Inside the CEO’s Mind: Strategies for Success

Starting the conversation:

Your resilience is necessary to overcome adversity. The mental and emotional well-being of leaders and entrepreneurs today is important to avoid burnout — and to achieve success. Andrew Dewar, Co-founder at Five Year You, shares about the importance of self development to make sure you are “on purpose” in your work and life.

How well can you really let go of what you’ve outgrown, doesn’t serve you, or is a perception you adopted from others (that is untrue)? Growth and learning comes in many forms, and the ability to be intentional about knowing your purpose and who you are supports your decision-making process.

In this program, you will hear how important intention is to do deep self-work, how to find the courage to take the first step, and a co-founder’s insights from these lessons. You’ll also discover the significance of personal growth, self-awareness, and continuous learning in achieving professional and personal goals. Jess Dewell talks with Andrew Dewar, Co-founder at Five Year You, about CEO mindset strategies for success.

Host: Jess Dewell

Guest: Andrew Dewar

What You Will Hear:

1:15 An idea is real when it is scary to take the next step.

• Walking the path for yourself can be surprising — and yet obvious to all around you.
• To get there faster, take time to imagine what the journey will really look like.
• Recognize achievements along the way and keep going.

6:20 The more you know yourself the more you lean into what stays the same with each Five Year You.

• While your core self evolves, you can begin to know yourself at a deep level.
• Beliefs are desires that change over time.
• Embrace and own the hand you are dealt.

10:30 Personal development is often shallow.

• Your true purpose is yours, not what you say/do to impress others.
• Comfortable chairs reach a point where they become a powerful, limiting force.
• How to change your relationship with boundaries.

16:20 How you can increase your energy level and protect it.

• Make sure to have the right people around you (they may not be who you think they are).
• Keep your energy and intentions a secret.
• Embrace the slip-ups as they are part of learning.

21:10 Happiness is attainable, not just something to pursue.

29:03 Do what it takes to find the courage to take the first step

• Andrew Dewar’s purpose is to help one million people and he will start with one thousand.
• Acknowledge the little things.
• Embrace your network — the one you’ve selected.

33:50 How to tap into your true self and work within the agreed upon paradigms.

• Understand what you can control.
• Seek lessons that people around you have to teach.
• Shift the energy: How they perceive me and how I perceive them.

39:33 Andrew Dewar’s learnings as Co-founder about perspectives.

• Changed the view of his world when he changed his energy.
• The next idea will arrive.

41:10 How you can use this conversation in your strategic planning:

• With each individual and their contribution to the company.
• Talk openly about the plan and its importance.
• Though the plan will likely change, keep your destination the same.
• Review interest, alignment, and impact of your initiatives in a regular cadence.

56:40 It is BOLD to work on yourself to ensure you live on purpose, rather than letting life and work simply happen.

Resources

• Five Year You
• Crossing The River Of Change: A Parable To Help You Through Changing Your Life

Transcript

Andrew Dewar 00:00
You’re already embracing the misery. Why don’t you give change a try and see how it goes?

Jess Dewell 00:04
I like your way better. Yes, that’s right. Give change a try. That’d be cool. We could probably redo something that’s already in existence for that.

Jess Dewell 00:11
I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for stopping by at the Bold Business Podcast. We are normalizing important conversations. Yes, there are tips. Yes, there are ways to solve problems. More importantly, are going to be, what do you need for yourself to be able to solve those problems and make the most of the education, the training and the programs that you are already using? This is a supplement to that. It can sit on top of it, fuel your soul, fuel your mind, and most importantly, regardless of where you’re at on your journey. Maybe you’re starting out, maybe you’re ready to scale, maybe you’re going through reinvention. The conversations we are having will help you at each of those stages. So hang around, see what’s going on, and I look forward to seeing you engaging with our videos.

ANNOUNCER 01:00
You are listening to the Bold Business Podcast where you will hear first-hand experiences about what it really takes to ensure market relevance and your company’s future.

Jess Dewell 01:13
We talk about embracing our potential all the time. We don’t always talk about, how do you actually do that? And there is a lot of work out there that says, yes, do this self-work, and your whole world will change. And it’s true. So the more work you do, the deeper you can go, and the more potential that you can tap into. And I know that because for a long time, I was actually only doing that surface-level stuff that you do with self-development. And then I started to plateau, and then I started to think. I thought I attained happiness, but I really didn’t. I thought I was on purpose, but I’m really not. And you want to know something that was a big awakening for me. And so when I met Andrew Dewar, the co-founder of five year u i was able to actually be excited about this conversation and go, Oh, I’ve been through this. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say, and he, like me, has confronted and overcome a ton of trauma in his life, and now he knows and continues to develop that power of purposeful living, and that there is a way to be in this world with the circumstances And the situations do we have and still have a fulfilling life? I think that’s really important. And he comes from a background of numbers and logic, and he is now talking about all of this stuff that is a little less solid on paper and in but in practice. No, not in practice, in in perception, but in practice, it’s just as powerful and more is achieved in different, unusually, less amounts of time than we thought. Here’s what came out of our conversation. To give you an example, right? We’re talking about shallow personal development, the stuff that we all talk about. So how do we get real, and how do we make sure we’re not accidentally disguising our work and only going so deep, but actually getting to those levels that we can make great, lasting change where we’re changing our vibration and we’re making a true impact on ourselves and in the energy and time that We’re given here, the second thing I’m going to I know I want to call out to you is that we have to have the courage to take the first step. And what does that mean, and what does that look like? He answers some questions about that, and he tells us some steps that we can practice and do right now. And the third thing are Andrew Dewar’s learnings. As the co-founder of Five Year You, and what that actually meant for him, and how he shows up to do this business, run this business, make an impact and stay sustainable and relevant over time. I’m really excited for this conversation with Andrew Dewar, the co-founder of Five Year You check it out. I’m guessing there’s a time that you’ve been really excited about something, maybe even at the some time in the creation and evolution through today of Five Year You and in that excitement, there was a place where all of a sudden there was this abruptness of, I have to become somebody else. There’s more here that I don’t even know. When did that happen for you? The first time in Five Year You and can you describe it?

Andew Dewar 04:31
For me, the first time I had that, Oh, good, it’s time to grow was when the idea of Five Year You actually came to my mind. And I remember I was driving and I was thinking all the things I had been talking with my partner about what we wanted to do as far as company goes, and we don’t several companies before this, and we were thinking, let’s just do the one that feels right. And personal development was the thing that we were both just nerds with. And. And it made me realize that if I was gonna do this, I was gonna have to do my own Five Year You first and start walking that path before everybody else came on board. And while I had done it before, it was always been in private, and now it’s more having to be out and obvious to everybody, as it happens when I really sat back and thought as I was driving, I’m like, this is going to be really cool. And then I had this, you have that kind of excitement, and then that fear of, Gosh, I wonder what’s it’s going to look like five years now because you have your intentions of where you want to go. And it’s always been my experience that these five-year plans are so amazing, but you usually get to them a lot faster than five years, and then you go, Oh, wow, you are then putting gasoline on the fire after a couple years, when you realize I can do a lot more when I get focused and I am willing to let go the fears and the things that hold me back and go on this huge growth escapade, basically.

Jess Dewell 06:00
By the way, that is also my experience. Every single person, me included, who really says, Yep, I’m going to do this. And every action is intentional, and every step is with purpose. Things fall into place, and the things that need to fall out of place fall out of place much quicker. And the fastest I’ve ever seen at work is a two-year goal in six months.

Andew Dewar 06:26
Yeah, that’s that’s good. That’s a really…

Jess Dewell 06:29
And this is somebody who’d been on the tread, basically on their hamster wheel for a long time, and trying to grow and trying to grow, and they couldn’t try and change, and trying to change and couldn’t, and then with a few key elements and a commitment to stick with it. They were able to see that. And how amazing is that? So did your five year? You really take five years. It sounds like no?

Andew Dewar 06:50
Now the first time. No, the one I’m working on right now because you mentioned this Alli in 2025 so I’m doing a new one right now for myself and for the company as to where we want to be five years from now. And I’m really excited about that. But the first time it happened, I started doing all the things that you’re taught. You get clarity on where you want to be. You just discover your purpose. All the things we help people discover in our program. And once I had that, a lot of the noise, like you said, the noise just goes away. It’s almost like when you get on the yellow brick road with the path, and you start walking. I don’t know if that was a good analogy. That was. I don’t know where the yellow brick road came from. I might have been listening to Elton John last night or something.

Jess Dewell 07:34
You know what? Elton John, I believe, does sing about it. There is a Elizabeth movie, hang Yeah. Oh, big road. I know, yeah, got the anyway. Keep going.

Andew Dewar 07:46
I think that’s just it. Once you’re ready. So many of us spend a lifetime in the forest looking for the path, but we don’t have clarity on where we’re going. And once you gain that clarity, once you go, Okay, I want to be this type of person. This is my purpose. This is how I want to be. This is who I want to be around. This is the person I am. A lot of things fall away, and the right things come in, and they almost happen at the same time. It’s I have had times where people have canceled, like a podcast interview, and then I’ve got an email saying, Hey, can you record at the exact same time and it’s a completely more aligned interview? Or there’s these synchronicities really start showing up. And when they show up, yeah, at first you have that logical brain going, Oh, that’s neat. That happened. But when you really get clear with your purpose and where you want to go, these ideas start to show up, and the right people show up and introduce you to the even writer people, the best people that could help you, and it’s in being open and willing to not control the path but know the destination, that really helps you to move ahead at a remarkable pace.

Jess Dewell 08:58
What parts of you have stayed the same every time you’ve done your five-year plan?

Andew Dewar 09:02
Your soul’s purpose is where we start and then we work on ourself, right? So how do you want to show up in the world, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. Over the years, my, my mental beliefs have changed. The things I want to learn have changed how I want to look. Physically has changed too. I’ve gone from this past couple of years, I really got focused in on proper nutrition, because certain things were really damaging my brain and my nervous system. And it was only when I could see that these things were being impacted that I was able to look at it and go, Okay, these elements have to go, I love these things, but I can’t have sugar anymore. That’s that’s a hard one, but especially with the sweet tooth, but you start going through these iterations of yourself. So the parts that stay the same are always my soul’s purpose, which is to help people. I’m here to inspire, to educate and to help give purpose. Those who are trying to find their purpose, and then the so those things stay the same, and there’s always a few key players that are always around that support me no matter what I’m doing. And those players, as we call them, will always be in, in the vicinity, in the arena, to help me along, just like I’m there to help them.

Jess Dewell 10:18
Not only do our beliefs change, our desires change over time, right? The things that are important to us at different parts of life. And have you ever heard of the book The Sugar Blues? Okay? It is an oldie. It is out of print, so you would need to find it at a second-hand store, and I will tell you not being on sugar for whatever the reason it was for you. When I read that book, it was amazing. It was absolutely and utterly amazing. And it’s too bad that it’s out of print because we need it today more than ever before.

Andew Dewar 10:49
Yeah. When for me, it was an anxiety thing. I’m prone to anxiety, and I had been on antidepressants, going through a really tough time in the last five years as we were developing the company, and I wanted to come off of them, because I just couldn’t function in the ways that I was wanting to or needing to. So I knew there was going to be this transition. And in doing that, I really got into, okay, why does my brain do this? And what can I do? And inflammation was the thing that kind of kept coming up and having a good gut, good microbiome, and all of that. A lot of talk about that these days, but it definitely, I know when I had something wrong, I gotten really in tune with my body, so if I eat something that doesn’t agree with me, I know it within, often within half an hour, like, it’s like, it’s weird. It’s great. It’s weird though, because I’ll be sitting there going, I shouldn’t have had that bond. That’s just not it’s not sitting well in my brain right now, and it was tasty, but, like, we’re not going to do that probably for a few more months until we need another treat. Like, it’s giving yourself that awareness to go, Okay, I’m this way. And this is the deck of cards that I’ve been given. I’ve been given the Andrew Dewar deck of cards, and I got to play them the way that makes sense for me, rather than looking at Jess deck of cards and going, I’d really like to play that card in this card. I don’t have those ones. I’ve got to play with what I have.

Jess Dewell 12:13
When you started this, you were already on this path in this It’s okay. I’m already in this self-developed development realm. Are there people you meet in this self-development realm that actually have always danced around or disguised the real work that needs to be done to make a difference?

Andew Dewar 12:30
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think most of us, I was like that. So I was very much focused on the outer world, what I call the outer layer of life, which is all the kind of surface things, with cars, houses, education, neighborhood, all those different things. And it was after I did the whole checklist, and I was looking around, going, Okay, where’s the happiness? When does the happiness come in right now? And it wasn’t because Happiness doesn’t come from the thing you buy. It comes from inside of you. So a lot of times, what we’ll find is that people are at that same point where they’ve achieved the things that they thought were going to make them happy, and they don’t know what to do next. And that’s when we start getting them to explore purpose, of course, because that’s the foundation, and then getting them to craft a life that is around themselves, not around what they think will impress everybody else, and that can be really hard, because most of us are conditioned as a survival mechanism to be liked by everyone. And we’re not talking about not being liked, we’re just saying being true to yourself first, so that the right people show up and like you for who you are, not for this outer version that you keep portraying, that you think everybody else needs to see, and it’s a bit of a disconnect in the beginning. That’s why we work with people on an ongoing basis, is that they can always come back to us and go, I can be myself with you. I forgot what that was like. And I think if you’ve ever been to a conference of any kind, you they had that kind of conference high that people talk about, where you feel really empowered and you’re great, and you get back home with the people that didn’t go to the conference and have no interest in what you’re doing, and it’s just like they take your balloon and they’re like, no, let’s you gotta bring that back down to our level. We don’t know about this new height that you’re doing. So it’s nice to have that kind of group to go back to.

Jess Dewell 14:20
When we choose to change, we have to, and I don’t use that lightly, make other changes in our world. There is a truth to that of otherwise, it will, it’ll fizzle out because it’s too it is too hard to operate where we’re trying to go from a place we have been, and if we don’t have that support, it’s not necessarily good or bad, I’m just gonna call it neutral. When that support doesn’t exist, we have to still find a way to have that so that we can generate and regenerate ourselves and the energy necessary to do this work.

Andew Dewar 14:52
I think with a lot of times, we go back to that old way because it’s comfortable, and that’s what everybody else around us wants, and is. Own. But there’s nothing saying that these people can choose to grow and come with you on that journey. In fact, it’s way better if they do. It’s way better if your partner is going you know what? I don’t like these things about myself either. I want to I’m feeling empty with this. I want to have purpose. I want to feel great. Let’s do this together. It’s way more fun than trying to do it on your own. So if you can find other people that are doing that, it really does help. And that’s why you build community around these things, because you need to have those people that you can go and say, nobody else in my 3d world gets it, but you online people, you understand what I’m doing. Are you corporate CEOs? You get the challenges that we’re facing right now, or whatever the role that you have, that you’re stepping into and expanding into. It helps when you have other people that are going, Yeah, we got you. We’re gonna support you no matter what. We know you’re gonna we know it’s not a straight line, but we’ve got you, and it’s great to know that you can come back to it’s like creating a new home that you can go back and feel safe again in so that you feel comfortable going out in the world and going, okay, here I am with this new attitude, okay, this happened, okay. I’m gonna go back home. I’m gonna just get pumped up again and go back out.

Jess Dewell 16:13
I think that’s huge. I also think that it the experience, and I’m gonna speak my personal experience is there are commitments that we make in our world. Maybe it’s the parents we chose, maybe it’s the partner or spouse that we choose to live with, maybe it’s the person and the partner that we are in business with, maybe it’s our closest friends. Maybe it’s the community that we are living in right now. And those things aren’t easy to change. They are not still I’m really appreciating what I’m hearing you say is that there’s still ways to there’s still ways to change your own environment, to hold that if I were to summarize everything, it’d be like they’re out there. How cool is it? Technology gives us this chance to connect in a whole different way. And guess what? We just get to practice our boundaries.

Andew Dewar 17:04
Yeah, and that’s a big thing in life, is setting boundaries.

Jess Dewell 17:08
And it’s appropriate to keep whatever we need out so that we can work on what’s in and where we want to be going in.

Andew Dewar 17:15
When you’re starting out with this, it feels, it can feel selfish, and often the people that come to us, they are like I said, they’re at that place where they’ve been doing the outer layer of life, and they are really trying to they’ve been trying to impress people, or thinking that it’s an object that or an event or something that’s going to happen that’s going to suddenly magically give them happiness. And we are sparking that fire inside of them that goes, Oh, I really like this. And often it’s people have every aspect that they need inside of themselves and around them, they just didn’t realize it. And that’s what coming to somebody to give you a different perspective can go and help you fan that spark into a flame, and suddenly you’re doing things during your day that maybe you did before, but you have this renewed sense of joy and wonder about it, because you have purpose to what you’re doing, rather than thinking that you’re going to find it in the next, next thing that you buy.

Jess Dewell 18:17
You’re listening to the Bold Business Podcast. I’m your host, Jess Dewell, this is your program for strategizing long-term success while diving deep into what the right work is for your business. Right now.

ANNOUNCER 18:31
You are listening to the Bold Business Podcast hosted by Jess Dewell, a nationally recognized Strategic Growth consultant. She works with business owners and executives to integrate just two elements that guide business through the ups and downs of growth. Number one, know what work is necessary. Number two, do all the work possible. Schedule a complimentary consultation to find out more at red direction dot com.

Jess Dewell 19:01
How do we increase our energy and keep it protected in the early stages of this work?

Andew Dewar 19:10
Caffeine. No, I’m just kidding. Oh, I’m Hey…

Jess Dewell 19:14
I thought you were gonna say buns, because…

Andew Dewar 19:17
That’s been established now. So that’s great fun, I think, like anything, any new project, if you’ve started a business, at any point, you know that first year is critical to have the right people around you to nurture you. So having the right people around you is the first thing. The second thing is to keep it a secret to yourself and to the people that you know you can trust, to the people that aren’t going to try to bring your pull your balloon back down to earth, so to speak. And that might be people in your life. It might be new people that you meet, but it’s really. Important to find the support system, because those are the people that when you have your flame and they see a big wind coming, they can put the barrier up and go, No, you don’t need to pay attention to the person that’s doing this. If you want, let’s say you want to be your joy is to be a YouTuber that shares like what I’m doing is sharing inspirational advice and concepts. You’re going to get some naysayers. You’re going to get a lot of naysayers as you do this. And you need to have those people that are able to just allow you to have the moments of slip up and then come back to go, okay, yes, that video didn’t get any views, or that video got a lot of views and a lot of negative comments, but that, we’ve prepped for that, and this is just, this isn’t a dead end. It’s just a speed bump to show you something else, and you really want to have those people encouraging you in your journey, because it’s hard on your own. I’ve done it alone hard. It’s so hard.

Jess Dewell 21:03
Yeah, here’s the thing, if you’re doing it, when you’re doing it alone, and people around you are even neutral to neutral positive about what you’re doing, it is still incredibly hard, and the risk of failure is high. And so take it from Andrew, everybody. Take it from me. Don’t do it alone. Because, and I will tell you a real a real benefit is that when we, not only yes, we’re in groups, we might get group think, or we might be worried or challenged by that, or something like that. Okay, but the other side of that is that thinking of being in a silo makes us so disconnected from everything. We also need reality. We need somebody to, as you said, throw up a about throw up a shield. Or, hey, what about this? So we can listen. We can open up a little bit more. We can have that vulnerability in a and you said earlier, Andrew, in a safe way, in a safe place, because otherwise we never learn how to be safe or feel like we can tap into our own safety in a new, unexpected, high-pressure, unsafe situation.

Andew Dewar 22:12
It’s so vital to have that support system in place, especially if it’s something that you’ve always wanted to do and you’ve never got support for it, because you were told to get real or be reasonable, or all the other things that come out of society, being happy is reasonable, not pursuing happiness, just being happy. That’s your birth rate. And I get really worked up with this, because I think so many we all got sold on the pursuit of happiness, not the attainment of happiness, and it bugs me so much. I’ve been really hammering this home with people lately, and it’s just you don’t need to wait for happiness to come tomorrow. You don’t have to go find it. It’s within you. And for me, last night, it was I was sitting down, and I’m like, I haven’t played guitar in a couple of weeks, and I just sat down and I played and I sang, and thank goodness there was nobody around, but I enjoyed it, and I went to bed. I had a great sleep because I nurtured my happiness, and that’s really what we’re meant to do. When you’re happy, you attract more happy people. That’s just the way it works. And when you’re miserable, well, you know what happens probably too.

Jess Dewell 23:18
There’s a gentleman that shops at the same grocery store that I shop at. He is older. I’ve never seen him with anybody else, and I was so enough. Finally, I started talking to him. Learned his name, and we talk, and we might be two sentences, it might just be a wave, but every time we see each other, that’s what it is. We had a conversation one day, and he brought me a book. He said, I don’t know you very well yet, and I’m taking a chance here. You need to read this book. It will be right for and you want to know something. It was about, this is so great. It was about something that has been on my mind at the time a whole lot. It was, what is our relationship with power? How does our society look at power depending on our gender or our age or the role that we’re in within an organization or within a community somewhere, and that’s what this book was about. And I was like, holy cow. So coming all the way back to the synchronicity that there is in all of these elements you don’t know, and just by being the way you are and letting whatever shows up without judgment, have the have its moment.

Andew Dewar 24:27
You never know what’s going to happen. I love that story. I’d be curious to know the name of the book too, because I’m always looking for a good the next good business book to read. I just love learning. But I got two things. The first thing is, those are the synchronicities that start to happen when you get outside of your shell, right? You didn’t need to say hi to this stranger and he didn’t need to do that. But I have had this happen multiple times throughout my day, especially when I travel. Traveling is awesome for just opening up your brain and your experience paradigm and. Meet different people. And it’s just like all I the last trip I had, I was gone for 10 days. I was in Atlanta for a conference and some work. And every day I could look, I’m like, this one thing had to happen for this other thing to happen, for this thing to happen. And it was meeting new people and making new connections and getting new making new friends, new contacts. And it just when I looked back and I’m like, oh, it’s all because I decided to do this a year ago, but it’s also because I didn’t go lock myself in my hotel room, which sometimes is just on a trip. Come on, nice to have once at a point. Yeah, somebody else to make your bed. And the other thing I was going to say is having that community. I don’t know where I heard it. I’m terrible at a sign in quotes, but there’s something that was told to me, and that the reason why Jesus had 12 disciples was because he could get 12 different perspectives on any topic. And I’ve thought about that because I’ve never heard of it from that perspective. I mean, I know the, the New Testament and all those stories and whatnot, but I never thought of it from it was in a business book, and I thought that is so valuable. You need to have those people around you that have different perspectives to say. What have you? Have you considered this? Have you considered going to an open mic night? Have you, if you want to be like a standup comedian or just or whatever? Have you considered doing this or that because you’re stuck in your point of view, your paradigm, and until you get out of it, just a little bit, just crack it open a little bit so you can let some light in? You’re going to get some really good feedback, but you likely aren’t going to get it from the P the five people you’ve been spending your life with who are the same people that we all have had that I think where you’re the amalgamation of the five people you spend the most time with, that’s okay, but if you’re wanting to do something different, that means somebody else is going to have to come in, or you’re going to have to go out. Doesn’t mean that you’re going to leave them behind again. They’re free to follow you. That might not be their path, but that’s okay, but you are going to be seeking new experiences, and bringing those new experiences in, inevitably means you’re going to meet new people, whether it’s somebody at a grocery store, which is a wonderful story, or it could be and it can be just somebody on the subway, a one-time thing, or it can be a lifetime thing. The big thing that I have changed in my perspective is I start to look at every event as why is this happening. For me, I don’t think anything’s a coincidence anymore. I used to, but now I’m seeing how things happen. So even when I’m late for something because traffic’s like this, I’m like, I wonder why this is happening. And sometimes you’ll get there, oh no, I was late too, because I just got here two, two seconds before you did. Or there’s always these different dynamics. So it’s just fun to get curious about your journey and seeing where it takes you.

Jess Dewell 27:53
We are put in the right place at the right time, when we hold the whatever energy we are holding that will tell us actually what is happening. There are times, regardless of what you do, there going to be bumps that are showing up. There going to be tests along the way, however you want to look at that. And that’s okay, right? That’s like a that’s to my mind, that’s like when the chrysalis is ready to break in the whole transformation, and a caterpillar with wet wings is trying to come out of its cocoon. And there’s something to be said for that. So I think that there’s an element of that that we will feel during change. And how cool is it that we get to do it more than once? Okay? First of all, we can do it over and over again. I love that concept, and I always hate it because it’s very finite. How do we repeat that? We get too because we’re human. Yeah, yeah, we can. The book that I was mentioning is called Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser. And I thought it was very interesting, because this gentleman’s name, his name is Robin, and he, he goes, I can just tell Jess, you have so much to say, and it’s important. We need your voice, and you need to hear what Elizabeth Lesser says. And, and I was okay, so I read this book, and I said, thank you. And so he is a very it turns out, he reads a lot of deep books about real life, things that we go through or people have lived through, and I find it fascinating. I’m like, I don’t even know much about you, and now I want to know about you that you’re attracted to this type because there’s something about it for him, right? But it’s really cool. So when he has people in town and I’m there, I get to meet his family and friends, right? No, it’s a cool thing. And even if it’s, and I don’t know it’s got to be, for me, I got a book recommendation out of it that I loved those very powerful and I’m listening to the story that you were sharing, and I’m thinking about all of the, you know, all of the ways that this happens, and we have to have the courage to take the first step.

Andew Dewar 29:47
That first step is so pivotal because it’s, it comes back to going, think there’s more to life than this. I think there’s, I think I’m ready for. The journey I was meant to come here and do and, and it can feel scary, but only if you look at it from a certain point of view. A roller coaster can be the funnest thing to somebody or the scariest thing to somebody, but it’s the same roller coaster, and when we look at it from this I wonder where this is going to take me. That is a wonderful place, and the next five years, I am just looking at it right now. I’m like, I wonder where this is going to take me. I have some big goals. I want to be national speaker, published author. I want to have a I want our podcast and but most importantly, those are all just those are outer layer things. What I really want to do is help. I want to help a million people find their purpose, but I’m going to start with the first 1000. And as we do this, there is no better feeling than helping another human and watching that delight come through their eyes as they recognize that they are here for something more than showing up at a job from nine to five and punching the clock. It’s just there are few experiences like that. It’s like a rebirth in its own way, where you just like that aha moment where they go, you’re right. It was so obvious, and now I know this, and now I get to feel how I’m gonna incorporate that into my day. It’s such a beautiful thing. I really love it.

Jess Dewell 31:24
There’s so many ways to have an experience. And to your point of 12 people for 12 perspectives, I was in a meeting today that we had to last minute rearrange where we were meeting, and it took a whole bunch of people ideas to make something come together. Okay, so this was really cool, because that was actually happening. And then we were in there, and we were talking about, so what’s next? And this is a room of 20 people, and about what’s next? Question. Had 10 different responses. It’s a lunch meeting, so we’re we usually have food. So it’s, what kind of food do you want? Do you want to make your own? Do you? And 10 people spoke up, and there were 10 different things. And how amazing is it that same group of people with all those different perspectives was able to very quickly find a new location with which this important work could occur, and then a little bit of bickering about lunch? And actually, it really wasn’t, I wasn’t bickering. I’m using that word because it makes it funny, but it’s but we have to remember that, that we are there are things that we want in the moment, and they’re just as valid as the big goals that support our purpose.

Andew Dewar 32:30
And I think that’s how you get to the bigger things, is by acknowledging the little things as a former people pleaser and just doing everything for everybody else. There are often times in the day where I will look at myself and go, you’re starting to do it again, and meaning like you’re starting to go more to the people pleasing than respecting your own opinion. Do that it is. But again, that with that awareness, you can change it. And you can go, No, you know what? I’m going to take a step back and go, Yeah, I really don’t want to go to the Mexican place for lunch because it hurts my stomach. I’m just gonna go get a vegan taco somewhere else or whatever. I don’t know. I just named two Mexican-type foods. And the same thing,

Jess Dewell 33:12
I will tell you, it’s almost happy hour, where you are as we are. So we got snacks. We got food coming up. I’m now ready to eat, even though it’s not that where I’m at, Andrew, so I like food. We’ll get together anytime. We’ll find a place to eat.

Andew Dewar 33:25
That sounds good. I like that idea. And no sugar, apparently, which is really good.

Jess Dewell 33:29
I know, right for both of us, it’s super great, huh? Oh, that’s so good. So we were talking about courage, and we’re talking about the first step, and I want to talk about, I want to talk about how you apply that to the outside world pressuring you because this is important work for how we are as people and how we show up in the world. And then we go to work with which is its own organism, its own structures. It operates by a different set of rules, whether we like it or not. Those rules seem to be changing, and that’s great. Whatever else is going on out in the world may actually impact us and influence us more of that business, more than we understand. And how do you, as the co-founder of five-year, you take all of this work that you’ve been doing and this high energy and bring it into a this we’ve gotta, we’ve gotta hitch all of our missions together. We’ve got to have a clear message going forward, we have to understand the priorities, which is a very interesting because you’ve got a lot of people that have done this work that are willing to do that, and it’s a whole different paradigm.

Andew Dewar 34:30
The way I see it is the inner game doesn’t always get affected by the outer game unless we let it. So if I have, if I’m going to an office every day, and I’ve got an office job and I’ve got a boss that’s a jerk and doesn’t like what I’m doing, or for whatever reason, I have a bunch of ways I can perceive that. Now, if I’m in a stuck mindset, I’m going to look at it. I’m going to come home every day. I’m going to come. Playing to my significant other. I’m gonna say my boss is such a jerk. They do this and nothing ever changes. And nothing is gonna change because my significant other is not gonna do anything. They’re not gonna go call my boss up and say, you need to change. Am I significant? My boss isn’t gonna change either. I can’t go give him a book and say, like you got at the grocery store and say, I really think you should read this. It’s called being kind like that would not go. Well, not gonna go. It’s gonna fly like a lead balloon, folks. So what you have to do is you have to acknowledge that a couple of things. First thing this person is in your life to teach you a lesson, and that might be to stand up for yourself. You’re gonna have to figure out what that lesson actually is. Everybody in your life right now is there to teach you something or and it’s they serve a purpose. And some people’s purpose is as fast as somebody honking at you behind like at the car behind you, and others are drawn out for a lifetime, like parents and siblings. The next thing you’ve got to look at is your own energy. And what I mean by that is that your perception of this person is part of the dynamic of how they treat you. And I, I’ll be honest, the first time I heard this, I did not buy into this, but over time, I started to give it a shot, and I would think like, Why does, why do certain people always try to take advantage of me, and then I recognize because you let them and like, why am I letting them? Because, and this goes into inner child work, which you can talk about another later on. But what it really boiled down to was like, this is happening to not just one person doing this is happening in different ways, because there’s a lesson that you need to learn here, and that lesson is that you need to set boundaries, like we said earlier, or not allow terrible people to affect you or infect you, to just be able to look at them and go, Okay, you know what? You’re terrible. I’m just grateful for the contrast that I’m happy and you’re not thank you for that reminder. It’s just because somebody yells at you doesn’t mean you have to feel bad. Just because somebody’s mean to you doesn’t mean you have to let it in. I saw something really good the other day, and it was like nobody can make you feel something without your permission. And when you see it from that perspective, it makes sense. So the reason why you’re going home and complaining about your boss is because there’s a lesson that you’re not willing to learn, and maybe that is standing up. Maybe it’s to find a new job. Maybe it’s to, to just learn how to appreciate the contrast of these people in your lives because they are there. And if you found that you’ve always had the same kind of boss or that same kind of person that shows up every time that kind of pushes the same button over and over again, you need to learn that lesson so that type of person can move on because you’re gonna keep learning it over and over again until it you’re gonna be taught it until you learn it basically.

Jess Dewell 38:02
Oh, yeah, embrace the misery or embrace the change, right?

Andew Dewar 38:06
Yeah, you’re already embracing the misery. Why don’t you give change a try and see how it goes?

Jess Dewell 38:10
I like your way better. Yes, that’s right. Give change a try. That’d be Oh, we could probably redo something that’s already in existence for that. You’re listening to the Bold Business Podcast. I’m your host, Jess this is your program for strategizing long-term success while diving deep into what the right work is for your business right now,

ANNOUNCER 38:29
You are listening to the Bold Business Podcast hosted by Jess Dewell, a nationally recognized Strategic Growth consultant. She works with business owners and executives to integrate just two elements that guide business through the ups and downs of growth. Number one, know what work is necessary. Number two, do all the work possible. Schedule a complimentary consultation to find out more at red direction dot com.

Jess Dewell 38:59
So what are some experiences and learnings you’ve had as the co-founder of a company in relationship to this?

Andew Dewar 39:07
One of the big ones for me was as I was going through this, I was learning a lot about different a lot of different and we’ll call it metaphysical stuff and quantum physics and stuff like that. It’s really hard when you’re a three I was an accountant by practice, and to change my view on this was just gigantic. Because in my mind, if it didn’t exist on a spreadsheet, how could it be real? Like it was very narrow-minded, and I had to expand the way I thought. And so when people started to talk about things like change your energy around something, I just kind of snickered. I’m like, I don’t know what that means. But you know, for the, one of the first things that happened was I recognized that my father was a wonderful man. Didn’t get this stuff, didn’t get personal growth and change and stuff like that. And I recognized that was me projecting onto him, and when I saw that when I’m like, No, my father accepts me for what I do within 24 hours the next time I saw him, he was completely different. And that was an aha moment where I’m like, Wow, it really can change that fast. And now he’ll find articles and he’ll be like, have you seen this thing? Like, it’s when your energy around people changes, the people around you change or they The other thing that will happen is they get out of the way so the right people can come in. So that’s been one of the biggest things, is just to allow myself to be open to the next idea without trying to force the idea in.

Jess Dewell 40:36
How does this show up in your, in your strategic planning with your co-founder?

Andew Dewar 40:43
My partner is also my, my life partner. And the way we talk about it is, we go through things and we, we have to understand, as we go through that, that there’s a there’s a five-year me, there’s a five-year her, and there’s Five Year You the company. Those three things are always the foundation is always each of us as individuals. And then what does that mean for the collective? And I think that’s a really big differentiator for a lot of, a lot of it, because if one of us isn’t feeling something, if one of us is, yeah, this the stream of revenue, or this path, or whatever we’re thinking about doing this. It doesn’t feel right. If one of us says that we have two choices, the other person who’s really keen on it can go do it if it makes sense, but typically we trust the other person’s gut and go. That doesn’t make sense for the company as a whole, or for each of us. And it’s not a it’s not a 10. Is something that we say a lot of the time is like, when we’re going through ideas, we’ll be like, Okay, how important is it to get a new logo? It’s a one, okay? For me, it’s a two, okay. So clearly, not something, but we might have another thing that we’ve talked a lot about is, how many clients do we want to take on at any given time? And we’ve looked at it, we’ve gone over it, and right now we’re like, we’ll do five at a time, and the wait list can happen. We put people through an accelerator, which is really where the five, the five people, come in because I don’t want, I want to be able to give everybody my attention to in its entirety. And I can do that up to about five people. Beyond that, it doesn’t make sense. And for right now, that’s where we’re at with our business. So strategically, we have to have those conversations. And while we can look at it and go, we could, we could do these big group, ones that are like 10-20-50, people. And so that doesn’t feel like it’s on in line with my purpose. And that’s a 10. For me, my purpose is a 10. Her purpose is a 10. And those are the things that, again, make five-year use purpose also a 10 for making sure that we’re reaching people. We’ve had businesses before where it was much more volume based where, you know, like, lower price point for a lot more people, and it just didn’t make it was nice, but I want to see the look in people’s eyes when they go through this stuff. I want I and it’s I want people to have that safe space. And you can’t have a safe space in a room of 1000 people right at the beginning. You grow into that as time goes on. So that’s where we look at things, as far as being strategic and going, Okay, five years from now, it might be very different, but year, one of the next five years is this.

Jess Dewell 43:25
That’s interesting. I’m gonna actually show you if I can get it easily because what you’re talking about, I do slightly differently. I’ve had business partners before. Red Direction does not have a business partner. Red Jess and it’s Red Direction. And like you, I’ve also kept the company separate, and it has its own mission and purpose. And I am not my company. The last 20 years, people think I’m crazy because I started this without wanting to be the center of the company. I’m like, if it’s the center of the company, it’s all about me. And that’s my goal, is to put myself out of business. And so that was my purpose, and then and the business’s purpose, it had its here’s what we’re going to do to help you. So there you go. But each Let me see. I’ll show you, I’ll show you Q threes because it’s complete, and then I’ll show you my q4 so I draw okay with Right, right. So I’ve got all kinds of things here, all the things that I want to bring to the table to make it work. But in general, I make a list tonight, and Red Direction can’t have more than 10 things to be working on in a quarter, because they all won’t get done. Because both of those things have 10 or 50 or 20, or they’ll span quarters, or whatever it is, it’s just the right time to start considering them. And then each one of those gets ranked by my interest and by the impact to the company. It’s not quite as separate as what you were doing of having a complete voice. I’m just like, if I’m not willing to put my energy in making it go, but it will drive a lot of money. Do I have people on? Are our employees going to be able to do that? And if the answer yes, we do it. And if the answer is no, we don’t do it. Do. Went, and there are days, and I make my list before I put it in my pretty little thing, because it takes a little it takes a while, and I cross stuff off. I’m like, Nope, we change. This doesn’t work here anymore. Nope. It doesn’t work here anymore. And to have the courage to say, no, this doesn’t work anymore. Just because you make a plan doesn’t mean it’s the plan that that you talk about destination, that destination is the destination.

Andew Dewar 45:21
That destination is when you’re doing five years is a long ways away, but it gives you that ability to do it. So when you’re doing your 10 items per quarter, which could feel like, imagine, depending on what tasks are, can feel like a lot.

Jess Dewell 45:37
This one has six my quarter four for 2024. Has six things. I mean, I like, they’re dumb, right? There’s no way 10 things are gonna get down, even if I wanted it. Thanks, though.

Andew Dewar 45:47
Yeah, I think part of it is when we look at those items and go, are they aligned with the vision? Are they aligned with me? And if those, if one of those two things isn’t there, it’s gonna be really hard to take action on them.

Jess Dewell 46:00
I like the idea it’s okay if it changes because you’re just, you’re right. Five years seems far away, and it’s really not. It’s amazing how it’s amazing how time it’s going by at its cadence, and we forget about certain things. So also, the other reason I do that and I write it down is because, if it’s out of my head. It’s at least been made real somewhere.

Andew Dewar 46:23
I like that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Jess Dewell 46:27
Do you, do you use technology to do your writing it down? Or do you do a more journal style, like what I was showing you?

Andew Dewar 46:33
Yes to both. [I got you.] I’ve tried a bunch of things, and I’m like, the easy I’ve one of my challenges in my life is to overcome complexity and get down to simplicity. And I I’m really good at making things complex for myself, but really good at making things simple for others. So for me, I just looked and I’m like, what makes the most sense? I’m just going to use an iPad with a pencil and it used notes. Now you can do audio recordings, you can take snapshots for it. And it just has all the things that I need in one thing, plus it’s with me wherever I go. It’s I can get on my phone, my iPad and my computer. So that’s what I use, because it just it fills both needs. I I’m really trying to get less paper in my life, but it just doesn’t seem to want to go that way yet.

Jess Dewell 47:21
I have less paper than I used to, but I am very tactile in my learning, and so I just was like, cool. I love technology. Technology is going to be great. It allows me to take everything I have with me, because before technology, I could not, and I did try to go all electronic, and it did not work. Now for a variety of reasons, I probably didn’t give it enough time. I probably wasn’t curious, and I’ll be real, right? Shortcomings. I was probably not curious enough about how my workflow would actually look. I just wanted to do the same thing with a different tool. And anybody who’s ever run a business knows that’s silly to even think about. But we do it and we do it, and that’s why we don’t change our technology, or we update our systems, or we what, whatever it is, you know that it will come up and it’s really and so and we don’t know what we take for granted, and if there’s no curiosity there, that means we’re actually not being strategic. So we may have a destination, we may have a plan, but there is, there’s we’re already throwing up roadblocks that we don’t we’re not even going to understand because of that. And so I’m a big proponent of do whatever it takes and however it works because technology is amazing. Technology is amazing and I’m still going to draw.

Andew Dewar 48:36
I think, a big part of business, and like running your own business and everything. It’s just being aware of how you are and knowing your quirks about certain things. I know. For me, I have a bad night’s sleep the night before. I know I’m garbage. I just know it, but I have to until I had that awareness because the old me would just plot, okay, I’m just gonna, I’m still gonna put in the long day that I usually enjoy doing, but I’m not going to enjoy it. You force yourself to where. If I had just given myself permission to go have the 45-minute nap, I probably would have reset everything in my brain come back to with a completely different energy. So now I allow myself to look at things and go, yeah, maybe it’s a nap time. Or yeah, maybe it’s maybe I’m not going to figure this out the way I want to today, and it can just pause for the day, but that awareness of yourself is such an important thing in life, and so many of us are so afraid to look in the mirror to see it, because we think we’re gonna see something hideous, and you’re not. You’re just seeing the little things that make you, and once you acknowledge them, you can adjust to them better.

Jess Dewell 49:37
Yes, so how often do you check in with your when you make your plans and you’ve got what’s your cadence for checking in with your five-year plan? Your Five Year You and your own the walk you’re walking within your partnership and within your company.

Andew Dewar 49:53
I’m always curious about that, so I like to check in at least every 90 days if there’s an aspect of my life that I’m really focused on depending on what it is like. Right now, I’ve been traveling a lot, and I’m going away again in a couple of days, but I need to get back into a good morning and evening routine. It’s just got jumbled from all the things and so something like that I will address in that 90 days to know that once I get that address, I can put it on repeat. But I with our clients and for each other, we will look at it ourselves every 90 days and just say, Okay, this is what I had been working on the last 90 days as part of this, part of myself, or as people, as my work, or whatever that. How am I doing with that or and with that 90-day check-in, I usually like weekly look at your, what you’ve written down for your 90 days, just to keep it front of mind, because it’s very easy. There’s so much going on, we can easily get distracted and be Oh, no, we were going to do we were going to completely do the marketing plan. Then we’re going to do the website. Oh, what should we do the marketing plan? Then the website and the marketing plan is you just can get shiny object syndrome. Is it a nice way of saying it, and just to be able to look at it and go, Okay, for the quarter, for the business, we are looking at these several so these seven items, three are key for our extras that we get to them, we can push them back to the next quarter. That’s fine. And for ourselves, it’s I’m working like, for me right now, I’m learning Spanish. That’s my like, my mental thing that I’m working on right now. For physical, I’m learning about breath works. I really love learning stuff, because everything I learn, I get to teach and help other people with. So it’s a really nice, fun thing. But in those in having those things, it’s just you have those little sparks that help you go, Oh, I’m still nourishing myself right now. I’m still doing these things, and that’s why you want to keep them front of mind every week while you go through the 90 days.

Jess Dewell 51:52
That’s that, yeah, minor 90 days. You saw the recorders on there. I actually check in every week too. I take every Monday, and it’s 20% of my work week one day, to make sure that things are on task and on track, and if they do change, what’s the reason behind it? Is it because there was something happening in the industry? Was it because it was an opportunity that actually aligned right now? Because I will tell you what the stuff that happens in I have stuff happening in quarter two that didn’t that is showing up now in our fourth quarter that are not on my whatever. I think I said six things. I’m like, hello there. So there’s an element of spaciousness to just see if the energy wasn’t right, but the the general time frame is right. It’s a pretty amazing thing to think about. And I’m a big proponent to saying no, and I think there are a lot of us that need to learn that. So for me to be able to do that, I have to say no to make time on my calendar, and I have to say no, because I’m really prioritizing the highest and best for people’s interest, red direction’s purpose, and, most importantly, the people that we’re serving. So that’s right.

Andew Dewar 53:03
I think when we’re looking at checking in and all the stuff we’re talking about, one of the things I’ve been advising people, and because I’ve been giving the advice to myself too, is that you need to let you need there to be room for the magic to happen and like for like, for the divine interventions to happen, like the book at the grocery store. If you had said, if that, if you had said, at the beginning of the year, I am reading a different book a week, and I have all my books, and that guy gave you the book and you said, Sorry, this doesn’t fit my plan, it’d be incredibly rude, but you would often be doing yourself a disservice, because the universe is like, look, here’s this thing for you that could help. It’s not on your list because you couldn’t think of it through the mind that you came up with your list with. There’s something better now here it is. You got to allow space for the synchronicities and for the happy coincidences to come into your life. And I think when we’re planning we get that tendency to think, I have to plan it all out and you don’t.

Jess Dewell 54:03
No. I’m gonna just be… Welcome to my world where we fly by the cedar of our pants some of the time. I That’s very true. Andrew, okay, what makes it bold? What makes it bold to do that self-work, to change, to be on purpose?

Andew Dewar 54:21
What makes it bold is that you are staring society standards in the eyes and looking at it and going, I see what you’ve done here, and I know there’s something better and it starts inside of me. And that takes all the courage in the world to do but it’s so much better on the other side.

Jess Dewell 54:40
Every single time I have a conversation, I take away something that I want to share with 25 people. I know when you’re listening to this podcast, you’re also listening for that and will have something that you want to share in the comments. I would like for you to engage with us. What is that thing that, that you want to tell 25 people from this program? Here’s why it’s important. It’s important because, yeah, there are going to be how to’s. Yes, there are going to be steps. Yes, you’re going to be like, Oh, I wish I wrote that down. I wish I wasn’t doing this and I could actually take action on that right now. But guess what? You’re not so engaged right now because that one thing you want to share with others will be the thing that you can figure out how to incorporate in your business, in your workflow, in your style tomorrow.

ANNOUNCER 55:32
Jess hosts the Bold Business Podcast to provide insights for building a resilient, profitable business by deeply understanding your growth strategy, ensuring market relevance and your company’s future, it is bold to deeply understand your growth strategy with your host, Jess Dewell, get more information about how to drive solutions and reset your growth mindset at red direction dot com thank you for joining us, and special thanks to our post-production team at the Scott Treatment.