Growing Your Businesses Without Sacrificing Your Faith, Family, or Fitness with Speaker, Trainer, Business Builder, and John Maxwell Executive Director Leadership Expert Cory Lee on Episode #0184

Intro [0:00]
EA Interviews Episode 184. Inspiration, transformation, success stories, and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview.

Mario Fachini [0:12]
How would you like to grow your business without sacrificing your faith, family, or your fitness? I have a leadership expert, speaker, and trainer here on today’s episode, Mr. Cory Lee. And he’s going to be sharing with us exactly how you can do that. I’m excited to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor.

SPONSOR Free Business Book Publishing Course [0:33]
Every business needs a book, including yours. Visit FreeBusinessBookPublishingCourse.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that’s FreeBusinessBookPublishingCourse.com.

Mario Fachini [0:48]
Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Cory Lee. Cory, how are you feeling today?

Cory Lee [0:52]
Mario, I am doing great. Thanks for inviting me. Oh, and I’m excited to get into this with you today. Thanks.

Mario Fachini [0:58]
Oh, it’s my pleasure. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say. And let’s just jump right into it. How do you feel people can keep their faith, family, and, fitness? Why do you think so many people glaze over on, what I would say, are three of the most important things in an entrepreneur’s life?

Cory Lee [1:15]
Well, I think one of the things is that, we get so focused on our business, we get into the business and we get going. And that’s something that we’re passionate about, right? We start the business because we are passionate about it. And we have this tendency to allow those other things that are important kind of get on the backburner. I know that’s what happened to me in my life. And I think it’s very easy for entrepreneurs to fall into that. But those are probably the three key things that we really need to focus on.

Mario Fachini [1:50]
Tell me about that. What happened with you?

Cory Lee [1:53]
So my wife and I, so we had a short period of time – a five year period of time, we had three kids, we had two physical therapy practices, and four gyms. And, you know, we’re just going all the time. And I can remember, our oldest son at the time, I was going to leave going to go coach one of our classes, and he would be going to bed shortly. And I was telling him good night. And I’ll see him in the morning. And one of the things he said to me was, he said, “Daddy, are you going to your house?” And I realized that, man, I was spending so much time at the gym, so much time in our business, that some of those things that are even more important were getting put on the back burner. And I didn’t even realize it. It took a four year old to call me out. But I think that happens to a lot of entrepreneurs too. Not intentionally. But I think it’s one of those slow fades.

Mario Fachini [2:52]
What’s one thing you would suggest to – I’d say recognize it, first off, and then, two, prevent it.

Cory Lee [2:59]
You know, for me, what I think is, if you have an accountability partner, if you have a friend, if you have maybe a coach or mentor, or what we’ve done is we’ve created a mastermind group for entrepreneur. It kind of help with that. And the reason we created that was I know when my wife and I opened up our first business, we had a ton of excitement and a ton of enthusiasm. But Mario, we had zero business knowledge and business experience.

Mario Fachini [3:31]
What makes you think you need that? I mean, all you need is excitement.

Cory Lee [3:36]
Well, you know, we lasted for a little bit on that. But for us to really grow, you know, we had to go to the next level. I think we make it for a little bit on excitement and enthusiasm.

Mario Fachini [3:46]
I would agree too. I remember when I went full time, you know, I was just so tired of everything. My game plan was literally do everything opposite I did the year before.

Cory Lee [3:59]
Why not? Right?

Mario Fachini [4:00]
It’s a plan. I wouldn’t say it’s the best, but it got me through the first year. And, you know, you just figure it out.

Cory Lee [4:10]
Yeah. You figure it out. Exactly. But we knew also that, you know, as the business owners and as the leaders in that business, our business would never exceed our ability to lead it, right? So we started reading the books, we went to the courses, the seminars, and all the webinars. And we had people that could teach us and train us from a distance. But I did not have that guy or that individual or that group of guys that I could go to with my questions, with my business ideas, or a group of guys who could hold me accountable to my commitments, or that would serve as guardrails as I wanted to grow that business, but not at the expense of my faith, my family, or my fitness. And I think just having other people in your life who you’ve allowed to speak into you and say, “Hey, I see you veering. I think you need to get back on the path.” I think that — and also will help prevent some of that too.

Mario Fachini [5:07]
How have you seen it made a difference in the lives of the people who have joined your mastermind and come on board with it?

Cory Lee [5:14]
Yeah. So one just guy really sticks out to me. He had a – he still does, he has a landscaping business and doing really, really good. And as you can imagine, you’re doing landscaping for people. When they get off work, they probably got questions, they call. And he was constantly on his phone. And kind of like in my situation, his daughter had called him out on it, “You’re always on your phone.” But within that group, we’ve kind of come up with kind of ways for him to focus and to segment his time to focus in on the important things – and you probably do it too- but time block. You know, during this time, this is what you do. And then whenever it’s home, it’s shut it off. And when he gets home at [5:00], he turns it off for about three hours. And then if there’s anything important, he’ll turn it back on when the kids go back to sleep. But, really, scheduling that time and being important for him. That’s just one of the ones that stood out to me that jumped out.

Mario Fachini [6:20]
So how many years have you been doing the mastermind now?

Cory Lee [6:23]
You know, for the mastermind group, we actually just started the mastermind group about two months ago. But we’ve been doing coaching, one-on-one coaching, with entrepreneurs about the past three or four years. And we saw the need for the mastermind groups because you get other men in the same group who are successful, who are driven and intelligent, and thinking into your business idea. I mean, that’s pretty powerful. So we started this about two months ago, and I’ve been seeing pretty good results with it to this point. And I know it’s going to be powerful going forward too.

Mario Fachini [7:00]
Oh, absolutely. Masterminds are one of the most powerful things you can do. Because like you’re saying, you have those people who, you know, maybe, your – there’s no maybe about this. Fitness-wise, you have more of a strength. But maybe with the filming side or publishing side, maybe I have more of the strength. And I say, “Hey, what should I be doing over here?” And you say, “What should I be doing over here?” And then Merry Christmas, everyone’s happy. And then you throw in another 8, 10, 12, 20, 200 people – I don’t know if 200 is mastermind. But let’s say 30 or 40, it can be. It can be. I’ll correct myself. For sake of argument, get around smarter people and good things happen. Who are you really looking for? Obviously, you said men?

Cory Lee [7:56]
Yeah. And we get cap ours at ten. We found that to be good. We’ve got a very systematic way we go about it. So etn is a good number to be able to – you get you get the think tank of the other guys, but you also have your time in the growth seat, is what we call it, as well. And you’re talking about different perspectives. Callaway, I talked about it with the guys in the group. I think about like a beach ball. If I were to hold up a beach ball to you, Mario, I may see red and yellow. But on your side, you’re seeing blue and white. Right? And I’m just thinking this beach ball is two colors. But you’re giving me a different perspective. And that’s what the mastermind group does, it helps us all to see the entire picture here in a way forward. So we’ve intentionally created this particular group for male entrepreneurs, men who are trying to start their business or have been going in their business who wants to grow that business. But, again, not at the expense of their faith, their family, or their fitness. And you probably know as well, men, we like to live in isolation. But isolation, my friend, is the enemy. And we want to destroy isolation.

Mario Fachini [9:08]
Why is that?

Cory Lee [9:10]
Yeah. You know, I think, in isolation, one, you can create worst case scenarios. But you’re also relying on your own thinking. I love ideas. I come up with all kinds of ideas. And you know, go to my wife and she’ll get right to the point, “Yeah. That’s stupid. That’ll never work.” But with the thinking of other men who can think into that, help you think into it, “Have you thought about this? Have you looked at it from this angle?” It can take a good idea to a great idea. And, also, I may think I have a great thing going. But somebody else may have been down that path before who can kind of shine some light on some stumbling blocks I may need to be mindful of. So I think that’s where some power comes from and staying away from isolation there too.

Mario Fachini [10:01]
Absolutely. There’s that quote about, you know, “Experience is learning from your own mistakes. Wisdom is learning from others.” And like you said, you can go, “Hey, I’m all excited about this thing.” And you get nine out of ten people say, “No. No. Don’t.” And you learn why and it’s like that may have just saved you a couple hundred thousand dollars in a year or two or more of your life.

Cory Lee [10:25]
One hundred percent. Some of the best learning experiences I’ve had in business, or some dumb mistakes, and it had been nice if I had somebody there to come alongside of me on that. But, you know, you learn and grow too. So if you see every experience as a learning experience, then there neither is good nor bad. It’s just a growth experience. But the things we talked about in leadership is that, you know, you hear people say that experience is the best teacher. But it’s evaluated experience that’s the best teacher. Because that allows the lessons to catch up with you. And taking time to reflect on those things, too.

Mario Fachini [11:09]
Yeah. It’s interesting because while I’m thankful for my experience, obviously, you tried to mitigate it. However, it’s definitely given me more confidence over the years, without a doubt.

Cory Lee [11:21]
One hundred percent. I had a guy ask me the other day, if I would go back and change some of those experiences, some of those failures? And the answer is no. One, I can’t. But if I were to go back and change those experiences, then I would lose the lesson as well. But it’d be nicer, too, if I can learn that from somebody.

Mario Fachini [11:43]
That’s an interesting take on it. Because I’ve thought about that, too. And it’s like, I’m very thankful. And I put something on my vision board when I was 18, and I’m still working on it. And now that it’s a few years later, I think about that. I was like, “Would you have liked to be at that point at that time you expected?” And it’s like, “No. I don’t want to lose the lesson. But, yeah, I’d like the time back.” However, would you still have the same financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, and relational aptitude that you have now? Because just getting the goal, no matter what it is – okay. That’s all well and good. But, you know, if you don’t have the emotional or mental, would you appreciate it? If you don’t have the financial, will you keep it? If you don’t have the spiritual, will you enjoy it? And it’s like, “Man, that’s a quick thing.”

Cory Lee [12:41]
Yeah. That’s good, man. The journey, I think many times – I know I do – we want to skip that journey and get right to the end. We’re in this microwave society where we have instant popcorn and instant oatmeal and Instagram, right? We want to go right now. And, man, the journey is great. Like, if I look back over some of those experiences, too. man, the journey is awesome. So I like that. That was great, Mario.

Mario Fachini [13:09]
Oh, you just got the number one question I’m going to ask you. It’s a couple questions from now but you just you just gave birth to it. And I know exactly what I’m going to ask you and it’ll make sense in probably about three minutes. I did want to ask you more about the faith side. How important is it and tell me more about what you’re doing with it? How important is it to you and what you’re doing with it? Especially in the mastermind and everyday life.

Cory Lee [13:39]
Yeah. Man, the faith component, I would say if you’re having a barrier in any area of life, I would say, it starts with the faith component. You probably got some blockage in that faith component. To me,that’s the number one thing is the faith component. It very much drives the decisions that we make. If you look in the book of Proverbs, there’s tons of wisdom right there. And that’s kind of where the mastermind group was birthed from as I started to dig in and study some of that. Proverbs talks about without wise counsel, plans fail. But with many advisors, they succeed. But I think the faith component is the cornerstone of my business and the growth. And that’s going to attract certain guys and it’s not going to attract certain guys, and we’re okay with that. You don’t have to have necessarily faith, but it’s very much a cornerstone of everything that we do within the mastermind group. It’s kind of traced throughout everything.

Mario Fachini [14:50]
I love hearing that. Tell me about how do you handle if someone – I know you’re not going to treat them bad if they’re not interested or it’s a turn off, but what if someone is, like, on the fence? Because I’ve heard this one a lot. And I really want to know your perspective. If someone goes, “Well, I’m more spiritual” or, “I was into that” or they’re just a little lost, let’s say. I don’t know any better way to say it. And it’s like, you know, I believe most people do have some spirituality. They’re rooted in the right way. But, again, just like life events, just in business, you know, there’s people that say, “I’ve tried advertising. You get burned. Whatever your tolerance is, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 times, how many times are you going to keep going? I have no doubt it’s the same thing with faith. They believe in it, they want to, but they’ve been burned one too many times, and they’re just lost. How do you help them?

Cory Lee [15:48]
Yeah. You know, I would say just like with anything, but especially with faith, you got to get off the fence and go all in. There’s a quote, “If you’re not committed, there’s hesitancy. A chance to draw back.” As long as you’re on the fence, you kind of waffle. And, man, we unconditionally love all people. All people. But I’m not going to change our mastermind group or coaching for anyone specific. It’s going to attract certain people. And some people aren’t going to be attracted to that. But to your question, I would say go all in. Burn the boats. You’ve heard the saying, “The general got them up on the shoreline and says burn the boat so we got one way. And that’s that’s victory or death.” We can’t retreat. I say you have to get off the fence on one side or the other and be fully committed. And only once you’re committed, are you all in? I think that’s in business, too. We could go down the route of entrepreneurship and people doing the side hustle and it’s the same thing. But faith component 100 percent, you got to go all in.

Mario Fachini [17:05]
I love that. You know, I heard the quote through business but it’s very true with faith also. John [3:16]. And I’m going to ask you, as far as the people that you’re saying to go all in with the faith component, isn’t it interesting with the entrepreneurship, the similarities between them both?

Cory Lee [17:40]
Big time. There’s a lot of faith in opening up your own business. And there’s a lot of action that you have to take too. And a lot of it is, you just have to go. I talk about this in goal setting, but it’s the same thing in faith. So a lot of us, we have this goal. And the goal is way up here. And we don’t know how we’re going to get there. But we do know at least one thing that we can do. We know one thing we can do right now. And we’re standing at the bottom of this dark staircase. And the only thing that we have lit up is one step. And we say, “I’m not going to take that step until I can see the entire staircase.” But that entire staircase isn’t going to be lit up until you take that first step. And why should they be lit up when you haven’t been obedient to the first step? It’s the same thing with our faith. And it’s the same thing with entrepreneurship. You’re not going to know all the steps. The steps are revealed to you as you act on faith and move forward, whether in your business or spiritual life.

Mario Fachini [18:43]
You’re making me picture that Indiana Jones scene where he’s walking across the cavern. It’s very true, though, that you won’t see, probably, the next 20 steps but you don’t need to. It’s just, you know, I’m thinking about starting a business. Well, good. Step one, start it. Well, what about blah, blah, blah? You’re worried about stuff five years down the road. You need to start. And if you’ve started in your 5, 10, 20, 30 years into it, you need to continue because there’s many times – you know, one of the questions when I’m doing interviews, people go, “When did you start your business?” I love going, “Which time?”

Cory Lee [19:25]
Yeah. Which one?

Mario Fachini [19:28]
Yeah. There’s been a few. But I believe it’s all rooted in that faith. And just going back to it, going, “Hey, here’s why I’m here. Here, I’m supposed to serve people.” You know, it might be a bad day, but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad month or year.

Cory Lee [19:45]
One other point on that, one of my core beliefs is that, every single one of us have our own unique gifts, talents, and abilities. We have our own ideas. And when we don’t step into those, this world needs those gifts and talents. They need every one of ours. They need Mario’s. They need mine. They need yours. And when we don’t step into that, we not only rob ourselves of something amazing. We rob the whole world of something amazing. So I always challenge people, you know, you got an idea, where do you think that idea came from? And who do you think that idea came from? And what’s at least one thing you can do to bring that idea for? What’s one thing you can do right now?

Mario Fachini [20:28]
Well, you’re talking to me right there, if no one else is an Expert Authority World. But I know it is resonating because it’s the truth. And it’s rooted in truth. But thank you for that.

Cory Lee [20:42]
Yeah. I appreciate it.

Mario Fachini [20:44]
All right. So we’re going to do the Wheel of Whatever and then thank our sponsor. Because, like I said, you told me the question and this is the Wheel of Whatever. It always ends on the spot it needs to right at the right point on the right question. Look at that, it did it again. Yours is, what is the biggest lesson you learned from your experiences over the years?

Cory Lee [21:13]
Man, I’ve learned a lot. I really have.

Mario Fachini [21:17]
You can do two if you want.

Cory Lee [21:19]
Well, the one that jumps out to me, and probably the one I learned early on, is that, as the business owner, that I am that lead on my business. John Maxwell talks about it. I’m the lead on my business. And my business will never surpass my ability to lead. My team will never surpass my ability to lead them. But as I grow and develop, then the potential of my team grows as well. And that’s exactly what I saw happen was, as I grew, as I invested in myself, then our business did grow. And then the other one comes to hiring. Make that a very slow and methodical process. Don’t just hire the first person that walks in the door and says, “I need a spot. I need you. Come work for me.” Be very methodical about that.

Mario Fachini [22:13]
I would agree 100 percent. Those are two very good ones. I had no idea what you were going to say but those were very – I knew it was going to be good but those were very, very good. Thank you for sharing that. All right. We’re going to thank our sponsor and come back with the Imperfect Action Round.

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Mario Fachini [24:00]
And we are back with the Imperfect Action Round. Cory, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Cory Lee [24:06]
Let’s do it. Let’s do it, Mario.

Mario Fachini [24:08]
Number one question, what is the fastest path to profits?

Cory Lee [24:15]
You know, in entrepreneurship, I think realizing that you as an entrepreneur are the biggest investment you can make is investing in yourself. Like I was saying for me, as I grew and developed, our business grew and developed as well. So I say, read the books, find your coach, find you mentor, do the mastermind groups, whatever, go to the courses and the seminars. But invest in yourself. But also don’t leave your team behind. As well invest in your team too. Develop other leaders. I say that’s the fastest path to the cash is invest in yourself and invest in your team.

Mario Fachini [24:53]
Excellent. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it?

Cory Lee [25:02]
The biggest that I see is lack of clarity. Entrepreneurs, we have this idea, but many times it’s a vague idea. So one of the things that people will come to me when we start coaching is helping them get crystal clear on what exactly kind of business do you want. And people will say, “Well, I want a profitable one.” Well, of course, right? But at what cost and what expense? So, really, the question is, what kind of life do you want to create? Because your business should serve you, not you serve it. So getting crystal clear on what kind of life that you want to have, getting clarity around that, I think.

Mario Fachini [25:44]
That is awesome. And thank you for the reminder. All right. Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Cory Lee [25:58]
I think, exceed expectations. You probably hear the cliche, you know, under promise and over deliver. But if you diligently seek ways to exceed expectations, what happens is you move from this competitive plane to the creative plane. And this competitive plane says there’s lack, there’s limitation, there scarcity. But this creative plane say, there’s abundance. And when you’re on this creative plane, you no longer have to compete. There’s abundance all around. And if you doubt that, just kind of go outside and look up at a tree and try to count the leaves on one tree. Or bend down at your feet and try to count the blades of grass at your feet. There’s abundance all around. We don’t have to compete. All we have to do is create. We have to create ways to exceed our client’s expectations. So, to me, just being diligent about that.

Mario Fachini [26:57]
Excellent. You had mentioned the importance of books and mentors and coaching just a few moments ago. What are some books that you would highly recommend that have changed your life?

Cory Lee [27:08]
You know, the first book I ever ran, probably, ever not even in school. I don’t think I read a book in school. I did the whole watch the movie thing. But a book I would recommend is called Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. I love that book. It’s really good. And then Rich Dad Poor Dad is another good one. And then, probably, anything by John Maxwell. If you’re looking to develop leaders – and I think that’s my desire is to develop leaders. I think entrepreneurs, that’s what we should desire is to become a type of leader that other people will fully follow because of who you are and what you represent. And if you want to be that kind of leader, anything by John Maxwell is good. But Traveler’s Gift is probably my number one. Think and Grow Rich is in there too. I could name about 30 of them, I think, Mario. Sorry about that.

Mario Fachini [27:58]
No. If there’s a few more, feel free.

Cory Lee [28:02]
Yeah. I would say, Think and Grow Rich and As A Man Thinketh, they’re good, too.

Mario Fachini [28:06]
Oh, also another good one. Well, thank you for those recommendations, Cory. Where can we learn more about you?

Cory Lee [28:13]
Yeah. So, Mario, I’m a cookies-on-the-bottom shelf kind of guy. You gotta keep it simple. And so what I’ve done, I’ve created a website, it’s CoryLeeLeadership, and Cory is C-O-R-Y. But CoryLeeLeadership.com/ExpertAuthority, all one word and on there. It’s got the little symbols where you can follow me on any of the social media platforms. I’ve got some information about Legacy Builders, but I also wanted to give your listeners two free gifts on there. There’s two downloads that they can have. One is a personal assessment. This is one of the things I give to our coaching clients. But it’s really questions, kind of assess where you’re at in your goals and how balanced your life is. And then the other one is a fun one. It’s a spousal survey. Spousal survey, right? So you give it to your spouse, they answer the question, it creates some really good communication. And communication is key. So I have that there for your listeners. And, man, I appreciate it, Mario.

Mario Fachini [29:15]
Well, thank you for both of those. They both sound very interesting. And I am looking forward to checking them out. And thanks for keeping it simple too.

Cory Lee [29:25]
Simple is the key, right?

Mario Fachini [29:27]
Absolutely. I’m very much the same way. What’s the most efficient and easiest funnest process you can possibly do? And when you made that comment about, you know, “I’m more of a movie than read the book,” I’m like, “Yeah. I got through ninth grade English pretty well. You know, just had to keep going to blockbusters and get Romeo and Juliet, Great Expectations, whatever was out.”

Cory Lee [29:49]
That’s right. That’s right. That’s good stuff.

Mario Fachini [29:54]
Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure. And I’m looking forward to connecting with you even further. But thank you for sharing with Expert Authority World.

Cory Lee [30:03]
Thanks, Mario. I really enjoyed it.

Mario Fachini [30:06]
All right. Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here today. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. And God bless.

SPONSOR Free Business Book Publishing Course [30:12]
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Mario Fachini [30:46]
Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.