Michael E. Parker
Appearances
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
They can't even say it because they don't believe it. If I have a discount mindset, if I have a mindset that doesn't feel I can do something or I can charge this for that, There's no way I can, in transparency, really communicate the value of what I have because I don't believe it myself.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So when I don't believe it myself, I transfer that to the person I'm selling to, and this is the reason so many people are stuck because that limiting belief is still in them. So what I try to do is to slowly begin to carve that limiting belief out of them, get them to first see themself differently. so that they can see their customer differently, which allows them to see results differently.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And that's kind of the pathway I try to focus on.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, I started off, Charles, I was really someone that was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in business. And, you know, fortune would have it that while I was wrapping up my bachelor's degree in business operations and procurement, I actually got hired by Toyota. They had a special operation in California. where Toyota and General Motors had came together. And it was very unique.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Yeah, you know, I think something I like to always teach people, and I use the acronym of CEO. And I teach people that one of the first things we have to do, we have to learn how to charge. And charge means to take. immediate imperfect action, to stop waiting for everything to be perfect before you act, to be willing to charge forward, to take action, to see it as now o'clock.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
That is so many people that miss opportunities because they simply won't do what they know to do. Some people think if I just knew more, if I knew this, if I knew that, well, our biggest problem is what we don't know. Our biggest problem is what we do know. The things we already know, people know what to do to be more fit. They know what to do to be more healthy.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
The issue is we won't do what we know to do. So getting entrepreneurs to transition to the CEO mindset of I need to take action. The other thing is, is that we have to be able to expand.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So that means that I have to make a commitment to expand my knowledge, to expand my network, to expand my learning, and that there's actually an investment that I have to make in myself to be able to input more information that is actually useful to my growth.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
There's too many entrepreneurs that aren't willing to grow into a CEO because it requires that, you know, what got you here won't get you there. And the pathway and the separation to getting you there is something you don't know. The difference between a six figure and a seven figure CEO is something that you don't know. Right.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And so if I'm not willing to expand my base of knowledge to listen to people who have been somewhere I'm trying to get to, I'll always stay where I've been. So expansion is very important. And then the O in CEO for overcome, because no matter what you deal with, there's going to be an obstacle. There's going to be something that gets in your way.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
As soon as you make a decision to go forward, there's going to be a roadblock. There's going to be a issue. There's going to be something that says, here's why you can't. And it is the people who transition to CEOs, they have this relentless fire in them that somehow says, I'm not gonna let this thing stop me. I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna overcome this obstacle.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I'm not gonna let my initial thought, my initial view of what has taken place. You know, it's ironic, but it goes back to physics to understand the law of polarity, that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. There's never one side of anything. There's always two sides.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So whenever something looks like you're not going to be able or you can't or it's bad, there has to be a better side to it. When I look at some things I went through as a young man, Charles, I went through some challenges. And my mom was in a domestic violence situation. And I grew up, I went through a lot of things. I went to six different elementary schools.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I went to a home for battered women with my mom. And I could look at all these things and say, man, look at my life and all that. But listen, these were some of the best moments in my life because it shaped my leadership. It made me stronger. It taught me how to care for people. Pain helped me to appreciate healing.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
being able to understand what can happen when you do certain things cause me to want to live a different life.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
There was a lot of dynamics that were interesting. But it just so happened that there were problems in North America. I was in my early 20s just getting going. And they sent Akio Toyota, who is the grandson of the founder of Toyota, someone in the real Toyota family. But I think you have to be 60 years old to be the president or whatever. So he was going through this whole process.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So until you have the ability, the keen sense of seeing what is good about anything that happens in your life, it's very hard to be a CEO because you're going to have a lot of things that come up that you didn't want to happen, but it's those people who overcome that are able to fully move into being a CEO.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So these are just a few things, but we have to charge, we have to expand, and we have to overcome.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Yeah. So, you know, I think, um, You know, all of my journey over two decades building businesses, I've been making different offers to businesses and groups and companies. And one thing that I've kind of arrived at that there's a way to organize these into four core offers. And I give a shout out to a good friend of mine and coach named Myron Golden, who is likes to organize it this way as well.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And I think it's a really good, succinct way. But I've been using offers like this for so many years and seeing what it does to entrepreneurs. And so the first offer is a lead generation offer. And every true CEO needs a systematic, predictable way to generate leads.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And one of the ways, you know, you can have the best product in the world, but if there's no one there to buy it, it doesn't mean anything, right? And if you don't have an audience that is larger than your system or your way to convert a sale, you're going to go out of business. I don't care how great your thing is. So we need a lead generation offer that is always bringing new leads.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And I define a lead as someone who is giving me their contact information. There's a lot of things you can define it as, but I want to just be real simple. Do I have your phone number or your email? Can I get a hold of you? If I can't get a hold of you, you're not a lead, right?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Someone who has raised their hand and said, I'm interested in what you're talking about, and here's my contact information, right? Not a lead. So this is a lead. I need an offer, whether that I want to give something of real value out there that makes someone want to give me their email. And sometimes people think, well, this is going to be easy. I'll just give this thing for free.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Free still has to be sold. Yes. It's because it's free. Don't mean people will give you that email and that phone number. It's got to still be good. It's got to be something that really brings transformation, something that really helps them. Then there's what's called a core product offer. And this is more of the core thing you do. It still has to be an offer.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
journey of getting the education he needed to prep him. Everyone knew he was going to be the next president and now chairman. So he comes there and I give him a presentation. He loved it. And the next thing I know, he handpicked me to be a part of a special project team, sent me to Japan. And I saw some of the greatest operational excellence in the world. And it taught me about systems.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So that main service you provide, that main product that keeps the lights on, you still want to organize that into a very good offer. So someone understands that if I give you this, I get all of this. This is what an offer makes you feel like. And you're able to charge more for that when you organize the offer that way.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Now, another critical offer, and a lot of people really miss out on this, and this is the thing that can really move you to seven figures very quickly, is understanding premium value offers. Now, premium value offers, I would say, range from anywhere from 5,000 to, I know some people who have million dollar premium value offers.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So if you are able to put together a very clear transformation that you can get for someone, very clear transformation, and you're able to realize that people don't want your process, they don't want your person, that I get a lot of time with you, I get to go through this seven-step whatever process, they want the payoff. They want the outcome.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
They want the thing that gets the result for them, right? So when you're able to really define that, You're able to start making premium value offers and something that people used to do in a year can literally happen in one day. Yes. Right. So you can make $300, $300,000 in a day. You can make a million dollars in a day. I'm among a network of people.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
We do this all the time where you can generate these types of numbers simply by knowing how to make premium value offers. So that's a critical element, right? Then you deal with, and let me just say this too before I go to this last one, is that when you start running the numbers, you start realizing, okay, if I sell 20 of this $50,000 thing, that's a million dollars, like right now.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
It's not 365 days, not 52 weeks. Today, if I have a $50,000 offer that gets a clear transformation and just 20 people buy it, That's seven figures right now. And some people who don't understand that, they don't realize not only is this possible, it's happening every day.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And there's no reason that anyone listening to this can't achieve that once you know how to structure the things that you do into a clear transformation. But that brings me to the last one, which I think is one of the most important offers of all, and that is a continuity offer. Mm-hmm. A continuity offer. A continuity offer is something that people pay you monthly or could be annually as well.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But it's something that has a consistent rhythm where they pay continuously for what you do. They subscribe. They become a member. It can be as simple as someone paying a monthly fee to be a part of a group that you started where you talk to them every month. It could be a newsletter. It could be a distinct portal that they get access to. It could be coaching.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But something, it could be software, which is one of my favorites. So at the end of the day, Russell Brunson built a whole business model around this called the linchpin model because... he realized that the linchpin is really your continuity.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Because at the end of the day, even if you wanna sell your business one day and you might be a great leader and you might be good at what you do, but even investors know, well, what if something happens to you? What am I going to do if you're not around? They want something that's been systemized and they look at your monthly recurring revenue.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
That is going to generate the most value for your business and make your business the most sellable and have the most highest value proposition to an investor. And also, when you have very strong continuity, this is the thing that allows you to sleep at night as a CEO. Because you can't live off of events. You can't live off of the next campaign.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
It taught me about operations. And, you know, to fast forward after getting that experience and really becoming, you know, very profound and proficient, I should say, in the lean management discipline. I was able to break away and become an entrepreneur. And so for the last two decades, I've started many, many businesses.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
You want to know there's some level of continuity that keeps the bills paid and the lights on no matter what you do so that those other things that you do just become these dramatic moments of injections of money. But I've got my baseline stability from my continuity. So these four offers, lead generation, core product offers, productivity, premium value, and continuity.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
These are the four critical offers that every business needs if they want to be a seven-figure or more business and comfortably sustain that into the foreseeable future.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, that's an excellent question, Charles. And I think one of the things that is most critical, there's a lot I could say about that. The most critical thing I think to really get across is a couple of things. One is that the difference between pain and pleasure. So when you have lead magnets with a cold audience who doesn't know you. Yeah. And you lead them towards pleasure.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Like the, you know, come here and then automatically you're going to lose weight. People don't believe you. You know, I love the story of, you know, if you were standing out on the street and you were just waving a hundred dollar bill and you said, I just want to give this the way away to everyone. You know, you were yelling. No one would trust you. It must be a counterfeit.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
There's something wrong. Like who would do that? Right. It's too good to be true. So everyone's you know, your your your radar goes up for a scam or fake or whatever. Right. But what's amazing is if a rock fell on my head and I was bleeding profusely and I didn't I was trying to help a complete stranger came up. and said, hey, let me have your phone. Give me the passcode. Let me call 911 for you.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I would give them my phone and I don't even know them, but because I'm in pain, I'm willing to work with someone I don't know. So the reason I bring that up is, When you talk about pain, people are more willing to give it a try to see what it's about. So instead of saying the seven things that will make you rich, I would talk about the seven mistakes that stop you from being rich, right?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
The seven things you're doing wrong, the seven reasons that you can't, overcome, blah, blah, blah, blah, to make seven figures. These are the things that get attention. The other thing is, I would say, is the more that we can make sure that that lead magnet is gonna give them a real result,
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And by starting those businesses, I started to understand a framework that actually helps to move a business from six figures to seven figures. I had a lot of businesses that made six figures, but it wasn't until I learned how to really be a CEO and how to think differently.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
If you can get a lead magnet that gives them a real result that these these are, you know, I'm going to teach you the seven mistakes that authors are making that causes their books to not sell more than 20 copies. Right. And then you let them know in there, I'm going to give you a tool that's going to help you do this specific thing. Right. That is a part of a bigger process.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But I'm going to give you one part of it. So these are two things that I've seen be very successful. The selling of pain. Help me get out of the pain is something that solves a specific problem within a bigger process. These are things that people will give you their email for and you'll find more success in people actually being willing to stand up and say, hey, I would like to understand more.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And I found that it's actually that you have to learn how to be not just the CEO of the business, but the CEO of yourself, as well as learning more about wealth as well, since you know how all these work together to create a freedom. And so this is what I'm passionate about is seeing entrepreneurs move from just the art of solving problems to
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So do you mean specifically about the way they position their offers or just in general?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, one thing that I would say that I think is just really would help those that are listening is that's really big is when I help people with their offers, right? Sometimes that I think a big mistake people make, they think that this gumbo of stuff makes it a good offer, that there's all this stuff. You get this and you get that. They focus on the pieces and not understanding the payoff.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And sometimes people actually can reduce what's in the offer and charge more money. Because you get to the transformation quicker. So if you get to the people don't want like, you know, say, hey, you get to spend, you know, three days with me a week. People don't want to spend three days with me a week. They want to spend the most minimal time with me as possible to get to the transformation.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Right. So so helping people with their offer. And a lot of times the issue I have, Charles, is they'll put this thing in their offer. And then the next thing that they offer in the offer is not related to a pain that the person is going to have within the offer. Here's what I mean. So I say, okay.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I'm working with some when they say you get this 12 week training that's going to help you learn how to do a. OK, and then the next thing that they have is something about a T-shirt or a some sort of trip somewhere that has nothing to do with what anyone learned. They're like, but it's value. Yeah, but it's not related to that.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
See, but if I was if I was making an offer that had to do, let's say I wanted to sell this new, you know, backpack that's great for going hiking and I want to sell this backpack and I would say, OK, there's this great backpack. Now, a pain someone might have that's going to go hiking. is that they might need a really good flashlight.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So I might say as another part of this offer, I'm gonna give you this special flashlight that glows in the dark, can warm your food and do this and that. The next thing is they might need a compass because while they're out, see that's related. Next thing you know, they might need something that's going to actually strengthen their tent in case a bear came at night.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And it's something that locks their tent in a special way and puts a fortune. All of those things have congruency and they have relationship to what the main reason that I even want the offer is about. When you build an offer, you have to create congruency. You want to make sure that everything. So if you remember the movie Inception.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
where you start dealing with incepting someone's thought and putting something in their mind. People who build good offers, they're able to not only make sure there's something in there that's transformative, they actually describe the next problem that's going to come from the solution that they gave. Absolutely. Because every solution creates a new problem.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So the people who make good offers, they're able to see the problem in the solution and then add something else in the offer that then solves that problem. And you keep stacking it, this value stacking, to where the offer becomes irresistible. That is what I feel is the secret to helping people make great offers.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
to actually building systems that run a business so that that business can scale.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Yes, so I created a offer builder tool and there's a few things that are involved in this. And so as a gift to those out there who really wanna know more about this critical, critical art of building just flagship offers that could lead to seven figure businesses. When you understand this, this literally is the thing that can change the game for you. If you learn how to make strong offers,
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So some people say I'm not making enough money and a lot of times it's simply you're not making enough offers. You're not giving anyone a reason to give you money and you haven't put enough time into the thing that's gonna make you the most money. And this is a tool to help you do that. So the first thing that I do is I have a tool that, so these are three components of this tool.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
The first component is to help you just begin to identify the four offers for your business. So what is your lead generation offer? What is your core product offer that is based on the core thing your business does? What is a good example of a premium value offer that you could provide? And what is your continuity offer?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
This basically allows you to list those out on a document and then to list out, you know, actually help you to do some research of other people's offers in these four categories. And then you list the actual thing you're going to do And what you would, you know, kind of what you would charge for it. So you're just kind of building a framework of your four offers. That's the first thing.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Another tool that I give you with this is it uses what I call the car method, the car method. And what you do is. you're basically looking at things that you have access to that are already there that will allow you to assemble your offer. So there are some things that I already have, right?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And when you think about the different elements, the different assets that you might have, here's what we're really doing. We're taking all these things that we've done in our business Right. I've built a product here and a service here. And there's things that customers have said, I like this. But now what I need to do, I need to go and pull these assets together to start building an offer.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And sometimes I have things that are just ready to go. Like I can use this as is. This is good. I can put it in the treasure chest and use it as an offer. Sometimes I have things that need to be altered a little bit. And with a little tweaking, this is something I can put into an offer. And then sometimes there's something I just need to create brand new.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Like I need to create something brand new that I don't like for this offer to be what it could be. I need this thing and I don't have it. So I'm going to take the time and I'm going to do a quick training video. I'm going to make a partnership and get an alliance with someone that will allow that they'll allow.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Sometimes people make the mistake in thinking everything in the offer has to be from them, but it doesn't. I can build a partnership with someone and say, hey, every time I sell this, will you give them this thing that you have that will make my offer perfect? And say, sure, just throw me $50 every time you sell that offer. And here, I'm doing this offer for $5,000.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I'll give you $50 every time I sell it. You can do that to make the ultimate offer for someone. So this is a tool that allows you to do that. The next tool is... to actually structure your offer. And here's where the real offer building comes. Now you actually begin to lay out your offer. What is the first item? What is the value of it that you would assign to this element of your offer?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So you actually list it out. You say, this is worth 997 by itself, $997. Then you begin to think about that inception. What's the next problem that that thing solves? And then you list out the next thing and you assign a value to it. And you go all the way down this sheet, filling out the value proposition.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And then you get a, then after you do those main things, I have an area where you list some bonuses because a good offer always has a few little bonuses. So you say, well, here's the main things of the offer. But if you do this offer today, here's a few bonuses. We're gonna give you this, gonna give you that. So I have you list that and assign a value.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
At the very bottom, you begin to add it all up and get a total value. And then lastly, you make that distinction back again when I said, if your value is here and your price is here, they will always make an attempt to buy. So what you're doing then now is assigning a price that is different than that total value that's gonna be the actual offer that you make them.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So when you put all these three things together, you now have the construct of building an offer that you can actually start to sell to generate substantial amounts of money just from doing this one exercise. It can lead to a six to seven figure opportunity by itself.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Yeah. Well, I think when you think about an entrepreneur, you know, anybody who can really solve a real problem. Right. We could say as an entrepreneur, we have inventors who are coined as entrepreneurs. And this is why so many people make a mistake, Charles, as I know you well know, because they can cook.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, yeah, and I just want to say real quick on what you just said, Charles, because it's so powerful when you talk about CEO thinking and you think about offers. What's so powerful is wealthy people make money out of things that come in their mind, not things that they do with their muscles, right? And people say work hard.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And the beauty of it is when you make a good offer, not only do you make money then, but when you make that money that day from you selling the offer, you still have the offer. So the offer becomes an asset that you keep making money on. And so one of the things that I do is, when you think about those out there that really wanna know more about how do I actually become a better CEO?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
How do I actually learn how to make better offers? So I have a few things that I do. You know, people that are interested in, I have a program called a C-Suite Business Mastery Program.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And people that are interested in that, you know, they can look us up on urco.com and contact us if they're interested in just learning more about the things we do in our business and wanting to know more about our programs. But one of the things that we do, I offer a free webinar. And this whole webinar is built on teaching entrepreneurs the roadmap, what I call a business freedom roadmap.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
How do I actually do the things that seven-figure CEOs are doing so I can get the results now and use my money to collapse my time? So what can I do to invest in myself, to collapse the time it would take to become a seven-figure CEO now? And I teach in this free webinar what people have done to collapse that time. What is the real roadmap to do that?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So sometimes I refer to these webinars from Fedder to Freedom because we are bound by the lies we've been told about business and we need the truth to make us free. We got to understand what do people really do? What's the real thing that people do? It's more than selling a product. It's more than showing up saying my name is this and I'm a CEO.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So this webinar is a beautiful place to come and get some good information. It's called From Fetter to Freedom. But another thing that I would mention is that I wanna make sure people have access to the tool. And I believe the domain that I put together for this tool, I'll mention it in just a minute. You can go to this distinct domain and you will be able to download this tool for free.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
They think they can start a restaurant because they know how to do certain things and they have the talent. They think it translates to running a business and they find out very quickly, well, no, you can solve a problem in terms of people being hungry and you can help them feel full and even like your food. But running a business is a total different thing.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And what I would invite people to do is to take this tool, really begin to use it, fill it out. And if you go through the process of filling it out, So it the domain is your offer builder dot com, your offer builder dot com. And I named it that because it's yours. It's your offer builder.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And if you take this and just go through the steps and, you know, follow the instructions, you will end up with this offer that you can use. But here's the issue. Once you have a great offer. You have to make sure you have a great business to back that offer up. You got to make sure that you actually know how to fulfill on that offer. See, if your business isn't strong.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So there's five elements I teach in my program to help someone become a CEO minded entrepreneur. The first thing, Charles, is clarity. We have to be super clear on who we're serving. what that market is, and what is the distinct strategy for me to be successful in that market. And I'm super clear on who I am and who I serve. The next is capacity.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I must understand the capacity, how much capacity is in this market for me to even make seven figures. Are you in a dying market? Do you understand your numbers? Do you not understand the difference between gross profit margin and net profit or profit margin? Do you know what those things are, right?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
The difference between knowing how much money you're making on your product versus making on your business. So this is all capacity issues, right? Then we have to understand commerce. Do you have a systematic way of having money flow into your business like a river? Because you've got a distinct way to generate leads and to convert the sale that is predictable. Then we have clear commerce.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
The next one is control. We must have a sense of control in our business. You know, in statistics, they talk about upper control limits and lower control limits.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
If you don't understand what control means in terms of how you want customers to feel when they work with you, if you don't know what control means and the distinct quality and experience you want people to get from your service and product in a way that is consistent and happens every time, and you put systems in place to get that result in a predictable, consistent way, you don't really have a business.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
You know, I've told people this sometimes, Charles, that they have to qualify to have a problem. You know, people say I have problems. I say, no, you don't. You have chaos. They say, well, what do you mean? I say a problem is a deviation from a standard. So until you have a standard, you haven't qualified to have a problem. You just have chaos.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So we have to have standards in our business to get the business under control, to qualify, to know when something is out of control. And then lastly, we must understand culture. Culture has to do with the environment we create in our business that cultivates an experience for people to work in that business to generate a clear result.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So when you think about an entrepreneur, you simply understand that there's a problem in the market and you know how to solve that problem and people will pay you for it. And you can get to six figures just from just solving a problem with it.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
See, some people are going to use culture and allow there to be a subtle disease inside their business that destroys the company from the inside out because they didn't nip things in the bud. They didn't stop things that were a problem. They didn't correct things when they should have. And something in that business began to grow and cause that business to implode.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But see, when you use culture as a constructive tool, it becomes a silent weapon. There's a reason that a lot of my team that's been with me, has been with me over 20 years. This is just, you don't hear of this anymore. But why? Because I was able to build a strong culture. And your culture's created, there's three ways you, three things you gotta keep in mind when building culture.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
What is happening consistent in your business, What are you condoning in your business? And what are you celebrating in your business?
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Those things are creating a culture in your business that if you don't intentionally take control over it, something can take control of the business that you thought was yours because what you put on those walls and those taglines and all those business acronyms, it means nothing if that's not what really happens in the business every day. And that's why culture is so important.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And this is what I teach people in my programs.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But if you want to be a CEO, a CEO is actually able to think about the systems that would make that business work and actually begin to systemize the business so that now there is something to actually run the business. So people make the mistake and think that the CEO is the big boss. They're the ones who.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, one thing, again, you can definitely look me up on YouTube at URCEO. You can find Michael E. Parker. There is my webinar from Fetter to Freedom that you can check out. We also have yourofferbuilder.com. I want to make sure you get that free tool, right, that you can grab. I really appreciate it, Michael.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
into the one who is in charge, the one who has the last say, the one who's the decision maker. Those things are true. But the biggest thing a CEO could ever do is put the right systems in place and then let those systems run the business. The person who's the CEO that always has to run everything
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
They have just created a sense of self-employment and not actually having a business that is actually accomplishing a goal with or without them. And so this is where we start to see the power of understanding what a CEO is truly supposed to do versus what people think the label means.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, there's a lot of ways, and I agree with you. There's so many different ways to talk about it, but something I always like to point out is the difference between a process and an operation and a system. A process is, you know, I'm trying to go from here to here in a way that delivers value to a distinct goal. An operation is something you find inside of a process.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
It's like one of the boxes on my process map. I can have an operator. I might have five operations that make up a process. In that operation, I have steps and there's steps in the operation that I must fulfill. But a system is different. A system may have a mixture of processes, operations, and standards that all work together toward creating a standard outcome from how this whole thing's working.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
When we think about the transportation system, Think about it. There's the traffic side. There's what you can do on the freeway or expressway. There's what you do on the streets. There's what you have to do if some particular thing comes up. There's all these rules we have to learn.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And when you look at how you go through driver's education, you take your driver's test and then there's a police system to make sure that you're following the system. So all of that works together to make the transportation system work and has many elements to it. So when you think about system, you're able to describe how many different pieces work together for the whole.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So when you think about the way you develop team members in your business, you think about the way that you actually generate leads in your business or the way that you convert a sale. There might be many elements to it. It's not just one thing. So this is the difference with systems. Systems combine the different things necessary to get a outcome to be consistent.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And sometimes it's not just one thing. It could be multiple things that come together to make that happen. We even talk about the different systems that's in the body. Right. So we've got a metabolic system. We've got a cardiovascular, all these things that make the body work. So there's a system of how my body works.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And then there are subsystems that support the bigger system of how the body works. So all of these things are great examples. I love when you go to the airport, for example, there's a visual control system where you can walk through this building. Big old airport, no one comes and meets you, no one tells you where to go, but there's signs everywhere.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
There's visuals, there's indicators, there's triggers, there's all kinds of sounds, there's all kinds of things that tell you where to go. And you might look at your boarding pass and you're walking around and no one is telling, this big monstrosity of an airport, but it's all governed by color codes and visuals and words. Someone put a system in place that you know certain pictures mean bathroom.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Other pictures mean a gate. Other pictures mean safety. Other pictures mean danger. This is all a system that someone thought through and it works to get us a consistent outcome because they've thought about how all the pieces work together to create a whole.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, one of the greatest things that I love to help some of my clients with is to really understand the system of how to take what you offer and organize it into an offer. So we have different services that I might be working with a business and they provide a service or they sell a product.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
But there's a difference in making an offer, which combines your services and your products into one distinct outcome of transformation for a customer. When you can think about the real outcome you get for someone and how you can combine products and services to get them this outcome in the best way, you can raise your prices for what that offer is worth.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
You name that offer, you give it a good price. And because your outcome is so clear, when you're done with this, you're going to know how to write a book on your own and self-publish. When you're done with this, you're going to know how to actually increase your revenue by 50%.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
When you're done with this, you're gonna be clearly, you're gonna know clearly how to hire the right person and how to put a framework in your business to develop your team members once they're there. When the outcome is clear and you turn it into an offer, well, now you take someone who was making six figures a year and they're able to make six figures in a month.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I've seen people that went from a six figure year to a six figure month. I've seen individuals who are making maybe a half million dollars a year and then they did it in a day. Because they learned how to restructure their offer and get a contract for that half a million dollars.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
I've seen an individual that didn't think they could sell their business until maybe three to four years from when I met them, but then taught them how to systemize their business and organize the components of their business in a way where someone could see the value. And then they were able to sell their business in months. Right.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
for multiple, you know, multiple seven figures, all because they started to see how to simply organize what they were already doing in a way that someone could understand the value. So our job, people think sometimes that selling, you know, the reason some people think selling is a bad word is because they've had experiences where people weren't really selling. They were trying to convince you.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
People try to convince you and try to, you know, force you to get something you don't want. Neither do you need. versus true selling done the right way is to find the right person who you really can solve their problem and then uncover the value.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
When you can start to have value and the transformation is so clear and you can uncover that value right before their eyes, it's only the right next step for them to want that from you, no matter the price.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And so, as we often say, when the value is this big, so hopefully you can see my hands here, and the value is this big and the price is this big, doesn't matter what price I put in here, as long as the value is this big and the price is this big, someone will always be willing to buy that from you. We only exchange money When something is more valuable than the money that we exchange.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
We don't go get gas because we think gas prices are good, but we value driving our car more than we do that price. So even though we might complain about the gas, we still will get it. Because we value the driving of the car to get to our destination more than the price.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So we have to what I teach people how to do, Charles, long story short, is to better organize what they're doing and to communicate it in value terms so that people understand what they get out of it in relation to the price. And we see people exponentially grow their business because they think in offers versus just a product or service.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Well, I think the biggest thing, that's an excellent question, Charles. And I think the biggest thing is that, you know, what has really helped me is just better understanding how the mind works. Because one of the biggest obstacles that I've seen in working with people is not the business stuff. It's mindset. It's their belief systems. It's the limiting beliefs that they have.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And people think the success has to take a long time. And it really doesn't. The problem is it takes a long time to get you to believe that success can happen quick. Right. And so the limiting beliefs is the biggest obstacle that I've seen because I understand how the brain works and that we have automatic negative thoughts.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Our first thought is why something can't work and why we can't change and why we can't do something different. And so we are stuck in comfort zones that the self-preserving brain we have always gives us. And until you realize that there's an equation that we all go through that determines what we do. First, we think about it. Then we get feelings and emotions come from those thoughts.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
And then we do what we feel. So if we don't change what we think, we can't change what we do because the equation begins with the thinking. If we want to go even further, the environment is what helps generate the thoughts. So most people have to get in more environments that teach them to think and breathe like a CEO. They have to get around.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
This is why I created environments and programs to help people get out of the environments they've been in, to get in a different environment that will give them different thoughts, which gives them different feelings that allows them to do different things.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
So I would say the biggest issue that I've had, as well as the most rewarding thing I've had, is to teach people to think differently about themselves, because you don't get what you want. You get who you are. And this is what I have to teach people to think about because they want a seven-figure business. They want people to respect their leadership.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
Thank you for having me, Charles. It's such a pleasure to be with you.
I am Charles Schwartz Show
Stop Being an Entrepreneur, Be a CEO
They want people to listen when they give direction. But they can't command that because they haven't become that person yet. So until they change who they are and really embody and embrace what that really means... it's impossible for them to plant those seeds in others that makes them be respected in their leadership, that allows them to say, my offer is $20,000.