Homocentric, Hetrocentric, The Guiding Hand of Something Bigger than Yourself

“I know our culture will sometimes understand the love for Jesus as weakness. There is this lie floating around that says I am supposed to do life alone, without any help, without stopping to worship something bigger than myself. But I believe there is something bigger than me, and I need for there to be something bigger than me. I need someone to put awe inside me; I need to come second to someone who has everything figured out.”
— Donald Miller

Tuesday, come in; I hear you knocking. The door is open.  What’s up, my fine brother? You look good today in your fedora and plaid pants.  Dude,  you look like a white Jimmy Walker?  You look, Dynomite.  Welcome to the mountain top chalet; the coffee is on the counter, sit with PVHT while I make some morning word soup.

A lovely day of virtual meetings yesterday; I started early and was on the p.c. Most of the day, I was told to blink a lot, so I blink a lot. Something about my eyes and oils, I think I’m just getting old. 

Today I’ve got a couple of morning calls; one is a referral from Indy to Denver and the other an Indy to Indy.  I’ll run both from my home and meet a fellow agent for lunch before heading down the hill.  I’ve got some new things we are doing that I’m going to share with him; we developed a new tracking tool, I had the vision, my first stab was clunky, but my daughter made it sexy and functional.  I’m a trust but verify kind of guy, and this new report will help me keep my team on track.

At 4:00, we had a couple of partners hang out.  John and Roger helped our firm with some training last year.  Their program is specifically for customer service teams that need to increase their conversation rate.  They don’t teach sales but critical questions to ask when working with a client.  Their program is insightful and has helped many companies pivot before, during, and after our most recent shit show of a year.

I started my PQ training yesterday. Some light reps to help clear my neural pathways.  I ran a saboteur test on myself, not shocking; my main saboteur is “a high achiever,” restless, hyper-rational, controller, stickler.  These are the things I have to acknowledge that are going on nonstop in my head.  I have to identify these thought patterns and create alternative sage brain thoughts.  Many of you are confused about what the hell I’m talking about, do yourself a favor, visit this site, and watch this ted-talk.

https://www.positiveintelligence.com/

I think this program will help every man, woman, and child.  In 8 weeks, you can become a more enlightened human.

I ran a call yesterday with a good friend; he’s making some changed in his business.  His attorney just passed away at 45 years old; he needed a new lawyer in the Indy area; I hooked him up.  He required other services like bookkeeping, health insurance, investment management, and a PEO.  I connected him with some high performers, and it will be fun working with a dream team to make his business a glistening machine.

My role these days is that of a trusted advisor, yes, I still bring in new business, but much of my work is managing our sales team and helping our clients find rock stars to help them go and grow.  If you require a business service, reach out, chances are I know someone that can help you, and I try and match folks by personality type; geographic location is no longer that important.

Besides your industry, how do you help your clients achieve success?  I’ve often found that going beyond my specialty and asking about other things like human resources, cash flow management, and delivery of financial reports give me an idea of other pain points or areas I can assist.  In today’s business world, you need to help your clients work on their business instead of working solely in their industry.

About 15 years ago, I was introduced to a peer group in Indianapolis.  It was called CEO Partners; it was a collection of successful owners who met monthly and gave each other input on each other’s issues and opportunities.  My friend David Clegg was our leader, and for five or so years, I took a deep dive into what high-level thinking and management looked like for our firm and other firms.   What should a business owner be focusing on when working ON their company.  

When I arrived in Denver, one of the first people I met was Bob Dodge; we had coffee on my first “business day” in Denver.  He asked my strategy, and I said I was looking to join a peer group, a heterogeneous peer group.   I must point out that many times in my life, something bigger than myself has a guiding hand.  Bob was the leader of multiple peer groups in Denver; he interviewed my Queen and me; in February 2016, I attended my first TAB board.

I just celebrated five years on the board; it was one of the best decisions we made when coming west.  I got to understand the market, was introduced to many thought leaders, and now am ingrained in this community.  I have become a human bridge between my Indianapolis community and my Denver community; if you want to grow in another city, you might want to reach out. 

There is another type of peer group, a homocentric group.  That is where you take folks in the same industry but geographically different, and you meet monthly to share wins, losses, tips, tricks, and tools.   This year, I will launch my first Homocentric group with some of my past students who have joined completed the Sherpa Training.  If you are an independent insurance agency owner and you have an interest in picking the brains of other successful owners, let’s talk.

I’m mulling a couple of other opportunities; my life mission is moving towards coaching others.  I have a successful business, and now is my time to give back.   I will mentor anyone for 30 minutes; there is no charge; I try and sess out your why, drill down on who you are, not what you do.  I can help you grow; I’ve got over 30 years of experience in business ownership and management.   If you want to be vulnerable, open, and honest, let me see if I can open up a new neural pathway in your mind.  I’m not a doctor, just a man that has got hit in the face many times, and I would like to help younger people find success.

That will do; Tuesday has been dancing the entire time I’ve been writing this; the man has dance moves from Soul Train circa 1976.  Be like Tuesday and dance like no one is watching or hell, dance in front of your friend trying to spew good wholesome information out to the world.  Find your gifts and give them freely.  I’ll see you tomorrow, be good, be kind, and smile at strangers.

“I know our culture will sometimes understand the love for Jesus as weakness. There is this lie floating around that says I am supposed to do life alone, without any help, without stopping to worship something bigger than myself. But I believe there is something bigger than me, and I need for there to be something bigger than me. I need someone to put awe inside me; I need to come second to someone who has everything figured out.”
— Donald Miller