[00:01:44] Jeffrey Feldberg: Welcome to episode 95 of The Sell My Business Podcast.

[00:01:49] Jeffrey Feldberg: As it's become a tradition here on the Sell My Business Podcast, every fourth or fifth episode, we do a deep dive on a topic where it's just going to be you and me. And so for today's topic, here's the question for you? It's a bit of a rhetorical question, but I'll say it anyway. Do you want to crush it and win in business?

[00:02:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: Again, I'll ask that again. When it comes to business, do you want to crush it and win? And the answer is, well, of course, I do Jeffrey, yes. Then, if you do, here are the five traits of successful business owners that you really should know, but perhaps you don't. And I've had the privilege of working with all different types of business owners.

[00:02:27] Jeffrey Feldberg: And I've said it before. I'll say it again. When it comes to success, knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. So, let's talk about the very first trait. Of successful business owners.

[00:02:39] Jeffrey Feldberg: Accountability is one of the key traits of successful business owners.

[00:02:43] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, accountability means different things to different people. Let's break this down. So, for starters, full accountability is for your team's performance. There are some business leaders where they're very quick to take the credit when things work right. But they're also very quick to cast the blame when things don't work.

[00:03:05] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, accountability is huge. And here's a question for you. When it comes to giving feedback to your team and particularly it's the feedback that someone needs to improve in a particular area. Is your feedback coming across as non-personal, nonjudgmental? And at the same time on the flip side, when the team performs, are you quick to give praise? Are you appreciating what the team does?

[00:03:29] Jeffrey Feldberg: And if you want to see a change in other people, you've got to become that person first. If you're quick to praise when things work really well if you're there to provide supportive, but nonjudgmental feedback when it comes to areas of improvement. You're well on your way. But at the same time, let's focus on you.

[00:03:49] Jeffrey Feldberg: All too often business owners when they make a bad decision, either it's not talked about because people are afraid to bring it up with you. Or you don't take any accountability for it. And going back to the last point, you've got to take accountability for everything. Ultimately as the business owner, the buck stops with you. If the company does well and it's a result of the team while the buck stops with you, it's a reflection of you. If the company's not doing well if a particular initiative failed. Well, the buck also stops with you as the business owner. So, taking accountability when you make a bad decision, you going out there and owning it, talking to the team about it, looking at what you could do better the next time, lessons learned, all those valuable types of things. That's going to be absolutely essential. And the third thing when it comes to accountability, and this is so crucial. And these next two areas, they really cut across the entire company from your culture to your performance. It's transparency and vulnerability.

[00:04:51] Jeffrey Feldberg: With the accountability is transparency because you're now being transparent, of, hey, I own this, this didn't work out. Right. I take responsibility for that. And it's that vulnerability of putting yourself out there of saying, yeah, you know what? I really messed up. I feel absolutely terrible. So, sorry that I had to put you all through this. Here's what I'm going to do to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

[00:05:15] Jeffrey Feldberg: When you're transparent, when you're vulnerable, it makes all the difference in the world. It not only enriches your culture. But when it comes to things like your key performance indicators or your KPIs, and I've talked about those on other podcasts. And your KPIs that come from the four points of clarity.

[00:05:34] Jeffrey Feldberg: When you have your KPIs in the company, transparency and vulnerability are at the heart of KPIs. I mean, after all, if you have KPIs, but you can't talk about them openly, what's the point of having them? So, accountability is one of the key traits of successful business owners. And when I've been in situations where a business hasn't been successful. And I spoke to the business owner, I've spoken to the team.

[00:05:58] Jeffrey Feldberg: What comes through loud and clear is there is no accountability. It's always a let me play the blame game. It was someone else's fault. It was the marketplace's fault. It was not my fault. Well, that's got to stop and successful business owners take full accountability. So, that's character trait number one is accountability. Let's talk about character trait number two.

[00:06:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: And character trait number two is so critical because it's not just for running the business, but it's also going to apply for your liquidity event. And character trait number two, and this is what all successful business owners exhibit it's why you must always be curious if you want to prosper and succeed.

[00:06:41] Jeffrey Feldberg: And what I see when I speak to billionaires, millionaires, everyone else in between. Where their success there's a burning desire to always be learning, growing, and developing the skillset. I call it the ABCs of a successful business. Now, some of you in business may be familiar with a different type of ABCs. Always Be Closing.

[00:07:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: But my ABCs are Always Be Curious. Are you always curious in your business? Do you have a willingness and a commitment to look beyond what appears challenging? And let me ask you something because here's what I find for most business owners when they started their business. It really started from curiosity.

[00:07:25] Jeffrey Feldberg: You stumbled upon a painful problem for other people that you were incredibly passionate to solve. And it was your curiosity that had you stumbled upon it. But you learned about the problem. You saw that there really weren't good solutions at the time, and you want it to be that solution. So, you figured it out, you solved the problem so well that people were only too happy to pay you to take their pain away.

[00:07:53] Jeffrey Feldberg: And now you're in business and you have clients. And what's amazing to me that most people don't understand is it's your success that has within it the seeds of your future failure. What do I mean by that? How can it be that when you become successful it can actually lead to your failure?

[00:08:12] Jeffrey Feldberg: And I want you to think of the Titans of business. You know, who they are. These were companies that in their day, they just dominated the marketplace. They were the company to beat. But down the road, they failed. Why do they fail?

[00:08:26] Jeffrey Feldberg: The simple explanation is they stopped being curious. They became lazy. They got caught up in their success. And the beautiful thing about being curious. When you have a willingness and a commitment to look beyond what appears challenging to push yourself. To really find that solution. You create that market disruption once, you shouldn't be a one-hit wonder in the business, you can use curiosity to find the next painful problem that you're going to solve.

[00:08:55] Jeffrey Feldberg: My favorite question it's always, hey, what's keeping you up at nights on the business side? That curiosity leads to conversation. And that conversation leads to the clients identifying the problems that they're facing.

[00:09:09] Jeffrey Feldberg: Now, not every conversation. Is going to give you that painful problem that you can do something about. But it just takes one conversation to be a game-changer. And you've heard me on this podcast before when I spoke about my e-learning company. Embanet. In Embanet there are really two distinct chapters in Embanet. Embanet One an Embanet Two.

[00:09:32] Jeffrey Feldberg: Embanet one was more of a traditional business. We didn't have a great business model. We were successful, but that success was going to be time-limited. And I remember I was having a conversation with a customer. His name is John.

[00:09:45] Jeffrey Feldberg: And I said, hey, John, what's keeping you up at night? And John shared with me. He said, hey, Jeffrey, what's keeping me up at night? I'm glad you asked me that is that I can't feel the seats for our program. Now, this was back in the mid-nineties. And he said, you know, we have this thing called the Internet. My competition is now starting to take students away from me through the Internet. They're setting up shop in town and they also have video conferencing. My enrollments are going down. Can you help me with that?

[00:10:13] Jeffrey Feldberg: And it was that one question with that one problem. Eventually, that led to the creation of Embanet Two Embanet Two made Embanet One look like a rounding error. And it was Embanet Two that allowed me to say no to a seven-figure offer. And after two years of preparation in mastering the art and the science of a liquidity event that I could say yes to a 9-figure offer.

[00:10:37] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, it was that one question and there's an old saying if you want to change your life, change the questions that you ask. Such a powerful sentiment, such a powerful way to approach things. And I've yet to meet a successful business owner. I don't care how successful they are, how many zeros they have in the bank. They are always curious. And if it works for them it's going to work for you. And the same thing with being curious, when it comes to your liquidity event. When you go through the Deep Wealth Experience and you follow the 9-step roadmap and, you know, become a master of the 9-step roadmap, it's that curiosity that we're pushing you towards to look within your business.

[00:11:18] Jeffrey Feldberg: You may have the answers, but you don't have the questions. And in the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. We give you the questions to ask. And it's that curiosity that you have that has you take those questions to go and find those answers. And some of those answers in your preparation will lead to a market disruption. Yes, the strategies of preparation are one in the same for the strategies of growth.

[00:11:45] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, this is why you must always be curious if you want to prosper and succeed. Both in your business and in your liquidity event. And the other thing with the liquidity event that we can talk about. When you're going through the liquidity event and you have that curiosity, and as I'm sharing this with you, I'm reflecting to my liquidity event.

[00:12:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: And again, how do you become a master of something you've never done before? You can't. Unlike the business owners today who have the benefit of the Deep Wealth Experience. Myself and my business partners, we didn't have the Deep Wealth Experience. We hadn't invented the 9-step roadmap, but I remember as all of us were going through it,

[00:12:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: We were intensely curious every step of the way, oh, this person behaved that way. Why? Or we're getting this type of response or why are all these buyers going in this particular direction, what does that telling us? What should we be thinking about? The investment bankers, they're sharing this, but we don't agree with that. Okay. Where are they coming from? What are they doing?

[00:12:41] Jeffrey Feldberg: It was a curiosity combined with our resilience that allowed us to transform the seemingly impossible into "I'm possible" and as you go through your own liquidity event, always stay curious, ask questions.

[00:12:57] Jeffrey Feldberg: Don't be a spectator, be an active participant and allows you to both respond and change along the way. So, character trait number two is all about being curious.

[00:13:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: Let's talk about the third trait of successful business owners.

[00:13:12] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, one of the traits of successful business owners is mastering the art of delegation. When it comes to delegation, I'm reminded of step number two of the 9-step roadmap. This is where we talk about X-Factors. And X-Factors are things that insanely increase the value of your business.

[00:13:32] Jeffrey Feldberg: One of the X-Factors is this, I'm going to ask you a question. This is my favorite question. You've heard me ask this question before time and time again, on the Sell My Business Podcast. We ask this question in the Deep Wealth Experience, and I want an answer that's yes or no. There's no, in-betweens.

[00:13:49] Jeffrey Feldberg: Does your business run without you? Does it? Yes, or no? It is a simple enough question. For most business owners, the answer is no. Even if a business has a very capable management team. Business owners are still saying no. The challenge with as business owners. And I put myself in this group, we are all Type-A personalities. We do things that we think no one else can do any better. We're the best at it everything's got to flow through us.

[00:14:15] Jeffrey Feldberg: And for most business owners, they are the sun, the moon, the earth, and the stars when it comes to their business. There's zero delegation and the business doesn't run without the business owner. This is a huge problem. Let me switch to the liquidity event first, and then I'm going to come back to this characteristic.

[00:14:31] Jeffrey Feldberg: In the liquidity event, if your business doesn't run without you, one of two things is going to happen. A prospective buyer is going to look at your business and walks away. Why? Because when you master the art of thinking like a buyer, and this is step number three in the 9-step roadmap. You understand that a buyer wants to minimize as much risk as possible and increase the likelihood of their profit or their return on investment.

[00:14:58] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, a business that doesn't run without the business owner is a huge risk. This is a red flag. This is don't pass go. Don't collect $200. You're staying in jail. Because for the buyer, they know that once the liquidity event is closed, they can't depend on you. And if you're not there, there's not going to be a business.

[00:15:17] Jeffrey Feldberg: The other thing that may happen if the future buyer doesn't walk away from the deal. The future buyer will impose a huge penalty on your enterprise value. So, neither scenario is desirable. You want the business to run without you. How do you do that? What does that look like? And I know the obvious answer is sure, I get a management team and it's done, right?

[00:15:37] Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, no, it's not. Because there's a whole art of delegation. There's a whole art of having the business run without you. And so, the first question is, can you check your ego at the door? And in your business, are you the smartest person in the room? Because if you are, you've got a problem. You always want to make sure that as a business owner, you are never the smartest person in the room.

[00:16:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: You want to have other people that are smarter than you, and ideally, they're even better than you. So, you never want to be the smartest person in the room, whether it's with your management team, whether it's with your key employees. Surround yourself with greatness, surround yourself with people who are rock stars in what they do.

[00:16:18] Jeffrey Feldberg: The second thing that you want to do when it comes to mastering the art of delegation Is you want to let others work in the business so you can work on the business. I know you've heard that before, but let's really put this to the test. What does that mean? When you have people that are smarter than you.

[00:16:35] Jeffrey Feldberg: When you have a management team that you can actually delegate to. And they're doing the day-to-day things of running the business. You now work on the business and in fact, it goes back to what you do best. You started your business by finding that painful problem. You solved the painful problem, terrific.

[00:16:54] Jeffrey Feldberg: Now, remember what I said at the start of this podcast for most business owners, the irony is that their success contains the seeds of their future failure. When you're working on the business. This is your way of protecting yourself from your future failure. You're not being lazy. You're being curious like we spoke about before. You're being accountable like we spoke about before. But you're always on the lookout of, hey, what's that new problem that I can solve?

[00:17:23] Jeffrey Feldberg: I can go off into never, never land and dream of all these incredible solutions for these painful problems, because I know my company is not going to suffer. I have people very capable people, my management team, through to the employees where we have accountability, we have KPIs the business is running without me. And in fact, the business is going to do better without me than it is with me because people are empowered and they're doing what they should be doing.

[00:17:49] Jeffrey Feldberg: Now, this last part, this is probably the toughest for most business owners when it comes to the art of delegation. And it's knowing that good is good enough. Dreamer’s dream. Dreamers, dream of perfection, and nothing ever happens. Doers well they do. Doer's just get it done.

[00:18:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: And we know that good is good enough. That's really all that you need.

[00:18:13] Jeffrey Feldberg: Case and point is Sam Walton. When Sam Walton was building Walmart. He said, hey, I only have to be five or 10% better than my competition to win the day and win the marketplace. And we all know what happened there. Well, knowing that good is good enough that means that when you're delegating to people one of the common complaints, I hear from business owners is, you know, what. If I delegate it, they're not going to do it as quickly as me or they're not going to do it as well as me. I always do it better. Well, maybe that's the case, but good as good enough. If someone can do it 80% as well as you thank them very much. Let them go off and do what they're going to do and you go off and you do other things that will take the company to the next level.

[00:18:57] Jeffrey Feldberg: Your currency is not money. Your currency is time. And when you have the time to ask that question, hey, what's keeping you up at night from the business side?

[00:19:08] Jeffrey Feldberg: And you find these new painful problems. That allows for a market disruption, which increases your growth, increases your revenue, your profits, and ultimately your enterprise value increases. And when it comes to your liquidity event when you have a thriving and profitable company, you call the shots, you set the rules and you'll have a terrific deal. You'll capture the best deal and not any deal. And that all starts with the ability to master the art of delegation to help get you there.

[00:19:40] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, trait number three was mastering the art of delegation.

[00:19:43] Jeffrey Feldberg: What's trait number four?

[00:19:46] Jeffrey Feldberg: And trait number four, this was a very hard-learned lesson for me. Which we'll talk about with a quick story in just a moment. But trait number four of successful business owners is why you must always chase your passion.

[00:20:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: And not the money. So, let's talk about chasing the passion and not the money. And then I'll share my quick story with you. Passion this is your fuel to get you through the challenging times. As, you know, as a business owner, there will always be challenging times. You will run into a brick wall. Nothing seems to be working no matter what you do, it feels like maybe you're taking one step forward, but 10 steps back.

[00:20:26] Jeffrey Feldberg: If you don't have your passion. You're not going to have the energy or the desire to get through that challenge to prosper, to succeed, to make a difference, to change people's lives. So, passion it's like your rocket fuel. The other thing that happens is when you're passionate, your passion is contagious. And it's your passion that will excite your employees when they see what your passion is, they become passionate. They see how much you believe in the company, how much you believe in what you're doing, how much you believe in the team. And let's face it everyone wants to be on a winning team.

[00:21:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: Everyone wants to be in a culture where there's excitement, there's passion. There's a commitment to do something remarkable. And also, your passion extends to all of your stakeholders, particularly prospective clients. When you and your team are passionate about what you do, passion oozes through. Prospective clients, pick up on the passion. They become excited about what you can do for them. And that's where the magic happens. And the third thing that happens when you have your passion. Your passion feeds into your curiosity, which we just spoke all about, and that curiosity to find and solve the next painful problem to create that market disruption.

[00:21:45] Jeffrey Feldberg: When you chase your passion the money will follow and not the other way around.

[00:21:50] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, what's that quick story that I was talking about?

[00:21:52] Jeffrey Feldberg: I started to Embanet right out of my MBA program with no money, no experience, and no team. And for all you business owners and entrepreneurs out there, you know what that's like? I was living out of my parent’s attic. Failure was my new best friend. I was literally failing forward.

[00:22:11] Jeffrey Feldberg: On paper. Embanet was like the bumblebee. According to scientists, the bumblebee doesn't have the aerodynamics to fly. And so what science will tell you is it's absolutely impossible for the bumblebee to fly. It's just not going to happen. And on paper. Embanet was the same thing. Here was this young kid, no money, no experience, no team. How in the world is this company going to succeed?

[00:22:36] Jeffrey Feldberg: But it was my passion. My passion is what kept me in the game long enough to know, hey Jeffrey, hang in there one more day. Tomorrow will be a better day. It was my passion that had me say, hey, I just received another no, but every, no that I get, I'm becoming excited because that means I'm one no closer to a yes.

[00:22:57] Jeffrey Feldberg: And it was my passion that had me day in, day out, show up. And eventually, over time, my passion combined with my grit led to a successful company. And you all know what happened. Embanet became very successful. It became a transformative company in the marketplace. A market disruption was created and the 9-figure deal ultimately resulted. So, that was from passion where I chase the passion, not the money.

[00:23:23] Jeffrey Feldberg: After the liquidity event, myself and Steve Wells, we started another company in healthcare. I'm just going to speak for myself. I started that healthcare company, not because I was passionate about healthcare. Really, if I want to own it. I was greedy and I had an ego and I thought, hey, if I did this with Embanet, no matter what I touch, it will turn not to gold but the platinum.

[00:23:46] Jeffrey Feldberg: And I was chasing the money. I was not chasing the passion. I was chasing the money. I thought, hey, maybe I'll have a liquidity event even better and bigger than what I did at Embanet. And on paper, that company should have been a complete success. Think about it. Now there was the capital

[00:24:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: The team was there and the experience was there. It was a complete success waiting to happen. And I'll share with you that the healthcare company skyrocketed to seven figures, no time flat. It was a record of how quickly we got to seven figures, but are you ready for this?

[00:24:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: The seven figures were seven figures of losses. And sadly, it did not work out.

[00:24:27] Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you can imagine, because I was greedy and I had the ego, I was chasing the money and not the passion. That healthcare company was sold for less than pennies on the dollar. Millions of dollars of losses. It's something I'm not proud of. It was a very expensive lesson, but one that I haven't not forgotten. And I'm sharing with you today.

[00:24:49] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, successful business owners always chase the passion. They're looking for the passion, not the money. When you chase the passion, the money will follow, and not the other way around.

[00:25:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, let's talk about the fifth and last trait of successful business owners.

[00:25:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: This is how you're going to crush it and win.

[00:25:07] Jeffrey Feldberg: And that fifth trait of successful business owners.

[00:25:10] Jeffrey Feldberg: It includes resilience because resilience always trumps resources. And here I'm going to launch into one of my favorite topics which is cockroach startups. And I wrote an article. I encourage you to take a look at the article. I will put the link in the show notes about cockroach startups. And you may be saying, hey, Jeffrey, what the heck is a cockroach startup? And why should I have a mindset of a cockroach startup?

[00:25:36] Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, aside from being ugly and spreading disease, let's look at the positive side of cockroaches. Remember there's always two sides to a coin. And when it comes to cockroaches, what do we know about cockroaches? Cockroaches are virtually indestructible. They were here before the dinosaurs. They were here after the dinosaurs.

[00:25:55] Jeffrey Feldberg: If you go onto Wikipedia, you'll find that cockroaches have been here for over 320 million years and counting. Did you know that a cockroach can live for a month without water? Did you know that a cockroach can live for a month without its head? Believe it or not. And the only reason it dies is because it doesn't have water.

[00:26:16] Jeffrey Feldberg: Scientists even share that cockroaches are likely to survive a nuclear attack. So, cockroaches are indestructible, and now we take that concept to a startup. And I know we talk about startups because startups will need these kinds of characteristics, but it also applies to business. So, whether you're just starting out or whether you've been in business for decades, run your business like a cockroach startup so that you can welcome high levels of growth and profits.

[00:26:45] Jeffrey Feldberg: Cockroach startups are scrappy and this was Embanet.

[00:26:48] Jeffrey Feldberg: Cockroach startups will minimize expenses. How do you do that? You do that through resiliency. At Embanet. We didn't have the money. We bootstrapped it. We were a cockroach startup. What that forced us to do is find more creative ways of doing things. We had to turn to other industries. How do they solve this problem? We took those best practices and we applied them to ourselves.

[00:27:14] Jeffrey Feldberg: When we compare to Embanet to our competition, we found that at Embanet the productivity from one of our employees was at least two to three times greater than our competitors. Our competitors were all Private Equity backed. They had millions and millions of dollars in the bank account. And they just wrote the check, thinking that money was the answer when more times than not, money's not the answer.

[00:27:37] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, Embanet innovated. Embanet reinvented. Embanet did all these things that were otherwise to the outside observer were not possible, but we made it possible because of our resilience. And I have to tell you when I look back all these years later, and if you said Jeffrey if you could leave, Embanet exactly the way that it was. Or if you had a gazillion dollars for Embanet when you started, which scenario would have made you more successful?

[00:28:04] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, let's do a quick thought experiment. You already know that Embanet bootstrapped itself. There was no money. We had to become resilient. We had to figure things out and the rest as they say is history. But what if you said, well, Jeffrey, what if you could start Embanet with a gazillion dollars.

[00:28:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: Wouldn't that make you an even more successful company and perhaps lead you to an even better liquidity event? And the short answer with that thought experiment is no, I don't believe it would have. If Embanet would have had a gazillion dollars. Looking back, we would not have been resilient. We would have believed like our competitors, I just have to write the check that money is the answer and all those innovations that we created would not have happened. I'm not even sure Embanet Two would've come around because we would have been so caught up in what's our burn rate? How many customers are we going to get? Forget about profitability. Let's just get people signed up. It doesn't really matter. We would have been focused on the wrong thing.

[00:29:01] Jeffrey Feldberg: Because when it comes to the mindset of a cockroach startup, the mindset is let's do whatever you have to do to live another day. Let's imagine that the future of the company depends on this one client because it does. Let's ensure that we have a rich and thriving culture where there's transparency.

[00:29:21] Jeffrey Feldberg: Where there's accountability where there's curiosity because if we don't do that, we're not going to live another day. It's that mindset of a cockroach startup that really if you can infuse that into your business, you will take it to the next level. Now in the Deep Wealth Experience when you go through the 9-step roadmap, the mindset of a cockroach startup, whether that's through X-Factors whether it's going through step number four mastering the art of an internal due diligence audit. We take that mindset and we sprinkle it throughout all of the 9-steps. So, that business owners, they walk away whether they realize it or not of thinking like a cockroach startup so that they can apply it to their business.

[00:30:02] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, I encourage you to do two things when it comes to this fifth trait of successful business owners, and that's where resilience trumps resources. Encourage both yourself and your team to be resilient. And when you're resilient, you're thinking like the cockroach startup.

[00:30:18] Jeffrey Feldberg: When you're resilient, you know that money is not the answer. And when you're resilient, what will happen is your culture will transform itself into becoming a team-based culture, a rich and thriving and profitable culture. I've said it before. I will say it again.

[00:30:35] Jeffrey Feldberg: Your competition with all of their money, all of their capital, they can copy just about anything that you do. They can copy the technology that you're using. Your competition can hire your employees away, but what your competition cannot do, even with all the capital in the world, they cannot copy your culture.

[00:30:55] Jeffrey Feldberg: They cannot buy your company culture. And the foundation of your culture is your resiliency. So, know that the traits of successful business owners include resilience, which always trumps resources.

[00:31:11] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, there you have it. Those are the five traits of successful business owners that you really must master if you want to crush it and win.

[00:31:18] Jeffrey Feldberg: Let's do a quick recap of those five traits.

[00:31:22] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, trait number one, accountability is one of the key traits of successful business owners. And here we spoke about how you're taking full accountability for your team's performance. You're giving them praise when things are going well. You're providing nonjudgmental feedback when things don't go so well.

[00:31:40] Jeffrey Feldberg: You're taking full accountability when you make a bad decision. And from you to the frontline employees and everyone else in between, everyone has transparency and vulnerability in everything that you do in your communication, in your KPIs, within your culture.

[00:31:56] Jeffrey Feldberg: Trait number two, we spoke about why you must always be curious if you want to prosper and succeed. And here we spoke about the ABCs of business, where you always have that desire to be learning, to growing and developing your skills through your curiosity. You're Always Being Curious. You have a willingness and a commitment.

[00:32:17] Jeffrey Feldberg: To look beyond what's challenging today so that you can find a way to thrive and prosper through the solution tomorrow. And we also said that if you want to change your life through your curiosity, change the questions that you asked.

[00:32:32] Jeffrey Feldberg: For the third trait, one of the traits of successful business owners is mastering the art of delegation. And here we said that you're never the smartest person in the room.

[00:32:41] Jeffrey Feldberg: You're letting other people do work in the business so you can work on the business and you know, that good is good enough. If someone can do something 80% as well as you it's good enough. You're not after perfection.

[00:32:54] Jeffrey Feldberg: The fourth trait that we spoke about is why you must always chase your passion and not the money.

[00:33:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: And here I shared why passion is your fuel that will get you through the challenging times. It's also your passion that excites both your employees and your team, as well as gains the trust of prospective clients to have them become clients. And it's also your passion that fuels your curiosity to have you find and solve the next painful problem so you can create the next market disruption to take your company to the next level. And we rounded things out with traits of successful business owners, which includes why resilience always trumps resources.

[00:33:31] Jeffrey Feldberg: And through your resilience, you have the mindset of a cockroach startup. And it's through your resilience that you know why money is not the answer. And why you're encouraging your team to be resilient.

[00:33:42] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, there you have it.

[00:33:43] Jeffrey Feldberg: If you want to crush it and win, those are the five traits of successful business owners.

[00:33:48] Jeffrey Feldberg: And before we close out the episode, I have a question for you. Did you enjoy what you heard today? Did you like hearing some of these strategies that can help you and your business get to the next level and particularly around the 9-step roadmap and the Deep Wealth Experience?

[00:34:02] Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, if you did, I would encourage you to think about the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience system. The 90-day Deep Wealth Experience system is based on the exact same 9-step roadmap that myself and my business partners created for our liquidity event. And in just a few moments, you'll hear from some business owners that went through the Deep Wealth experience, what their thoughts are and how it transformed their business.

[00:34:27] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, if you're thinking about a liquidity event, you know you have one chance to get it, right. This is the biggest, largest, most important financial decision of a lifetime.

[00:34:36] Jeffrey Feldberg: So, whatever you do, don't become a statistic up to 90% of liquidity events fail. And of the so-called successful liquidity events most business owners leave anywhere from 50% to over 100% of the deal of value in the buyer's pocket, and they don't even realize it.

[00:34:53] Jeffrey Feldberg: You have one chance to make it right for your liquidity event, you better make it count. Let the Deep Wealth Experience and our 90-day system be your North Star to ensuring that you capture not just any deal, but the best deal.

[00:35:05] Jeffrey Feldberg: As always, thank you so much for your time today. Your time is your currency. Money you can always make more of time. You can't and you spend part of your day with me. I'm so grateful for that.

[00:35:15] Jeffrey Feldberg: As we close out this episode as always, please stay healthy and safe. 

[00:35:19] Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me.

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions.

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix.

Kam H.: I 100% believe there's never a great time for a business owner to allocate extra hours into his or her week or day. So it's an investment that will yield results today. I thought I will reap the benefit of this program in three to five years down the road. But as soon as I stepped forward into the program, my mind changed immediately.

Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended.

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even.

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, A-plus.

Kam H.: I would highly recommend it to any super busy business owner out there.

Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table?

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

If you're not on my email list, you'll want to be. Sign up at www.deepwealth.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode of the Sell My Business podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Reviews help me reach new listeners, grow the show and continue to create content that you'll enjoy.

As we close out this episode, a heartfelt thank you for your time. And as always, please stay healthy and safe. 

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This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth. 

Your liquidity event is the most important financial transaction of your life. You have one chance to get it right, and you better make it count. 

But unfortunately, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Think about all that time, money and effort wasted. Of the "successful" liquidity events, most business owners leave 50% to over 100% of their deal value in the buyer's pocket and don't even know it.

Our founders said "no" to a 7-figure offer and "yes" to a 9-figure offer less than two years later. 

Don't become a statistic and make the fatal mistake of believing that the skills that built your business are the same ones for your liquidity event. 

After all, how can you master something you've never done before? 

Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Learn how the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience and our 9-step roadmap helps you capture the maximum value for your liquidity event.  

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Click here to book your free exploratory strategy session.

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Enjoy the interview!