Shane Knight: We've grown 50%, but we are finding that, as you grow cash flow is a problem.

Tony Robbins: As you grow, cash flow becomes a problem. Now, when people say things, here's what we want to train ourselves to do. This is a new question we want to ask whenever you hear something that's a limit in yourself or anyone on your team. The question you want to ask is: Is it possible to be in that business and grow without a cash flow problem?

Mark Peysha: What's the number one obstacle business owner's face in growing their company, and how do you solve it? My name is Mark Peysha. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Robbins-Madanes Coach Training, and in the next six minutes we're going to see Tony Robbins helping a business owner named Shane to break through the limiting factor that was stopping his business growth.

We're going to start with Shane standing up to ask a question at Tony's live seminar called "Business Mastery," and we'll see that, within one short conversation, Shane's business obstacle was turned around. Let's go.

Shane Knight: My name is Shane Knight, and I'm in the fire and water damage restoration business. My dad started it. I joined him about 3 years ago, and we've grown 50%, but we are finding that, as you grow, cash flow is a problem. And so we're here to figure out how to grow another 100% this year.

Tony Robbins: So I hear you're in the fire and water restoration business, and he said, "As you grow, cash flow becomes a problem." Now, when people say things, here's what we want to train ourselves to do. This is a new question we want to ask whenever you hear something that's a limit in yourself or anyone on your team. The question you want to ask is: Is that really true?

Because so much of what we accept is controlling and limiting us. Because as the business grows, then cash flow becomes a problem. Is that really true? Is it possible to be in that business and grow without a cash flow problem?

One of the first things that we want to uncover is: What is the chokehold on any business? It's always the owners what? Psychology or skills...

First challenge is he already believes there's a limitation to the business, so there is. And by the way, there might be in its current structure, but there's no limitation to growth. There's limitation because he's bought into it.

You want to ask yourself, when someone says a limitation, a living belief, "Is that true?" And then your brains will immediately say, "Of course it's true." You can say, "Really?" Hmm, you have all the information to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you keep growing, that you'll have less cash. Do you have all the information to know for sure that that's true?

Shane Knight: No.

Tony Robbins: No. Then it's not true. How do you feel, Shane, when you believe the thought that the more we grow, the less money we're going to have?

Shane Knight: It's frustrating because you put so much work into it.

Tony Robbins: Yes, and when you feel that frustration, what else do you feel? What do you start to believe?

Shane Knight: Stressed out.

Tony Robbins: Stress out. What else?

Shane Knight: And you feel like, "Why are you putting all this time and effort into it?"

Tony Robbins: Did you all hear that? You feel stressed out. If he believes that the more we grow, the less cash we have, then it gets him frustrated. He feels a bit overwhelmed. He starts to stress out. He starts to think, "Why do I even put my energy into that?"

What will that do? It's going to kill the energy that would make this gladiator strong enough to win anything.

Can he afford to have this drained out of him? Yes or no? In a competitive world we're in, yes or no? Pretty soon he's going to use the driving force that makes him successful and makes his family successful.

Now why would I want to put more into something that's only going to include more failure? Ultimately, what do you start thinking about the business when you believe that? What do you start thinking about the business? Tell me the truth.

Shane Knight: You start thinking about other businesses you could do.

Tony Robbins That's right, which, by the way, that might be useful. If it's really true, when we investigate thoroughly, that there's no way to grow this business profitably for things that are outside our control, then he might need to investigate other businesses.

Are we supportive of that, yes or no? But only after we first investigate: Is this a psychological or skill limitation as opposed to an environmental one? So if that thought didn't exist, that growing equals no cash and no profit, you would feel what?

Shane Knight: Empowered.

Tony Robbins: Yes. By the way, how many can hear the difference in his voice right now, say "aye."

Audience: Aye.

Tony Robbins: And in that empowered state, what would you go do? Tell me what you'd go do?

Shane Knight: Specifically?

Tony Robbins: Yeah! Just tell me three things you'd go back and do that you know would grow the business and help its profitability.

Shane Knight: I would go sell the big insurance companies that I've been afraid of selling because I didn't think that we could handle it.

Tony Robbins: Ah, interesting. And what would be the advantage in that?

Shane Knight: Well, it's much better to have one large corporate customer than chasing ten, twelve dozen different sources of referrals.

Tony Robbins: And what if you had five quality large customers, not just one, so you were never dependent upon somebody that might then take away your whole business, or six?

Shane Knight: Then we would be five or six times larger.

Tony Robbins: Yes. More to manage or less to manage for you in terms of that client-based management?

Shane Knight: It depends whether or not I change my style.

Tony Robbins: That's . . . give him a hand, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a hand!

[applause]

Tony Robbins: So what's the second thing you'd do?

Shane Knight: I have an elite, high-end brand I want to create, and I think that would be a great opportunity to grow.

Tony Robbins: Tell me the third thing.

Shane Knight: I'd hire someone to do most of what I do during the day today.

Tony Robbins: And what would you pay him?

Shane Knight: As much as it took.

Tony Robbins: That's right. What do you think it would take to have somebody really impeccable to do the stuff you do during the day today?

Shane Knight: Eighty or ninety thousand a year.

Tony Robbins: That's right. So how much business would you . . . how many clients or accounts would you have to get to pay for that person so you'd have freedom to do the more strategic things that really matter?

Shane Knight: Three hundred grand a year, which is a third of a giant client.

Tony Robbins: So a third. So you could go get one client and be free forever, and that's all it would take.

Shane Knight: That's right.

Tony Robbins: This is what I love about you guys. Every person in this room has already got the answers they need. The problem is you've got some unconscious, invisible barriers you don't even know are there. You've got the answers, or can you find them.

He knows exactly what to do to grow this business. We transform this, you can create freedom. We transform this, you're going to own your pride at another level. You transform this business, you're going to have your economics transform, which will give you other resources to give, to share, to enjoy, to explore, to discover, to make a difference with, to create new things with.

The whole game of business, it's a spiritual game. You know what it's about? Taking the invisible thought or desire or idea you have and turning that into reality. Give him a hand ladies and gentlemen!

[applause]

[music]

Mark Peysha: So you can see a short conversion took Shane from feeling it was impossible to grow without losing cash flow to having a solid way to grow his business by 500%. So how did we get there? Tony showed Shane how to make three big moves. So let's break it down and see how it works.

The first move is find the unspoken assumptions. If a business owner is feeling disempowered, you can bet that there's an unspoken assumption they're accepting without knowing it, and this unspoken assumption is limiting their growth.

Here's the thing. As a business owner, your job is to break down the limitations holding you back. So the question to ask yourself is: "What am I accepting about my business that's controlling and limiting me?" When you find that limit, you can work with it.

Here's what Tony told Shane.

Tony Robbins: He already believes there's a limitation to the business, so there is. And by the way, there might be in its current structure, but there's no limitation to growth. There's limitation because he's bought into it. You want to ask yourself, when someone says a limitation, a living belief, "Is that true?"

Mark Peysha: Next move, challenge the unspoken assumption. Henry Ford said, "If you think you can do a thing or you think you can't do a thing, you're right." Whatever you believe, you make it true. Shane's belief that business growth equals negative cash flow had probably cost him a year of growth at that point. So Tony challenged Shane's unspoken assumption.

Tony Robbins: You have all the information to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you keep growing, that you'll have less cash. Do you have all the information to know for sure that that's true?

Mark Peysha: The bottom line is if you haven't examined a business limitation in complete detail, you have no way of knowing whether or not it's true. Instead of getting into the nitty- gritty and solving the problem and breaking through, you start believing that the problem is necessary, and then it becomes your life, like Shane who believed that we can't grow because growth equals negative cash flow. If you believe something like that, your business growth is basically on hold.

The other reason why you're not solving the problem is that you don't have the right skill set. Shane doesn't understand the cash flow enough to solve the problem. He's missing that skill set. So what he needs to do is get help from someone who does know how to solve that problem.

Soon after this conversation, Tony instructed Shane to get a CFO service, a chief financial officer to really investigate the cash flow so that it could be solved. And when Shane got to work on this cash flow problem, he discovered the problem wasn't growth. The problem was that he had the wrong person handling the finances. That's a big discovery.

Move number three, break through the limiting emotion. When Shane first mentioned the cash flow problem, you could see from his body language and his voice that he's developed an emotional hesitation about it, a fear. Does he look energetic and strong here, or does he look shy and kind of embarrassed? And that's not a judgment, that's just a pattern. We all have it to some degree. For Shane, this is his particular personal, emotional limit that's stopping him. So that needs to change.

Tony asked Shane this question.

Tony Robbins: What do you feel, Shane, when you believe the thought that the more we grow, the less money we're going to have?

Shane Knight: Stressed out.

Tony Robbins: Stress out. What else?

Shane Knight: And you feel like, "Why are you putting all this time and effort into it?"

Mark Peysha: Did you hear that? Shane's assumption that growth equals negative cash flow, that thought stresses him to the point that he's starting to opt out of his own business. You can't lead a team when you're in that state. He wants to grow, but he feels somehow the business can't. Can he grow his business when he's not fully committed to it? I doubt it.

You see, the problem isn't the business. The problem is that he's accepted the unspoken assumptions. If Shane could unload this helplessness, what kind of energy would be freed up? Tony asked Shane.

Tony Robbins: So if that thought didn't exist, that growing equals no cash and no profit, you would feel what?

Shane Knight: Empowered.

Tony Robbins: Yes. By the way, how many can hear the difference in his voice right now? Say "aye."

Audience: Aye.

Tony Robbins: And in that empowered state, what would you go do? Tell me what you'd go do.

Mark Peysha: So this is a great question to ask anyone who's been emotionally stuck. If that thought didn't exist in you, how would you feel, and what are three things you'd go and do? The odds are, the owner knows what the business needs, except they've bogged down by unspoken assumptions, disempowering emotions, and the bad performance that comes with it.

When Tony asked this question, Shane knew exactly what to say.

Shane Knight: I would go sell the big insurance companies that I've been afraid of selling because I didn't think we could handle it.

Tony Robbins: More to manage or less to manage for you, in terms of that client-based management?

Shane Knight: Depends on whether or not I change my style.

Tony Robbins: That's . . . give him a hand, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a hand!

[applause]

Mark Peysha: Now, this is what a business owner looks like when they've challenged their assumptions and dropped their emotional baggage. New ideas for growth are right there under the surface, and instead of saying that he can't handle it, Shane sees that he can make it happen.

Shane Knight: I'd hire someone to do most of what I do during the day today.

Tony Robbins: And what would you pay him?

Shane Knight: As much as it took.

Tony Robbins: That's right. What do you think it would take to have somebody really impeccable to do the stuff you do during the day today?

Shane Knight: Eighty or ninety thousand a year.

Tony Robbins: That's right. So how much business would you . . . how many clients or accounts would you have to get to pay for that person so you'd have freedom to do the more strategic things that really matter?

Shane Knight: Three hundred grand a year, which is a third of a giant client.

Tony Robbins: So a third. So you could go get one client and be free forever, and that's all it would take.

Shane Knight: That's right.

Mark Peysha: In just a few minutes, Shane shared two ideas that will build his business to the legacy point. He can serve the large corporate clients, who will provide much more income and free him up from a lot of marketing logistics, and he can use the proceeds of one of those clients to replace himself as the operator. This is the path of leverage in a business. He'll have even more energy and focus to work strategically to take the business to the next level.

Now look at his body language. This is an owner with a plan for the future he wants and who now has the emotional energy to carry it out.

So the next time you hear someone tell you their limitations, take a second and watch their body language. A skillful coach can take someone from disempowered to full strength within a short conversation.

So remember the three big moves:

1. Find the unspoken assumption. 2. Challenge that assumption. 3. Break through the limiting emotion.

So I hope you have enjoyed this, and I hope you can use this to create positive results in your life as well as those around you. This is Mark Peysha signing off. Talk to you soon.

Shane Knight: We've grown 50%, but we are finding that, as you grow,cash flow is a problem.

Tony Robbins: As you grow, cash flow becomes a problem. Now, when people say things, here's what we want to train ourselves to do. This is a new question we want to ask whenever you hear something that's a limit in yourself or anyone on your team. The question you want to ask is: Is it possible to be in that business and grow without a cash flow problem?

Mark Peysha: What's the number one obstacle business owner's face in growing their company, and how do you solve it? My name is Mark Peysha. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Robbins-Madanes Coach Training, and in the next six minutes we're going to see Tony Robbins helping a business owner named Shane to break through the limiting factor that was stopping his business growth.

We're going to start with Shane standing up to ask a question at Tony's live seminar called "Business Mastery," and we'll see that, within one short conversation, Shane's business obstacle was turned around. Let's go.

Shane Knight: My name is Shane Knight, and I'm in the fire and water damage restoration business. My dad started it. I joined him about 3 years ago, and we've grown 50%, but we are finding that, as you grow, cash flow is a problem. And so we're here to figure out how to grow another 100% this year.

Tony Robbins: So I hear you're in the fire and water restoration business, and he said, "As you grow, cash flow becomes a problem." Now, when people say things, here's what we want to train ourselves to do. This is a new question we want to ask whenever you hear something that's a limit in yourself or anyone on your team. The question you want to ask is: Is that really true?

Because so much of what we accept is controlling and limiting us. Because as the business grows, then cash flow becomes a problem. Is that really true? Is it possible to be in that business and grow without a cash flow problem?

One of the first things that we want to uncover is: What is the chokehold on any business? It's always the owners what? Psychology or skills...

First challenge is he already believes there's a limitation to the business, so there is. And by the way, there might be in its current structure, but there's no limitation to growth. There's limitation because he's bought into it.

You want to ask yourself, when someone says a limitation, a living belief, "Is that true?" And then your brains will immediately say, "Of course it's true." You can say, "Really?" Hmm, you have all the information to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you keep growing, that you'll have less cash. Do you have all the information to know for sure that that's true?

Shane Knight: No.

Tony Robbins: No. Then it's not true. How do you feel, Shane, when you believe the thought that the more we grow, the less money we're going to have?

Shane Knight: It's frustrating because you put so much work into it.

Tony Robbins: Yes, and when you feel that frustration, what else do you feel? What do you start to believe?

Shane Knight: Stressed out.

Tony Robbins: Stress out. What else?

Shane Knight: And you feel like, "Why are you putting all this time and effort into it?"

Tony Robbins: Did you all hear that? You feel stressed out. If he believes that the more we grow, the less cash we have, then it gets him frustrated. He feels a bit overwhelmed. He starts to stress out. He starts to think, "Why do I even put my energy into that?"

What will that do? It's going to kill the energy that would make this gladiator strong enough to win anything.

Can he afford to have this drained out of him? Yes or no? In a competitive world we're in, yes or no? Pretty soon he's going to use the driving force that makes him successful and makes his family successful.

Now why would I want to put more into something that's only going to include more failure? Ultimately, what do you start thinking about the business when you believe that? What do you start thinking about the business? Tell me the truth.

Shane Knight: You start thinking about other businesses you could do.

Tony Robbins That's right, which, by the way, that might be useful. If it's really true, when we investigate thoroughly, that there's no way to grow this business profitably for things that are outside our control, then he might need to investigate other businesses.

Are we supportive of that, yes or no? But only after we first investigate: Is this a psychological or skill limitation as opposed to an environmental one? So if that thought didn't exist, that growing equals no cash and no profit, you would feel what?

Shane Knight: Empowered.

Tony Robbins: Yes. By the way, how many can hear the difference in his voice right now, say "aye."

Audience: Aye.

Tony Robbins: And in that empowered state, what would you go do? Tell me what you'd go do?

Shane Knight: Specifically?

Tony Robbins: Yeah! Just tell me three things you'd go back and do that you know would grow the business and help its profitability.

Shane Knight: I would go sell the big insurance companies that I've been afraid of selling because I didn't think that we could handle it.

Tony Robbins: Ah, interesting. And what would be the advantage in that?

Shane Knight: Well, it's much better to have one large corporate customer than chasing ten, twelve dozen different sources of referrals.

Tony Robbins: And what if you had five quality large customers, not just one, so you were never dependent upon somebody that might then take away your whole business, or six?

Shane Knight: Then we would be five or six times larger.

Tony Robbins: Yes. More to manage or less to manage for you in terms of that client-based management?

Shane Knight: It depends whether or not I change my style.

Tony Robbins: That's . . . give him a hand, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a hand!

[applause]

Tony Robbins: So what's the second thing you'd do?

Shane Knight: I have an elite, high-end brand I want to create, and I think that would be a great opportunity to grow.

Tony Robbins: Tell me the third thing.

Shane Knight: I'd hire someone to do most of what I do during the day today.

Tony Robbins: And what would you pay him?

Shane Knight: As much as it took.

Tony Robbins: That's right. What do you think it would take to have somebody really impeccable to do the stuff you do during the day today?

Shane Knight: Eighty or ninety thousand a year.

Tony Robbins: That's right. So how much business would you . . . how many clients or accounts would you have to get to pay for that person so you'd have freedom to do the more strategic things that really matter?

Shane Knight: Three hundred grand a year, which is a third of a giant client.

Tony Robbins: So a third. So you could go get one client and be free forever, and that's all it would take.

Shane Knight: That's right.

Tony Robbins: This is what I love about you guys. Every person in this room has already got the answers they need. The problem is you've got some unconscious, invisible barriers you don't even know are there. You've got the answers, or can you find them.

He knows exactly what to do to grow this business. We transform this, you can create freedom. We transform this, you're going to own your pride at another level. You transform this business, you're going to have your economics transform, which will give you other resources to give, to share, to enjoy, to explore, to discover, to make a difference with, to create new things with.

The whole game of business, it's a spiritual game. You know what it's about? Taking the invisible thought or desire or idea you have and turning that into reality. Give him a hand ladies and gentlemen!

[applause]

[music]

Mark Peysha: So you can see a short conversion took Shane from feeling it was impossible to grow without losing cash flow to having a solid way to grow his business by 500%. So how did we get there? Tony showed Shane how to make three big moves. So let's break it down and see how it works.

The first move is find the unspoken assumptions. If a business owner is feeling disempowered, you can bet that there's an unspoken assumption they're accepting without knowing it, and this unspoken assumption is limiting their growth.

Here's the thing. As a business owner, your job is to break down the limitations holding you back. So the question to ask yourself is: "What am I accepting about my business that's controlling and limiting me?" When you find that limit, you can work with it.

Here's what Tony told Shane.

Tony Robbins: He already believes there's a limitation to the business, so there is. And by the way, there might be in its current structure, but there's no limitation to growth. There's limitation because he's bought into it. You want to ask yourself, when someone says a limitation, a living belief, "Is that true?"

Mark Peysha: Next move, challenge the unspoken assumption. Henry Ford said, "If you think you can do a thing or you think you can't do a thing, you're right." Whatever you believe, you make it true. Shane's belief that business growth equals negative cash flow had probably cost him a year of growth at that point. So Tony challenged Shane's unspoken assumption.

Tony Robbins: You have all the information to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you keep growing, that you'll have less cash. Do you have all the information to know for sure that that's true?

Mark Peysha: The bottom line is if you haven't examined a business limitation in complete detail, you have no way of knowing whether or not it's true. Instead of getting into the nitty- gritty and solving the problem and breaking through, you start believing that the problem is necessary, and then it becomes your life, like Shane who believed that we can't grow because growth equals negative cash flow. If you believe something like that, your business growth is basically on hold.

The other reason why you're not solving the problem is that you don't have the right skill set. Shane doesn't understand the cash flow enough to solve the problem. He's missing that skill set. So what he needs to do is get help from someone who does know how to solve that problem.

Soon after this conversation, Tony instructed Shane to get a CFO service, a chief financial officer to really investigate the cash flow so that it could be solved. And when Shane got to work on this cash flow problem, he discovered the problem wasn't growth. The problem was that he had the wrong person handling the finances. That's a big discovery.

Move number three, break through the limiting emotion. When Shane first mentioned the cash flow problem, you could see from his body language and his voice that he's developed an emotional hesitation about it, a fear. Does he look energetic and strong here, or does he look shy and kind of embarrassed? And that's not a judgment, that's just a pattern. We all have it to some degree. For Shane, this is his particular personal, emotional limit that's stopping him. So that needs to change.

Tony asked Shane this question.

Tony Robbins: What do you feel, Shane, when you believe the thought that the more we grow, the less money we're going to have?

Shane Knight: Stressed out.

Tony Robbins: Stress out. What else?

Shane Knight: And you feel like, "Why are you putting all this time and effort into it?"

Mark Peysha: Did you hear that? Shane's assumption that growth equals negative cash flow, that thought stresses him to the point that he's starting to opt out of his own business. You can't lead a team when you're in that state. He wants to grow, but he feels somehow the business can't. Can he grow his business when he's not fully committed to it? I doubt it.

You see, the problem isn't the business. The problem is that he's accepted the unspoken assumptions. If Shane could unload this helplessness, what kind of energy would be freed up? Tony asked Shane.

Tony Robbins: So if that thought didn't exist, that growing equals no cash and no profit, you would feel what?

Shane Knight: Empowered.

Tony Robbins: Yes. By the way, how many can hear the difference in his voice right now? Say "aye."

Audience: Aye.

Tony Robbins: And in that empowered state, what would you go do? Tell me what you'd go do.

Mark Peysha: So this is a great question to ask anyone who's been emotionally stuck. If that thought didn't exist in you, how would you feel, and what are three things you'd go and do? The odds are, the owner knows what the business needs, except they've bogged down by unspoken assumptions, disempowering emotions, and the bad performance that comes with it.

When Tony asked this question, Shane knew exactly what to say.

Shane Knight: I would go sell the big insurance companies that I've been afraid of selling because I didn't think we could handle it.

Tony Robbins: More to manage or less to manage for you, in terms of that client-based management?

Shane Knight: Depends on whether or not I change my style.

Tony Robbins: That's . . . give him a hand, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a hand!

[applause]

Mark Peysha: Now, this is what a business owner looks like when they've challenged their assumptions and dropped their emotional baggage. New ideas for growth are right there under the surface, and instead of saying that he can't handle it, Shane sees that he can make it happen.

Shane Knight: I'd hire someone to do most of what I do during the day today.

Tony Robbins: And what would you pay him?

Shane Knight: As much as it took.

Tony Robbins: That's right. What do you think it would take to have somebody really impeccable to do the stuff you do during the day today?

Shane Knight: Eighty or ninety thousand a year.

Tony Robbins: That's right. So how much business would you . . . how many clients or accounts would you have to get to pay for that person so you'd have freedom to do the more strategic things that really matter?

Shane Knight: Three hundred grand a year, which is a third of a giant client.

Tony Robbins: So a third. So you could go get one client and be free forever, and that's all it would take.

Shane Knight: That's right.

Mark Peysha: In just a few minutes, Shane shared two ideas that will build his business to the legacy point. He can serve the large corporate clients, who will provide much more income and free him up from a lot of marketing logistics, and he can use the proceeds of one of those clients to replace himself as the operator. This is the path of leverage in a business. He'll have even more energy and focus to work strategically to take the business to the next level.

Now look at his body language. This is an owner with a plan for the future he wants and who now has the emotional energy to carry it out.

So the next time you hear someone tell you their limitations, take a second and watch their body language. A skillful coach can take someone from disempowered to full strength within a short conversation.

So remember the three big moves:

1. Find the unspoken assumption. 2. Challenge that assumption. 3. Break through the limiting emotion.

So I hope you have enjoyed this, and I hope you can use this to create positive results in your life as well as those around you. This is Mark Peysha signing off. Talk to you soon.