A Free Day™ is a 24-hour period with no work-related activity whatsoever. A great many entrepreneurs struggle with taking true Free Days™. In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk about The Entrepreneurial Time System®—which consists of Free Days, Focus Days™, and Buffer Days™—and why it’s essential for you to provide structure to your Free Days if you want the greatest business success.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The purpose of each of the three types of days in The Entrepreneurial Time System.
• Some non-work activities you can use to structure your days.
• Why it can be much easier to work than to take a day off.
• Why entrepreneurs are so resistant to taking days off entirely without work.
• Why you shouldn’t have an unplanned Free Day.

Show Notes:

You gravitate to the part of your life that has the most structure.

Taking a day as if it were a Free Day, but structuring it with activities that are business activities, means that you're not going to be rejuvenated by the day.

You can have a lot of structure to your days even when you’re not working.

You can do activities on Free Days that you would never touch on a workday.

Structure means that you’ll be supported by things that are already planned.

If you have an idea on a Free Day, wait to see if it sticks with you until a workday.

It’s a lot easier to set out to write 100 books than to set out to write only one book.

An idea that is really great bothers you because it wants to be born into the world.

You can still use all your strengths when you’re on a Free Day.

Profitability means you’re not only making money, you’re keeping money.

Your plans regarding retirement affect how you take your Free Days.

Resources:

Article: What Free Days Are, And How To Know When You Need Them

Perplexity app

Article: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage

The Impact Filter™

In this episode, Shannon Waller interviews Associate Coach Ben Laws, exploring his entrepreneurial journey and insights on self-discovery. Ben shares how intentional structures and relationships have fueled his success across multiple businesses and offers a unique perspective on business, life, and family. Tune in to uncover the mindset that drives impactful entrepreneurship and personal growth!

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

· How Strategic Coach®has influenced much of how Ben’s personal life functions.

· What Ben considers to be the ultimate freedom.

· How Ben demonstrated an entrepreneurial attitude at just four years old.

· The key to Ben’s exponential growth.

· Why setting out as an entrepreneur didn’t seem that risky to Ben.

· What to do if you’re considering becoming part of the Strategic Coach community.

Show Notes

Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.

Forming connections and helping people solve problems are entrepreneurial social skills.

Entrepreneurs seek to innovate and drive change. Business owners try to maintain the status quo.

If you name the game, you own the game.

The further your company gets from where you started, the greater the risk of diluting what made your company great.

Experience is the one thing that can’t be commoditized.

Entrepreneurs are always discovering who they want to be.

There's no greater call to loving your neighbor than being an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are always being challenged.

Entrepreneurs are exponentially more self-aware than other people.

People often think that life is happening to them rather than for them.

As an entrepreneur, your number one job is to protect your confidence.

Resources

Unique Ability®

Book: The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller

Book: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith

Perplexity

Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs

Blog: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs

Blog: What Is A Self-Managing Company®?

The Six Ds Of Exponentials

In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller discuss the philosophical and moral foundations of entrepreneurism, tracing its roots from Adam Smith's theories to present-day insights. They explore the correlation between creating value, self-interest, and moral philosophy, providing valuable insights for entrepreneurs today and proving that entrepreneurship lies at the foundation of a prosperous world.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The rewards—financial and otherwise—for being an entrepreneur.
• The prevalent attitudes in higher education that often stand in opposition to entrepreneurialism.
• How Dan has used setbacks on his entrepreneurial journey to his advantage.
• The type of organization you can create when you embrace the entrepreneurial way of thinking.
• Why bureaucratic environments stifle creativity and limit money-making opportunities.

Show Notes:

Being an entrepreneur is a very intelligent way of planning out and living your economic life.

Many successful individuals are often perceived to be driven by past traumas, but entrepreneurship can simply be a means to pursue your passions and get paid for it.

When people within a company feel they can’t be themselves, politicking and bureaucracy take over.

When you work with entrepreneurs, you know when they’re happy and you know when they’re not.

Entrepreneurial instincts can only take you so far. You also need hard, bankable skills in order to be successful.

Entrepreneurism is the only economic forum where you have a direct, interactive relationship with the actual marketplace.

The closer you are to understanding why someone is willing to pay for the results your skills produce, the more knowledgeable, capable, and confident you will become.

When you use your capabilities to continually create increasing value for others, they’ll continually write you bigger and bigger checks.

Every corporation that exists today began with an entrepreneur having a direct relationship with the marketplace.

Dan defines two universal entrepreneurial laws: You must depend upon your own capabilities for your financial security and you should not expect any reward unless you've first created value.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

Blog: Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

Book: The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith

Book: The Theory Of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

Book: The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon