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As business owners, we face countless challenges daily, from people problems to data mismanagement, all of which can be daunting. The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), developed by Gino Wickman and popularized by his book, Traction, provides a structured approach to business growth and management that can work for nearly any organization.
Today, with the help of Mike Ellicott, we’re breaking down the six core components of EOS — vision, people, data, issues, process, and traction — each essential to creating a streamlined, scalable company. A certified EOS implementer and former U.S. Army engineer, Mike brings real-world insights into this system. After successfully using EOS to turn around a complex, bureaucratic organization, he now helps entrepreneurs apply EOS to achieve focus, alignment, and sustainable growth. Want a closer look at how EOS can uplevel your business? Let’s dive in!
Vision: Getting Clear on Where You’re Going
“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The wheel's already out here.”
Vision is the foundation of the EOS model. A clear vision ensures everyone in your business understands where the company is headed and how it plans to get there. EOS encourages business owners to create a Vision Traction Organizer (VTO) to outline core values, core focus, long-term goals, and immediate targets.
Fortunately, this step isn’t intended to be a significant undertaking or a task that requires you to come up with something entirely new; EOS simply offers a structure to get everyone aligned. Developing a vision with EOS involves answering eight key questions, providing clarity on everything from your company’s values to your 90-day goals. With this foundation, your team knows exactly where they’re headed and why.
People: Right Seats for the Right People
“You’ve got to have the right people in the right seats.”
Having the right people in the right roles is essential to achieving your vision. EOS emphasizes placing people in roles that fit their skills and aligning their values with the company’s culture. This approach fosters productivity and accountability, allowing employees to contribute more effectively.
The right people don’t just have the skills — they share the company’s values. EOS also offers tools like the Delegate and Elevate exercise, which helps leaders identify tasks they should delegate. This empowers teams, reduces burnout, and ensures that everyone can focus on work they’re passionate about and excel in.
Data: Letting Numbers Drive Decisions
“You’ve got to be able to run your business on numbers.”
For many small businesses, data is often overlooked or only considered during tax time. EOS stresses the importance of running your business on objective data, which allows for proactive rather than reactive management.
With a focus on data, EOS encourages creating a scorecard with key metrics that reflect the health of your business. These numbers can range from weekly sales targets to customer satisfaction scores. Consistent tracking enables you to identify trends early and address potential problems before they escalate.
Issues: A Systematic Approach to Solving Problems
“If you can’t bring that vision down to the ground with traction, that vision without execution is a hallucination.”
Problems are inevitable, but EOS provides a structured approach to addressing them. When issues arise, the goal is to solve them at the appropriate level, empowering team members to tackle challenges independently when possible.
EOS’s Issues List helps leaders prioritize and solve problems effectively. Instead of waiting until issues accumulate into a crisis, EOS encourages addressing them during weekly meetings, ensuring that the leadership team remains proactive.
Process: Establishing Consistency and Scalability
“When you strengthen that process component, that’s the one that creates scalability and consistency.”
Scalability is a common struggle for many growing businesses. The process component of EOS emphasizes creating consistent and replicable processes. This doesn’t mean adding layers of bureaucracy but rather establishing clear and efficient procedures.
Standardizing processes in EOS includes everything from how customer service inquiries are handled to the onboarding process for new hires. When processes are documented and consistent, it frees up time and reduces errors, making it easier for your business to scale.
Traction: Bringing Vision to Life Through Execution
“If you want to be part of that privileged few, then jump in, row, and have a blast.”
Traction is the final piece of the EOS model and represents the disciplined execution of your vision. This component emphasizes the importance of setting 90-day goals, or “rocks,” which break down your larger vision into achievable steps.
EOS uses a 90-day “rock” cycle to keep the entire team focused and accountable. This keeps everyone aligned with the company’s vision, even as day-to-day challenges arise. With traction, your vision isn’t just an abstract idea — it’s an actionable plan that you and your team are actively working toward.
Implementing EOS: Is It Right for Your Business?
"Businesses don’t fail to achieve their vision because their vision sucks. They fail because they don’t have a way to actually execute it."
EOS is an adaptable system that can work in businesses of all sizes, though it’s generally recommended for companies with 10 to 250 employees. EOS fosters transparency, accountability, and alignment across all areas of business, allowing companies to progress through clearly defined steps and metrics.
Implementing EOS can feel like a big shift, but the benefits of increased clarity, alignment, and scalability make it well worth the effort. Whether you’re aiming to scale your small business or improve operational efficiency, the Entrepreneurial Operating System provides a practical roadmap to help you get there.
…Class Dismissed!
With EOS, you’re not just growing a business; you’re building an organization that’s designed to thrive. By focusing on these six core components, you’re setting your business up for sustainable success.
Want to hear the full interview with Mike? Click here!
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Transcript
Mike: [00:00:00] You've got to be able to run your business on numbers. I'm always surprised by the number of people who they're not sure about what their numbers are getting a handful of numbers that, you know, all the time, numbers that help you anticipate problems.
Brien: Welcome to the millionaire university podcast. I'm your host, Brian Grimm back in the saddle with you today. And on this edition of the M U pod, I'm joined by Mike Ellicott is a certified EOS implementor and. Guys, I've been excited to have Mike on because EOS, I've been adjacent to it in my business for a while now, but I think it's such a, it's known as the entrepreneur's operating system based on the book traction.
And we're going to dive into that today. But first of all, Mike, welcome to the show, my friend.
Mike: Thanks for having me on, man. This is fun. We got connected. Two mutual acquaintance bread and I've been looking forward to this as well.
Brien: Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited because like I said, I've been adjacent to it before I have pieces of it implemented in my business, But I think that this is a system that's gaining a lot of traction across the country in the [00:01:00] entrepreneur space But I wanted to have you on to really bring it to our millionaire university masses because I think there's so many entrepreneurs out There listening right now That maybe haven't been exposed to it, or maybe they've heard about it, but not done much research on it.
And I wanted to have you on so we can talk all about it, introduce it to all of us here today. And then I think you and I can get down a couple of different rabbit holes on some of the awesome features of EOS. So. Before we hop into all the goodies, let's get a little bit of an origin story on you, Mike.
What's your history? What's your story? And how did you get into becoming an EOS implementer?
Mike: Well, first off, I love talking about EOS. I'm an evangelist for this. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. The wheel's already out here. This is one of the coolest things that I've ever been able to do. And this is what God's got me doing right now.
And so thank you for the opportunity to tell people about it. This is a solution that a lot of people are looking for and they don't even realize that it's out there. I got into this indirectly, I guess. Maybe that's probably the best way to put it. I did a bunch of stuff all the way through college, to include selling fireworks on the side of the road here in Florida.[00:02:00]
And learned a lot of things that way. But then for the next 28 years, I was in the army. I was building projects here in the United States and the Caribbean and the Middle East, and I learned a lot of powerful, sometimes painful lessons doing that. The last job I had in the military was as a district engineer for Corps of Engineers District.
A good organization, been around for 130 plus years, 400 people in there. But just have some challenges. There was challenges on the leadership team. There was challenges with delivering projects, the whole reason for our existence, there was challenges with, with culture and error, and really nothing was moving the needle and it would make progress for every two steps forward to be three steps back.
And it was killing me. I was working 18 to 20 hours a day. I wasn't seeing my kids, didn't see any of the things that they're doing as they're growing up, and this is after having been deployed for a bunch of times. And so, I mean, you know, I was kind of at wit's end. A buddy of mine gave me that book, Traction, that you mentioned, written by Gino Wickman, and that thing was a game changer, man.
I read that in a weekend, and it was awesome. Over the course of the next 18 months, we put that into place. Poorly, I know now, but still, put [00:03:00] that into place in that organization, and it completely revolutionized what we're doing. We coalesced around a single vision, a vision they're still working on right now.
We changed the way we deliver projects to the point where we're getting positive feedback, not just face to face, but actually in the press from our congressional delegation, and then recognized as a best place to work in a federal government multiple years in a row now. So if it works in a federal bureaucracy, it works anywhere.
With all of the things that stop you from getting progress in a federal bureaucracy, it could still power through that. So when I left the military and I left that organization, I was looking for what I wanted to do next, how I was going to live my purpose. One of the best things I got to do as a district engineer was work with and for Americans.
Everywhere else in my career had been for Kuwaitis or Afghans or Syrians or Iraqis or Haitians, but I could actually get to work for and with Americans. And so I knew that that was part of what I wanted to do. And I found EOS Worldwide as a franchise and started that in December of 21. And [00:04:00] like I just mentioned, man, this is what God's got me doing.
I cannot believe I get to do this. I can't believe I get to show people that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You don't have to live like you've been living. You don't have to live like I was living. You can get control back and do what you want to do and have time for those passions that are out there, or even have time to figure out what your passions are and then go do them.
But that's sort of my origin story is how I got into it, been doing it since December of 21. And man, this is cool.
Brien: Well, first of all, we appreciate your service. I want to make sure I mention that because I don't want that to go unnoticed.
Mike: Well, I appreciate you and everyone else paying your taxes because I had a blast in the military and you paid me to go blow stuff up and jump on airplanes and do all kinds of cool stuff that nobody else would have ever paid me to do.
So thank you for that.
Brien: Well, then you're welcome. On behalf of the American taxpayer. You're welcome. Every dollar I got better. I put
Mike: the good news.
Brien: That's good. Well, you see now that's the tax I'm perfectly fine paying. If it means that Mike and his buddies get to go blow stuff up in the military and defend this country.
I'm all right with that. [00:05:00] Well, it's such a cool way to put it that you said that if it can work in the federal bureaucracy, at least in a branch of the federal bureaucracy, It can work anywhere and pulling this back towards small, medium, or even larger sized businesses. I was just talking with a friend of mine today saying, we're talking about how.
The differences between a 50 million company and a 1 million company, besides the revenue gap are not that different. They have the same problems. They have the same issues that always crop up. And they come back to, you know, almost the same backbone of things that occur everywhere. And in my mind, EOS is a system that is, it's needed across business, but so many businesses don't have it because a lot of small businesses are, they're built by mom and pops or, you know, you and me.
I didn't come from a business acumen. I didn't grow up a small business owner, although I had my own mom carry little business. That was like cash under the table in high school and college. We don't know these things. It's not taught in school. And [00:06:00] even I highly doubt it's taught in, you know, MBA or business school.
Like it just, you get it along the way, but then you have books like traction and, and people like Gino and folks like yourself who can, Tell you about the system, teach it to you, help you implement it and run with it. So what is it about EOS that makes it something that can be such a game changer? Maybe that's starting a little too broad, but I'll let you take it from there.
Mike: Well, I mean, I'll go back to how you started this, right? Everyone who is running a business is faced by about 136 issues, all of them kicking you in the shin at the same time. And those 136 issues are caused by a weakness in the way we operate the business. Like you mentioned, people get into business for any number of reasons, right?
They're tired of their boss. They think they're an idiot and they can run it better. They can do something better. They see a better way to solve a problem. They're bored with what they used to do, whatever it is. But when they get into the business. They're frustrated by those 136 issues. And they generally manifest the same kind of frustrations, right?
They're, they're [00:07:00] frustrated by a lack of control. Like I was talking about, right? You, one of the businesses I've worked with, he put it this way. So they picture an old west town, you know, dusty street running down main street. And there's a saloons and a sheriff's office, and there's a horse galloping down that street and he's on the horse, but he's not sitting in a saddle.
His foot is hooked in a stirrup. And it's getting drug along behind the horse. That horse is his business. And he can never figure out at any given time, is it worth the pain and the effort to get back in the saddle and get control of this thing and just let that thing go so that lack of control or frustration and control the business running you is probably one of the most common frustrations.
And there's a ton of symptoms that point to that lack of profit, man. People will. Pour their blood, sweat, and tears into it, and then not get a return on that, on that treasure that they've invested. And so people are frustrated by that. They're frustrated by people. I mean, if we, if we didn't have people, we wouldn't have a business because that's what it's all about.
But man, if you look at any of those polls, Gallup runs one every year, and the number one frustration on business, no matter where you are in a business, is people. [00:08:00] Whether it's your customers, your employees, your business partners, or your spouse, or even people in traffic on the way to work, the feeling that maybe you've hit some kind of ceiling you've gotten to, let's say that 1 million threshold in revenue.
And every now and then you poke above it, but you keep getting drugged back and you can't break through that, that ceiling or what's more common right now is I keep running into is people feel like they've tried everything. They've been to a bunch of the webinars. They've, they've done a bunch of the tools they've set in.
In seminars, they've gone to conferences, they've browsed one of the 10, 000 books on leadership or visioning or management or growth on Amazon, and nothing's really working. Geno designed this thing, one, out of frustration that nobody, there was no tools available for the entrepreneurial organization.
There's tools available for a big bureaucracy, a big corporation to be able to set vision and then achieve that vision. But you couldn't port that down into an entrepreneurial organization without bringing down a bureaucracy. And especially for those who started their own business, that, that bureaucracy is anathema.
[00:09:00] They don't want that. So the, the tools he designed were designed to address that. And they were designed to address those common frustrations that are out there and really operationalize that, that Jim Collins book, good to great, because the vast majority of businesses are out there. 19 out of 20 businesses that you run into are really good businesses.
They're earning money. They're making a profit, but they're frustrated. They're just not getting as much as they want. They're not getting to where they want to go. And there's, there seems to be that struggle all the time, but every now and then you'll run into one of those one out of 20, that 5 percent of businesses where the, they've made that leap to great.
Yeah. They're still working hard. They're still pouring blood, sweat and tears in there. But when you talk to him or you walk in there, there's that sense of purpose and balance. You can hear the laughter in the back of the house, in the back of the store. He obsessed about turning those businesses. And multiplying those businesses and helping those 19 out of 20 become that one out of 20.
And that's what he always does. It helps synchronize all those moving pieces of the business to get the business owner what they want out of their business. And then empower all the folks in our business to grow and get [00:10:00] better to stop down. Those 136 things are kicking them in the shin. Strengthen those things are going to make it easier to run.
A lot of the problems that are out there are common to everyone. And you've got to have some kind of consistent way to deal with problems and to solve those problems. To be able to move on to the next bigger set of problems to go from that 1 million to that 50 million to go from that 50 million to 150 million and scale all the way up.
But again, when you move from one problem to the other, it's just a different scale, different size usually comes down to one of those five frustrations I mentioned before. That's the beauty of EOS is it'll, it'll help you solve all those things without requiring a degree from an Ivy league school. It just requires your ability to read.
And if you can read, you can do this. I mentioned before, man, I did this on my own. I did it poorly and the results were phenomenal. When you do it right. It's even better.
Brien: So I think in business it's, and I find this to be true. It's new level, new devil, right? Like business is a set of levels and at each one you have a new challenge.
It's kind of like playing video games back in the day. It's like you beat level one, you're on the level [00:11:00] two. Now you're on the level three. And. At each step of the way, you know, we get comfortable at step one and then we, we beat it. Okay, we're up to step two. Maybe that's a revenue goal. Maybe that's a people goal, whatever it is.
And then you get to level three and maybe somewhere in this, you know, this contraption is where you start getting caught or you don't have the infrastructure. Or the systems and processes
Mike: Like you start to realize process now that process that worked at level one and sort of worked at level two Now it completely doesn't work.
Brien: Yep Yep And that's something where I think business owners hit their ceiling a lot of the times and where a lot of businesses might not Be successful is because they hit the ceiling and they can't break through it Enter EOS and, you know, I want to know what are, to get a little more granular, what are kind of like the core tenants of EOS?
You know what, we've got a little, we have some knowledge about what EOS is now, but what are the core tenants that are addressed by EOS that a small business owner are bound to run into?
Mike: You know, I mentioned that 19 out of 20 good businesses in a one out of [00:12:00] 20 really great businesses. There's one out of 20 great businesses are deliberate about working on six parts, six key components of their business.
They're working on all the time every day. The first of those six key components is the vision component, getting everyone on the same page with where you're going and then how you're going to get there. The next of the six key components is, is the people component. You've got to have the right people in the right seats.
It's a Jim Collins phrase, but. You got to have the right people in order to deliver that great vision. But one of the recognitions is that what's great for your business is not going to be great for mine. And what's great people in somebody else's business may not necessarily be great people here. So there's always a little bit of difference about what great means and what right people are.
The third key component that's out there is, is the data component. You've got to be able to run your business on numbers. I'm always surprised by the number of people who want to say, Hey, what was your revenue last year? They really don't know. They're not sure. I mean, maybe a text time. They know, or if they're really late about 15 September, they'll really know, but they're not sure about what their numbers are.
You've got to be able to [00:13:00] run your business, get a handful of numbers that, you know, all the time numbers that help you anticipate problems. So, if you've got that vision component strong, you've got the people component strong, the right people, right seats, and you've got this data component strong. You really create a transparency so that all of those issues that have always been in your business are now standing out to you.
They're popping out. So you've got to strengthen your ability to solve issues everywhere, prioritize them and solve them at the appropriate level. Not every issue needs to come up to the leadership team. Some of them should rightly be solved at the front lines and that's where they need to be solved.
But if you haven't created that skill set and you haven't strengthened that component, you, the owner, own every problem and you're the owner of your solution and you don't own any of your time because you're always dealing with all that stuff. So if you've got vision, people, data, you've got issues, you've got to strengthen that process component too.
That's the one when you strengthen that process component. That's the one that creates scalability and consistency. That's one that makes it easier to manage and run your business. So you can harvest back your time that you need or want. That's also the one that makes it more fun. And this [00:14:00] is where profit comes from too, because those processes are the things that are most important for your business.
I mean, you do them the right way every single time. You're not costing yourself profit. You're delivering the right message every time. Then the last one is the name of the book, Traction. Traction is about bringing that vision down to the ground and making it executable throughout the entire organization with discipline and focus.
Not bureaucracy, but discipline and focus. If you can bring that vision down to the ground with traction, that's great. But if you can't, that vision without traction, without any execution, that is a hallucination. And so that's the whole point is Taking that, getting clear about your vision, creating clarity around the things that need to happen, and then empowering people to do that.
When you've got the right people and a good vision, and they know their numbers, they can solve any problem that's out there, they can follow any, any process that's necessary, they can make the magic happen. So those six key components, vision, people, data, issues, process, and traction, that's the heart of EOS and the beauty of the entrepreneurial operating system is when you're working on any one of those six key components, you're actually [00:15:00] working on two or three of them and sometimes four or five of them.
So you never wasting time. You're always being very efficient with the work you're doing on the business.
Brien: So we mentioned vision. That's the first tenant when you're working with clients, what does it look like when, cause I think it's so easy to be like, Oh, well, my vision is I want to be a 10 million company, or I want to do this, I want to do that.
And it's like. How do we get granular to really hone in on a vision that is right for this company, that's right for this owner, and that can be absorbed by the people within the company when you're working directly with someone, how do you help them discover that vision?
Mike: The vision is not only where you're going, but how you're going to get there.
And there's, Within EOS, there's eight parts to this. All eight parts are held on a one page document, a front and back page document. It's called a vision traction organizer. And it really comes down to this, the leadership team and the owner have got to be crystal clear about these eight things. One, what are their core values?
What do they care about? Who are they at the core of their being? This is a fundamental part of what it is, because this, this talks about not only who they [00:16:00] are, but also how they want their company culture to operate. So when we clarify what our core values are. This helps us strengthen that people component because now we know what kind of people we're looking for.
It also helps us strengthen the numbers component because we know what kind of numbers we're looking for. We're not looking for, you know, if your value is based, you're generally not looking for profit at all costs. You're looking for something within those values. So part of the first part of the vision is those core values.
The second part of the vision is Core focus. What are you best and greatest at? What is your, your what and your why? Why do you do what it is that you do? Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you work 80, 90 hours a week in a business when you could have 40 hours a week as an employee? Why are you doing this?
And then what are you best and greatest at? You can't be all things to all people. So what do you want to excel at? When you've got your value set and your core focus set, Now we can begin to get after that, that vision because people almost always go after vision and they say, well, I want to be 10 million.
Well, that's that big, hairy, audacious goal, that thing that excites not only you, [00:17:00] but all of your employees. But you got to have some basics first. You got to have your values set first and your core focus. What's your best and greatest at? Then you can say, okay, look, 10 years from now or 5 years from now or 30 years from now, this is where we want to be.
If you've got that, now you need to figure out, okay, who's going to help me make that happen? What is my marketing strategy look like? What's my target market look like? Who am I selling to? Where are they? And what do they care about? Am I a commodity based thing? So they care about costs and the lowest cost possible or am I delivering greater value?
And so I need somebody who's interested in greater value. Do I need somebody who aligns with my core values? Cause it may be tied to into them for a long time, or do I just need somebody who's aligned with my need and I serve that need, what are those things that I need for my target market? What are the three things that make me different or better that all this question business, why am I buying from you and not somebody else?
You gotta be crystal clear about that. What does the process look like for the customer from the time I want to start working with you until the time they're a long term valued business partner, however it is that your industry defines long term and then [00:18:00] finally, do you need a guarantee or not? Do you need something that's going to put you back above your competition or not?
If people are concerned about cost, do you need a guarantee that's going to allay that concern about cost? When you've got those first four questions answered, core values, core focus, where you're going, your core target, your long term target, and your marketing strategy, you've created a powerful strategic vision there, right?
You know who you are, you know, what's your best and greatest at, you know, where you're going and you know who you got to talk to to make that happen. That's a great vision, but now we're going to be able to hang some meat on those bones. That was 60 pages of stuff that nobody's going to read until next year, but something dead simple.
And this is what do you need to look like in three years? What should the business look like in three years? If it's on track to achieve that vision, we just described, right? What is the revenue going to be? How much profit should we make? What are the things that we do that we know reflect that? Are we going to have to make so many widgets a year, sell so many houses a month?
What is those measurables? And then broadly written, what are the descriptors for our business in three years? How many people should we have? How many locations [00:19:00] should we have? Do we need to open up a new business line? Do we need to shut down an existing business line? Do we need to, do we think, hey, at this point, we're going to need to scale up our CRM because the current one we know is not going to scale.
Or a financial management system, or we're going to need an ERP. Do we need more vehicles? What are those big capital intensive or time intensive triggers that we need to have set in place in three years in order to attract you to that vision? When you do that, when you set that three year picture solidly in your mind's eye and your leadership team's mind's eye, now, now you can really begin to do two things.
One, if you guys all have the same picture in your mind's eye, It's a lot easier to achieve that than it is if you've got different pictures, different goals in mind. But number two, it really makes it easy to walk that back into a one year plan. So that's the next part is, hey, where do we need to be at the end of next year?
What's our revenue need to be, to be on track? What's our profitability need to be? How many of those measurables do we need to deliver? And what are the three to seven things we have to have happened by the end of next year in order to be on track to achieve our vision, not 30 things, not 300 things, but what are the three things or [00:20:00] six things, less is more, simple is better, what do we need to focus on in order to be on track to achieve our vision?
If you've got that year set, now you can figure out, Hey, what do I need to do over the next 90 days? Because we know we've got four 90 day groups every year. What do I need to do in the next 90 days? What's the revenue need to look like the end of next quarter, the profitability and those measurables. And then what are those three to seven things that have to happen by the end of 90 days?
And we're going to be on track to hit that one year plan in our vision. And then the last question of the eight questions, because now we've done seven of the last question, the questions is what are those issues? What are the things standing between me and achieving that vision? Those are all those things that are kicking in the shin.
Those are all those things are out there. People, right? Not enough people, the wrong kind of people, not enough profitability, overhead is too high. We don't know what the cost is going to be for this CRM. We don't know how we're going to fund it. One of those big issues that are out there that are standing between us.
And the power of having those issues associated with your vision is now you can begin to get clarity around what they are. Everyone on the leadership team can see them, and you begin to pick them off and kill them when it's time to kill them. They're not out there seeking a [00:21:00] bandwidth in your brain.
They're there, and you can look at them regularly, every 90 days, typically, and say, okay, hey, it's time to kill this one. We're going to have a rock, a 90 day visit Friday is going to kill it. We're going to next year, we're going to put it on a one year plan to solve this problem. But that is the vision in a nutshell, those eight questions and come into a clarity around the answers to those eight questions that creates that vision about where you're going and how you're going to get there from all the way out there in the future, who you are.
Core values, what's your best and greatest at core focus, where are you going to go in the future, all the way back down to what are the issues standing between you and that vision today, man, is that simplicity is so powerful. It is the most powerful strategic planning document I've ever encountered, and it is so useful every single day.
The companies that are running on EOS often have those first five, six, five, six columns posted everywhere so that everyone can see where they're going and how they're going to get there. They can begin to walk back in their mind's eye, their part in all of that. So man, is it cool to see.
Brien: EOS sounds a lot like a perfect way to reverse engineer what needs to get done.
You know, start [00:22:00] with that vision and figure out what it is that you want and what you need. Then work backwards to figure out how you're going to get there and breaking it down by year by six months by quarter So to me, it sounds like a really great way to do what I think a lot of business Owners need to do which is slow down Figure out what you want, why you're here.
You know, you're like you said, your core values, your focus, and what are you best and greatest at. And then just simply keep it simple by what do I need to do on a yearly basis, a half year basis, a quarterly basis, a weekly and daily, this sounds like a great system to help you actually. Physically reverse engineer your success.
Mike: People, businesses don't fail to achieve their vision because their vision sucks. They fail to achieve their vision because they don't have a way to actually accident it regularly. They don't have a way to work on it deliberately. So that EOS tool, we just talked about that vision right there. That's the plan writ large.
But then the genius that Gino created is all the tools that make that real. Like we said, we want to put the right people in the right seats of the bus. So that's the Jim Collins thing, it's been around forever. Okay, thank you. How do I do that? [00:23:00] What does the right person look like? How do I know they're in the right seats?
What, what are the right seats that I need on my bus? That's what Gino created was these tools. That allow you to do that and make it dead simple to give you the time and ability, create the habits so that you're always working on a business. You're going to check into the business every week. You're going to spend at least 90 minutes working on a business.
And then the rest of the week, all the rest of the 37 and a half hours, you're stuck in the business, working in the business, delivering the things that you need to deliver. Or in some cases, 73, 77 and a half hours a week, some of those folks, but yeah, it's a beautiful system. So that is the outline that vision is the outline, but then the tools themselves help you actually make that outline, that vision come to life, align all the people around it, align your, your ideas around it and force you to work on a business deliberately.
So to get stuck in a week, because a lot of times, I mean, we all get stuck in a, in a day to day knife fight. You know, we're in the tall grass. We don't know what's happening. And We stumbled across another problem that I should have thought [00:24:00] about this and we get stuck working on the urgent things and we never stopped to pick ourselves up and work on the important things that vision is out there.
That's going to help us get out of the weeds. It's going to help us get out of the tall grass, get out of the knife fight, start doing the stuff we love.
Brien: Where's the number one spot that you find business owners get stuck or maybe get in their own way when it comes to implementing EOS?
Mike: So EOS is always a complete change to the way they've been doing business.
And even if they've been self implementing EOS, typically the rigor that they've been applying to the habits that are necessary, they haven't created the consistency necessary in order to be able to actually grab all the benefits from EOS. One of Geno's discoveries is that there's a, Oftentimes a visionary in a business and he's helped structure or help visionaries understand what they are, right?
They're folks who would love to be at 30, 000 feet. They see things that nobody else sees. They put connections together that nobody else puts together. They solve problems in unique [00:25:00] ways, but they hate tough conversations. They hate actually falling through in those solutions. They're typically not very good in the day to day business.
And so the hard part or the part where I see the biggest struggle is those visionaries letting go of the things that are out there and underwriting the people who can do the work. Underwriting the people that, hey, look, I've got to trust that there's an integrator out there who's going to help me do this.
You know, if I come up with a solution, they're going to actually make that solution stick in my business. And I'm going to trust them to do it. And I'm going to trust them. And I'm not going to get neck deep in all their business. I'm going to let them go. I'm going to let go of that vine and let them run with what they've got.
That's the number one thing that I see is, is really that visionary. Who's. I mean, it's their life. Their entire life is wrapped up in a business. Begin to let it go and trust that it's out there. Tools in the U. S. can help them do that with confidence, but that's the hard part. The second thing is that if they really don't want to change, then I don't care what system you try to put in place, it ain't gonna work.
So if they don't want to change, That's probably the second most common [00:26:00] thing I see with a challenge with implementing us. And the third one is for the visionary. If the best book they ever read is the one that just finished, and that's what they want to do now. And they're always trying to bring it in and they're trying to run on a new operating system every week.
You get a flavor of the month and EOS doesn't work within that us is about consistency and consistently working the system, not bringing in new parts and trying to create your own system. If you want to create your own system, go do that. But don't call it EOS and don't be annoyed when EOS doesn't work if you created your own system.
Those are the three things that I see and it all revolves around the visionary owner and their commitment to this.
Brien: So it revolves around their commitment, but also their ability to let go, right? To delegate a little bit, which I, I mean, I have experience as a business owner. That's one of the hardest things to do.
Your business is your baby and maybe you've been the head honcho for years and you realize that maybe now you are the bottleneck and that it's time to. Implement a system like EOS to help you [00:27:00] get to the next level because you've taken it as far as you can without delegating, without bringing on more help and, or, and, or trusting others to help you get there.
Mike: Yeah, you can only scale your time so much. You can only become so efficient at some point in time. There's no more time or efficiencies to be gained. So you've got to give it to somebody else. So EOS works closely with and borrows a lot from the work that Dan Sullivan has done. So there's books out there, right?
Who Not How is one of his, right? You don't have to figure out how to do it. You've got to figure out who's going to do it and empower them, delegate to them, hold them accountable and let them go, right? And so there's that. Dental also has this tool called delegate elevate, and we use it in EOS, and that's an incredibly powerful one where when it's done right, you begin to recognize a bunch of stuff that you're doing.
It's that you can't believe that you're doing. And it works like this. You're going to take a typical week in the visionary and any leader in the business is going to take a typical week and start on Sunday. And they're going to write down everything they do for that business, you know, every hour, everything that they've done all day, [00:28:00] stop at the end of an hour, write down what they've done, what those tasks are.
And they'll do that all the way through the next Saturday. So you've got a typical week. Now usually end up with somewhere between 100 to 150 items of things they've done for the business over the course of that week. They're going to take those 150 items and put them in one of four spots. They're going to put them into a spot of or a quadrant where it's things that they hate to do and are bad at.
You know, write all those down and put them all in that box. And then another box next to that, they're going to put things that they hate to do, but they've had to be good at because they've had to learn it. Right. And so they'll write down everything that they're good at or good enough at, but still hate to do.
Then I'll write down in a box up above it, the things that they're pretty good at, they kind of like doing, they don't bother them. They'll write that down. And then in the upper left in the box, they'll write down the things that they love to do that bring them joy, bring them life, power them back up, get them going again, and write them down there.
And this tool called delegate elevate is designed to help them recognize what it is that they're doing. It's sucking the life out of them. And they're terrible at it says, [00:29:00] okay, look, don't delegate the stuff that you love. Cause that's what brings you life. That's usually your genius, your zone of genius or thing that you're uniquely powerful in.
Look at those things that are on the bottom, the things you hate to do and are bad at, and the things that you hate to do but you've had to be good at. Get them to somebody else, because somebody in the world loves to do that. Like somebody in the world loves, my bookkeeper loves to be a bookkeeper. I can't, I hate it.
It drives me nuts. So you want that bookkeeper to do the bookkeeper things that they love to bring them joy, and you get to spend more time doing the things that you love. But you can't do it willy nilly. You got to be able to trust that when you delegate that stuff, it's going to go there. They've got to be clear about what their function is, bookkeeping and what their rules are.
How are you going to track? You're going to report, you're going to compile reports and you're going to inform me every week about where we are and where the balances are. That's what you're going to do. You're going to do accounts payable, accounts receivable, and all those other things that I don't want to mess with, but you're going to keep me informed.
And once I know that they understand what they're going to do, and once I understand that they're doing it now, I can let go of that completely because they're going to come back to me. But that part Being able to delegate with [00:30:00] confidence, that is the part where you start to free up your passions. You can free up your time by running some meetings and having processes, but your passions get freed up when that weight is lifted off your shoulders by knowing somebody else has got that tool.
Somebody else has got that accountability. Somebody else is delivering that function for you. And nine times out of 10, especially if something you didn't like to do, they're going to deliver it. What does it matter to you better than you ever would have?
Brien: Well, and speaking of people or teams, do you find that businesses that implement EOS, that their existing team.
Is in for a shakeup where maybe they have people who don't buy into this change, or they, they're not ready to change and that it results in turnover inside the business, whether it's long overdue, or maybe didn't even know it was overdue or needed, or do you find that when business owners implement EOS, that they're typically their team is kind of starving for it too.
They just maybe didn't know it.
Mike: Yeah. Nine times out of 10. I guess the answer is yes to both sides of that, but people are starving for it. They want to have a process. [00:31:00] They don't want to come into work and not know what the heck they're going to do. They want to have some consistency in there. And I want to be consistently good.
Nobody ever shows up to a job and says, you know what? I really want to suck at this today. And for the next two months, you know, I want to make it miserable for myself and hopefully anyone else I encounter. If the business isn't clear about what they value, their core values, but what their best and greatest at, but where they're going long term.
About who they want to talk to, if they don't have a way to operate their system, you're never going to have that clarity and you're never to share that with people. So you're not gonna know if you have the right people or not, and the people who are in the business aren't going to know if they're where they should be or not.
So, just about every 1 of the businesses I've worked with over the course of 24 months or so, the folks who started a leadership team are different than the folks who are on the leadership team at the end. And the folks who are in leadership when we start are different than when we end. It could be, you know, a department lead or any of those folks, superintendents, supervisors, all those things.
When you become crystal clear about what you expect from somebody, [00:32:00] now they say, okay, look, I don't want to be in charge of people. I just want to do this. I'm really good at making this widget and that's all I want to do. And I don't want to have to deal with this counseling people or holding people accountable or approving time off.
That's not me. And so a lot of those folks who got that title or got that job because they thought it would be cool. Now that they're clear about what their accountability is. Hey, I don't need to do that. I'm just going to go back and I'm going to do my other thing. There's oftentimes a sense of relief, like, Ooh, good.
I don't have to do that anymore. I'm good. Not every time though, every now and then there's somebody who. Feels like they should be there, but they just can't deliver. The beauty of EOS is that there's nowhere to hide. Everyone's got numbers. Everyone's got numbers. I got to hit every week. Everyone's got rocks.
I got to produce every 90 days. Everyone has some tie in to those core values and you're going to get a, have a quarterly conversation every 90 days about how you're doing with those core values. How you're performing in your job. So again, no place to hide. And so while the turnover happens, it typically happens for the right reasons.
This company, your [00:33:00] company, anyone's company, it's a privilege to work there. And it's a privilege to be able to help support that vision that the ownership has and leadership has. And if you want to be part of that privileged few, then jump in and row and have a blast. But if this isn't your vision and you don't find it a privilege, somewhere else is out there for you.
Let's help you get to where you want to go. Let's help you go not be miserable here, but go be happy somewhere else. So that happens. Typically happens more in the second year than it does up front. Not always, but typically by the time you get to the second year, people in leadership positions in a business have seen enough and said, okay, you know, Hey, these core values really aren't mine.
They kind of conflict with what I'm trying to do or where I'm trying to go, or this vision isn't going to allow me, or I don't see the opportunities that I want to achieve. But yeah, turnover is part of this. You want to get the right people in the right seats and not everyone you start with is going to get you there.
There's a great book out there about this called Who's Your Mike by a guy named Kurt Wilkin. He lays out sort of the entrepreneurial, the people you meet during your entrepreneurial [00:34:00] journey. They talk about it a lot in Get a Grip, that book that Peyton wrote. And that's a really good story to understand what it's like to implement EOS in your business.
But to go into that a little bit deeper, that, that Who's Your Mike by Kurt Wilkin, man, that's another good one to sort of help you understand what What it is you're likely to impact or encounter as you start to grow and scale beyond where you were.
Brien: Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Hot tip there. We'll make sure that we can find those in the show notes for sure.
So let's zoom it back out a little bit and look at the actual process of implementation. You mentioned, I think you said like by year two. So, How long does this undertaking take before a business goes from not even knowing what EOS is and trying to start it to feeling full fledged, like we have it implemented and we know it's working because look at our ROI, look at our revenue, our profit.
Mike: Anywhere from six months to never, I guess, is sort of how long it
Brien: takes.
Mike: Okay. The goal of the process that's out there that we all work through. Is that at about 24 months, most [00:35:00] businesses should be ready to graduate us implementers. You know, I don't want to phone at a job. I will go get a job. I don't want to get on a job.
I would love to do what I do. I love to bring people and show them there's a light at the tunnel, they can get what they want out of their business. So the process itself is designed to take about two years. Some businesses will get there quicker at a hundred plus person construction company, get there in about 14 and a half months.
Some are going to take longer. I've got a larger business that's not necessarily a target market for us, and they're probably going to be in a three and a half year mark, but typically at about the two year mark or. 10 to 12 full day sessions over 24 months, you will have gotten to be 80 percent stronger, better in those six key components, vision, people, data, issues, process, and traction.
You're able to do all of those about 80 percent stronger, better. You've transitioned from being a really good business to a great business. That's eight to 10 to 12 meetings over the course of those 24 months, three meetings in the first 60 to 75 days. And then one meeting every 90 [00:36:00] days and two days back to back two day meetings every year.
So again, 10 to 12 meetings, 24 months, and you should be up and running if you're committed. And if you're going to be consistent about executing these things, the whole beauty of this thing is it's designed to empower the company and the owners and the leadership team. This is yours. We're going to teach you all the tools that are in there.
We're going to facilitate all the discussions as you customize them, as you wrestle with the problems that they uncover. And then we're going to coach from the point of view of, Hey, we're holding you accountable. You said you wanted to do this. Did you do it? Yes or no. And why? But we're not in there consulting for you.
I don't know your business and I don't want to be in your business. I want you to have the tools so that you can be as great as you want to be. And I want you to get them as quickly as you can. So that you're up and running. And frankly, a fanatic about EOS, tell more people about it. I think there's about 28, 000 companies running on EOS right now.
Uh, with implementers and another 250, 000 that are running on parts of it on their own companies like yours.
Brien: Wow. Okay. Well, that [00:37:00] leads perfectly to my next question. Who can use EOS? Is there a specific size company that it's best for? If you're a one man band, can you use it? You know, if you have three people on your team, or if you have yourself and four contractors, or if you have a team of 100, is there a best fit for EOS, or is it for everybody who owns a business?
Mike: Yeah. So the target market for EOS is businesses that have between 10 and 250 employees. So we're not looking for a revenue number. We're looking for a number of employees because typically at that level, you've reached the level of complexity where you're truly pissed off about a lot of things you've hit the ceiling in some places or whatever, open minded and growth oriented.
For ownership team, and then you've got to be more afraid of the status quo than you are of change. You gotta be willing to change and look at it. So that's who we're looking for. Now, does it work outside of those? It doesn't work outside of that psychographic profile. You've got to be open minded, growth oriented, and willing to change.
But outside of the 10 to 250, the smallest company I implemented with started off with seven people, ended up with three people. [00:38:00] And their whole goal was for the husband, as a husband and wife ownership team, their goal was to get the wife out of the business so she could homeschool their kids. And so they implemented it in about seven months, very small, and they were up and running and she was out of the business, homeschooling the kids, and their level of.
Profitability skyrocketed. It was very cool for them. Now, they're not blowing the doors off the EEC 5000, but man, are they happy. He's got everything he wants out of his business right now. The biggest business I work with has about 1600 W2 employees. That's that one I was mentioning before. It takes a while, right?
There's a lot of inertia. A lot of bureaucratic inertia is built up in a company that big. And so being able to be deliberate about that change management, because EOS is a change. And pushing it consistently down throughout the organization, that's what typically takes the time and that's what's taking the time with them too, but it don't work for anyone.
If you want to have an understanding of what business basic business structure should look like, do you want to have an understanding about how the pieces of the business play together? How does sales and marketing work with operations work with finance? And how do [00:39:00] we synchronize those things and make sure they're playing nice together?
Yes, we'll help you understand that. A lot of folks will try to use it as a startup. And I've helped a couple startups. The challenge with startups is if they don't know what they're best and greatest at their core focus, they don't really know what they're good at yet or what they want yet. It's really hard to be able to take something long term.
Once they get beyond, let's say an initial round of funding or two, now we start to have enough structure enough, enough consistency in thought and process for us to really be beneficial. So it'll work is conceptually for a startup. Maybe, maybe not until they're more established. Um, like I said, the sweet spot, 10 to 250, anywhere in there, it'll work outside of that.
It just is not designed for those inside of there, man. It's like, it'll have to get going like grease lighting. It is cool as heck.
Brien: Yeah. Yeah. And I can see how it might not be as great for a startup. Cause I mean, so I've been in business seven and a half years now. And there's been multiple iterations of what we do and how we do [00:40:00] it.
You know, it's one of those things where, you know, if you go and build the ship, but then a year later, you're like, Oh crap, like we're leaking like a sieve over here. And there's a better direction we need to steer to. You got to be able to be agile and pivot. So I can see why it might not be a great fit for a startup, but anybody who's been in business long enough, it makes it that long.
You'll be able to find out what you are best and greatest at. It might take a while, But once you're there, that's, and I, I'm glad you mentioned it. Cause I think that's the perfect time where as a business owner in this kind of hit me in the last year or two years of my business where, okay, I'm at that point where now we really know what we're best and greatest at, what do I do?
How do I get to that next level? Because now that I know this, I've got my, it's like my destination is set. I just need someone to help navigate. Like, so I think so many business owners will find that, especially in the earlier stages of business, you'll know, you'll discover that you're, you're shifting here and there.
So it makes a lot of sense.
Mike: Yeah. And as soon as I say, it's not [00:41:00] for startups, we're going to be 17 people who say, I ran my startup on it and it worked beautifully. And I do know a couple of folks who ran their previous business on EOS and started their startup with EOS in mind and ran everything that way.
But if you start to think about, Hey, look, you know, when you're a two person organization, you're doing everything. I mean, it's hard to delegate and elevate when you're two people and disciplined about delegating, elevating effectively, knowing that. So when you're ready, when you're, you have the revenue to support more people, that's always going to be valuable, but it's that tool is not going to be useful until you have that revenue and you have the ability to bring more people on.
So it will work for startups. It just is not typical. It's not designed for startups. And the work is often harder when you're a solopreneur, but for setting yourself up for figuring out, Hey, what does it look like when I scale or what should it look like? Or where do I need to prioritize next? Man, it'll help you think through that too.
Brien: Yeah, I love it. Well, Hey, we're bumping up against time already, man. Time flies when you're, you're having fun learning about implementing systems that'll grow your business. How about that? But Mike, first of all, thank you [00:42:00] for joining us. I mean, this was awesome. I think you and I could go for another two hours if we wanted to, but I want to make sure that our listeners are able to find you and contact you, get connected with you, if they have more questions about EOS, if they want to learn about implementation of it.
What is the best way for them to reach out and get ahold of you?
Mike: So I figured what I would do is you can put them in a show notes, but my email address is probably the best way We're adding a phone number as well. If you call me on the phone, I'll answer if I can but text works best On the eos worldwide website There is a microsite that's on there, too.
We can give that link out there, too. All of this stuff that I talked about, it's all you can download it for free from EOS Worldwide via my little microsite. You can grab it all. I think the only thing it's going to ask you for is an email address. So you can put a fake one in there and I'll never know the difference.
But you can grab it all for free. If people are terribly interested in it, I buy traction by the case and I want people to know about it. So I'd be happy to ship them a copy of Traction if they're truly interested in learning more about what it is that EOS does, or they can go out and buy it [00:43:00] themselves and not be obligated.
But those are probably the best ways to do it. Email, phone, and the microsite.
Brien: Okay. Awesome. Yeah. And you heard it here first folks. If you want to get a free copy of Traction, Mike's your guy. I think that's a great step for anybody who their interest might be peaked by what we heard today and what we learned.
So grab a copy of that. Hook up with Mike again, man. Thank you for joining us. This was a pleasure. I wish you the best.
Mike: Thanks for taking the time. And again, thanks for paying your taxes, man.
Brien: Anytime, you know, it's funny. They always come after me every year and say, I still got to do it. So you're, you're it's working.
Mike: I'm not sure who's using them now. It's not me, but I appreciate it. Anyhow.
Brien: Thanks again, Mike. Yep. Talk to you later. Alright, and that's a wrap on this, the latest episode of the Millionaire University podcast. Folks, if you enjoyed this episode, do me a quick favor. Hit the link to share button in your pod player, and send this episode to your bestie, your mom, your dad, your family, whoever it is, your co workers, your colleagues, who you think would enjoy this episode as well.
We want to get in their earbuds. [00:44:00] Thank you all again for joining me on the millionaire university podcast I'm your host brian gear and signing off cannot wait to catch you on our next episode guys I want you to all go out there and crush it today
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