the entrepreneurs radio show 099 dr sabrina schleicher

THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW

Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur’s Radio Show of 22

Episode 99 - Dr. Sabrina Schleicher

In this episode, Travis speaks with brilliant psychologist and successful entrepreneur Dr.

Sabrina Schleicher. Dr. Schleicher’s company Tap the Potential has been helping rural

entrepreneurs reach their true potential through strategies and guidelines, and achieve growth

in today’s competitive business environment.

Travis and Dr. Sabrina give their take on strategies that business owners today could certainly

benefit from when applied to their business. They share tips on how to hire people that would fit

the position. Also, they teach the value of allowing your employees to do their work while giving

them responsibility and freedom to make decisions along with your guidance and rules that

you’ve established. Dr. Sabrina also advocates the 80/20 rule that would allow you to focus on

the things that would enable your business to grow and progress quickly and efficiently. These

and so much more are what you can expect to learn in this episode of The Entrepreneur’s Radio

Show.

Growing Your Biz Through Great Employees

TRAVIS: Hey, it's Travis Lane Jenkins, welcome to episode number 99 of the Entrepreneur's

Radio Show, a production of rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com. Today, I'm going to introduce

you to rock star entrepreneur Dr. Sabrina Schleicher. Now Dr. Sabrina is the founder of Tap the

Potential, America's leading rural business growers. Dr. Schleicher and her team specialize in

helping rural business owners overcome their greatest challenges to growing a profitable and

scalable business in their hometown while enjoying the benefits of small town life. In our

interview today Sabrina's going to share her top 5 elements for building and scaling a business

which are very clever and have kind of a slight different twist on them which as you know I love

anything that's a deviation from the norm, right? Several 20 plus years ago I was taught the

meaning of average by someone. And once I was taught the meaning of it, I had such a strong

dislike for it ever since then. And the meaning that I was taught is average is you're either the

best of the worst, or the worst of the best. And of course, I don't like either one of those, and I'm

guessing that you don't like it either.

So, today again I want to pick back up where we left off and thank a couple more people on

iTunes for taking the time to rate and review the show. And so, by and the dollar sign, $5 refund,

that's an interesting name-- gave us a 5 star review that says, "Ready to rock!" thank for that,

thanks for taking the time to do that. Big Magic Al gave us a 5 star review. Great return on time

invested, thank you Big Magic Al. Also by my shape, a 5 star rating and impressive is the title.

Again, there's several longer reviews and I won't go into reading those because they're too long.

But I want to personally say thank you for taking the time. It means a lot to me. If you find value

http://www.rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com/




in the show, I would really love it if you take the time to rate and review the show. I read

everything. And also, this helps us get found on iTunes. iTunes uses this in their algorithm to

determine whether to show us to other people out there. So, thanks again for that. As always, I

like to ask you to try to stay with us until the very end if you can because I want to share some

inspiration with you. Plus, before we get started, I have a question for you that is a little different

from the last question that I asked you. And the question is this. Would you like for me to look at

your business and help you overcome whatever your biggest problem in business is right now?

If the answer is yes then I want to remind you that I have a section on the website if you go to

rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com to where on the right hand side there's a microphone button.

You can click on it. It's just like leaving a voicemail on a telephone, where you can ask me

anything about your business, marketing, management, pricing, building teams, pricing models,

your overall strategy, it doesn't matter what it is. Whatever you feel like is holding you back from

the next level of success, all you have to do is click that button and just give me your details.

Give me the back-story of your business so that I can so that I can understand the context of

your question. And then I will keep your last name private. And what I'm going to do is I'm

saving these up and I'm going to create short, little 5-8 minute episodes and release them on a

daily basis where I answer your questions. Also, I'm always looking for ways to improve your

experience in the shows. So if you'd like to just go there and leave your feedback without any

advice on your business that's fine too. I'll personally listen to that. One last thing before we get

started, I want to remind you that there's 2 ways you can take these interviews with you on the

go. Of course, the first is iTunes and the other is Stitcher. I've places both of those in the menu

bar of rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com so that you can click on them and it will take you

directly to the shows. That way you don't have to go to either one of them, type it in and hassle

with trying to find it. Now that we've got all that stuff out of the way let's go ahead and get down

to business, what do you say? Without further ado, welcome to the show Sabrina.

DR. SABRINA: Well, thank you Travis I'm excited to be here.

TRAVIS: Oh, I am too. We've got a lot of things to talk about. And so, early on I told everybody

that you're a doctor and so I'm interested in you telling the story of how you've transitioned from

the doctor to what you're doing now. So do you mind giving that back-story?

DR. SABRINA: No problem. So I have a doctorate in psychology from the University of Texas

at Austin. And I was drawn to psychology because people fascinate me. And another kind of the

back-story behind that is when I was taking my career. I knew I wanted a career that would give

me the freedom to work for myself eventually just because I had different jobs. Some of them

were great; some of them were not great. And I had seen my friends, my father in particular,

and just people struggling in jobs they didn't like. Or dealing with co-worker problems or

problems with supervisors and bosses. And I just thought, well I want the freedom to be able to






work for myself at some point if that's what I choose. And so, got my doctor in psychology and

then I was in Austin Texas. All my friends were leaving after graduate school and moving out of

Austin. Austin's a fun place but when all your friends leave it's not so fun anymore.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: And I had a job lined up in a private practice and I just had this inkling that I

wanted to have one more life adventure before I settled down. And I had heard about the

National Health Service Corps where they send practitioners like psychologist, nurses,

physicians into rural, underserved areas where they don't have enough of those kinds of

practitioners. And I thought, wouldn't that be fun to go and do something like that for a couple of

years and in exchange get my student loans paid off because they were huge. And so my

husband who was my boyfriend at the time, I went to him and I said, "There's a job opening in

Riverton, Wyoming and it qualifies for the National Health Service Corps. And I'm thinking about

this, and I'm thinking it might be a fun adventure. It's in the mountain area and it might be kind of

nice." So, long story short we moved up here, I took the job, I really enjoyed the work that I got

to do. This is a very underserved area, they definitely need mental health practitioners up here.

But I had a bully boss, and he's not just a bad boss, he was one of those real bullies. And I was

in a bad position because we had moved up here. It was not like I could just quit my job, go

down the street, and find another job in my profession. It would mean moving again.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: And so, around that same time I had heard about coaching and I thought

coaching is a great way for me to use my skills as a psychologist but in a different way. So I was

working on the transition towards becoming a life coach. And eventually I did quit my job and I

was very relieved to be out of that environment. It was a very difficult environment if anybody's

ever worked with a bully boss.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: It's just hard.

TRAVIS: I have.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah. I think a lot of us have had that experience. And so when I went into life

coaching and opened a practice here I found a lot of business owners seeking me out. And they

were coming to me for work life balance issues, just being very-- as entrepreneurs and as small

business owners we work our tails of.




TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: And that worked life balance piece is very hard. But what I was starting to notice

is that there was more to the story than just work life balance. What was really underneath it

was that in a rural area it's very hard to find and keep good employees. And a lot of these

business owners were dealing with what I call the warm body syndrome where you keep warm

bodies around because you feel like if I fire them, or if I let them go, or even discourage them

from working here I'm going to have to fill that position and I don't know who I'm going to fill it

with. And then it's going to be me back there doing that work again. And along the same lines

what I was also hearing from them was that they're working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, they're in

the business all the time, and they're doing those $10 an hour tasks. And it was very hard for

them to do the work they needed to do on the business. So I decided, you know what I need to

buckle down and I want to learn business coaching, and I want use my skills as a psychologist

to help these business owners not only grow their business and attract their ideal clients or

customers. But also, how the great employees that they need to be able to fill the opportunity

that's right in front of them. Because in a rural area like ours, there's a lot of opportunity that

business owners have right in front of them that they don't go after because they feel like "I don't

want to be any busier than I am now." And they feel like it's going to be on their shoulders. So

that's what I do, I help business owners with not only growing their business but also all the

employee, and people problems, and customer service problems that come along with owning a

thriving business that continues to grow.

TRAVIS: I like that, and this is a very unique little niche in the market also.

DR. SABRINA: It is. And it took me awhile to recognize that, that was my niche. It took me 8

years as a matter of fact.

TRAVIS: It's funny, you think you'd be able to figure that out sooner, and I say that because I've

been through some of the same things myself to where it's taken me years to figure, "Oh, this is

really my gift." It's not as obvious as it seems. So in this bad boss transition to being a life coach

and business coach, how long was that transition before you found success?

DR. SABRINA: I would say 8 years.

TRAVIS: Okay.

DR. SABRINA: I've had a successful business all along. I was very fortunate, I've never had to

struggle to pay the bills even after I quit my job and jumped feet first into the fire. And by the




way, my daughter was born right at that same time that I quit my job and started my business.

And I don't recommend that kind of life transition for anybody, it was finally stressful.

TRAVIS: At least at the same time, right?

DR. SABRINA: Yeah. The reason I say it's taken me 8 years is that I was doing all kinds of

coaching. I was doing life coaching, I was doing career transition coaching, and it was just a few

years ago that I thought I want to look at who are my longest clients that keep hiring over and

over. What did I have in common, and I want to look at the clients who had paid me the most

over time. And when I did that it was a no brainer, it was small business owners. That stood out

to me but it still took me several years to figure out, the commonality is that they have

employees, number 1, and we were spending a lot of our time talking about employee issues.

And then it was just in the last year that I've decided you know what it's going to be not just

small business owners with employees but it's going to be established businesses that have

been around for several years. They're in the 500,000 to $5 million range, and they're growing.

And they're in a rural area where it's a low population and it's hard to find and keep great quality

employees. Now that being said, I will say that not all my clients are rural business owners

because employee issues affect every small business. And we do have a labor shortage

throughout or country.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: But the majority of my clients are rural. And since I have taken on that focus I've

gotten a lot of feedback from people who've been on my newsletter list for years that-- well, it's

about time you claimed this. And it's really cool that you're talking about rural business because

whenever we go to conferences in our industries, people at those conferences talk about best

business practices and marketing practices. But they don't want to work in a rural area. And so

that's one of the things that I do, kind of like you Travis. I really try to interview successful rural

business owners and find out, what are you doing that's working, what's your story, what can we

learn from you? And I bring that to my readers and my clients.

TRAVIS: To add to this point, through my first business I learned break a market into 3, which is

really kind of a unique way. And so, I find that there's lower level, mid level, and high level. And

so lower level are people that are shopping for whatever it is they're shopping for. They're

shopping for based on price, right?

DR. SABRINA: Right.




TRAVIS: And then there's mid, well, I'll explain the top. Top is people that are shopping for

quality, right? And then the mid is a combination of both. Some price shoppers and some-- but

they're on the fence and if there's a compelling argument they can be swayed to pay more and

they could be swayed to go up or to go down, one way of the other.

DR. SABRINA: Right.

TRAVIS: And so, now Gary Halbert, I don't know if you've ever heard of him, he's a brilliant

copywriter. And he calls these people PWM's, Players with Money, and players not in a negative

way but business owners, business with money. And one of the reasons why they're always in

the top of that tier 3 because they typically provide some level of service themselves. They own

a business; they understand what it's like to deal with the public, right?

DR. SABRINA: Uhuh.

TRAVIS: They spend a lot of time on self-improvement to manage the growth of their business

and some way, shape, or form, right? And it's all of these things that make them an ideal client.

And that holds true. I own a construction business; my best clients are those people.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah, because they get it.

TRAVIS: Yeah, they're the best chiropractic patients because you give them instruction and

they'll follow it, right? And so it's really interesting that it transitions across virtually all industries

is it's those group of people that our sweet spots. So yeah, I think it's great that you've tapped

into that. And it took you 8 years before you finally just reverse-engineered all the people that

you had been spending time with and come to realize that they're your most ideal avatar.

DR. SABRINA: Absolutely. And you know what's interesting to me is as a psychologist I'm

fascinated with personality, and I like to help my clients use that in their marketing to really

understand their heads and hearts of their ideal clients or customers. And also, when it comes

to finding their ideal employees. I think there's that right kind of profile, that personality profile

and set of values. And it's different for every business. But in my own business one of the things

that I came to realize, probably somewhere around year 4 or 5 is that one of the commonalities

is that drive to learn. And that goes across the board for all of my clients who do one-on-one

work with me. They want to improve, they want to learn. And they don't just do it in their

business; they're doing it in all areas of their life.




TRAVIS: Right. I completely agree with you. Now, one of the things that I noticed that's a

common problem with business owners is they make the mistake of hiring people they like

rather than hiring the person that needs to fill the position.

DR. SABRINA: Yes, we all do that.

TRAVIS: Right. You're not hiring somebody to barbecue with, right? You're hiring someone to

run different aspects of your business and quite often we need left brainers to do certain parts of

the projects or the business, right?

DR. SABRINA: Yes.

TRAVIS: Now, knowing that you come out of Austin. So as a doctor my presumption would be

left-brain but there's a lot of right brainers that come out of Austin, right? I'm in Texas and I know

Austin quite well, I love Austin by the way. And so I had a strong suspicion that you're probably

a right brainer, which are you?

DR. SABRINA: Oh, I'm a left brained woman. I stood out like a sore thumb in my graduate

program.

TRAVIS: Oh, okay.

DR. SABRINA: And thing is that I fully believe that for us to really function at our best we have

to learn how to acquire the strengths of the people who are at least like us.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: And so, I have very much learned how to be more right brained and to use that

part of my brain. And I operate my business in a lot ways from my right brain. It doesn't come

naturally to me, it's something I've had to just kind of like grit my teeth and go, okay, I don't know

where this idea's going lead. And I don't know necessarily what I'm doing but I'm going to jump

in there and I'm going to try it. But that's not easy for me.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: One of the things that I do myself when I'm hiring but I also talk to my business

owners about this is that when you think in terms of the ideal customer or the ideal client that

we're serving and what it is that we're delivering to them. And then think about the role that we

want that employee to fill for us. And then think about what personality is going to be best suited




to excel in that role. And in credence you don't want to put somebody into a role where they're

constantly drawing on their weaknesses, or they're constantly having to draw what I call their

Achilles' Heel.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: Because that's stressful over time, and there's no amount of improvement that's

going to be significant enough for you to be happy with their performance if they're operating

primarily from their weaknesses.

TRAVIS: Right. I had a left brainer that was answering the phone and doing customer service

for a long time, and that was an unwise move for me.

DR. SABRINA: No, that's not the right person for that position.

TRAVIS: Right. And for the longest I couldn't understand. This is simple, what are you not

getting? Well, she's wired differently. This is before I come to realize how differently people are

wired. So what I was going to tell you is I could get a 15-minute notice that I'm going to be

dropped in a country that I don't speak a language to pack a bag. And I could be fine with that.

Actually I'll be excited about it. Where left brainers wouldn't want to hear that, right?

DR. SABRINA: I know. My anxiety immediately goes up. No, I would need 2 months to plan for

that Travis.

TRAVIS: Yeah. And so, we've got to understand. Now, people are obviously much more

complex than right brain, left brain, and everyone says well, I'm a little of both. Well, everybody's

a little of both. You start out dominantly as one, and I found that typically the more you develop

the other, the more balanced of a leader you become. But you can spend too much time trying

to overcome your weaknesses that you're not accomplishing the things quickly enough in your

business, right?

DR. SABRINA: Right. And one of the things that I'm notorious for among my clients is starting

off our coaching conversations by asking them about their wins and successes. And that's not

just a feel good thing that I do with them. It's because underneath our wins and successes are

our natural strengths, the things that we do that just come easy for us. And so when we look at

what's going well in our business and where things are working, and become more intentional

and deliberate about doing more of what works. We have a lot better success that if we spend

an entire coaching session focusing on-- this is a significant area where I'm weak, and what do I

do about it. That's why we need to hire people to compensate for our weaknesses.




TRAVIS: Right, great point. So going back to one of the problems that you talked about in these

small towns where there's not a lot of people to choose from. I have a suspicion that you've

come up with a way to convert mediocre employees into great employees because there's not

many other ways in those small towns, right? Am I right?

DR. SABRINA: No.

TRAVIS: No? Okay.

DR. SABRINA: But that's what I try to do for a long time with the help of my business owners by

teaching them coaching skills so they could be better coaches to convert or improve these warm

body type employees and it just doesn't work. If someone is not wanting to learn and improve,

or their values are not aligned with your values and the businesses' values they're just not a

good fit. And so you need to let them go. And so I've gotten much more forthright in just saying,

"This person is not working for you. Let's shift our focus and let's figure out how you can start to

recruit in that work with what I call A Players." And what I do teach my business owners now is

this concept of if you have one really good employee, that A player has a network, and you got

to tap in to their network. Because they know more A players. And A players are the type of

employee that's resourceful, that's motivated, that wants to learn, that wants to grow and

improve and move up in a business. And they tend to hang together. You know good quality

people and other good quality people know other good quality people, and they tend to be in the

same networks.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: The thing that's challenging for most business owners is that those A players

are not unemployed. They're not actively looking for work necessarily. They are in other jobs,

and they're appreciated, and they're performing well in those other jobs. So, it's not always that

you can just go tell somebody, "Hey, I've got an opening, come work for me." And in a small

town you definitely have to be very careful in doing that because you're going to tick off a fellow

business owner if you're taking one of their employees. But it's this idea that you get to know

your best employees better and understand why they like working for you, what makes them

tick, how they see their job. What are some of the intangible benefits that they perceive in

working for you? And you use that information as you get out there and you start networking.

But the other thing that works really well is to let your best employees know the kind of person

that you're looking for to fill the position, and just let them know, if they know of anybody like

that, that they should send them your way. And even going above and beyond that is to provide

some sort of incentives, to have an employee referral incentive program, not just among your




current employees but you can do that with anybody. They don't have to be a part of their

business. If they send you a referral and that turns out to be an employee that you hire, you can

send a little gift or something as a thank you. That goes a long way to start building up that

pipeline of potential employees for you.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I like that. One thing that I've noticed is A players don't like B players, and B

players don't like A players.

DR. SABRINA: Oh Travis, you cut out here, I don't hear you.

TRAVIS: Can you hear me now? Hello. Are you there?

DR. SABRINA: I can hear you. You said that one of the things you've noticed is that A players

don't like B players, and B players don't like A players?

TRAVIS: Yeah, exactly.

DR. SABRINA: Travis, can you hear me?

TRAVIS: Yeah, I can-- hold on, let me dial you back real quick, okay?

DR. SABRINA: Okay.

DR. SABRINA: Hi Travis.

TRAVIS: Hi, sometimes that happens with Skype.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah, I know.

TRAVIS: So exactly, I've found that A players don't like B players, and B players don't like A

players. Do you agree with that?

DR. SABRINA: I wouldn't say that it's A players and B players so much as it is A players don't

like C players or D players. And C or D players don't like A players. And the reason I don't think

it's A and B is that B players are usually pretty good employees also, it's the A players who are

just like the superstars. So one A player can do the work of 9-12 C or D players.

TRAVIS: Right.




DR. SABRINA: They're highly productive folks, they become quickly annoyed and frustrated

with people who underperform and who do just enough to get by, and rightfully so, they should.

And those C and D players, they see those A players as a threat to the status quo. So if you

have a business full of C and D players, and you bring in an A player you can bet your bottom

dollar those C and D players are going to complain about that because that A player is rocking

the boat. But that's a good thing.

TRAVIS: Right. I completely agree with you, and I've been involved in that to where as a young

man I didn't understand the politics of an organization. And I was raised working at a very early

age. 11 years old I started working with my father, we just didn't mess around. It was hard work,

aggressive. You don't take a coffee break unless you drink coffee type of guy. He's just very

aggressive.

DR. SABRINA: Was that in the construction industry?

TRAVIS: Yeah, that was in the construction industry.

DR. SABRINA: Okay, yeah. That makes complete sense.

TRAVIS: Yeah, and so by the time I was 16 years old I was competent as a grown man. And so

me and my father were a team, and we could outperform any other two-man full-grown team,

right?

DR. SABRINA: Yeah.

TRAVIS: And so as I spread my wings as a young man and went and tried different industries I

had that work ethic, and I thought everybody worked like that. And so I went into a shop

environment and everybody was goofing off. And I just wanted to make a good impression and

do my thing. And the guys pulled me aside and threaten me and said, "Listen, dial it down." And

that was my first taste of the politics of what you're talking about.

DR. SABRINA: Isn't that interesting though how quickly that happens. They try to get you to

come down to their level.

TRAVIS: Right. And ultimately ran me off. And I haven't been around that stuff for 20+ years,

but it brings back those memories of exactly what you're talking about. And I think a lot of

business owners aren't thinking of that. And the distinction between the A, B, and C really does

make sense. There are good employees and then there's great employees. So I've never really

thought about it in breaking it up at that level. But it completely makes sense. So, do you just




completely clean house? What do you do in that situation where you're trying to make the

transition--

DR. SABRINA: I don't recommend that you just completely clean house. But start making a

concerted effort to get out there and network, and recruit. And everytime you have an open

position, do the work on the business and really understand why you're hiring and what kind of

person you need for that position before you go out and hire. And then that you've done the

networking that you need to do so you have a better pipeline of people to choose from. And so

the idea is to hire up with every open position. But that being said, I will say that I've had some

clients who have had really good performers, people who produce, who are critical to the

bottom-line but their core values, their immutable laws were not a good match, they didn't reflect

well on the integrity of the business. And those clients let those people go, and they have been

better off for it. And it was very scary to clean house like that but within like 4 month's time

recovered from it and replaced them with people who were a better fit, and better performers

overall.

TRAVIS: So when you're rebuilding a team like that, how do you prevent the old team from

tainting the new people?

DR. SABRINA: So, you do need to clean house at the bottom. So the folks who are the

naysayers, the whiners, the complainers, they do need to go because they are very damaging

to the morale of a company. But in terms of wiping out B or C players, not necessarily, you don't

want to do that right away.

TRAVIS: Right. And so, do you ever recommend that they set-up compensation programs that

align everybody's efforts and energies?

DR. SABRINA: It really depends. As a psychologist I can say that we know that money and

other kinds of perks that go along with money, those motivate only to a certain extent. And it's

really more about creating a culture where you're consciously hiring people who have very

similar values to the values that you have in your business and your own values. Not

necessarily same personality, values need to be a fit. And when you get that going that the team

effort comes together a lot more quickly. And the reason I hesitate to say about compensation

programs where you want everyone to work together as a team is I think there is value in

playing favorites with your employees. And I think there's value in when you have a rock star

employee that, that employee gets more attention and more intangible perks than other

employees, because it encourages those other employees to step up.




TRAVIS: Yeah, I agree with you. So not everybody gets a trophy. I completely agree with you

on that. So how do you make sure that their values are aligning?

DR. SABRINA: Well, first off, we have to articulate for ourselves and our businesses what are

our core values, or our immutable laws. And the easiest way to do that is to look at what are the

things that your employees have done lately that have ticked you off. And underneath that is

there's a core value that they violated. And so let's try to figure out what that core value is and

let's put it in everyday language so that you can tell your employees, "This is how we do things

around here."

TRAVIS: So give me some examples of that.

DR. SABRINA: Okay, so the most basic is dishonesty. That comes up all the time, is when an

employee is dishonest. And the business owner is trying to build a business where they have

integrity and the customers or clients know that they can rely on that business owner to do what

they're promising to do. If you have an employee who's dishonest in covering up mistakes, and

hiding things, and you suspect it as a business owner but you just can't put your finger on it,

that's a core value that's being violated. In my business, my number 1 core value is I don't

chase business. I try to attract the right clients who need what I have to offer. And then once

they're here I serve the heck out of them. And my current clients are way more valuable to me

than anybody who might be a client down the road because who knows? And so that's a core

value and when I'm hiring people in my business I let them know right up front this is number

one. We serve the heck out of our clients that we have rather than putting our energy towards

chasing more business.

TRAVIS: Right. Yeah, so in my business, and my father explained this to me whenever I started

mine. Because early on I expected perfection out of everybody. And so I remember him kind of

laughing and he set me down and he said "Son, nobody's going to work as hard as you, it's your

business it's not their business." So, number 1 quit getting upset because everybody's not doing

everything perfect. Decide what is a deal breaker for you. And for me theft and dishonesty were

deal-breakers for me. There's no way you could explain your way out of either one of those,

right?

DR. SABRINA: Right.

TRAVIS: And so, very early on, when I brought people on I explained to them. I say, "Two

things will get you out of this organization faster than anything is stealing or lying. We won't




have a discussion, you'll be gone. Everything else is up for debate to a certain point. Here are

the guidelines." And so, that sounds like exactly what you're talking about, right?

DR. SABRINA: Yeah. And I'll comment on the perfectionism thing because I'm a perfectionist

myself and it's driven me crazy. I have a much better life now that I'm letting go of it slowly. I

used to have an immutable law or a core value around-- the details matter. And I quickly let go

of that because I realized that if I hire someone and I tell them the details matter, the details that

matter to them are going to be different than the details that matter to me. So I really wanted

them to focus on the right details. And in my business it's about taking care of our clients and

their major challenges and their needs. And so the details matter when it comes to that. But

there's other things where the details aren't as important.

TRAVIS: Right. And so there's this common belief with small business owners that nobody can

do it as good as I can. Well, that's not true.

DR. SABRINA: And that's probably true. Well, in some ways, nobody's going to do it the way

you do it.

TRAVIS: Right.

DR. SABRINA: But sometimes when you let go, they do it better.

TRAVIS: Right. That's my point. So you never know. Early on, I'd went on to open other

different types of businesses. But early on I had to learn, if I was ever going to grow the

business I had to put the tools down, let the guys pick up, and let them make some mistakes

and give them some guidance. And most people never get to the scaling-growing phase

because they're so busy trying to do their special sauce that they can't let other people get in

there and repeat the process for them, right?

DR. SABRINA: Absolutely. And a lot of my clients are in the construction industry, or they are

businesses where it's very much hands on type of work. And so, it's this process of recognizing

that you got to be so good at that type of work because you made mistakes and you learn from

your mistakes. So if you don't ever let go of the reigns and let them get in there and make the

mistakes, and then coach them as they're learning from their mistakes, it's always going to be

you doing it and you're always going to be working 80 hours a week. And you're going to be

unhappy because you've got that perfectionism gremlin eating at you in the back of your head.




TRAVIS: Right. There's a fine balance with the perfectionism. Things do need to meet your

quality level because it's your reputation. But it's things beyond that, worrying about details that

are just insignificant in the big picture of things.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah. One of the things that I've started paying attention to is the question of

what really matters to my best clients and that's where I and anybody who works for me, I want

them to show and do their absolute best. But there's so much that doesn't matter and we've got

to be able to let that stuff go.

TRAVIS: Right. So what else do you focus on with your clients that help them improve their

business?

DR. SABRINA: I really like the 80-20 principle.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I do too.

DR. SABRINA: I love the 80-20 principle.

TRAVIS: Yeah, I do too.

DR. SABRINA: And so, for those who might be listening who haven't heard this before, you can

count on that in most businesses across the board, 20% of your customers are going to

responsible for 80% of your revenue. And so for my business that was revolutionary in terms of

getting me to quit trying to serve everybody who approached me and coming up with an offering

that was going to fit their need. And really zero in on my best clients and what their needs are.

So when I go into a business and start working with business owners a lot of times they resist

the 80-20 idea, even though it's pretty common knowledge out there in the business world, we

always think our business is somehow different. But it's not, it's not. And so I like to get them

looking at their numbers, and looking at revenue from the last 24 months and what percentage

of clients have been responsible for about 80% of that revenue over the last 24 months, and

then interviewing those clients, and not formal interviews. But just asking some key questions so

they can better understand the needs of their best clients or customers. And what I like about

this so much is it takes the guesswork out for us entrepreneurs. We don't have to guess what

our next innovation is going to be in our business. We just listen to our best customers and

they'll tell us. And we go out and do it, and then they eat it up, and they're so happy. And it's so

easy.

TRAVIS: Right. So do you ever drill deeper into the 80-20 of the 80-20?




DR. SABRINA: Yes, absolutely. And I think that's the most fun is when you get that small

handful of your best customers that are responsible for a huge portion of the revenue in the

business. And you really take the time to get to know them and their needs. And what's beautiful

about it is as you're creating products or offerings, or services that are meeting the needs of

your best customers; you are attracting more people like them. So, business gets to be a lot

more fun because you can start spending more time with your better customers in your

business, which is naturally more enjoyable for us as business owners. And then letting go of

trying to meet the needs of people who can be at the bottom percentage, the 5 or 10% who can

actually be profit suckers in our businesses.

TRAVIS: Right, definitely a time suck and profit-- I love the example of the Starbucks uses a

slack adjuster espresso. Have you ever heard that example?

DR. SABRINA: I have not, tell me about that.

TRAVIS: Yeah, so they have a $10,000, and some of the numbers may be a little off here but

this is just a story. So they have a $10,000 and some of the numbers may be a little off here but

this is the gist of the story. So they have a $10,000 espresso machine inside their store on the

wall. And so they know 80% of the people that come in are there to buy coffee or tea. And then

20% will buy one of the widgets off of the wall. You know, the 15, 20, 30, $50 items, right?

DR. SABRINA: Right.

TRAVIS: Well, that's the 80-20 of the 80-20 that come in. And then the third 80-20 that the small

20%, which I think is-- let's see, that would be 20%, then that would be 2%, and then I guess it'd

be down to 1%. 1% buy the $10,000 espresso the machine. And that's how they drive the

overall ticket value up per customer, right?

DR. SABRINA: Yes.

TRAVIS: How many cups of coffee do you need to sell to equal 1 espresso machine for

$10,000, right?

DR. SABRINA: Exactly. And it's much easier to sell that one espresso machine than it is all

those individual cups of coffee.

TRAVIS: Right. And so that's the 3rd iteration of the 80-20 rule as it keeps drilling down. I know

Perry Marshall and several other people are focusing on that right now. But it's really brilliant

and I'm trying to do the head math right now. But actually if you just scale it out on paper it's




really not that complicated and it's a great way to grow the revenue of your business very

quickly.

DR. SABRINA: Absolutely. And I think Perry Marshall-- as you started talking about that I do

remember that example. I've heard it somewhere. And Perry Marshall calls that racking the

shotgun and seeing who turns their head. And I've started doing that more in my own business.

And an example is I send out a newsletter bi-weekly and in the last edition of my newsletter I

had an article in there called The Secret, not just the but The Secret to time management for

small business owners. And I based it off of a chapter in Perry Marshall's book on the 80-20

principle and when it comes to time management. And in there I put a little incentive at the

bottom of the article. A drawing that I was going to do a give-away for Perry Marshall's 80-20

book. And so when my assistant read that and she said, "This is really great, but I think you're

asking people to read this and then they have to email you, and then you're entering in a

drawing. And then they have to even be entered in the drawing, they have to follow-up with you

the following week to tell you they did what they said they were going to do." And I said,

"Absolutely. I only want people following through and entering this drawing who are absolutely

committed. And she said, "Oh, I get it." And it's that concept of racking the shotgun.

TRAVIS: Right. I do that-- when we place an ad for employees we get 200 applications and a lot

of them are not relevant to the position.

DR. SABRINA: Wow, that's a lot to sort through.

TRAVIS: Yeah, right. And so, we're always looking to who we can put this on, assign it to.

Because nobody wants to do it, right?

DR. SABRINA: Yeah, no kidding. No one to delegate you.

TRAVIS: Yeah, exactly. And so finally what we did is we put that hurdle in there. So we had

them read it in the ad. It says, "Call this number, leave a detailed message of why you're a good

fit for this position. Along with an email that we can contact you." And that weeds 95-98% of the

people out because most of them are unwilling to follow directions.

DR. SABRINA: Isn't that amazing? I love that. I think it was a client of mine had people respond

to a job at and I needed to sign their letter in purple ink. And if they didn't sign it in purple ink she

said I'm not even bothering to look at the rest of the resume or the application.

TRAVIS: Right. And you can say on the ad if you don't follow these directions then don't waste

your time applying. And people still don't follow the directions.




DR. SABRINA: Right.

TRAVIS: And so, if you're hiring somebody for a detailed position then you need to be careful

about hiring that person because obviously detail is not something that comes naturally to them.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah, and I'll tell you along those same lines another trick that I share with my

business owners when it comes to hiring is while they're talking to their best employees and

asking them what they like about the job. They also need to be asking their best employees

about what they find hardest about the job or what's most challenging. And then when you're

writing a position description or an ad, include what's the hardest part of that job in that position

description. So that people reading that will say, "You know what, I can't see myself doing that. I

can't see myself installing doors in -11 degree weather. I'm not going to apply."

TRAVIS: Right. Yeah, I completely agree with you. Place it in the worst light possible, and then

everything from there is a positive.

DR. SABRINA: Yeah, and that's the exact reverse of what we tend to do. We tend to feel like

we need to market working for us and sell people on the positions especially when there's not a

lot of applicants coming through the door. And actually when you do that you set-up a dynamic

that is not good going forward with that employee.

TRAVIS: Yeah, completely agree. Hey, we're running a little long on time, what do you say we

transition to the lightning round for the 3 questions that I sent you. You got those around?

DR. SABRINA: I am ready.

TRAVIS: Alright. So let me throw them at you. So the first one is what book or program made

an impact on you related to business that you'd recommend and why?

DR. SABRINA: The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz, that book was a total game changer.

And the idea behind The Pumpkin Plan, it's totally 80-20, is that if you want to grow a giant

pumpkin, if you want to grow a really thriving business, you've got to trim the vine. You've got to

let go of the diseased little pumpkins and you got to weed your garden. I'm a gardener so I love

that metaphor to begin with. But it was just a total game changer for myself and it's been a

game changer in my client's businesses, the ones that are using it. So, that's the book.

TRAVIS: Yeah, great book. I interviewed him, he's a brilliant guy, I don't know if you've heard

the interview.

http://amzn.to/1eDwE5c




DR. SABRINA: I have listened to the interview, yes.

TRAVIS: Yeah.

DR. SABRINA: He is brilliant.

TRAVIS: And he's hilarious also, he's got the best videos.

DR. SABRINA: He is and I'll tell you that his audible version of The Pumpkin Plan is probably

one of the best business books on audio I think out there.

TRAVIS: Oh, I'm going to have to--

DR. SABRINA: Just because he leaves his personality in as he's reading the book.

TRAVIS: Right, okay, cool. I'm going to get that. What's one of your favorite tools or pieces of

technology that you've recently discovered, if any, that you'd recommend to other business

owners and why?

DR. SABRINA: Okay. This is not a recent discovery, I've been using this for a couple of years,

but it's OmniFocus. It's an app that goes on your phone, your iPad, your computer. But it's

based on the getting things done system and the reason I'm such an advocate of the getting

things done system is because we entrepreneurs have so much running through our heads and

that's a big part of our stress level. So we can keep our heads empty. We have room for big

ideas. And so I used to do OmniFocus, or I used to do the getting things down system in a

paper and pencil version of just tracking my projects and my tasks. And when I found

OmniFocus I shift it over and do it like that. And it's on my phone, it's with me all the time so I

don't have to remember those little things anymore. I have something that ticks all that and does

it for me.

TRAVIS: I haven't heard of that, I'm going to have to check that out. Okay, what famous quote

would best summarize your belief or your attitude in business?

DR. SABRINA: There's a quote by Zig Ziglar that my mother sent me, it's a little cartoon many

years ago. And I think it's travelled from apartment to apartment, to several homes with me. And

so it's been on my refrigerator, my file cabinet. But it's this quote that says "A lot of people have

gone farther that I thought they could because someone else thought they could." And that is

who I want to be in my client's lives. I want to be that someone who sees their potential, that's

https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus




the name of my business, Tap the Potential-- who sees their potential and nurtures that

potential in them and in their business.

TRAVIS: I like that, I love that quote too. We need as many entrepreneurs as possible. There's

so many things that an entrepreneur does, inspiring future generations being able to sponsor

others, charities, create jobs, motivate, teach. There's just so many dimensions to what an

entrepreneur brings to their local community that we just need as many people like you doing

what it is you're doing.

DR. SABRINA: Thank you.

TRAVIS: Wonderful interview, lots of great information. How does everybody connect with you?

DR. SABRINA: The best way to reach me is to go to my website, which is tapthepotential.com,

and there's multiple ways to get in contact with me there. And by the way, there's also a free gift

available on the website. 5 Secrets to Getting Exceptional Performance from your

Employees. So it's a little video training. And I highly recommend it because payroll is our

biggest expense typically in a business. And if you're not getting the best out of your employees

you're losing money. So feel free to check out that video, and I love to have conversations with

business owners who really are serious about having higher performing employees and want to

know how to accomplish that and I'm always open. So go to tapthepotential.com and there's a

contact form, reach out to me and let's chat.

End of Interview

TRAVIS: Excellent. Thank you for that. Listen; remember guys that you can find all of the links

to the books and the resources mentioned in the show in the show notes. Just go to

rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com. Before I close the show today I want to remind you that

building a profitable business is a series of formulas. As you apply those formulas your business

and your profits becomes very predictable and starts building long-term wealth. This is what

moves you into a position to help others, which I believe is part of our responsibility as

entrepreneurs. If you haven't reached that level of consistency yet with your business and you'd

like to learn how it's done, we've put together a free program called The Business Breakthrough

Sweepstakes where we focus on teaching you some of those pieces of the formula in a simple

step-by-step format so that you can customize it to your own business. This is what I've used to

build several, tiny, little local companies to multi-million dollar businesses. Also, to add a little

fun and excitement to the program, if you join the sweepstakes and stay engaged you'll have a

chance to win $73,000 in cash and prizes, where I will personally mentor you and your

http://tapthepotential.com/

http://tapthepotential.com/





business. Plus, you'll have a chance to win my personal Lamborghini. For more information go

to rockstarentrepreneurnetwork.com and click on the sweepstakes promotion. Now my quote for

the day comes from Og Mandino, and quote reads, "Always do your best. What you plant now

you will harvest later." This is Travis Lane Jenkins signing off for now. To your incredible

success my friend, take care.





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Travis Lane Jenkins

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Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show

“Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your

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