Billy Keels  0:01  

This is the hard decision strong leaders make. 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  0:31  

This is the hard decision strong leaders make. Is the very brief episode that is for you if you are in a corporate role and you have ever struggled between the busyness of corporate and actually experiencing and breathing freedom, doing what it is that you want to do, being productive, excelling in your role, all of these things. If you just give me a couple minutes, I'm really going to be able to help you stop and break the shackles around these around these feelings, right, especially when you feel like you're caught in this constant loop of distraction and corporate busyness. I want you to feel that you are able to be productive, excel in your role, and also be able to live that life of optionality and this, you know, as you know, I do a lot of communication through LinkedIn. I have lots of chats with people and direct messages and all this kind of stuff. And actually, I wanted to just share a conversation that I had not long ago. This was actually a telephone conversation with a VP of a an enterprise software company. And it just made me think like, this happens very frequently when I start working with clients. This is something like this is symptomatic of what happens, especially when you're in the large multinational and you're also working on somebody else's compass, right? It is possible, because I did it, you can enjoy your corporate role and be able to build your business on the side, living that life of optionality. But here's the thing, let me not digress too much, because as we're in this kind conversation, this VP of sales, he said to me, like, Hey, Billy, look, I'm working 40 hours a week so that I can provide opportunities for my family. I'm missing soccer games. I'm missing dinners at home, right? Frequently, I come home kissing my kids on the head. They're already in bed, and he's thinking about constantly thinking about the deal, even when he's in the car with the family. He's in the car with the family. He's driving, he's thinking about his next promotion as well. And, like, all of these things are constantly going on in his mind. And we, you know, as we slow things down, just kind of like, okay, well, tell me something like, what's, what's the goal, what's the end game? And he realizes like, well, you know, I'm, I want to be able to make more money. Okay, well, so when we got to, you know, go through the the process of getting to actually, what is it that that really was motivating him? Right? Because money sim, it's so easy. Like I did money for years, it was forever. Yeah, I just want to make more money. I want to make more money. And you start to realize that money is symptomatic if you don't have a home for it, if you don't know what it's actually buying for you. I've just talked about that not long ago in Episode 609, so if you, if you want to check that out, you can figure out what money actually is buying you. But, but anyway, like, like I said, let me not digress too much. But then, as we got to it, and having the conversation with this VP of the of the enterprise software company, he mentioned to me, like, the thing that really, really motivated him, and what why he wants to continue to go down this path is he wants to be able to build legacy, right? That's the whole thought of being able to build a generational reputation. So that's not just him, and he's one and gone like he wants. He wants to do things that, yes, make money, yes, be able to do things that he likes for his family. And he really wants to have legacy. He wants his reputation to live on and on. And so this is one of the things that, of course, resonates a lot, because I've watched you, you can fall into love of money for the wrong reasons, because you just want to have it. You just want to know that it's there. You just want to feel safe, secure. And then you want 10 times more and 15 times more, and you just kind of keep doing more and more and more, the more syndrome is what happens. But as we started realizing this particular VP of sales, this enterprise software sales VP, he's not in a problem where he can't pay his bills. That's not his issue. He's not in a problem where he can't afford to do something. He can't afford to pay for something for his family or send his kids to private school, because they're already doing that. But what he wants to be able to do, he's got to make a real hard decision, because he's staying very, very busy. He's staying very in the corporate busyness as I, as I, as I talk about it all the time, and he's so focused on the busyness. And this is why I want to share this, because he has so much going on at the same time that he has yet to stop and think about himself, his goals, where he truly wants to go, why he wants to go there. And. And as he thinks about the risks that are related to his role, especially those things that are outside of his control, truly external risks, like there's always risk if he's not performing his role, those are things that he can't control. I'm talking more about the external risks, the things that he is learning or not learning, the things that there is technology that could potentially be coming to take a large portion of his role if he doesn't understand how to leverage it so all of these things. But if you never stop to think, to plan, to prepare to plan, then how are you going to get to freedom? How are you going to get to freedom if you're not taking the necessary steps just to be able to stop, prepare, plan, and then go ahead and get in and get there. So the thing is, is it's absolutely that you got to stop, you got to begin to set and you have to respect more than anything else. And this is, this is the plan. This is like, I'm giving you the roadmap, because when you're caught in the corporate busyness and you've got to make the choice, it's either you get to the corporate business or you actually are living a life of freedom, because you're crystal clear on what it is that you want to be able to do, and you're able to very, very effectively integrate your corporate life into the dream and the goal that You are setting for yourself, and then being able to able to ultimately control how you are utilizing leveraging your time to create additional streams of income. Because when you do that, guess what happens to your role? It becomes optional. I'm telling you from experience, I did it, I lived it, and in the thing is, is you must stop. I mean, here's the plan. I'm giving you, the road map. This is that. This is the shot, right? This is what you want to hear. It's you got to stop, you've got to set and you have to respect and have your priorities respected. That's it. It's that it. I mean, that's simple. If you could hear the mic drop, I don't know if you could hear that in the background, the mic just dropped, right? That that's it. Check build your yearly plan. Check it quarterly, check it monthly, check it weekly, and you can even go down to your priorities on a daily basis, if you really want to. That's the that's the thing. You can even check out a post. I wrote a post about it not too long ago on LinkedIn, so you can check it out over there too. Um, but I'm going to tell you something. Let me just tell you, because you feel like you've got to make a decision between in the corporate business or something else. You guys know, I'm the big I love the power of and but this is not a situation where it's the power of and this is you are either in the corporate business and you are distracted and you are going through all of the things, or you have a very clear plan and you are living free within, within that daily grind, right? You're living free. Why? Because you're crystal clear on what you're doing, why you're doing it. You're integrating your role. You're excelling in your role, protecting those corporate benefits. And at the same time, you're able to not just build somebody else's dream, you're able to build yours too. Why? Because you stopped, you set and You protected your boundaries and your priorities. That's the thing. So it's okay if it feels a little bit uncomfortable for a while, that's part of the process. It is. You've been doing things one way for a while, and now you're recognizing that there is a way so that you can actually have the things that you want, which is excel in your role and be able to move towards optionality, that is the goal. And so be very tactical. Start with one thing. Like, what is one priority that you can set? Like, can that one priority be making sure that you're leaving work on time? What's one pick one day this week and say, this day I'm leaving on time, to go home, to be with my family, to go to the gym, to go to your baking class, to go to your whatever it is, that's what you're doing. Get to the point where just pick one day, make that the priority. Make yourself the priority. What you want to do that is the priority. Maybe it's not having a, you know, not a meeting after such and such hour, whatever the case may be, but come up with that one priority. Just gave you a couple examples. And at the end of the day, the more that you do this, and the more that you're consistent with this, this will also give you the opportunity to be present, to be with your loved ones, to build that legacy that you're wanting to build, that you are, that reputation that will live well beyond your days on this earth, right? And so that's, that's the thing that is, that's the hard decision that strong leaders must make is, how are you going to manage your priorities? Are you going to manage your priorities by being stuck in the busyness, right, the corporate busyness, or are you going to say, how do I gain crystal clarity so that I can actually integrate, you know, you're getting crystal clarity. You're integrating your role, the benefits of your job, so that you can ultimately have the control over your time and over your income that's happening in your in your corporate as well as the additional stream of proper, profitable business that you are creating. Why? Because that is the pathway to your optionality. If you have ever struggled with this, you want to chat about it. You can know where to find me. I'm easy to find reply. You can send through the notes here. You can also jump check me out over on LinkedIn. Happy to have conversations. Love the conversations, so reach out there. And also, if this isn't you, but you know somebody that's struggling with this like they're stuck in they're constantly distracted, they're in the busyness, but they actually want to feel and they want to get to the freedom point. Share today's episode with them and then show go beyond just the sharing. Show them that you care. Get on the phone with them, meet them for coffee, whatever the case may be, so you can talk. And you can take this from theory and actually make it practical, tactical, actionable. Because while you're doing that, guess what I'm going to be doing, like I say all the time, I'll be right here. I'll be preparing the next episode. So until then, go to make it a great day. And thank you very, very much.

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