“Everybody wins when a leader decides to intentionally grow every single day.” Alex Judd is the founder of Path For Growth, a former host of the number one business podcast in America, Entre Leadership, and a former Entre Leadership Coach with Ramsey Solutions. Listen in this episode as Alex shares a vast amount of knowledge and wisdom in building a successful business.
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Building Your Business As An Asset So It Can Be Sold With Alex Judd
I’m excited to bring on our next guest. He is the founder of Path For Growth. He’s also the former host of the number one business podcast in America, Entre Leadership. He’s also a former Entre leadership coach with Ramsey Solutions. And he’s going to talk about his journey to his new company right now. And he’s gonna share with us a bunch of wisdom. So get ready to dig in here with Alex Judd. Hey, Alex, welcome to the show.
Brett. Thanks so much for having me on. I’m pumped about this man.
Hey, so there are two things I really liked about you, Alex, one from the great state of Texas, to your business and growth and then I guess the third one be. Now you’re in Tennessee, right, which is also a beautiful place for music and for everything. I think a lot of Californians are heading that way due to the high capital gains taxes. So if you had to choose between Tennessee, and Texas, Alex, I mean, what do you choose? And why?
Man, that is an incredibly difficult question. That’s a pretty relevant question for me right now, too. Here’s my thought: I grew up in Texas. And one of the things that I learned is that you don’t realize how much you love Texas until you leave Texas and then you realize how special it is. My thought is that eventually, the state of Texas will eventually absorb the entire eastern side of the United States. So I don’t think I’m going to have to move from Tennessee, I think Texas is just going to kind of incorporate Tennessee eventually.
It does have that kind of reach, I can see that for sure. As a California person. We love the state of Texas. My wife watches that Joanna Gaines and, I forgot his name. But they chip his name and she’s like when he texted me. I don’t know. I mean, I know people in Texas, but we were all famous in California. But we’re actually going to be visiting Dallas coming up here in August. I’m excited about that. But that being said enough about all that stuff. Let’s dive in a little about you, Alex. So tell us a little bit about your story and your current focus.
Yeah, a little bit of my story. I, gosh, I’ve been passionate about two things, effective communication and leadership for almost as long as I can remember. Like, literally, I remember in second grade, my mom was folding laundry, and I looked at her and she remembers this too. And I told her, I don’t think I want to be a motivational speaker one day, but I think it would be really cool to be a motivational teacher. And it’s like, excuse me, like Who says that? Like, where does that come from? But I think I had this thing in me that I always respected and admired, effective communication. And then moving forward out of that I started to realize that the thing I enjoyed communicating about the most was this topic of leadership because I just I absolutely believe because I’ve seen it happen whenever it works, right? And I’m seeing the consequences of it not going this way that Everybody wins when a leader decides to intentionally grow every single day. Click To Tweet I believe that at the core of my being and that was something that I took with me into college, and then outside of college I ended up working for this Leadership Development Group in orange, And that was associated with the church that I was going to. And as a member of that and in supporting and building that and also in helping a friend of mine build a startup I started listening to you already talked about I started listening to the Entre Leadership podcast every single Monday. And just love that podcast still does it is like they just do such a good job at Ramsey Solutions of bringing content that is both inspirational but also hyper practical and just makes you feel equipped and able. And so I was listening to it as a consumer. And literally, I remember where I was standing, I was on a run and I had hit a crosswalk where there was a red light. And I remember where I was standing when I thought to myself, man, Dave Ramsey’s company, that would be a cool place to work one day. And I always tell people, 14 interviews later working there and started in more of a sales-oriented role, and then stepped into a coaching role and then eventually got to step in as host of the podcast. And it’s just recently like, literally, within the past month, I’ve stepped out to start my own business and just kind of had this realization, I think I would spend my entire life wondering what would have happened if I didn’t start my own business and give it a shot. And that business is called Path For Growth. And I’m just so pumped with everything that’s already going on with that, but also the plans that our team has for the future.
Amazing, the story of a journey of an entrepreneur, right. And as a business owner now of yourself, and then helping the business owner, we’re going to tie we’re gonna jump into some of those practical things here in a minute. But I’m curious Alex, we mentioned Texas growing up. I also think about when I was growing up, and I think most of you know, friends and family, I think we all, in fact, are given certain gifts in this life, you know, certain, you know, I believe God-given gifts are used to bless others, right? And you mentioned that quick story about you wanting to be a teacher of motivation. But beyond all that, what is the gift you know, Alex, that you believe you are given and connect how that helps how you help people today?
Building Assets: You dont build a business, you build people and then people build the business.
My personal mission statement is to glorify God by using the gifts he’s given me. And whenever I say gifts, he’s given me what I always think in, in my head is in parentheses, effective communication, and leadership, to inspire understanding, action, purpose, and faith in others. And so that’s why I say that to myself every morning, that’s why I get out of bed every morning is because I am on that mission. That’s what makes it all worth it. And so when you ask the question about what gifts are like, I am just deeply, deeply passionate, not about talking, I’m passionate about communicating. Because we’ve all heard that line, right? an educator takes the simple and makes it complex. A communicator takes the complex and makes it simple. And I just see so often and it just drives me so freakin crazy how people feel unequipped and unable to start or grow their business. Because some person that thinks they’re too smart for everyone takes the simple and they make it complex. And they put all these $10 words on it. And they use all this jargon, and they make you feel like you need to have a Ph.D. just to understand how to build a business. And I like saying, like, we don’t have to use all the jargon, we don’t have to have a Ph.D., The price of admission to starting a business is grit, hustle, and resiliency, that's what you need. Click To Tweet And if you’ve got that, then I believe, you know, to use Marie Forleo his line, everything is figure-outable and it’s going to be bumpy, we’re gonna fail, we’re gonna mess up, but we’re gonna figure it out. And so that’s one of the things that I’m hyper passionate about is communication. But then I think the second thing is leadership. And I think it was just one of those things like in the cold sack growing up. Like, I’d say it’s God-given because I didn’t do anything to earn this right. And like my parents look at and they’re like, Where did this come from? We don’t really know. Like, I would get like, massive groups of people rallied around projects or games or tasks in the coldest sack. And it’s like, it was just this thing that it was just what I did, right. And it’s totally a gift from God. And it’s a gift that I’m trying to utilize now in this current season. Just to say let’s cast a compelling vision. Let’s Marshal Vanessa’s story route, let’s Marshal the necessary resources. And then let’s get all the right people on the bus to go on that ride together.
Absolutely, love it. So the grid hustle and resiliency, I think of the 8020 part of it. Where are you know, Mr. Dave Ramsey says it’s 80% emotional, right, and behavioral and 20% head knowledge. And I think the same would apply. Would you agree that you know, a lot of us business in building the 80% of the grit, hustle, and resilience that’s the 80% of that emotional type of thing. And then the 20% is how to build a business and the tactics and the strategies right, but walk us through just the I guess the moment you realize that and or be what’s the biggest misconception between the two?
Hmm, I love that question. And whenever I arrived at Entre Leadership, so Entre Leadership exists to help the small business owner win, right? That’s why Entre Leadership exists as a part of Dave Ramsey’s company. And I had this misconception in my head four years ago, whenever I arrived at Entre Leadership that I saw that there was a gap between the people who fail whenever it comes to working on the business, and people that succeed. And whenever I came in, I saw that gap, that gap was so clear, there’s a difference between people that fail and people that succeed. And I thought that the difference between those that fail and those that succeed with information, I thought that these people just had the right information. And these people didn’t. And it took about six months of observation for me to realize that the gap between the people that fail whenever it comes to working on the business, and those that succeed has nothing to do with the information. We live in the age of information, you can find everything you need on your bookshelf, if you can’t find it on your bookshelf, there’s this thing called Google that has every answer you need, right. So the difference between, those that fail, and those that succeed, wasn’t having the right information. The difference was that the people that we’re succeeding, whenever it came to moving their business forward and actually enjoying doing it, it was those people who had, number one, a clear vision for where they were going. And number two, they had a plan for consistently executing on the things that matter most over an extended period of time. And what I’ve learned is that so often myself, but also the leaders that I coincide with every day now, so often, we suck at creating a plan for consistently executing on the things that matter most over an extended period of time. But what’s crazy is we all want it, we all want that plan to follow. And that’s honestly, that’s why I created “Path For Growth” is because I’m sharing from what I’ve learned, working with some of our nation’s top leaders on the Entre Leadership podcast, working for Dave Ramsey, and now building my own business. I’m saying like, what is the path that we can follow to create that plan?
Is so well said. And so I think applicable, especially for myself, and the business owners and entrepreneurs that I serve. And I get the sense that folks, you know, we know that right? And then we sit out on a plan. And I think the keyword you said there was consistently executing, right. And then there’s the part of, Okay, we got to delegate, you know, we got to hire the team members, we got to empower them, we gotta get out of the way. And then either you forget or get back into old habits, and you start to take control again. So there’s always these 2 big challenges, control and delegation, right. And they’re always kind of, you know, one or the other. And there’s also this sense of like, fear, and trust. And, you know, those are the other two, like fear, you know, your fears on the control side. And on the delegation side, it’s, you know, trust. And so walk us through, I guess that connection there, right, and then connect the consistency part of the plan.
Hmm, I love that question. It was about two weeks into starting this business. I’m very, very grateful that we launched with someone on one slots just for one on one path for growth coaching. And what was crazy is I just put out an informal, LinkedIn and Instagram post saying, hey, the formal launch is coming up. But we’re gonna open a couple of one on one slots. And what was crazy is within the first two weeks of that informal post, all of those slots were filled, I was like, holy cow, this thing’s gonna work. And I was like, really, really stoked about this. And I was so pumped because I love working one on one with people. And I love the difference that can make in the life of a leader and by extension, their team. But I was also simultaneously really bummed because I had this vision for what I was referring to, and still am referring to as growth groups. And I said, Man, how cool would it be kind of like the mastermind format, but really hyper intentional, right? We don’t want to create a Kumbaya circle, I want to create a monthly two meetings a month, where six people get in a room and they know that they know that they know that they know that the people they’re in the room with are smarter than themselves. And they know that in certain areas and that creates this I mean, just this incredible space for great discussion, great action, great accountability, great support. And I think I knew that was a need in the marketplace. And I said I just really want to create that. But I was bummed because I was like, I don’t think I’m gonna have that in time because of how fast the one on ones filled up. And I sat there and I thought, Okay, well, we could pump this thing six months, or what if I hired someone and what if I delegated that? And that idea, it’s fear, the word fears that you used. It’s exactly what I felt at that moment. I felt a lot of fear because I was like, Man, this is still my baby. And this is my two-week-old baby. And I’m already talking about delegating this thing, but then I thought to myself, okay, well what would have to be true and this is what it’s like, this is a question that is so crucial for entrepreneurs to ask themselves. Not Can we do that? Or can we not? That is a poorly formed question. It’s not Can we do that? Or can we not? It’s what would have to be true for us to do that successfully? Because that is a question that is rooted in belief and purpose. And so I sat back and I said, Well, for me, in order to grow the growth group successfully here today where I’m not doing it, what would have to be true. And I just thought to myself, well, I would have to find someone that I deeply trust to run them, I would have to make sure that person can’t be someone that I hired, that’s a stranger because like, I’m not going to be able to build a relationship with them fast enough to really, really feel good about it. It needs to be someone that’s really, really connected to the way that I like to think about business and leadership. And the path for growth is going to be teaching business and leadership. And it needs to be someone that is just absolutely world-class at working with people. So I listed all those things. And I thought to myself, man, there’s this entrepreneur that I know she’s, she’s one of the highest Caliber leaders I’ve ever met and ever gotten to work with. And I was like, I have dinner with her and her husband every Wednesday night, and we talk about business and leadership. And every Wednesday night, I get better. And I thought to myself, well, like, what if I delegated this to her? And so all that to say, the reason why I think this connects to your question, is we operate in fear, when we think about the unknown, right. And whenever I was thinking about growth groups in the hands of some random stranger, right, it was, it was super scary. And there was no way I was delegating it. But the minute I put pen to paper and said, what must be true to delegate this? Well, the next step became a lot more clear. And I’ll tell you what her name is Olivia, and she’s now our leader of growth groups, and she’s building it, she’s filled up her first group already, that was just a week ago, and she’s absolutely crushing it. And it’s just been so encouraging for me to realize you can let go of responsibility. And If you create the framework for great work to occur, it can go well. Click To Tweet, does that make sense?
It makes perfect sense. You know, I think of it as you know, you’re, you’re going to plant a tree, or you’re going to plant corn or whatever, you know, you got to lay the groundwork, you got to get it all in order, you got to have the plan. And then you have to have the farmer come in and start to make this thing grow into the water. And by the way, you’re right, we only have so much time and energy during the day. If we want to scale we’re gonna have to learn how to do this. And really well. So you said we operate in fear when we operate in the unknown, right? I think that’s natural, right? As humans, if we don’t understand something is unclear. Or if it’s brand new to us, our natural instinct is, to have fear to have a reservation, right, and it protects us. That’s the way we’re wired. But as soon as you can get the cloud out of the fog out of the way, get some clarity, right, because you know the solutions on the other side of that, and when you can kind of see the solution, but you still can’t quite know how to get there. So walk us through taking that cloud not far away. What’s maybe the one or two, you know, practical steps that a business owner or a high net worth individual listening to this podcast can do right now.
Hmm, I love that question. I just got off a call right before this conversation, Brett, where the guy was a hyper visionary leader, he was a hyper high performer, his team is absolutely crushing it right now. And he’s like, he’s exceeded the biggest revenue goal that he had, which is just awesome. Like it’s killer. And so he’s at this point now where he’s got these super ambiguous dreams of where he wants to be in the future. He’s got his like, long term dream of what he wants his life to look like at the end of his life. And then he knows, this is what we have to do right now. And everything in between what we have to do right now for the next 90 days, and the future is operating in that realm of the unknown. And so he’s really struggled because he’s being hyper intentional, right. One of the phrases, we always talk about working on the business versus working in the business, he’s being really intentional about carving out time to work on the business. But whenever he’s doing it, he’s like, what, like, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing, because I don’t necessarily have a crystal clear idea of what I’m driving towards. And I think that’s, that’s so important for high-performance high net worth individuals to understand. This was something that I learned from Henry cloud is he says that the hallmark, the hallmark of an effective individual, and an effective leader is that they will produce more than they can sustain without a shadow of a doubt. And so often we look at our unemployment or inability to sustain what we have produced as a weakness. And really, that’s just a sign that you’ve been effective. Congratulations, right? You did it, you produce one that you can sustain. Now you’re gonna have to figure out how to systemize that or operationalize that or delegate that or automated or some of the stuff you’re going to need to print into But but we will produce more than we can sustain. And that’s why it’s so crucial. The high performer and the leader will not get off track because of a lack of opportunity, but rather because of an abundance of it, the high performer or the leader will get off track because of an abundance of opportunity that will distract them from the vision that they’re chasing. And the only way you stay on course is if you’ve got a clear idea of where you’re actually going. And I’d be interested to hear from you the people that you work with all the time. A lot of times people never actually asked that question, Where are we actually going and put pen to paper to answer it?
Building Assets: Surround yourself with assets not liabilities
Absolutely. And or it just shifts and it changes and it adapts right, and like COVID-19 hits, and you’re going okay, so I had this thought, and I have this plan, and now everything’s flipped upside down. And so now I’ve got to shift, adapt, and start all over right or whatnot. So, yes, it’s, it’s needed more than ever, I think clarity, right. And if….
That’s the thing, that’s the thing that’s so crucial here, Brett, and I’m sorry to cut you off, I just think that this is so crucial. When we have a vision of where we’re going long term, like five years, 10 years from now, when we have that vision, and then a global pandemic that we could have never planned for happens in the present. It doesn’t mean that we shift the vision, it means that we shift the strategy, right, we have to absolutely pivot and change and modify and adapt how we’re going to get to where we’re going 10 years from now. But man, what is the line vision is immovable strategy is up for grabs. Mm-hmm.
I love that yes, Shift the strategy, not the vision Click To Tweet, right? Because of your conviction or where you’re going. It’s all it is. It’s correct. It’s there, continue to believe in that. But let’s shift to strategy. I’m reading a book right now. And it talks about this, this process of five things, right, you set goals, but then you’re going to have problems. But when you have those problems, the next step is to diagnose what happened, right? What went wrong, what could be done differently. And the next step is to design the next part of the strategy, right, you’re going to shift the strategy, and then you’re going to go just do that, right. And so it’s this constant motion of this, you know, you’re climbing upwards to the right, and then you’re dropping back down a little bit, then you’re climbing a little bit higher. But you know, you’re, you’re constantly growing, but you are shifting and you’re the key is, is, you know, defining what is the problem? What is the challenge? What is holding us back? Where did we go wrong, right? And then diagnose, you know, what could we have done differently? And then, what can we do differently moving forward? And then you just go ahead and just do that, and now execute that new strategy. So talk about, especially COVID-19. Now, establishing a new strategy, right? What are some things that you’re seeing the best leaders do right now to be innovative and changing their strategy?
I think it’s so fascinating, different businesses are being affected or being affected in different ways, obviously, and different businesses are being affected at different times. Right. So I work with a lot of businesses right now that are in the hospitality industry, or maybe they own a gym or something like that. And it’s like, they caught the blunt force trauma of this the minute it rolled out, right, because they, they had never planned for a zero revenue day. And suddenly, they had several zero revenue days. And it’s like, holy cow, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. And America just got collectively punched in the face. Right, or the world got collectively punched in the face. But then there are other businesses that it’s crazy because maybe they’ve even experienced an increase in businesses that their primary work is done in the outdoors. Lots of construction, lots of landscaping companies, lots of pet-oriented companies. It’s crazy. They’ve all seen a spike. It’s just a while but it’s like I think everyone’s realizing like, Oh, my dog has a limp. I think I should probably take him to the vet, like, probably. But so different businesses and different industries are experiencing this in different ways. And so it’s a little hard to prescribe, you want to know a little bit about a person’s situation. Here’s where I think most people are at right now. Most people are at a stage where their teams and certainly for themselves as a leader are a little bit experiencing the PTSD of everything we’ve been through for the past two months. And it’s just like blunt force trauma, holy cow, what just happened, we could have never expected that. Like this was not in our 2020 annual plan. It looked nothing like this. And I think the mistake would be for us to say we just need to make it through to 2020 and then we’ll plan in 2021. That is there. This is not the time for autopilot, right. This is not the time to abandon your leadership card and say we’re just going to ride this year out and then we’ll hit the accelerator. Whenever We hit 2021. Now more than ever, your teams, your community is starving and craving clear vision. And so when you have your feet under you, and you can see how your industry is being effective, and you feel like you have enough information with regard to what the next month or two is going to look like, it’s time to sit down and say, okay, between now and the end of the year, we get to December 31st, right, we get to New Year’s Eve, what does winning look like on December 31st? Well, when winning number one first bullet point is probably that our whole team is intact, right, and that we all still like each other, that’s probably pretty good. And then maybe we’ve got some revenue goals. And then maybe we’ve thought a little bit about how we’ve pivoted, and we’ve got some other supply lines or some other products that are going to diversify. So we don’t have to go through this again, maybe number four is that we’ve brought the revenue back up to where we were previously. And these are what we list about where we want to be on December 31st. Those are outcome-oriented. They’re not the actions that are going to get us there. Because whenever we list the outcomes of where we want to be, it’s amazing how you equip the people on your team to say, Well, I think I could do something to help out with that one. And I think I can fill in some of the holes on this one or what, it’s a powerful day when people start to ask the question, What if? What if we did this to get there on December 31st? That is why I’m so passionate about leadership because leadership sets its steps into a turbulent time into a crisis situation and just says, What would winning look like? And then what would have to be true to get there?
Wow, that’s a that’s worth a book in itself right there that you could certainly write tomorrow. Alex, that’s so much wisdom there. Now, let’s dive into your business. I’m curious, what does that look like for you know, the founder of Path For Growth? What is the Path For Growth? Walk us through some of those visions for equipping individuals not to be saying, you know what, Alex, I think I need or want executive coaching, you know, mastermind groups, a place to grow into with folks who are a step or two ahead of me, right? Or a little bit smarter than me in this area. How, what does it look like for an entrepreneur or business owner who’s listening to this podcast right now?
Yeah, it’s so much of what we’ve already talked about today. Similar to you, I love Donald Miller. And he talks about, you need to figure out the problem that your customer is trying to solve, what I see is that impact-driven leaders often fail, because they lack clarity of vision, or exactly what we said earlier, or a plan for consistently executing on the things that matter most over an extended period of time. And so the path for growth exists to provide people with that through kind of three avenues. We do one on one and group coaching, we do intensives, which are kind of roll up your sleeves, and we’re going to spend, I’m going to come to your office, or we’re going to do it virtually, I did a seven-hour intensive the other day where we did a seven-hour zoom call. And what’s crazy is by the time we finished, that person had the next three years of their business strategically planned out, it was awesome. And we did it because their executive team is so cool. So one on one and group coaching in intensives. And then we also do speaking and teaching and team training as well. And so people can get all the information about that on the website. And if they want to sign up for a consultation call with me, I just started the company. So if you sign up for a consultation call, I’m your guy. So I’d love to have a phone call with you. But that’s where we’re at right now, Brett,
Awesome, thanks for sharing that Path For Growth, and what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna throw a little curveball at you here. I know, we tell you we’re not gonna talk about wealth. But I am just curious, you know, Capital Gains Tax Solutions podcast, people have an exit plan, at some point selling a business or a real estate after they’ve done all these things to add again tremendous value to their team and to their customers. They drive these remedies and then they go to sell Alex. Now what you know, what have you found that the biggest mistake that business owners make? Maybe they’re not thinking about the plan. They’re not clarifying their, you know, their vision for their retirement or their exit plan, or even the capital gains tax that’s associated with it, right, you know, somewhere between 30 and 50% of the gain, depending on what state you live in how much depreciation recapture you’ve taken, is going to be wiped out. So let’s say you build a company to $10 million, it has a zero basis. That’s $4 million in tax or so at 40%. So what is your experience, if all, or what is your advice for anybody who’s facing an exit of their business as it pertains to capital gains tax?
Building Assets: If the opportunity doesnt know, build a door
I love that question. I have a great mentor of mine. His name is Brian Miles. He’s the founder of a company called Belay that provides virtual assistants for people around the country. They’ve got over 1000 virtual assistants now he also owns a Brewery Now and now they’re also starting a platform called Own Not Run. And one of the greatest lessons that he’s taught me is he said, Alex, You do not build your business as a lifestyle business, you do not build your business as a hobby, you build your business as an asset. And the thing that you need to understand about an asset is that an asset, not necessarily that you will sell it, but an asset can always be sold. And the reason why you build your business that way is because it’s the right thing to do. That was really, really influential advice for me. And I think sometimes we get caught up either it can be our own ego, it can even be really, really great aspirations for serving people exceptionally well leveraging our personality, or it can just be that we love the work so much that we just want our personality to be so entwined in all good things, right? But that we hamstring the business because we are so intertwined with the business. And if you are at a stage where you know, you want to move beyond, beyond your business one day, you want to sell your business one day or you want to have someone succeed you in the business one day, or you want to transition the business to someone someday, build your business as an asset. And then make sure you talk to Brett because he’s going to help you deal with the whole capital gains tax mess of getting out of it and making sure that you don’t give Uncle Sam more than he deserves, right. But like, I think that was just so crucial for me. And quite frankly, that’s why this is not called Alex Judd Incorporated, right? Because I want to build an asset and an asset is what I’ve used Path For Growth because I can sell a Path For Growth, not because I’m going to, I may never sell it because I love this too much right now, there’s no way you could offer me any amount of money, and I would never sell it right now. But because I think it’s the right thing to do for the future.
Hey, that makes perfect sense, right? It’s an asset. And so build, it’s like being a good steward of what you’ve been given, right? And so by being a good steward of what you’ve been given, and what you’re building, you should build it as an asset. So at the end in mind, you may or may not sell, but if you do, at least you built it in the right way. And I love that answer. And thank you for that. That being said, Are you ready for the lightning round? Alex? Lightning round?
I didn’t know the lightning round was going to happen. But I’m ready. Yes.
Hey, you ready? Are you ever gonna be? Alright, so knowing what you know. Now, Alex, if you could go back to your 25-year-old self? What’s the one Golden Nugget you would tell yourself to do?
Well, 25 years old was three years ago, I would tell 25-year-old Alex, Stop caring about what people think so much. And just focus on doing the next right thing. Click To Tweet
I love that. What is the one book you’ve recommended or gifted the most in the past yeah
The Second Mountain by David Brooks.
Why?
Man, that book, I measure the effectiveness of books based on how they impact the way that I act day in and day out. That book is entirely about this idea that we all go on this first mountain journey where we’re trying to build our resume, we’re trying to build our influence, we’re trying to build our wealth, these are all really good things. But if they become the main thing, it’s a really, really bad thing. And so inevitably, either by our own doing or by the doing of the world that we get plunged off that first mountain into this valley. And it’s there that we either have this choice, we can stay in the valley, we can reclaim the first mountain, just a different version of it. Or we can make this journey to the second mountain. And David says that the second mountain is less of a journey upward and more of a journey inward. And it is characterized by a series of powerful commitments about the type of person that we want to be for the world around us. That book changed my life. Brett,
I think that the last 30 seconds has changed my life. So thank you for sharing that Alex. I gotta get that book. Give me a digital or mobile resource you’ve recommended for your business.
A digital or mobile resource that I recommend for my businessman, this is hard because I just started my business. Let me think and quite frankly, tech is not where I’m most proficient. Honestly, I don’t know that it’s a digital resource, but I’ve experienced it entirely virtually. Belay is my friend Brian, it’s his company. They have virtual assistants and I’m getting on a rampage right now I’m getting on board with one of their virtual assistants. I have just been absolutely blown away by what you can accomplish virtually with someone assisting you. And like I have been able to increase the impact of Path for Growth in the first four weeks because of what they’ve been able to do virtually.
Love that Belay. I think it’s b-e-l-a-y
That’s correct. Yeah.
It’s a tough one for Alex because he was the former host of the Entre Leadership podcast, so he’s got a lot of leadership quotes.
Yeah, I think, honestly, the one that stands out just because we just talked about it is from David Brooks. It’s the way that he defines commitment. And he says that commitment is when we fall in love with something so much that we put structure and system around it for the moments when we no longer feel in love with it. And I think that applies to business. I think that applies. I’m not married. But I assume that applies to marriage. I know that it applies to friendships, I know that it applies to vocation. Again, commitment is when we fall in love with something so much that we put structure and system around it for the moments when we no longer feel in love with it.
Yeah, that’s worth the whole podcast right there everybody. And reminds me of a quote that, that I try to live by and it’s integrity is never owned, it’s only renting, the rent is due every day. Right. And I think it’s Rory Vaden. I think Rory got it from another, another leadership person that mentored him. But I get the idea that Yeah, commitment or commitment to your business or the values like it’s never owned like they’re due every single day. So what are you doing to put the systems, the resources, you know, the coaches, the masterminds, the accountability? What are you doing to keep those things going for what your heart was at where it was that when you first started, right? Rather than Yeah, we all fall out of the emotional high of certain things. Right. And so I love that. I love that quote, I’m gonna write that one down, too. Okay, so next question, Alex, what are you curious about right now?
What am I curious about right now, man, it’s actually more of an introspective thing right now, what I’m curious about is the effect of emotional intelligence on highly impactful leaders. So one of the things that I’ve recognized is, the more emotionally intelligent I’ve become because I’ve done work on it with a counselor and with myself, the harder leadership becomes, because it’s like, suddenly you become more aware of these things that are going on internally, but also in realizing what’s going on externally with people. And it’s just like, man, the more I realize, the more I know, the more I realize, I don’t know. And so I am just interested to know. And one of the things that I’m really curious about right now is for those people that I look at that are just like hallmarks of effectiveness, but also being emotionally intelligent, and being very, very aware of their own emotions and the emotions of others. How do they walk that balance? And how do they make sure they’re not sacrificing effectiveness because they’re drowning in emotions, but also aware of emotion so that they don’t sacrifice effectiveness?
Absolutely. I think about Henry Cloud. And like, every time I hear him talk, I read one of his books. I’m just like, man, the amount of wisdom, the amount of EQ, and the amount of just like how he connects, it makes it so clear and simple. I’m like, you know, his gift, right? I mean, talk about gifts. Love Henry cloud. Great. Last question. And then we’ll talk about folks where they can find you. So after all, your success, Alex, after your journey, you know, from Entre Leadership from Ramsey Solutions to path, Path For Growth, all the amazing people even over an interview, you know, all of your success, right? You’re the mountain that you climb right to 28 years old. Now, let’s call it that, right? How do you stay centered in your values? And then second, how do you stay encouraged to charge forward to reach new goals or that second mountain?
How do I stay centered in my values? I say them every morning, I have five core values. And I say to them every single morning: it’s I will relentlessly do the right thing. I will take ground every day, I will communicate and lead for God’s purposes, not my own, I will honor and respect authority. And I will love intentionally and actively the way I say centered on those as I say them every single morning when I wake up, and then I try my best to apply myself to exemplifying them with my wife. And then the second question was, how do I make sure I’m continuously moving forward? I think one of the things that I’ve learned and on the personal growth side, this is kind of a founding principle for the Path For Growth. One of the other things that I’m really passionate about is when people grow personally, their leadership expands as well, especially if it’s done for the right reasons, and is moving forward every single day. Lots of people think it’s about discipline.It's not about discipline, it's about habits. Discipline gets you started, habits keep you going. Click To Tweet Yes, you need discipline and willpower and grit and resilience to start something. But after a while, you should establish those things as a habit. And then you apply yourself to the right systems and routines and rhythms to make sure that you get the result you’re actually looking for.
Love that and you can find out how to actually apply everything we’ve been talking about by going to pass for growth and signing up for some coaching with Alex. With that being said, besides pathforgrowth.com, where else can folks find you?
Yeah, the Path For Growth is on all social media accounts if you want to follow us there again that’s me running it. So it’s a lot like following me on social media. I’m Chief everything officer right now. And then you can follow me on social media @juddontherun. It sounds a little bit like I’m a convict on the run, but I’m not. I just like running a lot. And so that’s where it’s at Java, moron.
Excellent. Well, Alex, I want to thank you for being on the show sharing your ideas, stories, inspiration, wisdom, I want to encourage you to keep using the gifts you’ve been given to bless others and to help people achieve everything they were created to be.
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About Alex Judd
Alex Judd founded Path for Growth out of his belief that everyone wins when a person decides to intentionally grow every single day. He is deeply passionate about the content they teach at Path for Growth because it is based on the habits, principles, values, and beliefs that I use every day.
He worked as a Leadership Coach for Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership team and also had the privilege of serving as the host of the nationally recognized EntreLeadership Podcast.
