Leading with Generosity: How Open-Mindedness Drives Agency Growth with Scott Joseph

Can leadership truly evolve from a competitive edge to one of generosity and open-mindedness? In this episode, Scott Joseph, founder of Me Plus Ultra and CEO of J&L Marketing, reveals how his leadership journey transformed from a competitive drive to one enriched by wisdom and generosity. Scott shares how adopting a client-centric approach and leading with an open heart can significantly drive agency growth and personal fulfillment.

Scott's story includes his venture, Me Plus Ultra, which emerged from his quest for deeper purpose and now thrives through impactful leadership retreats and mastermind groups. He discusses how stepping out of his comfort zone and embracing diverse perspectives have fueled his personal and professional growth.

Tune in to discover how Scott's shift in mindset led to remarkable rewards and organizational success. Learn how you can apply these principles to enhance your own leadership and achieve long-term success. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights from Scott’s experience and embark on your journey toward a more generous and impactful leadership style.

For more insights and valuable resources from Scott Joseph, visit MePlusUltra.com.

Books Mentioned:

• Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
• The Loyalty Effect by Frederick F. Reichheld
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

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 Scott Joseph's Leadership Journey
• 3:55 Leading with Generosity and Client-Centricity
• 9:26 Creating a Purpose-Driven Business
• 34:07 The Power of Clarity and Uniqueness in Business
• 46:14 Embracing Growth Through Connection and Learning

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm excited today to have Scott Joseph on the podcast. As the founder of Me Plus Ultra and the CEO at J&L Marketing, Scott excels in driving business growth, evidenced by a five-fold increase in his three Honda dealerships' values. Hosting the Business Bourbon and Cigars podcast, Scott delivers actionable business insights, fostering a community where leaders overcome challenges and scale new heights together. Scott, I'm thrilled you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Scott Joseph: 0:38

I couldn't thank you more. It's an honor, thank you.

Intro/Outro: 0:40

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, 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: 0:58

I would love to begin with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, scott, particularly around your journey and development as a leader. How did you get started?

Scott Joseph: 1:08

I've got to go way back. I'm old. How long do you want this show to be? We've got at least three hours. So I was forced into leadership at a pretty young age. I'm not going to go back to childhood, but I will say when I started. I started J&L marketing when I was 22 years old. So you know you're whether you know what you're doing or not. You have to learn on the fly then. So I'd have to say that's that would be the beginning of it. So you know I look back. I'm definitely much more mature, smarter, probably just more experienced now. I look back on a lot of mistakes I made early and hopefully I can pass on some information to help other people speed up their learning curves and avoid similar mistakes.

Dr. William Attaway: 2:08

I think that's wisdom, speaking right there as the miles climb on the odometer, and I can relate. Hopefully we increase in wisdom and insight from what we experience along the way. I don't believe there's any such thing as a wasted experience, but the question is are we going to be free and generous with what we've learned to help other people avoid some of the ditches we drove into?

Scott Joseph: 2:31

That's right.

Scott Joseph: 2:35

I would say one of the bigger regrets I have, or one of the things I would have changed early on, is I was very isolated, very competitive which I don't think there's anything wrong with being competitive but very driven and feeling I could do and accomplish everything on my own.

Scott Joseph: 2:53

And I feel like if I had to start over, I would have been much more open-minded and willing to share a lot of the experiences, to be willing to listen a lot more, maybe form a lot more different strategic alliances, even with potential competitors, because I think the growth could have happened quicker and on a much bigger scale. I'll say, at this stage in my life, especially over the last three to five years, at this stage in my life, especially over the last three to five years, I'm an open book I give, I give, I expect nothing in return and I do not do anything with any type of motive to get something back. And what I found is and I think it's because I'm sincere when I say that the more I give, it's almost as if the universe is rewarding me in some way, and it's almost the more I give, the more things just seem to be falling in my lap lately and it's hard to explain, but I can tell you it's a much more enjoyable process than the first 30 years.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:10

Well and I think that's that's brilliant. I mean leading with generosity and leading with a scarcity mindset, where you think it's all about you, and building your own kingdom. That's two different ways to lead. That's right, and people respond very differently to those two mindsets.

Scott Joseph: 4:27

Very well said. You're 100% correct on that.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:31

As you were building. You know your marketing agency first and then your dealerships. I mean, what are some of the things that you learned along the way as you learned to lead, leading as a 22 year old? That's special right there, because you don't have a ton of track that you can look back on and say I can pull from that experience. You don't have a ton of that. What? Are some things that you learned along that way.

Scott Joseph: 4:56

Well, and I grew up in a house where so I played sports and let's take this back, you're talking 30, 35 years ago. The world was a different place then too. Yeah, um, if you grew up in a sports environment, your coaches were hard on you. They're probably coaches that were doing things, saying things. Uh, the tone of their voice, of their delivery, was much different than what they probably could get away with today.

Dr. William Attaway: 5:24

And.

Scott Joseph: 5:25

I grew up with that and my dad was that way and had a great relationship with my dad, but he was hard on me in the sense that you know he pulled no punches. I mean, he had no problem yelling at me and being pretty assertive and you know things like that. So when you go into having to lead at 22, that's what I knew and so if I knew gosh, here we go. You know, if I only knew then what I know now, and I think, no, don't get me, it worked Now, don't get me wrong, it worked but it's. And we had an incredible culture early on in those companies we had. There was tremendous accountability, but there was also fear, because I was very demanding on people. They were compensated well, I, they were compensated well, I knew they were compensated well and I probably leveraged that in a way I shouldn't have. And so I think that's one of the mistakes, because you know, as I do these leadership retreats now, you know my leadership style today is polar opposite of what it was in my early 20s, which it should be. We're not growing. But if I do a leadership retreat today and it doesn't matter what mastermind topic we're talking about it could be client retention. It can be employee retention. It can be just new acquisition, new sales growth, building sales strategies. It can be employee retention. It can be just new acquisition, new sales growth, building sales strategies. It can be about marketing At some point. Inevitably every conversation, every brainstorm at some point touches on culture and accountability, every single one.

Scott Joseph: 7:20

And so, as strong as our culture was, our culture was good back then only because people were making money. And you know, I was 22. I was recruiting people about my age. We were all young and you know I recruited people that were like me kind of. So you know, they all were into sports and they probably could take some of that that I was dishing and they were used to it, the that that I was dishing and they were used to it the same way I was used to it, and so we liked similar interests. So you know, it was the type of culture that we'd work really hard but we played hard too and we'd go out, we'd do things together. So there was just some of my best friends lifelong friends came from that early stage in business.

Scott Joseph: 8:03

But I will say, to get more on topic for your question, the best thing I learned in terms of what I think I passed down to employees in our team was we really wanted for one to hold ourselves accountable. But having said all that, to hold ourselves accountable, having said all that, everything we did was very client-centric. It was extremely and no one taught me that, at least not in the first couple of years, until I dived into some Anthony Robbins training a ton of Anthony Robbins training, a ton of Jay Abraham training and I started understanding the value of a client, the value of that relationship, what the long-term value was, how you really grow a business. And I still, I really just drilled into our teams. You know how to improve frequency and recency and how to grow our client base and what a great client experience was. Every process we did was just so focused on our client. And I will say that if I did one thing right more than anything else was when I started J&O Marketing. It was not about the money for me and that might sound weird when you're starting your own company but more than the money, more than, I guess, the notoriety of having your business or whatever reputation you think that might create, I just wanted us to be great. And so to be great that meant that customers or clients had to really talk about you in a great way and talk about how professional you were, how great the results were, how great the experience was in terms of ease of doing business with, and that they just had total faith in us and they would feel comfortable referring, and it was that focus that drove all of our process.

Scott Joseph: 10:10

Now I will say, once we started scaling, once we started growing and I'm talking maybe 10 years in at this point, early 2000s I lost sight of that and there was a stretch of maybe 10 years.

Scott Joseph: 10:28

It's weird how you go in waves.

Scott Joseph: 10:30

There was a stretch of maybe 10 years where I started letting money rule my decisions instead of staying true to my core and my true value, and I started thinking, oh, we can make a little bit if I do this or if I do this.

Scott Joseph: 10:48

And I started taking a little bit from a sales rep here tweaking their pay plan, saying, well, I don't want to eat the whole part of this investment, I could get a little from over here. I can do this, I can do that. And when you start making those decisions, and when you start making those decisions, you'll never realize what it does to the culture of your business, the loyalty you had starts to dissipate, your overall enjoyment isn't the same because you're no longer doing things for the real why you got into that business to begin with and so, fortunately, at some point you recognize I'm creating my own problems here. I need to get back to what made us phenomenal and that happened as well. But that's some early, I guess some very big picture scenarios of us starting through and as we worked our way through and matured as a company.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:20

I think your journey is not terribly unique because you started where you were. You learned, you grew, you adapted, you adjusted, you took everything you were learning and you began to implement and execute on that and grow until you are where you are now. And one of the things and we talked about this previously that I really appreciate as I was researching you and learning more about what you do, one of the things I loved to see was that you don't just see every experience in your life and everything you've learned as something that's just for you. You want to pass that on, you want to share that with other people so that they can benefit.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:59

So maybe they'll avoid some of the ditches.

Scott Joseph: 14:01

Yeah, listen, what I do now with Me Plus Ultra. It's so funny. I literally first off I invest a lot of my growth, especially early on when I started J&L Marketing. My first company was the agency.

Scott Joseph: 14:18

When I started that I had all the people, whether they were close friends or family, telling me not to do it. And the reason they were telling me not to do it not because they didn't want to see me succeed. They were trying to protect me. They knew I had no experience in running a business. I had no idea what I was doing.

Scott Joseph: 14:37

I was only 22 years old and so you know you got people like your mom who's value security right. That's a high value for her. They're trying to protect me and I just fortunately at 22, living at home Fortunately at 22, living at home, you can afford to take some risk that I probably couldn't take if I was 35 with kids and married right with mortgages and everything else. So I took those chances and I remember telling people I said, listen, I can sell, because that had been what I was doing up to that point. I said, I know I can sell, I can learn the rest and that's what I did, and so I just feel like. But in terms of passing it on, I invest a lot of money early on in self-development. I continue to this day. That has never stopped for me. I mean just a year ago I went down to Costa Rica for two weeks and it was all about finding my purpose.

Intro/Outro: 15:45

And.

Scott Joseph: 15:46

I say that because I'd gotten these businesses over the last 30 years, whether it's the dealerships or the agency. I'd worked them to a point where I had managing partners. I could walk away for years and in many cases they'd probably grow faster if I wasn't around. And so you know, because sometimes I can get in the way right, and they're the ones in the trenches, they're the ones with the clients and talking to them the most. And so what happens is you work so hard to get to that place and I think a lot of entrepreneurs think, oh, I'm going to put in that grind, I'm going to work, I'm going to work, I'm going to work. And you get it to a part where you can finally enjoy all that travel and you've got all those comforts and luxurious lifestyle. But you realize and at some point every successful entrepreneur or business person asks themselves is this all there is? And that comes sooner for some people. But eventually, and probably doesn't matter how successful, right, because everybody's got their different scales of what that means to them. But they were going to ask and I was not fulfilled and I had accomplished all Beautiful wife, loving, loving wife, very supportive, beautiful family. All my businesses are successful. At this point I've made more than I probably ever dreamed I would. So all those comforts on paper, you're sitting there saying, wow, that is, how could he not be fulfilled? Something was missing.

Scott Joseph: 17:35

And basically what I would go through in my head is I'd say you know what? I know? There's more out there. I'm not happy because we need to grow it faster, we need more market share. Maybe I'm just comfortable here now and that's not making me happy anymore. So I need to make more money, and so I keep doubling down on stuff that wasn't making me happy, that I didn't enjoy doing and it was compounding the problem, right, and so what?

Scott Joseph: 18:08

Basically it comes down to, what used to excite me became mundane to me. I was no longer living my purpose Early on. These businesses were my purpose. That was what I loved it, and that's where Me Plus Altar come in. And so I, you talk about sharing it with others. That's what this all is. I, you talk about sharing it with others. That's what this all is, because what I realized? I get more joy.

Scott Joseph: 18:42

I feel like I'm very good at uniting people that, whether they have diverse skill sets. I'm going to introduce you to John over here, larry, over here, susan, because I know that if you guys get together, some magic is going to happen and it makes sense for you guys to at least talk, and I love watching that happen. That's what gives me joy and I feel like I do have knowledge to give. I'm not a consultant or anything like that, but we do these leadership retreats that are in person, we do mastermind sessions virtually, and I'm telling you right now, I work harder now in the last 10 years, or I work harder in these last two years since starting this company, than I have in the last 10, probably combined but it doesn't feel like work anymore.

Scott Joseph: 19:29

It goes back to every new entrepreneur knows what I'm talking about. Right, it's a grind and it's a lot of effort, time, effort and money, but it doesn't feel like it's work because you love it and that's where I've come full circle on that, and so you know, I live a life of purpose, you know, and I want to make sure that every decision I make moving forward fulfills it.

Dr. William Attaway: 19:57

You know, scott, that is so incredible, and I think a lot of people are where you were. They keep chasing the foggy mist. That is more. Yes. Well, if I just grab onto that, onto that, that'll be, that'll be enough, that'll be enough. And there's never enough, that's right and through me plus ultra you have found purpose right. Talk, talk to me about that. What is what?

Scott Joseph: 20:22

I create. My purpose, you know, I it's not about finding it. I think it's about creating it, and so recognizing when we enjoy something and when we don't. It's our body's way of basically telling us and steering us in a direction. We don't always follow it, though, and so when I started recognizing man, I really I can't it got to a point in my business is some of the day to day stuff that I had to do.

Scott Joseph: 20:50

I just dreaded it, I hated it, and as I got into this business, I had to do a lot of day-to-day things, and I'd go into some of these things and I'm like why am I doing this? I could be on a beach, I could be relaxing, but when I get off those calls, or I get off doing that task, I am at level 10, I am, I'm on a muscle, I'm ready to roll, and that's, and I have to remind myself. First off, it confirms that I know I'm, I'm on the right path for me, I'm being authentic to who I am, but at the same time, I remind myself before those tasks where I feel like that I gotta take this call or I got to do this. Think about how you're going to feel when this thing's when it's done, right, when this call is done, or whatever, and it's an easy reminder.

Scott Joseph: 21:46

So, you know I I'll let you take it from here. No, this is great, you know I'll let you take it from here?

Dr. William Attaway: 21:52

Yeah, I feel like I'm. No, this is great. Talk to me about MePlus Ultra, about the mastermind groups that you started here, this company. Who is this for, and what is the goal of these groups?

Scott Joseph: 22:05

Yeah, so it's. I want high growth entrepreneurs in the group. I want C-suite executives, industry innovators. I want like-minded people. All the people in this group are ambitious. They want transformation in terms of their business and their life. That's what they're really looking for. It's really a one plus one type equals three type scenario, because this all started from COVID.

Scott Joseph: 22:38

I had no idea I wanted to do this. It's not like one day I woke up and said you know what I need to start a mastermind group. What happened was I started doing something and realized how much enjoyment I got out of it and figured a business model out of that. So when I say create my purpose, that's what I mean. So I've got something I'm very passionate about and figured out a business model with it, and so Me Plus Ultra kind of started in reverse. Most mastermind groups form. Then they start doing. If they're going to do eventually, you know, if they're doing virtual events, then maybe they might add a live in-person event.

Scott Joseph: 23:16

We're in COVID and you know, at that time I was heavily involved in just the auto industry and the agency. 90% of its clients at that time was auto and we're sitting there and I had a good friend up in New Jersey, sandy Cerami. We're in two weeks right after they shut down the NCAA tournament. No one knows what the heck's going on. We're all locked in. We're not allowed to leave our houses. Some of these dealers weren't even like in the state of Pennsylvania. They weren't even allowed to sell cars online. Wow, oh yeah. So there was a lot of uncertainty, things were moving very fast and there was a lot of fear and panic. And so, you know, sandy calls me up and he goes man, we got to help some people. He goes what if we did a Zoom call and invited a bunch of the dealers on there and maybe get a CPA, a marketing person, a lawyer, an HR person, and we started talking about here's the issues we're all dealing with. Figure out how people are handling them. If we need legal advice or an opinion, at least we can get it. Same with the CPA and the hr person, things like that. And, man, they were going over, great. And so eventually, after a few weeks of that you know, if you'll remember, back in in early 2000, the first half of 2020, after about a month or two, we're still all locked in our house. That's right, and we're all craving like social, in-person interactions, right. So that's why everybody started Zooming and doing Zoom meetings and fun things like that. So he goes, sandy goes to me, goes, hey, it's Friday at five, happy hour, why don't you grab a bourbon, grab a cigar? Let's do a Zoom meeting, you and I, just you and I, and we'll brainstorm on how to make these online meetings better for everybody. So we're doing it Three hours. We did that. We planned an hour, three hours, but we were loving it, we were having because, think about it, you're having a bourbon, you're doing your cigar, you're enjoying it. We had pages of notes and we got off that and we literally at the end said, man, that's probably one of the most productive meetings we've ever had. So that goes on.

Scott Joseph: 25:39

For a couple of weeks we added a third person, the president of J&L Marketing, my agency, and we realized, because you know on your phone, when the Zoom, you've got the boxes right, and we had. Because you know on your phone, when the Zoom, you've got the boxes right and we had, the fourth box was empty. And so we said we need to come up with this. We'll call it the fourth box. We need to add one of these dealer clients or prospects, or just dealership owners and invite them in to these things once a week. We'll call it the fourth box them in to these things once a week, we'll call it the fourth box. We told. On the next week's Zoom call we said, guys, we're going to do this thing called the fourth box. It's invite only If you're interested, let us know. I said we're going to talk business, we're going to do a bourbon, we're going to have a cigar. I said you don't have to check all three boxes, but we prefer two of the three. If you know nothing about business, that's fine, as long as you're good with the bourbon and the cigar. They're all laughing man.

Scott Joseph: 26:36

We had a line and then we start doing these meetings and once again it was just like the original one with Sandy and I here. I had prospects that if I had called them all right and just cold called them or tried to set up meetings with them, it would not have given us the time of day we're on these phone calls two, three hours scheduled for an hour. We couldn't get them off the phone. I mean, think about that. And so we're having fun and pages of notes and it was becoming valuable. So later in that year we were like I think people were fed up with this not seeing anybody.

Scott Joseph: 27:18

And in three weeks we planned our first live event From the idea, saying we're going to do it. But when it happened it was a three-week thing. We only had 13 people but they flew in from all over the country. Those 13 people, we had maybe two people from right here in Louisville we did distillery tours out of Buffalo Trace. We did a Hermitage Farm thing, which was incredible.

Scott Joseph: 27:48

But the goal of that in-person was how do we create an event that's different, that's unique? I didn't want a bunch of speakers up there talking about stuff we already know, 95% of it. I wanted something that these guys could get real value. So when we do our events, they're true masterminds, they're real mastermind events where each session let's say it's on client retention they're two, two and a half hours. You spend the first 20 minutes on your own stuff. Then we bring everybody together and they start sharing ideas, what they like about everybody's idea, how they'd improve it and stuff like that. By the end you have an action step, an action plan that can take your business to multiple levels higher, plan that can take your business to multiple levels higher.

Scott Joseph: 28:35

And I guess, through that process, at the end of the two and a half days, half these people I never knew other than Zoom, I'm best friends with, these are some of my best friends I say that I am blown away. The people in my life over the last two years. So when I say give and give and it just there's been unexpected consequences and I don't say consequences, unexpected benefits, opportunities, whether it's new business opportunities, but just the pure friendships of these people, it's real connections, it's new business opportunities, but just the pure friendships of these people, it's real connections. And then you get the feedback wow, this was completely different than anything I've done. That just makes me feel I can't express it how it makes me feel. And that's when I knew I was on to something. I can't do an event every week, I can't do an event every day. And so then it backed into me plus ultra, which. So that's when I say it was reversed of the norm. That's what I mean. It's a long story.

Scott Joseph: 29:42

So, and this gave birth to the podcast right, I had another podcast for J&L Marketing called Move Crush Count. But yes, as I broke off business bourbon and cigars, I knew it. I wanted to make the leadership retreat an extra bonus added value to me plus ultra. And if I have a podcast called me plus ultra, no one's going to know what the heck that means, right? So business bourbon and cigars made more sense from a podcast name than B Plus Alter, and that's what I did.

Dr. William Attaway: 30:21

Yeah, that's going well. So talk about the podcast, because that's one of the newer pieces of what you're building. What is the show about and who are the type of guests that you have on?

Scott Joseph: 30:33

I want once again high growth entrepreneurs. I want C-suite executives. I want business owners. I do take an occasional consultant, but I'm on different services to help me get guests and this and that, and I get bombarded by consultants.

Dr. William Attaway: 30:55

And.

Scott Joseph: 30:56

I have no problem with that. I have no problem. But I want people that have been in the trenches and are doing it and can teach it. So when I bring on a consultant like I don't just bring on the business coach, I don't bring that person on, but when there's a niche that I know. If there's a consultant that has a niche I had one on that I interviewed two days ago that specializes in helping people find the right franchises and also if they want to become a franchise, so he consults and walks them through that step. To me that was interesting because I base my, my guess on what my members want out of me plus ultra Love that Right, and so it goes back to being client centric and so I want to. I sit there and we have a lot of franchisees and we also have people that have a couple businesses in the group that make sense to become potential franchises. So I thought this could bring great value to them.

Scott Joseph: 32:05

I bring in I brought in, coming from the marketing side another consultant I brought in coming from the marketing side. Another consultant I brought in was his niche was he goes in and helps people identify with certainty what makes them different, what makes them unique, and I'll, after the show, I will uh. His name is barry labov, so you and I met on on on a uh, a site that that helped coordinate and unite us right. He's on there, so I recommend you reach out to him. He's a phenomenal, phenomenal uh interview and he brings his content, his. What he brings to the table is very specific. It's actionable and that's what I like and so I'm. To me, we were a marketing agency. The longest business I've had is J&O Marketing. We're phenomenal at marketing for our clients. For the first, we've been in business 33 years. Wow. Up until the last two, we were the worst company possible marketing ourselves.

Scott Joseph: 33:22

All right, we could sell, yeah, we could sell but we couldn't market ourselves at all. We had a hard time hiring someone to do it because we knew that's what we should be able to do, right, and so we never did it and so we're much better at it today. But I will say it shouldn't take you 30 something years to figure that out, and and and, uh I, but what he does and what I thought. It'll take you 30-something years to figure that out. But what he does and what I thought because I know there's other business I see the marketing that they do, especially these entrepreneurs, and they do not have a unique selling proposition, a value statement that's articulated clearly.

Scott Joseph: 34:12

Donald Miller, bill Preach, right, have this clear message, articulate it in this way, make it simple, all this type of stuff. But he doesn't tell you necessarily how to figure out what to say in terms of what truly makes you unique and different. That a prospect will say I have to go with them because, man, if I don't have that, I have to go with them because, man, if I don't have that, or if I'm choosing, looking at companies that don't do it that way, that one thing that makes them unique and it's usually two or three. Two or three things that make them really unique. There's no way I'm going to succeed the way I want to right. Yeah, walked us through that show and how he gets to that stage or to that, I guess, product of identifying that. So those are the type of consultants I'd bring on the show. I want someone that I don't want just general fluff crap Does that make sense?

Dr. William Attaway: 35:06

A hundred percent, a hundred percent. I get 30 to 40 requests a week to be on the show. Yeah, you know. And through through so many different services and a lot just direct and LinkedIn and email, I totally get it. You know, some of them it's just not a good fit and some of them I'm like I need something a little more. You know actionable. Can I ask you a question, please? You know actionable. Can I ask you a question?

Scott Joseph: 35:32

Please, what shows have you done that come, one or two that come to your mind that you're like. I wish all my shows were exactly like this one. That's it.

Dr. William Attaway: 35:44

That's a kick butt show, and what type of guest was that Guest who brought clarity? Yeah, one of the things I work with clients on is developing clarity around the type of leader they want to be, the type of life they want to live. I believe clear-minded focus is a first step in achieving that. Most people don't have it because most people aren't asking the right questions and you'll never get the right answers if you're asking the wrong questions. I can think of two guests straight up who brought insane levels of clarity and people could listen to those, and those are two of the highest, highest listened to, highest rated episodes we have. Because people listened and they took action, because there were very specific, actionable steps where they could apply what they heard.

Scott Joseph: 36:34

You know why? They were probably listened to more than the others? For all the reasons you just said, but because of those reasons, people felt compelled to share them.

Scott Joseph: 36:45

People said yes, this was valuable. You know, mary, you've got you've got similar situations to what you've got to listen to this, listen to this. They're telling their peers listen to this show and you're. Isn't it amazing how clarity in terms of what the value you bring to someone right, and in your case, you're trying to bring clarity in terms of whatever topic you're you're interviewing on? Yeah, it's just a magic formula isn't it?

Dr. William Attaway: 37:18

Well, I believe clarity is kindness, yeah, and I believe the clearer we are with ourselves first, then with those around us and then with those we're serving, the clearer we are, the more clarity we bring, the better leader we become.

Intro/Outro: 37:32

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:32

The less clarity we have. That's just not kind. That's not kind to anybody.

Scott Joseph: 37:39

That's a great way to say it. I'm going to steal that. I'll give you credit.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:46

The first two times I use it, then it's yours. That's right. I usually say the first three times.

Intro/Outro: 37:52

After the first three.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:53

It's mine. That's right. You're kinder. You're a kinder person than I am. Oh my Scott, anybody who spends 10 seconds with you begins to understand that you have a mindset that is focused on learning and growing and this is just hardwired into you. I'm curious. I hated school. I hated it. That's not what I mean. I am not talking about school. I'm talking about a teachable spirit. I'm talking about somebody who understands that they can learn from anybody and anything. Sometimes you learn what not to do, but you have that learning posture.

Scott Joseph: 38:36

Thank you I see that thank you, I, I, I do. I'm not saying I get along with everybody, but I definitely get along I, but I definitely get.

Scott Joseph: 38:49

I can easily get along with just about any type of person. Yeah, regardless of politics, beliefs, all this other stuff. Um, it doesn't mean I get along with everybody, but but it's you. It's not because of their belief systems, it's not because of it's just you're not clicking right. Whatever it might be, I do feel like I there are, there is value in just about everybody. Yeah, I believe that. That's why when I get people, I am not afraid to have people on my team that think completely different from me.

Scott Joseph: 39:30

I like I like yeah, I love when people challenge the way.

Dr. William Attaway: 39:34

I think that's how we get better.

Scott Joseph: 39:42

We've talked about leadership at the beginning. I'm the type of leader that, if I really believe in my idea, I'm going to do everything in my power to convince you and sell you. To where I get consensus yes. However, if there's strong enough people in that room and someone comes to me with data and logic, it is equally compelling. Yes, I have no problem saying, yeah, you know what my idea sucks. That's a much better idea. I have no problem. The best idea wins. Correct. Knock the title on the door.

Dr. William Attaway: 40:14

That's a much better idea. I have no problem. The best idea wins. Drop the title on the door. That's right, that's a healthy leader, that is, a healthy leader leading in a healthy way. Yeah, so let me ask you this, as somebody who comes with that posture how do you stay on top of your game? How do you level up with new leadership skills that your business and your team are going to need you to have a year from now, or five years from now, because you don't have them yet? How are you doing that?

Scott Joseph: 40:45

Well, now, it's easy for me, and so I'll say that, but then I'll go backwards to before this. Right, with the mastermind group, I'm bringing in the leaders I have in the room and it's a diverse group. So we have people in this group that make a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. I have people in this group that make 50 million plus a year. So it's all over the board, but it's amazing how much even those guys the top level guys, income earners, the top level guys, income earners learn and get ideas from some of the new people, especially on technology and different things. It's also diverse in industries, but when they get together and we're working through these masterminds and it's how to build a winning culture, whatever it might be, I just learn. When we bring and we talk about AI topics, when we talk about it's just a now I'm actually learning more now without having to find it. It's all in front of me, it's what I do, and so that's easy. So, prior to that, right prior to starting Me Plus Ultra, I do a lot of reading.

Scott Joseph: 41:58

I love reading books, and so when I see books on topics, I know I have a blind spot on or I think there's a lot of room for improvement. I see all the books behind you. I love to read. Yeah, almost every book I read is some type of self-improvement, self-development. If you come into my office at home, it is. There might be five books in that, in that thing, and it's a lot of books. There might be five that are not self-development or some type of self-improvement, whether it's improving business stuff, whether it's me personally. When I say self-development, I mean that I'm looking at myself. I got plenty of business books as well that it's all about improving the business, and so I read a lot, and usually from those books I'm introduced to people, whether it's the author or whatever.

Scott Joseph: 42:54

And thanks to the internet, right, you start Googling, you start finding more information. I attend a lot of workshops. I do a lot of different events. I started I don't know if you go to I just started a podcast. My first one was pre-COVID. So, gosh, it seems like it was only a couple of years. But pre-COVID, so it's probably what? Six years right In a minute? Yeah, a couple years into that. I had no idea they had conventions for podcasters.

Intro/Outro: 43:25

Yeah.

Scott Joseph: 43:26

So I don't know if you've ever been to PodFest down in Orlando.

Dr. William Attaway: 43:30

Not yet no.

Scott Joseph: 43:31

I would advise that I've actually got members in my group that I met at that conference. Another great friend that I met at the first conference I went to he's actually coming into Louisville next week going to dinner Love it. But I learned a ton from that and I've been to Inbound up there for HubSpot before. So I do these things and I'm exposed to these different people and I used to be very early in my life very an introvert, so to speak. I guess I was in sales and I had to force myself to be good in sales. I had to get out of that comfort zone. It was not comfortable for me at all to do that. I hated it, what Me Plus Ultra has done. I'll give you an example.

Scott Joseph: 44:28

You go to a typical networking event or leadership retreat, whatever. You go there with the best intentions and one of two things ultimately usually happens to 95% of the people in the room. Either you run into someone you know and you end up talking all night to that one person, right, which you already knew you didn't need to do that and you did that because that was comfortable, right or you're out there and you're getting business cards. You walk away with 20, 30 business cards and out of those exchanges, no one ever talks to each other again Because there's no real connection. You didn't forge any real relationship. There was no value brought to anything. Relationship there was no value brought to anything. And so one of the lucky things that happened early on with what we noticed with business bourbon cigars this was not planned, there was no strategy or design. By this and, looking back, we know why it works.

Scott Joseph: 45:27

When we do these mastermind sessions, we might have three or four per event sessions. We might have three or four per event. Well, every mastermind session I have table assignments. So by the end of the two days, at some point you've worked with almost everybody in the room. And so in the second half of the day, when we have our activities and our excursions and you're doing your networking breakfast, your lunches, your dinners and you're doing bourbon tours and whatever fun things we're doing there's no awkwardness. You've worked with everybody, you've been helping, they've been helping you, you've been helping them, and so all those walls are down and so the networking becomes that much better. And I think I forget what got us on this topic. You asked a really good question and I don't know if I answered it. How are you doing.

Scott Joseph: 46:24

Yeah, oh, you asked how I continue to learn, right, continue. And so I think now when I go to these conferences, now I'm going to come full circle. Here we go. I'm not being very clear. My clarity is not the best, so this will be your lowest downloaded episode.

Dr. William Attaway: 46:45

Not a chance, not a chance.

Scott Joseph: 46:48

So when I go to these conferences, what I used to avoid meeting people, I used to just go pay attention to the content. Go to my next thing and if you think about it, that aligned very well with the first half of my career where I was very isolated and very just self-driven. Yeah, Now and I think Meat Plus, Ultra and these Mrs Bermuda cigar events have made me more comfortable I would not put myself in an introvert category anymore, I'm almost extroverted now and it's a weird shift I enjoy. My wife just had we just had a baby two years ago, Congratulations.

Dr. William Attaway: 47:37

Thank you.

Scott Joseph: 47:38

Well, three weeks after, I had a business trip I had to go out to in California, and it's the type of trip that was very, very even mix of social and fun, so it would be something. Normally she would have attended with me. So I had to go out there and there were going to be all these people that knew each other. There were going to be all these people. All the clicks were already there, all the networking relationships already formed. I'm the new guy that knows no one and you know what? It was one of the best trips, I mean, it was awesome Once again, strong relationships and I think it's I don't know if it's just the stuff that I don't know, if it's I just feel more comfortable or just some things I learned that I do at my own events that just seem to work. But whatever it is, I'm happy about it because it's much more enjoyable. That's how I learn. I go to events, I read books and I'm online nonstop.

Dr. William Attaway: 48:42

I ask all the guests is there a book that has made a big difference to you, one that you would recommend anybody listening? If they haven't read this, they have to pick it up.

Scott Joseph: 48:52

There was one I will say. Well, first off, the books that I highly recommend any Anthony Robbins book. So those are more personal development, my reading, my initiation into personal development besides sales training type tapes started with him Unlimited Power. I've taken multiple weekend classes, done a lot of his week-long events. But in getting back to books, the book that helped me the most was not a published book, it was a book that Jay Abraham did. I think he sold it for like $300 or $400, right, and I got an email campaign, brilliantly written, right, but no, it was back then. It was. It was actually a direct mail sales letter that was like 20 pages long.

Intro/Outro: 49:42

Oh, my goodness.

Scott Joseph: 49:43

Yeah, well, he writes it and I read it all. That was what was so. That's why I bought the book. I was like, well, son of a bitch, I just read a 20 page direct mail piece on. It's got to be a good book. It was so compelling. And so that book, because it covered everything I needed to know. It was like my Bible, and if I still have this book at home, this book is about, you know, I'd say two to three inches thick and if you I had it here in front of me you'll see sticky note tabs. If I opened it up you'll see notes and I still rep any business I've started. I use it as a resource to this day.

Scott Joseph: 50:24

A published book I read called the Loyalty Effect, but this is going back 15, 20 years ago I think it was a Harvard Business Review book. I think it was a Harvard Business Review book Did a great job of explaining the loyalty effect in terms of not you know, the only three ways to grow a business frequency, recency and growing that active customer base. Or increasing average transaction value, recent or frequency and growing the customer base. I, more recently, I've read so many books in the last, say, two years. I'll tell you a book that I really enjoyed about two years ago. So I told you I was trying to figure out what is my purpose here and I started reading books Dream Big.

Scott Joseph: 51:34

I started reading some of those books and realized you know what, scott, part of your problem and the reason. You know the direction you need to go, but you haven't done it. You think you're a risk taker, right? So what are you? What are you afraid of? And the reality is, I think, when you become successful, one of the things that challenge you I'm not talking about buying another business, you know, if I bought another dealership, I'll do that all day long. That doesn't scare me at all.

Scott Joseph: 52:05

But starting this mastermind group, why was I delaying it? Probably ego. It was probably like what if people don't want to join my group? What if that would be a blow to my ego, right? What if I'm not successful at it? I've never started this before, and so I used to think I had no comfort zone. But the reality is I think I had more of a comfort zone later in life than I did in the beginning, and it was almost like, well, I don't want to lose this authority or credibility or image that I thought I had in my own mind about what other people might think of me. I could destroy all that if I start this thing, that I don't know what I'm doing and fail at it, and I think there were some hidden insecurities that I just got rid of and went forward with Scott.

Dr. William Attaway: 53:01

I feel like we could talk for another hour. This has been so brilliant, so much insight from your story so far, and I believe the best is yet to come with you, and I can't wait to see what's going to be next, what the next chapter is going to look like.

Scott Joseph: 53:17

How funny you say that. Thank you first off for saying that I did a podcast three days ago. I mentioned earlier I went down to Costa Rica for a two-week mind. I mean I worked on myself mentally, it was exhausting, it was bell to bell. And I interviewed her again just a few days ago and I told everybody on that podcast. I said prior to working with her, if you asked me where I was at in my entrepreneurial journey, I would have said second half, I'm winding it down, not because it's just nearing the end. I just thought well, I've been doing it for 30 years. It seems like the natural thing. I can't be in the first half. If you ask me today where I'm at, just like you just said, I'm just beginning and that's what it feels like and that's a. That's a much better way to wake up every day.

Dr. William Attaway: 54:22

No doubt so.

Scott Joseph: 54:24

I really, I really appreciate you saying that actually.

Dr. William Attaway: 54:28

You know, I've always been encouraged by Peter Drucker.

Scott Joseph: 54:31

Oh yeah.

Dr. William Attaway: 54:32

You know, peter? Peter wrote so much about management, about leadership just such a giant in the field and you may not know this I learned this not too many years ago that Peter wrote two-thirds of what he wrote. Two-thirds of his books were published after he turned 65. Two-thirds of what we know as the body of work of this giant in the field happened after most people hang it up. How inspiring is that to realize.

Scott Joseph: 55:05

I didn't know that.

Dr. William Attaway: 55:06

I didn't know that about him.

Scott Joseph: 55:08

I knew Warren Buffett made most of his income after 50, but I didn't know that about Drucker.

Dr. William Attaway: 55:14

It's just fascinating to me, and such an illustration, that if you're not dead, you're not done his income after 50. But I didn't know that about. Drucker. It's just fascinating to me and such an illustration that you know if you're not dead, you're not done. That's right, and all the insight and all the experience and all the wisdom that you have gained along the way is not just for you.

Dr. William Attaway: 55:26

It can be used for the benefit of those around you, and I think that's what you are doing now in your next chapter, and I can't wait to see where that goes.

Scott Joseph: 55:35

You know you asked me books. I'm probably one of the only entrepreneurs or business people that waited to after 50 to read, Think and Grow Rich.

Dr. William Attaway: 55:46

Oh wow, Can you believe that? And I read a lot of books.

Scott Joseph: 55:51

But, I did, and it's also another thing that helped me realize when I tell you that, ah, why was I so isolated? How dumb. How much more, how much faster could the businesses have grown? How much bigger could they have scaled to? More importantly, what are the relationships I missed out on along the way? Thinking crush the competition, just go out, go. You know, I need no help from anybody. Uh, versus all these tight icons and just titans. They all build it, working together and pulling knowledge out of everyone else. It's not just a better way to do it, it's more enjoyable, that's right.

Dr. William Attaway: 56:42

It's so true. I know our listeners are going to want to continue to learn from you and stay connected. What is the best way for them to do that?

Scott Joseph: 56:54

I think if they go to meplusultra. com. So meplusultra. com, I've got resources on there For one I've got. My podcast is hosted on there, along with on all the other platforms podcast platforms but also that's a couple of eBooks. One is on client centricity, and these are not typical e-books. There's nothing more frustrating to me you talked about clarity and actionable stuff. There's nothing more frustrating to me when I download an e-book because I'm like, oh yeah, I can use, and then it's just fluff. Yes, this is great content. And I've also got another one on building a winning culture and it goes into accountability, or building a winning culture of accountability, and so I don't even you won't have to put it. You can go get them, you can download them. You don't even have to give me an email. So when I say I give, I give, I give. I just go on and I'd love to get their feedback on it. If anybody from your show downloads it and gets it, send me a message, do whatever. I'm on all those social channels.

Dr. William Attaway: 58:05

I love that. Scott, thank you for your generosity today of your time and all that you've learned so far and for sharing it so freely with us.

Scott Joseph: 58:13

Thank you. I appreciate it, appreciate the opportunity.

Dr. William Attaway: 58:19

Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in 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 catalyticleadershipbookcom, 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: 58:55

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: 59:39

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.