The last few weeks have been quiet here on the olde blogg. Two weeks ago we had a big video project that spanned 3 days and about 35 interviews, on top of the conference that I attended which is what I last wrote about.

At that conference I signed up for a scholarship to attend one of Entrepreneur Simplified‘s intensive 3 day retreats. To my surprise they called the Monday after the conference and asked if I wanted to attend that week’s retreat. I was able to bring along my long-time business partner Alan, and off we went.

It was Wednesday evening for about 4 hours, then 12 hours on Thursday and Friday. Rather than go into what I learned here, I’m going to talk about what the path forward looks like. If you’d like a recap of the main takeaways, I did that in a new Medium Series. You’ll need the iPhone app to view it natively.

The biggest thing that happened is that I was forced to stare at the reality of my situation for long hours. What I realized is that A) I talk a great game. I know all the answers, I’m confident, and I’m competent. However, I’m not putting much of that knowledge to use, which makes me about as good as someone with no knowledge at all. It’s pathetic, really. At least I’m learning it now. Then B) I am not the magic. This is a phrase they use to define a stage in business, generally when you get stalled in the $100-250k per year range. You think you can do it all, and that the only way for your business to run is to have you doing all the work. The idea of sacrificing percieved quality for scale is not your M.O. However, this same belief that got you to this level of success is what is holding you back from greater opportunities.

The Way Forward

I was so glad that Alan was there with me at the retreat. It was a lot of time to take away from our business but it was absolutely, unequivocally worth it. We now have a short hand to talk to each other with about our business. We have goals, both macro and micro, but more importantly we have a system and a process that we are putting in place to realize those goals through daily tasks and actions. Things that take as little as an hour a day will drastically change our business.

On top of that we decided to have me take the full MBO (Masters of Business Ownership) course that is the flagship product that ES provides. It’s a year long program that is around a $25k investment, but it means that I’ll have some accountability and a coach to keep us on track toward our goals. I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now our business – and our lives – look radically different than today.

Whether or not I recommend the ES brand of retreats and coaching (I do…) what is the most important is that you take stock of the reality of your life and your business, and realize that the best people at the top of their fields, whether sports or politics or business, rely heavily on coaches for perspective and guidance and accountability.

If it’s good enough for Michael Jordan, feels a little prideful for me to say, “nah, I’m good. I got this…”