Build A Business Not A Job Before It Costs You Everything

If you built a business to create freedom and it became the very thing consuming you, this episode is for you.

I sat down with Trapper Searles, strategic partner to high-performing entrepreneurs, and the founder who built and exited The Garage Doctor after nearly 20 years. Trapper's story isn't a highlight reel. It's raw, real, and deeply instructive for anyone trying to build a business not a job before life sends you a bill you're not ready to pay.

We get into the difference between self-employment and an actual business, why delegation breaks down (and how to fix it), and the moment a single piece of math unlocked 47% more growth potential by simply getting out of his own way. We also talk about what it really costs to stay at the center of everything and why your relationships always pay the price first.

If clarity, alignment, and sustainable growth are what you're after, this conversation will challenge you and charge you.

Books Mentioned

• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
• Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine
• The Case for Grace by Lee Strobel
• Soundtracks by Jon Acuff
• Good to Great by Jim Collins

Connect with Trapper Searles on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. His book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and you can also find him at trappersearles.com.

Check out Dr. William Attaway's new show, The Appreciation at Work Podcast! 

Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Snapshot

Dr. William Attaway 0:00

I'm so excited today to have Trapper Searles on the podcast. Trapper is a strategic partner to high-performing individuals and business owners who are seeking clarity, alignment, and sustainable growth. After successfully building and exiting his garage door company, he now works alongside clients to refine vision, strengthen identity, and unlock new levels of performance, professionally and personally. His approach centers on cutting through noise, challenging limiting patterns, and building success from a place of authenticity and precision. Trapper, I'm so glad you're here, man. Thanks for being on the show. Man, I appreciate you. I'm looking forward to it.

Intro 0:46

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.

Early Life That Built Grit

Dr. William Attaway 1:03

I'd love to start with you sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners, particularly about your journey and your development as a leader. How did you get started?

Trapper Searles 1:14

Yeah, so I think the the development part of becoming a leader, which I definitely am proud to be, and love supporting others on that journey to leadership as well. Started uh in Casper, Wyoming, where I'm originally from, and uh grew up in a very busy house, nine of us, three bedrooms, one bath. So definitely had to understand like your place and like kind of like figure out where you're at. And then uh I was also the youngest of the uh the household, so it was kind of uh you become scrappy. Um so yeah, growing up in Casper, Wyoming, and then I moved out of my house uh when I was 16, so that was a big deal, uh junior in high school, and had uh I was probably almost 17 and just had to kind of start figuring it out. And so uh I think that was just part of my development as well. And then moved to Denver, Colorado in 2003, I think it was. Sold cars for like nine months, and and then I I said, you know what, I'm gonna get back into the garage door business, which I was used to used to doing. So that's what I started in when I was about 15. And so I kind of dove right in and started my own company in 2005. It was called the Garage Doctor. Wow. And I had that of the way until 2024. Um, and in that stretch, I a lot of life happened. So that's kind of the short version there, and then I'll go wherever we go from there.

Dr. William Attaway 2:40

So, how old were you when you started the Garage Doctor?

Trapper Searles 2:43

I was 21 years old. Yep. And so that's just that's remarkable, man. You know, I I actually think first and foremost, I think everything in life happens by design at this point. I I just try to go with the flow and make the best decisions I can and connect and collaborate with people that align with with myself. And I find that if uh there's alignment with me, then there's generally alignment on the other side also, just like you and I. And uh so I I just I stopped I stopped uh swimming upstream a few years ago, and I just uh started making that transition to going with the flow, but also making the decisions that are in alignment, and life has been really, really amazing for sure.

Dr. William Attaway 3:25

So for almost 20 years, you built the business you started, you ran it, and then you did what so many entrepreneurs dream of doing. You exited.

Trapper Searles 3:35

Yes, sir. Yeah, it was uh I I definitely didn't I didn't build to sell. No, I didn't know that was gonna be in my you know that wasn't on my vision board um ever. So and I did those all the time. And so what really happened in our life was a sequence of events. So in 2021, I attempted, and then in 2022, my wife had a ruptured brain aneurysm, and I and she was in the hospital for 180 days, and so in that span of time, there was a lot of perspective happening. And when my wife got out of the hospital, I was just like, you know what? I've always felt a calling for greater impact in the world, but also in my family. And so after my attempt, I really gained a lot of self-awareness and dove into personal development, conscious thinking, conscious energy, like we've kind of talked about a little bit. And that led me down the path when my wife was in the hospital of just thinking, you know what, we should we should really love the life we live. And I think that's in every aspect, we should love where we we should love where we live. We should love the people we surround our life with. And so it just started creating a a ripple of conscious decision making, which I actually don't think I made a lot of those for a long time. You know, my entire business almost, you know, probably 17 years of my business was reactive. And I think a lot of business owners are like that. And so later in my business, when when Sam was in the hospital, I really thought about, man, what does life look like if I were to sell? And so that's when I reached out to some people that I knew in the garage door industry and just started asking questions.

Dr. William Attaway 5:31

You know, so many pieces of that uh I would love to dive into. You know, to increase your self-awareness, I think is something that that a lot of people never really spend any time on. Often say self-awareness is not a flower that is planted in everybody's garden. And I think part of our journey is learning to increase that, to plant that flower and to water it and to help it to grow, because that's how we really know where growth goes. One of the things that that you touched on there was that you were building a life that maybe wasn't as enjoyable. You were building a life that maybe you weren't surrounded or in the location that that you wanted to be. I'm I'm curious, I think a lot of people are there. I think they have they have maybe left a job to start their own thing, but all they ended up creating was the same job they left. It's just a whole lot more pressure now. Owning a business, having team members, employees, like this just adds pressure and stress layers. Is that something that you were experiencing as you as you came to to those to those big pivotal events? Is that was that a catalyst in that? Or do you feel like it was cumulative of 20 years worth of pressure decisions and the environment that you were in?

Self-Employment Versus Real Business

Trapper Searles 6:49

Yeah, absolutely. A great question. I I totally agree. I think a lot of times when people choose to go down an entrepreneurial journey, they think they're gonna build a business. And most of the time, they become solopreneurs and create uh self-employment. And a lot of a lot of times, you know, I'm sure that you deal with this more than I do, even, but I meet so many people that are self-employed that say they have a small business, and it's just not the same thing. And so when I started my company uh in 2005, I definitely was like, I'm just gonna start, I'm gonna create a business to create my own job. I mean, I kind of knew that I was just creating self-employment. Even at 21, I didn't know that. I didn't like have a conscious awareness of that's what I was doing, but I definitely did not have intention of having a business. And so what I found early and fast was having a business, I I don't want to oversimplify it. However, having a successful business isn't hard. Um, and I say that because in the home service industry specifically, if you answer your phone, you're kind, you show up on time, you do mostly what you say you're gonna do, and you're honest, it just grows. I mean, you you you just are doing if you have integrity and and you're just doing what you believe in, it it just grows. And so that's what happened for me is it got to a point where like I was I was really building a really great job and I had great reviews, but it it it started to become so busy that I I felt like I was starting to disappoint people, customers. And so I was like, you know what, I need to hire. And that's where I said, okay, but it also wasn't a I'm gonna be this big, you know, I didn't have a plan of growth, I didn't have a business plan at all. And so it was just, you know what, we need another technician. So I hired a friend of mine and trained him, and he became a service tech. And then shortly after that, the call volume just was like busy because we're taking care of people and they're referring people just like people do. And then I was like, I need somebody in an office, but I don't have an office. So it was it was like a trial and error of I I wasn't ready to buy a building, I wasn't in a place to do that. Uh and so I hired somebody that worked from my home office, and and she ended up working for me for just a little over 10 years. And so, you know, as we as business wanted me to grow, I chose to grow. Now, there's definitely a lot of challenges that come along with that because I didn't have mentorship, I didn't have leadership development, I didn't have intentionality, I didn't have awareness. So I I I can admit that I probably wasn't the best leader. I I definitely was good at making decisions and making them the right decision. I still tell people that today, every day. Um decision is an action. And it's way better to take action potentially in the this might sound the wrong way. I don't know if I perfected how to say this, but it's better to take action in a direction than not take action at all. And so I tell people make a decision and make it the right decision. And so that's good. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna move you forward, but every direct, every step moves you forward, even if it's something that doesn't feel like it's moving you in the direction you want to go, it was growth and learning. And that moves you forward. And so when I deal with business owners all the time, and I'm finding more and more because I feel like there's more entrepreneurs nowadays. I feel like there's more people starting their own businesses, which is amazing. However, if uh, for example, if you're a heavy introvert and you're starting a business that has face-to-face, it's gonna be a struggle because you have to learn how to make decisions. You have to learn how to you just have to make decisions. And sometimes you have to make them fast. And I will say that that's something that I've always been really good at. Some of them were lessons learned, you know. But um, yeah, to answer your question, I know is a long way to answer it, but I uh definitely created a self-employment and then it developed into a business that I think was meant to be a solid business for sure.

Dr. William Attaway 11:17

I love that. You know, I think I think a lot of people can resonate with the self-employment bit, you know, but I love how you say that. You know, a mentor of mine says something similar. He says, you know, imperfect action is greater than inaction. It doesn't have to be perfect, right? Yeah and I think sometimes we wait, think, well, when when I when I know exactly the right thing to do and it's exactly the right time, then I'll act. Well, good luck. Good luck.

Trapper Searles 11:43

You know, yeah. I mean, there's there's a movie. I don't know if you've seen this movie, not to go sideways and I'll just keep it short, but um, have you seen the film Idiocracy? No, I haven't. Just watch it sometime. Okay, that's all I'll say. It is exactly it's it's kind of, I feel like kind of where sometimes I feel like that's where we're at in the world. So I'll leave that. That's all I'll say is just check that movie out sometime. You'll understand

Delegation That Creates Ownership

Trapper Searles 12:10

it.

Dr. William Attaway 12:10

I'll check it out. So you're so you're building the company, you're you're now hiring people to help you with fulfillment, and things begin to scale. And this is this is the point where I think a lot of people struggle because in order to scale, you have to let go of things. You have to delegate, you have to trust. Was that hard for you?

Trapper Searles 12:35

Yes. So I will fully admit that uh not now, I'm uh I'm actually really solid at transferring trust. Just because I know my deficiencies and inefficiencies, and I know that if I if I bring someone on for a certain role, I mean I'm clearly being intentional about what they do, know how to do. I they can do it better than I can. So if I share my vision, you know, if it's my company, I want to share my vision, you know, what aligns with the company. But then I just kind of would let them do their thing. So now early generation trapper would be like, um, yeah, I'm delegating, you know. And if someone asks like how I do that, I'd be like, I just micromanage everybody. I micromanage, I'm really critical. This isn't me now, this is me back in the day. People want the responsibility. I didn't know that. People want to do a great job for you. People want you to trust them. People want, they want to own their job. They they really do want to be like the CEO of their position. I just didn't know that until probably 2015. I mean, I made it 10 years being a boss. And in 2015, I think I really I think I was a good leader also, but I was a bossy leader. 2015 was like the transition year of learning how to lead, not boss, and and truly understand the definition of delegation, how I learned it anyway, which is uh trust, uh trust by letting someone own their position, educate them when they fail, encourage failure. I I was taught to encourage failure because then you can teach. It's an educational moment where you know you don't get frustrated or mad. A lot of bosses like myself would react when someone would mess up. And it's like, you know, I didn't have the awareness back then to say, well, I didn't teach them. You know, so a lot of uh I think bosses and entrepreneurs, especially I would say in the trades, that's my biggest experience is in the trades. And so most tradesmen, I'm gonna say all of us, are really good at the thing we learned how to do. We don't know anything about business. You know, we we are just like really great at this thing. And sometimes tradesmen aren't even good at the thing, they just are like, I don't want to work for somebody. And you know, but when the time comes to have a team and delegate, the earlier and the sooner you learn how to do it and trust it, it's magical because I do believe that people love contributing. They want to contribute, they want to do their job. Um, and it's super powerful when people understand what delegation is. And I and I don't know if delegation for me is the similar for you, but um that's how I was taught at uh it was called Tap the Potential, was the first business coaching that I invested in in 2015, 16, 17. And it was led by Dr. Sabrina Starling. She still does it actually, she's amazing. And then Michael Mikalowitz was um a coach, and um we'll we we can talk more about that offline. I actually was invited to have an opportunity to potentially work with the Prosper group with Mike, so that's pretty special. So that's pretty cool. I'm looking forward to that.

Dr. William Attaway 15:52

That's fantastic. Oh, Mikalowitz is great. I've had him on the show. And listeners, if you haven't listened to Mike's episode on this show, go check it out because that is one smart guy who dropped a lot of insight.

Trapper Searles 16:05

He's awesome. So in 2015, 16, and 17, I mean, I learned so much from Dr. Sabrina, but um, you know, McAlways like a right here. There's like three of his books. Yeah, that's right. And um, and I actually had a stat that I'd give clients that are right there because it it changed my life. Profit first changed my trajectory of the business for sure.

Dr. William Attaway 16:35

So good. You know, that turn from doing everything yourself where you're at the center of the spider web and everything connects to you as a solopreneur, to having an actual team that you trust and delegate to. That turn is one that, in my experience, about 90% of business owners will never make. They build a lifestyle business that everything is centered on them, everything connects to them, and that's what they have. And they may say they want something else, but their actions demonstrate that that's what they're building. Making that turn is challenging. And you made it. And then things began to grow and things began to scale. Once you made that turn, up until when? What what what was the next big event?

When Family Forces A Hard Look

Trapper Searles 17:20

Yeah, so I I think the catalyst for me was again, I believe every now I believe everything is by design. I truly believe that. It's crazy when you when you gain perspective on your life. You know, I think you have to live a certain amount of time to gain the perspective on what life is and how and why it's by design. But I truly believe that. And I didn't just like wake up and say, you know what, I want to learn to delegate and I want to learn how to grow a business. My wife, you know, made some decisions for me by making some decisions of her own. And it kind of forced, it forced me to really look deep inside myself of the type of person I was. And I'll say it, I've always been a really good person. I mean, I'm honest, I'm loyal, I believe I, excuse me, I have a high level of uh integrity. I don't know how not to be authentic. Um, and that and that could have been good and bad at certain times of my life. But my my wife and I were really struggling in 2000, late 2015, 16, and into 16. And it was like, man, I'm contributing to the downfall of like the most important relationship I want to have. And and it and it was really this crazy revelation of, you know, I think a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners, think they're building this business for the right reasons, but they actually don't even know what the right reason is. And so the turning point for me realizing like having a team was kind of forced upon me, a delegation anyway. The delegation portion was I had to do it. I mean, if I didn't do it, it was gonna cost me what I really wanted in my life, which was my my wife, my daughter, my family. And you know, we went through an incredibly hard time for from 2015 until 2023. You know, I mean, it wasn't like a short season, it was it was a hull. And so, um, but again, everything is by design. And so when I started delegating, I would say the biggest transition year was probably not until 2019, which is crazy. Um, I hired a full-time salesperson, and that was really hard for me because that was like I was I'm the I'm the best salesman. I am the best salesman on the planet of garage doors. Okay. I'm not, but like in my head and my business, no one's gonna be able to do this job as good as me. Nobody can do this as well as I do, and nobody's gonna connect with the clients as well as I do, no one's gonna be honest with them. No one's gonna um, you know, I want to make sure we're selling by design. I don't want to sell to sell. I want to be educational. I want to, no one can do what I do, you know, and a lot of business owners have that massive ego that just destroys the opportunity for growth and any potential for scale. So again, it got to a point where I actually was at a barbecue talking with a friend and he goes, he goes, Trapped. He goes, here's the deal. He goes, I think you're the greatest garage door salesperson on the planet. You know, he was messing around a little bit. And he goes, however, but you're only the greatest garage door salesman on the planet 30% of the time, because the other 70% of the time you're running your business. So if I was your salesperson 100% of the time and I was only 70% as good as you, you know, you'd still be improving your business by 47%. He was a numbers guy. I don't remember all the numbers, but that made a lot of sense to me. And when he said that, it connected on a harder level. I remember speaking with my therapist about challenges my wife and I were going through. And my wife and I, we talked about divorce at one point. And um, my therapist said, Trapper, because I was like, I can't, you know, like a lot of entrepreneurs, I think, go through this as well, especially in the trades. It's really hard on your relationships. And I remember talking to my therapist, and I was like, I'm heartbroken because I just I can't imagine not seeing my daughter every single day whenever I walk. And she goes, Trapper, in any relationship, 100% of you, any percentage of the time, is better than 50% of you all of the time. And that when when when Brad talked to me about the sales position, I was like, oh, you know, I gotta, I gotta give up some of that control. And I'll tell you what, it was the probably one of the best decisions of business. He he rode with me for three months. He learned, first of all, he was a friend. So he just knew how passionate I was about my business, about our customers. And then he just loved people, you know. Don't especially in sales, you don't have to hire someone that knows anything about the industry. You just have to hire someone that cares about people and they'll be successful. And so that was one of the biggest turning points in like in our growth uh was probably in, like I said, 2019, which was really special.

Dr. William Attaway 22:17

That's remarkable, man. You know, I think that I think that what you're describing there is the struggle of a whole lot of entrepreneurs. And they're sacrificing their their most important relationships in an effort to try to build a business that's going to provide for those folks. But in building the business, they're giving their family, their spouse, 50% or less of them. And that is such a strong. Yeah, 100%. But it I think it's normal in a whole lot of environments, in a whole lot of businesses. It is. And it doesn't have to be. We get to choose.

Trapper Searles 22:52

It doesn't. Yeah. I'm really passionate about our relationships and our lives, but I've also realized that in the trades specifically, there's a there there's this conversation that's happening about how, you know, AI can't take this. And it can't. So it creates a great value, right? For tradesmen. And that's awesome. However, leaders in big business don't, I think, realize the cost to the high performing technicians that are literally in charge of making them their greatest margins. And I've been seeing this over the last six weeks really heavy because I've been involved with businesses on a deeper level. But over the last five years, I just don't think there's not enough emphasis on leadership. That burnout within your high performers is real.

Dr. William Attaway 23:44

And it's 100%.

Trapper Searles 23:46

It's not just costing them, it's costing them the most important things in their lives, which is their lives, the relationship with their kids. And it's just not worth it. And I and I think that's why I kind of have an unpopular opinion amongst like private equity and big companies is because I uh I kind of preach like anti-9 failures. So I'm like, listen, listen, like enough money is enough money at some level. I believe that. However, creating great lives for people isn't financial. And and the blue-collar community, the trades community, have has these leaders that are just making it seem like if you don't make $150,000 to $300,000 a year, that you're a failure and you're not successful. And that's wrong. And and that is wrong. I don't even believe in like good and bad all that much, but like that's bad. And so I just think that with what I'm drawn to do for pretty much the rest of my life is to try to help people understand once you have awareness within yourself, you are in control of creating what success looks like to you. But because of social media, it it just runs rampant that like I'm not successful unless I'm a seven-figure, eight-figure, nine-figure business owner. And then I'm also not successful if I'm not a high six-figure technician. And it's like, man, the pressure that puts on people, it's insane. And what good is that high performer that's doing $2 million in sales and making $350,000 a year if they can't enjoy any of the time with their family or they buy a new house and all of a sudden they get divorced and now they have half of it. You know, that's right. It's just uh at what cost, right? So I get super passionate about that.

Dr. William Attaway 25:29

So a little sideways. I think that's so important for us to discuss. I really, really do. The relationships that matter most, we say matter most, our actions have to match that. And if they don't, it's time for an adjustment. And we get to choose, we get to decide that. We do. So let me let me ask you this.

Redefining Success Beyond Income

Dr. William Attaway 25:49

You know, you are uh coach to to high-performing entrepreneurs in so many different places. How do you stay on top of your game, Trevor? I mean, people are asking of you more than they did five, 10 years ago. How do you level up with the new leadership skills that you're gonna need in the days ahead to serve those that you work with?

Trapper Searles 26:12

Yeah, great question. I think um having having new friend friendships and alliances, just like you, you know, three years ago, four years ago, four years ago, I would say, before my wife's injury, I felt like I was leveling up, but I was I was the pinnacle. And that's not good. I just want I just want to be clear. That's a good thing. I was I was the person everybody wanted to be with and be around. And that I felt bad for that actually, because I was not the person that should should have been that for anybody. I believe I should be that for people now, but I also believe that I am still being pulled with other people. I also align on a higher level with other people. And so I think when I find alignment with people, yeah, and and they're further along in their journey and they have different wisdom, which every human being does. I think that that really helps with my development. Is I love learning and I try to sponge as much as possible, even though I don't have an amazing memory. I just I think I can learn from everybody, and I don't think they have to be the top of their game in an industry or leading a big business. I mean, I I have a friend that is a really good friend that he's like the best dad I've ever met. And like it's amazing the priority he sets for his kids. And I don't do that for my daughter, and I think I'm a pretty awesome dad. And so, you know, spending time with him and talking with him once or twice a week on the phone and on Zoom, you know, that helps me level up and personally develop. And then I truly believe, and I'm not the one who's coined this, it's been said for a long time. Personal develop, personal development leads to professional development. And I believe that I used to I used to focus on professional develop, professional development, but it didn't improve me personally. So I'm like, you know what? If I can improve who I am and my character and my integrity and my authenticity and my my honesty and all of the things that I want to be as a human being, like at my core, and I believe I am, as long as I'm surrounding myself with people that I think align with that, I'm consistently growing. And so every single day, you know, and then also reflection is huge. I I reflect, I do it in the morning and at night, which might sound weird, but I do a little bit of like morning reflection just because of, you know, sometimes I'll miss something the the night before when I'm reflecting on the day. And then in the morning, I might have a dream. I know this sounds weird, but like in the middle of the night, I'll have a lot, I have a lot of crazy stuff happening in my head. And so I'll wake up and I'll just make a note in my phone or I'll speak in a Siri or whatever. And then it's like, you know, then I then I'll reflect on that in the morning and see if I need to add it to my day to investigate those ideas or whatever that came to me. And then in the evening, I'll reflect again because every single day, you know, there's again, I don't I don't look at it as failure, but there's definitely non-successes in the day where I'm like, you know what, that's something I can improve on. And I I really try not to make the same mistakes ever. That's something I really do try to do. And I think as a successful business owner, that's something that we need to try to teach also. I mean, if we if we have employees or team members, well, it's okay for people to fail, to not be successful. Let's just try to figure out how not to do the same thing. I think that's a way to identify some of that stuff. But I think most people want to be successful.

Dr. William Attaway 29:30

Yeah, I agree completely. And you've touched on a couple of things that I talk about all the time. The importance of a teachable spirit that you can learn from anybody, the importance of evaluation, you know, that that that's how you avoid circling the drain over and over and over again, making the same mistakes. Evaluating, saying, what are we going to do different? That is so, so important. And I love that you keyed in on that because I think that is what has caused the personal and professional growth that you've experienced because you are consistent with those disciplines.

Reflection Habits And Book Wisdom

Dr. William Attaway 30:01

Is there a book that's made a really big difference in your journey? You mentioned Mikalowitz's prophet first. Are there are there any others that you'd recommend to the leaders listening?

Trapper Searles 30:09

Mel Robin's book is really good. And that's a one I I've read recently. Um, that is a good book. There's another one that um, you know, McAlowitz books uh, you know, I think a really underrated book for business would be Pumpkin Planning. I I think it's Pumpkin Planning by Mike McAlowitz. Yeah, that book doesn't get enough credit.

Dr. William Attaway 30:30

I agree.

Trapper Searles 30:31

I built my business from 2015 on profit first and pumpkin planning. That's awesome. And I didn't just put pumpkin planning into my business, I I incorporated pumpkin planning into my life. And I don't know if he knows that. I'm sure he's had people say that, and maybe when I talk to him next, I'll tell him. But when you intentionally design your client, your business can be successful. If you intentionally design your friends or your colleagues or your professional people that you it designs a better life. And I don't know if he I don't know if he's had an Jared that. Uh positive intelligence is a good book. There's a this is maybe an unusual book. Uh it's called The Case for Drace. I don't know if you're it's a very unique read, but um that one's a it's that one hit me for some reason. It's uh interesting. It's a very unique book. I can share with you later more on it. Yeah. How about you? What's like a really impactful book for you?

Dr. William Attaway 31:31

My goodness. I mean, you've mentioned several of them. You know, McAllowitz is phenomenal. You know, I mean, so many of his books have been really transformative. A book called Soundtracks by John A. Cuff is one I recommend often. About uh mindset that I know. And uh a classic, but one that had a big impact on me and still does is Jim Collins Good to Great.

Trapper Searles 31:53

Okay. I've heard of that classic.

Dr. William Attaway 31:56

It's probably pushing 30 years old now.

Trapper Searles 31:58

Hey, listen, do you want to know what Mike told me? Um I gave Mike, no one, no one actually knows this, I don't think, but it's not like some big shit. But when I was at the Growth Experience, the night before I signed a book, I wrote a nice message to Mike because I hadn't seen him in 10 years. You know, so and I had a talk told him since 2017. Nine years. And so I wrote a nice message, I put my cell phone number in there, and in the morning when he was speaking, I went down there with my my friend Kyle, that was there with me doing media stuff, and I said, I tapped him on the shoulder and said, Hey Mike, I don't want to interrupt. I just said, I let you a note in here, I'd love to have a conversation sometime. And I was gonna walk away and he looked up and he was like traffer, and he likes to remember remember me, which was just cool, but that was validating a little bit. And he was like, Hey, I want to catch up. And so he finished his thing, he came over and he got done doing his his speaking with us, and then uh he pulled me aside, he said, Hey, I'm gonna read your book when I'm flying, um, when I'm flying back home. And I said, Okay, cool. And he called me. I don't know if it was from the plane, but it wasn't all that long after, you know, he he took it. He's like, Hey, I I'm like eight or nine chapters in. And he goes, This is a what a what a story. My God. Like I'm kind of at a loss for words. And he goes, he goes, you know, I can tell it's your first book, you know, you probably didn't have a ton of help. I said, I didn't have a lot of help, you know, and it's a little bit raw, and you know, it probably wasn't the best edited. And I don't take any offense to that. I mean, it's like it's my book, and there's no AI, which I'm really proud of. And it's one of those things where like nowadays it's like hard to find someone that wrote a book. But he he said this to me, and this is what I what just resonated with me what you said is he goes, Trap, because I told him, I said, I want to write a book a year until I can't. And he was like, that's an amazing goal. He goes, and I'm sure that you have plenty of content. He goes, but maybe what I would encourage, and I'd love to talk to you about, is how do we find a way to write a book that lasts for years? And so when he said, Good to great is an old read or old book. That might be so, but some books are just timeless, you know. 100% up at first, timeless book, pumpkin planning, timeless book. And by no means do I think my memoir is a timeless book, it was more of a personal thing that I just know people can relate to and I think it can make an impact. Um, but when he said that, I was like, huh, because I'm eight, I'm nine chapters done in my next book called Twined Expectations. And he was like, I'd encourage you not to write that book. So I'm still writing it. I'm still writing it. I don't know if I'll publish it, but I'm gonna write it. Um, and I'll probably send him the manuscript before I do, and I'm sure he would read it, which is really special. But that's what I was just uh when you said uh good to good to great, and you said, hey, it's kind of a you know, it's an old read or it's an older book. Some of those are the most powerful, and I think, you know, being an author, like I think it's really special that there's books that have lasted generations. That's really cool. I mean, I I would aspire to do that one day. You know, I think I love to write. I never knew I did, but I I do love to write. But I when what he said that I was like, man, maybe I need to put more intentionality into creating something really special instead of creating a lot of good books.

Dr. William Attaway 35:12

Hear that, and I love that. You know, I I think the more you write, the better you get. You know, it's it's one of those things. But you know, I've got I've got one of I've got John Maxwell's first book that he published, right? It's okay. I mean, it's okay, and I bet John will be the first one to tell you, like, you know, it's it's nothing like what he writes now.

Trapper Searles 35:36

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway 35:36

But you know, John just published his 90-second book. Like, that's crazy.

unknown 35:42

Right?

Dr. William Attaway 35:43

But it's way better. And I think this is the thing. It's the reps, it's learning how to put words to paper in a way that adds value. And I think that's the process of what you're

Where To Find Trapper

Dr. William Attaway 35:54

doing, man. I'm so excited for you. I know our listeners are gonna want to pick this book up of yours. I know they're gonna want to connect with you. Like, what's the best way for them to do that?

Trapper Searles 36:04

Um, well, the best way to connect would just be on socials like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, just trapper searals. It's easy-ish to find me. Uh, my last name's a little weird, but uh it's uh just S-E-A-R-L-E-S. If you if you put Trapper into most places and you find an S E A name, it's probably me. The book is on AM, my current book is on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I think you can buy it like any store that buy that sells books online. It's not in any stores. And then, you know, I have a website, it's uh being built right now because I'm pretty new at what I'm doing, and I I kind of keep changing a little bit of direction here and there, but it's just searalsuccess.com. And then you could also just Google Trapper Searles, and then I have another, I have a sub brand called the Perspective Expert, which is a um series really you know passionate about perspective. It's something that I really enjoy.

Dr. William Attaway 36:58

And um we will have these links to connect with you in the show notes, a link to your book. And uh man, I just want to thank you for being on the show and sharing so openly from your journey. I can't thank you enough for doing that.

Trapper Searles 37:10

I appreciate you having me. I I really enjoy talking with you, and this has been really special.