What Happens When Life Shows Up?

Narrator 0:00
You’re listening to the All systems go podcast, the show that teaches you everything you need to know to put your business on autopilot. Learn how to deploy automated marketing and sale systems in your business the right way. With your host, the professor of automation himself and founder of automation bridge, Chris Davis.

Chris Davis 0:32
Welcome to the All systems go podcast. I’m your host, Chris L. Davis, the founder and chief automation Officer of automation bridge, where we focus on turning digital marketing professionals into automation service providers by teaching them Marketing and Sales Automation. And if that’s something of interest to you, and you’d like to know, should I do something like that? We’ve created a quick, short, powerful quiz that will assess your skills where you’re at in business right now. And let you know if you would make a good automation service provider from your digital marketing efforts. Or not. You can take that quiz at automationbridge.com/check at absolutely no charge. This episode could easily easily everybody be entitled built to last part two based on our previous episode, it was so well received that I wanted to run an encore and plus there were just some things on my mind some things personally that I have gone through and triumphed and continue to go through. But it’s looking at it’s looking at business through the inevitable lens of life, and how it shows up. How it is so dynamic so unanticipated at times and often taken for granted. So I think that it’s sometimes it’s good to look at the more grand scheme of things as people who are going through we have emotion. We have feelings, we have desires, we have moods, what what part does that play in business in systems? Well, we’re going to talk about it in today’s episode, but before we get into it, if you’re new to the podcast, make sure that you subscribe and share this after you’ve listened to it. Okay, listen to this episode in its entirety so you know exactly what you’re getting into. I guarantee you will like it, you will enjoy it. But I want you to make sure that you you’re in tuned you’re listening and you’re educated, right? If you’ve been as a listener and you just haven’t subscribed, what are you waiting for? Let’s let’s make that happen. Join the family. Every Thursday we release a new episode. We you can you can subscribe to the All systems go podcast in all of the main podcasting apps, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, you can subscribe on YouTube. At the time of recording this, the All systems go podcast is free to subscribe to. So listen, I don’t know what else I can do. I’m giving value every week you’ve got a library of previous episodes that you can binge on. Come join, come join, subscribe, leave a five star rating and review so that we can get the word out and let people know just how bonafide and battle proven and tested and valuable. This podcast is for the marketplace. All right. So if we went when I think about it,

Chris Davis 3:41
and if you if you all will allow me. You know, I think it’s safe to call you all family now. Okay, we are family, you. You are listening to me at least once a week for 30 to 45 minutes. My voice is either in your car and your headphones and maybe you have a spouse, business partner friend, it’s like, Hey, who’s that guy again.

Chris Davis 4:03
We’ve grown close. And I just want to be, I guess a bit more human. With this episode, and it it will stem from just me recollecting. Oftentimes I find myself in introspection is q4 at the time of recording this. So it’s often that time to reflect on how the year has gone so you so you know how to finish it or you can identify how you want to finish it. And I just found myself kind of going down this trail and seeing a trend that I wanted to address, especially relative to the last episode. And I remember

Chris Davis 4:41
this was first introduced to me the dynamic of life. As strange as that sounds, was first introduced to me when I went to a my first conference ever It was called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T Harv Eker. And it was your traditional speaker from the stage Hurry up, run

Chris Davis 4:59
to the back, and by now, I had never been in that environment. So you can imagine a young Chris, engineer, looking for a way out of the corporate world. And these people have products entitled, Never Work Again.

Chris Davis 5:16
Automatic paychecks, right, it’s just like, what? There’s a world where this is real. So was I running to the back of the room? Absolutely. I left that conference with about $10,000 of programs. Now, this is somebody who’s never paid over $50 for any form of software. This was many years ago, where SaaS wasn’t SaaS, I come home with over $10,000 worth of receipts. And who do I have to face? A wife who’s looking at? Excuse me, brother? How is this gonna work?

Chris Davis 5:51
How is this realistic, and I’m looking scratching my head, like, I don’t know, now that I’m out of the environment, in the in the persuasion has worn off, I need to reassess. Hence, I cancelled pretty much everything. But one of the things that they said there was they introduced this dynamic of this guy who had successful business, then his house burned down, he found himself in the hospital. And like all of this drama, I was like, Oh, my goodness. And one of the things he said is, as much as everything that happened in life, stopped, my business didn’t, my money, didn’t know they were talking from passive income perspective. But I never forgot that in though it was scammy. Very scammy, it felt let me not, I don’t want to speak badly on the brand, it just felt to me now. Like when I look back, it was very just pump and dump, just build them up, get their money, and then move out the way for the next batch.

Chris Davis 6:50
So I don’t want to say the brand was it just to me, in my limited perspective, I saw put it on me my limited perspective, just my outlook on life. That’s what it felt like. And it would later prove to be true, what this man had said would be what proved to be true. And what most entrepreneurs do in business is they start wearing all hats, which is fine, it’s, it’s, it’s something that we have to do. Right? It is, you know, give you your your flowers a hand clap, because you’re doing what you need to do. The problem is not wearing the hats, the problem is keeping them on keeping all of them on they keep, you know, I’ll see entrepreneurs that instead of learning leadership, and how to build teams in and identify talent, they’ll just keep learning more skills, more skills that require them to implement in their business in their business continues to rely on them. Right. And they do this so that they don’t have to rely on or pay others. A lot of them take pride, they take pride in being able to, I’ve got air quotes here, do it all themselves, because the reason I do air quotes is because we’re not really doing anything all ourselves.

Chris Davis 8:06
Somebody is helping you want to believe you’re a solopreneur, let’s ask your family and the sacrifices they’ve made for you to be that solopreneur. Right? Somebody is helping you even in your mindset of thinking, I’m doing it all myself.

Chris Davis 8:20
And some find success, some, some really do in they say, look, I just it was just me. And I made it. And they’re looking at everyone else that has built a team and maybe has payroll. And they’re thinking they figured out the secret to success. They’re in their mind. Look, you guys are missing it. Right? until something happens until life deals and unexpected.

Chris Davis 8:51
until they find themselves needing to perform to make profit without the passion desire or want to do so.

Chris Davis 9:02
What happens when life happens when life shows up and takes from you? What you need to succeed?

Chris Davis 9:13
is a heavy question. We just say that.

Chris Davis 9:17
But I think these conversations are necessary. And I promise, this won’t be a morbid or depressing episode. But sometimes we have to sit and just be be realistic with ourselves, right? how things are going, and how long it’ll last? What is the expiration date on the efforts that are that are required to run your business or the operations.

Unknown Speaker 9:43
Okay, so what I want to do is I want to look, look at this dynamic through a few different lens. I’ve got a few profiles of people these are it’s not the exhaustive profile of people. There’s many, but I think these encompass the most and I just wanted again

Chris Davis 9:59
Just have a brief conversation with you all shape, put things in its proper perspective to make sure that you’re on the right path. If you’re not get you on the right path, if you’re on the right path, stay on the right path. Okay, so the first profile that I think of and see the most prevalently is the successful hustler. Right? This is the person that hey, look, I’m going to make it happen is whatever it takes, right. And I’ve seen this profile make millions of dollars within a calendar year, see extreme amount of success. And at the end, on the other hand, see an extreme amount of boredom, fatigue, and just burnt out,

Chris Davis 10:43
literally will have a million dollar business and be like, you know what, I just got tired. I just got lazy, I just didn’t feel like doing it. Now, some of you who are struggling to make your first five to $10,000 a month, are like what, give me that business any day. Right? And these successful hustlers they usually have, you know, a small team of freelancers to do the things that they don’t know how to do.

Chris Davis 11:08
But the load of revenue generation still primarily falls on them. What what happens when a successful hustler gets life shows up in there’s an injury? Or maybe they can’t, they’re there. They need to recover from a health spill. Right? What happens to that successful hustler? What happens to the hustle? If that’s what your business relies on? Where does the hustle go? When life just kind of says, Hey, let me borrow that?

Chris Davis 11:44
What about the jack and jill of all trades?

Chris Davis 11:47
Just all around skilled individual that can really do anything, figure out anything. And when we talk about don’t need anybody else, like, you know, this is I think Michael Gerber has it the best in the book, The E myth. And he talks about how people who are skilled, often build businesses around their skill. They don’t, they don’t build businesses, to operate without them. Right. So they start a business getting paid to do and they just never stop doing. Okay, the more they learn, the more they can do, the more they can do, the more they can make. But they don’t. If you sit and talk to that jack, and Jill of all trades, not only are they exhausted, but they’re overwhelmed. And if they’re really honest, they’re undercharging massively, for what they do. Because the truth of the matter is, they don’t really know the value of the transformation. They may have people that tell them, Look, this is amazing. I can’t believe I got it for this price. But they don’t truly believe there’s something there’s a mental block, there’s a confidence thing, there’s something there that prevents them from really

Chris Davis 13:05
asking for what they’re worth, mainly because they’re so used to just doing it as simplified. And if somebody without their skill knew how to do 10% of what they did, they will charge 10 times and be further along much faster.

Chris Davis 13:24
So what happens when the jack and jill of all trades? What happens? When are you tired? What happens when you wake up? And you just don’t feel like logging into your computer? I’m not talking about depression, everybody.

Chris Davis 13:38
Although we can throw that in there. Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey with a whole bunch of ups and downs on this roller coaster. But what if you just wake up and you just don’t feel like logging in?

Chris Davis 13:53
What What if you just don’t feel like getting on a plane? You’re the one speaking you’re building your funnel, you’re nurturing your leads? You’re writing the copy? you’re posting on social? What? What if you just don’t feel like it? What if you’re tired or reading comments in, you know, creating images and taking pictures everywhere you go? It’s like, Oh, this is a good picture for Instagram. Oh, this is a good picture for someone. So what if you just get tired of thinking about that stuff and just want to sit and embrace and enjoy life?

Unknown Speaker 14:27
Right?

Chris Davis 14:29
Then the third is the the hesitant investor. Right? And for them, the only way to grow is to get uncomfortable with investing, but they won’t do it. They if out of all of these. I find the hesitant investor, the one who really takes tomorrow for granted. I mean you just think that you have time to figure it out. The reality is if you could have figured it out, you would have figured it out. You

Chris Davis 14:59
is going to take more than what you’re doing.

Chris Davis 15:03
And every time there’s an opportunity that comes along and says, hey, look, this is how you get to the next level, up instead of the your hands loosening a bit for you to prepare to invest, it gets tight, you hold it.

Chris Davis 15:19
I’m content, I’m content where I’m at.

Chris Davis 15:23
Right? I’ve got some things that are working, I’m just gonna ride this out. Not gonna maybe, maybe at some point, I can save up some money.

Unknown Speaker 15:32
Does that point ever really come to the truth? Right? Because life keeps showing up, doesn’t it? Whether it’s kids, something personal, like a car got damaged, or something happened in your home, you’ve got to pay for repairs, somebody did something in the business that you now have to recover from? Isn’t life always happening? Isn’t there always just some reason it keeps making success just so elusive for you.

Chris Davis 16:07
The only way to grow is to get uncomfortable, invest in mentorship, coaching, whatever the case may be.

Chris Davis 16:15
And you just simply won’t do it.

Chris Davis 16:19
It doesn’t feel good, it’s got to feel better. I don’t like my account being under a certain number. Right? But what happens when life comes up, or an opportunity comes or there’s a need. And in the only way to capitalize or take advantage of or get through it was to invest six months ago. And since you didn’t? Well, now you’ve got to reckon with it. What happens?

Chris Davis 16:48
This is a this is a question that I really do want you to be asking yourself in answering this as you’re listening. Because if it’s anybody that does not deserve to be lied to you, in especially by yourself, you never deserve to be lied to by yourself. Okay, so though these are all different profiles, in not all of them. These are not all of the profiles that exist, of course. But they all have the same threat in common.

Chris Davis 17:19
They’re banking on picking up tomorrow where they left off today.

Chris Davis 17:22
There they close their computer every day saying, oh, I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll get back to that. Or hey, how do this we all do it? Listen, I did it yesterday.

Chris Davis 17:34
Okay, I’m not talking from this perspective of Hey, look, I’ve done it. I’m, I’m out of that you guys are still in that? No.

Chris Davis 17:44
Again, just perspective.

Chris Davis 17:48
They’re banking on picking up tomorrow where they left off today, as if the market can shift new competitors can’t come, something can break something different comes up, right? If something happened to them or their business? What let me say this, if something happened to them, their business will take a devastating blow.

Chris Davis 18:08
And I think if you ask yourself that question, What if something happened to me, and you have no contingency plan, and you have nothing in place to ensure that the operations of your business maintain at least the level that they’re at today?

Chris Davis 18:25
You need to start thinking more seriously about this me as a family man, I’m always thinking about this, always making sure my wife has all of my LastPass You know, my my master LastPass password knows where everything is located, has an understanding of Hey, look, this is what happens in the business. And if something happens to me, this is how long that things will last without me showing up.

Chris Davis 18:49
Before we start to see a difference in that number in the account.

Chris Davis 18:54
So I’m always in that form of thinking, but some of you are not even even you can even be family oriented and still not be in that frame of mind.

Chris Davis 19:03
But what happens what happens when something happens to you?

Chris Davis 19:07
Right?

Chris Davis 19:09
So more than anything, none of the profiles that I’ve mentioned, none of the people that I’ve met, really have the systems in place to support life showing up when life wants to show up. Now, this is again, this is a different perspective different context. Usually Chris, you’re talking about automation and how you can take your your profitable digital marketing efforts and scale and grow a business and, and build a business beyond your dreams. What about the other side?

Chris Davis 19:42
What about that breakup? that you just can’t seem to shake?

Chris Davis 19:47
What about the betrayal

Chris Davis 19:51
in a marriage or relationship that just has you off your game? What about a sudden death in the family

Unknown Speaker 19:59
just

Chris Davis 19:59
What about stress from kids? Good Lord, right?

Chris Davis 20:05
It’s there, that when we talk about systematizing, your business automating? Yes, I’m, I’m thinking about revenue, and I’m thinking about growth and all of that. But I’m also thinking about the other side, you as a person, are you not worth focusing on? Right?

Chris Davis 20:28
But no systems, you have no reinforcement to automate the operations, when you can’t do it, or when you don’t want to, it doesn’t have to be about, oh, I broke my both my resin, I can’t type. Oh, and I got strep. So bad, I can’t even talk. Right? It’s not about these extremities. What if you just don’t want to

Chris Davis 20:51
write, and that’s the importance a lot of people gloss over, it’s okay at some point to not to want to not want to do certain things in your business. However, you can’t feel entitled to the point where you just stop because you feel like you shouldn’t have to, and you have no systems in place to aid such desires.

Chris Davis 21:13
Listen,

Chris Davis 21:16
life is gonna happen. For some of you it already did. I mean, for me again, I last year, I caught COVID. I was out for the count for a while.

Chris Davis 21:27
Thankfully, I had enough systems in place, I needed more, don’t get me wrong, I needed more. But I had enough to maintain the operations.

Chris Davis 21:39
Right. So a lot of you life has happened to a lot of you life is happening too. And the rest of you, life will happen too.

Chris Davis 21:49
And probably all of you have seen the shorthand and life can deal at times, I’ve met countless entrepreneurs who are exhausted in suffering health wise, because they simply can’t stop operating at the pace they are

Chris Davis 22:02
or everything falls apart. That’s a pressure and I’m honest here. I’m not where I want to be yet myself.

Chris Davis 22:12
But I’m mindful of it and I’m working towards the solution. Right? And I just want you to know, it’s okay. It’s okay to just be tired.

Chris Davis 22:27
It’s okay to not like your business at times. What What relationship do you always like all the time? There’s always this tug and pull in growth, right?

Chris Davis 22:38
Like, alright, I’m tugging on you. Come on, come on, grow with me. And then they come and they grow and now they’re like, hey, look, come on, you say grow, let’s go now they’re pulling you, right? That’s relationship businesses, businesses the same way. And business challenges, every thing that you are personally because it shows up professionally.

Chris Davis 23:03
And sometimes that can be overwhelming. Sometimes it’s more than just man we didn’t hit our revenue numbers. Sometimes you’re realizing that there’s some hangups in you that are showing up and cannibalizing your efforts in business. And you’re you need to get that shored up maybe you’re you need to seek a therapist or you know, do some some trauma recovery, whatever the case is, we are human beings, in business, we feel, we we mood,

Chris Davis 23:35
we fatigue. These are all the reasons why, you know, you hear me say you know, technology is your best hire, make it be your first hire and put systems in place. But at the end of the day, we need to let ourselves be who we are, and that is human need to let ourselves be human. And when we do that, and we we acknowledge the frailty

Chris Davis 24:00
of our flesh, the the human nature, and how unreliable it is.

Chris Davis 24:08
It does give you a different perspective on life. It does shape how you approach how you listen to even what I’m saying. Because this is a huge key everybody.

Chris Davis 24:21
I hope I hope in the years, months, weeks of listening to me that you understand that I am not a gimmicky person. I am not the get rich, quick type individual. And honestly maybe if I adapted some of that stuff in marketing, maybe I’d be further along monetarily, but I don’t. I’m a human being that has found a skill that I want to help you leverage to live life, the way that you truly desire through building a sustainable business with longevity integrated inside of it.

Chris Davis 25:00
That’s what drives me. That’s what brings me to this podcast to teach you to speak on these things. Yes, I’m a tech head. Yes, I love building systems. Yes, I’ve seen extreme amount of success with them. Yes, I want you to have that. But I want you to be a person to write, don’t get lost in the journey that you don’t acknowledge, and you don’t recognize who you are, at the end of it, right? trying so hard to climb the mountain of success. There’s a mirror up there, and you’re like, Who is that? Is that me? Right?

Chris Davis 25:37
And I know, I know, it’s the traditional, can your business operate without you conversation, but it’s more than that. It really is. It’s you understanding that you can only do so much. And being okay with that.

Chris Davis 25:53
learn the skill of leadership, learn how to Team build, how to how to determine or, or see talent that you can use in your business, learn how to operate differently, so you can get more help. Right?

Chris Davis 26:10
And what about the other side of the spectrum? What happens when life deals you a good hand? Right? It rains on the poor, as well as the rich, right? Everybody gets rained on.

Chris Davis 26:23
So it’s not just going to storm, there’s going to be sunny days. So So what happens? On the other hand, what happens when you get immediate exposure access to an audience that’s ready to buy from you? And a lot? They’re like, wallet ready? Are you excited? Because you have a systematic means of converting new leads?

Chris Davis 26:47
Again, you can convert them all you like, bring it on? or Are you overwhelmed, because it just means more work for you. You just like, Look, thank you for the opportunity. But oh, my goodness, I can’t take on another client. I was just about to take a week off after working for five years straight, right?

Chris Davis 27:10
You may not be feeling this pain

Chris Davis 27:13
in its totality just yet, but it’s coming. And I’m not saying that to wish anything bad upon you. I’m just saying we all get to that breaking point where we’re just like, I just can’t, I have to change my ways. And I said all of that in this episode really to say this.

Chris Davis 27:34
That pain is what you may need to change the ways of your operation for the better.

Chris Davis 27:40
It really is.

Chris Davis 27:43
Any anybody who has done any form of emotional awareness or counseling, trauma?

Chris Davis 27:54
resolving knows that the human humans by nature, we avoid pain, like the plague.

Chris Davis 28:04
Like a plague, I should say. Just avoid it. I don’t want to feel it. I didn’t know, hurt. I would rather stay in a true or a false relationship than deal with the pain of the reality that I should have left it a long time ago. not talking about just marriage stuff. I’m talking about business partners friendships, we avoid pain. So if anything that I’m telling you in this episode, which I know is a little different, it’s like man, where’s the tech stuff? Where’s the automation strategy? It’s coming. You’ve got like 100 other episodes, you can listen to for that.

Chris Davis 28:43
Right?

Chris Davis 28:46
What about the pain? What I say is embrace it.

Chris Davis 28:52
Embrace it, because on the other side of pain is your freedom. Don’t run from it. Welcome the pain and change as quickly as you can.

Chris Davis 29:05
There’s there’s no body it’s like like you pull up. If you’re

Chris Davis 29:11
dry, you know you’re a

Chris Davis 29:13
freak, forget what they call EMT, right? You’re on the scene. And you can’t help the individual if they don’t acknowledge bleeding out. If they’re just like, No, no, no backup, I’m good. I’m good. And you’re looking like No you’re not. There’s a Key and Peele episode where he though there are these Mexican gangsters and he falls down because he won’t sit down. Carlos won’t sit down. He just stands in, he sits on the table. He falls and then it’s a spike that goes to his side. And they’re like Carlos, you’re bleeding. And he’s like, I’m fine. I’m cool, right?

Chris Davis 29:51
And that’s how people are. It’s just like, No, I’m good. No, embrace that pain and let it force you to change

Chris Davis 30:02
Don’t get comfortable doing everything yourself, don’t get comfortable where you’re at. People aren’t in enough pain to change.

Chris Davis 30:12
And that’s just the reality of it. Let the pain change you.

Chris Davis 30:18
It’s, again, at the time of recording this, we’re going into q4, Look at, look at, look at what you need to do differently. Now is the time.

Chris Davis 30:28
The end of the year investment, you know, for tax liability purposes, look at what you could invest in, that both benefits you personally, professionally and monetarily, right.

Chris Davis 30:42
Again, I say welcome the pain

Chris Davis 30:45
and change as quickly as you can to ensure that the future of your business is in good hands, not just your hands. And this is why I’m so excited. I’m so proud of the people in my community that people have gone through my program and put systems in place. Because they’re taking vacations. They’re they’re having babies. Right? Can Can you just have a baby and peace? Can you get married? and just enjoy the honeymoon? Right? Can you just have a staycation? It’s happening. It’s happening. There’s, there’s a sense of calm. You know what that comes with not having to say yes to everything or be out scouting for business and you know, life happens positively or negatively. Or let me just say life happens positive and negative. It’s all subjective, right?

Chris Davis 31:46
But regardless, you’re able to respond at the level that you need to, to maintain or create the desired outcome that you want.

Chris Davis 31:57
That’s what I want for you. All

Chris Davis 31:59
right. So who needed to hear this one?

Chris Davis 32:04
who needed to hear you guys see my range here, right? singers can hit high notes and low notes. And now you see, you know, I can go light, I can go techie and I can go heavy with life and dynamic like that. That’s what makes the podcast so unique. But who needs to hear this? Who’s that overwhelmed business owner?

Chris Davis 32:24
family doesn’t get to see them. You barely get to see him. And when you do, it’s just like, have you slow down? Have you eaten today, right? share this episode with them.

Chris Davis 32:36
Share it, they need a system, not because I’m the tech automation expert. But because as a human being, you need the level of assurance that a system provides so that you can show up in life how you truly want.

Chris Davis 32:54
Okay, and if you found value in today’s episode, this is the time to subscribe, share and leave a five star rating and review. At automation bridge. We’re dedicated to training digital marketing professionals into becoming automation service providers again, by teaching them Marketing and Sales Automation, how to how to install automated systems for small businesses, SaaS companies, startups of all varieties and small enterprises. The industry needs it. If you’re a SaaS founder, you need a marketer that understands automation. If you’re a small enterprise, you need a marketer or marketers. If you’re a small business, yes, you need it.

Chris Davis 33:36
Okay, we’ve got you covered, we really do. We’ve got an amazing program that teaches this within six months, six months, or shorter, depending on the digital marketer to learn these skills, okay, again, if you want to, if you want to just do a quick check and see, I wonder if I should try that out. We’ve got a quick quiz, automationbridge.com/check. We’ll get you access to that. All right, we’ve also made it easy for you to get access to everything else that you need. By visiting Allsystemsgopodcast.com , you’ll get access to the latest episodes. Our amplify my automation package. That’s what I just mentioned, is dedicated to put in marketing and sales systems in your business over the next six months or shorter again, depending on your marketer or you have access to our free Facebook group. You can request or refer someone to be a guest for the podcast. And any resource and or training mentioned on the podcast, on URL to remember gets you access to everything in that’s allsystemsgopodcast.com . Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. And until next time, I see you online automate responsibly