Why Learning Beats Hustle in the New Business Era #Episode #76

Samuel: Hey world, welcome back to another episode of Be Inspired Podcast where we're inspiring you to live the abundant life you deserve. I got another awesome guest on the line. His name is Peter, and he's the creator of Hamster Wheel Trap and the best-selling author of Your Business Sucks. Build a business that works without destroying your life. His work is focused on one simple mission: helping founders build businesses that work without them. So

Peter Boolkah: . .

Samuel: Let's think about it before we get into it. In the beginning, being involved in everything is part of the job. You make decisions, you solve the problems, you win the clients, you keep the whole thing moving. And for a while that works. But as the business grows, the same habits that help you build it can start to limit it. You become the person everybody waits for, every decision needs your approval. Your team stops taking ownership.

Peter Boolkah: Okay. Okay.

Samuel: Because they know you'll step in. And without realizing, you move from founder to manager, from leader to bottleneck. Today on Be Inspired, we're talking with Peter Bukla, Bulka, a better entrepreneur eventually has to make. Better known as the transition guy about the shift every entrepreneur eventually has to make. How do you stop being the person the business depends on and become the leader who helps it grow beyond you? We're talking about leadership, delegation, identity, growth, and the uncomfortable process of letting go of control. So let's get into it. Peter, welcome to the call.

Peter Boolkah: Hey Samuel, thank you so much for having me. This is going to be fun.

Samuel: Yeah, yeah. I ⁓ so before you became the transition guy, who were you?

Peter Boolkah: We talk about a long time ago? listen, I was the dude that did the normal shit basically that my parents expected me. Go to school, go to college, go to university, do that stuff. But at the same time, I also worked full time at McDonald's. So I studied full time, worked full time at McDonald's. But to be honest with you, that was probably a much better education than I could have credited at the time.

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: And I actually did 16 years with McDonald's, which was interesting. And I learned so much.

Samuel: Yeah. So you spent fifteen years with McDonalds before moving into business coaching. What did those years teach you about people that business school never could?

Peter Boolkah: They taught you how to systemize and process a business, how to manage, how to lead. So many of the things that perhaps we take, well, people never ever get to master. I mean, back in the day, McDonald's was known as having the best management training system in the world. I mean, imagine this. You could take a 20-year-old kid that's been working since age of 16. and they could end up running a 3 to 5 million dollar turnover restaurant. You could trust them with the restaurant, but you could never trust them with a company car.

Samuel: Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, ⁓ so was becoming an entrepreneur something you always wanted or did you life eventually push you into it?

Peter Boolkah: Have you seen the film Maverick?

Samuel: Maverick? Top Gun? Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Peter Boolkah: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know that Tom Cruise never became a general because he pissed off the Admiral, right? Yeah, I ended up pissing off the Admiral. So that ended, so that finished off my corporate career, unfortunately.

Samuel: Yeah. no to self don't piss off the admiral then you're gonna get pushed out to finding your own goals and dreams. But it sounded like it was a blessing in disguise though.

Peter Boolkah: What the fuck? It was but not in the beginning. So what did I do? I needed to replace my income so I bought a restaurant. and then realized I absolutely hated it. I went into business with a person that worked for me. Never ever asked them where they got the money from. Bought the money from their wife. All of a sudden I had a third business partner, well she thought she was a business partner, that I never signed up to. You know what they say, three in the bed is never a great idea. Trust me, it was not a good idea. It was an absolute nightmare. And I really had to ditch that within 12 months because that was just messing with my happiness.

Samuel: Jeez.

Peter Boolkah: Look, eventually you find something, things happen for a reason, right? And I got approached by a franchise back in the day, Action Coach, and I wasn't, I went into their due diligence, I really wasn't taking it seriously, but sometimes the right people come into your life, and there was one guy that came into my life that was the right person, there was a guy called Ray Moore, he had signed up for coaching practice, and ended up becoming partners with him, and we were in business together for 15 years.

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: and he was exactly the mentor, the person I needed in my life at that moment in time.

Samuel: Yeah, I think we all have that one person that ⁓ you need to get you to that next level. I think for ⁓ Jim Roan, his person was Howard Schultz that shifted his mindset, you know, and allowed him to like stop being a victim in his life and become a ⁓ the growth person.

Peter Boolkah: Yes. And he did a great job of that, may I say.

Samuel: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He did. So when you hear the word transition, what do most entrepreneurs misunderstand about it?

Peter Boolkah: I think it's different for different people to be honest with you. Sometimes it's going from one situation to the next, one business level to the next. I think the important thing about transition is that we never remain stationary because the world in which we live in doesn't allow for stationary unless you want to get run over and go out of business.

Samuel: Yeah. Yeah. Y you you're always going through some type of transition, some type of road wherever you go, you know?

Peter Boolkah: I mean, you look at last five years, we've had five years of global stupid and crazy. I mean, you think about it, I mean, we've had major wars we've not seen in a long, time. We've had COVID, we've had supply chain crisis, global inflation. We've had economic unrest, political unrest, social unrest. The rules of business keep changing all the time. You got to keep transitioning.

Samuel: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: And you've got to be able to pivot on a pen these days.

Samuel: Yeah, even online too. ⁓ d that's also shifting, you know. Like ⁓ I was listening to an audio or a podcast recently that said that we're shifting from a influencer mindset and now we gotta ⁓ shift gears into more coaching and selling products, you know? So that's also shifting.

Peter Boolkah: Yeah. And it's always shifted and you know why though? Because half of these influences have been exposed as being Darren Ford's. So that doesn't help.

Samuel: Yeah. And

Peter Boolkah: Yeah look at me I've got Ferrari, still got the rental sign on the number plate.

Samuel: And then some people don't pay attention to that. They just say, ⁓ okay, this is what success looks like. Let me follow this, you know?

Peter Boolkah: And unfortunately that's the reality isn't it? That is the harsh reality that when you look at it, so many people out there, I don't know what they're chasing, they're like chasing easy money. And there's no thing as easy money.

Samuel: Mm. No. So Peter, tell me a little bit, right? I I don't think people ask enough. What if the habits that made you successful at one level are the exact habits preventing you from reaching the next level?

Peter Boolkah: I'll accept. When you start a business. You require hard work, total dedication. I mean, it's not uncommon to do 18 hour days. But listen to, here's some statistics for you. In the UK, there are 5.6 million small to medium sized private land businesses, of which 4.2 are sole openers. They will never hire a person ever. These poor people, when they start their business, they are trapped for life. That's the reality when you start your business you build a you're building a prison from day one you can't help it. The way business is designed you're building that prison. What people never think about is day release how do I get out of this damn place and the sad thing is 80 % of businesses fail within the first five years. Consider this There are approximately 11,000 businesses around the world starting up every single hour. And 80 % of them would never see year five. That's a huge attrition rate.

Samuel: Yeah. So with those statistics, how do you coach somebody or how do you assist somebody in getting through those the s statistics and not being one of the statistics?

Peter Boolkah: Well that's the interesting thing because human nature being what it is, people have a pain in the ass. God's greatest feedback loop is pain. And unfortunately most people only ever take action when they're in pain. And because business owners leave it too late, by the time they come and they come and seek help, their business is terminal. All you can do is prolong life for little while. You cannot save the business. I think you can't help people that don't want to help themselves. And I think that's the first thing. You've got to have a degree of humility.

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: own the fact that you don't know what you don't and be prepared to go on the journey of being learning and curious. If you can do that then you stand half a chance because the reality is, one of my favorite quotes happens, a big God-created man in his own image because if that is to be true every single business owner creates their business in their image. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Samuel: So true, you know? 'Cause it's your values, your belief and your initially when you start it sounds like you just focus on what you think the audience needs but not consider what the audience wants.

Peter Boolkah: 100 %

Samuel: What happens emotionally when the person who built the company realizes the company doesn't actually need them to make every decision anymore?

Peter Boolkah: Do you know, very few people get there. Very few people get there. You'll be lucky if 3 % of the organisations out there get to that point. It's not a big number. Most businesses are dependent on the founder till the day they die. And you know why that is? Because they don't know how to structure the business. They don't know how to grow the business. They don't know how to train people. You think about it. Most people that start a business, go into business without any kind of formal education. They just go and they start a business. But when you start a business, you've to think about the roles. You are head of sales, head of marketing, head of finance, head of delivery, head of operations, head of distribution. head of HR in case you need to discipline yourself. You are head of everything. But tell me how many people have learned how to become a great marketeer, a great salesperson, how to structure their business, how to hire the right people. Where did they learn those skills? They don't. And therefore most people do it and they suck at it. And that's a harsh reality. And the problem is when you first start your business, you're looking at 18 hour days. From the very beginning,

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: you are training that business to be dependent on you. So if you are lucky enough then to hire that person, you try to be super helpful to that person. I'll help you, I'll do everything. Without really systemizing, processing that role, and all you've trained that employee to do is be dependent on you. You think that being helpful is gonna help them move forward? No, it's training them to be dependent on you. Which means every decision they make, they come to you.

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: you just create a bigger prison. The worst part about it, as you hire people and you, if you make it to five years, you've got to be doing something right. So you're making money, but your expenses have gone up. And if 90 % of your revenue still depends on the founder, you've got to be running on that hamster wheel. And you can't stop because the minute you stop running on the hamster wheel, guess what? The revenue drops. If the revenue drops, you can't make your financial commitments. If you can't pay your bills, you're screwed.

Samuel: Yeah. Yeah. So wha what what's one of the first things or what are some steps that someone could take that's in that ⁓ situation of trying to help the person build, but what's one of the first steps you would coach them to do?

Peter Boolkah: It depends, each business is different. The one thing I would say to them is 2004 was the end of the industrial age. So that was when I was growing up. You've to work hard, you've got to work, you've got to work hard. That doesn't work anymore. Work hard, work alone isn't good enough. We're now in the digital age, aka the knowledge worker age. And the clue's in the title, knowledge worker. If you really want to get out of the situation you're in today and you don't like the reflection in the mirror, you've got to start learning. Because you can't do anything different unless you pick up new knowledge. Hey, look at the, what's one of things you said today? I listened to a podcast. This is what I learned on the podcast. I mean, good on you. You're learning. Business owners have got to start learning. Working hard enough, hey, you're just going to work yourself broke. You're going to work yourself out of business. You've got to start learning. Knowledge worker age, knowledge is power. I've got a really great sign on my office wall. The more you learn, the more you earn. But you've got to the right, you've got to learn the right stuff. You can't learn to stick with shit that's not going to serve you. So you always got to look at where the constraint is in a business. And depending where the constraint is, that's something you need to learn.

Samuel: So you talk about learning, what are some initial as a business owner, what are some initial books that you believe that mo every entrepreneur needs to have or need to read?

Peter Boolkah: Your business sucks is one of them. And hey, look, a bit of background on the book. That's a 20 year research project into business. So I've been working in businesses for 20 years, over 60,000 hours. I waited that long before I wrote a book. So I wanted to have all the evidence in front of me, so I was clear on the patterns. And it doesn't disappoint because no matter where you are in the world, same thing's happening. It doesn't matter, look, it doesn't matter about your skin color, your religion, your gender. In fact, you know one thing I like about the economy? The economy ain't racist. The economy only recognizes two things, your competency or your incompetency. If you're competent, you get rewarded. If you're incompetent, you're getting punished. Period.

Samuel: So talk to me a little bit about that because ⁓ some of the things you just said are different beliefs that we hold on. ⁓ I'm black, I can't make it or ⁓ the economy isn't good. Talk to me about how you overcome some of those different beliefs because they're stuck with you.

Peter Boolkah: Dude, I was born in the 70s mixed heritage. Mum was white, Dad was half Indian half black. Man, it was racist. You go put that shit beside, behind you. There was no way I was going to let any other person's prejudice slow me down. Never. And I do not, at the end of the day, you do not, nobody out there. You do not want to be the token promotion. Trust me. Learn. Everyone has the capacity to learn today. Back in my day you had to go to a damn library. Today you got TikTok, YouTube, podcast channels. You got books to read. You got books to listen to. There's no reason not to learn. Napoleon Hill said something really great in his book, Good to Great, and he talked about the lesson from the book. There was a hidden meaning in the book, as you think so shall you become. If you think trash, you're to be trash. Got to start thinking differently. We are so lucky, Samuel. We are the only species on the planet that is capable of self-regulation. If you wanted to be a medical doctor, you could go next year, enroll into medical school. For five years time, you can be a qualified medical doctor. No other animal on this planet can do that. Their fate is predetermined. Ours is not. And one thing I will say to you, if you're hanging around people that are reinforcing your negative beliefs, you need to ditch those folks. Even if they're your family members, they're ahead. They may be your blood, they're not your friends.

Samuel: So can being a person the best person in the company actually make you a bad leader?

Peter Boolkah: Of course I can. Because actually you're not the guide on the side are you? As a leader your job is very simple. If you're hiring, look if you're by yourself and you are a solo printer then yes be the best person in the business because you're the only one in the business. Fill your boots. But as soon as you hire people... It's not about you being the best person, it's about making your team the best people. Because if you're still the best person, you're always going to end up doing most of the work. Why would you employ people to do their jobs for them? How stupid is that? It will be like me going to see a personal trainer, them sitting me down, giving me a cup of tea, pack of biscuits and saying what weights would you like me to lift for you today. I mean how ridiculous is that? So no, it's your job to make other people great.

Samuel: Yeah. Okay. So let's just there's a build ⁓ a little bit. ⁓ what does a healthy leadership team look like when the founder walks into the room? Since you've been around for about twenty years and coaching for this long, what are some things you see?

Peter Boolkah: Okay, the business has got to be at a certain size for you to have a leadership team. So you're going to start becoming a mid-market business. So you're looking at 10 million plus turnover a year. What does a good leadership team look like? One that can strategize without you. You're not the only one coming up with the ideas. Jim Collins talks about it in Good to Great, you're having buses and you've to have leaders on every single bus. So if you've got someone in charge of sales, they lead the strategy for sales. Marketing leads the strategy for marketing. Operations, the person in charge of operations, they lead the strategy, not the execution. They lead the strategy for those departments. They're responsible making sure they help the company grow.

Samuel: So what's one of the biggest lies that entrepreneur tells ⁓ entrepreneurs tell themselves?

Peter Boolkah: Ooh, there's so many. They're the biggest lies on the planet, to be honest with you. You know, it's not someone- think the biggest lie they tell themselves is that they lose sight of their dreams. What do I mean by that? A lot of people start the business and they start the business with the romantic notion. It's going to give me more life. I'm to get my time back. I'm going to make ton of money. And then over a number of years, they start losing that dream because actually the business was never as easy as they first thought it was going to be. and they don't believe that it's possible and the biggest lie they tell themselves this is my reality and I say to them no it's not your reality it's your current competency

Samuel: Hmm. Tell me a little bit more about that. It's your current competency.

Peter Boolkah: Yeah, you are what you know. You are at the end result of the decisions you can make based on the knowledge you have. You can't do what you don't know. So when you're looking at me, this is you. This is your current net worth. Now you want to increase the net worth? Increase what's in your head. The more you learn, the more you earn. It's as simple as that.

Samuel: Yeah. What happens when the person who started the company is no longer the person the company needs?

Peter Boolkah: They need a really good advisor on their team that's going to tell them to get the heck out of the way and put someone in that actually will take that business forward. And the one thing I would say, whether it's a mentor, advisor, coach, whatever it is, you really, when you get to any business really, need somebody that has an impartial, independent third party perspective. Because the decision making within our own business, look, when we've got our own business, it's like our baby. And nobody ever wants to tell them, no, nobody ever wants to hear that the baby's ugly, right? Everyone thinks they've got the most beautiful baby in the world, but that's not always going to be the case. Sometimes the parent's ugly.

Samuel: Yeah. Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: Yeah, the parents taking it so far. Now the parent needs to let the kid grow and become independent and that's without the parent. And that's what you need as someone from that third party to tell you those brutal facts that your team are not going to tell you yourself.

Samuel: So Peter, we've been we've been conditioned to measure success by revenue, employees, growth, cars, housing, titles. What if we've been measuring success incorrectly?

Peter Boolkah: ⁓ totally, most people don't know what success is. They've just seen other people's version of success and said I want that for myself. They don't know what they want, a lot of the people. They just are okay with if I get this society is going to think differently of me, they're going to think I'm successful. You see the younger we are the more we're worried about what other people think. The older we become the more wise we become that we don't really give a damn toss about what other people think because actually you've only got one shot on the planet you need to define for yourself what you want it is a thing you look you will be conditioned to do this from a very early age when we go when we when we're young we're we've been conditioned you've got to go to school you've got to get good grades go to college go to university don't do all that stuff soon as we finished that we don't have time to breathe go get a job go get a job start getting a career ⁓ good, you're earning money now. Go find yourself a house. Go find yourself a relationship. Settle down. You don't have kids. You're living your life for everybody else. It's only when you get to a certain age that you stop to pause and wonder, okay, what is it that I want? That's when the dreams really do start. For most people.

Samuel: Yeah. So since it's like that, w what a success really looks like for someone that's looking for it? I know it's what does that look like?

Peter Boolkah: It's, you know the saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So a success.

Samuel: Yeah.

Peter Boolkah: So is success. You've got to find what will make you happy. And most business owners are going into business, they're going into business without thinking, they have no goals. They just, okay, let's make some money. Then they're their trap of, I've got to try and make some money. With no clear vision.

Samuel: Yeah. So you've helped entrepreneurs grow businesses for years. What do you hope your work ultimately changes beyond their balance sheet?

Peter Boolkah: gives them the life that they actually do want. That's the most important bit. Businesses meant to give you life, not take life away from you.

Samuel: And it's interesting because that's what business does to us, you know. ⁓ well not us, but people in general when they're starting to build a business.

Peter Boolkah: Yeah, look, at moments in time, business is never easy for anybody. I've had to rebuild my business a number of times. It just happens. And there are times when it takes your life away. But you just got to get better and better and better. You've got to learn how not to. And that's the ability to pivot, the ability to change. Too many people wait for things to go back. Well, things are never going back. What do you honestly think after these major wars in the world that the world is going to automatically go back to the way was? No. You're only going to be forward. Be ready for it.

Samuel: Yeah. Yep. So Peter, if your life is the ultimate business you're building, what are you doing differently today to make sure you don't become a prisoner of that business too?

Peter Boolkah: That's really simple now. I'm doing, why do you think I wrote the book? Why do you think I wrote the book? Number one, to add massive value to the world. But number two, to take it away from me. These days I do more speaking than I'll do coaching. It's a very different way of operating. Plus I've got other businesses, the same money business. We've also got marketing agency that really, I hands off. I have a team in place, they do the work. So it's about structure of the business. With the coaching business, very different. I am the business. I know that. I know that. Because people want me. I get that. But the other businesses I run, I want no much to do. I help structure it, set it up, coach the people within the business. But they drive the business, not me.

Samuel: So I got like two more questions for you. ⁓ what's one thing you thought I would ask Peter, but I didn't really ask you?

Peter Boolkah: Go for it. Do you know, that's a good question, and you've caught me off guard now, because I got lost in a conversation, so I don't really know. That's a difficult one. Probably the biggest one would be why did you write the book? And the reason I wrote the book was at the end of the day wanted to give back something that was highly practical that stood the test of time and can actually make a difference in people's lives.

Samuel: Yeah. In that book, one of wh what's the biggest lesson you think someone would take away from it?

Peter Boolkah: No one, mean, it's actually hard to start having a business that you actually own and doesn't own you.

Samuel: So last question for you is what's one thing every entrepreneur should protect at all costs?

Peter Boolkah: What should they protect? 100 % their cash. If you're in our cash, you're dead. But I think I need to put... They need to make sure. that they protect their future. And therefore what I would say is do not be a tree. Do not be that immovable object. Be fluid. Be growth orientated. That's what I would say.

Samuel: So Peter, I wanna thank you for coming on and sharing your experience, sharing your knowledge and sharing your book, Your Business Sucks. ⁓ so how can people connect with you?

Peter Boolkah: Well, it's super simple, what book? You can get it on Amazon, just type in your business sucks. And a lot of people say, well, are you doing it for the money? No, because the Kindle version is available for 99 cents. Has been for the last 11 weeks. Why have I done that? So that everyone can have a copy. So you don't even need a Dan Kindle to read it, just download the Kindle app, all you need is an Amazon account. So get the book and if you don't like reading, download the audible version. There's no excuse. Secondly, if you really want to connect with me, follow me, interact, just type my name into Google. Really simple. And then everything will come on my website, my podcast channel, my YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, choose your poison.

Samuel: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much, Peter. And thank you for joining ⁓ Be Inspired Podcast where we're inspiring you to live the abundant life you deserve. If you're listening to this episode and Peter said anything that resonated with you, go ahead and let's have a conversation in the comments. All right. But until next time, see you on Be Inspired Podcast where inspiring you to live the abundant life you deserve.