12. Unlocking Entrepreneurial Freedom with Ian Johnston
Nearly half of people are considering a new business. Are you one of them and have a block preventing you from pursuing it? In this episode, we meet with Ian Johnston, where we talk about the different aspects of entrepreneurial freedom that can liberate you from the fear and to help you start and succeed with your business.
Eric:Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Business Boost Hour podcast. My name is Eric Beals, and I'm the vice president of BNI Escondido.
Crystal:And my name is Crystal, the president of BNI Escondido, the single CEU podcast.
Eric:And so today, we have Ian, Ian Johnston.
Ian Johnston:Yep.
Eric:And so, Ian, why don't you just tell the audience, like, who you are? Just kind of explain a little bit just, who you are and what you do to just give people a feel on on on where you're coming from.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. Absolutely. So, I'm Ian Johnston, and I I started a company, a bookkeeping company 10 years ago, and so we work with businesses and I kind of found over that time just just kind of a passion for helping people that wanna own a business and just, you know, finding out that a lot of people don't understand the finances, and that's something that I feel like a strength for me. So, I started a bookkeeping business and we just try to help as many book many businesses as we can understand their finances.
Eric:Yeah.
Ian Johnston:I'm also native of San Diego. Grew up in Poway. It's probably the part that I probably should have gone with. But, grew up in San Diego, grew up in Poway, actually, and, have my wife and 3 kids live in Lemon Grove with them. And we, we've been stayed in San Diego for most of my life.
Ian Johnston:So
Eric:Yeah. I was born in La Jolla, but but grew up in Escondido. I was born there and then just brought me right over to Escondido. So I don't know why I was born in born in Loyola. So I'm a San Diego native as well.
Eric:And and,
Crystal:there's a couple of you guys. Yep.
Eric:Yep. Yep. Yep. So today, we, wanted to talk about, entrepreneurial freedom is our our topic today. Yep.
Eric:And, this is something that's it's actually kind of, it's actually close to my heart. And it's actually, I would say, kind of like a core thing on where kind of why I kind of got to kind of doing my own my own businesses, my own my own my own thing. I mean, I I very much started in just doing, like, freelance work, freelance videographer work, and and which is, you know, great for great for the time, but then, you know, it's like one it's like kind of baby step 1. And,
Crystal:That's way better than my first baby step. What was your first
Eric:baby step?
Crystal:I shoveled dog poop at a very young age. I grew grew up in Colorado, and I had a farm, neighbor friend, and I shoveled their dog poop, for them. For that was my first business.
Ian Johnston:Yep. That's a good business.
Crystal:Yeah. Someone's
Eric:gotta do it. Right?
Crystal:Yeah. Exactly. Talking about entrepreneurial freedom.
Eric:Totally. Totally. So so what is this what what does that mean to you? You know, entrepreneurial freedom, what does that what what does that mean to you?
Ian Johnston:Yeah. It's a great question. So I I think about things like people are not swimming across the ocean to get out of America, and there's something about the country we live in that that is unique and, and part of it is the freedom. But I think when we talk about it, people oftentimes don't come to America to get a job. They come here and they start a business because that's the major freedom that we have.
Ian Johnston:The ability to own businesses, the ability to to start a business and to to enterprise. You know, when we talk about a free enterprise system. And so being able to own a business is is a key part of of our society, of our back like, of of our nation. And so to me, it's it's, really about being able to take your life and your future into your own hands and to control your destiny so that you are not just stuck, you know, just stuck in in a in a in a rut that people oftentimes are trying to escape from. So I think it's I think it's a lot of what we are fighting for when we talk about things that are important to us, but we just don't realize where to guide that energy.
Ian Johnston:Mhmm. So Mhmm. Yeah.
Crystal:That's a great point.
Eric:Yeah. And, you know, it's America is is really kind of built for that. I mean, that was I mean, that's kind of we're kind of founded off of them. Right? When and our founding fathers kind of initially initially came here was kind of for
Crystal:That was their hope.
Eric:Yeah. Exactly. That was, like, the whole whole whole reason they wanted to to Break free.
Crystal:Break free.
Eric:Yeah. That that that that tyranny. Right. And, you know, that that is one of our really great advantages where you you you can kinda get started with a business here without with with with not as much of a a hurdle. I mean, I don't have a lot of experience in other countries, like, in terms of, like, business ownership and what that actually looks like.
Eric:I think in our in our heads, when you kind of grow up here like myself, it's easy to kind of feel like, you know, oh, well, you know, you could start a business in Canada or or or wherever. And and people do, but I I just I am not sure what it's actually like, and I'm very grateful to actually be here where you do have, like, the most, support, I guess, to to have your own business and start your own business.
Crystal:Well and as a woman, there's countries that I probably couldn't own a business in. So there is a difference, and there's probably difference in regulations. And then there's 3rd world countries where you might not even have the resources where America, if you have the wherewithal and and the fortitude, like myself, whether it's shoveling poop, you can go out and do something with your life. Hopefully, like myself, it elevates to more and more advanced Yeah. And, higher level, jobs.
Crystal:But that's also part of the process, I believe, is, like, working yourself up through that chain.
Eric:Right. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, b and I was you know, we were we, was formed in when was it formed?
Eric:Like, 19 years ago? 80 years ago. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah.
Eric:And, you know, it was founded here. Right? Mhmm. Right in in did you guys know it? BNI was actually called BNI before it was international?
Ian Johnston:Oh, really?
Eric:Yeah. And this, the the Ivan Meissner book talks about that. He he he he he he he talks about it because it was it was a reflection of where they wanted to go. Like, it was more like like, they're stating it. Right.
Eric:So they
Crystal:They're growing into it.
Eric:Right. I think it might have had a name before BNI. Like, it was some it might have been something I said.
Ian Johnston:Referral Institute or something.
Eric:I don't remember what it was what what it was called, but when it was name when they settle on the name of BNI, it wasn't actually international yet. It was just still in America. Yeah. Now it's global. But, at the time and I I you know, that was a very I thought that was a very interesting, and very I honestly have a very bold thing to do.
Ian Johnston:You
Eric:know? Like, I don't know if I have the confidence to to to go diff mix productions international for my company. I don't know if I have that confidence to to do that.
Ian Johnston:It really takes
Crystal:But that's part of that taking steps.
Ian Johnston:Yeah.
Crystal:I'm sure Ivan took a lot of steps before he got there and knew that what he was building, and and that's part of manifestation too. If you can't think it or see it, then you won't be able to achieve it. But he was able to see it and keep walking towards it. And look at him now. I mean, they're in the middle of having a huge global convention in Hawaii and seeing all the countries with all the flags and seeing the ripples of impact.
Crystal:That's so cool and so powerful to see all these businesses working together. Entrepreneurship sometimes can feel like a solo gig, which is why BNI is so cool because you can still be a solopreneur, but you have all these resources and all these people that you don't even have to hire, but they're at your fingertips.
Eric:That's a really good point. Like, because the thing yeah. There there's so many, like, moving that's what the it's been kind of a I've had my so many ups and downs because because, you know, my journey did not start in in BNI by any means well before that, but I kinda wish it did though because, one, you learn so much just about just just business ownership in general through b and I. Yep. I think in multiple ways actually too, and I've kind of talked about this in previous episodes, but, like, the roles that you take in b and I actually equips you for, I think, healthy business ownership in your own business.
Crystal:Absolutely.
Eric:So, like, the volunteer positions.
Crystal:Mhmm.
Eric:And I didn't really kind of really realize that until I started volunteering on membership committee. And then once I kind of started to kind of realize that I started to see, like, you know, more more structure. I'm a structured guy, but I sometimes feel the most unstructured person, and it drives me crazy at times.
Crystal:Yeah.
Eric:But those things, it helps you learn those those skill sets. But then what you mentioned too, it also like, you you kinda have a natural team, I guess, like, around you because everyone's you know, we're we're all here to support each other. And some people have been doing it longer longer than others, and you can learn from them. But then they kind of act as, like, your your your business partners.
Crystal:So Yeah. And it's a sounding board to see where our gaps are. I know for me, like, accounting isn't my favorite thing to do. So that might be a gap that I might wanna bring someone in to support because I can only be the best me if I have all of my weaknesses addressed as well.
Eric:Right. Mhmm.
Ian Johnston:They they talk about like, you guys talked about visions. Like, visionaries, not visions, but visionaries. People that can see the future even well before, like like, BNI being calling themselves international when they were in Southern California only. Right. You know?
Ian Johnston:That that takes a lot of vision and foresight, and that's what some people have built into them. And other people have to basically instill that in themselves or they just don't need it because they're what they can see themselves creating is far enough for what their goals and dreams and hopes are. But that's the the beauty of this is that so, like, we talk about maybe why did I have this, like, desire to own a business even though I'm structured like Eric, because usually those things are a little bit opposite. You want something to know you need to be here at 8 o'clock, and you take lunch at this time, and that's structured, that is a beautiful thing that people like. But I growing up in Poway, I saw people that work jobs, and I saw people that owned companies, and I saw that there was could be a great distance, a difference between the lifestyle, the the family life, all those things of those different people.
Ian Johnston:I met some people that were very successful, and great parents, and great people, and lived out their values. I'll say it like that. And and that inspired me to just not be, like, jaded like a lot of people are. Hey. If, you know, you see someone driving a nice car and a lot of people, they think, he must sell drugs or he must do something illegal, which is not always the case.
Ian Johnston:Right? Which is law. Oftentimes, it's not the case. They don't think, hey, that person added a lot of value to the marketplace and that's why they're compensated in a significant way. And then I when I was 19 and 20, got to go live in Southern Africa.
Ian Johnston:I lived in Zimbabwe and Zambia. And I saw a lot of entrepreneurs there, but their entrepreneur was they sold the same 4 kind of fruits and vegetables on the side of the road, and there would be 25 tables with all the exact same thing, no differentiation. And I remember walking down that thinking, man, if I were here with the things that I've learned just growing up in San Diego in America, I feel like I could kill it. You know? I not that I wanna go back and, like, maybe interrupt what they're doing there in their countries, but but I just realized, you know, these people are just doing whatever they can to take care of the family and, and they were limited.
Ian Johnston:There was 1 TV channel there. You talk about, you know, the, the media and the, the rights we have to make even a podcast like this. They had one TV channel there, and and I'm sure it's different now because times have changed. But but just they didn't have those freedoms. And I came back and I just felt so grateful to be living in a country where we could start something.
Ian Johnston:And then, again, our country, you go back a 100 years, people were journeymen, you know. Mhmm. They were they were apprentices. They did that for a couple years till they learned a skill, a craft, and then they started their own business. They they were blacksmiths and farmers, and and we have expanded those markets greatly, but we as an as our society have just been built upon, you do do something, you learn something, and then you do it for money, and you support your family, and that that's just it's such a wonderful thing that we have available to us.
Ian Johnston:And so it's really is the backbone of what we're built on and I think for a lot of people, they they've stopped it. We just, we're talking about this and and we found out that, you know, there's 40, 42 percent of people are thinking about owning the business. I think it's part of our DNA. We just don't know how to, you know, break the seal on that. How do you get started?
Ian Johnston:How do you quit your job and and, you know, that you're already struggling to pay for your mortgage and your car and your gas and all these things and everything's so expensive and you wanna quit your job and just kind of, you know, figure out how to start something.
Crystal:It's And the mindset to push past that, like, limiting belief that I have to like you said, when you have the corporate job, that's a great temporary solution, but corporate isn't a good fit for everyone.
Ian Johnston:Right.
Crystal:So to be able to push past those limiting beliefs and say, I am going to go international. I am going to create something so big that it's going to attract more people. That's amazing to see what Ivan has created, but also to see what we can create because, ultimately, we we are here to create. We're all you said it's in our DNA because we're all cocreators. We're here creating something, and that's essentially our true essence.
Crystal:So I feel like we can thrive a little bit more and, like, there's an expression. And I know it might look different from job to job, but, the creativity that we get to have is actually really fun part of being an entrepreneur.
Ian Johnston:Absolutely. Yeah.
Eric:I actually just looked up a stat. I just asked Grok just to kinda see, like, what, what the what the numbers, and it came back with 33,200,000 businesses in the United States. And so what is there? About 300 what is 380,000,000 people in in the United States, but 40% or so. Yeah.
Eric:Right? So this is only this is, like, like, 10% of those of the businesses, about about so about 1 in every per 1 in 1 in every 10 people, there's 1 business, basically Right. Approximately there. But 40%. Right.
Eric:So I mean, most of the people are not really they're kind of dreaming about it, but they're not really, really fulfilling. And I think a lot of that, you know, the unfortunate thing is I think there's a lot of a lot of toxic work culture and Right. At a lot of a lot of businesses. That's a really unfortunate thing. I think that's probably why a lot of those people are are I would imagine that a significant portion of those are thinking about a business because they're like, I gotta get out of my job.
Eric:I gotta get out of out of whatever I'm currently doing.
Crystal:Well, and a lot of times when you have the that type of a situation, you end up spending your money on things that are a little more frivolous so that you can just feel good about yourself. Yep. So you're not really quite as focused and driven because it's difference in mindset.
Eric:Well, a follow-up on this. You've mentioned, like, you know, business out of the backbone. 9099.9 percent of the of of that 33.2000000 is small businesses.
Crystal:Right. Wow.
Eric:Yeah. It's a you know, small businesses really is the backbone of of everything because they you know, everyone if if you if someone has a job, well, then there's a business owner behind that. There's somebody there's some somebody behind that. And, you know, 9 if 99 99.9 percent of these are small businesses, that's that's us. Right?
Crystal:Yes.
Eric:And
Crystal:And it's so important to support those small businesses. Those box, companies aren't going to be going out of business, but that small business could use your support. It could be, you know, everything to them.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. And to and to also be clear on what a small business is, the the government or from the stats I've seen, they generally refer to a small business as a company doing $10,000,000 a year in sales, or less. And so it's still a pretty wide number of sales. I think for a a lot of the people listening, they're like, wow, I can't wait to hit 1,000,000 or 3,000,000 in sales, 5,000,000 and realize they're not even halfway there to being a a big business or a medium sized business. And, but there's also, for the people that are visionaries like that, they have that, those markets where they get know the the opportunity to hit those kinds of revenue goals and then also create systems, procedures, processes so that they can then move on to other things.
Ian Johnston:An interesting stat within my own company is that 2 thirds of the business or of all the businesses we work on only, you know, a third of them are owned by multi, like, there are multiple companies of the same owner. And so if we have, you know, if there's 10 companies we work with, 6 there'd be only 6 individual owners because a lot of businesses are owned by somebody that owns multiple businesses. And so
Crystal:So like a co owner?
Ian Johnston:Yeah. Well, well, it's like it's like if you own 3 businesses and my company handled the accounting for all 3 of those businesses, then once I've narrowed that down and you said you see a number, but then you realize, oh, this is actually a much smaller number. 2 thirds of that is actually individual, unique people, I should say. So when we're talking about BNI, 10 years ago, I got into BNI about 10, 10 and a half years ago. And and I think back then when we did Education Moments, they were very much more BNI Centric.
Ian Johnston:At least that's the way I saw it. And that's the thing is, is that over time or either BNI changed or I changed. And I never looked back to see what fi figure out what it is. But the education we do now does help you in BNI, but the other beautiful part about it is it helps you in business. Is that people can get in the business and they're gonna learn things that they need to know in order to run and own their own business or be an employee, because not everyone in BNI is is owners.
Ian Johnston:Mhmm. We have sales people. We have employees. We have people that are technicians and and that they're representing their company. They're in VNI, but they're gonna learn things.
Ian Johnston:And they might even get inspired to start their own business and kind of gain tools that they've seen.
Eric:We've seen that happen. Had a had a few people, that happened something similar in our chat, but I've seen it the other way around to actually to where it's if someone actually, you know, maybe they they end up learning that, you know, they just don't necessarily feel cut out for for business ownership, which is totally fine. And then someone in the chapter be like, I will hire you because you are a, you know, smoking employee or whoever whatever it is. And it still ends up, you know, paying them in a in a very different way than than that person initially thought of. Yeah.
Crystal:And then we've also seen it where someone has switched career paths and ended up in a better career path based on someone that was in our chapter.
Ian Johnston:Yeah.
Eric:So funny thing about that, we're the reason we're doing this podcast be because of that. Because I I because I did not do podcasting until, until someone in my chapter asked me if I could help them with their podcast. I my my background's in video production for a long time, but I never thought about doing podcasting. And so it wasn't until somebody approached me, like, hey. Can you help you can you've done you do me this stuff.
Eric:You know? I was, like, sure. I can figure it out. Like and so that's kinda how I got started. So, like, you know, even us sitting here right now, we wouldn't we wouldn't be doing this if I didn't if that didn't happen.
Eric:So if I didn't join the BNI chapter, you know what I mean?
Crystal:So So cool.
Eric:Yeah. So so I didn't do podcasting before BNI. Like, so I, you know, accredit all podcasting stuff that I do to BNI because that's literally kind of how I even got the idea was another from another member. Yeah. So there's some really interesting, like, it's interesting because it's so it's so hard to predict exactly what kind of value or benefit you're gonna get out of BNI.
Eric:Right. Because there's no way I could have ever, like, guessed any of this No. Any of that. Right. And
Crystal:But I but if you don't try something like BNI, I can guarantee you there's things that you won't learn about yourself. There's things that you could be suffering from because there's gaps. There's things that we've we have people in our group that will be like, have you filled this paperwork out because it's essential that I would have might not have known about? There's so many things, like, even the solar deadline, like, things that I would have never been able to wrap my head around all those different things happening at one time. But because so many professionals are telling us every week what's going on, we can get a pulse on the the climate and of the economy and and entrepreneurial spirit that's going on here in San Diego.
Eric:Especially people, like, in those kind of industries where there, like, there are have a lot of kind of changes happening that are can be, like, major changes that we might not be aware of, like, like, in the, like, solar stuff and
Crystal:all that.
Eric:Yep. Yep. When when
Ian Johnston:we take a step back and kind of think about where, like, all of our journeys through through business ownership, through BNI and through life, we kind of go back to this program and that we all got, we, you know, I think for most people, they were told to find something you love and to do it for the rest of your life. And and I love that you talked at the beginning about shoveling, dog poop.
Eric:That's a great way
Ian Johnston:to start this out. Because it's it's such a glorious thing to talk about. But the the the fact of the matter is I've heard somebody say, like, if you could shovel horse maneuver horse manure into a wet paper bag for 5 hours a day and make 5 times the money that you're making right now, you would do that because it's not about loving horse manure or horses or shovels or bags or anything like that. It's really is about the results that we're creating. And that's kind of ends up.
Ian Johnston:We shift from a business owner to being as from being an employee to a business owner. There's just a different mindset. And when we talk about mindset, but a lot of the things that that you're doing when you're on an entrepreneurial journey, your employee friends will just not understand. They won't know the journey you're on. You're like Bilbo Baggins.
Ian Johnston:It would be easy to just be a tiny person in a hole given a ring, but here you're given the opportunity to do a fantastic journey. And when you come back, they will not understand what you did and what you accomplished and who you are and who you became to it. So we, as Americans, really have a couple of different paths and we're shoved down the schooling, the education path, which is not a bad path, which sometimes is needed as part of our entrepreneurial journey. But sometimes it's really just a detour. It's, it's a detour.
Ian Johnston:It's a, you know, it's a, and, I I heard this recently. I thought it was so funny. We talk about wisdom and sometimes we don't realize that to get the wiz, you have to go through the dumb, you know, and you and so so basically, yeah, we we were like the almost like one of those, the more you learn, the more they realize you don't know. And and so wisdom is kind of realizing how dumb you are actually and then what you don't know. And so, I actually heard Crystal on a recent podcast, and she said something that my brain wanted to fight against, but I realized was actually a good thing.
Ian Johnston:She talked about how we need to learn our weaknesses. We need to know. She talked about it in communication. We talked about it in in accounting or whatever our weaknesses are. But there's but it's also understanding where did where the dividing line is at.
Ian Johnston:There's areas which we need to learn our weaknesses so that we know to hire someone else to do those things. And there's areas where we need to learn our weaknesses because, like, if you're a jerk, if you can't communicate effectively, there's things where we actually need to improve that in ourselves. And so finding finding those divisions there, we have an opportunity to actually explore those areas when when you're a business owner, because oftentimes, when you're an employee, they just put you somewhere where you can be who you are, like, as you are right now and not need to grow and and just be valuable to the company in that regard, or they just let you go depending on the company you're with. But here we grow, we learn skills, we learn people skills, we learn business skills, we learn how to sell, we listen to podcasts like this. The other people that you have had on the podcast, I've learned from all of them.
Ian Johnston:And, and so it's just been so fantastic to learn these things and to share with the wisdom we've all learned over time. And now we get to hear these things and grow through all these. And we only care because it's gonna add value to our clients. It's gonna add value to the people that we want to help. And so that that is one of the areas that we get to grow through, and that's why this podcast is a great thing for people to listen to.
Eric:Yeah. I so on, I had watched long time ago, this really kind of stuck with me. And when you mentioned about kind of, like, doing something you love, it it crossed my mind. I always thought it was such a powerful video. I watched this.
Eric:It's, like, I don't know, it's probably at least a 10 year old video, I think, maybe 8. And it was of, Mike Rowe from from Dirty Jobs. And he he put out a video, on, PragerU called, don't follow your passion.
Ian Johnston:Right.
Eric:I think it's what it's called. And, you know, it's such an intriguing title. It's like, wait. What? You know?
Eric:And and it's like a 5:5 minute video, And, he summarizes it as, don't follow your passion, but bring your passion with you in whatever in whatever you do, because it helps you, you know, 1, just be, you know, be be you don't have, like, like, picking up dog poop or whatever. You can still be passionate about just that you have a job, for example. There's there's always, like, light. There's always, like, silver linings on on whatever you're you're you're doing. And I think, you know, a big part of kind of that that video was, like, you know, snagging kind of opportunities.
Crystal:And,
Eric:like, you know, don't don't get not getting so focused in, like, oh, I do this thing. This is what I do, and that's the way things are.
Crystal:Because if you're so close minded, you're not really open to growth. And like you said, you you got to this per place you're at because you were open to something that someone in the chapter asked you about. So you you actually would have been in a whole different scenario if you had not been been in BNI. Your job would have been probably completely different.
Eric:Yeah. I mean, to be fair, like, this is it was in already in in my realm Mhmm. In that in that aspect. But But
Crystal:it probably would have come out different. And even if you had done it, it would have been different people. It would have, you know, just, but I loved what Ian said too about, listening to the podcast and how people taught him something. And even he reached out to me after the Julie's episode about the phone, update Oh. We talked about Yes.
Crystal:On the iPhone. And, actually, that was really valuable to me because I I found out that now I can schedule my messages, with a new update.
Eric:So, Julie, if if you're listening, we can we can schedule we can schedule messages.
Crystal:She already knows. I I I messaged her after Ian told me.
Ian Johnston:We'll we'll do we'll do interlude with a with a the training on how to do that in in the middle of one of these podcasts. So
Eric:I'll schedule messages.
Crystal:We'll have a tech tip later.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. Tech tip. There you go. That'll be one of the tech tips. That'd be awesome.
Crystal:Yeah. But it is it is, something to be said about learning from other people, and this journey is so wonderful. And, yes, I did start with, picking up dog poop, but, actually, I started even before that because my parents own a small business and it was a Narborough service. And this was before the times of caller ID where you would know. So I was actually had I had to answer my phone every dime even if it was my friends were calling because I didn't know.
Crystal:It was American Arborist Service. This is Crystal. How can I help you? As a little child.
Ian Johnston:Oh, yeah.
Crystal:So I had, like How
Eric:old were you doing that?
Crystal:Like, as as young as I can remember. Like, maybe 8, 9 years old. Like, yeah.
Eric:Hey. I bet that would work in work in your favor. I mean, how how are you gonna say no to to to an 8 year old at that point? Like, you know what I mean?
Crystal:Well, and their business was their livelihood. So, I mean and technology has obviously, advanced, so we don't have to do that anymore. But, my kids are, I guess, blessed that they don't have to answer the phone, with my my opener.
Ian Johnston:Yeah.
Crystal:But it was something to be said about it. I mean, as a young kid, I learned communication skills. And what Ian said is it, your mindset is often framed around what you've seen in life. And he got to see different businesses in America. He even got to see different businesses in another country.
Crystal:So he got to have some cultural experience with business. And, ultimately, what ultimately, what he found was there's still a creative aspect where when he went to the other country, he saw an area where it's like, oh, that could be changed and it could be enhanced based on the other stuff that he had seen.
Eric:Yep. So I
Crystal:think that's really great, that you could kind of take what you have learned, and I think most people do that. Like, our journey isn't I've definitely learned from that first job. I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. So that was a period. It was one step in this giant stepping stone.
Crystal:And one time, my niece wanted to start a a job that was not very high level. And she said, aunt Crystal, I don't know if I wanna do this job because it's not really my dream job. And I told her, there's something there's some skill in there that you will need that later on in your life, that skill will help you in some way. And that's okay that that's not your long term job, but, come back to, something and that will come back to you later. And later on, she told me that was the best advice I gave her.
Crystal:And she did find another job later, but there was something to be said about just taking that step.
Eric:Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, taking that step to just take any job and and I mean, I think it's, Mark Gleason in our chat. He's done a ton of, like, different Yeah.
Eric:Different jobs. You kind of learn something different from every single thing that that you do. Mhmm. You kind of, because there's gonna be certain there's gonna be some skills that you learn that can be transferable.
Crystal:Yeah. Real life experience.
Eric:Right. Yeah. In some way, either at the very least, maybe it's work work ethic. Like, that's something I can apply to, you know, healthy good work ethic in in anything. Yeah.
Eric:And, you know, I think it's especially in ones that's that's, like, you know, picking up dog poop or whatever.
Crystal:You know, having
Eric:a good work ethic is gonna be exceptionally important in something like that. Right?
Crystal:But that
Eric:could very easily be super bitter and frustrated. And then, oh, I don't wanna I don't wanna hire Chris. I like, because, you know, it could be with that is it could be you know, I was thinking of hiring Chris, but her attitude is not very good. Right.
Ian Johnston:You know
Eric:what I mean? If if if that was the case. And so that that's why it's it's it it is important to just, you know, bring that passion with you as Mike Rowe said.
Crystal:Now you know why I love what I do so much. No. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the whole part of entrepreneurial freedom.
Ian Johnston:Yes. Yeah. There there probably needs to be more doing. You know, we we as, we usually go to school for something that we think that we like, and then we get into the work field after we've spent 100 of 1,000 of dollars in education and years of our life learning about it to just find out that we actually like the idea of it way more than we like the doing of it. Mhmm.
Ian Johnston:And so I think there's a lot more like like living, experiencing, and kind of figuring out a path. And it comes to us, like, you know, as parents. So we got parents and you have kids too, Eric.
Eric:So I have one on the way.
Ian Johnston:One on the oh, that's right. Oh, this is oh, this is is this the big announcement? Eric, congratulations. So
Eric:Yeah. I meant, I I I mentioned that our on our chapter last Wednesday.
Ian Johnston:Okay.
Eric:And, yeah. So it's
Crystal:Congratulations, Amber and Eric.
Ian Johnston:We're so excited. That's so exciting. So so I I don't know how to how to keep on going after that big announcement. Let's let's party now. So just kidding.
Ian Johnston:But, but I think as as parents, we've been continuing to perpetuate this these ideas that that we've been taught that we that seem to have worked well for us, which is, you know, just just go to school and you'll figure it out along the way. And it's just like, you know, you could figure out a I I tell people, even though I have an accounting business and I got an accounting degree, I would have learned so much more had I skipped the skip the, the school part of it. If I would have just gone into it now, the reality is I probably would have actually started encountering the Greeks. I probably would have felt underqualified and not knowing what I was doing. But if I would have skipped a lot of that, I could have been 4 years ahead and I could have learned a lot more.
Ian Johnston:The school doesn't prepare you for business Not at all. Like, they learned you, they teach you the technical side of it, but there's so many fields where they they just don't prepare you. I even took an entrepreneurial classes and groups and things like that when I was at school and that helped to a degree. But it's but doing it is gonna be where you're going to learn so much more. And so we we as our children are, you know, and, you know, our generation and the and the next generation, they have these pressures.
Ian Johnston:And the pressures are our parent grandparents and our and our parents teaching us you have to buy a house and you have to, get, an education, and then you throw in there, when are you gonna get married, and all these pressures that that kind of make our next generation really not wanna talk to their parents and their grandparents because they keep on getting asked, hey, when are you gonna mature and grow up or or whatever it is, which we're asking inadvertently, and they just run away.
Crystal:And we don't have even attainable for them to buy houses these days. Right. Exactly. There's it's a lot more pressure than any other culture or any other, generation I feel has had.
Ian Johnston:Exactly. And so it it maybe is it seems like it's off of our topic, but, but the idea is like, is having the conversation of really, how do you want to live? You know, what are the goals you want to accomplish and, and helping them to explore ways to get there that, that are outside, even the way we typically think. Cause most of the time, you you'll say, well, what do you wanna do? And, and they we ask them what they wanna do, which which is a career, which we even stop when we talk about dreams.
Ian Johnston:Oftentimes, the word job just gets slammed onto the back there, like, without even thinking of it. What's your dream? Like, well, I wanna work. Is it like that is is a job your dream? Is that really what you're saying?
Ian Johnston:Or or is it the results you wanna create? And then you figure out how you get there. If you're saying, hey, I wanna travel the world and and do, and be able to go places. You have to you have to find a way to make money, which is a necessity, so that you have the money and the time in order to create the life that you actually wanna live.
Eric:So I
Crystal:love that, and it's unique to each person. I had a girlfriend that her daughter all all she really wanted to do was be a mom. She when it all came down to it, she didn't really want to have a career, and, she was slightly on the spectrum too. So that kind of played into what she could, potentially do. And she actually did the math on how many years of college it would cost, what it would take, how many years it would take her to recoup that investment.
Crystal:And she actually decided to buy a small apartment complex out of state instead of going to college. So they use that apartment complex as her way to ray raise money and to to stay afloat. And instead of going to college, now she had money coming in immediately. Yep. It was really interesting because because that was her goal.
Crystal:She she didn't really want to go out and have a business, nor did she maybe have the capacity. It does take a lot of capacity to be an entrepreneur. But, she had a lot of talent in this area, and I know she will be great at managing properties. But I thought it was interesting when to have a mom actually sit down and do the math and then, like like, set out their goals, and it was like, okay. Your goal isn't, like everyone else's.
Crystal:Yep. So some people do do have different goals too.
Eric:Well, what is what about, like so it sounds like, you know, she had some kind of capital, like, to kind of do something on that. But I mean, a lot of people won't have that kind of capital to, to to invest in in a place like that. So what about, like, someone who who who who doesn't, like, have much, much, much capital and and, you know, maybe they're, you know, just kind of scraping by that sort of thing. What what do you guys think for for people in in those positions?
Ian Johnston:Well well, we kind of started out by talking about how corporation corporate jobs and jobs in general can be seen as a temporary thing. And so there's a gap that needs to be filled from from, like, the part where they're buying an apartment complex. What which you didn't mention is out of state, so that probably would lower the cost and and, but also you think about people don't have capital to go to college. They don't have $200,000 to spend on 4 years of school of not working, of of financing their housing, their food, and all the education aspect of it. They don't have that capital capital, but it's been made available, to kind of, to pretty simple ways.
Ian Johnston:And so the capital is out there for people that, that have to drive in the passion enough, people will back that. It's it's just bridging that gap. It's not as obvious. It's not as easy. Mhmm.
Ian Johnston:But the work, obviously is probably paying off already for Yeah.
Crystal:And I've seen people make 1,000,000 of dollars off of doing crafting.
Ian Johnston:Right.
Crystal:So, I mean, it really is kind of like BNI. You put what you put into it is what you get out of it. Yeah. I mean, I've seen some people who have been laser focused and
Ian Johnston:Yep.
Crystal:Their careers have skyrocketed. And then there's also the people that kinda have their hands in a bunch of baskets and aren't quite really driven. That's part of that freedom too is that we can decide what pace we wanna go. We can decide what we're trying to create, which is so cool because everyone has a different expression, and that's that's where the beauty of all the different, essences of all the different people. That's why BNI only allows 1 person in each category so we can all have, like, a different flavor of all these different careers.
Crystal:It's so cool.
Ian Johnston:Oh, focus is a beautiful thing. You think about, like, a light. Like, a a big light can light up a whole stadium, or it can burn a hole into a little tiny point. And so it just it's the same same light. It's just how where is it focused?
Ian Johnston:Is it focused wide so it's touching everything? And so an idea of of, you know, counting of business of finances, kind of like we, we understand the idea of health. You understand what you intake and what you eat and the energy you, you put out and you, will not, maybe not put out, but the energy you expend to, to run around, to exercise. If, if you're taking in more than your, than the energy using, if you eat a bunch of food and then you sit on the couch all day with the results are that it's going to retain and that's not the kind of thing you necessarily want to retain. But if you don't eat enough and then you expend, then then you probably are gonna start fainting and have other health problems.
Ian Johnston:There's a, there's a correct flow, of of those kinds of things. We understand that from a, from a health and fitness standpoint. But from a financial standpoint, you either are going to regulate the income, or you're gonna and you also need to regulate your expenses. And you've understand you understand those things usually individually, but where they come together is usually where most people have the problem. They start making more money, but they don't have any focus.
Ian Johnston:So then their money gets start spending on things that just probably usually to make themselves look and feel better and buy things that they actually can afford or they can afford, but it's not really toward their purpose. What we have, in in our society is, is probably a lot of people that are being given advice by people that aren't on the same path as them and they don't have the same purpose. And so they're making decisions, financial decisions based off of other people's advice. I don't know about the 2 of you and I I've, I love saying this in front of entrepreneurs and that is when I started a business, one of the ancillary benefits that I cannot quantify is that I just felt less depressed, even making less money and making, you know, just the fact that I had started something on my own and I was in control, it it it it helped with that. Now, if, you know, there's people that obviously need additional help outside of maybe starting a business and things like that.
Ian Johnston:But I think a lot of people live with some amount of occasional just feeling down. And, and if you aren't depressed when you're on a vacation, it's not depression. It's just lack of purpose and lack of focus. And so
Eric:Well, for yeah. For for for me, for me, it's always been about like, okay. Like, I used to work at a a news station. And for me, it was like, okay, what's do I want, for initially, when I I took that job, I was like, I know I'm not gonna be here for longer than a year. Because for me, it's like about vision.
Eric:Like, okay. What where do I kind of, like, see myself kind of going with this? And then I made the the the, you know, so I was like, should I do it? And then I was thinking, okay. Well, I'll learn about news.
Eric:I'll learn these things. This is in the general realm that I I wanna go down anyways in in production industry. So I was like, okay. I could see that being valuable. So I was like, you know, I'll take this.
Eric:And this is well this is before I actually had my own business. I was still just a freelancer at the time since I don't know what it's like. It's like 12 years ago at this point.
Ian Johnston:And, when he was 18 years old.
Eric:So Yeah. Yeah. And it's it it but I knew from, like, I got I I literally told myself, like, I'm not gonna be here for longer than a year. Like, I I already knew, and I was there for 6 months.
Ian Johnston:Yep.
Eric:And, just ended up being being 6 months. Nothing bad. I was just like, nope. It's time time to leave now at this point. And, you know, it was it was, I think I guess where I'm kinda going with that is, like, I think it's so important to kinda have, like, what's your what's your what's your vision?
Eric:And, like, I mean, for for for me, I really want to have, like, impact on the world. And and for me, it's it's a matter of, like, I, I am a big advocate for, like, free speech and truth. Like, I really don't like when, when people kind of, like, spout intentional, like, just flat out lies. Like, it it it really is just totally degrading. That's why I actually one of the reasons I fell in love with podcast production is podcasting is kind of like one of those few mediums that somebody, like, anybody can start and you can you can even self host if you have if you had to.
Eric:So it kind of like, yeah, it's good to put your content on, like, YouTube and in those places, but you shouldn't, like, invest everything into the into into YouTube. You should you need to have and a lot of YouTubes are doing this now. Like, you see a lot of if you watch some users, they'll be, like, hey. You know, subscribe on our on our websites. On our we we made our own website now.
Eric:And so too because they're, like, realizing, like, we've invested too much into YouTube. We need to get we need to pull people away because if we get blocked or whatever, something happens, then we're we're we're in trouble. Especially when you put that investment in, of building that that brand.
Crystal:Diversifying. Yeah.
Eric:Yeah. And so, so, you know, that's kind of why I got one of the reasons I got so into podcasting is, just because it kind of I feel like it really encompasses, encompasses that. And but I mean, everyone's, you know, everyone's different. What they're what they're their grand vision really is.
Crystal:That kinda reminds me of what Gus said about the prisoner of wars that would sit there and each year were the ones that would wait for Christmas to come. And then when the when it didn't come, like, a part of them were would die. So when you're not when you feel that intuition and you you felt it and you followed it and it ended up taking you to where you wanted to go. So that's a really part big part about listening to our inner voice is our inner voice is telling us what to do. We know all of the answers.
Crystal:They're inside of us. Like Ian said, someone else's perspective of what your vision is going to be isn't gonna get you to where your vision is going to be. Yeah. You need to take your own vision to get to your own destination because even if someone thinks that they understand your goal, the way you see it, no one else is going to see it until it comes to fruition. Right.
Crystal:And then they'll be like, oh, I see what you're saying now. I get it. But, really, you have to do what you said. If you felt that calling to leave, there was a reason why. And I feel like people may not know it now, but they may end up having that same calling to join BNI.
Eric:I think a lot of people I've seen this before where a lot of people are kind of really afraid to take that step out. Like, oh, you know, how am I gonna pay my bills or whatever it it might be? And, you know, sometimes I'm like I'm like, it'll work out. Like, just do it. It'll be fine.
Eric:Like, you you you won't be in my hand, it makes sense. Like, you know, stop working there or don't do this or whatever it might be. Stop doing that thing, whatever that thing is. And I for me, I I've kind of been I think I've been kind of in tune with that because I know there's there's been so many times in my career over the years where I'll kinda get a sense on something with either it's like a person or it's a certain job or whatever it is. And I'll just be like and I've literally told Amber I'd be like, hey.
Eric:I don't think we should do this. And then and then, I I was like, I don't know why. I'm just getting a strong sense that, like, something just doesn't sit right with this. And then literally every single time, like, a few months later, something happens. I'm like, oh, I'm glad we're not associated with that now.
Ian Johnston:Yep.
Eric:And so I think there's there's real value and truth in, like, kind of, like, following that that intuition on, on, you know, I don't know if more people are if some people are more or less in
Crystal:some way that are not a muscle. The more that you listen to it and follow it, the stronger it does become, but there's actually more to it scientifically. So in our brain, there's something that, we have like a little antenna. It's called the thalamic gate.
Eric:Oh, yeah.
Crystal:And this antenna acts as, it can detect frequency, vibration, and oscillation. So that means, like, each person has a different energy signature. So a good person, you kind of stand next to him without knowing why. You just feel comfortable and confident. But maybe a another person that you stand next to and you're like, oh, I feel something, like, something's off here.
Crystal:Like that feeling that you had. Your brain was picking up the frequency and vibration of that person and inputting it into your system on a subconscious level that you don't even realize. So we pick up subtle clues, subtle hints, like micro facial expressions. Our body is picking this up and inputting it all the time. I think I've told you this before.
Crystal:40,000,000 bits of information every second. No. So our brain is constantly processing this. So, you know, you knew on a deeper level what was gonna serve you. Not everyone is as tuned into that inner feeling, but the more that you'd follow it, the more that it will get you to where you're supposed to go.
Crystal:I I call it like, like little breadcrumbs from your highest self. You can feel it when you're in the zone. You can feel like, oh, everything's falling into place. This is all working out. Or when you're walking down the other path and it's like, oh, this is not working.
Crystal:No matter how hard I try, it's not, like, all coming together. Those are signs too. Like, we're supposed to be in that state of flow.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. I've I've heard you talk about that before and it and it's interesting how over time when, like, I used to hear stuff like that and be like, oh my gosh, what a load of you can fill in the blank. But but it it's interesting how as you live and you actually experience these things and you're like, yeah. Why did I just like, feel like, hey, we're we're best friends. Like and then you were like, oh, I should probably say hi and introduce, like, get to know that person, beforehand.
Ian Johnston:And you just kinda you can feel that kind of connection. It's it's interesting because, you know, I know know what I wanted to talk a little bit about coaching because coaching is a really interesting thing when it comes to business and ownership and b and I and just kind of our growth, our growth journey. I don't do coaching, but I think that often has we we underestimate the value of getting external help. That that when you're in a job, you don't really need coaching. They the people there at the job are gonna kind of tell you what you need to do and things like that.
Ian Johnston:But when you start an entrepreneurial journey, you really do need an external voice to really help you out and and show you. I even had this yesterday with my own self and the and the coach I had, my me and my business partner were meeting with him, and I was just feeling something were off about our own numbers. Now I I should be the one that understands my numbers better than anyone. But but my external coach said, okay. Let's take a step back and he just really brought it back to the basics.
Ian Johnston:And I said, okay. I see what I'm doing that's causing my own confusion. And it just that external perspective gave you that. And as you talk about these things with, the antenna thing, what is it called?
Crystal:The thalamic gate.
Eric:Yes. Thelamic. Thelamic. Yeah. Okay.
Ian Johnston:Not thoralamic. Like, there's like a orlamic. There's like a there's
Eric:like a fit, like a
Ian Johnston:a glove and things like that.
Crystal:That's that's, you
Ian Johnston:know, so so I'm at my gate. So so and it's and it's interesting because you start picking up on these things. You hear about, like, reticular activating.
Eric:And, you
Ian Johnston:know, when you start, like, seeing cars everywhere that you're interested in in the buying and the buying and things like that. And you're, like, they didn't just magically appear. Why am I now seeing them all all the time? It's opportunities are like that when when, kind of back where we, you know, kind of started. You have to have vision, but your vision doesn't have to be big.
Ian Johnston:It just has to be enough to get you started. My vision, I remember driving in Benita. I remember this so vividly. I thought, if I could have 30 companies that paid me a $100 a month, I can make $3,000 a month, and I would that that sounds amazing to me. I don't know why, like, that sounded amazing at the time because but it it it did.
Ian Johnston:And and now we have Well,
Eric:it sounds achievable, I think. It sounds achievable. Right? That's part of it too. I think a lot of times it's it it like, if you're like, oh, that sounds amazing.
Eric:It's like, you know, a 100 people pay me a $100,000,000 a month. It's like, well, that's that's so far fetched.
Ian Johnston:It's, you know,
Eric:so I think I mean that that like what you said sounds more exciting to me than than than the 100 than, you know, $100,000,000 or whatever just cause that's more achievable than that. Right?
Ian Johnston:Sounds like something you can actually hit. And you're like, as a small business owner with very little expenses, you're like, oh, actually get to keep that money too.
Eric:And that
Ian Johnston:and that that's that's just awesome. And so, so, you know, but the the what we've actually accomplished is is actually well beyond that. I have 10 employees that work with us. And and I I don't mean to talk about myself, but it's just like, I didn't necessarily have a big vision, but I had a vision big enough to get started. And as we talk about people that some will do it and some won't, some have a huge vision.
Ian Johnston:They wanna change the world and they wanna do all these things, but yet they never take the first step. And and I think that whatever your vision is, if it doesn't move you, if it doesn't cause you to get up and and do something, then it's just not strong enough. Then it's not just, you know, we talk about your why and your, you know, your vision, your goals, and, you know, the things that you want to accomplish. And and we're sitting here because we had something inside of us that caused us to take that first step and to move into. And it just it just spoke to us.
Ian Johnston:And you can hear the passion when you talk about free speech, and you're in the world of making sure that the people's voices can be heard. Whether or not maybe you agree with them, as long as it's truth. Right? And and Crystal talks about, you know, just this mindset and kind of unlocking the things that are inside of your brain that are just holding you back. And and obviously, you can talk more about about yours, but it's just there's these passions and it's life experience and all these things that that are our story.
Ian Johnston:But the fact of the matter is, as we get down to the bottom of it, if we didn't have the ability to actually take that passion and the things that are driving us in our in our major definite purpose and run with it, then we would just be so hopeless. And I think that's you know, the word hope is just such a big thing to me is that that there's opportunity. There's yes. Sometimes it sounds like we're just talking about money, the money we can make. But oftentimes, money is like a remodel we did in our own house last year, it wasn't the the money and and for to make our kitchen look better, it was to make this space a place where people could come and we can share Yeah.
Ian Johnston:What we've been blessed with. And that's and that that to me is, like, yeah, that hits on it for me. That may even gives me the chills right now as I think about it to see all the all the youth and my kids that bring 10 or so friends over basically every Sunday after church, and and our house is just filled with noise and laughter and and and people just a safe place for them to come to. Now, what does it have to do with business ownership? It's just the vehicle that allowed for that little piece of of what our hopes and goals and dreams are.
Ian Johnston:And if we can expand that and make that bigger and just, you know, help more people and just create that for more people, you just have to understand what that is inside of yourself. Because in the moment, that client that calls you and yells at you and you're like, why am I doing this? I'm such a failure. Whatever moments that happen when you think I am not cut out for this. When you come back to why you're doing it, those little things will just be like, oh, yeah.
Ian Johnston:That happened. I forgot about that. It it it's
Crystal:not priceless memories that come from the hard work.
Ian Johnston:Yes. Exactly.
Eric:Well, I think a lot of it too is is kinda surrounding yourself with people that are gonna be, champions. Champions for you when you have kind of those moments. I've had a lot of those moments where it's like, oh, should I do this, you know, or whatever. But then, and but you have to have those those those those champions around you that will I mean, what you know, they they also, you know, maybe you are going down a path. Maybe you shouldn't be or whatever.
Eric:And then so they have to also kinda give you the hard truth on things as well too, I think. So I think but but they I think there needs to be some semblance of them, like, having, you know, compassion towards for you in in what where where your passion is at or where you're where you're struggling with. And then also, you know, the the the real friends will tell you the truth on
Crystal:it.
Eric:Right? And they'll they'll they'll help you through stuff and versus, just either, you know, nope. Keep going. You know, the random person, you know, random person yes. Random person on the street.
Eric:They're gonna go, yeah. Keep going. You know? They're gonna tell you to keep going with it or whatever. Right.
Crystal:Well, then the financial aspects are so tangible because you can see it. You can record it. You can see the growth. But there's also, like, Ian said, these other intangible things. Like, I'm working with a veteran foundation, Warrior gamer foundation.
Crystal:They've saved a 135 lives.
Ian Johnston:Yeah.
Crystal:I haven't made a penny.
Ian Johnston:Right.
Crystal:But I've gained so much value and it warms my heart and knowing that you can support causes. It's not just about the money, it's about the impact that you can make as
Ian Johnston:well. We and and kind of and and to interject also kind of what both you're talking about here is that oftentimes people start to give us advice, but the higher you raise up the mountain, then then where they haven't been, your friends that are well intentioned, can't always help you. They haven't ever been there. I, I've I've heard this and it stuck with me. Don't take constructive criticism from people who have never constructed anything.
Ian Johnston:Mhmm. And so it's it's really
Eric:easy thing to very, very, very easy thing to do. Yeah. And And you should be the dumbest one in
Crystal:the room. You should have yourself surrounded by people who are way more
Eric:Well, yeah. Because a lot of people like what you said is people who haven't kind of been there or done that and they're kind of, no, you should do this.
Crystal:Of course, they're gonna nay say what you're gonna be doing too.
Ian Johnston:But if
Eric:they're your friends too, then it's kind of like like you you you're inclined
Crystal:And family.
Eric:Yeah. Family and to you're inclined to really take what they're saying to heart when maybe that's not the best thing to
Ian Johnston:Exactly. You you think about sports, and I don't know, basketball. We got a basketball fan over here. So when you first start out playing basketball, anybody could tell you something and make you better at basketball. But when you're Michael Jordan or Steph Curry, 99.9% of the population giving you advice will actually hurt you.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. And it'll make you worse, you know, if you listen to those people because, you know, and you just go
Eric:to I know
Crystal:all the mentors.
Ian Johnston:Right. So it's getting advice from the right people, and and that that's that becomes a huge part of it because especially when people don't have an invested interest in you. Like, sometimes people oftentimes can give advice, and them giving you bad advice doesn't hurt them and but it hurts you. And so coaches, you know, whether it's in sports or whether it's in business, when they're when they're in business with you, giving you bad advice that hurts you, it should it should potentially also hurt them because that's their potential future player. That's their, you know, future business partner.
Crystal:And they might not intend to be hurting. They they're they're seeing it from their eyes. They're trying to help. Yes. But their vision is much smaller than yours, so they can't really fully help.
Ian Johnston:Absolutely. Mhmm. Yeah. That's plays out this plays out definitely over time. And then talking about how you work with the veterans is sometimes the the looking at it in the 2 to 3 month, 2 day to 3 month period in a vacuum doesn't make sense.
Ian Johnston:My coach said this to me yesterday. Looking at something in a small time period, but seeing how it plays out over a 3 year period of time, it it just seems like, yeah, of course, that's what we did. That's in line with our values, and we made the rest of it work, or or that led to this other connection or this thing over here that really had skyrocketed our business. So Yeah.
Crystal:Or it just brings you joy. And sometimes part of, like I feel like it's a little bit of our, like, responsibility to Exactly. To take what we've learned and share it with other people. And, especially, I mean, you're helping other businesses that maybe you're either trying to start to break out into business and maybe you need a little bit more information or need a little structure so that they can grow into it or businesses that maybe they've got one business, and now it sounds like their average is about 3 businesses. So, that's the great thing about the entrepreneurial freedom is maybe, Erica, there'll be another whole business next year.
Crystal:You never know where this will take us. And it's so cool because, like you said, you don't need to see the whole every step of the journey. Just take one step.
Ian Johnston:Yeah.
Crystal:Just be brave. Do the one thing that your heart is calling you and not listening to the other people that are in your life. Because sometimes I know when I started my journey, people kept saying, oh, you can't do that. Oh, that's not a good idea. And I knew when my heart that I I was following the right direction, so I stopped telling them.
Crystal:Yeah. And then I just would show them at the end, and I was like, this is what I did Yep. Instead of asking basically for permission. So I would I would, tell our audience to not ask for permission and to follow their heart.
Ian Johnston:Mhmm. Mhmm. Absolutely.
Eric:I I think there's also, you know, for for I think there's an aspect too for other people too. If, like, if, you know, maybe there's something maybe you disagree with someone to, like, actually, like, ask that person, like, like, are you willing to, like, listen to my, you know, to to some advice I have or whatever, whatever it might be, like, kind of asking that, I think, too. So because I guess Like, feet positive feedback.
Crystal:Yeah. Constructive feedback.
Eric:Right. And it's a hard thing to kind of, like, you know, I can't say, like, whether somebody's on the right path or not. You know?
Crystal:That's up to them.
Eric:Yeah. It's kind of up to them. It's a hard thing to kind of, like, it's hard to just kinda say with with guarantee that's like, oh, this is a bad decision. It's really hard to kind of, like, like, solidify into that. You know, so I I guess I I think if somebody is, like, really kind of telling you, like, no.
Eric:That's a bad decision. Just white light up. They're they're probably wrong. Maybe there's aspects. Maybe they can't do it.
Eric:That's probably true. They're already they're saying, you know, they're in their mind, they're probably thinking, well, I can't do that. So definitely you can't. Yeah. That sort of thing.
Eric:Right? So I was like, well, that's not that's not true. And so, you know, I think people people telling you, like, no. You can't do that, like, flat out and not actually giving you reasons why or anything.
Crystal:I always love that. That always fuels my fire. I'm like, please tell me I can't do something because then it's like Yeah. I get really motivated to go and show them that I can
Ian Johnston:do it. Natively motivated. I think that's what they're called. We, and and some people, you know, that that maybe are telling us about the stuff that we got going on with their business or their life and things like that. The, you know, the John Maxwell used a term.
Ian Johnston:I know this is a PG show, so they'll edit this out if you need to, but he calls them an ask hole. And so and they just keep on asking and and it just like and then they you hear them going to the next person and they ask that person not to say anything. And you're like, why did you ask me? I gave you my heartfelt, like, I understood the situation. I gave you my heartfelt feedback, and you just wanna talk to people about this because it maybe it validates something for that person or whatever.
Ian Johnston:And, and and or makes it makes it look like they've got something going on in their life when maybe they don't actually have anything going on, so they just gotta keep rehashing the same situation over and over with everyone and, or or whatever the situation is. But it's just like some people just wanna go talk to everyone about their problem and not do anything about it because, for whatever reason. I don't know why people do this, but but I think, you know, we're talking about the people that wanna move forward. They don't wanna stay in the same place. It's like that country song, if you're going through hell, just keep going.
Ian Johnston:You know, we don't don't stay there. Don't set up a tent. Don't buy a cabin, you know. Just just keep going. Like, you know, we go through the valleys and the most successful people I talk to say I'm going peak to peak.
Ian Johnston:Yes. Obviously, between each peak, there's a valley. But we don't need to discuss the valley. It's the next peak. What's the next peak I'm going to?
Crystal:Focus on the positive. Yeah.
Ian Johnston:Exactly. And so there's there's it's it's a total different mindset, and that's why the people you surround yourself with are become so important. And and the journey is not for the faint of heart, you know. You're gonna have bad days. You're gonna have, you know, we talk about all these terms that we love as a society imposter syndrome and all these things, which are real.
Ian Johnston:Absolutely. But they're but they don't have to control us. They're they don't define us. They don't make us who we are. We decide where we're going, and we just move forward to that toward that.
Ian Johnston:And we can create the results that we wanna create for ourselves, for our family, for our society, for our community. However big your vision, your dreams are, you can do that. I mean, to just put it in perspective, there are people on the Earth right now that are building rockets to go to Mars. I mean I mean, you know, it's people think they have all their opinions about, but but the reason but the the point is is that there's people that are doing it. Yep.
Ian Johnston:So so, you know, again, I love these things, but but things like we oftentimes, we spend so much time, like, reading on Reddit when you really should be getting around done it. People that have done it, who have lived it, who have Mhmm.
Eric:You know,
Ian Johnston:brought the shirts home or whatever.
Eric:It's a new website right there. Yeah. I've done it. I've read it.
Ian Johnston:Exactly. And so we, we just really need to surround ourselves with the right people and give ourselves the opportunity to uplift other people, but recognize who's where and where we're at. And so that we're not getting advice from people that are actually bringing us down and we're not and and we're getting advice from people that are headed somewhere.
Crystal:That's such good advice.
Eric:And I think, BNI chapters is a pretty fantastic
Crystal:place to to surround yourself with Positive breeding ground for success. Yeah. Yeah.
Ian Johnston:Absolutely. And and beyond, and once you've been in your chapter for a long time and maybe your business has grown and there's only a few people, that's why, you know, Crystal and I have become directors. So we get around other leaders in BNI. We get around other members of and I don't know if that's why for you, but I I definitely wanted to expand my circle and, and just meet other people and get around and see and just just expand the horizons because BNI has been such a fantastic tool. Again, we talk about structure.
Ian Johnston:When I love talking about how, like, people are like, oh, BNI is so structured. And I'm like, that's because it works. Yeah. You know? That's point.
Ian Johnston:That's the point. That's why it works.
Eric:I've been in in in unstructured groups, and I and they I never got anything out of them. I never I don't know. They they didn't work. They're too you know, like, a nice, fun, paid get together essentially. And And
Ian Johnston:I definitely don't wanna talk bad about any other groups because the fact of the matter is that someone else is trying with the best of the knowledge they have. And but, you know, there's definitely whenever I was at Education Moment last, last term, I think most of the time I would start out with, we've paid for a system that has been proven to work over a 30 now I think 40 years is like 40. 40 year time period. And so let's not try to change it. Let's learn everything we can about how to maximize it.
Ian Johnston:Yep. And so, you know, if you bought a franchise, you wouldn't say, hey. This franchise is good, but instead of chicken, let's try beef. You know, it's like it's like, you know, we're not gonna make those kinds of changes when
Eric:you spend
Crystal:invent the wheel.
Ian Johnston:Right. If you spend a $1,000,000 on it, you'd be like, tell me everything I need to know and I'm gonna run with that. But because we only spend, you know, less than $1,000 on membership every year and that, it I don't think we value it as high.
Eric:Well, I think that's why, well, you know, one of our core values is traditions plus innovations. I learned this recently. It's not traditions and innovations. It's traditions plus innovations. And I think I would I would kind of be willing to bet that those at one point were 2 separate things.
Ian Johnston:But
Eric:then people might lock on to the innovations. Oh, we're gonna innovate. We're gonna innovate. We're gonna do all that. But it's like, well, wait a second.
Eric:You know, don't forget the other things. Don't drop Yeah.
Crystal:There's a sense of balance.
Eric:Why BNI works in the first place. Right? Don't don't don't drop those those other things and be so innovative that you're that you're forgetting the what what is making kind of what's making BNI work well. Absolutely.
Crystal:You guys are both process guys, so you can see the value of the processes that go on in BNI. And there is a slight room for some creativity in there. I mean
Eric:Well, that's what the innovation portion is for. Right? Exactly. Gonna leave leave that open. If it's all tradition, it's kind of rigid and Mhmm.
Crystal:You know This podcast is our vision of, the innovation. We're trying to expand the VCP. I mean Right. You know me. We're out there.
Ian Johnston:VCP, you know me. It sounds like a good song. So you're you're the vice president right now. Right? That's correct.
Ian Johnston:So so I don't know how long you guys have been in BNI, but just even, like, 6, 7 years ago, there was paper slips that we had. Mhmm. And and you would pass those around. There was a great visual when you're, like, I have 2 referrals and you, like, slam
Eric:them down. Like, yeah, maybe
Ian Johnston:not slam. But but it was, like, a I have these these things and and you had a physical representation and and and moving to being on BNI Connect has been a fantastic thing. BNI Connect rolling out and becoming a better and better system over time has been amazing. But there's also been an aspect of it that has been lost of, like, we're saying I have 2 referrals. I have one referral.
Ian Johnston:But there's not, like, the stack of papers. Like, these are all the referrals we're passing out.
Eric:That they're missing that visual, like, element.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. So so it's it it's good. There's there's there's pluses and negatives to everything. The vice president's role used to be the most heavy role from
Eric:a I've heard.
Ian Johnston:Yeah. There was there was a you had the stack of paper, and you take it home, and you're, like, putting all these things in. And then we also didn't have the data on the back end. So so, again, beyond the numbers, it's like, on the back end, the fact that you gave thank you for close business wasn't attached to the person giving it. It was only attached to the person receiving it.
Ian Johnston:Now for the last so many years, we can actually look and see how much you've given as well as how much you've received. And just additional data that's, like, oh, that's really interesting. Because a lot of times, a lot of things in BNI is we feel like we're doing so much, but then when we go look at our stats and the numbers, traffic lights
Crystal:Mhmm.
Ian Johnston:We actually see that we're doing a lot more in our head than we are actually doing with our with our like, with our mouth and with ourselves. And so it's, we have the data in order to to see that. And it's so there's a there's a really good aspect of it too. And so and obviously, junk in junk out. If people aren't reporting things, whether it's on paper or whether it's just something they can do any time on their phone, then, you know, so it is.
Ian Johnston:Right? Mhmm.
Eric:Well, this has been a really this has been a fantastic conversation.
Crystal:Yeah. Thank you for joining us. Yeah. This is so good.
Eric:Where this was kinda kinda get kinda gonna go, but I I this is, you know, this is what's been a, you know, core part for me. Like, when I I kind of got into just freelance, just when no one told me to do freelance stuff. And so I love this conversation. So, Ian, if, if somebody wanted to get in contact with you, how would they how would they do that?
Ian Johnston:Yeah. So our website, johnstonaccountancy.com. That's, john j o h n s t o n a c c o u n t a n c y, which you're gonna need for my email as well, ian@johnstonaccountancy.com. And also, our phone number is 619-415-8600. We have an office here in San Diego, and and we are we're around.
Ian Johnston:So those are great ways to find us. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook and various places like that as well.
Crystal:B and I app?
Ian Johnston:And the b and I app. They do have phenomenal
Eric:for searching for stuff like this. You just type in somebody's name and they pop right up.
Ian Johnston:Eric, you talked about that needing someone or someone else somewhere else, and and I've done that for clients that were moved to Florida and moved to wherever and find them people through BNI in their local areas, and it's been so great. I do have my BNI app filled out, so all my information is there. And, so
Eric:if you
Ian Johnston:need to find me Yeah. So You
Eric:know, there's aspects of mine actually that I'm I'm ashamed to say I need to, fill it out a bit more.
Crystal:I was checking someone in our chapters last week, and theirs was from 2011. So yeah. Oh, yeah. Sometimes people need to update. Need
Eric:a refresher
Crystal:on allheart. Need to let him know, but he's had, like, 7 children since then. So Yeah. We'll give him a a whole pass.
Ian Johnston:Well, okay. So I said that, and I feel like, okay. I bet if I look at it, there's probably areas that need to be filled out. But but enough of it is filled out that y'all get some information on us. I I'm sure I could do a better job as we all should.
Crystal:It's like we could. So evolving. So yeah.
Ian Johnston:Which is a great opportunity. Every time someone's presenting, they should be going in there and and checking out if they're gonna be introduced correctly
Crystal:and so
Eric:yes. That is busted. So yeah. Right. So, if you got value out of this episode, like, if you, like, this touched you in a certain way, maybe you know somebody who maybe they want to kinda start their entrepreneurial journey.
Eric:There you just know them that I'm you I know you have that name stuck in your head. Everyone kinda knows somebody like this.
Crystal:Send them this episode.
Eric:That needs to, you know, start whatever it might be. They you know, they're just not fall they're just not following what their calling is. Send this episode to them. I think even if they're not in BNI, I think that they could get exceptional value out of this, and maybe it's just enough encouragement to send them, on that get them get that first step going on that path. This is also really one of the core ways in how we grow this show.
Eric:So, sharing it with with that friend, is one of the best ways best things that you can do for us. So thank you so much for for, watching, and we'll see you later.
Crystal:Thanks for joining us and don't forget to log your CEU. Thank you for joining us for the Business Boost Hour. My name is Crystal Pravette and this is Eric Buells. Thank you for joining us and don't forget to document your single CEU. See you next time.
Eric:See you in the next episode.
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