How to Go From Salesperson to CEO

Ethan Butte (0:01)

We've tried some new things on The Brian Buffini Show this year. I'm Ethan Butte, Chief Ambassador here at Buffini, and my participation on the show is one of those things. Of course, we've heard from many of you about what you need, want, and love most from Brian on the podcast. So here's where we've landed. Our episodes open with Brian teaching, mindset, motivation, and methodology straight from him. And then he and I go into a deeper conversation about it. Some weeks we'll revisit fan favorite episodes and even past events. And Brian will share with us the stories behind them. Once a month, he'll interview an insightful person from his vast network. Quotes, classics, backstories, big guests. Brian's bringing all of it. So if you've not checked out The Brian Buffini Show lately, be sure to check it out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or thebrianbuffinishow.com.

Brian Buffini (0:59)

So in today's Blueprint, I'm going to try to walk you through the process of going from being a salesperson to a CEO. Okay? And obviously, this is a journey I've walked.

And one I've walked reluctantly because sales I was very good at, still do it, still enjoy it more than anything else. I found my identity in that. I also found that I could get a result. So I do this, I get that. What's very rewarding? Well, as a leader, you do this, sometimes you get nothing. You do this, you get nothing more. You do this, and you do this, and you do this, and sometimes the results don't show up for years. So it's a totally different mindset.

So I'd say there's five lessons I learned along the way. The first was to start becoming a strategic thinker. Now, one of the things we talk about in our coaching program is a person's profile. My profile is somewhat specific and then spectrum, which means I know the short term and I can get out about 18 months. I'm married to a woman who's uber, uber, uber global. So when our son was born, she was looking at our son going, I wonder what our grandchildren will look like.

And I'm like, how do we get his home?

It was just an is at that stage. Like putting it in the car seat. How do you put it? Like I remember, I remember like the nurse standing on the step right there, and I'm getting the baby, she's handing me the baby. I'm like, we're not equipped to do this. What are you doing? And I'm trying to figure out how to get this little premature baby into this car seat.

That's specific. That's beautiful for a sales guy. Okay. That's terrible for a leader.

So to trial and error, as my success grew, I realized I wanted to reach more people. Well, if I want to reach more people, I had to reach them by more than just my own ability. If I was going to build this coaching organization, which I had this vision for, if I was just the one doing coaching, then we'd have had 75 clients for our life.

So how do I do this? So I had to become more strategic in my thinking. And so I had to start thinking long-term. Now, this is where the great news is these are skills. So that's not my natural predisposition, but these were skills I learned. One of my first mentors was Dr. Alex Lackey. I've done podcasts with him. He was the most organized man in America. And he would talk to me about, Brian, you have to start with the end in mind. You have to do a thing called reverse scheduling. You go out all the way to the end of your goal and come back to today. What are all the steps that you know of today that have to take place between now and then?

What do you need? How long is that going to take? How much is it going to take? Now, I learned over time, even in that, I was way too rapid. Oh, yeah. And it was my one year plan was really a five year plan.

And that everything costs twice as much and takes twice as long. So the dynamic is you got to become more strategic in nature. Now, I would also tell you the second dynamic of being strategic in nature, it helps to be able to do that when your bills are being paid. So you've got to keep the sales coming in so that your bills are being paid so that you can have the confidence to get further out. When you're just kind of like Indiana Jones, running in front of the big rock financially, it's not time to be strategic. Okay, Indiana is like, no. And so when you're just running in front of the rock, and that's why you got to make sure you control your home expenses and your business expenses. Because you are just trying to stay alive, you cannot be strategic. And so that's why making sure that you have a good economic plan, making sure that you have markers that you have to hit. So you're starting out as a salesperson, we'll keep those sales coming. And then secondarily, how do you start building out this vision? That's the first step. The second thing is you got to learn the financial language. Okay.