[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Big Ticket Pros, the podcast for agencies, coaches and high end service providers who know what it takes to thrive in competitive markets. I'm your host Ana Gonzalez and you can find me on social media nabotprime. Our guests share insider tips, strategies and sometimes cautionary tales to help you close bigger deals and scale your business faster.
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[email protected] that is conversational funnels.com Today's guest is Skyler Williamson.
Skylar Williamson is a leadership expert, entrepreneur, author and decorated military veteran who has consistently achieved at the highest level in both business and service. A top graduate of West Point and McComb's MBA, Skyler is the founder of multiple successful businesses and ranks in the top 1% of real estate agents nationwide with hundreds of millions in sales and ownership of over 55 investment properties.
So Skyler, welcome to Big Ticket Pros.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out in your industry?
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Well, in my industry specifically, I think just understand that as a business owner, you've got to be one that thinks. You got to think about not only the business that you're in today, but also the business that you're building tomorrow. And look for models. There's very few industries in this world where no one, no one else is successful already in it. And they are, they're already running by models. So if you can identify models and then implement them according to your strengths and your business, it gives you a place to launch from that you already know is going to be successful. And I would just say if I was starting it all over again, that's the first thing I would do. Go get some models to live by and operate my business by and then use those according to my strengths to start from there.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: I love that I would translate that to don't follow advice from someone who's not where you want to be.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and it starts with a vision, right? And look, everything in my life I look at as models. And most of models are just ways to help you think more effectively. And as the leader of the business, your job is to think constantly think.
And, and thinking is what keeps you out of trouble thinking. Thinking what is what allows you to take advantage of opportunities.
Thinking is what keeps your talent around.
But you. You have to have models to keep you thinking as effectively as possible.
And envision is a part of that. Right. Casting a vision for yourself. And when you know where you want to be a year from now or three years from now, you could start to see other people that are there and then, yeah, look at what they're doing and, And. And look at their model and then just start from there. I think it's a beautiful place to go take action around.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: I absolutely love that.
You know, I've never thought about it. Like, if you see the models and, and they are ways to help you think more effectively, I think that, like, nobody needs to.
So Spanish is my mother language in English is not. So sometimes I translate directly. But my translation from Spanish to English would be like, you don't need to reinvent. Oh, reinvent the wheel. That would be.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. You don't have to be a genius with every single decision or every single business initiative. Just be a good researcher first and then let your.
Your genius be on top of something that's already proven. Like, you don't have to just create something brand new every time. I'm very, very little in this world. You have to go recreate. But I do think that people get hamstrung a little bit and that they're trying to create instead of just duplicate or master or, you know, whatever word you want to use. But just start with something that's already proven.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: I absolutely love that. Yeah, just like, start with something. Yes. Because.
Sorry, I have never thought about that. Like, and I mean, yeah, people say you don't have to reinvent the wheel, but there's like, if you don't think about it, there's no meaning behind it until you say, well, take this model from this business that is already doing what you want to do and then think a little two steps ahead.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Look, I'm. I'm not a grocer, right? But when I walk into H E B, which, you know, I know you. You share an affinity of that grocery store with me because, you know, we're kind of co. Located.
But when I walk into H E B, I'm asking myself, well, how did Heb get all these people in here?
And when you sit and you really look at it and you really think, they've got a model. They've got a model for how they lead, generate, and bring people into their store.
And. And there may be parts of that model that I can use in my business to bring people into my front door.
But there may not be. But the. But the thing is, is like, I see their model, and then I will take from their model what I think would apply to my business, my clients, to my strengths, and then I can build on top of that. But the thought is, it's like, all right, I'm always thinking. I'm always thinking about how I can improve my business. And everywhere I go, everywhere I look, even when I sit here on this podcast with you and I look at what you're doing and what you're doing, why you're doing this for your business, I'm. I'm thinking, okay, well, you know, I can learn from Anna. Can I. Can I take of some of what she's doing right here and apply it to my own business to grow it? And so I. I'm constantly walking this world thinking and looking for the models and then taking it back to my desk and saying, okay, well, can I plus up my existing operating model today for my business with what I've learned from other people?
[00:06:05] Speaker A: And, you know, I think that something to.
Not to add, because you already mentioned it, but to remember of what you said is you need to know what you want.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: And it's easy. It's easy to say that, but it's not so easy to actually think about it and to know what you want and then find a model that you want to follow and then build on top of that.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do think. I think what you're saying is completely correct. I mean, you have to have a vision for your life personally. You got to have a vision for your life professionally. If you have employees, you have to have visions for their lives. Right. Because you're. You're, to some extent, you're responsible for their future and their families.
But to me, and there's lots of books written about vision that you can go read. They're wonderful books, and you can use that to construct your own. But to me, the way that I define vision is what does it look like in the end when it's done? Right.
Right. So what that gives you is a direction to move in.
So if I've got this vision of what things look like for my life when I've done them right a year from now, well, I can start taking action immediately in that direction. But I can also look at the gap between where I am today and where I'm trying to be a year from now. And I can backwards plan. And you just you just create your plan by moving backwards and then take that first step and in. In accordance to that plan in that direction. And your plan's going to change over time. Your vision is going to change over time, but you just keep updating it. Right. And, and, and your plan's going to change based on these models that you're experiencing and you're learning and your success. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it, but it's very simple. Right.
What's it look like in the end when it's done Right. And that's your direction. Just get moving.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that's a pretty smart and effective way to get where you want. Think about your vision. What does it look like in the end? And then reverse engineer it.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you're going to go for a sales appointment, right.
If that sales appointment goes perfectly in the end, what does it all look like? You've got a vision for that sales appointment. Well, once you have that vision, then you can prepare for it and you, you can plan for it. If there's something you have to do ahead of time, you can reach out and do that ahead of time. But the point is, is, like, you've gone through that visioning exercise for that, that action that you're about to take. And again, like, vision's been around for hundreds of years that term in business.
It's a model. It's just a model that you. That we've all ripped off from somebody else, and we're using it to guide our business. And that's, that's just a good little example. But, yeah. Know where you're going. For sure.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: I think it's, it's part of, I think, human nature, human psychology, to have the vision of, oh, I like this. Let me see if I can replicate it.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I, you know, I believe in hope, faith and love. Right. And, you know, to have hope in something or to have faith in something that's, you know, in the future, you got to have a vision for it. Right. Or else your hope and your faith for something in the future isn't going to be all that strong. Right. We got to be able to see it in our minds, and that gets us going after it.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Yeah, Love that.
So, Skyler, tell us about who you serve and how people can reach out to you.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I listen, I serve leaders.
I serve folks that want to get into real estate. You know, we build homes, we sell homes.
We have a laundromat franchise that's doing really well.
And I wrote a book titled the Steady Leader. And you know, again, the things that solve chaotic moments are effective thinking. And effective thinking or clarity is brought through these thinking models. And that book, the Steady Leader, is all the models that I use to lead myself, lead my team and lead my businesses. And I put them in a book and I'm just sharing it with the world. And I think that that's, that's the gift that I can give folks. If they go and check out thesteadyleader.com they can find more information about that. Also, every morning I read in a business book and then I journal and I share that journal post with the world on essentially what I took away from my morning reading. And if you just follow me on LinkedIn, if you don't, if you're not a big book reader and you just want the Cliff Notes, just follow me on LinkedIn. You can get my daily cliff Notes on what I'm reading. I just, I already write it for myself, so I just started sharing it with the world. And it's, you know, it's a, it's a good way to just pick up some notes, at least on the books I'm reading.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: That's awesome.
So we're going to wrap it up here. Thank you, Skyler, for joining us and sharing some wisdom about thriving in a competitive industry.
You can learn more about what Skyler does by visiting him on LinkedIn and watching his little clips or look for his book. Thesteadyleader.com Did I get it right?
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Thesteadyleader.com Yay.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: If you are an agency coach, professional services provider, or otherwise inexpensive stuff, we'd love to have you in a future episode.
You can apply at bigticketpros. Com. And once again, if you want to learn about the new way, we're booking dozens of qualified calls per week with no ad spend, download our free blueprint at conversationalfunnels. Com. That's all for now. Go get that big ticket punched. See you later.
