Moving CEO Mindset – Part 2

SUMMARY

In this episode, Louis Massaro continues the discussion about adopting a Moving CEO mindset for your moving business.

  • “Every single time you hit any type of roadblock, any type of challenge, any type of issue, anything you just don’t feel good about, look at it and say, ‘There’s got to be a better way.'”
  • “You don’t have to want to be in this business forever. But if you look at it and you say, “You know what? This is my vehicle for financial freedom. This is what I’m going to use to set myself and my family up for the longterm,” it changes everything for you.”
  • “Anytime you make any change at all, you have to have buy-in to what the result is. You have to believe in that end result.”
  • “Anything that you know you need to skill up on, anything you know you need to become better at, go get at it and do it and be okay with sucking at it.”
  • Watch the video to get full training.

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TRANSCRIPTION

Louis Massaro:
Hey, my friend, it’s Louis Massaro, and welcome back to another episode of the Moving Mastery Podcast. We are diving in to part two of the Moving CEO Mindset. I’ve got my man Chris here with me today. What’s happening?

Chris:
Hey, hey, hey. I’m ready to dive into part two. Part one was really good. So, I’m excited about part two here.

Louis Massaro:
All right. Well, we literally just finished, and we’re going back to back recording these, because we just didn’t want to go too long with the episode, but wanted to really finish on this, because I think it’s so important. I know most of these episodes I’m talking about strategies and different processes and specific tactics in the business, but if you don’t get this one right, you’re going to not reach your full potential. So, if you didn’t already catch part one, Moving CEO Mindset part one, go and listen to that so you’re not lost in this one. It’s the episode right before this. Then come back and join us here. If you’ve already listened to us, welcome back. This is part two. We’ve kind of covered a few things here. Chris, what’d we cover in the first one?

Chris:
In part one, we talked about the first real step towards adapting that Moving CEO mindset, which is taking responsibility for all of your results, for everything that you’ve achieved and everything that you haven’t achieved so far, being able to say, “Hey, this is all my doing. It wasn’t anybody else’s fault or anybody else’s doing. This was all on me.” And that’s literally the first step. Then the second one was, if they can, I can, which-

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. If they can do it, I can do it.

Chris:
We’re all human, and we’re all capable of the same level of achievement. So, if you see somebody out there doing something that you feel you would want to be doing, then emulate them, do what they did, and you can. I mean, it’s literally that simple, right?

Louis Massaro:
Yeah.

Chris:
And then the third part was-

Louis Massaro:
If I built a $20 million business and moving business, you could do that. Only if you want that, right? If there’s someone that’s out there that built a successful company in your market, they’re doing a couple million a year, and that’s what you want, you can do it if they could do it.

Chris:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Then the third part was adopting the ideal of there’s got to be a better way, taking a look at everything you have going on and, even if it’s working well, looking at it and saying, “How can it be better?”

Louis Massaro:
Every single time you hit any type of roadblock, any type of challenge, any type of issue, anything you just don’t feel good about, look at it and say, “There’s got to be a better way.” We talked about in the last episode that I believe single-handedly is what has been my guiding principle to be able to get me to where I am today and be able to develop all of these different processes and all of these different strategies that I teach.

Louis Massaro
I know in the last episode I mentioned two books. I just grabbed them off the shelf real quick. During the time where I was going through the transition from just moving company owner to that Moving CEO mindset and that identity that I had to adopt, there was two books that I remember. There was a bunch more that I read that stood out to me. One was Jack Welch, Winning. Jack was the CEO of GE. A great book on strategy and management and what it takes to really step as the leader and CEO. The other one was Jim Collins’ Good to Great. Classic book, explores a lot of different CEOs and why some companies make that leap and some don’t. It has a lot to do with what we’re talking about.

Louis Massaro:
So, those are the things that are … Those two books were way beyond kind of what I was doing in moving, and a lot of those principles seem so far out there, but, again, we talked about in the last episode I kind of picked … When I got information from places, I took a little bit and said, “Oh, I could use that,” and I applied it. And “That’s not for me,” and I left it. So, I just wanted to share those with you, because I had them right here behind me. Yeah. Let’s get into this. Part two, Moving CEO Mindset.

Chris:
That’s awesome. Those books are good positive input, by the way. We’re all sitting in lockdown right now, and we have a few extra minutes. Rather than scrolling the news and keeping up on the latest COVID headlines, maybe pick up a good book and get some positive input coming in.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. You can’t go to the bookstore. You don’t want to wait for Amazon to deliver it. Get the Kindle app on your phone. You don’t even need a Kindle. And just download it, and you could have it right now.

Chris:
Instant.

Louis Massaro:
Instant.

Chris:
All right. So, let’s get back to this Moving CEO mindset. As we said, we had the “I’m responsible for my own results,” “If they can, I can,” and “There’s got to be a better way.” So, what’s next in the evolution of becoming a Moving CEO?

Louis Massaro:
And this conversation started … Let me just go back here. It started because you were asking, “What’s the difference between yourself and other people that have succeeded and are succeeding at high levels at moving business and the people that are struggling?” I started by saying it starts with the mindset. These are the things that I’ve noticed that were traits of mine that I also see those same traits in others that either we work with or I see out there that are performing at high levels.

Louis Massaro:
The next one is the understanding that moving is my vehicle to financial freedom. What I mean by that is you don’t have to be passionate about this business. You don’t have to want to be in this business forever. But if you look at it and you say, “You know what? This is my vehicle for financial freedom. This is what I’m going to use to set myself and my family up for the longterm,” it changes everything for you. Because there’s so much talk out there now about finding your purpose or finding something you love to do and you’ll never work another day in your life, and you might not love the moving process.

Louis Massaro:
For me, it wasn’t that I loved moving, but I did love the business of moving. I did love all the moving pieces, if you will, of moving, from having to book to move first to then you’ve got to find enough quality movers to get them out there, and then you’ve got to be able to logistically juggle everything and dispatch to get everything serviced. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be able to have more money that came in than you spent to make it all happen. So, for me, the game of it all, the business of it, is what I really love.

Louis Massaro:
But instead of saying, “Oh, I want to do something that …” A lot of people are waiting right now to find something they love or find their passion, or they might be in the business, and they’re constantly looking for something else to do. The people that are succeeding at high levels look at it and say, “You know what? This business is really just my vehicle to financial freedom.” Doesn’t mean it’s all about the money, because you’ve got to be able to do a great job for your customers. You’ve got to be able to take care of your employees in order for it to be lucrative and successful and sustainable over the long term. That’s huge.

Louis Massaro:
That’s huge, because it’s a tough business to be in day to day. And if you’re not looking at where is this taking me, what life is this going to let me live, then you’re going to have a really hard time finding the reason why you put up with the stuff that you put up with; the reason why you say, “I’m responsible for my results”; the reason why you’re looking at it saying, “If they can do it, I can do it”; the reason why you sit there and say to yourself, “There’s got to be a better way” and then seek that way out.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you’ve got to know where you’re going.

Louis Massaro:
You’ve got to know where you’re going. Yeah. The thing is this … And I’m surprised at how many people don’t really know where they want to go. You don’t have to know the exact number immediately, but you have a general idea of the life you want to live, when you want to be done doing all this, but you can’t just dive in without realizing that this is how you’re going to do all the things you want to do for yourself, for your family, buy all the stuff, have all the experiences, take care of all the people you need to take care of, be able to retire and live a good quality of life when you’re all done. It’s huge. One of the first things that we do in some of the workshops that we do or at the seminars is kind of take people through a process of figuring out what it is you want in your life. Right? What do you want?

Chris:
It’s a big question. It’s really the key to creating the map on where you want to go. I think another question that sort of goes alongside of that that maybe … You tell me, but it could be helpful in a Moving CEO mindset. But also to question your current beliefs. I don’t mean religious or spiritual. I just mean who you believe you are, rather than who you actually are or who you want to become. Like you saying in the last episode, you had that switch in your mind where you went from being a moving company owner to being a Moving CEO. You had to-

Louis Massaro:
It was an identity shift. I had to see myself … I had to look in the mirror and see a different person.

Chris:
Yes. Exactly.

Louis Massaro:
And it wasn’t being … There was still an authenticity. It was still me, but it was me calling out a higher level of me that I needed to show up and step up at that time.

Chris:
Exactly. Exactly. And who you were as opposed to who you became, they’re different people. So, how you were able to accept that about yourself, believe that you could be a Moving CEO and question that.

Louis Massaro:
Well, and it wasn’t that I just believed it and I walked out super … I mean, I had doubts. Anytime you step outside of that comfort zone. We all have that comfort zone. No matter where you go, there’s always that next level, and you have doubts. For me, that was probably the second big shift for myself, because just starting the business alone, going from being just a year before I was a high school kid, and then I’m a business owner. That was one identity shift. Then seven, eight years later to be able to see myself differently was huge, but there was times where you doubted it and you didn’t believe it, and you’re like, “Who are you fooling?” And you keep pushing past that to the point where you’re like, “Yeah, that’s me now.”

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah. You accept that as your new identity, who you are, and then I decide where you want to go as that person.

Louis Massaro:
Well, yeah. You have to understand the importance of that first. You’re not just like, “I’m going to be a moving … I’m Moving CEO now.” Anytime you make any change at all, you’ve always got to be … You have to have buy-in to what the result is. You have to believe in that result. For me, I knew that I had to make a shift in my mind. CEO is just the label that I put on it for myself. Right? And maybe for you, it’s something different, but I had to put some label for me to step up to. You know what I mean? It’s like you go from being a college ballplayer to a pro ballplayer. It’s like, “Hey, I’m a pro now.” You know what I mean? You’ve got to act differently, and you’ve got to conduct yourself differently. It’s just a shift in your identity.

Louis Massaro:
So, when we talk about financial freedom, what’s it really all about? I mean, I don’t really know anybody that would want to just move people for a living if there was no financial reward for it. You want to volunteer and help somebody that can’t afford to move, and you want to do it as a goodwill gesture and help somebody? Great. But other than that, you’re doing it to make money. So, don’t shortchange yourself and just make a living. This is a business where you can make a fortune. If you look at it that way, it will inspire you to do the things that might seem challenging or outside of your comfort zone, knowing of where it’s going to lead you.

Louis Massaro:
If you really sit down and identify what do I want in my life, what things do I want, what experiences do I want to have, who do I want to share this stuff with, who do I want to be able to take care of, how do I want to be in the world, it starts to crystallize like, “Okay, what’s that going to take?” A powerful exercise for me was to sit down at some point … It really took a financial planner to really kind of sit and do it for me of like, “Okay, what do you want? What do you want in your life?” “Okay, I want this. I want that. I want this.” “Okay. What’s it all going to cost you to get it?”

Louis Massaro:
So, figure out everything you want. Okay, I want this house. I want this car. I want to send my kids to these schools. I want to retire by this age. I want to be able to take four short trips every year, and then I want to take two long, two-week trips, or I want to take the whole summer and go spend it somewhere else. Whatever you want, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s another limiting belief that a lot of people have. I think most people grow up with a skewed outlook on money. The money’s bad. Money doesn’t grow on trees. You can’t just have everything you want. People that have money, they must be doing something wrong. The more money you make, the more taxes you’ve got to make. More money, more problems. There’s this stigma behind it.

Louis Massaro:
But I believe that, if you’re going to go out there and you provide a great service, and you build a business that allows you to provide that great service to a lot of people, you’re providing … You go out there, and you do a move for 10 people a month. Well, then, you should be compensated for that. But you go out there, and you do moves for 1,000 people a month, then you should be compensated for that. And you have the ability to run that business well, and you have the responsibility of all those employees and all those customers and all that liability. Then you should be compensated for that.

Louis Massaro:
I believe that if there’s desires in your heart for things that you want in life, that that’s your truth, that’s who you are, and you should go after those things. Whether they’re just time off, whether you want to spend half the year just chilling, or whether it’s just financial stuff, you should go after that, once you get past the point where you know it’s really what you want and it’s not ego, it’s not like, “Oh, I should have this car. I should have this,” or “I need to keep up with this,” and you’re able to get to a place, which I believe that comes with time and maturity. I feel like I’m much more grounded and simpler in what it is I want from a material standpoint than I was in my twenties. But you’ve got to know that, and you’ve got to know that this business is your way to get it.

Louis Massaro:
I had a good friend of mine in the business that was … He was like, “I don’t want to do this. I want to go start something else.” He wanted to go start a vineyard. He was passionate about making wine and wanted to start a vineyard. I’m like, “All right. So, get it up and running, get it going, and then either sell it or keep it running as a passive means. Get your systems in place. Get your processes in place and keep it running as a passive means of income. And then go do whatever you want.” Within a few years, he built a successful business. This was actually a partner of mine in one of my locations. Built a very successful business, made himself a ton of money. Now he was like, “Okay, you’re right. I’m looking at it differently now.”

Louis Massaro:
Because at first you’re dealing with all the stress, the problems. You don’t really have everything smooth. You don’t have your rhythm of how you handle things. There’s more burden than there is reward. You’re dealing with more stuff, and you’re making less money. Then as you build the business, a model business, you start to make more money, and you start to deal with less stuff. So, now you’re looking at it from a different vantage point, and now you’re like, “Okay. Even though I’m not passionate about this, if I want to go start a vineyard, I’ve got the money now. I’ll go do that. I’ve got the people in place, the systems in place, the processes in place. I don’t have to be there every day. I could go do it and still keep the business going.”

Louis Massaro:
That’s why I say moving is a vehicle to your financial freedom, and that’s part of the mindset. Instead of looking at it as like “This is me. This is who I am. This is what I’m about,” it’s like, “Look, this is what I do every day in order to take care of living in this room.” I mean, we need money to live in this world, and we need money to have the freedom that we want. That’s really, ultimately what it’s all about. It’s not like moving’s my vehicle to get rich, because you could get rich and not have the freedom. But you could also set up a business that generates predictably the money that you wanted to make and go and enjoy your life.

Louis Massaro:
This business set me up for life. I mean, this business put me in a position that I’m so grateful for it. You know what I mean? And I want to see that happen for so many other people, because the flip side of that is torture. The flip side is all the burden, all the stress, all the worry without the money. No. You can’t do that. You don’t want to do that. But you don’t need to go get in a different business. You don’t need to go find a passion and do all that. If you want to find a passion, great, but it doesn’t have to be your business. It doesn’t have to be your job. Be passionate about something you just do because you love doing it.

Louis Massaro:
Then when it switches from a lot of burden, a lot of stress, a lot of worry and a little money, and it switches to, okay, the burden, the stress, the worry’s going down, because all my systems, processes, everything’s in order, but the money starts to rise. You’re like, “Oh. Doing business is my vehicle for financial freedom. I see that now. I can now take part of that money, live the live I want to live; take part of that money, give it to charity; take part of that money, invest for the future; take part of that money, start another business if I want to start another business.” That’s part of the mindset.

Chris:
Yeah. I think for anybody that may be struggling right now with a business and it feels like it’s a big beast weighing down on them, it can only get better. You’ll find the more you put into it, the more work you sink into it and the more effort you put into it, the more you give to it, the more it gives back. You’ll probably change your attitude about it after a while when that money starts coming in, right?

Louis Massaro:
It’s funny. I see it happen. You know. We hear from people. We get the testimonials. I could think of several right now of people who were like, “I was thinking about closing my business. Then we started working with you, or we started going to seminars and your programs or whatever and totally …” It was that scenario, right? A lot of burden, a lot of stress, a lot of worry, uncertainty, very little money, and then it’s like the whole thing just shifted like a seesaw and went the other direction. Now it’s like, “Oh, no, no. This business is great.” That love/hate starts to become more love than it does hate.

Chris:
Yeah. And you love what you give your energy to. So, it’s worth the investment.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. And it’s important that … A lot of people feel uncomfortable talking about money. They’re like, “I don’t really know what I want. I want to live a simple life.” Okay. Well, what is that? Now, the best thing you could do is get clear on it. The best thing you could do is just take a day on the weekend and just start looking at it and say, “Okay, what do I want? What do I want to have, and what do I want to experience? And who do I want to become?” Because that’s another really big part of this. If you set big goals for yourself on what you want to achieve, even if you don’t hit those goals, you’re going to become a better, stronger, more grounded, wiser, happier person. Period.

Chris:
It’s only going to help. Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. It’s just like building muscle. If you have a goal, a physical goal, a health goal, and you go and you start working out and you start eating good, you might not hit that goal if you’ve set it really high, but you’re still going to be a healthier, stronger, more energetic person because of it. Well, you set yourself high financial goals, you’re going to end up with more money. You’re going to end up just … Even if just ended up being able to manage your business in a way that didn’t stress you out the way that it does now, right?

Chris:
It’s step by step, right? So, the burden lightens incrementally, and it gets easier as you go.

Louis Massaro:
It gets easier. I mean, you’ve worked with one of our groups for a year, it’s just kind of wrapping up, and see the progression that people make when they adopt this mindset, this whole Moving CEO mindset, and they start to look at their business differently. Honestly, I love watching it. I love seeing it.

Chris:
Me too.

Louis Massaro:
For me, that’s why I do this. I love that more than I love doing it for myself now. Was it 20 years ago I started the business, and now I could never get as much … Having already done it, I couldn’t get the joy anymore from doing it for me. You know what I mean? But to see other people do it and just to kind of help in whatever way I can. They’re the ones doing the work. They’re the ones putting in the time. They’re the ones shifting their mindset, and they’re the ones making it happen. But it’s amazing to watch.

Chris:
It is. And it’s about the journey, the destination. Once you get there, it can get boring real quick, but it’s about building it. That’s the fun part. Seeing these things you put in place, and you see them start working and become successful, and you just see the companies start running smoother, that’s rewarding. It’s exciting when that happens.

Louis Massaro:
Well, and there’s so much you’ve got to deal with along the way. And I try to say it as much as possible. This is not a get-rich-quick business. I’m not out there saying to people, “Hey, you want to make money? Get in the moving business.” I’m really talking to people that are in the business.” You’re already in it. You’re in? You’ve decided to do it? Okay, great. Now, let’s step this up, because you’ve got to start looking at it differently. Embrace this mindset here, because day to day you’re going to be tested. Day-to-day, you’re going to be challenged. Day-to-day, you’re going to have difficult situations with customers, difficult situations with your employees, difficult situations with your trucks. Listen, it is what it is.

Louis Massaro:
But when you adopt this mindset and you say, “I’m responsible for the results. If they can do it, I can do it. There’s got to be a better way,” and you’re like, “You know what? I’m doing this, because this is the vehicle. This is what I’m choosing to go out there in the world, provide service …” So, you’re doing something of value to your community. And because I’m going to do a good job, this is what’s going to give me that financial freedom to do whatever I want, because that’s … I mean, what do we really want? We want freedom. We want the money, because we feel that it’s going to give us the freedom that we need.

Chris:
Somebody has accepted that the moving business, that’s it for them. That’s what they’re going to create their freedom with. That’s what they’re going to create their life with. And they’ve decided where they want to go. What’s next? What else can they have in their mindset to help them get there?

Louis Massaro:
One of the other pieces that for me was very big, again … And there’s a lot of stuff that I believe is helpful for success, but these are the things that I saw in myself, and I also see them in other high-achieving moving company owners that have stepped into that Moving CEO mindset. When I improve, my business improves. When I improve, my business improves. And what that means is a lot of times people will say, “Louis, what are the best business books?”, and things like that, and I’m like, “You know what? You’ve got to first start with you. You’ve got to dive into the personal development books. You’ve got to figure out how your mind works and be able to improve that. Then, also, on top of that, learn about business. Develop new skills. Look at it constantly and say, ‘What do I need to learn how to do in order for my business to grow?'” What skills do you need to develop?

Louis Massaro:
So, it’s just that mindset of understanding that … I think it’s like some people look at everything as … It’s the opposite of not taking responsibility for your results. They look at it, and they’re like, “Everything is outside of me.” Coming back to the first point, once you’ve realized that you’re responsible for your own results, it’s like, “Okay. So, when I improve, my business improves. When I get better, when I absorb knowledge, when I take courses, when I read books, when I go to seminars, when I get coaching, when I take care of my health and take care of my energy, when I learn new skills in my business, my business is going to improve.” Adopting that is part of the Moving CEO mindset.

Chris:
I see. Okay. So, now when you were coming up, how did you get into that side of it? Did you find some books? Give us an example.

Louis Massaro:
It all stems from there’s got to be a better way. It all stems from that little black book of me writing down what all the issues were and looking for that better way and going to the bookstore and grabbing … I mean, you can see all … You can’t even see them all up there, but it’s searching for knowledge. Once I realized, “Oh my god …” By the way, I hated to read in high school. I didn’t do my book reports. I would get a girl that I … I’d get somebody to do them for me. I hated, hated reading.

Chris:
You delegated your homework.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. That’s funny. Even when I started to read, and I was a very slow reader … I’d say even today I’m slower than average when I read. But once you start to realize that there’s answers out there, that you’re not the first person to have gone through what it is that you’re going through, even if there was … At the time for me, there was no answers in moving specifically. It’s like, okay, I saw that business is business. So, I just gathered what I could from wherever I could. Back then, if there was some kind of tape on a course, I would take it. Read a lot of books. If there was seminars … I started the call center, for example, and I didn’t know anything about call centers. Okay. So, I started going to the call center conventions to learn and understand how that whole thing works.

Louis Massaro:
I realized that the marketing was shifting away from yellow pages, and it was moving towards online marketing. Okay, I had to dive into that. I had to learn SEO. I had to learn pay-per-click. I had to learn digital marketing and how all of that started to work. Now, whether it’s what we’re doing here today … I started doing all this with a camera, learned how to do it, learned how to edit the videos, not because I couldn’t afford to hire somebody to do it, but because I knew, when I improved, the business improves. When I skill up, when I get more skills, then the business improves. When someone learns how to understand and manage their profit and loss statement and their cashflow, their business is going to improve.

Louis Massaro:
Once you accept the fact that, wow, the more skill I develop, the better I’m going to get; and when I get better, my business gets better.

Chris:
Yeah. Do you remember a particular skill that was the most challenging for you that you struggled with the most coming up?

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. Learning how to estimate moves.

Chris:
Oh really?

Louis Massaro:
That was one of the first ones. We talked about that in the last episode how I just … I was “Yeah, okay, sure. Three men, 75 and …” It didn’t matter what size move you got. It was very intimidating to me, and it was one of those things that was like, “How do I … Cube sheet? What? I’ve got to add this. There’s weight. And translate it from cube to weight.” But I knew it was something that I had to get good at.

Louis Massaro:
Same thing with the call center stuff. We started getting leads, and it was like, okay, we were getting leads and printing them off on the printer and handing them out to people. Here, here, here. It’s like, “Call them.” It’s like, “Now what?” “I don’t know. Call them back again.” “Well, what do we do now?” “I don’t know. Write on the sheet of paper when you last time you called them was and just keep up with it.” So, that was the start. A lot of our listeners, they’re in Moving Sales Academy or in our programs, and they know the followup system. They know the scripts. They know the rebuttals. They know all the processes. Now I teach how to estimate moves in one of our programs.

Louis Massaro:
It’s just a constant … You can never stop. You never want to stop improving. You want to constantly improve, and when you do, your business will improve. It’s simple as that.

Chris:
What’s the skill that you’ve acquired over the years that’s made the biggest difference for you?

Louis Massaro:
Oh, man. Wow. Let me just spit out some. I don’t know which one would be the biggest. Just ability to talk to people, ability to deal with customer service, to deal with any issues that come up. Reading, understanding, and managing my business off a profit and loss statement. Understanding online marketing. I mean, that was big, because I was spending … The first time I did SEO, the company charged me $30 grand up front. I was like, “Okay.” But I got a really … Luckily, I learned a lot from them. I spent time in there and made them teach me as they were doing it. Yeah. There’s so many, so many.

Louis Massaro:
Just the sales. Sales. To be able to learn … I learned that before I really need it. I learned the sales before I got into the business, working at a call center selling vacation packages, and the importance of scripts and rebuttals and overcoming objections, and then being able to translate that and refine that with moving, understanding … Man, CRMs. Everything that we did, I wanted to learn, because it was just … I don’t know. Some people argue, “Just hire somebody that knows it.” And I just don’t believe that. I believe that you first need to learn it yourself. Then you hire somebody that knows it, or you hire somebody that knows it, and you learn it with them once you hire them. It kind of depends on the level.

Louis Massaro:
Some people could argue that fact, but that’s just how I like to do it, because that’s how I started the business. When I started the moving business, I dispatched the trucks. I called to confirm. I dealt with storage billing. I was in the warehouse moving vaults, checking off stuff that was coming in, doing the sales, doing the bookkeeping. So, it just puts you in a position to where, later on, you could do everything, and you don’t have somebody coming in telling you how things are done.

Louis Massaro:
You came in. You kind of took over the whole, the camera, the editing, all that stuff. Now we’ve got other people that do the editing and everything. But if I had to at some point, I could jump back in it and do it. I don’t want to, but I know that I can. I knew that I could jump back in at any point and dispatch trucks if I needed to dispatch trucks. I could jump back in and book moves if I needed to book moves. And for me, I like that feeling of knowing that I don’t have someone in my business that can do something that I can’t do. That’s just me. So, you’ve got to be able to develop different skills.

Louis Massaro:
I think right now some of the skills Moving CEOs need are delegating … Delegating’s a skill. It’s not something that you’re just born with the ability to do. Creating processes. Be able to actually create formalized processes for your business and role descriptions so that you can start to really build a model business. Running your business off of numbers. Right? Certain KPIs, certain key performance indicators, and certain metrics that will allow you to view your business and run it differently. Marketing. Understanding how marketing works and understanding how to manage marketing by testing, tracking, tweaking. And sales process. They don’t necessarily need to be the best salesperson, but they need the skill of learning how to develop the sales process for their business. These are skills that they should develop.

Louis Massaro:
And investing as well, because once you get this money … Remember, moving is the vehicle to financial freedom. I’m not saying to manage all your own money and go invest it, but you should have some idea what’s happening with your money if you’re turning it over to someone to manage for you. Or, if you’re going to invest in real estate, understand that and know that.

Louis Massaro:
It’s just looking at, what don’t I feel confident with? What do I do when my … Because what happens is, without the awareness of realizing that you have skills that you need to develop, what’s hard in your business is only hard because you haven’t developed that skill. So, as you start to run into certain things and they’re a challenge to you, then you’re like, “You know what? I’ve got to work on this. I’ve got to develop this skill. I’ve got to get better at this.” Right now, I’m actually writing a book.

Chris:
Yeah. Cool.

Louis Massaro:
It slipped out. I wasn’t going to say anything, but it came out.

Chris:
That’s cool.

Louis Massaro:
So, I’m learning. I’ve got a coach specifically for that. I’m diving in. I’m reading about it. I’m learning about it. I’m developing the skill. And anytime you’re developing a skill, when you start, you suck. That’s where most people give up, especially people that are just kind of naturally talented at certain things. They try stuff, and if it’s outside of their comfort zone, they’re not comfortable being outside of the comfort zone, because they’re so used to just being good at everything. That’s one of the biggest things that you can overcome is saying, “You know what? That’s keeping me in a fixed mindset. I need to be in a growth mindset, and I need to be okay being an amateur again. I need to be okay being a beginner again. I need to be okay learning something and not being good at it so that I could suck my way through it and then become overly competent with that and become skillful with that.”

Louis Massaro:
Because, and I talk about it before, in psychology there’s the competence-confidence loop. The more competent you get in something, the more confident you get in doing it. So, let’s say we’re talking about managing your business off of numbers. At first, you’re going to be like, “Oh my god. I feel stupid. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.” And I remember. I went through this. You just have to push through that and realize it’s because I’m a beginner. Of course. Why would I be good at this? I’ve never done this before. But as you get better at it, you become more confident. As you become more confident, you’re less hesitant to go towards it, and so you do it more. As you do it more, you become more competent. Mastery takes time. It takes 10,000 hours of something to become a master at doing it. You’ve got to do it over and over. So, as you do it over and over, your confidence is going to grow, and that’s how you get that confidence-competence loop going.

Louis Massaro:
Whoever’s listening, anything that you know you need to skill up on, anything you know you need to become better at, go get at it and do it and be okay sucking at it. I’m dealing with it. I’m going through my own private struggles right now, learning how to write a book. I’ll figure it out, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take. But I’ll figure it out.

Chris:
That’s cool. What’s the best part about being a Moving CEO?

Louis Massaro:
Man, it’s like a whole different place. I don’t know. It’s like you live in a different place. Normally just as a moving company owner, you live here, and all your problems are here. They’re here.

Chris:
On your shoulders. Yeah, yeah.

Louis Massaro:
They’re here. They’re here. Right? Once you step up … And I say this because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it and felt it with me, and I’ve seen it and felt it with others. Instead of all that stuff being on top of you, it’s like you rise above all of it, and you’re standing on the top, planting your flag like, “I’m here.” Everything you see becomes different. All the possibilities of what is truly possible become different to you. All the little problems that used to consume you day and night are just, listen, parts of the business.

Louis Massaro:
There are certain things that you’re resolved, and there’s other parts that you’ve just accepted and just made sure that … Claims, for example, you’re going to have some claims. But in the role of Moving CEO, you’ve established what’s an acceptable threshold, what’s the acceptable percentage of claims. You’re managing the numbers. You’re looking at things. It just becomes a much simpler way to run you’re business, where right now it feels like you’ve got so much coming at you, so much flying at you. You’re just in, I don’t know, like a rave or a crazy nightclub where it’s just loud, and there’s people, and there’s this craziness going on. Right? You’re trying to concentrate, and all this is happening.

Louis Massaro:
Then all of a sudden, now you’re in this slow dance of this everything is just moving, and you can see everything happening kind of before it’s happening. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve been there. All of a sudden, the business goes from “Man, this used to be hard, and it used to suck” to “Man, I could open up … I could just keep doing this.” Or, “Great, I could go live my life now. I don’t need to …”

Louis Massaro:
Most people aren’t looking to be billionaires in this business. To be able to make the money and enjoy the life that you want to live and look at moving as what these people on the internet are selling like, oh, just passive incomes or side hustles, and all that … When you get to a place where you’re just controlling the dials, you’re just looking at your business, you’re watching the numbers, you’re meeting with your key people, you have clarity to see what’s going on, and you just make some adjustments here and there and then watch how that impacts the business, it’s a beautiful thing.

Louis Massaro:
To be able to go away, to be able to spend time for weeks or months on end out of town, away from your business, and be able to afford it, be able to know that your business is running smoothly, because it’s like it’s on tracks. Imagine a train just running through the desert, and it’s not on tracks. I mean, what’s going to happen to that train? There’s no tracks. It’s not going to get far. It’s going to flip, or it’s going to be a really bumpy, miserable road. Right? But now imagine you’ve got tracks, and those tracks are leading you … The destination is where you want to go that you’ve already decided you want to go there. And once you get there, if you want to go further, you know the process now of just laying down more tracks to get you where you want to go. Does that make sense?

Chris:
That is cool. I like that analogy. Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah.

Chris:
I know you’re a big proponent of personal development. How much of that plays a part in being a Moving CEO?

Louis Massaro:
A big part. I mean, what we’re talking about right now is we’re talking about mindset. Mindset is personal development. Business is out here. Mindset is here. So, you could work on this; but if you’re not working on this, you’re just going to make a mess out of that. Just being able to kind of understand how your mind works, understand why you do the things you do, and there’s so much to that. We did a couple episodes, a few episodes back, of just wellness, talking about morning routine and meditation and visualization and gratitude and just how you fire off certain neurons in the brain and certain chemicals are released with exercise that help you maintain energy. It all goes back to, when I improve, my business improves. It all goes back to that.

Louis Massaro:
People are like, “Where do I start?” You start by just starting. You start by saying, “There’s got to be a better way.” You start by saying, “You know what? Maybe there’s some things that I need to understand about me. There’s some things I need to understand about my mindset and why I do the things I do, and I’ll be able to make some adjustments and make some shifts.” Listen to good people that have good, positive input for you. You’re not a good book reader? Fine. Find someone that’s got a great podcast or some great videos or a great audiobook that you could listen to and start to just kind of explore different possibilities of what’s out there. And be open. Be open to realizing that you can improve. You can get better. And when you improve, when you get better, your business is going to get better. When your business gets better, your life gets better.

Chris:
That sounds good. Are there any obstacles that could prevent somebody from adopting this mindset of being a CEO? I don’t know. Is it easy to do? What’s the journey of it?

Louis Massaro:
The journey of it is, first, you’ve got to … Anything you want to do, you’ve got to first believe in the outcome. So, my goal of this podcast, these two episodes that we’ve done, is to paint the picture of the outcome to shed light on something that maybe someone listening wasn’t looking at before. They’re looking for, okay, maybe it’s this marketing source or that marketing source. Maybe I need this kind of truck or that kind of stuff, or maybe I should pay my guys this way or that way. And they’re not even looking over here to the mindset piece. So, I want to show, look, there’s this piece here, and some people will go, “Nah, I’m not into that.” But someone that’s like, “Man, that totally makes sense. I could see how that could make a major impact in my business,” they buy in to the outcome.

Louis Massaro:
We listen to all kinds of stuff. We watch TV. We read books. We listen to people on podcasts. We listen to people on social media. It’s a matter of having your own filter to take it in and go, “Yeah, that makes sense,” or “Yeah, that guy’s full of shit.” You’ve got to be able to have that filter. But once you do, and you buy into something, you say, “Yeah, I could see that. I could see, if I eat better and I work out, that I’ll be healthier, and I’ll be in better shape,” but that alone might not motivate somebody. You’ve got to really want something, or you’ve got to really be afraid of something else. And that’s what I believe this COVID opportunity … Let’s call this a COVID opportunity.

Chris:
I like that. Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
Has done for us is it’s shown us what we don’t want and what we’re afraid of. Every single person listening had either a moment or has had a couple months of feeling like the worst is going to happen. They’re going to go out of business, and it’s going to be the end, and it’s going to be over. Good. Feel that feeling. Then think about what you want. Think about what you want in your life. So, now you’ve got two ends of the spectrum. You’ve got what you want in your life. If I had everything the way I want it, what would I have? If I knew I couldn’t fail, what would I want? And then there’s this possibility like, “Oh my god, I could go out of business.” Because sometimes people aren’t motivated by what they want, but they’re motivated to get away from the bad thing.

Chris:
Yeah, I see.

Louis Massaro:
You see what I’m saying?

Chris:
Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
If you put yourself in between the worst case and the best case, and then every day you just go, “What steps do I need to take to go that way?” Because this is what’s over here, right? What happens is people make good effort, but they don’t have this. They don’t have these two extremes. So, they kind of take a few steps … You hear it all the time. They’re like, “Louis, I feel like I just take a few steps forward and a few steps back, a few steps forward and a few steps back.” It’s because this, what you want, isn’t compelling enough and it’s not pulling you to go do what you need to do, and this isn’t scaring you enough to say, “I’m not taking a step back. I need to keep marching in that direction.”

Louis Massaro:
So, I feel like this is a great thing that’s happening right now. Of course, not … My heart goes out to people that are suffering with COVID and people that are losing people. I know there’s a lot of bad stuff happening in the world, and I know business, especially outside of moving, are closing or are already closed. But even for those people that their business doesn’t make it, I hope that they take it as an opportunity to look at this what they don’t want and move away from it. I always say, even when we talk about … I talk about putting money away in the summer, a cash reserve fund, to get through the offseason. That’s kind of what was really bad about this virus is this whole pandemic happened coming out of the slow season, too, so it just kind of makes it worse. But, again, if you’re a Moving CEO, it’s like, look. I’m responsible for my results. This is happening, but what can I do about it?

Louis Massaro:
But when we talk about the cash reserve, if you ever are in a position where things are so bad, feel that pain. Remember that pain. If things are bad for you right now, things are slow for you right now, even though it’s because of COVID, even though it’s because of all that that’s happening, remember that pain and use it as a tool to pop up here when you’re like, “Hey, I’ve got a decision every moment of every day of which way I’m going to go and what I’m going to do. And I’m either going towards that life …” So, having this vision of the life you want and saying, “I’m going to go towards that. Yeah. I can’t go that way.” Sometimes you’re like, “Eh, I don’t need to have all of this. I’m good where I’m at.” No. You’re never staying still. You’re moving one way, or you’re moving the other way. So, to have that reminder there of where you don’t want to go, it’s powerful. It’s powerful.

Chris:
If someone maybe that fear is too much, what’s something they can do to kind of overcome and get the momentum moving right now?

Louis Massaro:
The fear of what’s going on with their business?

Chris:
Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
Yeah. It’s like, look, what’s your fear? You’re going to go out of business? Okay. All right. So, what are you going to do? If you do go out of business, then what? Then what do you do? You’re either going to have to go start new business, whether it’s a moving business or whether it’s something different, or you’re going to have to go get a job. So, why not take the action right now to head in this direction?

Louis Massaro:
Use the acronym for FEAR of face everything and rise. Not forget everything and run. Face everything and rise. When you’re feeling that fear, know it’s time to rise up and go towards what you want. That’s it. Now is the time.

Louis Massaro:
I see people putting in the work now. We see the progress in the courses. People are diving in, doing the work, going through. The people we had at the seminar … Not everybody, but the people that are going to be good through this. Any business that’s lost in this springtime here, I feel confident will be made up later in the year. You know what I mean?

Chris:
Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
I feel confident that it’ll be made up later in the year by the people that take the action to actually go forth and make that happen. I just released the Moving CEO Business Program as my way of saying, “Hey, this is something that can …” When I improve, my business improves. I’m responsible for my results. If they can, I can. There’s go to be a better way. I’m putting it out there, the Moving CEO Business Program, which is basically everything that I’ve got. It’s such a reduced price. The price of one of my courses, you get …

Louis Massaro:
I’m saying this. I don’t like to plug stuff in the podcast, but it’s value. Yeah, it’s something to buy, but I’ve created a program that’s such value and gives someone everything they need to go from that place where they are to that next level, to step into that Moving CEO. I mean, there’s my Moving Sales Academy Program in there, the New Moving CEO Blueprint, the New Movers Marketing Accelerator’s in there, plus, working with me every single month for the next year is part of it, all for the price of what one of those courses are. So, if somebody’s interested in that, just go to movingceo.com, movingceo.com. That’s the Moving CEO Business Program. That’s my plug for it. That’s all I’m going to do.

Louis Massaro:
My concern is I want to see as many people through this as possible. You can’t get stuck right now. You’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to work. Even me, I know that right now it’s so … I mean, I spent the last two days, you know, back to back to back to back to back on calls with private clients strategizing, going through all this. Not fear, not “Oh my god. What are we going to do?” No. Taking action. So, anyone that’s got fear right now, it’s like, look, take action. Run towards the fear, and look at it like, “Okay, what’s the worst that could happen?” You go out of business? I’d rather go out of business trying and developing new skills than just sitting there waiting for it to happen.

Louis Massaro:
What I’ve seen in the past is most people that are in the moving business, even if they have a rough time and end up having to close down, they end up opening another moving company … It’s like, skill up right now. Learn how to do it the right way. Use this COVID opportunity to say, “All right. No, no, no.” That’s what happened to me when the recession came. The recession came and pointed out all my inefficiencies. I was good, la de da, making money until then, and then it was like, “Oh, wait.” It’s different. There’s an opportunity right now to learn how to surf.

Louis Massaro:
So, let me explain. Right now, there are giant waves crashing. There’s giant waves. It’s like if somebody called you like, “Chris, there’s giant surf out there, man. You’ve got to go out there.” And you’re like, “Oh my god. I can’t handle that.” That’s what operating in a recession or something like this feels like. It feels like it’s so much more intense. It’s so much harder. But, the people that learn how to surf, the people that learn how to ride that wave right now, that wave is going to take them so far that they’re going to be so far beyond the competition, so far beyond the fear and the problems. Now’s the time to really learn whatever skills you need to learn.

Louis Massaro:
Let this be the thing that points out to you the things that it’s time to sharpen. It’s time to sharpen to not only help you thrive through this, but then when you come out on the other side you’re even better. When I came out on the other side of the recession, I was better, stronger, making more money. Things were smoother. I was really fully embracing and living and being that Moving CEO, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chris:
Wow. That’s cool. Let’s recap. We’ve got “I’m responsible for my own results,” “If they can, I can,” “There’s got to be a better way,” “Moving is my vehicle to financial freedom,” and “When I improve, my business improves.” Now, is that the order? I mean, is there a beginning and an end to becoming-

Louis Massaro:
No. And listen, there’s more to it, but these are the things that were clear to me when I sat down and I was like, “Look, what is it that … I feel like I know what made me successful, but what can I match between … What are the same characteristics, what are the same mindsets, that I had and that the people that I see that are achieving at high levels in the business?” And these were the ones that were clear. Okay, we all share these values. We all share this mindset. So, you started the question of, are there certain … I think it was certain personality traits or something like that.

Chris:
Yeah.

Louis Massaro:
It’s really the mindset stuff that is the common denominator.

Chris:
Okay. Okay. Well, if you adopt these philosophies and become that Moving CEO, you’re in good company, right? There’s lots of very successful and innovative people that all think this way.

Louis Massaro:
That’s it. Take those. Listen, if you didn’t listen to part one, go listen to part one. If you’re new to the Moving Mastery Podcast, if this is maybe one of the first episodes you’re catching, go back and listen. There is so much content there, so much training, so much information, so much perspective on just different ways to look at this business. If you want to take it to that next level, join the Moving CEO Business Program. Let’s do this together for the next year. Just go to www.movingceo.com.

Louis Massaro:
Just go out there. Believe you can do it. Know you’re responsible for your results. Say to yourself every day “There’s got to be a better way.” Know that moving is your vehicle to financial freedom, and believe that, when you improve, your business improves. Adopt that mindset, and I promise you things will start to unfold for you the way that you want them to. Until we see you next time, my friend, go out there every single day. Profit in your business. Thrive in your life. We’ll see you next time.