Welcome to John H. Curry's Secure Retirement Podcast. In the last two episodes, Steve Gordon and I have talked about my health crisis, my mindset, and my journey back to work.
Steve has nicknamed me “the most productive man in rehab,” but “...there is no “S” on my chest and no blue underwear. There were a couple of moments when I had some tough realizations. At those times I was glad I could step out of my own strength and into that of my team.”
Today we’re talking about how I set my business up to click along (and even grow) without me for four months. I’ll give you an inside look at how I went from being a “rugged individualist” to surrounding myself with the most productive team I’ve ever had, as well as:
The reciprocity of hiring people (hint: it’s not just about freeing up your time)
The number one way to step out of your own problems and into something BIGGER
The “secret sauce” of a great team member
And much more
If you’ve missed the first two conversations in this series, be sure to go back and check them out.
Transcript:
Steve Gordon: Welcome to another episode of The Unstoppable CEO podcast, we are doing the third in a series of joint episodes with my buddy John Curry. And these will be also published on the Advisor Inner Circle podcast and John's Secure Retirement podcast. So great to have all of the different audiences and listeners here with us. And just to set the stage a little bit, if you haven't heard the other two episodes, you might be wondering, why are all of why are we doing all these joint episodes, they don't seem to go together? Well, John had a health crisis about four months ago now. And there are a lot of lessons that have come out of that. And so in the first of these three episodes, we talked a little bit about that health crisis, which included, unfortunately, his right leg being amputated above the knee, and then a second surgery to follow on the left leg to repair some stuff in there.
And we talked a little bit about the mindset lessons that came out of that, because John's recovery has been, I think, at least as a, as someone who's got to observe it up close, it's been pretty remarkable to watch the determination to get better and to improve and to move forward. And so we talked about that in the first episode, John. Then in the second episode, we talked about productivity. Because I gave you the nickname, the most productive man in rehab, because of all the things that you were getting accomplished from your rehab bed on the outside world. You're probably having more of an impact on your world than most people would have when they're walking around on two legs and not sitting in a hospital bed.
And so that leads us to this third, and what I think will probably be the last episode in the series. And, folks, in this episode, we're going to talk about team, because what really was, I think, for me, the most amazing thing to watch was just to watch how John your business clicked along, really without I mean, certainly it was impacted because you weren't there. But but not in the way that most would be a lot of businesses, if the if the owner, the founder, a leader had been gone for four months, because of a health crisis, they'd be out of business. You didn't have that happen. In fact, I believe you guys actually grew in terms of number of new clients, and revenue and all those sorts of things while you were out.
And so your team did a phenomenal job. And that didn't happen by accident. And I want to talk about what led to that. Which what led to it has occurred over the years prior to this crisis, you know, and when what we watched over the last four months is really just the result of all the work that you've put in. And they've put in leading up to. So that's, that's sort of the frame for today's conversation. So let's talk about your team a little bit. You didn't always have this team in place. And so tell me a little bit about why you decided at some point in your career to build the team?
John Curry: Well, you're you're correct early on, I was what Dan Sullivan would call a rugged individual, rugged individualist if you would, because I had to do it all myself. And I didn't like most people starting a business, I didn't have an assistant, I had to do it myself. And then one day, it hit me I had a choice. I could give up some of the income, some of the profit, and hire someone to help free up my time, which would allow me to be more productive. And that was a big deal. Because everyone around me was saying, why would you spend your money doing that if you could use the office staff, you know, from the firm, why would you spend your money hiring someone to help you?
And at the start off as a part time person, and later a full time person and then later a full time at a part time then later to a team of four people. But Dan Sullivan talks about the being the rugged individual versus building a team of people who have unique abilities. He calls it the unique team framework. And once I learned, started learning some of that in October 1994, I started getting real serious about learning everything that I could get my hands on. Reading it and studied about being a good leader, building a team. Part of my fascination with that is navy seals, any type of special ops for the Air Force, Marines, Army. Because those teams have to be precise, very precision driven. And their motto is no person left behind. No man left behind. You fight like hell for each other, you fight with each other too at times. But you protect each other. And as they say, I've got your six. I got your back.
So that was part of the fascination because of the martial arts training. Okay, that's your individual but you have team around you and getting prepared. Typically. I know when I was doing kickboxing in Thailand you did. But all of that just pretty much started working on the mindset of okay, I can either do it all by myself and wear myself out, or I can go find people that can help me. But the big jump came, when I understood the concept of unique ability. That the best thing I could do is hire people around me, who were just say this that were smarter, and better in ways than I was. Most people in business are threatened by that. Most people in the military were threatened by it.
People that I reported to that were fearful that I was going to pass them. And one day I had a chat with a tech sarge. I said sergeant you do understand that if I help you move up, I get to move up too. So you go up, I go up. So let me help you. And all of a sudden it hit him. And the team we have today. I've had several, good teams over the years. But this is by far the most productive that we've been. And it started seven years ago, when April joined me. April Schoen, and she was a paid salary employee for five years. But I realized early on, Steve, you've known her during this time, that she had the ability to be much more than just an administrative assistant.
So early on, I got her involved in dealing with clients. It was uncomfortable for her at times. You asked her today, she'd say, yeah, he threw me into the pool, deep end. But she did well, clients liked her. She liked clients. And I've told many people during my career, 46 years now, I can teach you a lot about financial planning, investments, taxes, insurance. What I can't teach you is to care about people. You have that wired into your system, you love people, you care about them, want to help them or you don't. You don't. Let me pause there and you jump in at any questions or direction you want me to take from there?
Steve: Well, I look in business, you need to sort of be that rugged individual at the very beginning, sometimes.
John: Yes.
Steve: You often don't have enough cash flow to go and hire a team. Although these days that is easier than it has ever been with the kind of gig economy and the virtual workforce and everything. So you can buy parts of people's time and do that very effectively to grow. But you know, so a lot of people start off kind of doing everything and, and believing that they are the best, you know, at doing it. You told me story before we started recording, you know, about, you know, with the amputation. And you're sometimes you feel like you're so focused, if I'm getting through this, I'm pushing, I'm going and you know, when people offer help, you have to kind of remind yourself, to accept it, you know, to be accepting of it. And, you know, I think I think that's a hard thing sometimes to do. I mean, we're all taught to be independent, I have a hard time with it, you know, I don't want to be a burden on anybody. And so I've sometimes I'm just wired to, to want to push forward and do it myself. But that isn't always the best approach.
John: Well, let's address that as relates to the team that I'm very fortunate to be a part of. I'm gonna explain who the teammates are and then we'll come back and talk about. I'm not gonna talk about their role, because our role is real simple. We do whatever it takes to take care of our clients. So there might be me doing something. Might be April. Might be Jay. So there's April Schoen, Jay Wolfe, Audie Ritter and Zac Hirschler and John Curry. And when it started originally, I've had assistance throughout the years, and I've had teams but with April, I could see that she had the ability if she wanted to, to become a financial advisor in her own right. She didn't see that yet.
But I saw it. And but the challenge was, how do I help her grow without pushing her? So we had a candid conversations along the way, and I said, when you're ready, let me know. And when she was ready, she said, hey, I'm scared of this, but I'm ready. I said good. So we'll start grooming and getting you there. And then she was pregnant with the second child. Had the opportunity to bring Jay on because sadly, one of our colleagues had died. His son took over his practice, chose not to continue didn't want to do that anymore. So I inherited clients as well as opportunity to hire Jay. I said Jay, let's talk. I have a space for you while April's out on maternity leave for sure. I can't promise anything beyond that. But if you can do what I think you can, they'll have a place for you.
So he's been with me, four and a half years now I think. Doing extremely well. And then along the way, we needed someone to help us so, April recruited and how hired and trained Audie. And then last year she brought Zac Hirschler to the table. So we have a team of people who are loving and caring, and they're good at what they do. And you're correct. When I was out, we talked on a regular basis, but I had very limited involvement with clients because it was very cumbersome trying to. I tried one one day, a zoom call. But when you got nurses coming in and out and technicians, you can't do it. Well, how many times were we getting interrupted, when you came to the hospital room that day to see me.
Steve: When we when we talk on the phone, it wasn't unusual for you to tell me you had to call me back, because somebody come in to poke or prod with something.
John: Yep. So I had to work around that. But I just want to make this point about the team then I'm going to let you move forward on it. The team for me became, when I realized it's not just about freeing up my time, it was about creating economic, economic opportunity for people around me, but also creating not just the money for them, the growth personally. See, we human beings are built, and we're hardwired, to grow and do better, and to help people. Now you get exceptions of people who are the bad people out there. They're the ones who hurt people to steal, things like that.
But most people are hard wired to want to serve mankind in some way. So if somehow I made that connection, that click that, okay, it's not just about, I'm not dumping work on someone, I'm giving someone work that's meaningful to allow them to earn an income for their family, to grow to be challenged. And when I'm when I hit when that hit, and I got that, the team came together. Team got together. And then by having April, who basically has been managing the team. I'm very blessed, very blessed. I was talking with some people just yesterday about her. They said do you ever have moments where you butt heads? I said a little bit, a little bit. But isn't that true anywhere. But we always do it with respect.
You know, so look at any any sports team, they're going to argue. And what we do, we do just like a football player. I make a mistake, I dropped the ball. That's on me. If I'm the quarterback and I throw a bad pass, that's on me. I don't want to hear excuses. I don't want to hear blaming. Well you threw a bad pass. So what. You know. Catch it or don't catch it. But let's just own up to our what we did improperly and deal with it. We got a strong team for that. And then the other part of the team is choosing clientele, your customers wisely. Don't take everyone as a client. If it's not a good fit, and you know it upfront. Don't do it. Don't do it.
Steve: Well, so observing all of this, as I've had the privilege of doing as you've gone through these last four months, and this this, you know, incredible challenge that you've had, and you still have. You know, a lot of businesses would have folded, if the owner was absent for four months. You know, and incapacitated, you know, and unable to really work or do much for a good bit of that time. But you know, your team has thrived, the business has grown. Clients have been served and served well, from everything I've gathered. And this, it's interesting, because I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs.
And there seems to be somewhere along the lines of a dividing line. Where you've got some entrepreneurs who sort of build the business around themselves and their talent. And they they get people on the team who are less skilled than they are in virtually every area to do sort of the menial tasks, you know. Okay, and they're not really going to grow, and they're never going to have the kind of experience nor are they ever going to give their clients or their customers, the kind of experience that those people are actually really paying for. Right. And then there are others who have made that leap, where they've begun to pull together people who are more talented than they are or have different talents to support.
And you know, and they've got this vision where they're, you know, they're building this thing out so that the business itself almost becomes a product. And that's that's been talked about before by, you know, by others. But this idea that the thing you're actually building isn't what you're selling. It's, it's the business itself is the product that you're creating. And that's really what people are buying into. And the team is a big, big part of that. And I think there are a lot of reasons to do it selfishly, as as the entrepreneur as the business owner, because of the freedom that it affords you. You've been free to focus on your recovery. You know, you didn't come out of surgery going oh my gosh, what am I going to do? You know, how am I gonna get the business back up and running?
John: Right and to a person, everybody, April, Jay, Audie, Zac. Every one of them and colleagues in the firm has been, hey, take your time, get better, we got this. And when they needed me, they'd say, hey, we need you, you know that send me a text or call me. I'd check in. Do you need me? And most time, frankly, I didn't have to do a lot of checking in. It's just a matter of hey I'm here, if you need me, letting them know. How I'm in between. I'm in between getting shots and taking medications. Do you need me for a few minutes. And then when I was needed, I was able to step up and do it. But I was thinking about something. From the standpoint, we have a choice in life. We can do it all by ourselves. Or we can step back and what you're alluding to earlier, at the post office the other day, a lady offered to push me. She said would you allow me to push you to your vehicle?
And I said, thank you, but now I've got this. And then it dawned on me. You know, somebody taught me years ago, 30 years plus years ago, when you tell me no, when I'm trying to give you something you are depriving me of the joy of giving you that gift. Now I've had to battle that, because I'm trying, I'm not trying. I'm doing it. I hate the word try. As Yoda told Luke Skywalker, there is no try. There's do or do not. I'm attempting, I'm working at constantly constantly getting better and stronger. Because I've got a challenge here. This was a real damn deal. I fell three times. After getting home after the first episode. My my biggest danger to me is a fall. Twisting an ankle. Twisting a knee. Breaking a hip. If that happens I'm screwed. And it changes your whole thought process.
Like you said this morning, before we got on the very first podcast about and you were somewhere for some training, they said, you know, three points of contact. Same thing going for wheelchair to this. What I was sharing with Steve, folks is every now and then I have this tendency to want to just hop off this barstool. Well, if I do that, I have not been drinking, I promise you. But I'm sitting at a kitchen counter on a barstool, I promise you that if I do that, I will hit the floor. If this wheelchair is not beside me, because there's no leg to catch it to help me below the knee there. So I have to always constantly be aware, slow down, take your time, which is probably a good mantra anyway, just slow down, slow it all down some and do it right.
Steve: Well, and and I think it's reinforced the importance of surrounding yourself with people who want to help you as a team, and you've built multiple teams out. So you had a health team, we've talked a little bit about that. On prior episodes, you've had, you know, a team that's remodeling your home, you've had a team that helps you get the right vehicle that you need. You've recruited teams in all of these different I mean, the whole story of the vehicles to me, you told me about that. I mean, you had owners of two different dealerships personally aiding you.
John: True. Yeah.
Steve: One of them you knew. One of them you knew I think prior. The other one you didn't know but somebody connected you with. And, you know, you and you said, um, you probably didn't use the these terms, but I like to use this idea of mission. Because we're all on a mission if we're if we're going anywhere, if we're growing, we're on a mission. And what I've discovered is when you share that mission, and you're clear about where you're going and you tell somebody this is this my mission, this is where I'm going. So with those trucks, I mean to break it down to the simple level, your mission was I got to get a truck that I can actually use that I can get you know if I'm standing on one leg because I only got one left. I can get I can get a wheelchair in and out of it by myself so that I'm not dependent on anybody to get me anywhere. Right. So that's the mission. I want my independence.
John: Yep.
Steve: The two vehicles you had didn't work and so you found one dealer that you knew I think where you bought the the two trucks to begin with, said well, there's a huge demand for trucks right now you're having a conversation with them. I'll buy that back from you because I can go sell it. You know, and so so you got that one sold. And then you found that there was only one company that made the kind of door configuration that you needed on a vehicle to be able to do what you needed to do and and turns out you had somebody in your network that knew the owner of the dealership of the only brand that sells that kind of vehicle and what within twenty four hours.
John: And the only one in town too. The only one on the lot.
Steve: And the only one in town. And within 24 hours you're on a phone call with the owner of this dealership, and because you had this mission and said, this is what I've got to accomplish, he was able to jump into action and help you personally. You know, and and get his team engaged in helping you. And so from your your rehab bed, this, this kind of ad hoc team that was purpose built for this specific mission, because you were clear about the mission was able to take care of all of it while you're sitting in the hospital bed.
John: Correct. And I come back to have clear about what I wanted, about the mission and what I needed, because sometimes what you want is not what you need, and vice versa. But in this case, I truly wanted and needed a particular vehicle. And it happened quickly. In fact, it wasn't within 24 hours it was within 24 minutes. So hanging up from the contact, that I had the guy on the phone, and then he had his guy call me. So we started all of it in motion. Back to team thing. I want to share this real fast. Jack Welch, who had led General Electric for many years, as the chairman said that the role of the leader is to create more leaders.
And Welch is credited even today with creating more fortune 500 execs and CEOs than any other corporate leader, because he understood something. That yes, you get a certain amount of credit just by being at the top, you're going to get that anyway, just by that's called positional power. But if you if you rely on that only, then you've weakened your proposition, because now it's all about you. Me, me, me, me, me, me. True leaders share that. They share that. And there, okay in stepping out of that spotlight and saying, hey, you know, April, Jay, Audie, Zac, Steve, because we consider you part of the team.
So when you do that properly, you are giving credit number one where credit's due. And you're freeing up yourself to not have to do every little thing. But imagine. Let's change this. Let's suppose that I've been one of these guys where I had to know every little thing, every little thing, every little thing, how much healing would be going on? If I'm on the phone constantly, hey, what about this? I thought about this, what about this? What about this? Did you do this? Did you do this? Well you screwed this up. I saw the email, it was wrong. You can't heal. Hell, you make yourself worse.
And I'm grateful and blessed that I have a team around me of people that number one I can trust I can depend on to get things done. And I have to trust that if they find that they are up against an obstacle, that they will seek help either from me or someone else. Now in their case, they would go elsewhere, and only involve me as needed. Because they didn't want to bother me. They wanted me to heal. Now, now they're saying, hey, okay, get your butt back in here. Time to go to work now. So I've been going back to work. And I love it, I need to be there. That's part of healing too, by the way. Because what happens when you dwell on your own problems?
Steve: They get bigger, they get worse. It's awful.
John: But if you're serving other people, and you're helping take care of their problems, you don't think about your problems do you?
Steve: No, they go away.
John: Disappear, at least for that timeframe. So serving others is more important. Because not only do you feel good, so you get to feel good. You get the endorphins. But you also if you are successful in business, and they choose to do business with you, they've benefited and you've benefited, and your team around you benefits.
Steve: So I want to go back to this this idea of team. And I think there's a fundamental difference between the people who choose to build it. And I think you can change your mind at any point, you can become a person who chooses to build a team and be team focused at any point. But there's this difference of mindset between scarcity and fear. So the people that tend not to build a team are afraid that somebody else is going to get the credit, they're afraid, maybe that if they let go of something, it's not going to happen exactly as they would have done it. They live in fear and in scarcity.
And they're not fun people to be around at all. And in fact, if you're abundance minded, you'll find out pretty quickly that you can't be around them. That you know that they're just incompatible because they see the world very fundamentally differently. But the people who look to build that team, look at their look at the world and say, there's so much opportunity out here for growth that I'll get all I ever want. And I'll never run out and I can bring all of these people along and I can help them get all they ever want and they'll never run out. And we could do this together and it'd be a lot of fun. And it'd be gratifying and edifying for everybody.
John: That's true. I don't know where I learned this. But I remember seeing it as a motto somewhere, TEAM. Together, everyone achieves more. But if we're fighting and bickering and pulling each other apart, what do you have? So think about that? Build a team. And then together, everyone achieves more.
Steve: Yeah.
John: I actually had a friend one time. What was that?
Steve: Just gonna say, you know, there are these posters that you can buy, that are a little cheesy, that say that there's no I in team, right. And for some reason that popped into my head, my wife has, has a little thing on her window, because she manages about 40 people. And it says, yeah, there is an I in team. It's in the a hole. And you have to look at the way it's written. If you look at the way the block I is, or block a, there's an I in the middle.
John: Has an I in it.
Steve: Yeah. And, and that's, you know, anyway, I digress. But made me think of that. And the people who, who don't look to build that often, they fit that, that model, though, because they're, they're generally just out for themselves. Now, you mentioned your clients as team members. And some of them may be listening to this. And, and so I watched as well. So when, when you went through the first surgery, April got with me, I think, a day or two after you had come out of it, and said, look, we need to put an email out and let folks know what happened. And I, you know, helped her write that.
And we, I think we came up with a good way of conveying what you know what this very shocking thing was, and I would think she and I both were still at the stage of shock with what was going on. I'm sure you were too. It wasn't happening to us. So we put this message out. And the flood of responses that came back from your your client team, you know, was I think just amazing. And it wasn't just oh, we hope you get better. And all of that. You could sense in the responses that they were pitching in and doing their part that they weren't abandoning you. They weren't abandoning Team Curry, they knew that they were going to be taken care of by the work team.
And they were going to do their part and work with the work team and not complain about it. And not go oh, like I want to I got to talk to John. They knew that they were taken care of. And they were kind of pitching in and doing what they needed to do to support the whole thing because you built this, this collaborative relationship with the, with your clients all the way along. And I think that's that, to me that that's what a building a business really is all about.
John: It is. And I will tell you that properly done. I'm convinced that as long as I want to work, and can work because of health, that I have relationships that will be in place for the rest of my life. I was at a dinner Wednesday night and a friend been bugging me about buying me dinner. So we went to the Governor's Club together. And several people that we both knew, saw us, came by, said hello. Some of it was oh my god, what happened. And the common theme that came out of it sometimes I honestly get tired of hearing this. But the common theme that was expressed was, well if this had to happen to anybody, you're the right person. And they're referring to my mental physical mindset of being strong. But there are some times when you say, I just want to say, well, I'm tired of being strong, damn it. But, you know, you got to keep going. What's the alternative?
Steve: Well that's just it. I, you know, it's easy to say that. It's easy to say I'm tired of being strong, you know, or I want to give up or whatever. But literally what is the alternative?
John: There is none. For me, I've only had two occasions. One was in rehab. This is important to share this because so everybody won't think that I don't claim to be Superman. Sometimes I feel like it. But I don't have an S on my chest and blue underwear, so I'm not Superman. I was in rehab the second time and it was the second time was more difficult. Because the first time yes, I had an amputation. But I had a good leg. You know, second time around had amputation and I had a left leg that was not so good. But I had a moment of where I was on a machine that was that basically it's an elliptical that to sit on and recumbent elliptical elliptical. And I loved using that machine.
But I had a moment of where I my right leg does not exist and my right foot was trying to my leg raised up to put the foot on the pedal. And I started crying. Wasn't any boo hooing, just tears just started flowing. And the therapist saw it and she reached around me and handed me some tissues. She says you won't talk about it. I said I do. She said you know what just happened. I said I do. It's the brain sending the signal to the leg, put the foot on the pedal pedal, but the foot wasn't there. So I had a moment there, of where I was kind of like damn, you know, the tough realization. The second time I'm sitting at the very counter I'm at now but I was in the wheelchair, sitting here talking to Susie.
And I mean, just out of nowhere, tears just started flowing. She says, are you okay? I said, I am. I don't know where that came from. But that was different in the sense that was tears of, I'm okay. It's going to be all right. You know, and there are times when you could put on this macho front, there's times when you know what, you're just gonna sit there and just cry like a baby. And it's okay. There are times you need to be strong, times you need to be weak. But there's also the attitude you take about when you build a team around you of people that are smarter than you. You should take pride in that. Because you're helping them grow financially, grow personally. Their families are growing, the people they're serving are being benefited.
But I've got colleagues that I know very well. I've known for many, many years, decades, who they still haven't gotten past that. It's all about how great they are. You know, and I get stuff from the home office. So I'm quick to say I didn't do this. Team Curry did it. It wasn't just me, come on. Now, when I was younger, I didn't have sense enough to do it. I was too stupid. And I didn't have the wisdom to do that. But I think as you learn and you grow, and you have less than less to prove, I'll just be candid. The only thing I got to prove anymore is to what I want to do. I don't have any I don't have any, what's the word I'm looking for? Quotas or goals or awards? Somebody says, well, if you don't do this, you're a failure. Well, ok I'm a failure then. Thank you very much.
Steve: Well, since you're the master of secure retirement, you've invented the the secure retirement method. Right? Let's, let's talk a little bit about team impacts how you think about retirement, because you're not talking about retirement before privately. And I know that you don't really have any intention of retiring. I don't have any intention of retiring. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. My view of retirement is I want to retire from all the stuff that I don't want to do.
John: Right.
Steve: And I and there are things about what I do for a living that I absolutely love. And I'd be frankly, kind of upset if I didn't get to do them on a daily basis for as long as I live. I you know, you know, I love to play golf. I could not fill my days playing golf. Right? I'd get tired of that there. You know, yeah, it's fun, but not at that volume.
John: It's not always fun. Bad shot.
Steve: Yeah, there's that. But, you know, so my view of retirement. You know, and I think we mentioned in the last episode that I turned 50 a few weeks ago, is that my retirement starts now. And I'm retiring from all the stuff that I don't want to do anymore. Well, the only way for me to do that, and then actually continue to, you know, make a living and increase wealth and, and help people is to build a team around me of not not people that I'm hiring, because they're going to come do the menial stuff. No, it's that they're really good and love doing the things that I am not very good at and don't like doing.
And Lauren on our team is a perfect example of that. I mean, she will coordinate my calendar and schedule and all of this stuff that I'm terrible. I, I, you know, I give I'm like, I don't want to touch that, you know. And but she does it in such a way where she has these conversations with the clients, and they love it and she gets, you know, fulfilled out of that she enjoys that, having that interaction. And because she enjoys it, the clients have a good experience. I get, you know, love letters from them saying how, how cool it was to interact with her. You know, so that, to me, that's an example of, you know, everybody grows there.
I get to retire from something that I'm not good at and shouldn't be doing and don't like doing. And now I've got somebody on the team and that just in that one small area, and she does a lot more than that. But in that one small area, she makes a big impact. And you know, and you've done that with your team as well. So you've got a team of five core people, you plus four others, and you know, and then you've got a team out around that. And those people are always growing but it's all because you've kind of made the decision that I'm going to create this thing in a way that it's it's bigger than me.
John: Correct And I want it to be much bigger than me because I want to make sure that the people that are most important to me are taken care of and but from a selfish standpoint, I want to be able to retire from the things that I don't enjoy doing. That I'm not good at doing. And one of the biggest weaknesses for people doing that is they think, well, I'm dumping something on someone. And I learned from Dan Sullivan back in October 1994, it was a major aha. And I thought, wow, you know, you don't hire people, because you're dumping junk on them, you're hiring people, because they really want to do that particular task. Now, if you're hiring someone who hates doing that, also, then you'd better not hire them.
That won't work. But if you're hiring someone who loves doing that particular task, then you know, leave them on. Let them do it. Coach them, teach them, guide them, but let them put their own spin on. And that was difficult because then the business that I've been in all these years as a rugged individual. You know, rugged, rugged, you got to do it. I did it. I did it. You know, the theme to that is Frank Sinatra song. I did it my way. You might have done it your way, Frank, but you sure as hell had a band supporting you. You didn't just sing by yourself, right?
Steve: He had a band. He had piano movers. He had roadies setting things up. I mean, there's a whole enterprise behind that. And that's the point. I think, to do anything significant. You have to build a team of people around you who believe in your mission who are enrolled in that mission. Want to want to come along with you. Almost like it's an adventure, you know.
John: Well, there's a book written that I forget who wrote it, but it's called Cooperation Versus Competition. You know, why not find ways to find ways to cooperate, instead of, in our society right now. And our politicians in Washington, would certainly learn from that. Why you got to fight about every damn thing. Why can't we just lock the doors and say, you know what, we have real issues here. Let's list them all. We can't list them all. Why don't we list about three or four that are most important, attack those and get them done, and not worry about who gets credit, and quit blaming each other.
And let's just say you know what our job is to serve the American people. Our job is to serve our clientele, whoever it is you choose to serve. I've had people say I don't serve anybody. I say well I feel sorry for you, then. You have a miserable life. They go, what? Well, if your attitude is the whole world is serving you, you must be one miserable dude, or dudette. Because you're not gonna be happy. Because we're built to serve. I get on my soapbox a little bit. Right? I think I'll shut up while I while I'm ahead.
Steve: I'm sure I'm sure. Well, I think the key, the key in all of this is to understand what kind of game you're playing. You know, for me, the people, the people who tend to shy away from building a team there, they tend to think that for whatever reason, they can't. Either they can't find people who will do it good enough, or they can't afford to do it. I know you and I both share this, this belief. Every time I've I've added somebody to the team. My my income has multiplied, you know, but you have to understand the game that you're playing. So you mentioned politics.
Politics is zero sum game. So you either win the seat. Win the election or you don't, right. You can't have two two winners of the election. Right? Right. That's right, at least at least if it's done correctly, so. But business isn't like that, and most of the rest of life isn't like that. You know, business is never a zero sum game. There are there's infinite opportunity. And so as a result, you don't have to play it like that. You can create a team you can go out there and you can you can find these ways to not only help a lot of people but but also give folks a lot of opportunity to grow. And and grow yourself in the process.
John: There was a great advertisement, I forget now what they were promoting, but it was Arnold Palmer's voice. I think it was just promoting the game of golf. But they he showed he had the most awkward swing in the world. People said he'll never make it as a pro. And he the whole thing is this voice so nice in the background, play your game. Play your swing. And we're so caught up. I was first third of my career, you know, I got to be like this one. I got to be like this person, like this person. And finally, one day it dawned on me, you know what? Just be yourself. John. Be yourself. Play your game. And I've used the analogy many times. You probably remember it. You know, I like football. I played football in high school. You know, so we're playing football here. If you show up wearing your tennis shorts and your tennis racquet, you're probably gonna get hurt, because we got pads on and we're gonna be smacking the heck out of you.
And you're not gonna like that. Likewise, if you get me on the tennis court, you're gonna run me to death and probably kill them in about five minutes because you're going to run me to death. So, but you're right, it goes back to knowing what you want. Okay, what game do you want to play with your life? Because you got so damn many people who are quick to tell you how you should think. What you should do. How you, where you said live, how you should dress and you know what? Be yourself and go for it. And you will attract more people to you, that respect you. But you may you will repel some, you will repel some, because they won't like you. They won't like what you stand for. And that's okay. And I'm at peace with that.
Steve: Yeah, well, I don't like using the word should, but I will use it in this case. I do think those who are listening, particularly the entrepreneurs, you should be thinking about how do I build a team? How do I find the people who will support me in what I want to accomplish. And I think, really, in all areas of life. I mean, we've talked about, you know, building the team to mow the grass and building the team to remodel your house. And, you know, the the metaphor works in a lot of different ways.
But because you've been able to do that just to kind of put a bow on everything here for us. Because you've been able to do that you accomplished a great deal. Even while you were fairly incapacitated, and going through this healing process. Not only in business, but in other areas of your life. Because you enlisted people in that mission. You attracted the people in that team that you needed to support you. And you were able to keep moving things forward in ways that you couldn't have done by yourself.
John: Sometimes the best thoughts are spontaneous. I just had this thought. I just took a $100 bill out of my wallet. See what you really want to do is get to the point of where you're trading some money for other people's time. Because now they need the money, and you need their time. So what you're doing is you're exchanging. And sometimes it's a matter of exchanging time for another person's time. I've had people ask me about our relationship, Steve. Why in the world would you spend most of a Friday that's a free day with John Curry or with Steve Gordon?
And our answer is the same every time, folks. Because we're getting so much value by growing and learning from each other. Steve challenges me on things. I challenge him on things. Sometimes we'll do what, the other day he called me said I need five minutes. Can you question and answer me? And I challenged him on something. He goes, whoo, you're right. Let me work on it. Then there's other times he was like, well, no, thank you. I'm gonna do it my way.
Steve: I reserve the right to disagree.
John: And I reserve the right to be wrong, too.
Steve: All right, my friend. Well, this has been a great series. I will just tell you personally, I'm so glad we're getting to do this again. It's been about six months since we recorded a joint episode like this together. You've been through a hell of a lot. I'm glad you're back
John: I'm especially glad to be here.
Steve: I'm sure you are. But I, I'm privileged to have been able to watch from the outside.
John: I want to say this out loud big thank you and appreciation to April, Jay, Audie and Zac. I know you'll be listening to this at some point. I appreciate you so much. I love you guys. Thank you for allowing me the ability to heal up and and not kicking me out totally. Letting me come back in and work some. Love you guys. All right.
Steve: All right. Well, folks with that, I hope these episodes have been beneficial. I hope you've you've learned something we wanted to share some of the the lessons and observations that I took from you know, walking next to John through this journey of challenge and adversity and healing that he's been through and then now growth because I do think there's a lot to learn. So hopefully you've gained something out of it. And my friend, we're at the end of our three episodes and it's time to meet, get some lunch and have a glass of bourbon. So I'll see you there.
John: All right my friend. Bye folks.
Voiceover: If you'd like to know more about John Curry's services, you can request a complimentary information package by visiting johnhcurry.com/podcast again that is johnhcurry.com/podcast or you can call his office at 850-562-3000 again that is 850-562-3000. John H Curry chartered life underwriter, chartered financial consultant, accredited estate planner, masters in science and financial services, certified in long term care, registered representative and financial advisor Park Avenue Securities LLC. Securities, products and services and advisory services are offered through Park Avenue securities a registered broker dealer and investment advisor. Park Avenue Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian, North Florida Financial Corporation is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Park Avenue securities. Park Avenue Securities is a member of FINRA and SIPC. This material is intended for general public use by providing this material we are not undertaking to provide investment advice or any specific individual or situation or to otherwise act in a fiduciary capacity. Please contact one of our financial professionals for guidance and information specific to your individual situation. All investments contain risk and may lose value. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Guardian, its subsidiaries, agents or employees do not provide legal tax or accounting advice. Please consult with your attorney, accountant and/or tax advisor for advice concerning your particular circumstances. Not affiliated with the Florida Retirement System. The Living Balance Sheet and the Living Balance Sheet logo are registered service marks of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America New York, New York Copyright 2005 to 2020. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Guest speakers and their firms are not affiliated with or endorsed by Park Avenue Securities or Guardian and opinions stated are their own.
2021-124369 Expires August 2023