Grit and Growth: My Story, My Strategy

Ralph00:00:00

You heard me talk about the grit. Maybe you've heard me talk about the grind and the honest, sometimes brutal truth of building a business. We've talked about the chaos of cash flow.We've talked about the trap of a broken business model. And then we talked about the soul crushing weight of burnout. Even how to sell without feeling salesy.But perhaps in those quiet moments when you're wrestling with your very own doubts, you've wondered, who is this guy, Ralph? Who is this guy? Who is this guy really? Has he actually walked through the fires himself or is he just talking from a textbook?Well, today I'm pulling back the curtain and I'm pulling it back completely. I'm going to share my own journey with you.I'm going to talk about the raw mistakes I've made, the agonizing lessons and the moments that I wanted to quit and just walk away from everything. But I'm also going to share the core strategies that allowed me to build, to rebuild and and sustained businesses for over three decades.Today isn't just my story. It's a testament to the enduring power of true grit and strategic growth. And I believe deeply that you'll see it in yourself.You're going to see the struggles, you're going to feel those fears, and most importantly, you're going to see the potential. So stay with me because today's Personal. I'm going to share with you my pillars of success on today's show.

Podcast Announcer00:01:23

Running a business isn't easy. It's long hours, tough calls and relentless pressure. No shortcuts, no handouts. Just grit, grind and the will to keep going when most would quit.Welcome to Grit and Growth Business, the show for entrepreneurs who know success is built the hard way. Hosted by Ralph Estep Jr. A seasoned business coach, accountant and fellow fighter in the trenches.Each episode brings you real talk, proven strategies and the unfiltered truth about what it really takes to build something that lasts. Because if you've got persistence, perseverance and determination, this is the place for you. This is Grit and Growth Business.

Ralph00:02:11

Hey there and welcome back to Grit and Growth Business. I'm Ralph Estep Jr. Glad to be with you again this week. And last week we really had a really important conversation about sales being a dirty word.We actually said sales isn't a dirty word. We broke down the discomfort around selling and showing you how to embrace it as a genuine act of service.So if you missed that, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out.You can see all of our shows or Hear all of our shows also at grit and growth business.com but this week, I want to do something completely different. I want to get even more personal with you. Maybe you're, you're listening right now and you're in your wrestling with your own business.So this episode is titled just simply Grit and Growth. My story, my strategy.Because if you've been listening, you've heard the shared anecdotes, you've heard the lessons that I've learned along the way and I've talked about those pain points, those difficult pain points that I've witnessed in countless small business owners. And yes, truth is, I've even experienced them myself.But I think it's important for you to understand, I mean, truly understand, when I talk about the grind on this show, when I talk about that fear, when I talk about that feeling of complete overwhelm, you know, the moments that you just want to throw in the towel. Listen, I'm not speaking academically. I didn't learn this in some, some lecture series or on some book on a shelf.I'm speaking from a place of deep personal. Sometimes the truth is agonizing experience.Because those fires you walking through right now, I've walked through those fires, those mistakes you feel like you're making. I've made those mistakes. And just like you, I've learned the hard way. And sometimes even the hard way. Yes, it's true.What it truly takes to build a business. Hey. And not just one that survives.Hey, we can, we can all figure out a way to make our business survive, but a business that thrives and actually supports your life instead of, like I said on a couple shows ago, you supporting your business. So let me take you back. Truth is, I've been working since about age 8 in what we call the family accounting business. My dad's an accountant.I grew up in accounting. Around my house, it was all about accounting and tax. I worked for many years in the family accounting firm right out of college. That's what I did.I went right to the family accounting firm and I did that for a couple years. And then I said, you know what, I want to take a different approach.And I left the accounting firm and I went to work in the, the credit union industry. Actually rose to the level being an executive vice president. Pretty good sized credit union here in Newark, Delaware. Had a staff of about 30 people.Got to meet people who are really struggling financial. That's one of the reasons I do my other show, my, my daily show. Financially Confident Christian. You can check that out.I'LL put a link in the show notes. But I really learned what it's like for, for both people and business owners to struggle. I. I spent about four years in the credit union industry.Then I went into the legal services and drink. Yes, I went to work for a law firm. Talk about culture shock, man. I was not ready for that. But I taught.I learned some lessons along the way there and then I ended up at a software company that actually wrote credit union software. And I really enjoyed that time. And then I felt that pull to get back into family business.So I went back into the family business for a couple of years, realized I needed to be on my own. And about 20 years ago, almost 20 years ago to this year, I launched my own firm. So my own journey started over two decades ago.Yeah, I had a degree in accounting. Great degree in accounting. I had a master's degree in business finance. And when I first started, I had a handful of clients.But I had something even deeper than that. I had a burning desire to build something of my own. I grew up around my dad's accounting practice, but I wanted to do something on my own.So I hung out my shingle. Hey, truth is, my first office was on the second floor of a buy here, pay here auto dealership. And I was ready to conquer the world.But if you listen to my first show, I started by conquering a mouse problem. That's really what I started with. I wasn't conquering the world, I was conquering a mouse problem. But let me tell you something.At the core, all of that training I had in accounting, all that trading I had in my mba, those, those textbooks didn't prepare me for what I really saw. That sheer, raw, often brutal reality of entrepreneurship. And hey, now it's on my own.And I gotta be honest with you, the first few years were a blur. I'm talking about long hours, constantly self doubting if I, if I was gonna make this work, and a complete desperate scramble for clients.Because, yes, I'm not patting myself on the back, but I was really good at accounting. Maybe brilliant even. I was great at helping others. But for my own business, like I mentioned last week, man, I was terrible at sales.See, I lived in that pain that I talked about last week. That, that fear of rejection, that feeling of being too pushy. Many days I just hope clients would magically appear. Hey, I had an office.I have a shingle. I've got an ad in the on the telephone book. Yeah, I'm dating myself back in the back in those days.When you had an an ad in the telephone book, I just hope they would show up. Hey. And when, when I started, just like many of you, I had this constant worry about cash flow.There was a knot in my stomach every time I checked that bank balance. I talked all about cash flow in episode one. If you miss it, go check it out.But I was living that chaos, trying to figure out how to raise my two young boys and my wife. I hadn't been married too long when I started my own practice.When I first started, I tried to do everything myself, from complex tax returns to honestly cleaning the office bathrooms, because I truly believe that was the only way to ensure quality and save money. Yeah, I was busy. Truth is, I was utterly exhausted and often I was broke. I mentioned this in episode four.I was definitely busy, but broken and was my painful reality for far too long. And listen, I'm going to be very candid with you. There were moments, many moments when I seriously considered, you know, quitting.I just go back to work for the family accounting firm. I go work in private industry, go find a job, a 9 to 5.And looking back, as I prepared for today's show, I remember one particularly tough tax season.I was working every night till 2am staring at this mountain of paperwork on my desk, feeling the weight of every client's financial future right here on my shoulders, and thinking to myself, you may have thought this too. Is it really worth it? I mean, there were times when I just asked myself, is this really worth it?All this effort, all this struggle I'm putting into it. Is it really worth it? I would ask myself, is this what I signed up for? Did I really sign up for all this?See other people enjoying their lives, out on their boots on the weekends, doing all these kind of things. And here I am Saturday afternoon and I'm at my desk with a stack of papers and I started to ask myself another question.You probably asked yourself this question too. Why is this so hard? Why is this grind? Why is this so hard to do?And yes, I had those dreams about a glowing future, you know, and, and not worrying about where my next dollar was coming from. But those dreams felt distant because I was buried under that crushing weight of the daily grind.As I mentioned a couple times, that feeling of being overwhelmed, of carrying the entire burden alone, feeling like a failure most days, even when I was working myself to exhaustion. Maybe you felt that way. It's a heavy one, isn't it? If you're not careful, it can absolutely break you. I talked about that in My burnout show.So now you might be saying, Ralph, that's great, man. You're painting a really negative picture. But 20 years after that, I'm still standing here.So you might be asking, how did I move from that overwhelmed, that busy but broke entrepreneur to where I am today?Because again, I don't mean to brag, but right now I'm running multiple successful ventures and I'm coaching other people to really make their businesses. This is why I'm doing this show today. And I'm going to start by telling you there wasn't a single magic bullet. I don't have.Some, you know, simple thing, hey, go do this and you're going to set the world on fire. If that's what you're waiting for, you're not going to get it on this show.And if you're waiting for something easy, listen, this certainly wasn't easy. It was hard work. It was a daily grind. It was that grit that I talk about so often on the show. It was a series of hard won lessons.Lessons, let me tell you, hard lessons. It was a series of strategic shifts in my thinking, how I did business. And deep down, like this was the core of it.An unwavering commitment to what I call the grit and growth strategy. That's why I named the show when I named it. And today I just want to share with you what I call my three core pillars that transform my journey.Because these were the things that really made it work. And I truly believe today that they can also transform your business as well. So here are my success pillars.And before I get into this, I want to remind you there will be a download for today's sheet. Hey, every week when I do a show, I always give you an action sheet. You can get that by going to gritandgrowthbusiness.com action.Again, that's gritandgrowthbusiness.com action. You'll find an action sheet for every week's show.I just wanted to let you know that ahead of time so you can really pay attention to what I'm saying. And the notes will be available for you after. So let's jump into those three pillars.The first pillar, this is a tough one, but you've got to embrace the brutal honesty of your numbers. But even bigger than embracing them, you have to make them your compass. See, here's my experience. Real world experience, not textbook experience.I'm talking about real world in the trenches experience. For years, I avoided my own financials. It's almost ironic, isn't it? Here I am an accountant, for crying out loud, I'm an accountant.I'm avoiding my own financials. This is what I do for a living. But for my own business, I was just too terrified to look at them. I glanced at the bank balance. Sure.Occasionally make sure I had money to pay the bills. But being completely transparent here, I didn't really understand my profit margins.I, I had no idea what my break even point was or my cash flow cycles. Fancy terms, but I had no clue. Yeah, I learned that stuff in textbooks.I remember learning that back in my college days at the University of Delaware. Oh, there's a lot of accounting theory. Accounting theory is great. Don't get you anywhere.And by not really getting into the numbers, it led to this constant state of anxiety. That anxiety was soul crushing. That led to sleepless nights.And honestly, when I look back at it now, I was acting in a purely reactive, decision making mindset. I was flying blind for most of the time, just hoping for the best. As I said, if I build it, they'll come.But there was this uncertainty and that uncertainty was a constant low grade hum of fear. Like you just hear that hum, you know when you walk into a room and something's on, you can hear that, just that subtle humming.That's what I lived in every day here.I am an accountant, I should understand the numbers, I should understand the profit loss, I should understand the margin, I should understand to break even. And here I am the accountant and I don't have a clue.I was just trying to make sure I had enough in the bank account to meet my demands of money for that month, to pay the mortgage, to pay the car payments, to put food on the table for my wife and children. But that uncertainty, that constant hum of fear was just holding me back. And I remember the turning point.It came when I finally forced myself to sit down. I said to myself, listen, I remember I went to a conference or something and I heard the speaker talking about, you got to know your numbers.And I was embarrassed to be very candid with you, I was embarrassed here. I'm an accountant, this is what I do for a living. I tell other people their numbers.I would spend every day, day in and day out, showing them, hey, here's your margins, here's your break even, all that kind of stuff.But I never really looked at every dollar coming in and every dollar going out of my own business because I didn't truly understand where my money was going or even more importantly, where it should be going. And that's when I started that Shift. I started with a simple daily cash flow snapshot, just like I talked about in episode one.As I said, I had to learn it myself the hard way. Hey, school. The hard knocks for Ralph.I had no idea what services I was offering that were most profitable, so I had to identify those and I had to look at my biggest cost drains. See, that's where the rubber meets the road. And I created a simple forecast. Yes, it was uncomfortable at first, to be honest with you.It was like pulling off a bandage. It was a wound under there, but it's like I just ripped it off and revealed this big gaping wound.But it was incredibly liberating when I look back at it now, and that constant hum of fear that I talked about a little while ago, that fear began to dissipate as clarity started to emerge. I started to see the numbers. I started to see all those things that I should be looking at. And I developed a strategy.Here's one of the things I want you to hear right now. Your numbers are not a judgment. See, a lot of people think, oh, the numbers are a judgment. I'm doing well, I'm doing, not doing, I'm failing.I'm not failing. But your numbers are not a judgment. They're just your honest advisors. And to be very candid with you, they're your most honest advisors.Nobody else is going to tell you like your numbers do because when you really get into them, they tell you where to invest your money. They tell you what's working, they tell you what's not working. They tell you where to cut.Hey, when I finally look at those budget drains, when I look at those expense strains, it made it clear what I needed to do. But maybe more importantly than all of those things, it really tells you where your true opportunities lie.So as you're listening right now, I'm going to encourage you. Don't fear the numbers. Embrace them. Embrace them as your compass for your, or what we'll call your modern day GPS for growth.Hey, if you want to get from point A to point B, you use your GPS to get you there. Well, guess what? Your numbers are the same thing. So embrace them as that compass, as that GPS for moving forward. And you've got to make a commitment.You got to make knowing your numbers a non negotiable weekly habit. Listen, this is how you move from guessing to knowing.And bigger than that, this is how you move from anxiety to really having what I'll call true control over your business. And this is truly the bedrock of intelligent decision making. So I just want to give you this first takeaway. Your numbers don't lie.I'll have a client sit down in front of me and I'll say, okay, here's your numbers. And they'll look at me like, wow, I didn't realize any of those things. Like, yeah, right, but they don't lie. But they're truth tellers.But they also can be guides to your freedom. So that's my first pillar. Know your numbers. Use them as a compass. Let's move on to my second pillar. Talked about this in the show a week or two ago.And that systemize everything that you can, maybe like Ralph, what are you talking about? Well, listen, if you want to free up your time and scale your business and scale your impact, you've got to systemize everything that you can.See, I used to believe as a false belief, a crazy belief, to be blunt. I used to believe I had to do everything myself. I had to do it myself to make sure it was done correctly. Yes, I was a control freak.My wife's called me that many times. But I thought I had to do that to ensure quality. Because, listen, every client interaction, every process relied solely on me.So when I really took a step back and I. Look, what that really meant was I was the ultimate bottleneck to my business grow. And see, I couldn't take on more clients.I couldn't take a vacation without revenue plummeting. I was worried to death. I can't even go away for the weekend. I spent my days constantly putting out fires because nothing was standardized. It was.Everything was a la carte, if you will. Everything was customized. I had to handle everything. I was drowning in the details. I was choking on my own. It's a great word, busyness.Well, business. But I'm talking about choking on my own busyness. And I would think about growth.There were times when I just had a few minutes of thinking, oh, yeah, but you know what that meant? It meant more work for me. I'm already working 80 hours a week. I'm already working every Saturday and Sunday. I'm working every possible minute I can.And yes, I want to grow, but listen, I got to control it all. I can't hire anybody else to do this. I'm the only one that can do it. So if I wanted to grow the business, it meant more work for me.And then I finally realized something, and I hope you'll come to this realization. Maybe you're listening right now. You realize this a long time ago. Hats off to you. That's a Fantastic thing. If you haven't, you better realize this.I realized that me was not a scalable business model. And I talked all about this in episode three about your business model might be the problem. Well, it was my biggest problem because it was me.And I knew if I wanted to get to that next level, if I wanted to truly grow, if I wanted to scale this business to actually be more profitable and give myself some margin, I needed to systemize things. So I started small. I started by documenting just one simple process. And that process for me was how I onboarded a new client.Because I thought about, hey, if, if I bring somebody on as an employee, what am I going to need to do? I'm going to need to show them a process of how I bring on a new client. That was my first system. That's the first thing I put into place.And let me tell you right now, it looked like a roadmap. I'm talking about do this and do that and do this and do that. But what I quickly realized is I didn't have to do all those things.Yes, maybe I was the one winning the client. Maybe I was the one selling the service.Maybe I was the one that started that relationship because I said before, it's all about relationships in business. But I realized that I didn't have to touch every single one of those tasks. So that was the first thing I systemized.The second one is how I prepared a basic tax return. Because again, if I was going to scale this, I needed to show how this worked.I created checklists, I created some simple templates and step by step guides. And yeah, it felt tedious at first. I'm thinking to myself, why am I documenting all this? I'm the one who does it anyway.Kind of like building this tiny, intricate machine. It was frustrating to be very honest with you at first. Trying to, trying to figure, okay, let me put this checklist together.How to prepare a tax return. Why am I doing this? I do them anyway. But I had a vision of what I needed to do. See, there were parts of that process that I did not have to handle.I didn't have to handle copying the tax return, I didn't have to handle assembling the tax return. I didn't have to handle calling the client to let them know their return was done. I didn't have to handle the, hey, client, you need to sign this.And as I mentioned earlier, listen, I started copying tax return when I was 8 years old. I remember. It's funny that I think about this, but I broke my arm when I was 10 years old. I remember standing in front of my dad's copier.I had my arm in a sling, and I'm sitting here copying tax returns. And I thought back, wait a minute, I was 12 years old. Why am I now a graduate accountant with a master's degree and I'm copying tax returns?So it was a tedious process, but the time it saved me later was amazing. And the consistency it brought to my service, let me tell you, it was revolutionary.And as I talked about in episode nine, it finally allowed me to hire effectively because I had something concrete to train them on. I had a process, I had checklists to. I had a schematic of how this works. And I learned something very crucial. See, systems are not about rigidity.A lot of people think, oh, a system, it's got to be done this way and this way. Like they're building this maze that they got so rigid. But that's not at all what systems are. Systems are really about freedom.You may say, Ralph, you've lost your mind, but they are. They're about freedom because they free you from repetitive tasks.I quickly learned there was things in my system for doing a tax return or for onboarding a client that I didn't need to do.And I bet right now, as you're listening to this right now, if you're like me, you're thinking, man, that's a really liberating thing, Ralph, because it can free you from those repetitive tasks. Hey, you know what else it can do? It can reduce errors. You've got a process. You don't forget something.I remember when I was first starting out, I tried to do everything. I would forget stuff because I wasn't perfect. Guess what? You listening right now? You're not perfect either.But a system will help you reduce the errors. It'll also help you ensure consistent quality. And, hey, listen, your customers are looking for consistency.They're looking for consistent delivery of a quality product or service. And a system will help you get to that point. Hear me on that. Your clients want that.They're demanding that a system will help you get this, and it will absolutely make it possible to delegate effectively. Hey, if you don't have a system, you're not going to be able to delegate it because the person has.That you're delegating to, has to understand the process. They have to analyze the system, know where it's going. So I'm going to challenge you right now.Look for those time sinks and those stress points in your Business. I talked about this in episode 8 and just document one simple process. Even a simple checklist is a powerful system.Doesn't have to be something elaborate, just a simple bulleted checklist. Point. In my firm, we use a product called Zendeck. It's sort of a customer relationship management.For every task, for every job we have, we have a task list that gets applied and we go through it. Listen, I've been in this business for 20 years. We have a checklist for these things.And if you build these systems, your business can grow efficiently without having to be involved in every single detail, every single time. Listen, I was my biggest obstacle. So just hear me on this. My next big takeaway today is systems aren't shackles.A lot of people think, oh, I'm going to create this system and I'll be shackled to be tied up to this system. But I'm going to give you a different thought, a different picture in your mind. Systems aren't shackles at all. They're wings.And if they're done correctly, they'll help your business fly. So think about that. So that's my second one. My second pillar is build those systems, document those processes. You don't have to do it all at once.Start off small, but then each thing, just add a system for that. It will help your business really grow and grow efficiently and you'll be able to deliver that quality product to your customer time in and time out.And you can finally delegate. Well, let's move to my third pillar. When I talked about on last week's show, and that's this one. Serve, don't sell. It's really that simple.Serve, serve a product, serve a service, don't sell anything. And truly understand the difference between followers and clients. Because as I mentioned earlier, I absolutely hated sales. It was.I knew it was a necessary evil, but for me, sales was a dirty word. So what did I do? I focused on trying to be liked. I tried to be popular online, hoping that would magically translate into business.Hey, if I was that go to person I was, I had all these likes and had all these shares. I was popular online. That would magically translate to the business bottom line.As I mentioned in episode seven, man, I chased those vanity metrics, I chased those likes, I chased those shares. Are you doing that right now? Are you doing the very thing? Hey, I chased those follower counts and at the end, you know what I felt?I felt frustrated, even felt demoralized because, yeah, the follower count was going up, but man, it didn't equal My bank balance. And looking back at it now, it left me feeling disconnected and it make me feeling super ineffective. It was a lonely, unrewarding path.And that shift came when I stopped trying to sell. It's one of the things I mentioned in last week's show. I just stopped. I said, you know what, I got to stop selling.And I started focusing purely on serving A client. Say to me one time, Ralph, he says, what you do is you serve. And I started focusing on serving my potential clients, serving my potential customers.How did I do that? I started asking deep questions.I started thinking about their pain points, those things that would, would lead them to make that call or look at my website or come and sit down in front of me, start to think about those. I started to probe them. I started to ask those questions. One of the other things I learned in that is to shut up and listen.I had to listen to their struggles. See, it was so easy for me to start talking about my service. Hey, I do this and I do this and I'm a fantastic accountant.I do these great things for all these people. It's not what they wanted. They didn't want to hear that. I stopped talking about my services and my features and started talking about their problems.See, and if I needed to understand their problems, what did I have to do? I had to listen to them, I had to understand their pain. I had to live in that pain.And I shifted to started talking about their problems and how I could solve them. Because see, that's where the beauty was. That's where the true connection was.And I quickly realized that a genuine value driven conversation, hey, this was the most powerful sales tool out there. Wished I had learned that so much earlier in my career.And the other thing I learned, and when I first started out, I mentioned this to clients all the time. I thought I had to take every single client. Man, I wanted to have thousands and thousands of clients. I wanted to have this big long list of clients.You might be doing the same thing every phone at range. I want to get that customer.But over time I learned that a hundred and listen, just a hundred engaged paying clients who trust you and refer to you are infinitely more valuable than a million passive followers who just scroll on by. So what's my strategy? You gotta embrace this. And I encourage you to listen to episode 10 if you haven't. Sales isn't a dirty word.Just not reframe that, Change the mindset. Because truly sales is a noble act of service because your job is to be a problem solver. I don't care what service you sell.I don't care what product you sell. If you take on a mindset that you're a problem solver and a guide, it will grow your business.So focus on deeply understanding your ideal client's pain. Understand what they're going through, and then articulate your value in terms of their desired outcomes.Stop selling your services, stop selling your features, and start selling what they're desiring for the outcome. And then, with confidence, offer your solution as the primary pathway to relief. Hey, when I have a headache, what do I do? I reach for relief.I reach for an aspirin. I reach for a Tylenol. Whatever. Whatever pain reliever it is. Well, that's what your clients, that's what your customers, what your.Your people who want to do business with you are looking for. They're looking for a pathway to relief. Give them that relief. Show them their desired outcome by using your service. And stop chasing popularity.I just want you to hear me today. So many people are chasing popularity, it's frustrating to even look at.Instead, I'm going to challenge you to chase impact and chase genuine connection. Hey, it's all about the relationship. If you want to build your business, build relationships. See, that's a key takeaway today.I want to say it again because it's so vitally important. If you want to build your business, make a genuine connection and build relationships. So here's another big takeaway from my third pillar.Stop selling and start serving. Just change your mindset, because that's where real revenue lies, friend. My journey has been filled with mistakes. It's just the truth.I have made a ton of mistakes, but I'm still standing here sitting right now, to be honest. But, but. But I'm still standing here. I'm still making this work.Like, hey, there's been a ton of detours, and, and if I'm being honest, there's been moments of. Of deep, profound doubt. And maybe you're listening right now. You're honestly, hey, I feel the same way, Ralph.But when I looked back at it, through it all, through those. Those daily. Those days of just grit and grind and grit and grind in the days of just one after another.But through it all, these three pillars really made the business what it is today. And I'm going to give you those again.Embracing my numbers, you had to embrace them, make them your compass, build systems, build those wings to find your freedom. And serving through sales. These have been the unwavering anchors of my success.They've transformed my They've transformed it from a source of constant stress and overwhelm into a vehicle for impact, a vehicle for freedom and the life I truly wanted, they can do the same thing for you. And let me just tell you right now, this isn't about being perfect. You are going to make mistakes.As you listen or watch me right now, you will make mistakes in your business. It's not about being perfect, but it is about being persistent. It's about being gritty enough to learn. It's about being gritty enough to adapt.And it's about being gritty enough to implement these foundational strategies. Because I know you've got the grit to build. I just want you to apply that grit to build smart. I want you to apply that grit to build sustainably.And I want you to build a business that truly serves you. And if my story resonated with you today, if you find yourself nodding along like Ralph man, I. I've been engaged today.I've been ling the whole time. I've been recognizing my own struggles in the past.If you're recognizing your struggles past and if you're tired of doing alone, trying to figure all these things, all these pieces out by yourself, then I want to invite you to take a deeper step. See, this podcast is designed to give you the strategies. I can lay those out. I can give you the text of it. I can, I can make it sound good.But what you really need sometimes is personalized guidance.You need to work with somebody who's been there, somebody who understands your unique challenges, who can help you apply these gritty principles directly to your business. Because you want to see your results accelerated. You want to avoid the pitfalls that I stumbled through.You don't want to make the same mistakes that I made.So I'm saying right now, if you're ready for that kind of one on one support, if you're ready to stop guessing and start building with a clear, proven path. And I want to invite you to explore my coaching services. See, this isn't about me telling you what to do. You'll never find me telling you what to do.But it's about working together. It's about, you know, going side by side to unlock your next level of grit and growth.And if that interests you, you can learn more and even book a no pressure discovery call absolutely free to to see if coaching is the right fit for you by visiting this website.It's grit and growth business.com coaching again, that's grit and growth business.com coaching let's talk about how we can build your legacy together and for everyone as you, as you help to reflect on your own journey and apply these core strategies. As I mentioned earlier, I've created a simple action plan sheet for this episode. It's called Grit and Growth. My story, my strategy.It'll outline my three pillars.And this is a free downloadable sheet that will guide you through how to do this yourself, how to assess your relationship with the numbers, how to identify your next systems to build, and how to really refine your sales as a service approach. Let me just tell you, friends, this is a practical tool to help you integrate these lessons into your own unique path.And you can download it right now by visiting our website. Again, that's@gritandgrowthbusiness.com action. That's gritandgrowthbusiness.com action.I'm gonna encourage you, download that action plan sheet and start applying some of these core strategies to your own grit and grow journey today. Because, listen, you can do this.Your story is still being written, and every challenge, every setback, every moment of doubt is just another chapter in your unique grit and growth journey. And I want you to remember, you're not alone in this. You've got this. And I'm here walking alongside you every step of the way.So thank you for joining me on Grit and Growth Business.As always, I'm committed to bringing you honest conversations and practical strategies every single week to help your business build your business the right way. Now, next week, we're gonna dive into another crucial topic. Ready for this one?We're gonna talk about the power of your network, talk about how to build relationships that build your business. It's gonna be a great show. We're gonna explore how authentic connections can be your greatest asset far beyond traditional marketing.Yes, I'm gonna turn traditional marketing on its head. So I want you to join me next week and make sure you're subscribed to listen to the podcast so you don't miss another personal episode.And don't forget, as I said, to download our action sheet. I'll put a link to that in the show notes, but it's grit and growth business.com action.As I always end the show, listen, intentions are great, but it's where the action is. It's putting those things into action that make you actually take that business to the next level.So I want to encourage you today, embrace those three pillars. Embrace and just watch your business. And more importantly, watch your freedom grow. God bless you, and I'll see you again next week.