Episode Transcript
Glenn Harper [:00:00:00
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I’m Glenn Harper.
Julie Smith [:00:00:04
Julie Smith.Glenn Harper [:00:00:05
How we doing today?Julie Smith [:00:00:06
Well, you know, it’s the same day, and we just finished another episode, and immediately after we were done, we got into this rabbit hole about the why. Why do some entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs as a whole? And again, I’m going to put my vulnerability myself out there. It was like, why do I always say yes? Why can’t I say no? Why do I need to say yes to what? Another opportunity? Why, like, what does it change? Or what am I attempting to do with another one? This is conversation we probably have daily, weekly. And. And so we thought it would probably resonate with our listeners as we were bickering back here or having a great conversation about why.
Glenn Harper [:00:00:55
Why? And this is probably one of the biggest things that happen to entrepreneurs is because typical entrepreneur looks at opportunity everywhere, right? And they just believe in themselves so much that they can. They can bring a solution, and probably the solution will solve somebody’s problem, and they’re probably going to make some money on that, or they just might do it because they want to solve the problem. They don’t even want the money. They just want to solve a problem. But that’s just how most entrepreneurs are programmed. And the question is, if you’re already working at peak capacity from time, effort, emotional content, the space, like you just like you’re at the wit’s end, what’s that over there? I could do that. And the question is, well, why? And then the other question then becomes, why not? Right? So. So there’s the challenge, the peek behind.
Julie Smith [:00:01:42
Our dinner conversations daily.Glenn Harper [:00:01:45
Yes. And it’s not so much that it’s a why or why not question is, the question is, is in your current realm, have you set things up where you can step away a little bit so you can find that extra bandwidth, or do you have a team you can drop in to solve that over there, where you’re just giving some advice, but you’re not all in on it. You can have somebody else help you do that, because if not, you can’t. Do you always look like in the NFL you see somebody playing both ways or playing receiver and offensive back, right? By the time they get to third quarter, they just can’t. It’s hard for them to run anymore. You can’t do it. All right? That’s why they have different people in different positions doing what they do, because you got to be good at that. One thing.
Glenn Harper [:00:02:26
If you’re running one business and you’re doing it well, and you take half your time now and go put it to another company and this wasn’t set up right. Well, this one’s going to suffer just the way it is and this one is never going to be as good as it could because you didn’t put all your time to it. So trying to understand where do you put your time at and what those opportunities are. That’s why we have great, great colleagues, you, great, great relationships where you might want to partner with somebody, let them maybe do more of the thing which you have this other piece that you do. So you can still be involved to make an impact, but you don’t have to take away too much from here.
Julie Smith [:00:03:00
Yeah, I guess that’s how I see our partnership. I’m the yes. And in general, you’re the no.
Glenn Harper [:00:03:04
Well, no, I get there. But we, we have to. You as a general, you don’t plan and prepare for what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s. There’s going to be a really big cliff. It’s, it’s really hard, not impossible, but it’s very improbable. If you don’t do the homework and set it and do the things right way, you’re not going to get the results you want. But that goes to the whole point.
Glenn Harper [:00:03:25
Sometimes you just believe so well that it’s going to work and no matter what all the pitfalls are at the end is going to be the bright spot. You got to do it anyway. And they’re in layers where most entrepreneurs end up. Like, I just know it’s going to work. Let’s just do it.
Julie Smith [:00:03:39
So what advice would you give for people who, you know, when you ask me why, what should those people on the other side of that be thinking about?
Glenn Harper [:00:03:49
The. The. That’s the hardest question, is just because I can, should I. That’s the question. What is. What am I going to get out of that other than another checkbox that did something cool? Am I doing it for the money? Am I doing it for the ego as I’m doing because it’s a challenge? Am I doing because I want to stay busy? Like, why am I going to go do that other thing? And that other thing. There’s nothing wrong with it. Like all those things are valid excuses or reasons or rationales to go do it.
Glenn Harper [:00:04:17
But the question is why? Because if you can’t define your why, then you’re just being busy to be busy. And nobody wants to be busy just to be busy because, you know, we’re not supposed to be busy all the Time. We’re supposed to relax a little bit, I think. Right.
Julie Smith [:00:04:29
What does relax look like?Glenn Harper [:00:04:30
It’s very elusive, but apparently, get this, people sit around and do nothing all day. It’s very bizarre. I.
Julie Smith [:00:04:37
They’re busy, they’re on a boat ride.Glenn Harper [:00:04:38
Maybe drink some iced tea, I don’t know. But people do this thing. I’ve heard rumors. I don’t know what that’s like.
Julie Smith [:00:04:44
Yeah, I mean, I think it’s important as you go through your journey, like, as I can admit, like, I can solve it and I just want to solve it. And it’s really hard to think, like, why would I not do that? Right.
Glenn Harper [:00:05:00
Well, remember, I mean, I understand unlimited. There’s unlimited problems. You only have so much bandwidth. And this is everything I have, and there’s no doubt. And again, it’s like if you’re president, like, there’s a billion things you can try to solve, but you can only do so much. So if you. But if you’re going to do something, try to do it to the best of your ability. Close the loop on it, or get it close where somebody else then can take that over and run with it.
Glenn Harper [:00:05:24
And then you put your effort to the next one, bring your team in and do it. But it’s really hard to do, solve everybody’s problems because now you didn’t have intentions.
Julie Smith [:00:05:31
And I think that goes back to another episode we did of solopreneur versus entrepreneur. Right. Like, if you’re going to be a solopreneur, the shiny object syndrome, there’s going to be a cliff. You’ve got to be able to build teams and systems and processes and obviously have enough awareness to know your own boundaries, limits. What does it look like if you’re putting in, what are you taking away from?
Glenn Harper [:00:05:52
Well, remember, and this is a key takeaway from this, generally, people that see opportunities, it’s not the money that’s driving them. The money will come if something is successful. It’s the challenge of solving something. It’s the challenge of bringing a solution. It’s the challenge of creating an opportunity for either your client or your team to go do something. That’s the allure. It’s, it’s. It’s solving a complex algorithm that you can just see.
Glenn Harper [:00:06:19
I click, click, click, and it’s solved. And, and other people can’t see that. That’s the fun part. If you solve things, the money will come. If you go into something because you want to make the money at it, you’re probably not going to be as successful at as if you’re looking at to try to solve a problem or a need that somebody might have.
Julie Smith [:00:06:36
I agree. What a great life lesson today.
Glenn Harper [:00:06:38
There it is. Well, another great episode of the Empowering Entre podcast. I’m Glenn Harper.
Julie Smith [:00:06:43
Julie Smith.
