imagine that someone gives you the
opportunity to live anywhere in the
world anywhere anywhere in nature
anywhere in the wild where would it be
would it be rainforest Costa Rica
what about African plains how about
somewhere near water like big beautiful
lake or the ocean or remote island or
maybe our very own pristine Rocky
Mountains if you were given that
opportunity would you go for it the
second question is if you have no
experience living in the wild you’ve
never lit in a fire you have no
experience working with predatory
wildlife would you dare before you take
this adventure and let’s be clear I’m
not talking about how to survive out
there I’m talking about how to thrive to
live to pursue your passion to get paid
to live life on your terms so barring
any predatory wildlife are you are you
going to do any education at all are you
gonna read a book are you gonna take a
course are you gonna are you going to
seek out advice from people who’ve
already been there and done that are you
gonna watch the Discovery Channel when I
was a young boy I used to go up to my
aunt and uncle’s farm it was really
remote it’s about 200 kilometres from
the nearest hospital and we were just
plunked in the middle nowhere Polly
first neighbor was about we would talk
two miles back then it was five miles
away
my cousins I was seven and we would go
riding on her horses and chase invisible
bad guys cuz we were Texas Rangers we
were heavily influenced by John Wayne
movies so we run we’re on our horses
were chasing bad guys I’m building
spears were throwing them at squirrels
we didn’t get a single one we went
hungry but we had a lot of fun doing it
and it was I mean it was so much fun to
be out there and I always thought what
would it be like to always be here then
I joined the army I’m 19 I’m airborne
I’m infantry I jump out of planes I get
to pick fights with bad guys I get to
build forts in the forest and I
eventually got deployed overseas to
Somalia Africa big Civil War and we
arrived it was like the Wild West there
was no government we got shot at we did
patrol after patrol probably in the
first 90 days my platoon alone did over
300 patrols we worked with the local
authorities to improve security to make
things a lot safer so we could allow our
engineers to rebuild schools to rebuild
roads build a medical clinic and other
infrastructure and largely we were very
successful at that and so when I left
the military oh man I thought this this
um I thought this wild journey was gonna
be over and outside of rugby like Timmy
rugby’s an 80-minute section attack it’s
an 80-minute car accident and it’s fun
but outside of rugby my life was it was
it was fine it was fine it was the big
f-word it was fine but it didn’t have
the same adrenaline I thought I will I
ever experienced that again
until I went into business for myself TV
movies they glamorize how exciting
business is and there’s just a land that
15 years after the military I think I’m
doing a bit of a reset in my life think
okay I’ve been in the military I played
a lot of rugby I’m good at that sales
and marketing I’m good at that I could
be a business coach how hard could that
be
right pretty easy stuff I go to get a
couple certifications and I learn all
the things you would imagine I would
learn I would learn balance sheets and I
would learn income statements in
spreadsheets Excel spreadsheets I love
spreadsheets and I would learn marketing
and how it led to sales and I would
learn I would learn about efficiencies
and I would learn about activity
management and it was exciting and I I
remember I started working immediately
with the clients and I had all these
different clients in different
industries and trades and well then gas
and here and here in hearing I was I was
starting to recognize a couple things
one the people buy or build or grow or
whatever they but they go into business
for a lot of reasons that you could
imagine but probably the most number one
to me was that they wanted to live life
on their terms
you know what are if you’re gonna go
into business for yourself what are
those terms where you gonna live
what you gonna Drive are you gonna live
in Canmore you’re gonna live somewhere
else are you gonna live in the big city
are you gonna what are you gonna sell
what are you gonna grow what are you
gonna what is it your terms what
difference are you gonna make what
changes are you gonna make and they want
to they want to live on those terms and
then the other thing I noticed is they
started you know because I’m standing in
front of multiple clients a day multiple
clients a week week after week month
after month I started noticing a very
familiar behavior that is this we as
business owners we as entrepreneurs we
will focus heavily on a shiny object and
opportunity will also experience a great
deal amount of stress and anxiety when
there’s that feeling of lost I’ll come
back to the opportunity but during that
feeling of lost I’ve been lost before in
the military we get lost actually we
will never admit that we’re lost we are
geographically embarrassed but we get
lost and the first thing we do when we
get lost is we pull in our map we pull
up your compass we orientate it to the
ground we reverse engineer a couple
bearings and we find ourself and we what
I would call we triangulate ourself and
somewhere inside that feeling of loss we
know we’re inside that triangle and so
in times of this anxiety and lost the
client is looking for a certain amount
of clarity right we gotta know where we
are what’s the next step and in the
military we want clarity where are we
and there’s this mission that has
purpose and so we look for this purpose
clarity and purpose and in the military
of course we continue to execute clarity
purpose execute I’m sitting front of
these business owners and I’m handling
all these fires all the time clarity
purpose execute clarity purpose execute
clarity purpose execute over and over
and over again like we did this all the
time in the military but here’s the
difference between entrepreneurs and the
military is that I pay attention to the
result as soon as we execute there’s
always a result it’s big it’s small it’s
happy it’s sad sometimes zero is the
result and zero still result
but they weren’t paying attention to the
result second they weren’t tracking that
relevant data the relevant numbers the
widgets the time the people the money to
do geography you know widgets are your
products and your services the time is
easy how much time did it take us to do
this how much time do we need to ramp up
to do that the money the money that’s
remember the people not just your
customers but your staff your vendors
your relationships inside your your
circle of influence the people that you
can reach out to when you’re stuck and
you’re tired and you’re frustrated I was
gonna say pissed off but I don’t know if
I’m allowed to say pissed off here so we
got to pay attention that relevant data
the other thing is though is we got to
invest a little bit more planning what
would happen if we planned Abraham
Lincoln we’re having coffee last week
and he said to me he says you know if I
had eight hours to chop down a tree
Vince I’d spend the first six sharpening
the saw it makes sense you know to be
deployed overseas my unit trained
planned for four months for a six-month
deployment today they trained nine
months to a year for a six-month
deployment in business just think of how
much time is invested in planning and
let’s just let’s just take business out
of it for a second my wife and I we go
on a holiday 2007 we always wanted to
hike the West Coast Trail and so we we
start planning ten months out West Coast
Trail it’s a seven-day six-night two
days on the front end two days on the
back end for travel so that’s that’s
that’s the time that’s the relevant data
we spend ten months for that what are we
gonna pack we’re gonna pack it out of my
army rucksack uncomfortable too heavy so
we go by these beautiful packs they’re
nice and light we well what are we gonna
cook it in it can’t cook out of a
cast-iron pan that’s silly cuz it’s
self-sustaining along the way you carry
it in you carry it out and it’s seven
days so oh man we’ve the equipment the
food how much food for seven days and
how many jujubes do I need how much
turkey holy crap does jerky ever weigh a
lot and we to pet to to a liter of water
is two pounds and this matters and so in
the end we got it down my wife is gonna
carry 40 pounds I’m gonna pick carry 60
pounds two months so bingo donita’s
once again something that would’ve been
valuable yesterday so we go to the
doctor
hi Google like I find nothing about
pregnant women going anywhere well I
mean the West Coast Trail for example
I’m not saying they don’t do other
things I’m saying so the doctor says she
can’t carry more than 20 pounds think
can be around the waist all right fine
we’re not canceling this
mission-oriented there’s a purpose for
this trail we’re gonna put our marriage
and keep it tight so we go she’s
carrying 20 I’m carrying 80 10 months
planning for a seven-day walk the next
thing is a debrief in the army we
debrief everything from the length of a
tour what happens on on deployment to
the what toilet paper is the best in the
middle of the night when it rains even a
10k 15k run hey how are your feet got
any hot spots you are you got any
blisters those shoes aren’t gonna work
we’re gonna be running 22 more you
better get new shoes heels no you know
like we debrief absolutely everything
and the amount of debrief that I see in
business owners and entrepreneurs it’s
not enough it doesn’t take long it’s
just a couple questions just think about
your day today if you could live today
all over again what would you do
different so you do what would you do
different what mistakes were made what
would we do different what mistakes were
made what lessons did we learn check if
there’s any relevant data let’s Park it
over here great guess what we have more
clarity the next time we do this we know
we know way more than we ever did when
we started but what I see is this
clarity purpose execute clary purpose
execute clarity purpose execute and I’m
saying stop take a pause so I built this
lovely map called the framework for
mastery purpose relevant data plan
execute result and debrief and I said
great does that make sense and they said
yes and then they didn’t execute have
you ever been with anybody who they
apparently know okay you know you have
to raise prices yes check you know why
you have to raise prices yes check great
execute oh I’m afraid
you know what that is story there is
this goddamn story in our head that
tells us that it’s not going to work and
that was the problem with all the
coaching that ever received no one told
everyone gave me mechanics spreadsheets
and this and that strategy but I find
it’s largely story that stands in
people’s way when I started coaching I
was awesome
I was really awesome I signed all these
clients i banked the highest client I
did this I did that and in nine months
it all fricking disappeared none of my
clients were around except for one he
was a friend and he couldn’t pay I’m
like what the hell were you thinking
there’s the story right chirping at me
chirping at me if I could see him I
would give him and it would chirp at me
acid Vince you are you kidding yourself
who thinks you can be a coach you don’t
you got high school then you were a
grunt you you did some sales you sold
some photocopies Whoopi who wants to buy
one of those on a Friday no one like you
don’t even have a diploma you don’t even
have our work you’ve never been taking a
workshop on Finance you got a few days
on this business coach thing Vince
you’re a fraud man my story told me I
was a fraud that I was unworthy of
working with no one’s gonna choose me
you know in athletics you wouldn’t dare
play in a professional sports team that
did not have a sports psychologist on
staff you wouldn’t go to the Olympics
without having access to a sports
psychologist and thankfully when I
played rugby here I went out of my way
to visit a sports psychologist and I got
a lot of head trash out so I could play
the game better and that’s what I did
for me I invested in some psychology
some psychotherapy and I and I revisit
that couple times a year in the
beginning it was a lie there was this
like a lot there’s a lot but
but I knew what I wanted to do there was
purpose and what if I looked at this is
my business I knew I wanted to be a
coach I knew why I wanted to be a coach
I want to help people live life on their
terms but my story said no so I saw this
psychologist you know what’s interesting
in athletics we see we see sports
psychology as an asset and then
certainly in small business not
necessarily in big business guess what
we see psychology as a weakness what’s
wrong with me I suggest to a client hey
we got some challenges we should go see
a psychologist why what’s wrong thing
nothing you’re great I just want you to
be better there’s always a better
version of ourself this story you know a
lot of people say well if it’s not
perfect I’m not gonna do it I get it if
it’s life like there’s this saying has
anybody heard of that saying you know
that’s saying come on who’s heard that
saying before failure is not an option
you know that one that makes sense in
the Army policing medical safety
industry and anywhere else that life is
at risk it does not make sense in
entrepreneurship
I eat failure for breakfast that’s the
new mantra just get over it execute in
spite of failure because it’s the only
way to get around the block it’s only
way you learn new things I get that this
is messy there’s all these moving parts
clarity purpose numbers plans story
execute you know data in it and I’m not
saying go faster I’m just saying slow
down take a breath make sure that
intentionally consciously intentionally
look hey something’s not working right
let’s regain hit the pause button look
for clarity do we know why do we know
what success looks like do we know why
we’re doing this what relevant data any
data matters let’s make sure we look at
it next time invest the next five
seconds in planning anything check your
story you know cold-calling is dead
right who agrees cold-calling is dead
story who thinks cold-calling works
great story it can be good or bad I get
that this is messy business is messy
life is messy and if it’s not that
person is not trying hard enough I get
that this is oversimplified can I just
tell you that simple gets done you don’t
move an entire military division from
one continent to another if it’s not
simple from private to general and on up
simple gets done simple game plans get
executed people win Super Bowls the
business that are succeeding are the
ones that keep it simple your business
your life your career is a vehicle to
live life on your terms and I submit
that this simple little circle of
mastery helps you get there faster it’s
not a map there’s a there’s a ton of
work here
everything has lots of work and there’s
gonna be lots of mistakes but if you’re
not going to build a business to live
life on your terms and why are you doing
in the first place it’s a pain in the
ass if you don’t thank you [Applause]