Vertical Go to Market | Justin Mink Podcast Interview
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[00:00:00] Corey Quinn: Welcome to the Vertical Go To Market Podcast, where you'll discover new opportunities to grow your business from seven figures to eight from the world's most successful agency and B2B SaaS executives. I'm your host, Corey Quinn. Let's jump into the show. Today I'm joined by my friend and certified EOS implementer, Justin Mink.
[00:00:22] Corey Quinn: Welcome, Justin.
[00:00:23] Justin Mink: Thanks for having me CQ. It's good to be here.
[00:00:25] Corey Quinn: So good to be here. And I can't wait to give you an opportunity to [00:00:30] share your story. I think it's going to be super insightful for our audience to hear about what you're up to, where you've been and, uh, and especially your, your verticalized journey.
[00:00:39] Corey Quinn: Could you share a little bit about just high level about yourself and the work you do as an EOS implementer? Yeah. So
[00:00:45] Justin Mink: I've got a background, you and I are old colleagues. So, you know, some of my background kind of cut across. A few different industries, but entrepreneurship, co founded a company, been a leader at a bunch of startups that have grown, [00:01:00] you know, rocket ship rides, and then spent quite a bit of time in digital marketing, leading teams, primarily on the sales front.
[00:01:08] Justin Mink: With franchise organizations, with the two marketing firms I was, I spent a combined total of about 12 years at, the franchise industry was kind of our version of enterprise. So I started a technology company in Dallas. I was the CMO of a music marketing technology company of all things. I was the CMO of a company doing big data within the cannabis [00:01:30] industry.
[00:01:30] Justin Mink: So I've kind of runs the gamut, but digital marketing in vertical niches is, is really where I've spent a good majority of my career.
[00:01:39] Corey Quinn: Sure. Awesome. So when we worked together at Scorpion, it was a time of massive growth at the company, and that was due in part to some of the work that you were doing directly, which was.
[00:01:52] Corey Quinn: That's helping us to grow our franchise vertical. Could you share a little bit about, and just for context, that is the vertical that you focus your [00:02:00] EOS business on as a, as an implementer today, is
[00:02:02] Justin Mink: that right. That's right. Which is pretty unique within the EOS entrepreneurial operating system community because not a lot, not a lot of implementers verticalize.
[00:02:12] Justin Mink: So that's kind of a unique niche, but yeah, absolutely. That's my, that's my niche within the, the, the EOS. So
[00:02:20] Corey Quinn: walk us through, through the period before you became an EOS implementer. And just for context, could you share what an EOS implementer is for those [00:02:30] folks who may not be
[00:02:30] Justin Mink: familiar? So most people who may not be familiar with the term EOS might be familiar with Traction, Get a Grip on Your Business.
[00:02:39] Justin Mink: It's a book by an author named Gino Wickman. It's a simple set of proven practical tools that help business leaders. Get more of what they want from their business. It's really simple, elegantly simple frameworks and tools to, to lead and manage people and grow an entrepreneurial business. EOS stands for entrepreneurial [00:03:00] operating system.
[00:03:00] Justin Mink: So I'm a teacher, a facilitator and coach. I work with leadership teams and help them if very phased. You know, methodology, phased methodology to implement EOS and ultimately run and manage their entire business using the tools within
[00:03:17] Corey Quinn: the framework. And so I imagine quite a number of listeners will be familiar with EOS.
[00:03:23] Corey Quinn: EOS is becoming very popular within the agency space. Specifically, I have a number of clients who run [00:03:30] EOS and so what were you doing leading up to sort of becoming an EOS implementer? What was happening in your life professionally and why did you choose that
[00:03:41] Justin Mink: route? So I'd spent About five years at Scorpion, helping to grow our, our franchise division.
[00:03:48] Justin Mink: And was blessed with a fantastic team and a lot of resources to, to help fuel that growth, was fortunate enough on the, on the strength [00:04:00] of, of all the activity and engagement that we drove at Scorpion to create a personal brand and a lot of relationships with franchise. Industry folks, suppliers, publishers, and franchisor clients.
[00:04:15] Justin Mink: And so I'd spent five years there and was kind of ready to, um, for something new. You know, the pandemic had hit, just needed a, about every five years I get a little itchy and one of my clients, actually, [00:04:30] I don't think they would have any problem with me sharing Goldfish Swim Schools. runs on EOS. And in fact, Gino Wickman is their implementer, believe it or not, the author of Traction.
[00:04:40] Justin Mink: I think he's run a few businesses that he still kind of boots on the ground with. So my friend there, the CMO recommended the book Traction. I read it and was immediately kind of switched on, you know, it wasn't philosophical. It wasn't theory. It wasn't motivational. It was just, practical deploy these tools in the business [00:05:00] to help you experience less chaos, less stress, more control, and frankly, get more of what you want from your business.
[00:05:07] Justin Mink: So, I actually shared it with a former client and a good friend of mine who started up a little digital agency doing some cutting edge stuff with geofencing and physical foot traffic attribution. And I had always kind of been an intrapreneur at Scorpion trying to grow restaurants. division which really we only scratched the surface of so I felt like I had this itch that I still [00:05:30] hadn't scratched that this could potentially fulfill.
[00:05:33] Justin Mink: Anyway the founder and CEO of that company really loved Traction2. I sent him the book and and when I joined that company we immediately deployed it. It took us about six months. It's a fully stitched EOS into the fabric of how we, how we ran the business to really breathe it. And over that timeframe, our revenue velocity nearly doubled.
[00:05:56] Justin Mink: And speaking of vertical niches, this, this agency really did a [00:06:00] good job of, of niching down as well while I was there and still doing a fantastic job of this. And we actually created a company value around work life balance and capped all employees hours at 40 a week, which was transformative in terms of employee engagement.
[00:06:15] Justin Mink: So performance was there, quality of life, employee engagement satisfaction was there. So I just became a, a, a, you know, a fervent evangelist and just soaked up every EOS thing I could get my hands on. When I found out that [00:06:30] EOS Gino had actually sold the company a few years prior to private equity. And they converted into a franchise.
[00:06:36] Justin Mink: It was like the universe kind of telling me what I, I needed to do because franchising is my, my background. But I never believed or even dreamed that I could have an opportunity that I would, that I would be attracted to around being a franchisee. So I'm a franchisee as are all implementers. And you know, I have a long personal story of entrepreneurship with a lot of stress and frankly, chronic illness.
[00:06:59] Justin Mink: [00:07:00] and and EOS really was a pathway to not only business performance, but living the life that I wanted to live. And so for me, it was, it's really, it was And is a professional calling, helping other leaders experience the same kind of upgrades to their their quality of business. And really, their quality of life that EOS made possible for me, but hopefully sparing some folks the the real suffering that I went through on that journey.
[00:07:25] Justin Mink: Bye.
[00:07:27] Corey Quinn: It seems like at that time [00:07:30] in your career, you had a lot of success in being a CMO, you know, helping to develop the franchise vertical at Scorpion, which you did very successfully, and moving into a role as a EOS franchisee, Thank you. Without a background in that as a new, it sounds like it was a new, new venture.
[00:07:50] Corey Quinn: It's kind of a career pivot.
[00:07:52] Justin Mink: Is that fair to say? It was like a screeching, you know, U turn.
[00:07:58] Corey Quinn: Okay. What [00:08:00] was, what about EOS made that decision, the right decision for you, or what about this opportunity? Yeah. Do you think? Well,
[00:08:06] Justin Mink: I, I believed in it. Just like when I was at Scorpion or selling anything, I believed in it.
[00:08:12] Justin Mink: And, and that, you know, that authenticity fuels, you know, people can feel that. I lived it. So I had the credibility of sitting on the side of the aisle of my clients and sharing that experience. Both, both professionally [00:08:30] and personally, because again, my personal journey was sort of running parallel with my professional one, and EOS really helped me on that, those, those parallel paths.
[00:08:39] Justin Mink: And I also, you know, part of what I like at Scorpion so much is sort of the strategic nature of, of that offering for franchises, how deeply ingrained in the business we were with our clients, and the fact that I could come at it from a very, Not only consultative, but almost a disruptive [00:09:00] challenger type seat in a client's organization and really change how they even, not only how they did business, but how they think about their business.
[00:09:09] Justin Mink: And EOS was that at its most root. I wasn't, I'm not selling a product. I'm not selling a service. I'm selling a, an entire methodology to change the way that a company operates and thinks and engages with each other and their employees in the business. So for me, I get excited talking about it because [00:09:30] it's, it's, it's, it's, I'm
[00:09:32] Corey Quinn: getting excited about this.
[00:09:32] Corey Quinn: Yeah.
[00:09:33] Justin Mink: And what I care about and allows me to do really good work on behalf of my clients, which is the most gratifying.
[00:09:43] Corey Quinn: And so there's a ton of different directions I can go in there with, with this, but I think that where I'm going to go next is you decided to go on this road as an EO certified EOS implementer.
[00:09:56] Corey Quinn: And how did you, you approached it a little bit differently [00:10:00] than it sounds like what other implementers have done because you took more of a vertical approach. Can you talk about that?
[00:10:06] Justin Mink: Yeah. So, so the target market audience or client for EOS is You know, going by the book here is 10 to 250 employees, two to 50 million in revenue, but any EOS implementer, you know, you come in, it's a franchise.
[00:10:21] Justin Mink: So we have, as an, we're a franchisee and we have access to the IP, community of support, training. You know, the, [00:10:30] the, the corporate entity does a fantastic job supporting franchisees and creating value for us and building the brand. But ultimately you're out there as a solo operator and you're responsible for building a book of business.
[00:10:44] Justin Mink: So you are relying on yourself. And I did quite a bit of due diligence and research about the brand and its adoption within the franchise industry and my relationships are all within the franchise industry. So those are the people that I immediately [00:11:00] went to. And just started learning that there is a, there were a lot of, this is two plus years ago, a lot of franchises using EOS, familiar with EOS, and then doing my due diligence, talking to other implementers, a lot of implementers working with franchises, but no organized intention around that work.
[00:11:22] Justin Mink: And there's a lot of nuance, as you know, about the franchise industry and so many different stakeholders. Whether it's [00:11:30] franchisees, franchisors, sometimes not, oftentimes misaligned, private equity, boards, the list goes on, so it's a very, it's a different animal, and there was no adaptation or even evolution of the EOS framework to serve that community and to align those stakeholders, so I saw a market opportunity, I saw an opportunity to be creative and build something new within a framework, which appeals to me because I don't, I don't like just It's I like that [00:12:00] creativity, that sort of being able to flex that muscle a little bit.
[00:12:03] Justin Mink: And I saw an opportunity to do really good work for, for not only my clients, but also help develop a vertical within the EOS community. So it just. All those things got me really excited. So
[00:12:15] Corey Quinn: you made this transition about two years ago. What was, how did you get started? Like, how did you land your first franchise
[00:12:20] Justin Mink: client?
[00:12:20] Justin Mink: I called everybody I knew. Everybody. Everybody. And I leaned hard into LinkedIn. Okay, [00:12:30]
[00:12:30] Corey Quinn: say more about that. What does, what does LinkedIn do for your business? You
[00:12:33] Justin Mink: know, as a solopreneur who, You know, selling was kind of the traditional stereotype around selling does not really apply when you're selling an enterprise solution, nor does it apply when you have such, it's such a relational service that I'm providing.
[00:12:54] Justin Mink: I'm so deeply ingrained and it's so predicated upon trust, not much, not [00:13:00] really unlike what it was at Scorpio. I mean, those were, you remember like 12 to 36 month sales cycles with, you know, massive commitments and a huge leap of faith. That was taken on behalf of, because once you were in agreement with Scorpion, it was, it's not easy to divorce, right?
[00:13:17] Justin Mink: It was a real marriage. So there was a lot of trust building. So it wasn't selling in the traditional sense. It was the long game. And so I'd already been familiar with building a brand, building trust, building authority. Getting [00:13:30] to know all the stakeholders and, and providing insights that they might not have otherwise into their business and into the market as a whole.
[00:13:37] Justin Mink: And so I really leaned into that same sort of mindset and LinkedIn for me was just a way to create my own discipline and around constantly putting good stuff out there so that I was always on my prospect mind, right? I didn't have to pick up the phone other than maybe once. Corey, I can't tell you, [00:14:00] probably my first 5 or 6 clients.
[00:14:02] Justin Mink: LinkedIn has invariably called me after an initial conversation, said, man, I saw your post today. That was great. I've been meaning to call you. And it finally like finally jogged me like you've been putting good stuff out there. So LinkedIn for me has been really, really critical in driving, you know, driving the success that I've had so far.
[00:14:23] Corey Quinn: So you post content, how often do you posting and how do you create the content? How does that all work?
[00:14:28] Justin Mink: Once or twice a day. [00:14:30] I tried to post. So, you know, EOS has created a great brand, but people hire me, they can hire any other implementer. I'm in Dallas, Fort Worth. There are 35 of us here. I'm also not local to a lot of my clients because they're all over the country.
[00:14:46] Justin Mink: So they can hire somebody in their backyard and not have to travel to see me or do it virtual or pay, pay me to come out to see them. So I really tried to combine all the great wealth [00:15:00] of content within EOS and the teachings With my own unique personal spin on, on mindset, on the things that I'm passionate about presence, mindfulness, neuroscience, and sort of synthesize that with business management to create my own unique voice.
[00:15:21] Corey Quinn: And since we're friends and we've been kind of on this journey, about the same time we left Scorpion, about the same time, we both kind of set out on our own. [00:15:30] Obviously we have, we've been working together on the LinkedIn thing once or twice a day, seems like a lot with regard to just being able to be consistent of what you have been over these two plus years.
[00:15:41] Corey Quinn: How do you fit that into your schedules? Do you have a sort of a routine to build, to build this content and to post it? Or, you know, how does that get done? Yeah, I'm
[00:15:47] Justin Mink: like a total flow thinker. So like when this year, I'm like, you know, I've got, I mean, you know, as I think stuff comes into my head all day, and if [00:16:00] I can, I'll pop it into a Google doc or, or create like a task in my Gmail with a thought or a link.
[00:16:08] Justin Mink: But for me, it's, it's, it's like a morning ritual. You know, I get up, I sit in front of the computer. And it's sort of, I've become a much better and more concise writer as a result. And so it's just like any other practice that you dedicate yourself to. It gets easier with the reps. And, you know, the neural pathways start to connect a little more [00:16:30] readily.
[00:16:30] Justin Mink: So now it's relatively easy for me to, you know, crank out great content along some themes that I, you know, I constantly hit on. And I, you know, Justin Welch is a great, Influencer and I took another course that was ungodly expensive, but just for less about the content and more about establishing a discipline and holding me accountable until I internalized it.
[00:16:56] Justin Mink: And then it, then it just became a part of my routine every day. So something [00:17:00] like that, you've got to create a discipline and make it a routine. Otherwise it's, it's just like anything else. You're just going to do it. And then, you know, you're going to burn out on it unless it becomes. Like
[00:17:09] Corey Quinn: clockwork for you.
[00:17:10] Corey Quinn: Yeah. That's being ingrained. Is that something you'd recommend if you're talking to a solopreneur who was, whether it's EOS or some other platform or some other, you know, service, would that be something that you'd recommend that people do?
[00:17:23] Justin Mink: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, just know upfront. Know why you're doing it, know why [00:17:30] you're doing it and, and, and, and stay engaged with the metrics that matter.
[00:17:36] Justin Mink: Cause it's pretty easy to get sucked into the vanity stuff. And what,
[00:17:41] Corey Quinn: so what are, what are some metrics that matter in this, in this regard? The
[00:17:44] Justin Mink: audience for me, who they are and where they're located. So who are you, who are you targeting? Founders, CEOs, presidents and franchise in Dallas, any business and all over the country within the [00:18:00] franchise industry.
[00:18:02] Justin Mink: Got it.
[00:18:02] Corey Quinn: Okay. What? And I would consider that to be sort of thought leadership. Do you do any other types of thought leadership to help feed your
[00:18:08] Justin Mink: business? An email newsletter that has been sporadic, but I'm doing my best to make it more regular. That, that, that has a lot to do with my help with an assist from an assistant or lack thereof.
[00:18:18] Justin Mink: I've had a few swings and misses there. Doing leaning more into video content in 2024, going to do more like live streaming events. And webinars, [00:18:30] you know, some of this stuff is sort of anathema for those at the EEO s worldwide, forgive me. But you know, they, they, they preach and they do so for good reason because what they know, what works.
[00:18:41] Justin Mink: Over the last 15 years, there's 740 implementers and, you know, have done 150 plus thousand sessions with 21,000 clients. So they have, their recommendations are, are based in fact. But it's very relational, very network, very connectors who have other [00:19:00] audiences that could benefit from working with you. And all of that has proven true with me, but I also have taken a little bit more of a aggressive approach to personal branding than maybe others have in the community.
[00:19:13] Justin Mink: Sure.
[00:19:14] Corey Quinn: Have you done any kind of outbound? Do you do, besides the content and early on just reaching out to folks, do you do any kind of outbound type marketing? Are you cold calling franchises? Are you trying to try and do that? No.
[00:19:25] Justin Mink: I've got some events that I'm cooking up that I'm going to, you know, [00:19:30] mail copies of the book, traction, personalized invites to a very select audience with some live events.
[00:19:36] Justin Mink: But really no outbound at all in the traditional sense. I tried it at first, didn't, didn't really work. This is an interesting product. If you want to call it that, you really have to, you know, the client has to want it a lot more than you do. And you have to have the confidence to just walk away and to be very forthright.
[00:19:58] Justin Mink: Seriously, [00:20:00] CQ, it's the experience at Scorpion prepared me for this to the nth degree, because I'd say, and you know, this probably. 80 percent or more of the discovery calls that I had with prospects at Scorpion, me and Jordan Wilson, we said no to, which was shocking to most people. Shocking that we said no to their business, but you know, we had our ideal customer profile, very dialed [00:20:30] in and it really had to be a lot of different criteria had to line up in order for a cop client to be a fit that we were confident would.
[00:20:40] Justin Mink: would be a long term mutual success. And so that set me up well for this type of relationship that I have with clients today. Agency
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[00:22:13] Justin Mink: working with you?
[00:22:13] Justin Mink: There's some degree of pain and suffering. There's some degree of hitting a ceiling in the business, whether it's for the organization or for a department or for an individual [00:22:30] leader, a founder who is finding themselves controlled by the business versus You know, birth being in control, which is the antithesis of why most entrepreneurs start a business, right?
[00:22:40] Justin Mink: They started for freedom, for control, and they end up, you know, being enslaved by the business. There is always some degree of pain or suffering or just stagnation and a recognition and a vulnerability and an openness that things have to change. in order for us to get what we want.
[00:22:58] Corey Quinn: Yeah, [00:23:00] and I imagine the continual sort of drumbeat of helpful content, the association with EOS, is a great positioning for you, especially with the background in franchised relationships you have.
[00:23:13] Corey Quinn: It helps you kind of separate yourself from the 740 other, 739 other
[00:23:18] Justin Mink: implementers. Yeah, and also, you know, at, at Scorpion, what was also helpful is that because that, that sale was so relationship [00:23:30] driven, so trust driven. And, and I had established a reputation of being, and because we said no so often, it's, it's really amazing when you say no, the level of, there's like a switch flips and people like who come into, not everybody comes into a sales discussion in this way, but a lot of people are skeptical, right?
[00:23:55] Justin Mink: This, this guy, this guy or gal is trying to sell me. They just, they're just trying to sell me. I'm [00:24:00] just a mark and saying no or slowing them down when they're like, that establishes this credibility and trust. And the fact that we said no so much, and the fact that, that even in a successful sales engagement.
[00:24:14] Justin Mink: There's so much intentionality behind that created a reputation that I've had in the marketplace that really lent itself well to the work that I'm doing now. Yeah.
[00:24:25] Corey Quinn: It reminds me of when, when you say no early in the process, they think that [00:24:30] they're going to get sold. All of a sudden they find themselves selling themselves to you like, no, you really should like, let me hire you.
[00:24:35] Justin Mink: It is. It is the wildest. It is like dating, you know, like you're too eager. Yeah. You're, you know, the object of your affection is they don't lose interest. But if you, if you play it cool, they're going to, you know, they're going to be more compelled or intrigued by, by, by you. And so it, it, the, the psychological dynamic is, I'm not kidding.
[00:24:57] Justin Mink: It's so similar. It's, [00:25:00] it's shocking. I mean, you could see the tones. You could feel it switch in an engagement when they start selling you like, wait, no, no. You should really consider working with us. We're growing and we've got a lot of big long term potential and we might Right. We'd be a great client.
[00:25:14] Justin Mink: Yeah. Wild. So yeah, that really set. You had a, you had a, that set, that set, that set me up really well for this and so, and into the verticalization that I'm doing now because. It's, it's, it's, I wasn't so tied to the [00:25:30] Scorpion product that I couldn't transition and create a new brand because I've created a personal brand at Scorpion that, that translated.
[00:25:38] Justin Mink: Yeah.
[00:25:39] Corey Quinn: That came along with you. And so you had this great reputation, you had all these relationships within the sort of the vertical franchise. And to me, uh, for folks who, who don't have a history with franchise, franchise, the way I think about it. It's like. It's like a village, like everyone knows everyone, pretty much, everyone talks, you know, and [00:26:00] so word gets around, it's a great industry to be in when you're sort of a loved vendor or a partner and you're known, it's great, but getting in is, can be, can be really tough.
[00:26:10] Corey Quinn: So in your sense, you, you had this great background, this, this real asset of all these relationships and all those, and you had this new passion for EOS, you came in and you started building that, that all makes perfect sense. Do you get involved with the IFA, which is the Big Franchise Association, and if so, at what level makes sense [00:26:30] for a solopreneur like yourself?
[00:26:31] Corey Quinn: Yeah,
[00:26:31] Justin Mink: so the IFA was a client actually. So I, I worked with them on an EOS implementation. That's awesome. Yeah, so that, that was really cool. A little bonus that they're located in D. C., I live in Dallas, Texas, and my, my, all my family and friends, my oldest friends are all in the D. C. area, so. Came home to do a little work and, and visit, visit my peeps.
[00:26:53] Justin Mink: And I've created a internal EOS group, like a cohort of implementers where we share best practices [00:27:00] and support each other. And one of the requirements that we've now created is you have to be a franchisee member of the IFA. It's, it's a, it's, there's a cost, but it's a relatively low barrier entry. But we wanna have some commitment from the folks in our community.
[00:27:14] Justin Mink: 'cause I wanna network a Fran a Fran of EOS implementers. This reputation that I'm creating in the marketplace when people come to me. And my capacity is full or I don't want to travel to, you know, to Boise or to, you know, to San Diego or wherever [00:27:30] they are. I want to have implementers that I know are qualified and committed to the industry, ready to serve them.
[00:27:36] Justin Mink: But to answer your question, I'm kind of straying away from it. EOS is now getting more involved in franchising as a vertical. So I don't know how much I can share, so I'll hold that a little close to my vest, but I know EOS has been engaging with the IFA about. Membership, sponsorships, content, because so many of the IFA members are entrepreneurs, franchisees, who are business owners, [00:28:00] franchisors, and so EOS is a great, you know, a lot of great content that the IFA could leverage on behalf of their members.
[00:28:07] Corey Quinn: I can see that. I can see that. Maybe they'll give away a Tesla at IFA.
[00:28:10] Justin Mink: I'm not holding my breath on that. Who does that, man? Who does
[00:28:14] Corey Quinn: that? I know, that's a crazy idea.
[00:28:20] Corey Quinn: Early on, you mentioned that not only changing your career from, you know, doing Scorpion, the startup, the [00:28:30] CMO, you know, type of work and getting exposed to EOS, that this new career, this sort of pivot in your career was also an opportunity for you to create more balance in your life. Could you, could you talk about
[00:28:42] Justin Mink: that?
[00:28:43] Justin Mink: Yeah, you know, part of the motivation in making this, this, you know, screeching pivot was controlling my own energy. You know, I, I, I mentioned the fact that I got sick earlier and in 2012, some more detail, I, I, I [00:29:00] got mono Epsom bar virus and it became this chronic cascading series of pretty debilitating.
[00:29:07] Justin Mink: Health issues, you know, kind of wrecked my nervous system and spent a week and a half at the Mayo Clinic. And I mean, it's a long, gory story. And so I knew that the road to being a solopreneur was not going to be an easy one, but it was going to be one that I would have. Total control over and, you know, not, not be beholden to being on [00:29:30] available on slack between nine and five Monday through Friday, but, you know, being able to control my own output of energy and to rest frankly, when I needed it.
[00:29:38] Justin Mink: And I'm also a pure, for those who've read Traction or the book Rocket Fuel, you'll be familiar with the visionary integrator duo and some of the. The tropes around what people who sit in either one of those seats, their natural sort of predilection and their skillset. And for me, I'm a, I'm a total visionary.
[00:29:58] Justin Mink: But for [00:30:00] me, creating balance in my life was incredibly important, and I know why I was making that analogy, because visionaries typically do not like the minutiae, they don't like holding people accountable, they have their big ideas, creative problem solvers, strategic thinkers, and for me, running my own ship and not being responsible for anyone else.
[00:30:22] Justin Mink: Was attractive, right? It was just me and, and I, I, you know, I trust myself and I know I'm gonna get something [00:30:30] done. So that was really attractive to me. And ba basically be able to architect with complete independence and autonomy, the kind of life that, that I wanted to live. So
[00:30:41] Corey Quinn: when you say a solopreneur, a lot of it's sort of a new word being, being used today.
[00:30:47] Corey Quinn: And obviously it means that you are an entrepreneur of one. You, you run a business without employees. But I imagine many of the listeners, even myself, would think, well gosh, you know, being a solopreneur didn't, doesn't that [00:31:00] mean you just have to do everything? Like, how does that, how does that? Meet your goal of having more sort of freedom in your schedule or more ability to control, you know, your time.
[00:31:09] Justin Mink: So, when you encounter a problem that's keeping you stuck, right, that's preventing you from elevating to, to spending most, if not all of your time doing what you love to do and what you're great at doing, there's five things you can do, right? You can hire, you can outsource, you can delegate, you can automate, or you could [00:31:30] delete.
[00:31:31] Justin Mink: So, I try to do those things. Hire an assistant who's starting on the 2nd, January 2nd, who I have high hopes for. I've learned from some mistakes and so I'm going to hopefully set her up for success. Automate as much as possible through technology platforms, AI, CRM, scheduling of invoicing and email and communication.[00:32:00]
[00:32:00] Justin Mink: Delegate. As much as I can to my assistant, outsource when required for certain projects and delete all the other shit, man, that doesn't add value to what I'm trying to build or do for my
[00:32:14] Corey Quinn: clients. That's awesome. I've been studying a lot around this concept of 80 20 and like the, the idea is that obviously printer printable, but in this context is that 20 percent of the things that you do, the, where you spend your time create 80 percent of the results.
[00:32:28] Corey Quinn: And so [00:32:30] it's trying to do those, I guess, those five different things for the 80%, the things you shouldn't be touching, uh, including deleting, which I think is, is great. It's, it's always, it's a work in progress based on my own experience, you
[00:32:43] Justin Mink: know, but, uh, keeping the thing, the thing eliminating distraction, eliminating the cost, the switching cost of multitasking, creating frameworks.
[00:32:56] Justin Mink: That, that help you focus on what is most important and truly moves the [00:33:00] needle and fills your cup and imbues you with energy and enthusiasm that's sustainable for the work you're doing. All those things create, it's a practice. And just like anything else, if you, if you get out of practice, it's hard to get back on the wagon again.
[00:33:14] Justin Mink: Does,
[00:33:14] Corey Quinn: does EOS teach that? Is that part of the, the frameworks of EOS?
[00:33:19] Justin Mink: Yeah, they do.
[00:33:21] Corey Quinn: Absolutely. And does EOS apply to a solopreneur? Is there sort of, is there sort of a formula or a
[00:33:28] Justin Mink: template that Yeah, yeah. I [00:33:30] run EOS, not only for my business, but in my marriage. Okay. Can you
[00:33:34] Corey Quinn: say more about that? Yeah.
[00:33:36] Justin Mink: Yeah, my wife and I have created our vision and aligned on the values that we want to leverage to use as our decision making North Star, how we want to raise our son with intentionality, how we want to live less reactively and more purposely.
[00:33:55] Justin Mink: We are both idea people, but we're, we're pretty bad follow through. She's a [00:34:00] visionary too, so now we have a framework to run. meetings where we can hold each other accountable for the commitments that we make with clear plans of action that we're aligned on. Dude, it's been a transformative framework for our marriage and our family.
[00:34:15] Justin Mink: And I run it with my assistant. We run L10s. L10 is the level 10. It's the meeting agenda to make meetings. Something other than where productivity goes to die, right? So yeah, I completely, and I practice what I preach [00:34:30] and it, it gives me credibility and authority, you know, authority with my clients. I truly understand the tools that I'm teaching
[00:34:36] Corey Quinn: them.
[00:34:36] Corey Quinn: That's brilliant. For folks who are interested in EOS and they're looking for a resource to kind of learn more about it, maybe. You'll get access to some of these frameworks. What, what, what's a good next step for folks?
[00:34:49] Justin Mink: Check me out on LinkedIn, Justin Mink. My website is EOSworldwide. com forward slash Justin dash Mink.
[00:34:56] Justin Mink: I've created a GPT with,[00:35:00]
[00:35:03] Justin Mink: I've created a virtual me with combining some EOS frameworks with, with my own, you know, my own contributions. So I'd be happy to share that with anyone who's interested. It's helpful for me, frankly, as a quick reference tool and all the books. Traction, What the Heck is EOS is a book that's like the, the, the cliff notes version for employees of EOS companies.
[00:35:26] Justin Mink: There's, there's how to be a great boss is fantastic. It's [00:35:30] like a weekend read and it'll change, change the game in terms of how you manage your people. So there's a, there's a library of books that are great within the
[00:35:38] Corey Quinn: traction. Awesome. We'll include some of those resources in the transcription and in the show notes.
[00:35:43] Corey Quinn: Last question for you, Justin. What's your motivation? Great question.
[00:35:47] Justin Mink: So, I'm motivated by, you know, people talk about work life balance, and I think that's a myth. So, for me, I think anyone who talks about [00:36:00] work life balance, there's a fundamental problem in the whole, that framework, insofar as There's a compartmentalization of your work in life, and that's not a fulfilling life for me, right?
[00:36:16] Justin Mink: I want my work to be so gratifying and purposeful that it's fully integrated in how I live. And I want to be fully engaged and present in the whole journey with my family, [00:36:30] with my life, with my work, and I want that all to meld into this project. Kind of be this beautiful harmony, harmonious life. So for me, my motivation is creating a life where that truly work life, personal life, family, friends, clients, it all sort of blends in together and it's just a cohesive whole, that's my motivation.
[00:36:54] Justin Mink: And doing great work, man, like helping people in a real way, like for me, I'm starting an [00:37:00] executive coaching practice because I really want to help other high performers who have suffered or are suffering, navigate their way through that, those tricky waters, and still perform, keep the best. Of the parts of themselves that contribute to performance while maybe eliminating those things that don't serve them any longer.
[00:37:21] Corey Quinn: That is fantastic. I'd love to bring you back on, learn more about your, your executive coaching, your, your GPT, all of those things. [00:37:30] Sounds super interesting. But, uh, for now, I want to thank you Justin, for jumping on the podcast. It's been extremely insightful, so thank you.
[00:37:38] Justin Mink: Yeah. And thanks for all your support through the journey.
[00:37:41] Justin Mink: Uh, you know, we started this. This is new paths and around the same time, we've been kind of like accountability partners, buddy. So, uh, you've been instrumental in, in, in more ways than, you know, in some ways that the audience will never know about, but you know, well, so thank you for the bottom of my heart.
[00:37:58] Justin Mink: Yeah. [00:38:00]
[00:38:00] Corey Quinn: All right, folks, that's it for today. I'm Corey Quinn, and I hope you join me again next time for the Vertical Go To Market Podcast. If you receive value from the show, I would love a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks, and we'll see you soon.
