Billy Keels  0:01  

The truth about when you build or invest. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels advisory services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to make it optional.com. Once again, that's make it optional.com.

Speaker 1  0:19  

Helping you build freedom without losing your edge. This is the going long podcast with Billy Keels.

Billy Keels  0:32  

The truth about when you build or invest is for the executive, for the senior leader in a big company who's trying to figure out, like, okay, you know you want to build a business on the side. You know you want it to be profitable, but you're trying to figure out, Okay, what's the first step that actually take? Is it really, do I take the money that I have and I invest it, or do I actually build around my current skill set? Like, that's the whole point. And if you give me just a couple of minutes, not many minutes at all, I'm going to help you get this very, very very clear, so that you can get unblocked, get out of your own head, and take the first step, because that's what it's all about. Or if you've started and things aren't feeling like they should, then this is going to help clear the path for you and understand what's the right thing for you, because it comes up all the time, and I want to especially when I'm having these calls, because I have a lot of calls with people on LinkedIn through strategy calls, you know, like, I'm very active in the in the direct messages and stuff like that. And this is something that comes up very frequently. And so I wanted to break it down. And normally there's loads of frameworks, loads of tools and all that kind of stuff. But I actually want to make it super simple, because I don't want you to continue to get stuck. What I do want for you is to move forward, take the next step, because I know that when you can start to make progress. Instead of procrastinating and looking for perfection, says the recovering perfectionist, you're going to move further, faster, and that's what you want, and that's what I want to contribute to you. So let me give you just a really simple example, right? Are you ready? Are you running on the treadmill? Are you in the car? Well, here we go, and I want you to pay attention to your gut. What happens to your gut when I ask the following question? This is really important. Are you ready? Okay, here we go. So if I handed you, hang on, pay attention to your gut. I just mentioned it. Pay attention to your gut. This is going to be really, really important, because if you want to understand the truth about when you should build or versus or invest in that side business, that profitable side business that you're thinking about. Get ready to answer this question, if I handed you $50,000 right now, what would you do invest it? Or would you use it to build something? What'd your gut say? What'd your gut say? Not even going to ask. Well, I'll ask the question one more time. If I handed you $50,000 or call them euros if you want, if I handed you $50,000 50,000 euros, whatever your currency is, because I know you're listening all around the world, what would you do with that $50,000 does your gut say I want to use that to invest it so I can have my currency make more babies and have more currency on top of that? Or would you want that currency, that money, to go out and use that to build something? It's a very important thing. Because what I want you to do is, from the very beginning, pay attention to your instinct. It tells you a lot. Ask me how I know. And this episode is really about helping you to understand the fork in the road, because this is one of the biggest things. When clients come to me and we start working together, if you're not already down a path, and you're kind of in, you're stuck in that path, and you're overwhelmed in that path with building the side business. When you come to me and you're trying to figure out what you want to do, like, what is the path for you, which is also why our program is focused the way that it is, this is going to help you to really pick your pick your lane, right, because you're coming to the fork in the road. And what I understand, like, what I've seen, is the the the senior leaders and big companies that struggle the most, they're the ones that are asking the wrong questions about strategy well and well, in essence, let me say it this way, they're asking the right question about the wrong thing. So because a lot of times you're trying to figure out, okay, yeah, I want to build this side business. I want to make a lot more money. And that starts it. And then as we start to under understand a bit more, yeah, money always shows up. And that's you always want to make more money. I would always say you want to keep more money because, but that's a whole different thing. We won't even go down that path today. It's you really want to have the answer about what it is that you wanted, right? You want to be able to gain clarity around that and what it is that you're doing and why you're doing it, and be crystal clear on that. Because as we come back to it, and when you start down this path, it's very, very typical in terms of the process, when, when I see or when someone comes to me is understanding like, well, Billy, I've got these resources, these financial resources, they're stuck, or they're available, or they're just sitting there in the bank. That's usually the typical philosophy. And then the idea is, okay, well from there, then what do I do with it? Do I use this? Do I put it like my financial. Experts tell me I should just go put it over here and let it sit and run, sit it and forget it. Watch the video version, because my face is telling you a lot right now, don't do that. Or do you go out and you actually use that to to build something? And so I'm just going to say a couple of things, right another, and I want you to pay attention to your gut once again. So when I say words like and I'm going to say fancy words like capital allocation, risk tolerance, time horizon, that stand up a little bit, yes, no. Well, what is it? What is your gut telling you? Or if I, if I say organizational design or company design, or hiring or leadership, or what does that do to your gut? Listen to your gut, because usually it's going to either turn over a little bit and go, Oh, don't like that, or it's going to say, Yeah, you know what? I want more of that. I want more of that. So when you take the high performer path, like I do is in the beginning as well, is like, what are you going to do? You're going to do research. And so you start to research, and you realize that, because I've researched this as well, and I've talked to enough clients and potential clients as well to understand that both paths will work, both will work. That's why you are typically overthinking it. But today you're here because you want to hear the truth about when you build or invest and you're hopefully, you're beginning to get some of the picture, because, yeah, frameworks will definitely help you, but the answers will come from, and I'll come back to this, the answers will come from something very important, and this is what I want to come back to, but, but what I will share with you is even just a little bit of my own journey. Right when I got started, I wasn't aware. I wasn't listening to my gut, but it was one of those situations where I said, Hey, listen, I've got money in the bank. I'm just going to start investing. That's what all the smart people do, and that's where the people that I would never hang around when I was younger were doing and I was like, Okay, I want to be part of that crew. And so I just started to invest. Investing was really good. It was really good. Like, and it was going really, really well, but there was something in my gut, something was missing. Like, it just wasn't enough. Like, I like, Yeah, this is great. And then I was money, and money was making more money, and I had more money, no, than I knew what to do with, right? Because I'm not buying Maseratis. That's not me. I'm not the guy who's on the planes and the yachts and all that. This is not me. And so it depends a lot on what like, what kind of person are you, and I don't mean like, what kind of executive are you, or what kind of investor are you, or what kind of a business owner Are you? Like? What kind of a person are you? Listen to your gut. I really underestimated this for too long, which is why I'm here investing an entire podcast episode, because I continue to talk to so many people that are like, What do I do first? Do I invest? Do I build? Do I build? Do I invest? Because you want that profitable side business, because you're you are searching for money, yes, currency, and I believe you're searching for something more. But we can have that conversation in our call. But here's the thing, and as I mentioned before, like frameworks, they definitely help. But at the end of the day, when you're going through this process, the answers really come from self observation. I knew that things were working. I knew that the money that I was investing was making more money, so was making all the extra babies, and I was happy about that, but there was something missing in my gut, I couldn't explain it, and in the beginning, I wasn't even in tune with it. I just knew that something was not enough. It wasn't enough what I was doing. So I realized that I had to start asking harder questions, and that was my process, which was really understand what is it that is going to begin to calm this voice that's getting louder and louder and louder? And louder and louder. Yes, I started in investing, and had it just been investing, I would have stayed there. But eventually it was about I want to be able to not just own something, have it make more babies. I want to be able to control that. I want to be able to work with and serve the clients and help them solve their problems, even if they are first world, quote, unquote, problems. I want to help them. I want to contribute and help them. Help you to be able to solve the challenges, because they're your issues. They're the most important issues in the world. So let's join arms and start to help to overcome these issues, overcome these challenges. And I see it all the time as I begin to work with more senior leaders in big companies, start to understand that, yes, there, there is a moment when you're when you're moving, but there's this struggle, like it's not easy. Nothing happens overnight. And so as I watched you in a company, you and guide you through this moment of you know this is a new thing, and this is a new feeling. I'm not familiar with it, whether it's begin you begin to have more investing that you are in control of, and or you begin to build something that is leveraging your previous skill set. You're doing it outside of the corporate that you've always known felt extremely comfortable in, and you're owning, building something that you will own be able to hand off, or. Pass down to the next generation and Build your legacy. Does it happen overnight? Of course, you're going to be some moments where you feel uncomfortable. That's why you have a guide. And so at a certain point, you know, having gone through this process myself, yeah, I got to a point where I had, you know, over 40 assets, and it was generating over $212,000 a year in my side business, and I was doing that in a way that worked, right? Because there were the investments, and then I had to listen to that voice, I had to listen to that voice, respond to that voice, and it helped me to be able to build, to be able to have the experience. Now, everything doesn't go perfectly. It never goes perfectly. That's part of the experience. That's part of now, where I can also continue to help others as you make that decision, whether it is build or invest, your guts going to tell you, and you got to listen, and you have to have the guide and someone that's been there. Heck, it happens so often that I wanted to invest an entire episode to talk about it. Because once this happens, you start to gain the clarity of the true identity. Remember, I asked you the question earlier. It wasn't about what type of an executive you are, what type of an owner you are, it's what type of person you are, who are you as a person? That's the identity. Once you get this clear, it's not about investing or building it's about having clarity of your identity and walking into it, accepting it. Did you hear that walking into it and accepting it? And here's the thing, and I'll just leave it here, like, if you're at the fork in the road and you've listened to the episode long enough, and you're still kind of like, yeah, Billy, I want to figure this out. I've made it really simple. Also, I've come up with this quiz. It's a five question quiz. It's multiple choice answer the questions real quick, and it's going to help give you the path. It's going to help you gain even more clarity. Check what you already are feeling in your gut, like you're going to feel that, but then take it right. Just take the quiz. It's five questions. It's really simple to take you. I don't even think it'll take you five minutes, and a lot of people are doing it. It's like, this is apparently, this is something that's helping a lot of people. So now you've got the truth about when you build or invest giving you some thoughts around that, listen to your gut, and I've even made it really simple. Take a simple five question quiz. It's right here. It's going to be in the show notes. Just click the link, and that will be helpful. If you've got questions, you can find me on LinkedIn. I'm really, really easy to find over there. Find over there. And listen, if this is you, great, if this is not you. And you know somebody who's at that fork in the road and they've been struggling, be the person that cares about them, share today's episode and then show them that you care. Get on the phone, talk to them about it, talk through what they're going through, and go from theory to practice, right? Because that's where everything happens. It's the experiential learning. It's the doing that actually builds that expertise. It builds that muscle. So while you're doing that, guess what I'll be doing? I'll be right here preparing for the next episode. So until then, go out and make it a great day. And thank you very, very much.

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