13: How to Avoid Burnout

Rich:
I don’t have an aux cable in my van. I have a six disc changer. Okay, so I got

Maggie:
Wow,

Rich:
You know, it’s fully loaded and I found this record. By Andy Mineo and wordsblade is called Magic and bird and so those are the names of like two basketball

Maggie:
Automatically. I would not be able to listen to that because it has the words magic in it.

Rich:
What’s that’s a guy’s name is literally doesn’t matter. It’s from the devil. You are kidding me. Anyway, so the reason I own the CD is because I was walking past FYE in the mall and I saw there was a 75% clearance been of CDs like right in the door. And obviously I had to walk over and then I found that disc in there and I was like no so obviously I bought it. Wow. I had a good holiday actually got a bunch of I got a bunch of records for 75% off by record. I mean CDs. Yeah

Maggie:
That

Rich:
I could spin in my six disc changer.

Maggie:
Yeah.

Rich:
So I’ve been listening to that a lot and I have those songs stuck in like a song stuck in my head.

Maggie:
My card doesn’t have a CD player anymore or didn’t wasn’t made with

Rich:
Him your car. Right? It’s not that it doesn’t work anymore. It’s that it literally didn’t come with it

Maggie:
Didn’t come with one.

Rich:
You probably got Bluetooth in there.

Maggie:
I do.

Rich:
I wish. I wish my ’06 Honda Odyssey is not going up to Snuff on that. Although I mean it’s an ’06 like yeah Monday that was on the line. It feels like somebody could have splurged for for the ox cable on that one. All right. whatever No big deal. So that’s my news for the day.

Maggie:
Hey,

Rich:
You’re drinking House Coffee a filter conversations brewed out the intersection of real estate life and coffee shop service.

Maggie:
We’re Maggie and Rich local business owners and Friends sharing stories and welcoming you to pull up a chair with us the doors always open.

Rich:
Let us pour ya cup.

Maggie:
How’s it going? Oh, it’s going good. Welcome to episode 13

Rich:
13. Wow.

Maggie:
Yeah. 13’s a lucky number for some people

Rich:
True Yeah, I mean, I’m don’t mind it don’t really buy into that kind of thing. So. Take it or leave it.

Maggie:
Yep.

Rich:
I think when when Friday is the 13th, that’s especially. Cool with me

Maggie:
Same I’m not superstitious

Rich:
No

Maggie:
At all.

Rich:
TJ apparently, yes.

Maggie:
Yeah. I know.

Rich:
Yeah

Maggie:
Tell

Rich:
Us we’ve been investing in these like old GE appliance like little clock radios or whatever as long as they’re kind of working. We’ve been stuck in storied with them. And he had found some cool things and he found himself like a cassette player. I think I had a radio on I haven’t fully looked at. I think it’s a clock radio, but also has a cassette player. That you can record on and Etc, but he texted me. He’s like do you believe in ghosts? And I was like not particularly, you know, not like the traditional sense and then he was like He’s like, okay. Well ever since I brought that GE ever since I brought that. Radio that I bought into my house pictures have been falling off the wall. I was like, okay, you can bring it to story.

Maggie:
He doesn’t want it anymore. Yeah,

Rich:
I don’t think anything is falling off the walls there since

Maggie:
That’s good

Rich:
Came in, but he yeah, he didn’t like the

Maggie:
That’s funny,

Rich:
You know like the Vibes.

Maggie:
No, don’t blame them.

Rich:
Neither did the ghost apparently?

Maggie:
Yeah,

Rich:
But yeah, you saw the you saw what I was doing with this with the radios. Yeah,

Maggie:
Man. Nice job.

Rich:
Thank you. So

Maggie:
Cool.

Rich:
I’m actually very proud.

Maggie:
Yeah, I should be

Rich:
I brought so I was I spent all last Wednesday. Um figuring out how to sorry for the banter people, but I’m excited about this

Maggie:
We’re recording right? We

Rich:
Sure this time we are yes. So yeah last week I had this idea because here’s the thing. Okay, so I’ve been collecting like these old GE clock radios and they all Muslim work. I already I had one and then like I got oh, I found I found this 80s Boombox in my aunt’s house when we moved in. And it had an actual line in like I could plug I think we’ve talked about this but I could plug. And iPhone into it. Well, I can plug anything with a with an AUX,

Maggie:
You know

Rich:
Auxiliary output into the stereo and so it would play just like was playing through speakers, but it had like sick. It sounded like, you know had great Boombox sound from that era and so I was playing that for the longest time and then I started a mass more just cool GE like clock radios. And the thing that I think I love about them. I’ve been like why am I so fascinated every one of them is different for no reason like this one’s got a knob on the back that it just the brightness of the clock face, which is digital or another one. Well, and we got the phone. Yeah actual old phone or the cord.

Maggie:
Yeah, and

Rich:
It’s a clock, right?

Maggie:
Yeah coolest one not cool.

Rich:
We actually hooked that up as the phone at storied and it’s behind the bar. So now if the phone rings were actually picking up an old GE phone with that’s a landline

Maggie:
Send me a picture of it. Oh there and I’ll take a picture. We have to post it on our Instagram for people to see so I was so cool.

Rich:
Well, we gotta get real actually a whole video.

Maggie:
Yes, and

Rich:
I was thinking myself.

Maggie:
I’ll call the store and you can answer it.

Rich:
Yeah. So all of these radios are just like sitting around the shop now some of her like from 80 style some are you know a little bit a bit later earlier maybe when I’m sure when they’re all from each one is different. It’s got its own little feature and I love it, but they work the radio works. So I was like man, they’re all just sitting here. I wish I could play This I wish I could get them to play. I didn’t want to play the radio because that’s boring. You know what I mean,

Maggie:
But

Rich:
We have our chillhop Vibe. And so I was like, I wish I could get these radio’s all playing like like the same stuff. And then I got thinking to myself. How can I create a tiny little radio station and I recalled this little device and I don’t know if I talked to you about it. I mean you saw what I was doing, but

Maggie:
And

Rich:
It went in high school. Okay, so we’re talking like 10 years ago. Plus, I mean, I just like 14 years at High School in at this point. I think rip I found. My friend had this thing where you could plug it into your like car lighter, you know, the cigarette lighter Outlet deal you plug. This device into there and it it has a radio frequency and you can tune it to you pick the radio frequency. And then it was I think he’s like literally had an iPod dock like an old iPod that would plug in the body. Yeah. Not the lightning cable and it would plug into this Dock and you could play your music like an iPod music to your car’s stereo through the radio.

Maggie:
Yep.

Rich:
Do you know my brother did in his car? So my friend had that so I was thinking myself. I wonder if there’s anything like that. That I could get for the shop because I didn’t want the one that you had to plug in the car, but I wanted the same capability. So we literally went like two or three stores. I was Googling it and trying to find out like there’s gonna be like a little bit of a high-powered one. Well, there wasn’t much out there really they still do make these car ones with the plug-in and I was like I could find those but that wasn’t what I wanted. So I would have had it like Make a weird way around about to do it, but then we found this one device. That they sold it Target, which is the exact same thing except it’s battery powered. So for two triple A batteries, it will do the same thing in a broadcast like 10 feet.

Maggie:
So it connects all your radios.

Rich:
So all of the radios of storied are now tuned to 88 point five or whatever station it is and they’re all playing chillhop from your vintage iPhone 6.

Maggie:
Oh my

Rich:
Included. Oh, yeah, so I just plug that because it’s got the cable so plug that right into the phone.

Maggie:
Oh my gosh and

Rich:
It sits in the middle of the shop and it broadcasts beautifully to all of the stereo. So I’m seeing

Maggie:
On your story to Instagram. Like people are into it.

Rich:
I saw yeah,

Maggie:
I saw a couple reposts. Like people Wonder Years of the radio or take like that’s people are into it rich. That’s really cool.

Rich:
So

Maggie:
That’s all you

Rich:
So the, you know, we were shopping for it all day. And then the next day I went in and and I went to like hook it up because I had to go over to my other job after that. And so I just dropped by to plug that in and see if it would work and then I hooked it up and it was we were all TJ was there Abby was there we’re all really stoked and I was like, this is what I do here now. I just I just curate The Vibes. I’m just the vibe curator. Yeah, that’s all I do is story anymore, and I’m actually okay with that.

Maggie:
Yeah,

Rich:
Well, that’s the

Maggie:
Vibes are good there. So. Yeah,

Rich:
I’ve been curating them. Yeah, so

Maggie:
Well, I hope you have haven’t been working too hard.

Rich:
No, no, I wouldn’t want to get burnt out to anything right now, you know, in fact that’s what keeps it. That’s what keeps it interesting for me adding the second job, though.

Maggie:
Would you say you are operating at 85%

Rich:
I mean I try to try to get a little bit more like 1995 out of myself, but I don’t like to ask for a hundred percent. You know what I mean? I don’t want to raise the bar too high.

Maggie:
Yeah. Do you does that mean you only have a four day work week?

Rich:
I wish. No, but you know what? Let’s talk about that. Okay? Wow, good set up.

Maggie:
I try.

Rich:
So last week we talked about burnout. Yeah,

Maggie:
And

Rich:
If you were with us. well We talked about it. Yeah.

Maggie:
Burnout is real.

Rich:
We process it a little bit just kind of like some real time stuff.

Maggie:
Yeah, it was coming out of a burnout last week. I was like post burnout. and like we talked about how like we I didn’t really realize I was in it or maybe you were in a burnout didn’t realize you were in it. And anyways, it was it was a really good discussion and It was pretty honest.

Rich:
Yeah,

Maggie:
Just like we always are but it was. it was good stuff,

Rich:
You know, you gotta be honest sometimes and I thought that three hints at last three hints at it at the end. Do we say like next time we talked about this

Maggie:
Don’t remember I think we did.

Rich:
Okay. No. No, we do it doesn’t matter. So, um, I’ve been in this Consulting like cohort group coaching kind of thing for the for my business. and

Maggie:
Since when

Rich:
Well technically it started in June, but I’ve been doing it since I signed up in May.

Maggie:
Okay, and

Rich:
So I’ve had access to materials since May so we’re gonna had a little bit because there’s these 12 modules like 12 courses that you can go through and the 12th of them is around this concept that we’re gonna talk about today. And so I wanted to chat about it together because it’s something that’s kind of like feels like an impossible ask of a lot of folks. You’ve expressed to me that you didn’t think it would be something you could do in your business or your industry. I am never definitely not anywhere near here, and I don’t know what it would take for me to get there. But That last session is called the four day work week. And oh, yeah making this right? 25 sorry 25 hour work week 25 hour work week 25 hour work week. and four week vacation So that’s the cause of it’s behind this last module. And so Michael who’s the instructor which shout out to thread Bear Coffee Consulting. He’s been doing this a long time, but I think he’s like really I don’t know. What is the the whole Consulting thing that he’s got going on right now. It seems a little newer like as a business, but he’s obviously been at it for a while and worked with some high profile people.

Maggie:
He only works 25 hours a week.

Rich:
Yeah. I mean, I don’t know actually worth asking I think I think probably

Maggie:
I mean if he’s working more than 25 hours. a week then how could you? How could anyone? Take it seriously and actually do it if he’s not doing it. Yeah.

Rich:
Well,

Maggie:
So he would have to be doing it right.

Rich:
He must have to do it his schedule. It actually be interesting to hear from him because his So as is someone in the course, right I get to use his little calendar thing online booking tool to book a 30 minute call. So he also does like travel to see just site visits and works with people when I won now, obviously that’s probably a little bit more like an outlier or anomaly situation where it’s like yeah on average I try to work. 25 hours a week or or whatever and the 24 hours a week. So that breaks down to like five hours a day five days a week. So that’s kind of where that concept comes from and then the four week vacation. he sets that up as like I mean he says that one is like a good goal for you as a business owner or or whatever. But but he also puts it forth as like a metric so he’s saying If you can walk away from your business. Not to give away all your content Mike by the way, but maybe just as like a promo.

Maggie:
Yeah,

Rich:
People gonna hear this can be like, I want a four week vacation. Let me sign up for Mike’s coaching. This podcast is not sponsored by our coffee get something but it could be Mike. He talks about how if you when you can take a four hour when you can take a four week vacation or even a one-week vacation when you can actually walk away from your business. And it’s not going to fall apart. Then you are a business owner. That’s what he says. Okay, I’m going to give you a caveat at the end of this. So he said this in his last one. He says if you can walk away from your business for a week, two three four weeks and it’s gonna hold together and still rock out. You’re a business owner if you can’t Then you aren’t a business owner. As much as you are simply self-employed.

Maggie:
That would be me. So according to his

Rich:
No, here’s the caveat. This might not quite apply the same across all Industries, right? He deals with coffee shops Cafe owners coffee roasters, so he’s largely very specifically dealing with people like me. And how someone like you in a totally different industry with totally different needs. How you would do that probably will have some different. Practicalities to it then how someone like me?

Maggie:
So is he saying that coffee shops should only be open 25 hours a week.

Rich:
No, he’s saying that you as the owner manager. owner operator Or if your coffee company is big enough, you don’t even need to be the manager or the operator. You can simply be an owner founder if your coffee shop is big enough. His whole thing is set up to where if you’re if there’s enough Revenue if you’ve built this thing to have such an infrastructure that you don’t need to run the day to day operations. And that’s the whole key. This is why it’s Marshall 12 and not module one or two or three right? It’s because you have to work up to and work through the process and also there’s no substitute for time you have to Go through the things and build the business so that there’s an infrastructure. that has somewhat else. or some some combination of of someone else who isn’t to you and a set of systems and those things work together to where you aren’t responsible for the day-to-day. And so you as the owner are freed up to do the things that really only you can do owner stuff and that’s the kind of stuff where if you are a focused type worker doing some deep work and building a system for yourself to work at the same time. Then you might only need to work five to six hours a day five days a week because your business runs itself. you may be give input as needed but like For the most part someone else’s responsible for the day-to-day. Okay, a manager AKA a group of manager a system manager shift lead down to the Baristas, right? So there’s this whole infrastructure to where you as the owner kind of at the top of this this chain. Of accountability that you’re not required. To be in the mix.

Maggie:
I’m picturing myself as a real estate agent. how I could be how I could make that work and right now just off the top my head. The only way I could I feel like I could make a 25 hour work week work is if I like worked every couple hours like an hour in the morning then took a break and then an hour in the middle of the day and it took a break that an hour in the late afternoon took a break and then showed a couple houses for two hours straight

Rich:
Right

Maggie:
That like I could literally never work. Like like yeah. Because I need to be available during business hours for. Professionals like inspectors and attorneys and the banks because I work with banks. and that doesn’t even count as like my travel time because sometimes I’m in my car for 35 to 45 minutes just to get to a destination like does that count as working for me? It does because it’s mileage on my car. It’s time. I’m on the phone with people. That would be very challenging for me.

Rich:
Yeah, well. So yeah, I mean that. you personally it’s almost like alright, so here’s the questions that I want to be asking you I because I don’t know enough about brokerages and real estate Industry right like what’s the equivalent of like the coffee shop? Model in your industry like is there a place? And

Maggie:
How

Rich:
Does hiring brokerage function? Yeah like d is there is there a place in realty for you to become like the owner of a firm or a brokerage or something to wear now? You’re the you know, you’re the owner and then there’s people under you. I don’t know if there’s Kickbacks or commissions or how that I

Maggie:
Could create a team and become a team leader. but and like delegate showings and Opening doors for inspections and things like that.

Rich:
Okay, is that the key because you just use the d word and that’s pretty much that’s pretty much the key to the whole thing. is delegation that was module 11.

Maggie:
Yeah. Yeah, I suppose I could do that. But then then I’m asking somebody else to work more than 25 hours a week.

Rich:
I think that’s the key but actually not it’s not actually

Maggie:
It did that feels kind of hypocritical like you can’t work 25 hours, but you’re asking other people to work more than 25 hours. We

Rich:
See if you have a team though. I think this is the whole key. Right like this is so this is why me. This is why I worked for five years unpaid right? It’s because I didn’t have the revenue the resources the infrastructure to be able to step away from my business. And when I did step away from my business. The delegation was poor or the management was poor because I was the manager but I was allowing myself time away because I had some staff that I delegated like, oh you can make drinks and take orders for today, you know, because the business was the volume is low enough for the the revenues low enough that a new one or two. People can handle it in my absence for a day or hours or whatever. But but that’s not the same as building a business that has a that generates income that’s revenue and then can afford to have staff and managers, etc. Etc. So there’s something about scale the factors in the equation, but I wonder if that is where the congruency would lie for anyone trying to do it because At enough of a scale. This is the question. I guess. I’m getting at enough of a scale. Would you be in a position where? There’s enough people in your team or in your firm or I don’t know where to use

Maggie:
Team would be a good word.

Rich:
Is there enough people on your team that someone can do a showing someone can do something so that no one person is working. more than full-time more than 40 hours a week or You know or if you made it real good down to 25 30 hours. No one’s working more than three hours a week because there’s enough people because your business has scaled enough to where that’s that’s the structure. That’s how it works. Is that a feasibility?

Maggie:
It I’m trying to like it probably is a feasibility for me. But like I don’t know if that. Would be feasible for someone. Who work who like in in my team like for everybody to be 25 hours, I think in real estate that’s unrealistic. because of the span Of my day.

Rich:
Yeah.

Maggie:
Like I’m I work. in but in business hours, like, you know your normal nine to five when Banks and attorney offices are open, but sometimes I don’t start showing a house. Until 5:00 5:30, and if the person likes the house, then I have to go home and write at the offer before the deadline is due.

Rich:
Yeah.

Maggie:
So like I know like I think it’s great that. The six hour five hour work day. I would love that but we talked about this in our burnout episode that like because of the availability that we have with our phones. Yeah. um, yeah, and it’s I’m sure you could say yeah turn off your phone or don’t respond to text messages or whatever, but any and again, maybe it goes into like a deeper issue of like real estate culture because Rich if I don’t show a house and write up the offer there’s another hungry agent out there who will And that’s just I can say, yep. I’m only gonna work 25 hours this week and I’m done but I wouldn’t be to the level of success that I have if I did that.

Rich:
Yeah, I’m not saying no. I’m not saying that you’re I hear you. I hear you this

Maggie:
I would and I’m not saying it’s impossible. I would love to work 25 hours a week,

Rich:
Right? who wouldn’t so I don’t this is why this is such that I always say this but like we’re getting it why this is fascinating to me. I always say this is this is why this is fascinating. So I’m just calling myself out on that. Because I love exploring. The just the possibilities and the impossible is of things. And I’m starting to think about how Solutions come about for this right and I think the answer would have to be and I and I’m not saying it’s possible but I think the answer would have to be something about it’s it’s a system right? Like you don’t have to take every call past five PM. Oh you can have a system of priority that tells you Okay, what sort of call is this? You know, can this wait till tomorrow can this? Like a sense of urgency. You probably have enough of like experience. Or could talk through some talk through it with someone to where you can say. Okay, I have enough I can make three to five categories that are like urgent. urgent levels, you know priority levels and then you can decide sort of how to filter. The things that do have to happen quote unquote outside of your neighbors hours.

Maggie:
Have you ever heard of a dude doing done list?

Rich:
I believe that I have.

Maggie:
Is it like that?

Rich:
I don’t know I’m priority list, but it’s it’s more like for you hierarch. If our in your shoes, right? I’d be like, okay, how can I and I don’t even know that I can’t. Oh my I’m just trying to say,

Maggie:
Can you imagine if we like treated shoes for one day and I managed your coffee shop and you it’s my clients

Rich:
That would literally you would lose so much business.

Maggie:
So would you know, I’d lose.

Rich:
I got a lot less to lose on that one. Trust me. That’s fun though. That’s fun. Thought

Maggie:
It’s a fun thought,

Rich:
You know, it would be more safe though. It would be if we did it together. But like I was taking a lead, you know, I mean, you’re just backing me up.

Maggie:
Okay?

Rich:
Yeah, like

Maggie:
An experiment like I I was managing storied and you were like working for me and like you were managing my clients and I was working for you that is that what you mean?

Rich:
I think what I mean is like you I don’t know. I don’t even know what to be you on bar or like I don’t know what the equivalent there is for me at this point because I do so much different stuff and it’s not working on bar. And

Maggie:
Also you have to stay at your house.

Rich:
Yeah. So I just mean like you can always picture this as like a reality TV show actually where you’re just standing by you’re like you’re like, alright, here’s what we’re gonna trading businesses. Yeah. All right, who wants to sign this deal? We you know, you you like Stand By and you’re like, oh, here’s what we’re doing today. We’re we’re staging this living room. So I got a trailer full of stuff and you get to just pick the couch and the wall.

Maggie:
I’m already sweating thinking about like like you trying to Stage a house with my stuff like I’m like, oh my God, this isn’t

Rich:
Work. It could definitely work. Actually. I think I would I think I would be on that show. yeah, so it’d be fun if you know just so fun and it’s like you’re there to and Cruiser the cameras rolling whatever and it’s just it’s basically a joke, but it’s like, you know, you can have real time in my place you get a real-time customers and you’re like just pretending like you totally know what you’re doing, but And I’m maybe next to you pretending like you know what you’re doing, but you’re just going on your your intuition

Maggie:
Slash

Rich:
Making making exaggerated. Yeah camera.

Maggie:
I’d like to see.

Rich:
No, you wouldn’t. I’m just gonna give that house away. You know, I don’t need a commission guys save yourself a buck. So look, I don’t know. I don’t know how you would do it. I don’t even know how I would do it. And you know, Mike was saying at one point in the video. He’s like he’s like look if this sounds hard to you or or impossible realize that it took me six years to to wrap my head around and like Can’t get to I think you know from when he heard about it. I started thinking about it started working on it. He talks about how it was like a six-year process. Yeah. And he still also acknowledged like the habits that he has sometimes he’ll catch himself being excited about something and the off hours and like he talked about one guy. He knows who like gives locks the door gives that he was really just

Maggie:
Gonna I was literally just gonna say that

Rich:
Yeah.

Maggie:
Literally just gonna say that

Rich:
Maybe you saw that in the video.

Maggie:
Yeah. um, like would I can’t imagine like locking my office door and like giving the key to Brandon and then like a client calling me like actually no, we do want to make an offer on the house and then like but the deadline is like in an hour and then but my office door is locked. That would be my nightmare.

Rich:
That’s funny. Well, look, I don’t know. It’s all about. Sorry clients. I only can

Maggie:
Work a 25 hour work week.

Rich:
You know about so alright. Look this is my this isn’t for everyone. Okay, this is these are just like, um Bought this good for thought it’s food for thought. It’s like a cool challenge, you know to give yourself. Maybe I don’t know I like do you know how many hours a week? You work?

Maggie:
Oh my gosh.

Rich:
I’ve been having Abby recorder hours at the shop because she basically is the owner manager at this point.

Maggie:
And

Rich:
For the last two weeks mind you were only open five days. It’s been a consistency 60 hours a week. For all that she does.

Maggie:
Wow,

Rich:
Not including like getting waters and shopping. Yeah for the shopping hands

Maggie:
To the curb.

Rich:
Yeah, just on on bar in shop Barista hours open to close. 60 hours consistently the last two weeks.

Maggie:
That’s crazy.

Rich:
Yeah, which I mean I totally get cuz I

Maggie:
Yeah, I’ve done it

Rich:
I’ve done that too. I know how that

Maggie:
Works. How many hours a week? I work. I I probably work 60 hours some weeks because I do work there have been days where or weeks where I’ve worked. 14 21 days in a row without a break not eight hours every day, but like Show a house on a Saturday morning. That’s a couple hours out of my day. like I staged a house. This this past weekend. Because you got to get while getting’s good.

Rich:
Yeah, you have like two jobs too. Like staging is kind of its own. Yeah right now so I mean you got clients over there. Some are actually selling

Maggie:
I got a cool story. So I’m staging this house and it’s not my listing. The listing is another agent. So I was hired by the agent to Stage this house and It was vacant and long story short. We parked my trailer next to a pod in the driveway. We got the owner’s permission to do it. They’re out of town. They’re gone. They’re they’re moving out. They’re they’re not moving locally. The Pod was gonna get picked up and brought to their new house. and the as I was staging yesterday with Joe. the Pod pickup guy came and because my trailer was in the driveway, he couldn’t get the Truck to maneuver to pick up the pod. So here I am like trying to manage like I’m trying to finish staging this house, but now it becomes like We have to and I just can’t move my trailer Brandon moves my trailer.

Rich:
That’s my trailer gets dropped off.

Maggie:
Yeah, my trailer is basically a pod. It’s like two pods

Rich:
Hook this one first.

Maggie:
Yes, but like at least mine’s on Wheels. Yeah, like so like technically could move it. But this pod was just like this massive rectangle stuck to the ground and I had to like we had to like knock on the neighbor’s door and get their permission for the Pod truck to drive on the lawn their front lawn on the other side of the Pod to get the Pod onto the truck because my trailer was in the driveway. So like it’s like stuff like that like that just You know, you don’t. that took an hour out of my staging time because I had to manage and I had to like I had to watch because I didn’t want the Pod to get dropped on my trailer or like messed up because That’s also a huge part of my livelihood. Yeah, and it was just like one another another like crazy like like

Rich:
Happened at any time and it just happened to happen while you were there

Maggie:
Just happened to happen while I was there. Which is lucky because if I wasn’t there then I don’t know. My maybe he would have drove it driven on the lawn. Anyway, I don’t know I can’t say what code or couldn’t have happened. But

Rich:
Yeah.

Maggie:
But the cool part of the story is after the Pod was on the truck and he like pulled it out into the road. The guy, you know, I’m just there like in shorts and a t-shirt because I’m moving furniture. Like nobody really knows how to put my brand my trailer’s branded with my logo and and everything and I

Rich:
Love the Pod.

Maggie:
Yeah, right the pot. He’s like, I don’t know what he assumed. He maybe he assumed that I was an employee of this stage and Company but he was like, oh do you work for this company, or are you the owner and I was like I’m the owner and he’s like oh, this is your company. I’m like, yeah, this is my company and this is my trailer. So don’t mess it up, but it was just a cool moment where like I don’t know. I don’t think he expect I don’t know. It was just cool. I was like, yes, I am the owner. Yes. This is my business. And this is this is what I do. and there’s been so much of my life where I was working. For somebody else’s business and it was a really really cool moment. where I could be like Yes, I’m the owner of this business. This is my business. This is my trailer. How can I help you?

Rich:
And you’re out. Do you have any stage you

Maggie:
Have any staging me? And then he was like, what do you do? And then I I had to explain I’m like I’m staging he’s like what is staging? Like well staging is when you put Furniture into an empty home and you make it look beautiful. So that buyers can visualize themselves or what it would look like if they live there. He’s like oh and then drove away with

Rich:
Party some more sense. Yeah.

Maggie:
Yeah.

Rich:
Well, that’s a great you should isolate that audio and what is staging stage again?

Maggie:
Yeah. Yeah

Rich:
Just to find that like perfectly. Well, that’s that’s a that’s an affirming experience.

Maggie:
It was very firming.

Rich:
Happy had that.

Maggie:
Thanks.

Rich:
Just another day in life the other day the office as they say,

Maggie:
Yeah.

Rich:
Well, all right. Let’s see here. I’m just go over these notes real quick.

Maggie:
Is that all we have to say about the 24 hour 25 hour work week? Well.

Rich:
I mean what I’m not sure what we’ve even said we’re talking about this as a concept.

Maggie:
Would you be able to do it

Rich:
Talking about how hard it is? And

Maggie:
And I’m not saying like story is only open 25 hours, but like do you think that Or do you think someone like Abby could do it Abby? You just said work 60 hours,

Rich:
Right? Yeah. So what would it take so here okay in this This is why this is such a hard thing to. To get to I think for a lot of small businesses because small when you talk about small business, you’re not talking about big income, right and you’re telling you’re talking about maybe you’re talking about small profits. If any you’re talking mostly like no profits like I’m gonna work for three years and take no pay Etc. So you

Maggie:
Just talked about a couple weeks ago how you just got paid yourself for the first time

Rich:
A hundred dollars

Maggie:
A hundred dollars

Rich:
Twenty dollars

Maggie:
A year. Yeah, exactly. In case our listeners miss that episode. Yeah, just a throwback real quick.

Rich:
Yeah, but that’s not even out of that’s that did happen. That’s true. But that’s not indicative of the kind of infrastructure required for a business to support the kind of structure that we’re talking about which facilitates 25 hour work week for an hour. Okay, right could have said that more convolutely.

Maggie:
Yeah, what would it take for Abby to work 25 hours

Rich:
About Five times the revenue that we currently do. Gotcha no wait.

Maggie:
Not more employees

Rich:
Let Me Whip up something on my calculator watch real quick no more employees will not solve the problem

Maggie:
One. I’m asking like

Rich:
More employees.

Maggie:
I’m not

Rich:
Big the problem a lot worse.

Maggie:
Okay.

Rich:
Okay. Here’s another little thing. I don’t want to give away Mike’s content all over the place, but when you’re doing a business and I don’t know how this this is another interesting concept. We should just have a whole podcast Series. This is my stuff working it through actually he’s developing podcast, but I think he’s gonna put this stuff into how’s the check with them? That will stand by for that but he talks about how when you are running a cafe like mine, you’re getting coffee. You’re doing a coffee shop. There are Target numbers. Okay, and so the target numbers are percentages of your Revenue. So I’m going to call Revenue the operating budget. All right, so think on most people think annual basis, but you know me I think weekly so I’m on a basically I’m on a weekly Revenue kick because that’s a fairly consistent number week to week that I can I can divide it up and figure out okay, how are we looking in those different categories? So you should have. according to Mike in according to just some logical business practices right labor should be about 30% These are these are these are the like best case scenario kind of numbers right labor would be about 30% all equals it all in which means here’s what goes into labor. Okay? Like like your wage, okay. So if you’re Barista and you make $15 an hour, let’s say which is a little more minimum wage in New York state right now if you make $50 an hour, IOU fifty dollars an hour But I also have to I my business has to pay taxes to employ you. I also have to pay insurance. Okay. Well, we won’t call insurance. Okay, hold on we won’t call insurance. Which I don’t know how Michael file these I put insurance in the operating expenses category. Okay, there’s five. Okay, there’s five of them. So there’s rent. These are all the different. numbers rent operating expenses, which is everything that your business costs like overhead. That isn’t rent. There’s labor. there is cogs cost of goods And then there’s profit. Okay. So there’s five profit first is a is the thing he’s he’s definitely like advocates for and profit call it 10% Okay, and what we mean by profit you don’t even have to call it profit call it savings call it rainy day fund the concept here is that you’re gonna take that you’re gonna take 10% of your Revenue. Stream for whatever period of time column a week. Here’s a 10% of that and and put it away or for a month 10% of your revenue for that month goes into the rainy day fund and that’s you need to do that. When we call a profit because we say it’s not what’s left after all these other things get paid. We set it aside up front because we’re gonna need it.

Maggie:
Right

Rich:
It’s not going into the owner’s pocket. It’s going into the savings account.

Maggie:
Yeah,

Rich:
So that when the ice machine breaks we can repair it when the espresso machine breaks. We can fix it or replace it, right? So if you are

Maggie:
Like I should read that book if

Rich:
You’re stocking with profit first, I’ll just bring Becca into she can just give us a little Ted Talk on it. I know she read it.

Maggie:
Perfect.

Rich:
But that’s the concept. It’s like you have to put some savings first. I think this is a I think it’s a personal principle too, like in good in good personal finance. People are like look put a little savings first and that’s basically how it works now eventually when your business is great isn’t a good spot. Then an owner is gonna be able to An owner who doesn’t work day to day in the business. That’s where their pay is going to come from. They’re going to get draws out of that profit account. Okay, because that’s there’s enough in there to be the rainy day fund and for the owner to get some like something out of it, but we’re talking. We’re talking 500,000 a million. We’re talking like a lot of you know, Revenue per year

Maggie:
So funny when I do when I do a like payout For my income I do taxes first. Like I pull out like 30% Yeah, and I put it into a separate tax account. Because I pay taxes quarterly.

Rich:
Are you you’re talking yourself? Employment?

Maggie:
Yeah

Rich:
Tax. Yeah, so that’s outside of the business. I mean, they’ll actually move the line is a little bit more blurred for you. But like in my business, I have a business bank account. I haven’t my LLC my LLC gets the money going through it and the bank account is in its name. And then the money that so my check to myself that’s my guaranteed pay that it was written to Rich that’s into my personal account. It came out of the LLC right as an expense. Okay, not as profits not as anything else. It came out as an expense to me and now I got to be taxed. On that on the other side. So the LLC doesn’t deal with the taxes for it. And I think that would be true for you too.

Maggie:
Yeah.

Rich:
It’s also sole proprietorship. I don’t know a little less like sure that but

Maggie:
I am I am operating as a self-employed.

Rich:
Yeah. Yeah, so that and really all LLC owners are basically self-employed people to my knowledge Okay, where? Am I taking us with this so labor? Let’s just focus on that because I really actually have really love these Target numbers and these whole categories to Think Through. Oh, well you were just making the point you do tax first and I was saying that I was gonna say that tax doesn’t really factor in as one of those. Things but if it had to like you could make it it’s probably an operating expense. I think I think it would fall in the operating expense bucket because it’s not like a sixth percentage necessarily. I mean sales tax, you know, that’s just eight percent of your gross is it I think so. Yeah, I think the gross number counts include sales tax. I work a lot more with net numbers than I do gross numbers. Gross news. Nothing to me. I mean that’s helpful. It’s an indicator of something gross shows you like people through the door and the dollars that they’re spending but I’m like, I got a operate this business and that’s what cash in my hand cash flow. Hence. That’s why I work with that. But and anyway, so when I do my numbers these these percentages that I’m talking about I work with the net number I take that and I say, okay 10% over here. Can I do that? I do I do the so the 30% labor that’s where I was going with this that’s all in and includes the wage and includes the taxes. It includes every cost associated with that. Now, here’s dude some LLC some LLC people out there gonna be like, what are you talking about? Dude? There’s no way. It needs to include okay? Your work as an owner. If you work in the day to day.

Maggie:
That’s right you we talked about this before if I am on the shop floor?

Rich:
I need it. Okay, if Abby’s on the shop floor and she worked 60 hours. I need to do a quick little 60 times 50 and on my calculator watch and that’s that’s divided. These buttons are so small 60 times 15. $900 dude I have to say did I have to take if she didn’t 60 hours and 15 dollars is the going rate right like It would have cost $900 to employ someone in her place. That’s the key. So if my business can’t pay because if she has to go I have to replace her. I can’t it’s not for there’s no such thing as free labor if you’re if you’re an owner. Your business it’s not sustainable. This is a hard lesson for me. Our business is not sustainable. It doesn’t work. In its current form if I can’t pay Abbey $900.

Maggie:
A week

Rich:
A week out of that out of the revenue that comes

Maggie:
Right.

Rich:
So when you say

Maggie:
Adding more labor is not

Rich:
You add more labor. No that doesn’t cut that doesn’t that adds cost

Maggie:
That was a long answer to very well.

Rich:
There’s a lot of interesting stuff that goes into why that doesn’t work. That way owners aren’t free. If you have to replace yourself sickness illness, you have to go get another job to sustain anything right like whatever it takes. If you have to replace yourself, you have to pay for yourself.

Maggie:
I need to factor in like quote unquote paying Brandon to drop off my trailer and pick up my trailer because he does it like I don’t pay him.

Rich:
Yeah, but I

Maggie:
Need to factor that into my Cost for staging

Rich:
I would yeah first. Yeah, let’s take staging separate from Real Estate, right because staging is a little bit more like Revenue expense just a little more direct relationship for you. Right because if you’re gonna employ anyone if someone else is going to do that, I mean you in this here’s the fudge Factor right people. Can you when you’re

Maggie:
Somebody else was going to do a Brandon did I would be paying them?

Rich:
You’d want to pay them. I’m sure now. Yeah, he’s gonna say here’s the first Factor right? Someone might be a friend and like okay, I can do that for you and maybe you can do that like three or four times before it feels like you’re asking a lot, you know, who knows? No, it is a lot. It’s a lot.

Maggie:
Yes,

Rich:
He feels like a lot to ask your husband, right?

Maggie:
So

Rich:
Yeah, so that’s the concept is like if you’re if you got people doing services

Maggie:
Brandon move my trailer three times went to three houses in the last Three days.

Rich:
Yeah

Maggie:
Three times. Well not including my house

Rich:
Puppy

Maggie:
But I have at least yeah my house to property number one. He left the trailer in the driveway. Then he went back home. We destaged me and Joe he came back. He picked it up from property. Number one. We drove it to property number two where I had already pre gathered all the remainder of the furniture. We loaded it into the trailer closed it up. He drove it to property number three next to the Pod.

Rich:
Yes,

Maggie:
Left it next to the Pod. I staged the house for the last couple of days and Brandon picked it up this afternoon.

Rich:
Yeah, that’s a lot of driving a lot of man time and work and

Maggie:
A lot of time and work for

Rich:
You to get someone else to do that for you. Yeah. It would cost right?

Maggie:
Yeah, so

Rich:
That’s why I talk about the fudge factor is because the small business we kind of fudge it where it’s like. All right. Well, I can do this work and not take the paycheck so I can kind of make it work right now right or like in our and I’ve talked about this before Christine works. I’ve that’s what made us able to do the business or if you’re doing like a small like you have a market based business and you got friends who do the markets for you know, really have to pay them or you or under the table or whatever it is like or give them a little something. They’re happy enough to do it. It’s low-key. It’s whatever they’ll do it for you. We did that in the early days, but the but the concept there is like what if you had a an actual employee doing that you would have to pay them for it could your business sustain that and so all of these things have actual costs and numbers associated with them and that’s why like a business can look. Like it works, but really it doesn’t and this was a little bit of the issue with like this other opportunity. I’m talking about I’m talking more about it is the business Works in one way. But when I was looking at doing it the way I would have needed to do it. It didn’t work because I had these numbers and I was like this isn’t going to work but then I like flip the script and made it into a different situation that could work for everyone in a really cool way. so that’s a whole different story but So we’re so how you get there is you have to increase the revenue basically. Well, there’s two there’s two sides you can attack it from and we’ve basically like exhausted our resources on the one side and the one side is cut everything you possibly can. We cut the staff. Sorry guys, we cut the costs we Dude, oh my gosh. If you saw what I did to get this business in shape this year. It’s I don’t know. I’m showing you actually this cash flow calculator I have Oh my gosh. You’ve been I’m kind of impressed. I’d like to impressed with myself. Yeah.

Maggie:
No, I mean, I’ve known you for a few years now. Rich and I’ve seen a difference. I feel like this don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel like this year you’ve Gotten serious about your business.

Rich:
You’ve heard me say it’s the year of story.

Maggie:
They have heard you say that

Rich:
And and I mean that yeah, I found something the other day, by the way, I didn’t I was gonna text it to you

Maggie:
Because when you started story you didn’t even have a business plan.

Rich:
Oh my gosh, I still which plan

Maggie:
Would you know confessed here? Yeah. You’re looking something up right now.

Rich:
Yeah, trying to say something. If I can’t find her real quick, then I’ll just I’ll just

Maggie:
But I mean

Rich:
Abort this

Maggie:
Movie it is it is the year of story because already you have transformed. your business and like I feel like the fact that you’re talking numbers and like getting Consulting and driving to get new espresso machines and doing all these and starting this podcast. I mean, honestly, I didn’t even think we would start this podcast because of just how I just didn’t think it was possible. I really I mean not that I

Rich:
Get my act together.

Maggie:
Well, I don’t thought that like it’s like my business like my business. Unfortunately, sometimes always takes presidents over. precedence over like things in my life and not to get like like super personal but like you know that can weed into like your relationships and your family and your friends and like we talked about last week how my best friend Amy wants to go to Ireland for her birthday and like I can’t. break away from my business and if it’s gone to the point where like my passports expired and I don’t have the mental capacity to pursue renewing that in like how many times are we with like our loved ones and we get a text and like you’re like face to face with someone, but they’re on their phone.

Rich:
So true

Maggie:
Like I’m just but I mean that I’m actually pointing the finger at myself because that that happens often. We’re like you’re eating dinner and your phones are in front of you and like if you hear that buzz and you’re like, oh just gotta like respond to this person real quick. And that oftentimes is a reality when you have your own business and I’m sure like, my point is you It’s very clear that you’ve gotten your act together this year.

Rich:
Well. A Little Help from My Friends.

Maggie:
Oh when wait so

Rich:
Why coffee notes?

Maggie:
Why are you showing me this and fun? And what are you showing me?

Rich:
That’s that’s the pages just a page that kicked it off. Dude.

Maggie:
Stop it.

Rich:
What made it all happen right here.

Maggie:
No, it’s not.

Rich:
All right. So I was I was upstairs in my house and I was looking through some boxes and I found this clipboard. that you can we can trace back to the origin of me and Maggie actually becoming my friends and having this podcast.

Maggie:
Mm-hmm.

Rich:
Here’s what it says at the top ideas to help get storied out of the hole. We have talked about this before. Yeah, here’s the actual thing. you this is like a list of like six different things and then I was like I am grateful for that and then we talked through it. We like met to talk about it says handwritten notes on it. But anyway, I thought of that because you had said just how far things have come. I mean this was last year right wasn’t his last summer.

Maggie:
It was last summer. It was last summer.

Rich:
It was a year ago. So like we were deep in a hole. This is before Abby bought in. This was like me and Christine over

Maggie:
Worried about story

Rich:
Complaining not complaining it but just like decrying the the situation and the situation was I didn’t know any of these Target number things. I didn’t know you know how to have. like how to generate I didn’t know the stuff I have learned in the last year and I didn’t know my cash flow and you have to know like you gotta know your cash flow and you gotta know what you’re spending and why and when and So, I don’t know.

Maggie:
Yeah, I

Rich:
Don’t know. You know that what we’re talking about is how to get yourself into a spot whereas an owner you can. Not be burnt out. And have more room and I think what I’m kind of taking away from this Consulting thing that I’m going through is like you have to know your numbers my place to say if we don’t know our numbers we don’t own our business. No if we don’t own our numbers. If you don’t own your numbers, you don’t own your business. So if you don’t know your numbers, then you don’t you can’t. You can’t know what’s going on, right? So you got to know. And I mean this sucks because it’s like a process but you literally have to know what you’re paying. To the pennies for like a cup a plastic cup or paper cup or a lid or the espresso that gets going in the drink and you got into a milk costs per gram. Or ounce depending on how you do it. You got to know what your syrup cost if you’re making your own syrup, or if you’re buying it. Etc you and if you’re doing a salmon sandwich, you haven’t actually costs. Well, I mean, I don’t know your business a little different. It’s just you

Maggie:
Know it I know it is just me but I

Rich:
Mean you should I’m not saying like you should know these things, but

Maggie:
If you’re gay if you’re dealing with employees you’re being real and unfiltered. I don’t

Rich:
You heard it here first.

Maggie:
I don’t. I just I’m too busy. Don’t worry about it.

Rich:
That’s exactly yeah, and How many people feel I did raise your hand out there?

Maggie:
Yeah,

Rich:
If you felt that one. That’s okay. I think that’s okay. But here but wait,

Maggie:
Okay. What’s a takeaway for our our listeners?

Rich:
Let me say one

Maggie:
Good. Okay, but and then we want to give them a takeaway because like this is daunting right this took you a year. well to get to the place where you’re at now where this is the year of storied. I mean a year ago you were in a very different place

Rich:
I was but actually let me see if I can make people feel better because it didn’t actually take me a year to get there this it’s been a year since we started having an early car actually hasn’t even been a year. That was like midsummer. It’s closed. It’s about a year. We’re going on about a year. I think since I was having conversations like that, but Abby bought in in August. early, August so post Your list of stuff right of last year 22.

Maggie:
Yes. So

Rich:
I’ve been born in August. That was cool. We got rid of some loans at that time as a result that helped the cash flow. So the cash flow has started to be a little bit more like day-to-day since then we have had some other things. I see we have some other things come into play that like we couldn’t have predicted or planned for and those came in the last month or so so the cash flow like cushion got a little nicer. Yeah,

Maggie:
But you made that happen

Rich:
In the last like three months that money started. We got some money rolling in a little bit of a windfall if you will. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have made. Gotten on top of these no try to start getting on top of these numbers. So anyway, I’ve only been in this coaching class since like April. Or May and so I guess I’m trying to say is like the real progress has happened and she kind of a short amount of time. It hasn’t taken that long to get a sense of where we’re truly at and where we kind of need to go. It’s been like a four to six month process. So I guess I say that to say Yes, that can actually feel like a lot of time for six months now that I’m through it or I’m in it and it’s been that long. That that is a long time but it doesn’t have it’s not gonna take a year. If you decide today that you want to start like to learn some things about the inner workings of your businesses. Well, if you want to start to learn some things about how your business is operating if you want to start digging into your cost of goods what your supplies are costing. What’s your food is costing or for you? What’s your what’s your labor is costing like that’s that can be some baby steps and it can be a process that you can give yourself just do a little bit this week. It can give a process. It can be a process. You give yourself like the next month to do. I got some things going on in my other job that I’m like, I’m gonna get myself. Because I’m stepping in from where I’m stepping into it. I’m saying a little bit of a three-month process to get a hold of their numbers. I’m doing that but it’s it’s a slow roll. That’s because I have to physically go to the store and like compare these prices and do a bunch of different stuff. So, I mean that takes time it takes investment and that’s okay as long as you know. that your business is sort of okay now, you know to like the cash flows there you can kind of ride the way if and then while you’re riding the way of start to just Just bring some. Some of these like smarter choices about how things are running into. into the mix I guess so. I’m just trying to say it sounds daunting and it is. A slog but to start to get on top of your numbers actually just just to start is actually pretty easy. And there’s no time like the present and it probably you probably get more done in less time than you are thinking. It’s a it feels like a big project. But

Maggie:
What’s a practical thing that somebody can do like use the spreadsheet use an app use

Rich:
It depends what your goal is. So you I would say Define a goal first for me. And my talks about this too. He’s like you got to Define what success means for you for some people that means profitability. Okay, for some people that means like a paycheck for some people that means just like less work to do. Okay, so kind of you got to define a goal for yourself and then you can kind of figure okay what steps is gonna take for me to move toward that goal. So for me, let’s say it is profitability. Let’s let’s say as I can have a 10% portion of that Revenue going into a savings account each time. So now I got to figure out okay. how do I get a hold of the whole equation because I told you there’s five different categories. They all got a balance out with your Revenue. So I have to ask myself what are my operating expenses and take an inventory of those things and kind of go through maybe go through. Here’s a practical step go through your last month’s base statement and say, okay. What did I spend on at this store? What did I spend at the store and just figure out like categorizing your your expenses into different buckets operating expenses. Okay cost of goods or cost of goods over here labor costs Etc. And you can figure out what are those What are those totals relative to your Revenue? So that’s like one that’s kind of where I’m at. For instance. That’s kind of the Practical project. I’ve been doing with storied and I’m doing with another business. And it’s something I never did for five years. So that’s why I started doing that in the last two months.

Maggie:
Wow,

Rich:
Now things are like, okay. We’re getting a sense. And this is why I’m talking about, you know, can Abby get it for not for can she get $900 out of our business a week for? As a labor cost. You can now be a portion of 30% of our revenue and and this this is why I’m asking that because I want her to be able to have that pay right. because it costs the business that much to pay someone but if you do the math on our Revenue not to tell people all our numbers, but I mean, I don’t really care but I’ve told you they’re small right to do the math on that we we did and basically what it amounts to is that there’s like four hours a day Left to have a second person in the shop or somebody’s less than four hours a day extra. So it’s kind of like we can employ Abbey for 60 hours a week. But then at our Revenue cap currently. we can only have like Four more staffed hours per day, which isn’t much and we’re kind of doing that right now. It’s kind of like what story it is. We fudge a little bit on the on the weekends because there’s more we’re busier on weekends and we’re a little so but now okay. Here’s the thing 30% right? So with that simply means that we’re running more like 30 to 35 percent maybe even 35 to 40% just means our labor percentage is higher. But if the rest of your equation balance is where our rent is below the cap for what it should be right our percentage of what we pay in rent is and and utilities it’s lower. So that just means That it balances out in that way. We’re paying less than another category and not that we should but that allows us to pay more in the in the Labor, for instance,

Maggie:
Right? And

Rich:
If that works out, if you’re paying less somewhere else than it doesn’t have to come out of the profit. But anytime that you’re operating above that sort of percentage then you’re then they’re profit is

Maggie:
Your profit

Rich:
Arguably gonna dip on this your protecting out with your life. Like I don’t care what happens in pain 10% of this account. So yeah, those are ways to do it maybe 10% profit is too high of a like a starting point. Maybe make a five. I don’t know the point is just to like start somewhere and start.

Maggie:
Yeah.

Rich:
Balancing your business relative to your Revenue according to percentages that are appropriate for industry.

Maggie:
And to be it’s up to me.

Rich:
Dang, dude I think you’re so right.

Maggie:
Yeah, well,

Rich:
So yeah, I don’t know I mean It’s do you see how it all goes together? Yeah, I feel like the 25 hour work week. the whole situation like that’s something you start talking about when you have a lot of Revenue as a business, it’s not Going to be for Abby when she’s the owner of this business and I’m also not physically present but even if I was physically present and she was working less it would still cost the same. I

Maggie:
Think that’s a good point to sort of conclude on is like you make a really good point of like this the 25 hour work week is something to maybe like a goal to attain after several years of the business. Obviously if you’re first starting out in a business. You might not get traction very quickly. If you’re only dedicating 25 hours a week to

Rich:
Right

Maggie:
Your creative pursuit or your business. I think you and I are both at the point. You especially are at the point where we can think about a 25 hour work week by using that d word delegate. But when someone’s first starting out like you were five years ago, like I was many years ago. You got a hustle a little bit. You got a yeah to get to that point. Yeah, that’s good. That’s good. I’m glad you said something. I’m glad you mentioned that at the end because it’s important for people who are just starting out to make that distinction.

Rich:
Yeah, I this is I think we’ve talked I think we’ve talked about that really because we told our stories we have the hustled. I’m still hustling right when I tell you what I’m doing now, which I will do soon because that we haven’t like made it superficial but like I’m in the role. I’m doing what I’m doing. Excuse me. I’m in the role in the role. It’s doing I kind of know my job. I’m I’m taking it on but like until we sign on some dotted lines. I just I’m being a little bit like because any because anything can happen anything can happen. So new right once I tell you what I’m doing right now, you’ll be like this is not less hustle. You’re not about to work less than 25 hours, you know, you’re not about to be working five hours a day. I’m about to be working. More

Maggie:
I know I

Rich:
Had to convince that why didn’t convince I had to get average permission. I had to get my wife’s permission and I had to make sure it was gonna work for like everything what I’m doing. So just just wait until you hear what my nonsense goes through my mind because the hustle is still very real for me.

Maggie:
It’s always going to be there.

Rich:
Yeah, it has to be it has to be I don’t want to be some I don’t know. CEO out here. Just because your job, right? Yes. Stay close,

Maggie:
Right?

Rich:
No, so the grindstone. Oh man,

Maggie:
I’ll be moving furniture until I can’t move anymore.

Rich:
Yeah.

Maggie:
I mean Maybe not maybe I’ll find something else that I’m passionate about but

Rich:
I like this one. This was like this is a really practical. Yeah stuff that for me. This is the kind of stuff. I like to process and think about when it comes to business because this is the stuff. I’m actually doing right now and it’s stuff. I wish I would have known five years ago, right and it’s stuff. I wouldn’t have been able to do well, I mean five before I started maybe I would have been able to do something if I had known about it, but like once I got started I wouldn’t have been able to do much about this. um But that’s okay.

Maggie:
Maybe next time we can talk about 85%

Rich:
Oh, yeah,

Maggie:
Because I that’s

Rich:
A little bit more like yeah,

Maggie:
That’s

Rich:
A little bit more like burnout culture.

Maggie:
Yeah kind

Rich:
Of stuff which is again ongoing conversations. I don’t have to talk more about that and to oh to wrap all this up. to the that all of this was in the context of how do we avoid burnout in our culture? I think It ultimately comes down to not trying to set some arbitrary number of I can only work 24 hours a week, but rather look it comes down to learning to look at our businesses in a way. That we can figure out how can I make this thing sustainable? To where? Everything is balanced. Everything’s in balance with it’s with like itself and relative to the actual reality of my business and and long term and that’s how burnout I think. Life, we we avoid it because we know what things are more predictable

Maggie:
Predictable.

Rich:
Yeah, so That’s that for today.

Maggie:
Yeah, that was thanks a lot of A lot of information to process.

Rich:
Yeah, you know. Well, I’m happy we happy we did. All right. Well catch you.

Maggie:
Okay, that’s it for today. Don’t forget to follow us on our Instagram at House Coffee podcast and you can submit a question or feedback or visit us at House Coffee podcast.com. Please rate and review us. We would love to hear your feedback and send us your comments and questions. You can also email us at House Coffee podcast at gmail.com. And I think that’s that’s all the spots. But just you know,

Rich:
We’re

Maggie:
Fine connect with us. We want to connect with you.

Rich:
All right

Maggie:
Later. you