Ep38 Jake Jordan - Developing a Community to Grow Your Business

Today on the show Today on the show, Strategy + Action = The Power of Community in Business.

Welcome to strategy and action. Today we're talking community with Jake Jordan. I am so excited to bring this episode to you, good buddy of mine. And I was thrilled to come across this article the other day that he wrote on LinkedIn and have just half an excuse to bring him on the show. Because there's 100 things I can talk to Jake about and we usually do when we get together. So I really wanted to talk to him today around this concept of community when it comes to building your business. And, you know, not just the aspect of oh, here's how that could help. But actually how critical it is, when you're building a business, you know that the networking groups and, you know, kind of growing your business that way, that's one concept. And that's a different animal than what we're getting into today. What we're talking about today is having that core group who can help you level up and really dig into things that either you're having an issue with, or you don't even know is an issue, but can be pointed out to you or you can see and others and see where you're struggling and, and really have that accountability. So we dig into that and some other amazing things that Jake has going on. Really great episode. So let's jump in. 

Everybody, welcome to the show. Jake Jordan, how's it going, my friend?

And it's going great. I'm on with Croft.

That's how I'm gonna answer my phone from now on:  "You're on with Croft."

Yes, love it.

That's great. I'm so glad you jumped in with us. And for everybody watching, Jake and I've known each other for a few years now back. I think I've said this a few times on the show a month of you know, back in my Dallas days back in my DFW days there in Grapevine specifically. And you know, we've had some some just great connection talk, hey, what's going on, like, deep dive like we have before we press record here to just catching up and so much fun. So I think it's always great when there's, you know, a similar mindset, and approach to business and life and all of that. And I really wanted to have Jake on the show today because specifically about a LinkedIn article that he posted around, specifically community. And, Jake, I'd love for you to do a quick little recap of that. And I want to dig into a lot of stuff that you got going on, but including the you know, the other two C's that were mentioned in there. And, you know, I wanted to have you on because I think this is just such a strong, amazing topic of, you know, building community for your business.

Absolutely. Well, man, thanks for having me on. You know, I'm a fanboy of Jason Croft. I've always loved the stuff that you do. So I appreciate you having me on. Yeah, so the article that I have a newsletter on LinkedIn. And if you're not doing that you should consider if you're a writer at all, I have literally gained business from it, the way that you dream about it. When you're an entrepreneur, when you're like, I'm just gonna write some things, and people are gonna show up in handy money like that the only times in my life that that's really ever happened even close to that is from my new LinkedIn newsletter.

Wow. That's great feedback. Yeah. And it's impact over attention is the name of it, right?

It's called impact over attention. It's basically how to get out of your head. And that was all your own head trash, screw up the impact you're trying to have on your business in your in your career. So that's what the newsletters are about. But what I was talking about, like you said, the three C's is I have found over much failure and lots of mentorship that, you know, if you are not locked in and clear about what you're doing as far as C, and then committed or consistent, you gotta keep showing up, keep showing up, keep showing up. Keep showing up. And then the last one that you mentioned, was community because you can be clear and you can keep showing up and somebody's not doing things right. So you got to have people around you that really loves you support you want the best for you challenge you all those great things that come into community and it comes in so many shapes and sizes in our lives and particularly business. I just thought you know what, I'm gonna write about it. I'm gonna talk a little bit more about my experience. So yeah, and I think

what's what's caught me too I mean, yes, the concept around it. And the emphasis you put on the importance, yes, is there but what caught me also, is that it was a reminder that some people don't think about this in business. And when you're someone who, you know, goes to other people for help hat is involved in those coaching programs, we forget really quickly, that it's second nature for us that we, of course, I would go get help here, here and here. Right. And it's, there's a lot of things like that, if you're involved in personal development, you get down that road, and you forget, other people have never heard some of these concepts. Right. And, and that was the other piece of this, why I really wanted to dig in to this as well is, Hey, you don't have to do this alone. Right? And not only that, but you should, like it's actually that's hurting your business. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. To your point I made, the point I made was that you shouldn't, that it's actually ridiculous that you should try to do all this on your own, because you don't do anything else in your life that way. And if you do, you're probably miserable. I mean, to be honest, right? Because I mean, even coming back up COVID pandemic stuff, there were so many people who were just not feeling good, because they weren't around people. And that's not even what we're talking about. Really, here. That's just the beginning of it being around people. So yeah, I mean, I mean, to, to your point, and not to put too sharp tip on is, if you haven't been in this world, you may not necessarily go oh, I need to find a new community, you may be going to a BNI networking group and thinking, I'm way ahead of everybody else, I'm in this BNI group, and this is this is a great group, and you know, they they've got stuff going on there that they can do. But really what I'm talking about is more from like a, like how Rogers do it, or how athletes do it, or how anybody who is a specialist in something typically has a group that they go to, to sharpen the saw, if you will, and they go sit down with these people, and they know that it's safe, that's the first part of it, they don't save. And then they also know that they are understood, like the people around them are doing the same kinds of things that they are. And then number three, they are willing to share and give, give and take in these groups. So that when you leave, something's changed in either about your business or in your own head. And there's a there's a new approach, or at least a new task that you're going to take with you every time. And that's that's the road that I started to hidden down when I jumped back into entrepreneurship four years ago, full time after I'd gotten the corporate side for a while. I just forgotten how important that was, and learned very quickly that I needed it. And most of us do, I think.

Yeah, and that's, that's a great distinction, too, because we're we're not having a conversation about networking. Right, just as important. Critical, awesome, amazing. Again, like the BNI side, whatever version of that is for you. But this is this is the nitty gritty, right, like this is getting getting in a room. So you can specifically talk about challenges, opportunities, structure, all of that. And I think, I think finding that right group, and I definitely want to get into that of some some tips there of like, what's one of those first steps for somebody who hasn't been doing this. But also, that distinction of finding the right group, sometimes that's trial and error and digging in? A lot of them or you can find online versions and coaching programs and things like that. You also want to make sure that the the gap isn't too large, either you want to learn from somebody who's ahead of you, right, but the billionaire may not have the right, you know, concepts and right. Hey, I just did this. So you should try this kind of advice. If you're under you know, $100,000 a year. Right, right.

Right, exactly. I think that's mentorship. You know, there are particulars, iOS one a good example, a CEO will only take you entrepreneurs. Organization, I think it's what it is often organization, EO, it's a big one nationally. But they won't take you unless you're making a million a year. And they only put their groups a certain size. And you have to be in a specific stage. And they have staged development, things like that. So that's a great example of understanding your audience. But to your point, you know, like the idea of a business community, and you'll hear them called masterminds, you'll hear them call accountability groups, all sorts of things. They're not that common. And so to your point, when you're going, how do I find one? Unfortunately, there aren't just a whole lot of them out there necessarily. They do exist, don't get me wrong, but they can be a little hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for. And number two, there's always the marketing side of it. Some people just don't know how to market themselves, so they may be a group for you. And they just aren't saying it well. So the way I have always found to find these groups is either starve them yourself, you know, just to go, Hey, let's get five people together, and let's just hash it out for 90 days or six months or something. We did that last year online. And then knowing the kind of the keywords to look for is that kind of accountability, mastermind productivity, effectiveness, those kind of words that around a group, and then looking at what they're actually doing, when you show up. So I think it's great to know going in how much of a group to really keep me accountable and to be able to share some things who are like me, and then know, when you get there, what you're looking for, it's almost like dating, right? Like, you go, I don't want this, I don't want this. I don't want this. And I do want this on the first day. I'm looking right. Yeah, I do

have those non negotiables. That part of it? And in the beginning, you know, I totally understand, you know, certainly just putting out feelers, right, like, Man, I don't really know. And sometimes it'll take two or three, you know, encounters of some kind that's like, oh, I don't need this. And this is like, all they're focused on whatever that might be in. And then even getting down into that self awareness to know, you know, some people could care less about accountability. Some people, I think, I think it's better for the majority, whether you think you need it or not, like, I would lean to that side, I would err on that side. But some people are just like, I just need advice on this, this rock and roll like, you don't have to ask me again, I'm gonna do it. You know? I, you know, I think there's always some, if there's some built in just a little bit of accountability, it's just pushes us a little bit, a little bit more. And never hurts. Yeah. And then, you know, and then I guess, to keep people from, you know, just shelling out a bunch of dough in the beginning on maybe an online coaching program that has a community around it, and things like that. What, what are those? How do you dip your toe around that area?

Yeah, so I think you make a good point, right, is there are a lot of coaching programs that have accountability built in, or that have, like a mastermind group to to a charge, or something like that, right. And I have found that a fair amount of them are not very good in that they don't actually accomplish what the group is supposed to accomplish, it's more like an upgrade with more time with the people, not an actual. So to really go back to the three C's, right? know very clearly what the group's stated wants to do. And if it's consistently provide that, like, that's, that's where I go back to, and if you've been in Facebook groups, or discord, you know, servers or slack or any of those things like that, you know, there's all sorts of places you can get in groups these days. So that's, that's another tip is there are directories for slack and for discord, and for all those different things that you can go look, look at their description, look at, see if they're really pointing out, Hey, we're here to accomplish X, Y, and Z. And it's how we do it. Because there are a lot of good, I've found discord in Slack channels that are very niched to it, I think it's a lot harder to find something just locally that you can go show up, you know, someone hangs a shingle doing this, it's much, much, much more likely to find it online, and then transfer it in person, if you want. In my experience, then they go find one and be like, Hey, we stay online, guys, because everyone's just so digitally driven these days. Where are they doing nothing at all?

Right. Yeah, that's a good point. And I know, I know, you've got a big initiative kind of going, you're deep in this right? There at that at that local level? You know, fill everybody in to on exactly what you've gotten going. And I definitely want to talk about what you're building there in Fort Worth.

Yeah, yeah. So unfortunately, you're not in Fort Worth, you don't get to take advantage. But you can certainly hopefully observe and see some things and you know, reach out if you if you want to try this in your city, we're always looking for partners and collaborators and stuff or stuff like this, right? But we want to be an accelerator of sort, because why not replace maybe the Chamber of Commerce a little bit and go, if you're a business, and you've got an idea that's working, you've been around that that's good. I mean, you've made it past startup phase, and you've got a legitimate business. But a lot of people get stuck there, and they just don't grow. It's like, what's next? How do I hire? Well, how do I scale? How do I get programs in place that that are really taking me from, you know, a million to five or two to 10. And that's what we're building is basically it gets stuff done group or however else you want to take that acronym, a GSD group that will you show up, we put you with four or five, six people who are kind of in your season of business life, same amount of money, maybe same amount of employees or something close, just like Jason said, you know, they they're struggling the same things as you. And then we have business coaches who facilitate those groups. And we just take every month, sometimes twice a month, depending on the groups, right. Everyone sits down and gets on the hot seat talks about what they're working on and we help each other out and that way When you lead, you have something, either new concept or a new task, or maybe a new product or service, sometimes that comes out of that. It that's it, we want to get stuff done. And we want to we business coaches who've been in for years to make sure you're going in the right direction. And my favorite thing about it is it's agnostic, it doesn't matter what you bring, doesn't matter what process you're using a program we're using, there's a lot of great, great programs out there, for all sorts of areas of business, we just want to help you get them done, and execute and grow. So yeah, that's why we're doing that locally, here in Fort Worth, with a forward flavor, that's what worth is kind of still the West, we're very handshake and cowboy buckle in ways, you know, we don't all ride horses, but you know, we still kind of have some of that mentality. And so we love getting together and patting each other on the back and that sort of thing. So you can't quite do that online, you can accomplish a whole lot online, but you don't get that that same energy, necessarily. So that's, that's what we're doing there. Last year actually did an accountability group with kind of some similar bones to it online, on the discord channel, and it was, it was fantastic is one of my favorite things I've ever done. Because we had 10 people, and we had video calls every Friday, and everyone was just getting stuff done. And people's businesses were growing. And it was, it was just an accountability group to say, tell us what you're doing. And why didn't you do it? How can we help? You know? So yeah, that kind of helped spurred this on.

Yeah, that's great. Now, I love that structure to have your your run folks, you know, your same kind of areas with that business coach that business. And that's really your specialty of courses, as a business coach, helping folks and having those those things in place. Because if I think that's the missing piece, a lot of times with maybe, even if you do have somewhat of a community, you know, three or four of your buddies, your friends, whatever, I'm trying to do something, even if it's, you know, if it's fitness, if it's business, anything, if you're all at the same level, and in the same sort of zone, well, then it's easier to go, I guess, you know, I don't really have we don't need to meet this week, or that, you know, like, it's, there's really this is just, we shouldn't be struggling here. Because this is, you know, we're all struggling. So it must be the thing, rather than somebody from the outside who's been there who's done, it has a little bit bigger perspective to go. Here's what you're doing, here's what all four of you are doing. Here's that limited part of you know, the mindset maybe, or whatever that is, plus the aspect of, you can always learn from other industries. And if you don't get around those, if you're forced into a group of four other folks who are in completely different industries, you're not going to get those those insights.

Yeah, I used to do these, kind of in my 20s. Back when I was in real estate, I wasn't a real estate investor, and, you know, flipped homes and rehab and stuff. And I had a mastermind group, it was all real estate investors, which is great, because we can learn from each other, they're in different cities or whatnot. And we eventually brought in some realtors. And we brought in some mortgage brokers, everybody and some financial planners and like just started growing, and I least found myself enjoying that more. Because it was just these fresh ideas that I never would have gotten to and you're not stuck in your industry box. The industry was great, don't get me wrong, you can definitely learn. But you know, what I have found with any group, whether it's online and in person, the unless you have someone even if it's not a business coach or like a professional at your stuff. Just having a third party facilitate helps it from becoming a social hour. And for booth becoming a bemoaning, you know, session where everyone's just talking about all that client that because God said it's so easy to go off on those rants, especially when you got people, lonely entrepreneurs around you all being lonely together. It's like, oh, yes, finally.

Yeah, someone I can talk. I can talk to my spouse about this. But yeah, finally I can. Yeah. And then there's, there's a place for all of that, too. But I think that's, that's another, you know, really sharp distinction there that that it sounds like you're building in is a just like in business, a process? A system? This is what we do week one, this is what we do this week. This is what we're covering that strong.

Yeah, yeah. Without structure, we're going, we're entrepreneurs, we're gonna go off path, we have to have structure. And so that's the important thing for me is, is when you show up, if you don't, if you're not clear on what you need, and you haven't been trying something, then we're probably not going to be a lot of help. We're just going to be supportive, encouraging, but we can't help you with your business. So that's kind of like the structure we have built in is like this is for serious people who want to get stuff done. And we're going to parties and we're going to hang out, we're going to enjoy each other's company, but not when you show up on Fridays at noon. That's it's go time. It's GSD.

Yeah, and so, yeah, I think that developing that structure to I mean, that is something that that people can model, you know, and you can

Both, I mean, someday I'd like it to be a franchise and cities, I'd love for people to be able to have this structure be able to take it and run with it. But yeah, you gotta start somewhere.

Oh, yeah. Well, and that's, that's the thing is it can I think there's, there's a, there's a piece and we've all experienced both sides of it, there's a piece there, that's, you know, it just makes a, it makes a big difference to be in that room. Right. There's advantages to the digital version. And I think there can be a digital version of this thing. Where we can have that, that in person. Part of it, there's something there.

Yeah. And we're actually doing an online version when we launch but it's still local people. And it's, you know, less often less money, exact same structure. But we're encouraging them to come in person. So if you can't make it, you can do this. But we want you here, because this is where the magic happens. But yeah, I mean, it's, once again, like, I've, you know, I'm getting to an age where I want to build things that I'm proud of not just build things, you know, build things to last. And so I probably in the past would have launched this as an online also, and just see who did it, but I really want to prove it up in a way that makes a lot of sense. And, you know, make it not bulletproof. But holy, like oppose all threat.

Right. Yeah, exactly. Well, this is this is, this is fantastic. I think it's such a critical aspect of things for somebody you know, wanting to jump in who will, with a local one definitely will dig into their in contact info for you, and all of that kind of stuff. But somebody sitting in the middle of Nebraska, wanting to do this, what would you suggest for them to kind of take that first step?

Probably two things. First off, would be fulfilled for you contact me, I'm happy to share, Jason knows, I'm all about collaboration and helping others. So if you have questions, and you want to start a group, reach out to me, I'm happy to share what's works, what doesn't work, you know, give you a little bit of my time. But the second thing I would say is, jump out and do one, take three, three people with a simple structure like that, you can just rely on this back and here, you know, like, you want to set it up with a structure, and you want to make sure that everyone shows up, and you want to make sure that the time is used well, and it's about what did you do? And how can we help you do it better, if you just want to start a meeting like that, that I mean, that that 1% Navy SEAL mentality works here, in 10x, honestly, because if you just do that, for 90 days, and show up maybe twice a month, you have six meetings that are wholly focused on one specific business problem, when you have a couple of people helping you that were in the same mindset, you can move mountains, you look at this, and you feel like Hercules man, you're like, geez, I'm a Business Giant was going on here, you know, like, when all you've done is really just accomplished a goal that you've been probably working hard around for six months, just there is leverage

available. And, and when you combine the accountability aspect with hearing somebody else, because we all experience it, right? It's so much easier to see what somebody else needs to do. It's so clearly than it is for ourselves, whatever that is. And when you can say that out loud for somebody else, and they can do that for you that exchange, but also just that process of, of doing that, and that confidence that it gives you to go. Okay, I kind of do know what I'm talking about here. It gets you out of that mindset, but then you also sit there and go like, Oh, yeah, I need to do that, too. I'm doing the exact same thing. That's, that's huge.

Well, and I've also found that, you know, whether you because I'm a very self motivated person, and I really love productivity, and hacks and all that sort of stuff like that. But that, you know, not everyone's like me, I understand that they need someone to give them structure, but it doesn't matter what side of the fence you're on. You always lie to yourself the most. You're always like, Oh, I did that. And you're like you did it. 60% like I did that good. Yeah. Like, no, if someone else looked at that, they go, Yeah, but what about the other 40%? And you will call yourself on that sometimes. So to me, just, it doesn't have to be like a specific, like, accountability hardcore group. They'll just go. Ah, you know, and he'd be like, what? You know, it just gives you that extra layer of when you're performing out in front of others. Yeah. You tend to put your game face on? Yeah. Yeah, that's a

that's a great point. I want to dig in real quick before before we wrap this up. It's just this has been huge. I want to go into this entirely different endeavor you have going to, which still taps into this idea of community and what we're talking about here, but but walk me through the cork side of things here.

Yeah. So I'm a partner in a group called core group both. And we have a history of like an ad agency. So we've got people doing marketing things, and systems and programs and all that sort of stuff. And last year, we actually converted full time to help nonprofits, help donors or find donors, because our heart is around that. And it's something that James, the founder of, of cork really, really has a heart for. And so what we ended up doing was taking all the learnings from the marketing side and the ad agency side and all that and said, How can we package this up as simple as possible, is just easy to portable. For these nonprofits turn around and go, Hey, I've got all these people that I've talked to who've given me money, who I've partnered with in the past, who are sitting there who, it's okay for me to reach out to them, they've given me permission to talk to them, and they've maybe probably even given money, how do we reward those? How do we create campaigns around your current network, because that tends to be a big hurdle for people, when they're asking for money is asking new people for money, when you ask previous people for money, and that's hard. So we started with that idea. And, you know, got my first few clients and really, you know, tweaked the system and feeling really good about it. And then this idea came from some research we heard and some things like that, that, you know, people will give money to, to nonprofits, even if they don't know it's going to a nonprofit, if you give them something, now, you know, like, so, for example, what we're working on is a sweepstakes where we give away a car. And you know, no big deal. And but if I can put a raffle ticket in there with a Bronco, you know, that you can't get oh, and it benefits a nonprofit when you do this. Okay, I'll give, I'll give $5 more, because I want that Bronco. So we just, you know, human nature, people want things. And if you can give that to them in a way that it's really easy. And then take the money and give it to a nonprofit to something that's kind of the thing that we're working on. We're launching, and helping to help at a ton of nonprofits in the future with that model, and, of course, our standard campaign model stuff, too, as well.

That's awesome. And yeah, and it's pretty buddy, who's listened to a few episodes of this show, you'll you'll know that one of my favorite things in the world of combining business, making money, all those concepts, everything there and doing good. And I am polar opposite of anybody who thinks those two things can't go together, you know. And I just think, you know, bringing those those things together are huge. And so when you take those marketing concepts that people do feel that way, like, push them away, instead, you bring that in, you deal with human nature, you can have a six hour discussion if you'd like to about should or shouldn't, people should donate without having to have whatever, or you can get to work helping these nonprofits and helping these amazing organizations. And I love that that concept of that's, that's where you're going with it.

Yeah, money is money. And, and nonprofits need it. So as long as we're not, you know, doing anything illegal, or gaining it at a non, you know, and then nefarious way. I mean, I'm all for bringing the money. Yeah,

that's strong. Yeah, I love that I love and I honestly, I think, you know, I think I don't have a whole, you know, as you get a whole episode on just just that and what you found, I know, you're about to head into your first kind of sweepstakes version, and you've been helping folks in this other way. But I'd love to have you back on and just dig into that results that you've seen all the

ways I screwed up the first one, and then we can maybe somebody can learn right?

There you go. More community? That's right. Awesome. So how do people reach out and talk to you and ask you about, you know, forming their own group? Or if they're, they're local to you and getting involved in that one? Yeah, so

the Local Group is successful worth.com. And you spell that out fo RT to be rth successful work, duck calm. And then if you just want to reach out to me, I'm an impact over attention.com. And, you know, LinkedIn is where you're gonna find me, that's where I spend 98% of my social time. And so if you just wanna reach out, talk about some things, check out my newsletter and LinkedIn got impacted retention.com Get a successful work.com any of those ways. I will respond.

Perfect. Awesome. Thanks so much for being on this. This has been fantastic. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. And we'll see you all next time.

Thanks so much for tuning in and being a part of the show. If you ever need help building out custom strategies for your business or deciding what actions to take Next, head over to media leads co.com And let's connect. I'll talk to you soon on the next strategy and action.