Find A Mentor

Find A Mentor

Josh Payne
Devin Miller
The Inventive Journey Podcast for Entrepreneurs
3/23/2021

The Inventive Journey

Starting and growing a business is a journey. On The Inventive Journey, your host, Devin Miller walks with startups along their different journeys startups take to success (or failure). You also get to hear from featured guests, such as venture firms and angel investors, that provide insight on the paths to a successful inventive journey.

ai generated transcription

uh first and foremost is to find a mentor to find somebody who's who has what you want is going where you want to go willing to mentor you how to get there and listen to what they have to say [Music] hey everyone this is devin miller here with another episode of the inventive journey i'm your host devin miller the serial entrepreneur that's grown several startups in the seven and eight figure businesses as well as a founder of miller ip law where he helps startups and small businesses with patents train marks and everything business related and if you ever need help with anything feel free to reach out to us at strategymeeting.com now today we have another great guest on the podcast josh payne and uh to give you a little bit of a background so he uh kind of grew up and his entire life revolved around baseball and even got a baseball scholarship but then had a injury that kind of ended that dream or that career and wasn't able to play the same level so went back to school and got a degree started working in the golf industry and uh and had someone that was kind of a bit of a mentor kind of give them some advice as to you know which side of the counter do you want to be on and how do you get from the side of the counter that's on the set on the one side to the other and he'll share a little bit more about that so left the golf industry got into the financial industry a bit and then had some things that he said weren't you know weren't going or people weren't managing as well or weren't working as well in the financial industry decided to make a bit of a change on that and kicked off the business and went from there so with that much as an introduction welcome on the podcast josh appreciate it man excited to be here thank you so much absolutely so i gave kind of that brief high level introduction of kind of your journey and a little bit about it but let's take it back to kind of your life when your life revolved around baseball and that was kind of where you're headed and tell us a little bit about about your journey absolutely man well i'll tell you what since i was five years old baseball was uh really my purpose in life and everything i did revolved around playing at the next level whether it was going from you know playing in the youth sports to playing in high school and from playing in high school to playing in college and from playing in college and playing professionally ultimately the goal plan to be to play professional baseball and as you mentioned um i mean things were on on track uh ended up having a great college career hall of fame all this stuff at the school division one college school i played at but all that changed one day with an injury and as it happens to so many people i think it certainly did for me when that injury happened it was like the the purpose in my life was was stripped away and ultimately kind of fell into a depression you know i didn't know what i was gonna do in life i did what everybody said to do which was to finish the degree and and go out and get a good job that was supposed to provide for the family and that's where i landed in the in the golf industry let me before you dive too much but going back just a little bit to the the you know baseball and that was a trajectory and then having to reassess when you went and did that you know first of all i'm sure it was hard to have in your dreams dash a bit or you know that was where you're always planning and where you kind of visualized yourself but as you're saying okay that's no longer an option i can't play the same level and i'm not able to probably compete where i'd want to how did you step back and kind of figure out where you did want to go i mean you talked a little about going into the golf but how did you kind of was that a opportunity that came along was it something that excited you or kind of you know what how did you make that transition from here's my dream to i have to shift my dream over here you know that's a great question and i don't know that i've got the exact answer on that other than i was a fighter i was always an underdog and i knew that i was not going to sit around and do and just and just you know live a a purposeless life i enjoyed the game of golf and i knew i was going to be able to get into an environment where as i look back on it i saw the ability to be around successful people and i think that that had played a big role in it and though maybe that's not what what was the primary driver i knew that success was around that environment right i came from humble beginnings i didn't have a lot of wealthy mentors or anything like that so i knew i had to to find an environment that would put me in a in a position where i could surround myself with some some great people and ultimately uh that's what took me on that trajectory no makes sense and i think that you know i think the idea of let's sort you know surround yourself with the successful people or other people that are in the position you're wanting to be makes sense and so you got into a bit of the golf industry and i think started working at a golf course and kind of had or had somebody have a conversation as to how to get from one side of the table to the other yeah so i i i'm here in the silicon valley i ran very high-end private country clubs ultimately for ten years serviced some of the wealthiest people in the world right all the tech founders in all the companies that run the run the world and and and a lot of very successful entrepreneurs and as i got into it i realized that you know they put their pants on the same way i do i think it dressed the same way i do i said now what is it that separates them from me and what i realized is that it wasn't the money although they had a lot more money certainly that i did but it was the specialized knowledge they received on how to acquire that money that was the big separator between where they were at where i was see that specialized knowledge enabled them to do some things that provided an incredible life the mentor you speak of had built and sold a couple of companies and was in his mid 40s and completely financially independent and clearly that was a result of what he learned growing up that i didn't and in that environment what i decided was i was going to learn as much as i could from them to figure out how i could do the same thing knowing that hey we're both there there's nothing different other than what they had up here and a few years of of success in in their business and that's ultimately what i what i wanted to be able to uh put into my life and to be honest with you man i'll never forget the day that we had that conversation and it ultimately set me on track in my entrepreneurial journey which was which was we sat down we had just played golf and here was a good thing about about being able to play the game of golf and being a pga member and is that no matter how much money they had i could do something physically that they would never be able to do which was i was a pretty good player and so they enjoyed having me around them on the golf course you know we built relationships and and you know i would help them and teach them and a lot of them were students of mine and and so that afforded me time and association with successful people and at lunch after we had played he said josh i want to have lunch with you and this was such a turning point in my life and we sat down and he said you know what he said josh you're incredible at what you do in running this facility he said to me devin he said if you continue doing it the same way you're doing it in your income the same way you're earning your income you'll never have what we have and that was like a uh you know a dagger in my to my gut i'm like and here i was i wanted to to create that and he said look he said all 350 members here they all come from different backgrounds they all come from different industries they all come from different uh so uh economic backgrounds original they said we all share one thing in common he said we all work for ourselves he said there are no employees here and that was such a turning point and he went on to say he said what you need to do is you got to figure out where you're going to go from being an employee to getting into business to find a mentor who's going where you want to go you can look in his eyes and you know they're going to get there and they're willing to show you how they did it when you find that person i'll never forget this part he said you unhook your little red wagon on whatever it's hooked on you hook it on to them because they're gonna they're gonna drag you to the top that's that's what i do so now let me uh because you know giving that advice and again it's a turning point now you have to figure out how to actually do it right in the sense that you can have somebody that gives you all the tips of success until you actually figure out how to implement it it doesn't do any good so you get that at voice advice turning point you know first question is did you go out and quit your job the next day or did you stay there for a bit but or but you know kind of on that how did you figure out who the person was that you're going to follow what you're going to follow them and kind of start to implement that idea that's a great question and and the reality was after being a mentor now in in the financial space for over 13 years there's a huge difference between between receiving advice and putting it to action right and that's really the separator as a mentee or somebody who's receiving the advice between uh success and staying where you're at is that is that application of the knowledge for me it wasn't overnight i understand i came from a from a very uh humble beginnings right and so there was a lot of work i had to do on my mindset and so what i started to do is i started to formulate those thoughts in my mind i actually then the next step is i made the decision to leave the golf industry simply because it took up so much time when you're serving that level of clientele there's a lot of expectations and if i was going to make that transition somehow i had to free up time to find what i was going to do so i i actually became an athletic director at a high school for a short amount of time to rebuild an athletic program and when i got there then i had time and i started looking and i was introduced to that mentor who's changed my family's legacy forever now and when i met her i i decided i was gonna get started i started part-time i was part-time for almost two years and and for me i again never having been in the entrepreneur space my wife was a teacher probably one of the most conservative careers as far as um you know uh entrepreneur wise a teacher is about as the opposite side of the spectrum in terms of their um views on on security and so what i did is i got started i got all my licenses i started uh having a lot of success in the industry um let me how long about how long was how long did it take you to make that transition from kind of the day that you had the realization of you know wanting to move to the other side of the counter finding someone that would be that person that would mentor you and be able to give you that advice and be able to figure out how they did it how long was that transition it was about a year for me it was a year because i i just didn't have the time there so i had to you know economically we live in a in a very um expensive area of the world and so i had to find a position to transition to that would provide economically uh for the family and so that took some time but as soon as i got in there it was about five months and i and i got started and so i'd immediately you know all the stars aligned i'd been introduced to the industry and i got started about five months after landing the new position as an athletic director and at which point it was about you know uh almost two years that i was part-time learning making money saved 100 of my part-time income to the point where i had enough money where i could then go in design for my job come full time in our business so you take that year you kind of make the transition figure it out now how did you know during that year how did you find the person to hit your wagon to so to speak or to be the mentor then how did you start to build or build your own kind of business around that great great question i i met a lady when my wife was shopping something by the way because it happened on saturday i would have never been with her on a saturday afternoon if i was still in the golf industry right so it took a series of steps to get to that point where i was able to meet a lady we were having a conversation because her husband was shopping and my wife was trying on clothes and we were sitting on a couch in macy's and we just started talking and and she you know we hit it off and she gave me her information and and i went home that night i'm like you know what what do i have to lose let me check this thing out and so we got ended up getting together it took a couple of months to get back together and then she got me in front of the right person which is today my mentor uh to this day that uh that we work day to day and hand the hand together and uh and that's when i started you know transitioning in part-time so now and so you start to transition to part-time and you kind of say okay i'm gonna get in the financial industry i'm gonna do that how you know so now you make that transition you get into there was it something that was exciting and it was all success and all the you know all you know downhill from there or how did that once you you know you start to make that transition make that decision how did it all play out great question so so i got started part-time had the success trans left my career resigned for my position come full time and right when i came full time the bottom fell out of our country in the financial industry right which was right at right as the financial crisis hit and and the ripple effect hit and and and hit for a couple of years and it was like i couldn't believe it the success we were having all of a sudden you know we went through a really tough patch and and i i was like man am i going to go back and get a job again i can't picture myself walking back in with my tail tucked between my legs to that guy that i resigned with that you know i could see him looking at me thinking you'll be back you don't know what you're leaving and and i had a decision to make who those tough times had a decision to make was i going to give up on our goals and dreams and go back to a life where i knew i would never be able to accomplish him or was i going to buckle down is that going to get tough just like i did my entire career playing the game of baseball and go after our goals and dreams and that's the decision i made and we persevered and pushed through and oh thank god we did because that's where we're at today so yeah and so that kind of brings us up to where you're you know you're at today so to speak now kind of looking again almost into the future a bit next six to 12 months kind of where do you see things going where do you where's where where will things head for you absolutely so at this point in our career 13 years later success recognition i looked at our business and and our lives and i really made the decision that it's time to take that that success we've had and really turn it into impact and what i mean by that is this and in particular in the financial industry in in our space we've developed a core mission as it relates to impact that we want to we want to there's been a discrepancy or or a um unequal opportunity and access to financial literacy in our country so as we look forward over the next 12 months two years five years it really comes down to our core mission now of of delivering uh equal opportunity and access to financial education and literacy uh as well as career advancement through entrepreneurship across all economic orders i really believe devin that this is our calling that it is a ground up it's it's a bottom-up movement it's not going to be a top down and making sure that we're able to to get out and serve as many people we can to the core principles of proper personal financial management so that they have a chance in life to be able to you know fulfill their goals and dreams for themselves and their family so no and i think that all makes that makes all makes perfect sense and i think that's a fun direction to be headed and i think certainly uh people you know are in need of that assistance so now as we kind of transition so we've kind of brought it up to you know what your journey is and a little bit where you're heading in the future now looking back a little bit i always have two questions i hit at the end of each podcast so we'll jump to those now and chat about that a bit so along your journey what was the worst business decision you ever made and what did you learn from it so i think that the worst business decision i made to think that i was bigger than the system the system being the mentorship and guidance and success track record that had been laid out that had a 30-year track record and to think that i was bigger than that at a period of time that that i'd had a little bit of success and and i knew more and to think that i was going to to walk the line on my own and waiver from the track record of success that it got me to where i was and ultimately uh slowed our business growth down and the correction was to recognize that and i think this comes back to the some of the core concepts of of mentorship right and and to be a great leader you've got to be a great follower and uh leadership is huge for me and i just i i reassessed and realized look if i'm going to be a great leader an example and model and mentor to people across the united states and in our in our agency that i needed to be a great follower of the system that got us to where we were and as soon as i made that adjustment business picked back up and had this continued on the path of success no i think that you know that's uh definitely i think something good to learn from you know make the mistakes we were made and the things that uh you know that we can always improve on so now that jumping to the second question i always ask which is now if you're talking to somebody that's just getting into a startup or a small business what would be the one piece of advice you'd give them one piece of advice i would give them is is a couple of things and and i think that each of each of the points has has some sub points too so number one uh first and foremost is to find a mentor to find somebody who's who has what you want is going where you want to go willing to mentor you how to get there and listen to what they have to say what i know is this when people are getting into entrepreneurship there are a lot of outside factors right and those outside factors are could be family friends the environment we have been in and what we have to understand is that we accept advice from somebody we immediately accept their quality of life so it reminds me when i got into business i had plenty of people that were telling me you're crazy leaving your good secure job well look what i realized is they didn't have the life i wanted my mentor on the other hand she had the life i wanted and i had a decision to make which one was i going to let rent the space in my mind and i realized it was going to be the one person that that had what i wanted so that would be number one is to understand that who you listen to is very important find that mentor and be extremely coachable like the question you ask the beginning put it to action so you can get the results the second thing is is reminds me of the story of tom watson when he founded ibm and ibm during its time was the biggest company the world had ever seen and their their their annual uh revenue was 59 billion dollars a year at that point in time and somebody asked tom watson you know how did you build this empire and i remember hearing the story of tom watson and what he said he said there were three things we did that nobody else did so number one before we ever started building ibm i had a picture of exactly what i wanted in my mind when it would be finished of exactly what ibm would look like when it was finished before he ever started the second thing he said is that once i knew what it was going to look like then i i pictured and figured out exactly what the people were going to look like that were going to deliver the mission of ibm when it was finished being built so it was the picture of ibm then the picture of the people that would that would uh run the company and then the third thing he said that i think is so important for somebody getting into business he said i realized that a big business is nothing but a small business that kept doing the right things and so my second piece of advice would be to have that clear concise mental picture right uh napoleon hill talks about that and they can grow rich you got to have a clear concise mental picture of exactly what you want and then have that detailed plan and understand that if you execute that plan the only difference between a big business and a small business is a big business is a small business that just continued to do the right thing so give it time for the efforts to compound and grow so no and i think that's that is a lot of great advice a lot of things to parse out and i think that you know people to take the heart i like the idea of you know really the way that you get from the small business to the big business is not a earth shattering it's not a you know very seldom do you just have a an earth-shattering idea such to the point that you just go into the big business right out of the shoot it's really doing the things that the big or you know doing the correct things as a small business until you reset so i think that's that's a great takeaway well as we as we wrap up if people want to find out more they want to use your financial services they want to be a client or a customer they want to be an employee they want to be an investor they want to be your next best friend any or all of the above what's the best way to connect up to and find out more absolutely so three ways i'll give you number one is uh my direct contact phone number is area code 408.220 that's my direct contact phone number my email is josh at josh b kane spelled p-a-y-n-e aayne.com or you can find me on instagram at josh b kane and those will be the three ways that you can locate me and find me and love to love to connect and talk to anybody who would like to get more information all right well i definitely encourage everybody to connect up take advantage of uh of your knowledge and the the and be able to find out more about what you do and with that like to thank you for coming on the podcast now for all of you that are listeners if you have your own journey to tell we'd love to hear it just feel free to apply to be on the podcast by going to inventiveguest.com also if your listener one make sure to click subscribe so you know when all the awesome episodes come out in your podcast player and two leave us a review so new people can find us as well last but not least if you ever need any help with patents train marks or anything else with your business just reach out to us at millerip law we're always here to help just go to strategymeeting.com well thank you again josh it's been fun it's been a pleasure to have you on and wish the next leg of your journey even better than the last i appreciate it devin thank you so much for uh for this opportunity absolutely you