Multiplier Mindset® with Dan Sullivan

Eric Hansen built his business the hard way—decades of grit, risk, and going it alone. But he hit a ceiling he couldn’t break through by himself. In this episode, Eric shares how joining The Strategic Coach® Program helped him multiply his business, reclaim his time, and design a more balanced, purposeful entrepreneurial life. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why entrepreneurs talk about completely different things with one another than anyone else in their lives.The two crucial stages that signal you’re ready to join The Strategic Coach Program.Why Eric said no to Coach for years—and what finally changed his mind.The kind of wireless telecommunications company Eric has been growing for nearly three decades.How Eric has actually gained more free time and freedom as his company has scaled. Show Notes: When corporate executives meet, they share wins. When professionals meet, they discuss problems. When entrepreneurs meet, they trade stories about their biggest failures and comebacks. Entrepreneurs routinely put themselves into situations where they have to grow as people in order to create the solutions they need. Great entrepreneurs are always acquiring new capabilities, and that continual growth is what builds their confidence. The most successful entrepreneurs can go through almost any kind of trouble and still find a way to come out stronger on the other side. In the Strategic Coach® community, you never have to explain yourself because everyone has lived through their own version of the challenges you’re describing. It’s a powerful advantage for a new entrepreneur to admit they don’t know everything and be open to learning. Companies, like people, move through distinct phases of growth, and each phase demands a different kind of leadership. When you’re staring down potential business ruin, you quickly discover who you are and what you’re really made of. Grit is a crucial entrepreneurial capability that never shows up neatly on a resume and is almost impossible to judge on the surface. Most small businesses don’t survive beyond their first few years, which makes staying power and resilience a serious competitive advantage. The willingness to be vulnerable, especially after major setbacks, can become one of an entrepreneur’s greatest superpowers. Resources: The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan Grit by Angela Duckworth The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brook The Impact Filter®

What if the key to differentiation isn't about your product, but your perspective? Dan Sullivan reveals how to escape the crowded marketplace by shifting your focus from your needs to your clients' futures. Learn the powerful question that instantly creates partnership and makes you the most valuable person in the room. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The two critical questions that clarify an entrepreneur's most impactful actions.The two time systems in which the best entrepreneurs operate.How to determine the needs of your customers and clients.A simple method to instantly engage anyone in transformative thinking about their goals.The one essential question that builds partnership and loyalty with every client.Why Strategic Coach® members continuously achieve bigger and better future outcomes. Show Notes: Stating goals as needs puts entrepreneurs in a position of asking for permission rather than leading with confidence. Bold goals are vivid pictures of yourself in the future operating at a higher level. State your ambitions based on what you truly want, not just what you think you need. Modern uncertainty means that seeing clearly beyond the next 90 days is difficult, so it’s important to focus on shorter time frames and long-term vision. Your entire future lies in helping your customers and clients achieve their own futures. The real competition is not for market share, but for a person’s time and attention. Every entrepreneur can offer clients something truly unique that nobody else can provide. Entrepreneurs who make every conversation about the other person hold their attention and differentiate themselves for the long term. Maintaining calm confidence in your own future lets you focus on creating breakthroughs for others. Traditional advertising talks about the seller, but true impact comes from asking clients about their future goals. Strong partnerships are built by consistently helping top clients clarify and expand their future goals together. Entrepreneurial growth is a continuous process across 100 quarters, fueled by a commitment to others’ futures. Strategic Coach’s unique value is opening clients’ eyes to new possibilities through insightful questions, not prescribed solutions. Resources: Wanting What You Want by Dan Sullivan The D.O.S. Conversation® by Dan Sullivan

Do you see adversity as fuel for your biggest ambitions or as an obstacle to overcome? In this episode, Jacob Emery reveals how authentic community, powerful partnerships, and daily habits transformed his journey from chaos to high achievement. Discover how Strategic Coach® sparked his shift from misfit to visionary—so you can unlock your own greatness too. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How Jacob moved from chaos to clarity.Jacob’s challenges growing up and overcoming not fitting in.How Strategic Coach helped Jacob merge his two passions.Why Strategic Coach attracts entrepreneurs with a growth mindset.How Strategic Coach helps build profound confidence.The ingredients of a great partnership. Show Notes: Great entrepreneurs embrace their misfit qualities to stand out and succeed. At Strategic Coach, you’re free to be your whole self—authenticity comes first. Everyone at Strategic Coach is open, honest, and genuinely committed to growth. Entrepreneurs in The Strategic Coach® Program don’t fit into standard boxes; they create their own path. You have the power to change your environment. You can expedite your journey and that of your team members through partnership. Sometimes, a single win can reshape who you are and what you believe is possible. Achieving a big goal often reveals an even greater level to aspire to. When facing a new project, focus on finding the person who would excel at—and truly enjoy—doing it rather than worrying about how to do it yourself. When you understand what a perfect day looks like, then you understand what you actually want out of life. Whatever you focus on, positive or negative, will grow. Strategic Coach allows you to see exactly where you are in your entrepreneurial journey. Your journey speeds up when you make the most of teamwork. Living with intention, gratitude, and daily standards builds lasting momentum. Resources: The Iron & Infrastructure Podcast Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin HardyKolbe A™ IndexThe 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs The Entrepreneur's Guide To Time Management Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan The Impact Filter™ More about Jacob Emery

Business coach Dan Sullivan and marketing and advertising geniuses Joe Polish, Dean Jackson, and Mark Young have all been friends and business colleagues for years. Now, they’re teaming up as the Super Partners for a very special podcast episode where they talk about what marketing really means and provide examples of elegant ideas that entrepreneurs can use to better engage their audiences. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Solutions that mean no more cold calls or door-to-door sales.The purpose of advertising.How advertising can be used to help people.The difference between marketing and sales.Why selling has gotten a bad name.What’s changed since Dan founded The Strategic Coach® Program 35 years ago.Why direct mail is still the greatest form of marketing in the world. Show Notes: Everyone who has a business is going to have to do marketing and selling. One elegant idea is worth more than 1,000 semi-good ideas. Perfect has become the enemy of good. Anything you put in front of somebody is marketing. Only the hungriest fish snap at the crappiest bait. Once you figure out marketing, it's the ultimate leverage. Marketing is the aggregate of all the steps you take to go from somebody not knowing you all the way to them being engaged in a relationship with you. Once you figure out a marketing algorithm, it works again and again. You can create control in your future if you learn how to put a message out there that causes people to want to give you money. There are businesses that die of starvation, and there are businesses that die of indigestion. The average person receives between 5,000 and 24,000 advertising messages daily. Part of sales is just connecting with someone. People don't buy from you because they understand what you do. People buy from you because they feel understood. Dan’s definition of selling is getting someone intellectually engaged in a future result that's good for them and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result. Resources: I Love Marketing podcast 10xTalk podcast American Happiness podcast Cloudlandia podcast HYPNO-TI$ING by Mark Young Video: “Is Selling Evil?” by Joe Polish Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy Strategic Coach® Mark Young Jekyll + Hyde Labs Dean Jackson The 8 Profit Activators Joe Polish Genius RecoveryWhat’s Your Cleator?

What if the traits you’ve been told are disadvantages are actually your “unfair” advantages? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and engineer-turned-ADHD-advocate André Brisson reveal how entrepreneurs thrive by rewriting the rules—not following them. Learn why your unique way of thinking is your greatest asset and how to build a business (and life) that rewards it. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why entrepreneurs feel like misfits in traditional learning environments.The program that helps high-achieving ADHD entrepreneurs understand themselves better.The surprising truth about who The Strategic Coach® Program was designed for.Why Strategic Coach® members instantly “get” each other (and how this community transforms isolation into confidence).How André built an engineering firm that breaks industry norms.How André’s ADHD has fueled his biggest challenges—and his biggest wins.The #1 insight André learned in 14 years at Strategic Coach. Show Notes: Entrepreneurs are shortcut creators—your ability to bypass inefficiencies is what makes you invaluable. The systems that frustrate you exist because most people prioritize rules over results. The real trick for entrepreneurs is to break the rules and get paid for the shortcuts they create. Everything that works in your life is the result of having created a new solution for yourself. If things don’t work, it’s because you're trying to fit into someone else’s system. What you do and the way you do it is the center of your life, and you can keep expanding that throughout your entire career. Your Unique Ability® isn’t just what you’re good at—it’s what energizes you while delivering exponential value. Once you decide that the way you do something is the right way for you to do it, you’ll find the customers and clients who appreciate that. If you’ve been trained to do things a certain way, you might get stuck in that way of solving problems. As long as you’re continually hitting a new Ceiling of Complexity™, you know you’re growing. Freeing up your time to work at a higher level is a lot of fun. Underutilized and overutilized strengths are actually weaknesses. Resources:The Impulsive Thinker™Kolbe A™ IndexCliftonStrengths®PRINT®Unique Ability®

Can ADHD be a business advantage? In this episode, Amber Swope shares how embracing her ADHD has fueled her entrepreneurial success, transforming challenges into creative strengths and business opportunities. Listen now to discover how leveraging your unique gifts can revolutionize your approach to entrepreneurship and unlock new paths to success! Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How Amber is sharing her ongoing ADHD journey with others.The circumstances that led Amber to become an entrepreneur.Steps to identify whether you have ADHD or another neurodivergent condition.Insights into how Strategic Coach® thinking tools may relate to Dan Sullivan's own experiences with ADD. Show Notes: Different people experience ADHD differently. Nearly half of Strategic Coach members have ADHD. ADHD provides a unique perspective on complex situations. It’s unrealistic to be good at everything (and a waste of energy to try). It might be that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never be successful at certain activities. (And that’s okay.) Once you understand your ADHD, a world of possibilities opens up to you. If you feel like a failure, it might simply mean you're engaging in activities your brain isn't wired for. It’s not enough to know something. You have to share it. When everyone’s on the same page, everyone has a better experience. For some people with ADHD, it can be a struggle to do things that other people find easy. Adults with ADHD are 60% more likely to be fired. Once you know you have ADHD, you can stop spending energy masking it and start embracing your uniqueness. You create more opportunities when you empower yourself. Resources: Unique Ability®Kolbe A™ IndexTime Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

Are you overwhelmed by the financial side of your business? In this episode, Patti Mara speaks with Colin Sanburg, founder of FinElevate, about the rise of fractional CFOs and how they empower entrepreneurs to focus on their strengths. Discover how these experts streamline financial operations and drive profitability, transforming challenges into opportunities for growth. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The key criteria that FinElevate looks for in an ideal client.Why some entrepreneurs don’t want to give up signing authority.The importance of identifying your dashboard KPIs.The entrepreneur motivation for freeing yourself up.What inspires Colin the most about being an entrepreneur.How to overcome analysis paralysis. Show Notes: If an entrepreneur isn’t closely monitoring their financials, they’re likely just wasting time. No matter how skilled you are in a specific area, you need outside perspective. Not every aspect of business suits every entrepreneur. People are happy to offload parts of their businesses that they don’t like working in. A better understanding of your metrics can help you structure your business for increased productivity. The right players want the metrics of success because they want to win. Taking action does tremendous things for your psyche. Top team members are unlikely to stay if they can’t access accurate metrics to evaluate their performance. You can’t be your own sounding board. The only sustainable way to build an entrepreneurial business is to base it on the entrepreneur's strengths and weaknesses. Much of the financial aspect of your business relies on discipline. People are more likely to engage with a clear reflection of their hard work. If you measure it, you can manage it. If you can manage it, you can improve it. If a team member sees a disconnect between lead measures and lag measures, they’ll disengage completely. Once you focus on a small set of key metrics, you'll be surprised at how much more efficient you become. Resources: We Choose Local FinElevate Unique Ability® Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne