Get Off The Treadmill Podcast

The SBA tells us 50% of businesses fail in five years, but my experience is only about 1% (or less) actually fail due to outside circumstances. The other 49% experience something that was entirely avoidable. If you ask small business owners why they might go out of business, they will tell you they need a loan, or the market is just collapsing, the economy sucks, they can't find good people, or the competition is burying them. We'll show you owners who have thrived in the face of all these obstacles because they avoided the one thing that actually will put you out of business. Circumstances don't make me who I am. How I respond to them does. This one response makes all the difference.

In this episode of the Get Off The Treadmill podcast, host Chuck Blakeman sits down with Scott Graves, co-founder and CEO of Alignment Financial Advisors, to dive deep into Chapter 3 of Chuck’s acclaimed book, Making Money Is Killing Your Business. This chapter, "The Way Off the Business Treadmill," offers a transformative blueprint for shifting from business overwhelm to a life of balance and fulfillment.

Scott Graves, whose journey from public school band teacher to successful financial advisor serving over 1,500 households, reveals how Chuck’s insights have reshaped his approach to business. 

Key Takeaways:

• Structured Approach: Learn how Scott used the chapter’s strategies to streamline his decision-making process, easing the strain of managing his business.
• Growth Stages: Scott highlights how understanding the outlined business growth stages gave him clarity on his current position and future aspirations.
• Mindset Shift: Hear about Scott’s epiphany regarding the importance of intentional planning and setting clear goals to ensure the business serves him, rather than the other way around.
• Balancing Act: Scott shares practical advice on achieving a harmonious balance between financial success and personal time, emphasizing that it’s indeed possible with persistence and a solid support network.

How did one business owner move from working 55 hours a week to working 16 hours a week and make exponentially more personal income? 95% of business owners find out at some point that they have built themselves a job and are hostages to their businesses. How do we build a Mature Business that regularly produced both money AND time for us, not just money? It's not for the smart or the lucky, but for the intentional. You get what you intend, not what you hope for. What result are you intending from your business - this year? Five years from now? When you're done. Learn the power and Clarity of being intentional about what YOU want not what your customers, the market your business wants. 

1. Visioning the End Goal: Discover how starting with the end in mind can reshape your business strategy, leading to clearer objectives and better decision-making.
2. The Power of Clarity: Allison shares her journey from overwhelm to empowerment, revealing how clarity about her desired business outcome transformed her approach to planning and execution.
3. Delegation and Freedom: Learn about the importance of delegating tasks to free up time and energy for higher-level strategic thinking—crucial for any business owner.
4. Practical Tools for Success: Mark and Allison discuss the effective use of a two-page strategic plan, breaking down annual goals into quarterly and monthly actionable steps, ensuring consistent progress.
5. Overcoming Roadblocks: Explore the challenges Allison faced, from feelings of overwhelm to maintaining focus, and how she navigated these obstacles to achieve her goals.
6. Creating Momentum: Understand how small wins lead to bigger successes and how momentum can drastically reduce your to-do list while increasing overall productivity.

It's easy to spend thirty years of ups and downs, peaks and valleys, scarcity and abundance, always reacting to the good or bad times that seem to be happening to us, not because of us.  Because we feel dragged along by our business, we can't wait to sell it some fool who will do it all over again for another thirty years. Is it any wonder we're tired? This podcast shares examples of people who learned how to be proactive about the right things, ignore others, make decisions based on the long-term gain, and get off the business treadmill. It's the difference between laying bricks, making a wall, or building a cathedral. Which one are you doing? Let's get off the Roller Coaster Treadmill of Business, and find Freedom IN our business, not FROM it.  

In this episode of the Get Off The Treadmill podcast, Chuck Blakeman sits down with Josh Allan Dykstra, a leading expert on human energy and the future of work. Josh, a dynamic keynote speaker and author, reveals why human energy—not employee engagement—is the secret to skyrocketing productivity, creativity, and retention in today’s workplace. 

While most companies focus on engagement to boost performance, Josh argues that it’s actually human energy that drives success. When organizations learn to harness and optimize energy levels, they can transform their teams, foster innovation, and create a culture that thrives. 

Key Takeaways from the Episode:

1. Energy Fuels Success: It’s not just about feeling engaged—employees must be energized by their work. Energy drives motivation, performance, and creativity, which leads to measurable success.
2. Engagement vs. Energy: Engagement focuses on how connected employees are to their tasks. However, it’s human energy—the internal drive—that keeps employees productive and fulfilled. Josh explains why energy should be the new focus for organizations.
3. Track and Optimize Energy: Discover how a simple ""energy journal"" can help employees and leaders track their daily energy highs and lows. Understanding energy patterns helps optimize work for sustainable productivity.
4. Hiring for Energy: Hiring the right people isn't just about skills—it's about matching individuals' energy levels with the tasks they’ll be performing. This alignment reduces burnout and increases job satisfaction.
5. The Future of Work: The future of work is shifting towards energy-driven workplaces. Josh shares how companies that prioritize human energy over traditional metrics will lead the way in building innovative, successful, and engaged teams.

Josh’s insights will challenge the way you think about productivity, leadership, and workplace culture. He provides actionable strategies to help organizations stop draining their employees and start fueling them for success.

On average, business owners work 55 hours per week, take very few vacations and do business while there. Most of us are working relentlessly, always hoping that we'll some how get to a new level next year and begin to reap some personal rewards from our business. But we don't even know what "level" we're on, let alone what it would take to get to the next one.

In this podcast we discuss the Seven Stages of Business Ownership, and how the first four of these got us on the treadmill, and specifically what we need to do at every stage to get to the next one. Stage Four is the "American Dream". Or is it? We'll find out that it's not what we all cracked it up to be, and why Stage Five is the minimum we want to shoot for.

Get the free resource here.

In the latest episode of the Get Off The Treadmill podcast, Chuck Blakeman sits down with The Evolving Expert founder, Vanessa Emerson, to dive deep into the powerful connection between business success and personal fulfillment.

Vanessa shares her journey as a business strategist and wellness educator, explaining why getting clear on lifetime goals and life vision is the secret to both thriving in business and truly living. 🙌

Vanessa reveals how reading Chuck’s book, Making Money is Killing Your Business, has been a game-changer in helping her clients find clarity, set intentional goals, and avoid the trap of becoming a “hostage” to their own business. She talks about how important it is for entrepreneurs to start with the end in mind—and not just chase the money. 💰

Key Takeaways:

1. Why setting a lifetime goal or life vision is crucial to building a business you love 🎯
2. How to create clarity in your life’s purpose and use it to guide every business decision 🧭
3. The 3 principles that turn business success into meaningful success 🌱

If you’ve ever felt stuck on the treadmill of your business, this episode is a must-listen! Vanessa and Chuck get real about how to stop just chasing paychecks and start living with intention. ✨