How AI and Delegation Drive Growth and Empower Teams with Shawn Greenway

Ever wondered how to supercharge your business growth and leadership journey? Join me as I sit down with Shawn Greenway, CEO of BrandLyft Marketing, who takes us through his incredible transition from a high school hustler to a leading business figure. Shawn reveals how SaaS solutions, particularly AI, are game-changers in streamlining operations and enhancing customer interactions.

Struggling with micromanagement or finding the right team members? Shawn’s insights on effective delegation might be the breakthrough you need. Learn how stepping back and trusting your team can unlock new levels of creativity and productivity, driving your business forward.

We also dive into the crucial role of adaptability and continuous learning. In today’s fast-paced world, staying updated and open to new ideas is not just an option—it's a necessity. Shawn emphasizes how books can be a powerful catalyst for personal and professional growth, offering wisdom that can transform your business trajectory.

Ready to scale your business and elevate your leadership game? Tune in for actionable strategies and real-life lessons that promise to reshape how you approach growth and success.

To connect with Shawn Greenway, follow him on Instagram at @ShawnGreenway10X and book a discovery call visiting BrandLyft's website.

Books Mentioned: 

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• Who Not How by Dan Sullivan
• The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan
• 10x is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan

Ready to Finish 2024 Strong?
Don’t wait until December to address your challenges. There's a few months left in 2024, now is the time to plan for a strong finish! Book a free strategy call with Dr. William Attaway to create a plan for impactful results. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Shawn Greenway
• 6:00 Leveraging SaaS Solutions for Business Growth
• 10:26 The Impact of AI and Delegation in Business Success
• 13:42 Finding the Right Who
• 25:42 AI Integration in Business Growth
• 36:15 Learning and Growth Through Books
• 39:57 Value of Books for Personal and Professional Development

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I am so excited today to have Shawn Greenway on the podcast. Shawn is the CEO of Brand Lyft Marketing. He is a SaaS and business development expert With a background as a wrestler, as well as in lending and a current role leading a marketing agency. Shawn specializes in leveraging SaaS solutions to drive business growth and to streamline lead generation processes for companies of all sizes. His approach revolves around collaborating with CMOs, from Fortune 1000 corporations to small business owners, offering solutions to optimize lead gen strategies and to enhance social media advertising channels. Sean, I'm so glad you were here. Thanks for being on the show, thanks.

Shawn Greenway: 0:48

William, Thanks for having me. Man, I know I was excited once you invited me. I was like I can't wait for this.

Intro / Outro: 0:57

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. The podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:15

I would love to start Shawn with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader. How did this?

Shawn Greenway: 1:27

whole thing get started. Wow, really, it goes all the way back to. I remember back my teenage years. You know, in high school I was always a hustler, if you will, if you want to call it that. I used to buy. Remember the blow pops back in the day.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:42

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Shawn Greenway: 1:44

I used to buy boxes of blow pops, you know, as cheap as I could and then hustle and sell them one at a time, you know. So back in the day in the 80s, selling for 50 cents, I was making some pretty good profit, nice, yeah. So, and I did that out of necessity, for, you know, if I wanted to have the cool clothes, you know I didn't live in a rich family so I had to if I wanted the cool stuff at the mall, then I had to hustle and get me something where I could go, which was stupid. When I look back and spending a hundred dollars for a shirt back then, that was stupid. It's stupid now. I mean, you know, especially back then back in the cool days, right. So, um, you know I'm here in North Georgia, so I grew up in the cool days, right? So, um, you know, I'm here in North Georgia, so I grew up in the hayfields as a. You know that's some real hard work right there If you've ever done hayfields and throwing bells of hay up on the truck. But I really started a big time in, uh, um, the fast food restaurant I think it was Burger King was the first one. So I spent my time there, burger King.

Shawn Greenway: 2:47

I didn't go to college. I barely made it through high school. I'm not even sad to tell anybody. It's like I was not a good student. The way that they teach is not right for me. But I felt bad about that for years and many of you have talked about that. I'm totally over that now.

Shawn Greenway: 3:06

But I went from high school right into just working. Right, I became a manager at the age of 18 at Burger King. Believe it or not, you couldn't do that nowadays with these 18-year-old kids. I did go to college, so I did pick up at UPS at 19. So I spent all my 20s with a big company, at UPS. Right, I was a driver. It was great money back in the nineties, you know. Back then the money was a lot further than it does today.

Shawn Greenway: 3:33

So I learned a lot of things through my twenties with, you know, meeting people, because I was I was really shy even, even in my twenties. But the ability to be out, have to go out there and be able to meet people, you know, eye contact. I got to talk to them and started learning body language. I started, you know, having conversations. So really, ups was my college for life in a lot of ways and really the story then that I come to towards the end of that and knew that I didn't really want to be doing this, because I knew it that wanted to do more.

Shawn Greenway: 4:07

I didn't know what more but I always wanted to, you know, start something, do this because I always had some type of side hustle on the side and it's been that way all my life up until now. So I was approached by a gentleman to uh to get into the wrestling business, as we say here in South Rasslin, the entertainment pro wrestling. So that got me away from UPS and it opened a lot of doors for me. I met a lot of cool people, you know, got to work with some of the I guess you would say, idols that I had growing up. So that was good but it allowed me. It was like my springboard of confidence Once I come out of the, because I started lifting weights at 25.

Shawn Greenway: 4:54

So from 25, then hit 29 when I got into the business, it was a big springboard for me, like it was a complete turnaround from my shyness, confidence level. So then I spent my thirties, uh, started a couple of businesses and sold those. Spent my forties with another big company, uh, companies, should I say, in the mortgage industry. Um, and then now here I am, in my fifties, I'm 54. So I'm back in the game of all of the things that have brought me here. So it's been a journey man and like I don't want to go on and on, but there's a handful of other things that I feel blessed that I've been able to do many things Bouncer, bounty, hunter, traveled, all those crazy things. But just like anything, I've been to the top of the mountain, I've been to the lowest lows, but it's part of that, you know, journey to get where we are here today.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:52

So thank you for having me on the show it's so fascinating to listen to you recount your some of your story the the. The number of things that you have done is just astounding. I mean from Burger King to pro wrestling, right From the lending and the mortgage industry to being a CEO of a marketing agency and helping so many companies and so many business owners to leverage marketing to grow their businesses. Owners to leverage marketing to grow their businesses. And one of the things that you speak often about that you are really an expert on is this whole SaaS idea software as a service. Can you talk a little bit about how that can help a business owner, Because a lot of people may not be familiar with the idea or they may think, yeah, that's for somebody else, that's for a bigger business than mine, yeah.

Shawn Greenway: 6:47

So when I come out of the mortgage industry, I met my business partner, javier, and if you're watching, anybody that's watching knows him. Us together is the perfect combination, the yin and the yang, the visionary integrator, so it's a perfect thing. So we got into marketing itself like just started a marketing agency and we're doing really good with that agency. And then, probably only six months in, we come across GoHighLevel, which, if anybody's watching this knows you know they're a huge company now and we learned over a year's process that wait a minute, this is something that could really grow our business and even go even deeper. So that's what we did. After about a year and a half of our agency, we started with what we call a SaaS software as a service. We started selling off subaccounts of the platform. We started selling off sub accounts of the platform. Now, it's one thing for someone to go straight to high level and get the, get their account and try to figure it out, but most can't or don't have time because it's just going to slow them down. So what we did was we white label it, like a lot of people do, white label it and then we put other services and plugins and support all that good stuff on top of that in order to help small businesses, medium sized and sometimes even large businesses. We have some big ones that come to us, so it's a great opportunity. If someone is looking to want to grow that way. You've got to be a little tech savvy. Thank goodness Javier and the rest of the team are more just sales and business development and try to bring the business in, but it's a great another revenue stream if you're kind of, have the team for it. But on the other side of that coin, it benefits companies like yourself and others to where we can help you or the other companies you know, lay out the right things for your crm automations funnels, all of that because it's 2024.

Shawn Greenway: 8:55

I feel like this if you're not already in the game of using a automation serum right now, you might be out of the game in a couple of years because now all the technologies with AI incorporated with it and all the other things, there's really a cap, william, I feel like if you're a solopreneur or whatever, there is a ceiling because you only have so much time. We all got 24 hours, seven days a week. I feel like you can probably only make 100 150 if you're really slick and you really organized. But who wants to cap out their? You know the opportunities and what they can do.

Shawn Greenway: 9:35

So, um, with you know, with having a team or having a software that can help you multiply, clone, clone yourself, and that's what me and you talk about. Sometimes, in order for William to grow, Shawn to grow or Brand Lyft Marketing here to grow, I have to clone myself. Videos, automations, all of those things. So, saas or software as a service, software as a system, it depends on which way you want to go. But for anyone, listening is very important. If you're not using a system like that, uh, you should be.

Dr. William Attaway: 10:15

It's so true and one of the things that in my work with entrepreneurs, with founders, is that they do become the lid on their own business. They become the lid on growth, because what you start doing at the beginning, when you are a solopreneur, when it's just you, you touch everything, you're involved in every decision, every question comes to you. But there has to come a point, if you want the business to grow, where you are not the center of the spider web, where everything doesn't come to your desk, where every question doesn't come to you. You have to step back and be able to lead and do the things that only you can do and bring on team members who are going to do what they are gifted to do. I've seen this to be true in my own business, as I have added team members who are incredibly gifted to do what they do and it's freed me up and I know you had the same experience with Brand Lyft.

Dr. William Attaway: 11:09

What you guys do is coming alongside a business like mine. Y'all have been an incredible asset and help in my growth, because what you have done is you have freed me up. I'm able to take my hands off and not say, well, I guess I need to spend 14 hours this week learning this new feature set of high level. I guess I need to learn how to do this workflow. I guess I need to know how to build this funnel out in such a way that it's going to work and integrate with other things. Y'all handle that and in these solutions that you provide, these growth plans that you bring to the table, you free business owners up to focus on what they're great at. That's been such a huge game changer for me and I know for so many others as well. Have you seen that with your clients? Have you seen them able to take their hands off and just explode?

Shawn Greenway: 12:02

Yeah, yeah, you hit the nail right on the head. So in a lot of discovery calls that I have, or demo calls, one of the things I say at the end of the call and this usually puts them over the top or at least gets them in the right frame of mind is that tell them. It's pretty simple when it comes down to all this. If you've got more time than money, figure it out, do it yourself. We understand. If you've got more money than time, and pay a professional or expert to do it for you, because this is not a, this is not a cost, this is an investment. Yes, and you already seeing the fruits of that when you don't have to and I always, when I, when I'm talking to these people too, I tell them as I look. So let's just say you know, Sherry, your time is worth $500 an hour. Do the math on that.

Shawn Greenway: 12:55

If you're spending even two hours, or even one hour, if you're spending two, three, four, five hours a week messing with your system, which most people do, or more than that, then you're losing out on thousands of dollars a week, in my opinion. So why would you not pay for professionals to do that and go do what you do best. Now I say that and we'll probably get into this. But when I say that, I'm preaching to myself Because over the years, that's what and I'd love to get into that. But when I say that I'm preaching to myself because over the years, that that's what and I'd love to get into that if you want to. Yeah, that's where. That's where I think my biggest turnaround has been in this past year was, you know, not only paying professionals to do it, but looking for the one who, the who's that can do it.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:42

So how do you do that? How do you find the right who? Because I think this goes back to what Jim Collins talked about finding the right people first, then making sure they're in the right seats on the bus. How do you do that?

Shawn Greenway: 13:54

Yeah, and it really you know for because I didn't have what most people call formal education and go to college. So to be honest, you know, to be brutally honest, probably for over 20 years after high school, I had this other voice in the back of my head, that always kind of that talk, to say, well, you're not good enough, you didn't go to college, you didn't get a degree, you're not as smart as you know, your buddy that went to college and all this. I had that going in my mind for years and years and years. Even when I got the confidence, even from breaking out with wrestling and, you know, starting a gym and other things that I did in my 30s, there was still that voice.

Shawn Greenway: 14:41

So about 35, 36, I started reading a lot of books at that time. Before then I didn't even care about books. Then I realized, when I picked up, thinking, grow rich. I'm going to just tell everybody on camera here is the first book I ever read, cover to cover, at 35 years old. Sad, right, but not so sad. That's just how I live life Right. And then I realized, boom, it's like, oh, my goodness, it was live life Right. And then I realized, boom, it's like, oh, my goodness, it was like a light switch. And then, of course, I was around a lot of great guys in the industry that I was in at that time doing things, and it just started clicking. Finally, it's like these guys are the top leaders and they're reading and they're on these calls, they're masterminds. So that's when I first started, uh, going to any events.

Shawn Greenway: 15:29

So since 35 so almost 20 years now I've been to easily well over 100 events so uh, to get back on track, the the who part because of the book one of the books I've just read who, not how it. It's really kind of finding someone that definitely aligns with you. Like when I met Javier, I was watching him from afar because he was. I had brought him in to help me with the industry I was in at the time, the loan industry and I saw. I saw his worth, that ethic, his skills, everything. And then I knew what I had. So when I was ready to leave, I was like, hey, bro, we should hook up and go places, cause he had the technical side, I had business development, I was already doing videos. I was like this would be great Because, you know, I wanted to get away from I was in misery at that point even though I was making money.

Shawn Greenway: 16:26

So finding a who can be difficult. But then now fast forward. You know, we just hired our first VA, like three or four months ago, and I'm kicking myself. I was like why didn't I wake up to this four years ago? This would be. You know, we'd be doing this podcast, possibly on the yacht now. So you know what I'm saying. So it's important. I want to drive that home to anybody listening, the who is way more important than the than the how and I tried to howl myself to death.

Shawn Greenway: 17:04

Yeah, all my life thinking that I had to be smart enough to do everything. And then, of course, you read back on henry ford's um legacy. I just go back to that famous um, what was it? In court, where they're? They kept trying to drill him with questions he didn't know. He's like I don't need to know that I can mash a button. So nowadays we do have buttons right here on our computer. So, if I want to summon someone to do something, you can do that, and I think that's important.

Dr. William Attaway: 19:06

It's so true.

Dr. William Attaway: 19:08

It's so true Understanding what you are best at understanding where your zone of genius is, like Gay Hendricks talks about. This is so important, particularly for business owners, particularly for agents for leaders who are responsible at those higher levels, particularly for agents for leaders who are responsible at those higher levels. So many times I find people doing things that are that it's just not the best use of their time. I've had a sticky note on the monitor my left monitor at my desk here for so many years now. I forget when I first put this question up, but I see it every single day. Is this the absolute best use of my time? Right now? I see it multiple times a day and it is a challenging question that I need to see, because so often the answer was no. And then the question is who can I delegate this to? Who has this zone of genius?

Dr. William Attaway: 20:02

This is not the absolute best use of my time. Who has this zone of genius? This is not the absolute best use of my time. Who's got this zone of genius? And one thing I love about the way you lead, Shawn, is that you have no problem handing things off. You have no problem delegating, at least from an outside perspective, right, is that true?

Shawn Greenway: 20:23

Somewhat, um it somewhat, you know, because I mean when you go 40, when you go 45, 50 years of, yeah, thinking you got to do it yourself and nobody can do it better, or even like in a point that there's a lot of things I just can't do, or whatever, and I tell javier and the team this all the time, something that may take them literally 15, 20 minutes. I might struggle with it all day long. Yeah, no joke, I mean that's just me because of all the other things that are in my head and me trying to. You know, I just get caught up in that because I never had like step one, step two, step three, development in a lot of ways for that. So it is tough. But but the who part, that that's, that's the thing, just like the coaching side, like, thank God, I found you about three months ago because you are the who to help me with the rest of the who's right, who to help me with the rest of the who's right. Because, even though you get, can get into that realm of like who can do this right? You still that. Then you're at another level of thinking to where, oh, I've never been here before. Right, what else do I need to try to do, because now that I've released a lot of delegation stuff like that, it's almost like it collapses in again. Now I've got another level of problems to figure out that you're helping me with. Like how do I you know, how do I categorize this to do this and what am I going to do on this day?

Shawn Greenway: 22:01

You know, because I've spent so many years of, uh, just grinding and hustling, being busy for the sake of hustling and being busy, and um, and I'm starting to realize finally these past couple years that the who, not how, is the way to go. And also, um, you know, being just busy is not the deal, but it's tough when, what's it called? The paradigm? It's like, it's like ingrained in me from the hustle of mortgage industry, the hustle when I was at UPS, the hustle I've had. That's hard to get rid of because times and me and you go through this talking about it, the times that I take that are not in hustle, feels so weird. But that's the part of, you know, growing to try to get to that next level.

Shawn Greenway: 22:56

If you ever get that shift to turn the other way, we'll probably get into the area that I really want to get into, which is, you know, the freedom. And then, because the more time that you've taught me to to get away from it, so to speak, um, it has allowed for that margin of better thinking. Um, uh, I always have ideas anyway, but then I feel like I have better, you know, hyper-focused ideas. And then time to lay out, okay, what's the one, two, three step, and then I go to Javier or the team and it's quicker to deploy than you know than six months ago when it was just all scattered and, hey, maybe we'll do this and throw it on the board or whatever. So hyper-focus is what I'm looking for and we're going to get there. I know A hundred percent.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:54

One of the one of the things that we've talked about, and that I talk about with a lot of people these days, is that creativity lives in the margin, and so often when people don't have that creativity that they know is inside but they can't seem to get it out or they think, well, I'm just not creative. My response to that is well, do you have margin? Are you allowing margin for that creativity to grow and thrive? And one of the things that I've really enjoyed watching you develop, Shawn, is that you are developing greater margin, and that will bear fruit. That will pay rewards as you go forward. The more margin you have, the more creative you will be.

Dr. William Attaway: 24:36

And for every leader who's listening whether you own a business, whether you're a leader in somebody else's business, whether your agency is something you started because you were really good at something I want you to hear this you need margin. Margin is how you lead at a high performance level. You can get there. You simply have to choose to make it so. That is your responsibility. Nobody can choose that for you responsibility. Nobody can choose that for you. Shawn, a minute ago, you brought up AI, and AI is a topic that is, for some, scary, for some intimidating. For some, they don't really know what it's all about or how it's going to help their business. What can you share about AI, particularly from a business owner, an agency owner perspective, about how this is a game changer when you learn to use it properly?

Shawn Greenway: 25:29

Yeah, of course this would be a whole podcast. We could go on for hours on, so I'll try to keep it really brief with this. Here's one of my new hats talking about the AI tools that I got in doing a lot of videos with. So AI has been around a long time. Most people think it's just new past couple of years. It's been around for a long time. Call of Curses reminded us of a movie that came out about 23 years ago. I think it was called AI. Go look it up.

Shawn Greenway: 25:58

I started watching it creeped me out. I stopped watching it after about halfway through because of where we are today. I'm like, yeah, yeah, they knew this that long ago and nobody paid attention to it. So, um, but now you, you know, year and a half ago, when chat gpt rolled out year and a half, two years ago, chat gpt rolled out it made it more accessible and affordable for the common person and businesses to have access to it and use it. Corporations, big companies, big money have been using it for years because, if you probably remember back four, five, six years ago, there's always been stuff on websites you could do the chats and the robots and the phone stuff and different things. So it has been a big part of that. But now fast forward thing, so it hasn't been a big part of that, but now, fast forward, your regular joe and suzy can can afford to have it. Like you can go to open ai I think there's free stuff on there, but how it works well in a business.

Shawn Greenway: 26:57

You got like we spoke at a conference a few months ago and we talked about generative ai and conversational AI. You know, generative is like anybody's like when you're on your phone and it tries to autocorrect or grammarly or all of those things. That's kind of part of generative Conversational AI can be where someone you're texting a potential client or a client and you have an AI bot involved, where it's going back and forth to them, answering questions, getting them maybe booking on your calendar, and it's become so good. That's why I call it conversational. 99.9% of the people probably don't know that it's AI and that's fine because we're all conditioned now right Over the years with AI bots, so they're not really like a bot now. They're so conversational. Next wave you'll see, probably over the next year as it gets better. It's not good enough for us yet.

Shawn Greenway: 28:01

Is voice AI? That's going to be a big one too for us? Yet is voice AI? That's going to be a big one too. So imagine, william, if you can send a voice AI message to your clients or potential clients, maybe to update them on something, because I don't know about you, but I doubt you want to sit there and try to call. You know three, four, 500 people that are not going to answer anyway. So you got to think about the different areas that can be used now to to simplify it for most people to not have to like overthink about it and um and freak out is that you don't have to like, get with an agency that's already dealing with that. I'm like you know you, you're working with us, you know that we're dealing with that. You know you, you're working with us, you know that we're dealing with all that. A good agency partner for you can help deploy a lot of these things where it's the automation for workflows and the funnels in the texting.

Shawn Greenway: 28:59

Like I said, the conversational bots are huge. You can even get live chats on your website, this AI assistant. So I don't know about you, but how cool is it to have someone working 24 hours a day and not even sleep and never get angry, never piss somebody off, and they're answering questions and can book calls, you know, on your calendar. That's a big thing. So I always kind of joke about it. It's like if you're not in the AI game, you're not even in the game, because it's not about the future. We're here, we're living it. So I don't know if you probably know better than I do about the quote.

Shawn Greenway: 29:40

There's some guy that said that it's not the smartest people that will reap, or whatever. It's the ones that are, uh, that are, uh, most adaptable. Right, yeah, or to change. I'll mess that up, but you know what I'm saying. It's like yeah, you got to. You got to be able to pivot and as entrepreneurs, that is one of the biggest skills not skill, but like inside, is that it's never been a problem for me to pivot. I might be doing this, you know, and I'm okay to go, then turn to do this and this and this Pivot if you don't pivot when you're an entrepreneur, it's hard, right.

Shawn Greenway: 30:26

and now I've, I'm trying, or I am learning, to pivot with more intentionality. It's like why am I going here? Why am I going here? Is that going to help this or am I leaving this to do that? And years ago I just said, you know, forget it, I don't want to do that. And years ago I just said, you know, forget it, I don't want to do that. I'm going to go do this. It worked out. I don't recommend it, right. But you know you're going to go through times of, you know, scary times of going down to the bottom just to get back up to the top.

Dr. William Attaway: 31:06

And that's part of life and, as we can learn from your experience and every person that you've ever met or talked to, there's no such thing as a wasted experience. Everything that has happened in your life has brought you to this point, to give you the expertise that you have today. That's what you bring to bear for your clients. That's what you bring to bear for your clients. That's what you bring to bear every time you speak, every time you're on a podcast like this one and you share. You're sharing based on your story. When it comes to AI, I think AI is a tool, and if there's a tool that can help you duplicate yourself, duplicate your efforts, expand your efforts where you're not having to do everything yourself, what leader would not take advantage of a tool that is at their disposal that's going to help them to better serve more people? It just seems like a, like a no brainer in my mind.

Shawn Greenway: 32:00

Yeah. So let me add to that. What I didn't cover is that with AI you know at the surface, you know, helps you with writing website copy, maybe your email scripts, all of the different things. It yeah, it might keep you from having to, um, hire another employee, just like the AI bot stuff for the sites and texting and calls and everything else you know. But you can't, you can't be afraid to say, oh, you know, I'm not going to hire anymore, but it's going to make people more efficient.

Shawn Greenway: 32:40

Like we use it, like, as we said, we drink our own Kool-Aid over here, like, if I'm teaching and talking to these people about using AI tools, we're using them in the background for a lot of things. It speeds up the process because then you think about it as a business owner, especially a marketing agency, that makes those profit margins go up. Because of the speed of that. We can do a project, you know, depending on what it is. Sometimes you know a third of the time faster, depending on what that project is. That's good, then, because we can move on to the next thing. So even if you're just using the tools like that, it's worth it.

Shawn Greenway: 33:21

But I would highly recommend William William to your audience out there is that if you have a business, you own a business, you run a business or you're a freelancer marketer, online coach, online course creator, definitely find the right agency that is working with AI automation CRMs, like we are. We're basically an AI-powered marketing company, so get the right people because it's going to make a difference. It's just like SEO. Seo doesn't happen overnight. Ppc can you pay per click. So same way with that. Once someone gets the automations and AI in place maybe not overnight, but you'd be surprised, you know, if your agency is trying to help you with what's called a database reactivation, you can start getting more business within just weeks of working with the right person. So AI mixed with automation, it's like got to do it, got to do it.

Dr. William Attaway: 34:28

You are always learning, Shawn, and you talked about you didn't read a book all the way through until you were in your 30s. You have made up for lost time. Most people don't read as much as you do and I think that the advantages that has given you is significant. That's one way that you continue to learn and grow and stay up to date in your field. But your business, your team, they're going to need you to lead at a higher level a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, than where you're leading today. Now, three years from now, five years from now than where you're leading today, what are you doing to stay on top of your game and level up with the leadership skills that you're going to need a year from now and five years from now?

Shawn Greenway: 35:15

Yeah, you know, I don't. I don't read as much as as what we've talked about and it sounds. I go through spurts. Right, I'm one of those because it's not like I love to read. Right, I waited 35 years to read my first book, so that should be a hint. You know, in my teens and twenties I read. You know, if I read a little bit, if it was sports illustrated or something that was sports related. Now I'll only read self-development stuff. I wouldn't even pick up a novel or whatever. I should probably, but because I just don't like to read, so I'll go in spurts.

Shawn Greenway: 35:50

I might go for, you know, a couple of weeks and not read anything and then all of a sudden, like I have this past week, uh, I can't stop reading. So I have to get in, as we said, get in where you fit in and really consume that Moving forward for my team and trying to become the leader that I want to be, I've got to continue to read and learn more. So, about getting out of the way, because I'm the biggest mess in all three things that well, in our third company, because we have Brand Lyft Marketing, and then we have two software companies, one being Formozai and that one I stay out of the way a lot more because I've got two guys, javi and Justin, over there and they're the experts in the AI lane, all that. So I stay more out of that one. And they're the experts in the AI lane, all that. So I stay more out of that one. I just look at the overall operational money and everything else in development side. But in these other two, man, I get in the way too much and over this next year I want to, with your help and through books and mentors and events, I want to be able to get more out of the way.

Shawn Greenway: 37:05

But my biggest problem right now especially for anybody who's watching, so that you realize that you're not crazy too is that although I don't know how or can't do some of the things that ever all the guys do, I feel that need in the back of my head all the time to like I want to know how to do that. So I have that battle of like no, you don't, you don't need to know that because they're doing it. So because they. It really comes back down to this when I believe in something and I know what it does and can do, I can sell anything if I don't know, but then a battle with that is like I don't need to know all of it, I just need to know that, what it does and can do.

Shawn Greenway: 37:49

So yeah, over the next year it's going to be about that development, which is, if I can share this with you, one of the biggest things that I think is important for entrepreneurs, business owners, anybody is. Go, you know, go to events that are in your industry and get around the people that are in the same boat, so to speak. Same they're thinking because that's probably been the biggest development side for me over the past, you know, call it 20 years is getting around people that are way ahead of you. Sometimes they're behind you. Just that mix alone will get you in a better mindset.

Dr. William Attaway: 38:30

So good. The people around you make such a difference. I agree, that has been my experience and of the clients that I work with, 100%. The people that are around you make a tremendous difference in your growth or your lack of growth. You get to choose, you decide the people that are around you, particularly as an entrepreneur.

Dr. William Attaway: 38:50

Absolutely you do. You go in spurts with reading. By the way, that's true for all of us. I do the same thing. I read. I make a habit of reading because it's a discipline that I've put into my life every day, but there are seasons when I'm going to read a whole lot more than other seasons. It's a rhythm and that's okay. You have read far more than most people that I talked to, even with your rhythm, just so you know. I mean the stat I heard once that just horrified me was that most American adults vast majority do not read another book after high school. The average American only reads three books after they graduate high school.

Shawn Greenway: 39:39

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway: 39:42

Total. That's astounding to me. Yeah, because I know. You know, leaders are learners. We are constantly learning. That does not mean you have to pick up a paper book. There are so many ways to learn these days, from podcasts to audio books, from YouTube channels to podcast. I mean. There's so many different ways to learn. The question is, are you going to take advantage of those ways? And that's one thing that I really appreciate about you is that you don't let what you can't do or don't want to do stop you from doing what you can. You press forward. Is there a book that has made a big difference in your journey, one that you'd recommend to the leaders who are listening? Hey, you need to pick this up if you've never read it.

Shawn Greenway: 40:24

Yeah, you know, go back to my first one. Obviously, if you're, if anybody's watching, you're just kind of starting thinking grow rich, because mindset is the biggest thing for anything in my opinion. So, because I had to change a lot of things in my mind, how I was raised, all the different things, money you know, on and on that's number one, it's a needed in the beginning. I can only really speak on to what we're kind of I'm going through right now and I mean you've talked about this. I'm kind of in the trilogy of was it Dan Sullivan? About this? I'm kind of in the trilogy of was it dan sullivan? Yeah, the who, who, not how, the gap in the game and 10x is easier than 2x. Like if, if those books had came out and you know back, uh, 20 years ago, things might be a lot different right now for me, because you know, and I think it's just like any book, sometimes books just really resonate with you when you're reading them, like I've read some and like, huh, ok, and then maybe, maybe that book is going to serve me better two years from now when I try to read it again. But those three, dan Sullivan, is what I'm going through and I think it's important sometimes to find the things that when you're going through. I know you recommend a lot of books through your newsletter and stuff, which I think is awesome. I want to be able to read more.

Shawn Greenway: 41:51

But let me share this with you. I had this come to me over the weekend Memorial Day Day weekend is that? Um? I heard a statistic about lottery tickets. They said that the bottom 10% um basically buys 80% of the lottery tickets. You know, scratch off paper ones, whatever for the big one. Bottom 10 buys 80 of that and hopes of becoming, you know, insta millionaire. And I got thinking about that. It's like. You know, I'm not an idiot. I'll just for fun, a couple times a year I'll buy a scratch off or two, maybe even buy one for the big lottery. You know, it's just, I do it for entertainment, that that's it, because I know the odds. Think about this.

Shawn Greenway: 42:46

These books a good book is a lottery ticket. Most people are dropping 20, 40, 50, 100, some people hundreds a week on lottery tickets in hopes to making millions. How about spend 20, 30 bucks on a book every week? That's what's up. So that hit me as like books have been my lottery ticket. Now I'm not even close to where I feel like I want to be when it comes to financially, the freedom, everything.

Shawn Greenway: 43:16

But I tell you what, um, I'm, I'm headed that way, I'm getting opportunities, that at least I know that I'm on the right highway and I'm not in the back roads of going down the wrong way anymore. And I can tell you, william, I attribute that to books. Everything, if you want a book, from the Bible to Think and Grow Rich, to all these development books, it's just real, because you teach this is that you're getting to learn from their 10,000 hours. I think I've heard that before their 10,000 hours. You get to hear what went wrong a lot of times. You get to hear what went right, and I've heard a before. They're $10,000. You get to hear what went wrong a lot of times. You get to hear what went right, and I've heard a guy say this it only takes one idea out of a book that could change the whole trajectory of your life. That's right. If you apply it, if you apply it.

Dr. William Attaway: 44:11

That's the thing.

Shawn Greenway: 44:14

Now I'll say this too I've read hundreds of books and still, to this day, there's a lot of times that it'll hit me like, oh wow, that is awesome, and almost 27. Um, it's just like the gym got to keep going back, got to keep going back. So the books is is the lottery ticket. So if there's anything on this podcast, it's, uh, the books or the lottery ticket, that's for sure.

Dr. William Attaway: 44:53

So good. So this has been this has been a brilliant use of time. I'm so glad that you came on the show and shared so honestly and openly about your journey so far and what you've learned. I can't wait to see where you go from here, and it is an honor to get to work with you as your coach and help you and watch you and see you thrive and grow and develop and achieve levels of success that you haven't seen yet. I know the best is yet to come for you and I know a lot of our listeners are going to want to stay connected with you and continue to learn from you and perhaps learn about Brand Lyft and how they can jump into the expertise that you and your team provide. What's the best way for folks to connect with you?

Shawn Greenway: 45:39

Yeah, I'm going to give you like two different ways. A real good way is to follow me on Instagram. So my handle is at Shawn Greenway, just like it's spelled on the screen here. If it shows up at Shawn Greenway 10X, it's odd that I've come full circle with the 10x thing. So Shawn Greenway, 10x on instagram. And you can also check us out too on our brand lyft marketing site, which is brand lyft with a y, so brand lyft. Um, find it either way there. If you want to talk to me, book a discovery call, we can have a conversation. But, William, I wanted to thank you for what you've done so far with me in the coaching side. Uh, if I, if I may, uh, for years I fought, trying to get help, so to speak, and I met you at a conference last year and what you talked about on stage a little kind of walkthrough project thing I just had it just clicked in my mind is like I, you made me realize why I need someone.

Shawn Greenway: 46:45

And then here we are now. So, um, the thinking, my thinking, has become a lot more clear and more focused. I got a long ways to go, but where I'm at already just three months in big time. So I appreciate that. Thank you for that.

Dr. William Attaway: 47:04

Absolutely. It's an honor and a privilege to get to help entrepreneurs and business owners like you, Shawn, and, like I said before, the best is yet to come. Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. The best is yet to come helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbook. com, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 47:52

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro / Outro: 48:36

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.