will still have problems. You will still have the same problems. You will still have to execute to eliminate those problems or overcome them or go around them, but they stop being that wall where you’re just sitting there going, “There is no way forward.” I think it opens up that door, which is probably the second part of this whole thing about what changes is that the problem all of a sudden becomes solvable. There’s a door. If you’ve been locked in a room with no doors, you’ve now got a door that you can walk through. The problem starts to be something that you’ve got those clues as you’ve talked about.
(17:51):
Everything we’ve started to talk about makes sense here when we say that that problem becomes solvable.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah. This is when I love seeing new clients walk into our room, our community, within our programmes. And this is why we’ve got a really good blend of one-on-one coaching and community.That’s the recipe for success because you see new clients come in who walk out of their room into a new room and they go, “Well, this is all we can charge in the marketplace. There’s no good work out there. You can’t find good people. ” And you could run a list of all the beliefs from their current environment. They step into that new room and someone’s like, “Well, here’s how I found a new tradesman. Here’s how I’ve upped my prices. Here’s how I’ve found work in the marketplace and filled my pipeline.” So someone walks into that room with a problem, they get a different perspective, they talk to someone else in the room and all of a sudden that problem solvable and it’s because it’s like, “Hey, I’ve done it before. This is the challenge that I faced. This is what I did about it. Why don’t you try this and potentially just follow the success that leaves clues?” And that’s what happens when you get in that room and what does change when you get in the right room, your perception changes and the problems that you thought were insurmountable that you could never get over all of a sudden become easier because you’ve got other people around you to support you through the problem that you were trying to face on your own.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Isolation’s a terrible thing. And when you’re in the wrong room or you’ve outgrown the room you’re in or the problem is too big for the room you’re in, you’re very isolated in that sense. You feel isolation and then everything’s multiplied. The problem feels bigger, like you said. The fear ramps up. The anxiety of, “Am I ever going to get through this is through the roof.” So all of that stuff starts to multiply the more isolated you feel when you’re in the wrong room. When you get into that right room, the isolation starts to shrink or you get some breathing room, you get those examples. You’ve got a couple of windows to look out of how people have done it in the past. So getting through your problem doesn’t become a solo thing then. It becomes something that you’ve got stepping stones to get through. And we saw this recently.
(19:55):
I remember it was a couple of weeks ago when we were in our event in Adelaide. Chris, he came into the event and I knew he was on a downer in terms of where he was and the challenges he was facing. And for him it was almost insurmountable. There’s that word that comes up with clients. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I keep going or not. It’s that moment where it’s like, what am I going to do? And for me, the biggest thing Chris had to do was just get into that room because I knew the minute he did, he’d have some breathing room. The feeling of just being so constricted and almost like you can’t breathe. And within an hour, two hours of what we’re doing, which is why we do certain things in the group, which I’m sure you’ll talk about, is because we know that that helps, that brings forward all those things that you need from the room to help you breathe and move forward.
(20:42):
So Chris was a great example of that. And within a couple of hours, he was like, “I can do this. I’m back again.” It was like watching two different people, the guy that walked in and the guy that walked out of that first session.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It is because business ownership is isolating. It’s tough trying to do it by yourself. And for a lot of guys in business, your family don’t understand what you’re going through. Your wife generally doesn’t either and it’s hard to talk to your partner because you don’t want to pass that stress onto them and feel like a burden and you can’t talk to your team about it. And often as you’re trying to grow a business, sometimes you outgrow your family, you outgrow your friends and that isolation feeling is that’s when you start feeling lonely and that’s when, especially when you start hitting rough patches, it’s challenging. That’s when the doubt creeps in and the, can I do this and is it worth it? That’s just negative thinking because you’re not in the rooms of people who are there to pick you up when you go through challenging times or there to pat you on the back when you were doing well.
(21:47):
And unfortunately we live in a country in Australia where people don’t talk about their problems. And if you do talk about your wins, your friends and the family are often the first people to shut you down. So you’ve got to find that room of people who lift you up and also pat you on the back at the right time.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, it’s absolutely critical. The next thing that happens as well is I think this idea of when you make that shift, being in the right room is one thing, but you know as well inherently you’ve got to raise your stand, you’ve got to lift your game, you got to step up, whatever you want to call it, however you think about it, you’re talking about lifting your standards and when you get in the right room, you get a free hit here because I don’t care which room it is. If it’s a step up in terms of the room you’re going to in terms of a higher level, you’re going to get this benefit no matter what. And that is that the standards will lift around you without you even trying. And then it becomes your choice whether you raise to those standards or live in that new environment or not, rather than you having to go through, again, trying to do it by yourself to raise your standards.
(22:48):
It’s very different when you move rooms and get in the right room, what happens to your standards?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
This is a big one and this is something I’m super passionate about in the community that we built across our programmes is that to me, it all comes down to culture and having a high performance culture and culture is people like us do this around here and I know at Pravar in our communities and it’s come from the top between you and I leading this and injecting this culture into the coaching team and then injecting this culture into the client communities. We have high standards and high expectations and it’s a high performance culture and then all of a sudden people get in that environment and it’s like people like us, this is how we do things around here at Pravar. And that’s the biggest shift for so many people from a behavioural point of view because all of a sudden they realise that they play their own game, they’ve been playing small, they don’t get exposed when they’re not in the right environment.
(23:54):
The moment they get to a different environment that’s a high performance culture, it forces them to step up or sometimes step out. But what I would like to think in our environment is there’s plenty of other rooms out there, but internally in our room, this is where we get the results with clients because it’s like a high standards, high expectations. If you want to win in business and life, this is how we do things around here. And it goes a long way to creating success, doesn’t it?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
It really does. I think it’s that idea of that is the normal for in here, that’s the price of admission. You want to stay in this room, you’ve earned the right to get in here, but to stay here, you’ve got to exhibit some of this stuff. We’re going to demonstrate it every day because that’s just the normal way we do things around here. So I think it’s a really important one for people to remember, but you will get that benefit, that hit. And I think what I see as well is people don’t join that in your room because they don’t think they belong yet or they think that their standards aren’t high enough or I’m not worthy of this room. If you’ve got the invite, you’ve got the opening and you can step up into that room, that’s really your first step. Then let it immerse you in it and let those standards breathe through if they’re there, which they should be.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Correct. And the standards in those rooms is really what that is, is a reflection of the behaviours that you’re willing to tolerate. And it’s not just behaviours in business, it’s behaviours as how you show up as a husband, how you show up as a father, how you show up as a man, as a friend, as a leader, as a businessman. And I know this is a lot of work that we do within our communities here at Pravar is we have high standards, high expectations, and we expect a lot of our clients, but that’s how we get the transformations. And I look at clients who there’s a couple in particular that I think of. There’s Nathan Wilson, there’s Ahmad Radi, there’s Dave Wilcox, almost the three Amigos and they’ve been around coaching for a long time, a number of years between them. They’re probably six or seven years plus in their coaching journey.
(25:52):
And I look at the standards that they live by in their own businesses and lives have come from, a lot of it has come from the standards that how they’ve lived through coaching. And I can see our fingerprint of Pravar in their business and life in a positive way, the way they’ve transformed as husbands, as fathers, as businessmen, and the way that they now lead big businesses and the way they show up to their teams and the way they run their teams and their businesses is a direct reflection of the standards of the rooms that they’ve been in over their time in coaching. So it goes a long way that if you want to raise your own standards in your own life, be prepared to step in, be a small fish in a big pond and step into a room that’s got high standards, which forces you to step up and play a bigger game.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah. And as you talk about that, I think the other thing is be prepared to step in or have the courage to step in without being perfect. Those guys, the standards they’ve got now, as you said, and what they’ve now become and how they’ve developed that culture and been a big part of that, they didn’t come in with that. That wasn’t who they were when they came in. It was within them, but they hadn’t exhibited it. They haven’t lived it. They weren’t part of that world when they brought it in. They became part of that world when they came in, but they had the courage to step up and step into the room.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah. And the culture is like, whoa, that’s not how we operate around here. Well, if you want to be a great leader, that’s not how we talk to people. It’s been a culture of high accountability. It’s been a culture of doing what you say you’re going to do. It’s being a culture of good communication. It’s being a culture of this is what it takes to be a great dad and leave your boots at the door and all the things that we talk around in not only in our coaching, but the conversations that they then have at events and on group calls and everything really shapes that person and the standards in terms of what they live and breathe by, which then flows into all their other areas of life. So I just know that if these guys purely just did one-on-one coaching and spent time with a one-on-one coach, they would get the results, but they would’ve missed out on that whole room that they’ve belonged to.
(28:04):
And I would go as far as saying that the room has contributed to their success just as much as the one-on-one coaching has.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, you get me fired up about this when I think about the community and the group and the room. You just want to get back in there because you plug into that and something happens that’s pretty special. It’s really, really cool. The next thing I think, and this lends itself in really nicely and what you were talking about there is without that culture, without that idea and without understanding that, there’s a thing in society about we live in an information age. We’ve got information all around us. There’s forever more information at our fingertips. We can get to the knowledge quicker than ever before. We can get answers whenever we want them. And the idea of knowledge is power is one thing and it’s what’s been sort of the refrain I think for as long as I’ve been alive. But there’s another way to think about this and I think this is you and I are of this opinion as you start talking about community and the power of the room is that proximity is power.
(29:02):
And I want you to feel free to go off on a round about this because I know you love it, but the idea about proximity being power as opposed to just knowledge being power, because people come to us, I think, and there is that expectation that you guys must have all the answers. You do such a good job, you get such great results, your knowledge or your information is what is going to give me the answers I need to move forward, but it’s not necessarily that.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, correct. And I think in business, you’ve definitely got to learn new skills. You’ve definitely got to know what the strategy is and how to execute that strategy, but it’s the proximity to people who share the same values and are going on the same path as you, because it’s very hard to succeed in life as a lone wolf. It’s very hard to be a lone wolf and succeed in whatever industry you’re in, in the trades or construction or the broader business Business world. It’s about having proximity or closeness or the ability to be in that room with people who are on a similar journey because what it does is it smashes that glass ceiling of what’s possible. It opens your minds to new opportunities. It instils new beliefs, new standards, new expectations, new ways of thinking that you never thought were possible when you were trying to do it alone.
(30:29):
So this whole concept of proximity is power is your ability to put yourself in close proximity with other people with similar mindsets and want to achieve similar things in life. And together you become stronger rather than doing it in isolation. And that’s what I feel is the essence behind what we mean by proximity is power.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah, I love it. I love it. I think that the return on this, the investment in knowledge is obvious. You get to fill your brain with stuff. Hopefully you can remember it. It’s almost immediate in that sense. I’ve read it. I took it on board. Great. I’ll get that sort of sugar hit of the knowledge entering into my system. Proximity is power is a different thing. It’s more of a sustained power. It’s the thing that gives you the endurance to endure this journey because you’re in the right room. It gives you the proximity to plug into that. Like I said before, I think that’s for me is the real return on it. I think that’s why we don’t just plug in with the big group. We also do things like round tables and there’s a proximity to that too. We get even closer than the broad programme group or the programme cohort, that ability to have smaller groups.
(31:41):
Again, it’s about getting closer and being in closer proximity to those people. That’s important too.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
It is. You think of the Think and Grow Rich book they talk around the true power of a mastermind is like seven or eight people. There’s plenty of groups out there, by the way, guys, you can go and follow whatever community or group you want. We’re just talking from our own perspective. But that’s why we have our programmes, which are a group of guys in a different phase of where they’re at in business. But then we break, as you said, we break that down into littler, smaller mastermind style groups, which it’s peer-to-peer learning. It’s peer-to-peer support. It’s peer-to-peer accountability. It’s so much that can be said around the power of that. And I even know in my own world, I went to an event at the end of last year and it was two days of full of content. I learned all this great stuff.
(32:32):
The biggest thing shifted for me was a conversation I had at lunchtime, which was not even a topic that was what it was related to at the event. It was a conversation that I had around something sideways, which just went boom. It opened a whole new way of thinking for me. I was like, how cool is that? I came here to learn this, but I walked away with that. That’s what we mean by proximity of is power, because you just open your mind, you open your eyes to be able to go, “That’s a completely different way of seeing things, and I can’t believe I didn’t see that earlier,” kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, exactly. And that’s because you put yourself in that room. That was the whole point of the exercise. It wasn’t to go and pick up the learnings or give me the slide deck or whatever people talk about. It was get yourself in the room and that’s what happened for you, which is awesome. I think the other part of this as well, and it’s probably a good time to stress this, is when you do make this shift, when you shift into a different room, the idea is that it’s give and take. I don’t want it to sound like what we’re saying today is, “Hey, ditch your old room, go to the new room and suck everything you can out of that and then move to another room again.” There are people that do that and you probably know them. As you’re listening, you probably picture a couple that you’ve met in your time.
(33:40):
I certainly can, but that’s not what we’re advocating here. This isn’t the power of the room in that sense. That’s just going to be a train of people stepping on each other to keep moving forward or seemingly moving forward. So it’s probably worth stressing, Rob, the give and take element of what we talk about when we talk about being in the right room.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah. Some of the most successful guys that we see in our communities are the ones that give the most and that’s because they-
Speaker 2 (34:04):
The three amigos.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Three amigos. From the guys we were talking around before, they are constantly giving back to the group and yet they’re getting so much more in return. The guys who just take, take, take, take, take. They’re extracting and then just going and off and doing their own thing. But the guys who give back so much that they get back in spades from an angle they didn’t even realise and that’s because they’re willing to give so much and that just opens their receiving valves to be able to get so much and return from other people when they need it the most.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah. There’s nothing better I think when we hear that thing about clients go. The biggest thing I took out of this group, yeah, I learned a lot of stuff. The coaching was great, but it was the room that I’m now part of, the group and the community I feel like I’m a part of. That to us, I think that for me at least, that’s music to my heart when I hear that.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Oh, when you see guys like Trent, who’s got the Prava logo tattooed on his ankle, it’s like he is Pravar through and through. You see guys like that, that room has just become a way of life and that’s when you know you’re in the right room with the right culture and the right standards, that room really shapes and moulds you in a really, really positive light.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, it does. I love this chat. This has been good today. You enjoyed this one?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
I have. And I think it’s important to remember that wherever you’re at in your own journey of business, that we’ve got our rooms. I’m sure there’s plenty of other coaching businesses out there with rooms, or it could be a room of dads who you’ve got kids at the same school and you’re all dads that’s get together with your kids. It could be a gym room or whatever it is. It’s not just a business coaching room that you’re in. Everyone’s got their own rooms that they belong to, but you’ve just got to remember that as you grow and expand through life, it’s okay to move into different rooms, whatever that room is for you. And there’s going to be a point in time where you become a big fish in a little pond and then you move into a different room and you’re a small fish and a big pond, but you’ve just got to remember that your environment shapes you more than you realise and to be able to achieve great things in business and life, you can’t do it being a lone wolf.
(36:17):
You’ve got to constantly be looking for ways to give and get from a room to be able to expand your own mind of what’s totally possible. So it’s not saying that necessarily that Pravar is going to be the right room for you. You’ve just got to find your room, your gym, your people, your tribe, whatever that is to be able to ensure that you’re surrounding yourself with the right people. But let’s face it, trying to run a business, trying to be a dad, trying to be a family man, trying to make money and build wealth and do all of that at the same time. It’s fucking hard. So you’ve got to ensure that you’re surrounding yourself with the right people that are going to help you along your journey and open your mind to what’s truly possible.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Yeah. Well said. Love it. Let’s talk about a challenge, hey, I’ve got one.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Let’s do it.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
All right. So this week’s challenge, be honest about your current room. Let’s take stock and it can be hard. It’s harder than it sounds, right? But look at the five people you’re spending the most time with in a professional sense. Just professionally, who have you got around you in the work side? Five people, who are they? Then ask the question, are they pulling you forward? Are they helping lift you up? Are they giving you that support? Are they celebrating those wins? All the stuff we talked about on this episode, or are they going in the other direction? Are they just trying to keep you at status quo? Are they trying to make it feel like we’re surviving and everything’s okay enough? Okay is not okay. So we want to make sure that you can have that experience, but you need to ask that question, what’s happening and use it as data.
(37:46):
So what we’re saying is don’t burn everything down. You don’t have to do anything at this point, but as we like to say, awareness is the starting point for all of this. So get aware and become sensitive to that environment you’re in. What’s the air you’re breathing? What are the conversations you’re having? What’s the attitude and the altitude of the group you’re currently in? And when you start to look at that, you’ll start to get some clues on not just is it time to maybe move to a new room, but what sort of room would you like to be in? And that’s where things can start to change. So that’s the challenge for today. Just get honest about that room you’re in and have a good look at it because it’s probably been a while since you have.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Yeah. And if you’re in that position where you then do the challenge and you go, “Well, actually, you know what? I’m not in the right room or I’m the single guy in the one room and you’re looking at joining a room, then maybe it’s worth us having a call. Let’s have a conversation to be able to talk a bit about where you’re at, where you’re trying to go, what coaching you might need, and what environment or community that you want to be able to belong to, to be able to help support you in your journey. So if you’re in that position and you’re looking for some help, then let’s get a discovery call booked in. Jump across to strategysession.com.au, fill out the form, book in a time that suits you and we’ll have a conversation with you and we can talk a bit about where you’re at and what you want to achieve and let’s get you in that right room because we just know that we call it the four primary legacies, health, wealth, business, and connections.
(39:15):
The room that you can belong to can expand your life in all those areas and help you become a great businessman, run a great business and be a great family man as well. So if that’s something of interest to you, jump in. Let’s talk about it and see how we can help you. Awesome. Great conversation today, Dan. I loved it. We haven’t spoken around environment before, so it’s really good to talk around. I think it’s a conversation not many people consider around how it really contributes to their results.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, agree 100%. Really, really important though. It’s huge.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Hopefully you’ve also enjoyed today’s conversation. Looking forward to coming back to you soon and another episode here on The Trade Den. Until then, take care.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
See you soon.