Scott McIntosh: Burnout, Not Missing Life & Passion

Burnout, Not Missing Life & Passion

Julie and Scott chat about burnout, not missing life, and the role passion plays in business.

In today’s episode, Julie talks with Scott McIntosh, the founder of Cell Phone Seat. Cell Phone Seat is a Certified Veteran-Owned company. McIntosh served eight years as an Officer in the United States Navy before moving home to Nashville in 2009 to follow his passion for entrepreneurship. Julie and Scott chat about burnout, not missing life, and the role passion plays in business. Don’t miss hearing about Scott’s highest-impact activity and what type of class he would teach in business school.

[00:00:00] Julie Bee – Host: In today’s episode, I talk with Scott McIntosh, the founder of Cell Phone Seat, about burnout, not missing life, and the role passion plays in business. Stay tuned. 

[00:00:12] Chris – Midrolls: Julie has spoken to countless organizations for 13 years on topics including leadership, management, employee engagement and morale, workplace culture, small business ownership, and entrepreneurship.

If you’d like it, engaging, relatable, and inspiring speaker for your next event. Book Julie to speak to your group more details@thejulieb.com. 

[00:00:35] Julie Bee – Host: Hey there, I’m Julie B and you are listening to, They Don’t Teach This In Business School, a podcast where we discuss business ownership lessons that are learned through experience not in a c.

Before I start this interview today, I do want to mention my forthcoming book, The Business Owner’s Guide to Burnout. It will be available for pre-order in 2023. My publishers are the same [00:01:00] folks who publish Traction by Gina Wickman. I’m excited to have them on my team to share this journey with you. If you’d like to follow along, just make sure you sign up for my weekly emails and I’ll put that information in the show notes.

So today I’m really excited to get the opportunity to interview Scott McIntosh, the founder of Cell Phone Seat. Scott, welcome to the show. I’m really glad to have you here today and I’m sure we’re gonna learn a 

[00:01:24] Scott McIntosh – Guest: lot. Hey, Julie, thanks so much for having me. I’m really. Yeah, 

[00:01:28] Julie Bee – Host: so let’s just open this up with a brief introduction of what cell phone seat is and what your role is at the 

[00:01:34] Scott McIntosh – Guest: company.

Cell phone seat is a universal cell phone holder, and our goal is to help America be hands free. So the device solves the problem of the fact that 24 outta 50 states have enacted legislation preventing you from even touching your phone while you’re driving or in your car. Uh, so this device is, Hopefully, you know, in our opinion, the easiest [00:02:00] device to stick into your cup holder as a place to put your phone when you drive and, and be hands free while you’re driving.

And I’m the inventor, so my role is, you know, I invented the, the product and then, you know, as we formed the company around it, I took the role of, of president. 

[00:02:16] Julie Bee – Host: Inventing is such an interesting role. I think, you know, it’s, it’s one thing to create a product, it’s another thing to actually get it to market and sell it.

Scott, what are some of your favorite parts about being a business owner? 

[00:02:31] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Freedom and control are my, my favorite parts. You know, I think, and I’ve worked in companies, I’ve, you know, worked in companies large and small, and it just didn’t feel right to me. I wanted to be more involved with my time and my decisions where my, you know, work when my energy is highest, and, and.

You know, maybe take a nap or go to the gym. And obviously a company doesn’t want its employee to do that, right? They want you to be at your desk [00:03:00] from eight to five, which some people love. Some people love that structure, but they love being an office environment. I’m just not that type of person. I like to maybe work from 4:00 AM until seven, and then maybe take, you know, spend some time with my family and go to the gym.

So when your boss calls you, you know, at 10:00 AM and you’re at the gym, they don’t, they’re not really happy about that. So I think that’s, What I love about, you know, running my own businesses is the freedom to, to do what I want during the day and the, uh, the control of, you know, my time and my schedule and, and even my clients.

As a business owner, you can decide what clients you wanna take on, what clients you don’t, and some people you just don’t, you know, jive with. Yeah. And it’s make, it makes work not fun, right. When you’re. Nega negativity or conflict for typically what’s usually a misunderstanding. So I love the ability to pick and choose my clients as well and who I like to work with.

[00:03:52] Julie Bee – Host: I think it’s really important when you’re a business owner to make sure that you, you’re having fun and at [00:04:00] least part of what you do. You know, being a business owner. There’s a lot of things that are similar to other jobs. You know, we, we, we all have things we don’t enjoy doing, but if you’re gonna be a business owner, you better have some things that you really love to do.

Cuz otherwise it’s kind of like, what, you know, what’s, what’s the point of having that freedom and flexibility if you don’t love 

[00:04:18] Scott McIntosh – Guest: your job? I, I agree. And I think it’s, I think it’s a necessity. I think you have to love it or you’re not going to take the extra step, right. To keep the business going. You’re not going to.

Be so passionate that you can’t wait to get upstairs and turn your computer on to do something because you’re so excited about it. If otherwise, it’s just, it’s gonna drain too much energy and you’re gonna probably suffer burnout like your upcoming book is all about. 

[00:04:44] Julie Bee – Host: Yes, for sure. And I, a lot of, I know a lot of business owners, I’ve talked to so many of them over the years that that’s what happens is they just, they don’t have any joy and.

Business and it becomes a job. And then, you know, they find themselves asking the [00:05:00] question of, why am I even doing this if it’s, if it’s just gonna be a job? So, How do you, Scott, make sure that, you know, you are working on activities that are, that are high impact activities for your business, but also activities that you really enjoy doing.

[00:05:16] Scott McIntosh – Guest: You know, read a lot of books about this and obviously as a, as somebody that’s interested in running their own business or starting their own business, you gotta read, you have to read as much as you can, whether you’re, you. Downing some books on Audible when you’re driving around or commuting or walking, walking your pets or sitting down in a chair and reading.

You gotta read a lot. And one of the books I read talked about, and I’m sure you’ve heard about like the, the rocks and the sand analogy, where you have a jar and you fill it up with large rocks and you fill it up, you know, Is the jar full? No, you can still pour sand in there and you fill it up with sand and then it’s jar full.

No, you can actually pour some water in there, right? So the, the analogy is your day can always be filled. With small things like sand, but the most important things that your day are [00:06:00] those rocks. So pick your rocks and you can let some other things go. Cause we just don’t have that much time. And if you figure out, hey, these are the the five things I need to get accomplished, you know, this month, this month to move the business forward.

These are the biggest key items. Or you know, some people do it on a daily basis. Typically I’ll pick three things. A. I do my best thinking kind of laying in bed in the morning before I get up, and I think, what are the three things I need to accomplish today specifically to move the business forward and everything else can really wait, You know?

Yeah. You’re getting an email from people saying, Hey, I need this for phone calls, but you just have to have the confidence to say, I, I totally understand that you need that. I’m gonna work on that, but I’m gonna need some time. It’s 

[00:06:42] Julie Bee – Host: interesting, we all have the same amount of time, but what I tell people, Even though we have the same hours in the day, the hours are not the same.

And I think it’s really important to know when your best hours of the day are and what you need to be doing during [00:07:00] those times. Because otherwise, you know, if you, if you keep putting things off throughout the day, Then, and you, you know, for me, for example, my best time is in the morning as well, and I always now make sure that I’m working on whatever those priorities are in the morning.

And I literally like block my calendar off for the mornings because otherwise I just never get to it and the business just kind of stays where it is. 

[00:07:25] Scott McIntosh – Guest: But yeah, I, I totally agree. And you know, in all honesty, I’m kind of a lazy person, you know, just to put that out there. So I have to do things that I love or I’m not gonna do them and I have to do them when I have the most energy, or they’re not gonna get done.

And I know when my high energy is. What’s the, what’s the the saying? Eat the frog. 

[00:07:45] Julie Bee – Host: Yeah, eat that. Frog . 

[00:07:47] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Eat the frog. Right? And for anyone that doesn’t know what that means, that means do your hardest thing first in the morning or whenever you have the energy, do that first and the rest of the things come easy.

Don’t wait until you’re burn out. You know, to [00:08:00] tackle that really. To do item because one, you’re gonna be too tired to do it, right? And two, you’re gonna think about it all day. Mm-hmm. , right? And there’s nothing worse than having something on your on your mind that maybe would take half an hour to knock out, but you push it off all day and you worried about it all day.

[00:08:15] Chris – Midrolls: You can have weekly leadership tips and insights delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up@thejulieb.com and if you’d like to connect with Julie, she’s available on the web and most social media platforms like Linked. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

[00:08:33] Julie Bee – Host: Hey, this is Julie B and you’re listening to, They Don’t Teach This in Business School.

I’m here with Scott Macintosh, the founder and inventor of Cell Phone to Eat. And Scott, we were just kind of talking about time as a business owner, and I’m curious though, and this is a question I love to ask other business owners, what is. A task or a role that you have tried to get off your plate and [00:09:00] you just have had a really hard time actually, you know, whether it’s outsourcing or hiring somebody for it, you’ve just had a hard time actually getting that task off your 

[00:09:08] Scott McIntosh – Guest: plate.

Sure. It’s, it’s sales and honestly, you think that would be the easiest. I’m probably gonna get a hundred or a thousand emails or calls based on saying that, you know, from people out there that, that can drive leads or close deals. I’ve hired sales reps, I’ve trained sales reps, I’ve worked with sales reps, you know, I love sales reps.

I have just struggled very hard to find a really good rhythm with, with, you know, a sales team. Mm-hmm. to close the deals. Right. And I would prefer to just have the deals arrive, contract signed on my plate, and closed, and then I can. Uh, operating for the client and, and mm-hmm. and, and doing the work, right.

I just seem to have to get involved a lot with the sales to kind of get the sale over the, or the final hump. So I would love to, to find a really good solution to getting [00:10:00] more sales, obviously. And that’s every business is struggle, right? Is, is the sales and getting the clients and getting the. 

[00:10:05] Julie Bee – Host: It’s interesting because I would say this is the answer that almost every business owner gives is sales.

And I can’t figure it out if it’s our, if it’s us, if it’s the business owners, because I’ve struggled with this and with, with some of my other businesses, or if it’s, you know, if it’s the, the talent pool or just. You know, the accessibility to the right talent, it’s an interesting struggle, but I would say almost every business owner, when I ask them this question, sales is the number one answer.

And I, Do you have any, I mean, do you have any insights into why you think it’s such a struggle? 

[00:10:39] Scott McIntosh – Guest: You know, I heard somewhere a while back whether it was in a book or a, some kind of a meeting with that, the sales, the, the sales reps need to be the highest paid people in the company, and I totally agree with that because you can have the best service or product in the world.

But if people don’t know about it, you’re not gonna sell anything. And but sales is hard, right? It’s relationships, it’s time, [00:11:00] it’s structure, it’s process, it’s timing, it’s luck. So I think that just the fact that it’s so difficult to do is what makes it the hardest job to fill. You know, as business owners, we know that we can put a structure in place pretty much to accomplish anything that we’re able to do.

With the exception I. Of sales. Mm-hmm. , Right? Cause, Cause a lot of that’s too gonna be on your network, your personal skills and those things are developed over time. It’s just tough, right? Especially if you have a really good sales rep that has a great network and has great skills, they’re gonna be in very high demand and it’s hard to, you know, convince them, especially for a smaller business, you’re not gonna have the, you’re not gonna be able to offer them what, you know, they can earn somewhere else to get them over to your agency.

So you end up doing a lot of the sales yourself as the business owner because you understand the product, the value of the product. But yeah, I think that’s why it’s difficult. There’s just so many different variables in a, in a good, in finding a good sale or putting together good sales process, even with technology and.[00:12:00] 

Funnels and pipelines and digital techniques, At the end of the day, you’re still gonna need somebody to, a physical person, potentially to, you know, walk through details of more complicated products or services. 

I 

[00:12:13] Julie Bee – Host: think that’s the, the challenge is finding somebody who is. It. You know, I, I don’t think you ever really find someone who’s just as, as passionate about a business as the business owner, as I don’t, I think that that’s just something that only the business owner can really.

Embody, but to be able to have the maturity and the, and the knowledge and the presence in a room to have a sales conversation on behalf of the business, I think that that is something that a lot of business owners struggle with because, Business owners tend to like to talk to other business owners.

That that’s, that was my challenge with it, is that people still, ultimately, they wanted to talk with me, even though I had a salesperson, [00:13:00] which was a really interesting dynamic in, in the whole thing. So That’s so 

[00:13:03] Scott McIntosh – Guest: true. And then you can’t scale it if you’re involved in every sale. Yeah, 

[00:13:06] Julie Bee – Host: exactly. Well, so talk to me a little bit about, you know, aside from sales, kind of the importance of, you know, your, your team and your key employees that you have who work for.

[00:13:17] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Sure. You know, cuz time is, are really our only, well, time and energy are really our only restrictions. You know what I, I would almost argue that it’s more energy because, you know, if we’re up for, let’s say 12 to 15 hours a day, you can’t work straight for 12 to 15 hours a day. You’re just gonna, you’re not gonna have the energy to do that, so.

Mm-hmm. , I think our big, biggest resources, you know, is energy and we just don’t have enough energy to do it. You know, as a business owner, I can’t spend every day looking through my QuickBooks charges and reconciliate everything and match everything. And I was doing that at one point. I was actually going through every day.

And then I would get behind, you know, you go on vacation maybe for a couple days and all of a sudden you’ve got a thousand entries to look through and match ’em up. So I finally hired some [00:14:00] really good bookkeepers after going through a couple that I found that handled that. For me, that has been one of the biggest.

Assets of my team is just hand somebody handling the books, understanding the invoices, where’s the money going, where’s it coming from? Giving me snapshots and reports that I can look at, You know, Huge. That’s, that’s been huge. Obviously, having. Account representatives that can handle the day to day requests, support tech items like that, you know, in terms of cell phone seat, finding a good manufacturing partner, so I’d be considered a contract manufacturer because I pay a, a factory in the United States to make cell phone seat.

That relationship has been extremely. Extremely important. Mm-hmm. as a product maker, because they handle not only the, the creation of what’s called the tool, which is this giant piece of metal that you inject plastic into to make the device, they also handle the manufacturing of the product using the tool that they made.

So they move it next door to this factory where they start producing the product. They also have a warehouse where they store the [00:15:00] product. We interviewed a lot of manufacturers. We made it in China at one point. And having this relationship with, with this manufacturer, which I actually flew up there and walked the factory with them and, and went to lunch with them just to get to know ’em has been a game changer for us.

They even modified the product, you know, the new Made American version to make it even better. So that, that’s been a huge component. And 

[00:15:21] Julie Bee – Host: it’s funny how you know, it’s not always employees that are so crucial. There’s a, when you run a business, you have a whole ecosystem of people who are important to the business, you know, And that includes people like, you know, your manufacturer, who is obviously very key, and your bookkeeper who are just subcontractors.

Or contractors. Or contractors. But they’re so important to your business that you can’t even imagine doing business. Without them. I bet. 

[00:15:50] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Yeah. I can’t. And you know, as, as you’re starting or growing a company, you’re gonna meet a lot of people and work with a lot of people and you’re gonna meet and work with people that can do the [00:16:00] same job, right?

Mm-hmm. . So at one point you have to decide who you like working with. Mm-hmm. , uh, you know, I’ve gone through, you know, I have a great web developer that I really just under. I know that, and I trust him to. Do the job right. I don’t have to give him a whole lot of details. I’m not, definitely not a micromanager.

I would prefer not to be involved as much as possible, but you know, it’s, it’s things like that. And I use a lot of contractors. Right now for different things, like we have to get a sign made for a banner, or excuse me, a banner made for a conference. And I have a designer that I work with overseas. She happens to be in Ukraine, which has been very interesting cause I’ve been communicating with her about the whole war and, and how her family is.

And we’ve offered to, you know, send her additional money if she needs her help, which she has declined. She’s very, she, she’s just been. Just un it’s just been unbelievable, the strength that she has to be working out of a basement. Right. Why? While they’re getting attacked. So, but that’s a whole nother story.

But, you know, she’s gonna, she’s been a great designer and I’ve worked with her for years. So I have a [00:17:00] trick on Upwork that I’ll, that I’ll share with everyone. And, and Upwork is a contractor website where you can find people to pretty much, do you know anything you need? As long as they don’t have to be in person.

You could even find people locally, which I have. Mm-hmm. , but. I’ll have a job. Let’s say I need a banner created or I need an ad campaign, you know, on Facebook set up to try to promote cell phone seat to a certain group. I will hire, I’ll put the, the request out there. Again, that’s Upwork. There’s also one called Fiber, which is a little less expensive, but I use fiber really just for designs and logo type work.

Maybe video animation, whereas I use Upwork for everything else. You need a copywriter, you need, you know, a, a, a long term professional designer, et cetera. I’ll hire two or three people, so I’ll get, let’s say I put a job out there and, you know, seven to 10 people apply. I’ll go through the list. I’ll take away anyone that doesn’t have a five star rating, which I hate to say, but I have even somebody with like a 4.9 or whatever the rating system is, if they’re not a hundred percent.

Don’t hire ’em because [00:18:00] there’s, you’re gonna find 10 other people that are a hundred percent right and there’s always. Issue with the people that I hire that are under a hundred percent. Mm-hmm. , I don’t know what it is. You know, one guy was rude to me and one of my clients, one guy, you know, I’ve just always had issues, so.

Mm-hmm. , I’ll put the project out there. I’ll sort through the list. I’ll find the top, let’s say two or three people that have a hundred percent rating that I like their response, and I’ll hire all three of them. Mm-hmm. . To do, you know, the one job, and I may even take a loss on that job or that work, but I will then continue to work with, you know, one person won’t show up to the first meeting typically, so now you’re down to two, and then you’re paying two people to do the job and you get the results back, and one is usually gonna be light years ahead of the other one.

Yeah. And then, and when I find that person, I continue to work with that person. And I’ve had, I’ve actually built a network over the years of people that I love working, that I’ve found through that exact process. And I, you know, you work with them for years and they’re just great people, but you have to vet ’em out a little bit.

I’m 

[00:18:55] Julie Bee – Host: laughing because I do the same exact thing, literally the same exact thing. I’ll [00:19:00] post the same job, I’ll hire two to three people to do that job. And you know, I actually go as far as to. They’ve gotta have that highest rating as well as they have to have, at least, it depends on what it is, but they have to have worked at least a hundred or a thousand hours on Upwork, because then I know for sure like they’re getting those ratings.

And I have, It’s the same exact experience. One person doesn’t show. One person does okay work and one person does outstanding work. And it’s, for me, it’s like it’s never, it’s never the order I expect it to be . Yeah. But it doesn’t matter cuz then ultimately I have, you know, that one person for that thing and then I just make sure, like I have some redundancies built ins, you know, and kind of go through that same system to find, you know, a second, a backup in case that one person goes away.

So, Yeah, exactly. 

[00:19:49] Scott McIntosh – Guest: I think a lot of people will jump on the opportunity, but then, They’ll fall off. So I think they’re going through just replying, replying to a lot of opportunities. But then you, you know, you start messaging ’em and they fall off or something gets weird. I’ve [00:20:00] also seen where you get.

Picture somebody that looks like it’s from a model magazine , right? Yeah. And then their, their bio is written by like a professional copywriter. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Yeah. And then you start communicating with them and all of a sudden their English is choppy and broken. So what it is, and I actually hired somebody in that case, and he was based in China and he turned out to be a fantastic developer.

And he built, he built like a custom app for us for some things. But yeah, he was based in China. I found out when I tried to pay him be a, you know, PayPal for some special request and it was all written in, in Mandarin, but, you know, that was fine, but just be careful. Be careful on that. Don’t be afraid to like, read through the bios and, and these are real people that you’re looking at.

So when I first got the idea for cell phone seat, we were 3D printing them. Mm-hmm. or, Well, I didn’t know what to do actually, when I first got the idea and I put it on Upwork and I said, I need somebody that can do like a 3D design of a product. And I drew the initial design up in paint, so people make fun of me cuz I use like Microsoft paint as opposed to Photoshop.

But that’s what [00:21:00] I learned to use, you know, as a bootstrapper business owner. I was just trying to figure out how to do things, so I mopped it up, sent it to him, and or I, I put it on Upwork and I got about 10 to 20 people saying they could help. One person was like, Hey, we’ve got this $5,000 package where we’ll get your prototype set up and everything.

It was all like wow and glamorous. But then this young kid from a university said, Hey Scott, I just did this for a class and I have access to a 3D printer at the university. I’d love to work with you and try to help you here. And it was so honest and straightforward. Mm-hmm. . I said, Okay, let’s try it. And I ended up working with him for four years.

Yeah. And just had so much fun developing this product with him. And he, you know, the first one he made was gigantic. It was like, Big as like my arm , you know? And he was embarrassed about it. And he was like, it was three separate pieces. And I was like, I promise I won’t be mad. You send it to me. I’m just so curious to see if my concept works.

And he did. He shipped it and I used it and it worked. And I was ecstatic [00:22:00] and. Obviously we got it a lot smaller and better from that point, but it was, it was a lot of fun. 

[00:22:05] Chris – Midrolls: Every business owner needs a support network. When asked, most business owners will reference their support network as what gets them through the tough times.

There are three characteristics to consider when documenting who is in your support network. And Julie has a free guide to help walk you through each of them. Download your free copy now@vjulieb.com. 

[00:22:26] Julie Bee – Host: Hey there, you’re listening to, They Don’t Teach This In Business School, and I’m the host, Julie B. I’m here today with Scott Macintosh, the founder of Cell Phone Seat.

And Scott, we were talking a little bit about prior to kind of going down a rabbit hole about Upwork, you had mentioned. Energy and, and kind of energy management and not so much time management, which I am 100% in agreement in. And I know one thing I know for sure is that as a business owner, if you are not managing your energy, you are going to burn out.

And I’ve written a [00:23:00] whole book about it that’s coming out. But I wanna talk to you about burnout. Have you ever experienced burnout? And if you have, will you share that? Share some of that with. 

[00:23:09] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Yeah. Oh, I’m, I’m in it. I’m in it right now. I am in it right now. I’ve got seven text messages, 37 emails and phone calls are coming in, and I need to address all these things while also having a list of work that I need to get done.

Right. I gotta look over a 38 page contract from, you know, a retailer, a big retailer, and I’ve gotta prepare for this conference, and you just, Overwhelmed and it, it’s really difficult there. You know, there’s a couple of things that I’ve found that help get through those, those those times. Obviously, you know, I’m married and I, and I talk to my wife a lot about the business, but you have to be careful, as we all know, as business owners, because you can burn your, your partner out, you know?

Mm-hmm. , like, like, like, you know, it’s a hard shoulder to cry and when they’re kind of, you know, after years, so, Being part of like an [00:24:00] entrepreneurial organization like the EO or an entrepreneurial group or a group of founders, helps a lot just to have people to talk to about how you’re feeling. Cuz then you find that all of a sudden they’re feeling the exact same way and you don’t feel that bad, right?

Or they’re dealing with problems that are 10 times as bad as yours. Taking care of yourself obviously is key to that. Having that energy that you need. So, eating healthy, exercising, you know, you have to take care of yourself first. I know it. It feels good to answer those extra couple emails and maybe not hit the gym, but you’re gonna pay for it later.

So taking care of yourself and then, like I talked about before, finding three things you need to accomplish that one day. But sometimes it’s just, I gotta get through my email. So I grab a cup of coffee and I sit in, I sit at my desk and I just answer the first one. That’s my goal to get up the stairs.

Just get up there and answer the first email. Yeah. And obviously once you start going, like Hemingway had this great trick where he would, he had a trouble starting to write, so he. When he’s in his writing zone, he would write a little bit of something new idea, and then he would leave it. And that way he could come back the next day and [00:25:00] immediately all he could think about was getting the rest of that idea onto the page and it would start his writing process.

So I find just starting and just going through each email, don’t look at ’em all and think about everything you have to do. Just start answering them one at a time. Take each moment, one email at a time, completely focus on that. Turn everything off. Answer that person’s questions or, or accomplish what needs to be done, and then move on to the next one.

And you’ll find that as you start getting to the bottom of that inbox, that burnout goes away and you start feeling that excitement again. Final note on that, that I have a life coach that has helped me a lot and he gave me this great book about the The gap, or it’s like the gap and the gain. I think it is actually, it’s on my shelf right here.

Geez. What is it? Yep. It’s the gap and the gain. I think as business owners and as people in general, we tend to focus on what we didn’t get accomplished on our list and not focused on what we did get accomplished. Yeah. And if you look back at your day and think, or your week and think about all you really got got accomplished [00:26:00] versus the fact that you didn’t answer two emails on a Friday and now you’re stressed all weekend, cause of those two emails, right?

But you answered 300 and you got all this great stuff done. Focus on what you got done. Mm-hmm. as opposed to what you didn’t. And that’s gonna help you feel a lot better and avoid that burnout. And then, you know, schedule time, obviously with, for life, don’t miss life, right? I know we’re in these startup and business worlds and maybe it’s temporary, but don’t miss a pickup basketball game with your friends or, you know, sitting around having a drink with some good buddies or, you know, walking with your, with your partner around the park one afternoon.

You know, those emails can wait, That work can wait. Those life moments are, are what gonna keep you going and what makes it worth doing what we. 

[00:26:43] Julie Bee – Host: I think that’s definitely one lesson that I’ve, I’ve learned the hard way. Is it something that seems like it’s on fire, is rarely on fire? And what I mean by that is even if it seems urgent, I would [00:27:00] say most of the time it’s actually not something that you absolutely have to address that day.

Like I’ve learned how to walk away from. Things that seem really urgent, but really, I know, and I’ve, and that’s something that comes with time too. You kinda learn like, Oh, this person thinks it’s urgent, but it is not urgent and I’ll address it tomorrow. Type. You have to be able to make that delineation because as a business owner, work is always there.

Work will fill as much space as you let it. So you have to be able to, you just, you have to be able to put it down and walk away from some things sometimes. Now, sometimes, obviously there are true emergencies that need to be figured out, but the, the longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve come to realize that most things are rarely truly on fire.

And to really kind of hone that skill of discerning what is [00:28:00] on fire. It needs my immediate, urgent intention and what can actually wait until tomorrow. 

[00:28:05] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Oh my gosh. I love that. I That is so true. There’s always, you can always post something on social media, right? You can always make that extra phone call.

I love that. I’ve been, I have been actually getting to the, in the concept lately of telling myself at the end of the day when I’m, when I’m tired and ready to stop working, but I have some more to do and thinking, Well, what happens if I don’t do that? What’s the worst that could happen? Yeah. And it’s usually nothing.

It’s nothing. It can wait. 

[00:28:29] Julie Bee – Host: We are so driven. Most the business owners that I know are, would fall into kind of the, what, what’s called the high achiever category and which is great because it’s what enables us to get so much done. But back to your point about the gap and the gain, that’s also what makes it hard for us to see what we’ve already done.

Like how impressive. What we’ve already done has been like, I literally just went through a period of one month of. Signing a a [00:29:00] pretty big deal book contract, and I am still trying to let that settle and be super, super over the moon. Excited about it. I know it’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal, but. It’s something that I didn’t even think I, I thought I was gonna self-publish my book, but I, I, because I’m already like, Okay, now I’ve gotta get all these speaking engagements, and now I’ve gotta do this, and now I’ve gotta hire a publicist, and now I’ve gotta do this, that and the other.

I am having to purposely sit with, This contract to appreciate it. And I think that that’s something, you know, that that’s what makes us always like, we’re always like, What’s next? What’s next? What’s next? And that more than anything else, I think is what’s led me to burnout as a business owner. So it’s really important to discern, you know, what do you absolutely have to do?

What can we, and also what do you need to enjoy? Like, what do you need to really celebrate both in business and in your personal life as well? 

[00:29:55] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Yeah. I love that. That’s, that’s exactly right. 

[00:29:59] Julie Bee – Host: Well, Scott, listen me, I [00:30:00] just been great talking with you today, and I have one question I always ask because of the title of this podcast, but if you were to teach a class to potential a future business owners and entrepreneurs, what, what is the one thing that you would really, really want them to learn from your class?

[00:30:19] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Well, if I was gonna teach a class, it would probably be more of a philosophy class versus a an actual tactic class. But I remember. Somebody saying to me one time, you know, when’s the last time you lost track of time doing something? That’s what you need to do full time. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that is such an amazing statement.

And at the time it was video work. I found, I really liked doing video work and I realized I’d stayed up till like 5:00 AM one night putting together this video. This was when I was in the Navy actually. So I spent about eight years in the Navy and I, you know, we’d do like a ski trip with everybody and I would film it and I worked on the video for so long and it was so fun.

That’s when I realized, oh, I need to potentially get into, you know, this type of work. [00:31:00] Obviously I’m not in video production now, but I think teaching people to find what they love and find what they’re passionate about, and then finding a way to make money doing it right, Quit focusing on making the most money.

There’s always gonna be somebody that makes more money than you. You know, potentially there’s always gonna be another level to achieve, right? 

[00:31:19] Julie Bee – Host: They’re not all gonna be Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, so . 

[00:31:22] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, and, and a lot of times these wealthy people that you see, they’re not really happy No.

Because of what we’ve talked about, right? You got that big contract, but then it’s like now you’re focusing on the stress of what you need to, to do next. And I think a lot of people live like that, and even though they have these big wins in life, Continue to look for the next, the bigger boat, the fancier stuff.

Stop. You have to stop that. You have to figure out what makes you happy, which is very hard to do. I gotta be honest, I’ve read lots of books on happiness. Finding your passions and your happiness is not easy and you gotta try a lot of things and it takes time and effort. But if you can find it what you’re [00:32:00] passionate about and you can make people will pay you to do it, then you found a lifetime worth of happiness.

And wealth and not, I’m not just talking about money, wealth, I’m talking about wealth and life. 

[00:32:11] Julie Bee – Host: There’s a lot more to being wealthy than than the cash in the bank account. That is for sure. That’s right. Well, Scott, listen, I’ve really enjoyed this conversation today. It’s been great to get to know you, and I know the business owners listening are going to pick up a lot of great tips here as well.

I just wanna thank you again for being on the show today. 

[00:32:30] Scott McIntosh – Guest: Of course. Thank you so much for having. 

[00:32:31] Julie Bee – Host: And that’s it for this episode, but stay tuned because I’ll be back soon with more lessons learned on the business owner’s journey. I’m Julie B and they don’t teach this in business 

[00:32:42] Scott McIntosh – Guest: school.