Ep52 Joe Blackburn - The Word-of-Mouth Revolution: Building Million-Dollar Relationships Without Technology

Joe Blackburn  0:00  
The way that I've understood our minds were, I don't say, Well, I talked to you four weeks ago. My clock is on. When is the last time you impacted my life? So if I beat it 12 times a year, you're gonna think you're talking to me all the time about valuable things, yeah, because I don't waste your time.

Suzanne Taylor-King  0:18  
Hey, hey, welcome to a podcast where dreams meet determination and success is just around the corner. I'm your host, Suzanne Taylor King, and I'm here to help you unlock the full potential of your business and your life. Welcome to unlock your way with SDK, let's unlock your path to success together. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. It's Suzanne Taylor King, here for another Friday. 10am live and today, do I have a treat for you? The word of mouth guy, the sales assassin, the lion leader. Joe Blackburn, welcome to unlock your way with STK,

Joe Blackburn  1:01  
awesome. Thank you for having me. I'm totally fired up, and this is live so,

Suzanne Taylor-King  1:07  
oh, hey, you can screw up. You can crows, you can be totally be yourself, because that's kind of what these entrepreneur conversations are all about. And I started off doing this about two and a half years ago, and Jason, our mutual friend, talked me into turning it into a podcast and a way to really connect and bring other great people to other great people. And you're so good at this, and I feel like I already know you. This is the first time we've talked. I've listened to every episode except the one that just dropped yesterday. I feel like I have FOMO. I got to go listen to it while I was doing my hair this morning. And I want to just get into this idea, not only of being of value to other people, but how that makes other people feel about you and how that grows your business? Awesome. Well,

Joe Blackburn  2:09  
in word of mouth, you're taking up psychic real estate in someone's head so they have some idea of who you are and what you're doing, and they start to feel like they know you and your mannerisms. You pick me up. Wonderful compliment. I believe you called me the quote genius on LinkedIn, yes, yes. That's one of the nicest

Suzanne Taylor-King  2:28  
things anyone's ever said. Everything you say, I'm like, I want to share that, and I want to quote that so well

Joe Blackburn  2:34  
that that made my day. I appreciate it. And, you know, it is funny. Just we met, what? Three minutes ago, four minutes ago, I do feel like I know you. And that's, you know, that's the dynamic of getting out there, having the conversation. And you can do it, you know, Jason, I did a show a couple weeks ago about, how do you do that through the screen? And that's what's happening right now. And, yeah, when some people see this and they feel like they know us better, and it just it. It's one of those things. You know, as far as word of mouth goes, we've tried everything, and everything works, and nothing works. If you do something consistently, it will work. I've just found that the word of mouth, it travels faster, it means more. The relationships are stronger, you know, you, you feel like you, you're part of someone's life more than just, hey, that's a client of mine, or that's a business partner, you know. And Jason and I have never met in person, by the way, he did the same thing to you that he did to me. Talked me into doing these podcasts. I actually it's the thing I look forward to the most, because it's the most fun. And I have a rule, if it ain't fun, I don't do it. So I try

Suzanne Taylor-King  3:35  
to do it. Hey, Jason and I have never met in person, and we work with clients together, numerous clients, yeah, numerous clients of mine are working with him. And hey, I'm just gonna, since he's watching right now, I even got him a date with my best friend from college. That is yeoman's work. Congratulations. You know, you know, I want to just say I don't get all of my connections dates, but when I do, it's usually pretty awesome. So that's unbelievable, cool, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've, I've resulted in a couple marriages and, you know, a couple fix ups, because I think when you're a connector of other people, you kind of see who would get along and who would be good for each other, not only in business, but in life too. And I don't want to be a matchmaker by any means, but it, it's kind of a natural thing that happens when you see commonalities between people. And one of my best referral partners is here, Daniel Andrews. So he he taught me something really interesting, and that was that whole idea of people talking about you in rooms you're not in. So like right now we mentioned Jason mm. Jason Croft, we mentioned Daniel Andrews, who's watching, and that goes out to other people. And the power of that is not something to take lightly.

Joe Blackburn  5:12  
Yeah, it's it's amazing how small the world is now, you know, I have clients all over the country, and some of them I didn't meet in person for a long time, but, you know, everything's connected. I had a one of our assassins texted me this morning, and he said he was watching old recordings, and he's in a town where a lot of our word of mouth has taken off. And he said, I don't mention it by name, but I mentioned the situation. He's like, I was involved in four of those. So, you know, it's like, such a small and I've never met him. Yeah, he knows people that I know, and that's, that's the beauty of it. I call it singing your song. You just want people to sing your song all day long. If what I do is something that someone you know needs the first thing out of your mouth is you need to go see Joe, or you need to go see Suzanne. Yeah, super desperate go see Jason. But that's just a shot of Jason, because I love him, and he's my best friend, so I know, right? No,

Suzanne Taylor-King  6:01  
he's my best friend, but we can fight about that later. Let's, let's talk a little bit about how this concept of being a value, being a connector, has changed your business.

Joe Blackburn  6:19  
Okay, well, I mean, I when I started my consulting or coaching business, I really just took what I was doing previously, I was in financial services, I was an advisor, and I was an insurance agent before that, and then rose up through the ranks and everything. And it just as you're we're dealing with people and their wealth and their dreams and all these things that are important to them. It's really difficult to be transactional. I mean, you know, they snip that out. They see it. People, especially people, what I would consider, with impact or influence or or affluence, they don't want transactions. You know, I, I, we were talking before here, I moved down to Orange Beach, Alabama from Illinois a few months ago. And, you know, I I get everything that I need from someone else. I don't do it in like, you know, breakthrough walls on my own. It's just getting to know people. They're introducing people they know I can trust. I'm introducing people I know I can trust. And it creates a really strong network of people that they have skimming the game as far as delivering what you're talking about, because they have someone that trusts them in the link, just like you and I do, we have commonality of Jason, so we're both wanting to do good for each other, because we trust and like him at times, and that way I'm gonna pick on him all day. Collab, you know what I you under. So like that. It's a stronger connection, even if it's virtual, right? It's just, it's something. And in my business, especially when you when you're in a coaching relationship, or we kind of think of ourselves as non Equity Partners, because coaching is an aspect of it. We have mastermind we text. I mean, we know each other's families. You know it, it's a stronger connection so that we can go deeper and help people more, versus just giving them a template and saying, Hey, fill this out and then go do that. That most people don't do that number one, they if you gave them just random homework or whatever. But that really strengthened, you know, my business, and when I went from just doing one on one to bringing people together in the mastermind, now they have all that connection that we just talked about. Yeah, so it's a collective we call it the super conscious. Everybody's thinking in the same way. Everybody's moving in the same direction. Now they have different businesses, different places, different circumstances, but that commonality is really strong, the bond strong. We got great retention. And quite frankly, that's who I spend all my time with. That's, you know, that's where I, you know, those are my friends, I guess, is the way I would say that, yeah. Well,

Suzanne Taylor-King  8:54  
that goes back to something you said on your podcast about actually having these relationships with people is what enables you to be able to refer business to them, connect them to other people like I can't just give a random introduction or referral unless I understand what that person does and who they are as a person, and what that is going to look like when I put two people together that reflects on me, right? And you said something really interesting about that, because you know that idea that it reflects on Jason, like Jason introduced us, connected us, because I was like, fanning all over everything he said. And he was like, Fine, I'll introduce you. And, um, I did have to twist his arm a little bit for that. But, um, anyway, I. This idea that that reflects on Jason, you know, Daniel, who's watching he's connected me with some amazing people. He gets my best people, because I know I get his best people, and I think that trust in each other results in more ROI for those introductions, because other people feel that

Joe Blackburn  10:24  
correct well and in so in Assassins or line of whatever we're doing, you know, we look at our connections and our clients, but we also look at influencers. And the way I describe an influencer is someone that no likes trust and you pay them. So if I in the professional world, there's always professional skepticism, meaning a little suspect. But if, if someone sends me someone they care about, but is also paying them, there's risk involved, because if I make a fool of myself, which has happened every once in a while, or there's a mistake or something, then it can cost them even further than their reputation or the humiliation it costs them financially. Yeah, so that bond has to be really strong, and the trust has to be really strong, and that's why you see people, they aren't doing it as much. It kind of went out of vogue for a while. They were protected. They're putting walls up. And what I saw was like, Look, if you're going to want to help someone, first of all be the client you want. So like, if I want to refer people or introduce people, I have to be the person I want my people to be. But that way, I have a lot of skin in the game, not only just in how the relationship goes, but that I do my best work for him, and that, I mean, that just extrapolates. And now everybody, I call it skin in the game. Like we've all got skin in the game. So it's not just a random, you know, go talk to this guy and see if it works out they're skinning again there. So we try to elevate it into that influencer world, which is where we are, so that the people benefit the most. That's how I see, yeah,

Suzanne Taylor-King  11:53  
I totally agree. I think it's I noticed that my schedule, you know, for the past like two years, I only have those meetings with new people if they came from one of my trusted partners. And the wording around that actually upped my influence. It, you know, it was, I'm not just taking random get to know you calls, and that was, you know, Dan Daniel, saying huge levels of trust between us, and you don't need a lot of those people, right? You only need five to 10 of those people that feel that way about you. And I think you could connect to what millions of people just vicariously through those 10, right?

Joe Blackburn  12:50  
It's that old six degrees of separation under the floor. Everybody has a link somewhere. Yeah, I, I believe in that power, and have witnessed it and experienced it throughout my career, in my life, and, you know, and when I think about it now that you said that, I don't have a lot of friends, I don't know it's me, but I'm pretty protective about more so who I spend my time with, and we, in essence, we stress that a lot, because, you know, if you're if you're newer in a business, or newer In the world. Some of the people that you spend your time with may not be serving you, but you are the law familiarity. You've been around them a long time. And it's not saying go out and just sever all your ties or whatever. It's just be conscious of who you give your time to, yeah, connect with. Because, like you said, now I'm not just doing fit calls or introductory calls that that person's doing it because they're doing someone else a favor. They're actually doing it because they want to connect and they want to grow together and collaborate. So that's a huge game changer. And in today's world, everybody's busy enough you don't have the time to waste on people that aren't really serious about, you know, getting to each other. Yeah, and

Suzanne Taylor-King  14:00  
I and I think coming to the realization that if I connect with somebody that you introduced me to, I think I need to show up a certain way right for you. And that kind of led me to my referral partners have permission to use my calendar link to give my time, which, wow, that's like, that's like, very, very valuable, right? And if one of my referral partners has a client for me, they have permission to say, look, I'm going to introduce you to Suzanne, and she will waive her fee and consult with you for 60 minutes because I'm sending you there.

Joe Blackburn  14:54  
That's a big deal. I mean, really, I love, I like, I'm still. All this. So keep you totally stealing,

Suzanne Taylor-King  15:01  
because it comes from that place of being of value to other people, right? And you, you also said something really cool about your little notebook, that you keep track of things. And I'm a huge fan of pen and paper, because it actually ends up in here when I write it with a pen. Let's talk a little bit about how you keep track of people and what that looks like for you.

Joe Blackburn  15:33  
For me, and I'm maybe old school, but I think we call it the you know, there's a thing out there called neuralink, but the real neural link is still in your hand and and I've definitely experienced this. I got enough going on. I'll lose it if I don't write it down. I led my life on paper. So I have two notebooks here. I have a whiteboard here and a whiteboard here, so everyone that I need to be connected to is visible to me. Yes, now you can't see it in this awesome background, but so if I have something or a person or something I need to be paying attention to, it's right in front of me, handwritten on a whiteboard and then in my notebook. And then you mentioned the little black book this. So this little black book, you know, if you're out and about it, I mean, you could, you could thumb it into your phone. That doesn't generally help. I just write little notes down. I talk to this person we're meeting next week. It's just, it's a way to keep it moving in your mind. And then we don't really use a CRM, we did, but we do have a for our pillar. Specifically, it's in a sheets or Excel, or whatever the kids call that. It's, when's the last time you talked to him? What did you talk to him about? What can you do? What's the next step? And it's a progression. So you're progressing through the people you need to be taken care of, and it doesn't get lost, because it's super easy to forget stuff like,

Suzanne Taylor-King  16:54  
Yeah, well, I think making it intentional, you describe your pillars process, you know, that step, the steps of building that relationship with somebody, uh, what does that look like? As far as following up with someone, I'm not, I'm not very good at following up. I don't

Joe Blackburn  17:18  
check in on them. Let's start there. I hate that. Yes. I mean, you know, I'm just calling to check in on you. Okay, yeah, I'm good. Peace, no. But so when we talk about our pillars, which are for and people may not know what that is, they pay ideally, they introduce you. They like you. They listen to you and give you unsolicited referrals. You know, if you had 100 of those in your life, what would you like be like? Think that way. Yeah. So for them, it's a meaningful contact at least once a month. And when I say meaningful meaning, it's not hey, I was calling to check in on so that could be a coffee, that could be a lunch, that could be an update in something that's going on in the business that affects them, that could be a service call. I mean, there's all kinds of ways to to not just waste someone's time, you know, and that's a big thing. I mean, I do you answer your cell phone often, or your iPhone or whatever they call them? No, no one does. But if I correct,

Suzanne Taylor-King  18:10  
my friends get mad. They're like, why do you not answer your phone? I'm like, I'm at work.

Joe Blackburn  18:17  
Now you have the beauty of text, but yeah, however, if when you do contact someone, it is impactful or it's important, then they will answer yes, so it's not spam, and they know it's you. And now, if I'm just calling check in on you, I'll let that go to voicemail. So you want to get a rhythm in the beginning of just a meaningful contact and staying connected to that person with that and it's a fine line without being overbearing. I mean, you can't call someone over at any of you like, how are you doing? So that's the start in pillars. Is that meaningful contact? And most of our clients are in some form of service, so they do have a lot to talk about. There's the markets, the rates, the economy, there's so many things going on, and you can reach out to someone and help them with something, or give them something. I you know, we do it in our schools at times. We'll just every, you know, week or so, we'll put something there that's tactical, you know, tactical or useful. Hey, here's something we found. But more importantly, now the people in our schools do it when they see something. So now you're feeding a bigger beast, and that's a lot. That's what I really like about schools. You can connect almost daily on different things, but from a pillar standpoint, it's just one time a month I want to make impact. And the way that I've understood our minds work. We don't measure time. I don't say, Well, I talked to you four weeks ago. I have my clock is on. When is the last time you impacted my life. So if I beat it 12 times a year, you're gonna think you're talking to me all the time about valuable things, yeah, because I don't waste your time so that I

Suzanne Taylor-King  19:49  
love, I love, love, love. Another quote from Joe. I can't remember what he said. I'm gonna have to write it down on the recording. I'm. Um, well, here's the thing, I have ideas all the time, whether it's marketing, ideas, content, ideas, people, ideas. And when those ideas come to me for someone else, that's my value driver, right? I just did it with somebody relatively new to me, and he doesn't know that I have notebooks full of ideas, and I messaged him and I said, I thought about you today, and I have an idea. I love it, and just a random I don't give away crappy ideas. I give away my best ideas. And I talked to him for 15 minutes on Monday, and he said it's the best message he's gotten on Facebook in a long time. And he said, the fact that you called me with the idea and it wasn't some generic idea. It was very specific. And actually, for him, that was the key. It's actually for him, it's not like a made up ruse to have a conversation with the Lord stress ball. Yeah, no, not at all. But at the end of the, you know, eight or 15 and no more than 15 minutes. Did I talk to him? He said, You made my day.

Joe Blackburn  21:27  
Wow. Well, just let out to do, right? What have you made someone's day every day?

Unknown Speaker  21:34  
Read that. Well, we call you

Joe Blackburn  21:38  
know, you say your antenna in the old days. But now have your Wi Fi on, you know, if I have my wife, if I turn my Wi Fi on, I pick up things, and then I have that person in my mind, the connectivity. And I think it's awesome. You acted on it, because most people just, you know, all that was a good idea. And then, you know, I get busy, or my sick, or whatever, yeah, it brings so, I mean, I it's not always best to act on impulse. However people do, like when you think about them, we we t what we say is, if you want to reach out someone, it is what you say is, I was just thinking of you. Yeah, and it's true. So you're not, I mean, if you really were thinking of them, right? So then a lot of times people won't have people thinking about them. Who are people normally thinking about themselves? Well, if I'm thinking about you, I'm different because I'm not thinking about me. So that's a good way to really work with people. And again, I I hear the word be authentic and stuff online and everything, but be real about Were you really thinking of me? And don't expect anything in return. And that goes a long way. And it sounds like you crush that. So that's huge

Suzanne Taylor-King  22:44  
I did. But you know what? I think it goes a little deeper than you know, just thinking of other people, I think you have to have a certain confidence in whether it's ideas you're sharing or you're sharing other people, you have to develop that muscle of knowing that what you're doing is meaningful for that other person, and if they don't receive it, well, you can't care. It's almost like I'm doing it to get the damn idea is out of my head, so I stopped thinking about you and your business. I'm burning themselves.

Joe Blackburn  23:25  
Yeah. Well, we call that the mustard principle, by the way. Oh, okay, so in all of our groups, we adhere to what's called the mustard principle. And what that means is, if you and I were at lunch and I had a big piece of mustard on my chin, and I you knew i You knew I was getting ready to go out and meet another potential client, or existing or doing something important, would you tell me about the mustard on my chin? Because it could make you feel awkward, right? But if you don't tell me and I go embarrass myself, then you're not really caring for me, even though it may feel awkward. So in our, especially in our masterminds, and in our in our interactions, whether it's in person or via zoom, everyone adheres to that so that you're always telling someone the truth for their best interests, even if it's uncomfortable, sometimes it gets a little carried away. At times, people, you know, run with the money. You know, I think they're sword must run. People saying, Tell them what they think of them. But it is. It's if you set those ground rules with people, I'm always going to be honest with you, and it's not it for any other reason than to help you. Yeah, and it's been really powerful. And again, I say the word mastermind a lot when you have a bunch of people that are listening and looking and they're engaged and they see it, because I can't see everything, right? I mean, as good as I am, I get mustard at it all the time, right? I just think that's really valuable, and it makes you know people will respect you more if you're honest, and they'll respect you more if you're if you're really trying to help them, and they'll appreciate you more and in our world, and. And, you know, info or coaching or whatever it is that's literally, ethically our job. Don't tell you I'm not really doing what I'm supposed to be doing. You're not if you're engaged in one of our platforms or in one of our things. And I just, I don't feel like addressing this today, because I don't have the energy unethical. I thought it

Suzanne Taylor-King  25:17  
came because I was a dental hygienist for 25 years before I was a coach, and so I got used to looking at people's teeth, yeah, and if they had something in their teeth, that was like my responsibility to hell, you and I always, I always crack up if I have something in my teeth and I've just talked to three people and nobody, yeah, hums me,

Joe Blackburn  25:47  
well, that's most of the world. They don't want to deal with it. They don't want to feel uncomfortable. People don't want to be embarrassed. They don't want to feel uncomfortable. They just want to move on about their day. And it takes a special person that actually does care. Because if I told you then, by the way, now that you said teeth, I'm subconscious on camera. I'm

Suzanne Taylor-King  26:05  
yelling out of cavity. By the way, that's

Joe Blackburn  26:07  
amazing. Well, if, if I just don't want to deal with it, which is most interaction, yeah, you know, but if I'm willing to risk our relationship that you may be offended or have your feelings hurt, but I know it will save you embarrassment when it counts, because, like, if we're at lunch and you must understand, hurt you. It doesn't hurt me, but you go to something else and you do, or you have something in your teeth, it could hurt you, because people tend to focus on the negative, like you could be awesome, and then you got a big piece of spinach in your mouth, and they can't stop

Suzanne Taylor-King  26:41  
looking at it well. I can't stop looking at it personally, like it's it's painful for me sometimes how much I notice teeth. And, you know, I think each of us has the thing we notice about other people. Lots of people notice my hair. It's always different. I always have different hairstyles, different haircuts. So other people notice that about

Joe Blackburn  27:09  
me. Well, do they say something, or do they

Suzanne Taylor-King  27:12  
No, not, not really, except when it was really, really short. People thought I was brave, or, wow, I could never go that short, but it looks like it looks amazing. And I think it was just something distinctive about me, like I have eight pairs of glasses. I wear glasses to match my outfit, and just in the online space, because I think it's distinctive. It's different. It helps people notice me. I don't want somebody to notice me because I have spinach in my teeth, that's for sure. I floss every day. I don't know about anybody else, but, and I think this idea that the human brain can remember 100 people, give or take,

Joe Blackburn  28:00  
right? Yeah, it's about 100 Dunbar's principles, 150

Suzanne Taylor-King  28:04  
150 All right, so 150 people knowing me. Well, my job is for me to really know that many, and then I could have 1000s of people who know who I am? Now, whether or not those 1000s or 10s of 1000s of people actually know me, no, no, but they could know the face and, oh, the glasses, or, Oh, this, and that leads to business sometimes, or speaking games. Well,

Joe Blackburn  28:41  
we and in Assassins, we talk a lot about how you dress, what people look at. You know, first thing in person is people look at your shoes. Number one, it's just human. No, look today I have slippers on. But if you, if you were profiled the my eyes subconsciously go to shoes. But we, we talk about a signature brand, like I have coastal cowboys, so Pearl snaps, short sleeves, and by the way, when I was in financial services, it was, you know, cufflinks, pocket square tie, and it's, it's called a tag, if you want to be tagged, because it that happens in my mind, and a lot of people take for granted. How, how can I say this politely? How petty other people are, and they are judging you from the second they see you. Oh, yeah, you know. So if you have a signature, women are way worse. I've heard, I've heard, but they're always looking at, you know, how do you present yourself? So we would say, when you're going somewhere or engaging in something button it up. That doesn't mean you go so far above the crowd that you look ridiculous. You go one step above, because I can always come down. So if I go into a meeting with a tie, I can take it off, you know, I can't put it on right? Or if I don't have a jacket on, I can't, you know. And so I always. And we encourage our professionals go one step above, so that you stand out a little bit and you'll be remembered. And if, if that's the case, you're gonna, you know, if we're in a C of 100 people, like you said, and I am just like this much higher, yeah, you'll get noticed WITHOUT EVIL match. I mean, don't wear clown pants and be crazy. That's a that's a different thing, that's a different don't

Suzanne Taylor-King  30:24  
little tip, don't go to the grocery store looking like a real like unrecognizable, because it only happened once where I ran into the grocery store looking like a hot mess. And who did I see? But my town's only billionaire. Who knows who I am. I

Joe Blackburn  30:51  
have a funny story about that. I don't know if we have time, but yeah, go ahead. Well, so kind of pre that. So when I first started out, business attire was mandatory in all financial services. When I went door to door to ever Jones in July and August, I had to wear a suit and tie, so I kind of looked like a Jehovah's Witness. But not only I got mistaken for but Suit Tie door to door 100 degrees and hot, and they would say that if you're going to the store, you wear what you would wear in the office and everything. And then I went to a different office and a different business in Merrill, and the the most senior, and he won't watch this, he's won't retire. The most senior advisor on Fridays would wear a Hawaiian shirt, slacks and, like, sandals. And it was like 230 on a Friday, and the most wealthy person in Champaign, he's deceased, showed up with a $2 million check to the office. And this guy's name was Greg. I'll call him on we'll say his last name. Greg's sitting at our little coffee table area, reading the Wall Street Journal in the wine shirt, and he was most well known. This guy walks in and me and the sales manager at the time were working on something. We see him coming in and where we know who he is. He walks in, looks at Greg, turns around, walks out, and we're like, you know, and so, like, at that time, his name's Chris, sales manager. We both bowl out, go out in the parking lot, and we're like, Mr. I guess I can say he's deceased in the stratas what you know, can we help you? And he's like, and he's pissed. He's holding a check, and he's like, I came here to buy, you know, $2 million worth of Ford stock. I'm not doing it here. He was irritated. So more, and that's a long, drawn story. Now, we coaxed him back in, got it in, couldn't make trade till Monday, markets close to three. But he walked in was like, no, not doing my business here now and the whole time, Greg had no clue. He was just thumbing through the Wall Street Journal on a Friday. So what that I always tell our people is, you never know. You never know when the wealthiest person in town is going to walk in, or if you're at the grocery store, whatever it is, interact with them. So that's a very poignant thing to consider. And again, it's not trying to be petty. It's just we can respond to status. So put your best foot forward. Gives you better odds it does

Suzanne Taylor-King  33:16  
all right. Well, let's wrap up with you talking about how you transitioned from financial services into what you're doing now with the coaching groups. And I know one of your groups meets in person four times a year, and let's touch on the value of that as well. Sure.

Joe Blackburn  33:39  
Well, I was in financial service, and I'll go quickly through it. I was in financial services for 20 years. Around there I would insurance agent, financial rep, advisor, sales manager, manager, all those things. And then I was the director for Illinois and Iowa X downtown Chicago and the northern suburbs. And that was, I mean, I've told this story 100 times. So if anyone ever hears again, tough luck. I enjoyed it to a point it really became more about I would say it was a HR and legal job that sometimes we did some coaching and financial services is what it actually became. And that's corporate America, and you get what you ask for and nothing wrong. That's just the way it is. So that wasn't a real match for me. And I, you know, wrestled with it for a while. I in in a tough situation. I My wife was battling breast cancer, and I've got five kids, and I don't know, I actually just kind of started thinking, do I, you know, do I need to be on the road three, four days a week? Do I do I need this? And I came to the realization I didn't, and I resigned on a Tuesday one day and went into coaching. Wow. So no, I gave all my insurance benefits, restricted stock, all that stuff I was too young, left it all behind. I took a pretty big leap of faith, and and luckily, and maybe it was some skill, but, you know, I I replaced our. Come pretty quick. Now that wasn't every, you know, all my bonuses and all that, but we made it. That was that. And I got into coaching, and it's what I love, and I preach to our people. Do, you know, find your gusher and do that over and over. And, yeah, we build out a coaching business. And in 22 I, you know, took another leap, I drilled that down and turned it into what's called the line, which is the mastermind. We do meet several times a year, and it's, it's got several components, but it's, it's more about the people, the mechanics, or, you know, we do some coaching. We meet in person, but it's finding the right people that are hungry and wanting the same things we talk about, maximizing your income, multiplying your wealth and making your family indestructible and born out of that was something called sales assassins, where I teach pillars through some what we call the invaluables, because it's an invaluable skill set. You can go anywhere, doing any place, in community, online, whatever it is, if you learn it, you can build a business with it without having to do a bunch of other bullshit. Sorry, but yep, so, and that started with some of the sales teams from our lions, and then we grew that to people from outside the line. And we have, I think we're 30 plus now, in Assassins, and, you know, they're really just focused on, you know, learning how to get people to know life and trust them and pay them and pay them and build lifelong relationships and pillars we've mentioned a few times, it's a lifestyle. It's not a spreadsheet, it's not a tactic, it's a lifestyle. Yeah, people I like doing what I like, and we both, you know, benefit financially. That's the true definition of wealth. So if you get it down and you're good at it, and it becomes unconscious competence. That's what you do. Like, what I do is I talk to people like you or my clients all day long. I do all the stuff I want to do. I live in the Gulf of Mexico, and I don't have all the stress and irritation that I once had, because I don't have all Yeah, and our clients are, you know, our Jason, I the one young watch the assassins last year, all doubled. So whatever their target was, they doubled. And our inner circle, I mean, the people in there are doing incredible things. I mean, it's, it's one of those things where it's, it's almost taken on its own life, yeah, private and it's, it's my job to a make sure the right people are there and that they get results. Because I'm, you know, I delved into a little bit, and I probably talked about in our podcast the it's called the info space, or info marketing, or what you know, where you do and what I and I say, Delve. I probably didn't spend enough time there to really see it through. But what I found was that focus is on my results, my videos. Who watches me? How many clicks? It's all about me. Yeah, where our business is focused on our clients and their results, and as long as we're doing everything we can to get them the results they keep, you know, intact, stay with us and keep growing. So if it took me a while to kind of figure that out, in my mind, it's like you see all these things that you think are what you really want to do, and then you pull the curtain back and you realize all metrics, all outreach, all strategy, is about you, yeah, and not about them. They couldn't care less if you get results. Yeah, and didn't. Maybe I'm old or old fashioned. It didn't. It didn't sit well with me, and I wasn't really good at it, because I just felt like it just it didn't. I knew what the motive was. Yeah, and I and people can tell you all day long they want to impact people and that maybe I don't know, maybe, maybe I'm preaching. You want to cut me off. But one thing I think we both know is this, without accountability, coaching and continued connection, people aren't going to do it correct, just making the sale. So you it goes back to the relationship. I want people that, you know, the way that we sever ties is one of us dies. That's in mind when I think of someone coming into what I'm doing. I'll do whatever it takes. See texts and calls and five in the morning, 10, I am one at 1045, last night. I want, you know, some people don't want that there. They want a barrier between them and the people are trying to, certainly, I don't give a shit. If you I need to fly in and bail you out. I will. But that's, in my mind, the difference, and it has allowed us to build a very profitable business and maintain our integrity around the results, which I think in the other thing, it's like, you got it. One of them has to give. So, yeah, that's what, yeah. Well,

Suzanne Taylor-King  39:42  
I think what I like the most about what you're saying is I, well one, I totally agree. I'm 100% vested in my members that are paying right, and my client, my one on one clients. But what I heard and that I like. The most is that you build a coaching practice quicker than most you know, 96% of coaches make under $100,000 a year, so you were in the top 4% almost immediately because of what you're teaching other people like you don't get more authentic than that. I'm 100% positive that your first coaching clients came from people you already knew. Yeah,

Joe Blackburn  40:34  
my first one was my insurance agent. When I told him that I needed liability insurance for my business, he's like, What are you do it? Uh huh.

Suzanne Taylor-King  40:40  
And look,

Joe Blackburn  40:42  
that was number one, amazing, number two in his company that year. So I'm pretty good at this stuff. Yeah, although, and

Suzanne Taylor-King  40:50  
and that, you know most, most coaches, when they're starting think that they need a website and a funnel and a CRM and they're spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I know I was spending $1,400 a month trying to acquire people, and it never worked. It, you know, I learned all of that stuff, and it never worked for me and it you just demonstrated that you don't need those things. You just need one of these. Just need one of those. That's it. Yeah. Well, Joe, this is absolutely incredible. How can my listeners and followers get in touch with you?

Joe Blackburn  41:39  
I The best way is anywhere you listen to a podcast, look at the sales assassin podcast. You'll see me there. Uh, Croft will be there too, but I'm kind of the candy of that. And then Avril Joe Blackburn on YouTube. So those two places the best way to connect with us. You can watch what we do and hear us talk more and connect if you know something we do something you like love it. Thanks so much for you. I love it. Joining blind today, it's how I do it. I love it. I love

Suzanne Taylor-King  42:09  
it. Well, thanks again. Appreciate you. Everyone. Follow Joe on LinkedIn, subscribe to the YouTube channel, check out the podcast. I will link it in the comments here with our friend Jason Croft, and thank you again for being here and making my Friday

Joe Blackburn  42:29  
Awesome. Thank you so much good to see you. All right. Bye, bye.

Suzanne Taylor-King  42:34  
Thank you for tuning in to another empowering episode of unlock your way. I hope you found today's discussion inspiring and you're ready to take your business and personal growth to that next level. If you're feeling as fired up as I am and eager to unlock that full potential, I'm here to help you on your journey and provide that personalized guidance tailored to your unique goals and challenges, simply book a one on one coaching call with me, and we'll dive deep into your business aspirations and see how we could co create a roadmap for your success, and whether you're striving to scale an enterprise or just getting started, I'm here to support you every step of The way to schedule your coaching call, simply visit the website at unlock your way with stk.com click on the book a call button, and we'll turn your dreams into that reality. Subscribe and review on your favorite podcast platform and on YouTube, plus you can join over 800 entrepreneurs in the IDEA Lab Facebook group. Let's make success as an entrepreneur happen together until next time I'm SDK, keep dreaming big. Stay focused, and most of all, have fun while you're doing it. You