Exponentially Growing Your Business on The Ultimate Entrepreneur With Jay Abraham | Paul Durante | 369

Share this post:

Dan Kuschell

August 1, 2022

Dan Kuschell is a husband, dad, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He runs Breakthrough3X, a company that gives you instant access to a Fractional CMO Team. Breakthrough3X helps founders and CEOs triple their profits and impact and generate more clients daily with a simple system that frees them from the day-to-day.

Dan has coached over 5,000 business owners, had over 200,000 clients, and over a million people have enjoyed his educational resources. He has owned 11 companies since 1992, building multiple businesses with revenues exceeding eight figures before selling, and is the former CEO of Genius Network. He also hosts the Growth to Freedom podcast, where he interviews industry leaders and experts in a variety of fields.


Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • Dan Kuschell’s entrepreneurial journey amid a health scare
  • What is the Genius Network, and how can businesses get involved?
  • The Genius Network’s eight values and how Founder Joe Polish embodies them
  • Dan shares his three strategies for business growth
  • What is the difference between marketing and selling?
  • How the current generation can rethink business referrals
  • Why Dan started Growth to Freedom

In this episode…

From an entrepreneurial perspective, growing a business can be intimidating. With so many factors to consider, how can you determine the best strategy for business growth?

Dan Kuschell advises transforming your business model to reimagine traditional growth strategies. For instance, when generating referrals, it’s useful to leverage basic human psychology to create client exclusivity. This strategy employs the invitation model, a three-step process that involves producing a trendy, easy, and fun experience for clients to participate in your services. With this framework, you can adapt your business to dynamic market trends.

In this episode of Growth to Freedom, Paul Durante, co-host of The Ultimate Entrepreneur With Jay Abraham, interviews business advisor Dan Kuschell about exponential business growth. Dan shares his three strategies for growing a business, the difference between marketing and selling, and how new generations can rethink business referrals.

Resources mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode

Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com.

Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall in growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation. You can do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com. That’s breakthroughstrategycall.com.

In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free small business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com. That’s activate.breakthrough3x.com.

If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:03

Welcome to growthtofreedom.com, the show that brings you inspiration, transformation and leadership. We’re helping you connect the dots, see the blind spots, and get unstuck. So you can go out and generate more leads more sales, more profits. More importantly, so you can go out and have a bigger reach a bigger impact and make a bigger contribution.

Paul Durante 0:25

Hi, it’s Paul Durante, and welcome. We have a very good friend on the program today. His name is Dan Kuschell. I love his bio when you go to his website, Dankuschell.com. That’s dankuschell.com. The first thing he says Dan Kuschell is a husband, dad, serial entrepreneur and angel investor. I love that you start with husband and dad because I know how much how valuable family is to you. So good on you for opening up your bio like that, Dan, and welcome to the program.

Dan Kuschell 0:58

Oh, it’s a pleasure, Paul.

Paul Durante 0:59

So Dan, I think I’m going to be a little bit complimentary to begin, because I’m a fan of you. And I’m a fan of what you do. And I think at the end of our days, if people could say what I’m about to say about you at the end of our lives, I think we would have lived a good life. I think you’re a cool guy. Thank you. I know that you have had an extraordinary entrepreneurial journey. And by the way, this is the last two Ultimate Entrepreneur shows. We have featured an organization that you know a lot about the Genius Network. And we’re going to talk about that in a little bit. And I do want to talk about the last two episodes of The Ultimate Entrepreneur because you were there Joe Polish and Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis but before we get to that, let’s talk a little bit about your history, serial entrepreneur, you built 11 companies, the first one in 1992, you got your start in direct mail, you worked with and consulted health clubs. You’ve done all kinds of media, you’ve got your own show now. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. You’ve been on NBC, Spike TV, history, channel, ESPN a lot more. You are an expert at helping people build and grow their companies this program, The Ultimate Entrepreneur, it’s inspirational. It’s aspirational. It’s educational, along your entrepreneurial journey way. You had something happen. That was very, very unique. You had a health scare. So let’s start there. 2009 tickets back.

Dan Kuschell 2:30

Yeah, I had at that time I was running five companies, Paul five, yes, I had about 175 to 200 employees in multiple offices. And you know, I was in Taipei entrepreneur, you know, when you’re in your 30s I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way. But I know I did. I felt like I was invincible. And you know, I was working day and night, probably close to 20 hours a day. And I was sleeping on average two to four hours a night and and done that for about a decade and was building up these companies that my son was born. And two weeks after he was born Paul, I woke up one day with tightness in my chest, one thing led to another, I ended up rushing myself to the hospital. I walked in, I said I’m having some tightness, they took a couple of tests. Next thing you know, all hell breaks out. I ended up on a gurney, they put all the diodes on me. And I ended up staying in the hospital for four days, ended up on the third day signing the disclaimer that said I had a one in X chance of dying on the table. And it scared the hell out of me. And it was a wake up call and evaluation. You know, as a dad, right? We think of being there for our kids. And for me the thought of being a dad that worked so hard and then lost it lost my health and even the possibility of that just really took the wind out of my sails. And I remember I late I was awake up all night, writing what I thought might be my last will to my wife at the time. And you know, I was crying literally like a baby like what what am I going to do and then you know, I went through there’s the stages of DAB dark that are talking Kubler Ross’s book, you know, denial, anger, bargaining, anxiety, response, and then acceptance. And I went through all of those stages, I think in just a handful of hours. And then I got to a place of okay, when I come out and I’m sure at one point fall I remember going God you know, if I come out of this, I’m going to be different. And I started thinking about what that different would be for me. And what that did fall is I came out of it. I said I’m going to do things different and I started really getting clear for me. Everything I do today is based on these three questions which started that time in the hospital that four days, which is what do I want? What do I stand for? And who am I as a person and if you’re doing this new for the first time asking those three questions just as I throw them out there right now without a lot of thought and say Oh, that’d be easy but when you sit down and really try to get conscious and go okay, what do I really want not what is my wife want not what are my kids want not what are those couple 100 employees want? What do I want and then And who am I really, you know, take the labels away, take the entrepreneur, label away the CEO, label the dad, label, the husband label, take all those with labels away and like stripping away, who are you as a person, your character, your qualities? And then the last one, which is what do I stand for, which are the values? And for me, Paul, what I decided to do through Genius Network, I’d been in the Genius Network community for about five years and like, grow my businesses exponentially. And I reached back into the community and say, Hey, does anybody know some contacts of how to set up your company to sell it? So for me, I decided to sell my companies all fine. And about two years later, Paul, I had set the stage to be able to do just that. I sold the companies and it allowed me then to focus on my health, I lost 60 pounds, which I’ve still continued to keep that off. I was able to be a full time dad for a great while, and then only work on funding independent projects. And then, you know, that led me, you know, Joe, when you’re on his radar call, you know, as you probably know, and Jay is a big fan of Joe’s, Joe was one of the most generous people. And once you get on his radar, you’re just on his radar. And so it seemed like he would check in on me every now and then and go, Hey, Dan, you know, is everything all right? Is there anything you need? And I came back into the community? And one of the members actually, you said, What are you doing Dan? I’m like, Well, I’m working on fun, independent projects, being a dad and get my house in order. And he said, Have you ever thought about teaming up with Joe and I had it. But I had, I was such an ambassador for Joe. You know, I obviously believed in what he stood for, because of being in a community for five years. And so we ended up having a discussion, that discussion lasted about six months, admittedly, pockets, as you know, when you bring some entrepreneurs together, sometimes you have to work on, it’s not the things you usually say to each other. It’s the things you don’t say that can get you in trouble. So we got a six month conversation. Long story short, we ended up teaming up together about four years ago, and we’ve had this ride of growth and being able to go out and make a difference and contribution and so on. So it’s been a lot of fun.

Paul Durante 6:57

It’s an incredible journey. And I gotta say, I got goosebumps when well, I’ve heard the story in the past, you’ve told me the story in the past, but you know, to be so close. It’s humbling, is it not?

Dan Kuschell 7:09

Oh, yes. I mean, you know, as the old saying goes, you can ask everything, but they take your health away, what do you really have? And for me, I got to look at that right in the mirror firsthand. And, you know, again, thinking about it from my kid’s point of view, you know, you know, people talk about what is your legacy? What do you want it to be? It’s weird, even sometimes think about that question. But for me, it’s simply being a leader for my kid, and everything else is a strategic byproduct. And the thought that, you know, I would be this, you know, business person who focus all my time on building, which I did, I sacrifice my family time, personal time, all these different things. For what at the end of the day, today, I realized that you can have it both ways you can have a quality of life. And you can have a quantity, like if you define it and take the time to do it.

Paul Durante 7:51

So the last couple of shows the last couple of Ultimate Entrepreneur shows, we have featured an event that you were at. It was a Genius Network event. Before we talk about the event. Let’s talk about the Genius Network. Joe Polish, give us the two minute version who’s Joe Polish? And what is the Genius Network? And how do you play a rock?

Dan Kuschell 8:11

Great question. So what Genius Network does what Joe’s just the short version is Joe’s mission and goal is to reduce suffering for entrepreneurs. And that shows up a lot of different ways. And the way we do that is we work to show entrepreneurs Paul how to build an elf business that’s easy, lucrative and fun, right? That’s the acronym versus a half business one that is hard, annoying, lame and frustrating. So we have a lot of strategy, wisdom, you know, in space, you know, we’ve gotten known for three key things, connections to otherwise inaccessible experts not available anywhere else, the way Joe facilitates and brings them together. Collaboration. You know, Jay even says, you know, he’s been doing high profile events for four decades, I believe I might misinterpret it a little bit. But I believe I’ve heard Jay say that our community is the only one he’s ever seen, including his own that brings this type of entrepreneur high level high achieving entrepreneur together where they show up, and they get to be both the beneficiary and the benefactor. In other words, the student and the teacher at the same time, so it’s highly collaborative. And then also based on contribution, where people are really focused on being a 10 times person, not just a 10% person or they’re more interested in being someone of transformation versus someone that’s transactional.

Paul Durante 9:25

It’s not cheap to join, know,

Dan Kuschell 9:27

it’s $25,000 a year to participate in the group the minimum requirements is to do at least a million dollars a year in revenue. And your average actually in the community runs a business doing about $9 million a year and they all have an affinity Paul for building this elf model versus half and that shows up not only in marketing, which Joe is known for, and of course, Jay is, you know, a preeminent expert at but also things like, you know, sales or things like operations things or finance. So it’s about building and having an affinity to creating an L Off model instead of a half model, or Peter Diamandis, who was on the most recent album, he talks about it’s multiplication by subtraction. I’ve heard Tony say that, you know, business really has two functions, which I think is a quote from Peter Drucker directly, which is, you know, there’s only two functions in business, marketing, innovation, everything else is a cost. Right? And so, we bring people in this community together to really get their next strategic breakthroughs, to be able to get, you know, finding those blind spots, if you will, and develop and deepen new relationships for strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and dealmaking. You know, it’s really a great, great place to be

Paul Durante 10:37

Jay and I are huge fans of Genius Network. And you’re right about what Jay has said about Genius Network. So let’s say I’ve got an extra $25,000, I’m elite in my field of expertise. And I want to join, tell us the process tell us if I phoned you up and say, Hey, I got 25 grand I want in, it’s not that easy, right?

Dan Kuschell 10:57

Yeah, we have an application process, which if you know, someone that has the criteria or feel they’re ready to look into the group, actually, for many people, our annual event may be a better starting point, to get a feel for the community. It’s the one time a year Paul, that we open up the community in the Republic, it’s also by application, it also requires a minimum annual run rate of a million dollars or more a year. But someone can go and learn more at GeniusNetworkevents.com. It’s GeniusNetwork events.com. Or, if you are interested in looking at our 100k Group is our members saw it Genius Network, you can go to 100kgroup.com and get more information there. And tell

Paul Durante 11:35

us a little bit just before we take a quick break, tell us a little bit more about Joe Polish, because he’s iconic in a lot of different circles. But for those people who have never heard of Joe, or who may be unfamiliar with his work, tell us a little bit about Joe. Well, Joe

Dan Kuschell 11:49

is the most generous person I know of in business and who he is front stage is also who he is vaccinated. Like if you ever met people Paul that you go see him and their great friend stage and then go behind the stage with them. And it’s like, wow, that’s a different person that was just out there. Right. Joe is what you see up front is also what you see in back and he’s transparent. He’s honest, right? You know, there’s eight values we have in our company that I feel that Joe demonstrates, and these are adapted from Dan Sullivan, the five ways you get paid, but you know, appreciation and the relationship on both sides enhancement in the relationship that grows, utilizing the relationships, so you can be proud of utilizing each other’s things, the refer ability factor, you know, is it easy to refer somebody, and then the multiplier impact financially. So when you get together does it grow and appreciate and then the next three values are desire to learn and grow. Joe was the most curious human being I’ve met besides me, I think I strive to learn and grow a lot. I’m an incredible student of business marketing, growing and scaling companies. But Joe takes the cake, you know, times 10. So he has an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn and grow, which is one of the values the other two are anticipating needs. So Joe is someone who provides value in advance Paul, usually before he’s ever asked. And in fact, he goes out of his way to provide value before really beginning to relation. That’s why he has Ilovemarketing.com, with over 200 hours of some of the best marketing wisdom and advice in the world. And because many people get all that value ahead of time, it makes it easy for them potentially to be a part of Genius Network or the Genius Network event process. So it’s desire to learn and grow anticipating needs, as well as the ability to be resourceful, let’s face it entrepreneurs, right. You and I, as entrepreneurs, we have to be some of the most resourceful people in the world, you know, entrepreneurs, what is entrepreneurship, it’s adding value, it’s seeing things that others don’t see. And Joe has a unique way of being able to see in their business from a multiplying impact or marketing impact or a selling impact things that they don’t see. You know, and one of the frameworks he’s got is you know, figuring out a way to can and clone yourself which ties in with that elf versus half model. So those are a few I mean, I could go on and on but those are a handful of the things that pop up

Paul Durante 14:06

for me with Joe and he’s in the podcast. I love Marketing is just a phenomenal product. So when we get back because we’re talking to Dan Kuschell right now and he is a brilliant business growth strategist. We’re back with Dan and a second. AmeriFactors amerifactors.com. Stop waiting 3060 or 90 days to get paid on invoices, turn those invoices into immediate working capital through factoring. Use the funds to make payroll to hire new staff to buy equipment or to go after new customers. Factoring is not alone and there is nothing to pay back. If your customer can’t pay AmeriFactors takes the loss not you. It’s based on your customer’s credit not yours. So bad credit and bankruptcy are okay. They’ve been in business since 1990 and have funded over $5 billion to businesses, AmeriFactors Amerifactors.com

Intro 15:06

He’s the $9 billion man should boy 888 12345 The world’s preeminent Business Growth expert, Jay Abraham.

Paul Durante 15:19

It’s Paul Durante. We’re with Dan Kuschell. From the Genius Network. Dan, you’re a brilliant business growth strategist. So what is the number one strategy for growing a business?

Dan Kuschell 15:30

Oh, wow. That’s a great question. Is there just one?

Paul Durante 15:34

Give us your top three?

Dan Kuschell 15:36

Yeah, well, I think I’ll start with a question, right. Like, you know, as I look at business, it’s really asking the question, you know, what’s the most productive thing that I can do in every moment? Or what’s the most productive thing that my team can do in every moment? I think if we start there, that’s just a great framework of which web cut off a lot of the noise and a lot of the friction, that simple question, I feel there’s a lot of lot of wisdom that lives there. You know, overall, I mean, you know, one of the things that pops up right is, you know, the quote, I shared that I heard from Tony Robbins originally, which is a Peter Drucker quote, to do business has two functions, its marketing, innovation, and everything else is a cost. I’ve heard Dan Sullivan, strategic coach who we do a lot with and Genius Network. He’s been a part of our community for five years. It’s marketing, innovation and teamwork. And I think as I look at business today, Paul, you know, if you look at it, like marketing, you know, people ask me, like, what is marketing and I believe marketing is everything in business. It’s not just one thing. I think there’s a lot of misconceptions about marketing, and it gets a bad rap sometimes and done wrong, it’s justified, but done, right. It’s like one of the most eloquent most elegant things that we can actually do. And I think Jay is probably the best in the world at being able to really talk about marketing in a professional, elegant way. You know, overall, you know, marketing shows up and operations done. Right, right. Because there’s a before unit, a during unit and and after unit experience, you know, Starbucks is a great example, what makes Starbucks great is not necessarily the coffee thing, it’s the experience around getting that coffee. And you know, business really operates the same way. So coming back, what’s the most productive thing that I can do right now? What’s the most productive thing my team can do right now, I think is a great, a great place to be thinking all the time

As I look at business, it's really asking the question, ‘What's the most productive thing that I can do in every moment?’ or ‘What's the most productive thing that my team can do in every moment?’ I think if we start there, that's just a great… Click To Tweet

Paul Durante 17:19

we talk about marketing, but what about the other side? Or you know, the the one a one b? What about selling what is selling? To me?

Dan Kuschell 17:26

Selling is nothing more than being a servant leader. And, you know, how do I serve? is really the question that selling addresses, you know, Dan Sullivan has a great definition of selling, which goes something like this, hopefully, I get it, right, which is, you know, selling is getting someone intellectually involved in a future result that is good for them, so that they can emotion so that they can emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result. So getting someone intellectually involved in a future result, that’s good for them so that they can emotionally commit to take action to achieve it. Right. We’ve all heard that people buy emotionally and justify logically, I mean, this is one of the most elegant ways that I think we could describe it, you know, selling is serving people, marketing, you know, people say, Well, what is the difference between marketing and selling? Marketing is I’ve heard Joe say, regularly marketing is what you do to get someone on the phone or face to face with you. Were there pre position, pre motivated, pre interested in ready to do business with you. And selling is what you do when you get them on the phone, or face to face with you marketing as it relates to storytelling, right, in its simplest form, you know, those companies, those people, those industries that can tell a better story, and packaging better story around what they do to deliver it are the ones who when it’s education based, by the way, you know, people say frequently asked Paul, they go, what’s the difference today with marketing versus say, 10 years ago? I think people are smarter today. You know, in a recent interview you did with Pam denzinger. You know, she did a great job. I think it was a show number 45. She talked about Henry’s right, going into the market between 102 $150,000. Right, where it’s over 20 million consumers in North America. And you know, really getting into how they feel it’s about understanding how they feel, which is tying in with marketing, what is storytelling, or even the sales experience? That you cram you look at it, you know, another way to look at it. Look at the difference between a $1 bill and $100. Bill at its simplest core, right? If you take the two and you put them up to each other, they’re the same exact size, or they’re the same weight. They’re the same weight, right? Yeah, they’re the same color ink. The only difference between the two is the message on the paper. It’s the story. It’s only difference. And when we can get better at telling $100 story or $1,000 story or more exponentially from there, versus a $1 story that’s when our when it’s when our business can grow when it can change. So those are a couple of couple ideas that that pop up for me.

Paul Durante 19:57

You are intellectually stimulating what And talking about entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, business growth. This is fascinating. I’m taking notes copiously. Why do you say that referral strategies are not your best source of business? Because so many people rely on them heavily, but you say they’re not your best source?

Dan Kuschell 20:17

Well, first of all, you know, good marketing is creating a lead and right. Well, so, so, so one, you created controversy to get people’s attention. So my thought around referral strategy, it’s more of a psychology thing like what I feel today, more than anything, you know, all marketing also is, is applied psychology. And so as I think about the millennial generation, why I say that referral strategies are not your best source of business is not 100% accurate, but it’s not inaccurate as well. And why I say that is that I think, if we’re thinking in terms of even going back to your Pam denzinger interview, she talked about the company on the Detroit Shinola and how they get these Henry’s high earning net worth individuals who are not rich yet, right. To buy into that or service, is because of the experience and how they feel and thinking of those millennials, those people that are buying into that experience. In my mind when someone says marketing, what do they do they do they lean in? Are they pulled away? I think they pull away naturally from a psychology when you say the word selling, do people lean in? Or do they usually pull away? Mostly pull away? Like I’ve heard Joe say, You know what people are up on they’re down. And that ties in with just people having a misunderstanding around it. So like referral when someone says, can you refer me to somebody? Or will you refer me to white who’s one person you could refer me to? My perception is similar to the word selling similar to the word marketing, people don’t lean in, they lean back. So what is a better way? Right? You know, Steve Jobs, right. The late Steve Jobs, he was an expert in Jay is an expert at asking a different question and looking at a different perspective. So my belief on this is simply to look at it with a different set of eyes, a different perspective. You know, watch what everybody else does and do the opposite. And, you know, for example, in the millennial generation, I think a better way to ask for referrals is Who would you nominate? Who could you invite? Who Could you recommend? And like, for example, I know this to be true, there was a company that launched that everybody’s heard of, they’ve got 30 million users. And the only way you could get involved in that company was by invitation. And it was Gmail with Google. It was a by invitation only process.

”So Click To Tweet is simply to look at it with a different set of eyes, a different perspective. Watch what everybody else does, and do the opposite. – Dan Kuschell” username=””]

Paul Durante 22:30

I was one of the first ever with a Gmail address. By the way, there was a party. Not to brag, but there was a party in New York, and they gave everybody at the party three emails, and I got one. Oh, that’s I just wanted to slide that in. That’s, that’s cool. It was cool.

Dan Kuschell 22:46

You know, you’re dating yourself now. Right? You’re a dinosaur.

Paul Durante 22:48

I know. But it was, you know, at the time, at the time, when people found out I thought, you know, it was like, you know, how much do you want for I was going to sell them?

Dan Kuschell 22:56

Yes. I mean, you think about the psychology of that, right? They wouldn’t let you in unless you got invited. Right. So in today’s generation, I think, again, going back to what I shared earlier, Paul, which is I think people are smarter today. So if we can all think about our business model, how can we create an experience a B? How can we create it in such a way that there is exclusivity to what we do? It isn’t for everybody? And let’s face it all, you know, we can’t be all things to all people. So we start looking at the end in mind, which is a Stephen Covey quote, to begin with the end in mind, and we go, okay, how can I create my business model? So I create an experience, but then realize it isn’t for everybody. And I actually proactively discussed that have a conversation around it, and then make it by? How do I make it by invitation only like Google has done or many other companies have done right? Or make it a nomination process? There’s great Harvard, for example, right? You have to be nominated to actually get into there’s a lot of organs that you’d have to be nominated to get into the organization like in Genius Network, we are going to have a higher deeper look at someone who gets introduced to us or for practical terms referred to us or nominated to us in our community versus someone we don’t know because of of the relationship capital, which is one of the strongest thing that all of us can develop a business overall. So here’s how I look at the framework. Instead of referral. Think of how you can make it by invitation only. And it’s a three step process. Think of the millennial generation. How can you make your business model cool? Overall, right, make it cool. So even go into the psychology I’m thinking of the psychology is it cool to refer people? Well, it is called a profit in a business because that’s our responsibility. Is the entrepreneur, the business owner, even for our shareholders, or stakeholders in the company, of course, and our team members. But the other side of it is, is it cool to the consumer? Maybe not. So how can we make it more cool? So instead of referral, I challenge people to use by invitation or by nomination, or by introduction. So make it cool. Number two is make it easy, right? If you’re going to refer somebody, how can you make it easy? Well, Gmail did it by having an automated way you can invite someone On Hotmail did it years ago, they used to have the PS. Paul, do you remember the PS? It said, I love you? Oh, yeah, try Hotmail for free. All of us can put a strategy like that in our business of some time. But my whole point of that is it makes it easy for someone they don’t have to think of like, How many times have you been to a party, Paul, right, then do a party together? Or you know, an event, and we need someone who, oh my god, that person would be great for so and so. But then, but then what happens is we’re like, oh, God, what do I actually say to them? Who do I need? Do I introduce them to their like, executive assistant? Do I send them to their website? Where do I send them, right? Get all this stuff in our head? So how can you as a business owner, make it easy from a psychology point of view, and someone walking into the line, paying a couple cents, you know, for coffee and walking out and sitting down in the area and having their just a cool experience. So make it cool, make it easy, and then make it fun. And those three simple strategies as crazy as it sounds, and people would look at their call it referral model, or now maybe the new terminology, the invitation model, I believe that simple framework or paradigm will transform most people’s business in the next decade.

So here's how I look at the framework. Instead of referral, think of how you can make it by invitation only, and it's a three-step process. Think of the millennial generation. How can you make your business model cool? So even go into the… Click To Tweet

Paul Durante 26:04

Dan, I began the show by saying you’re one of the coolest guys I know, I want to talk about your show. It brings inspiration, transformation, leadership, from top experts in the world Growth to Freedom growthtofreedom.com. Tell us about the show.

Dan Kuschell 26:21

Well, simply, we bring some of the top experts in Paul, as you mentioned, to, really, it’s conversation, I created this show in one way to leave a legacy for my kids. And I wanted to have let me enter Congress.

Paul Durante 26:33

I’m sorry, let me interject for a second. Because when you told me about the show, you know, you called me up one day, and you were you know, we were sort of picking each other’s brains. And I said, Why are you doing the show and say, Tell me, you know, tell the audience what you told me when I said, because I’ve been doing shows for 25 plus years, I’ve been in this, you know, broadcast and new media business for a very long time. But your answer impressed me more than anyone elses. And I’ve asked that question many times. Why did you start your show?

Dan Kuschell 27:03

Number one reason Paul was because you know, when I was in that hospital, two weeks after my son was born, I realized I had done some interesting things built, a lot of companies built, you know, to a certain level of success, which along with that, there’s a certain level of failure. And I believe that our greatest success comes from failure. And then I looked at it and said, Okay, if that’s happened, what would I have been leaving my kids, and frankly, other than maybe, you know, certain financial means or other things that go along with that, I look at my intellectual property and go, Wow, I don’t know that I would have really captured the essence of what I would want them to have known that their dad. And so I created the show, because I wanted to leave a footprint, a thumbprint, you know, for lack of better words of of a legacy for my son Kyler, and my daughter Kyra, that in 10 years from now, as we build up this content base, this intellectual property, they’ll see their dad in a certain light, but then it have access to some of the best wisdom in the world. And instead of me talking, it’s one thing to theorize and talk about it. It’s another thing to show them by example. And I believe, you know, people ask me all the time, what is leadership or thought leader? You know, what is the thought leader, right. And, you know, I’ve heard this frequently like thought leader, and all kinds of, you know, my real simple idea of thought leader, well thought leaders come on. At our core, I think now, maybe some people don’t fit what the description I’m going to give them, that’s fine. But I see everybody this way, all a thought leader in this thoughtful leadership. And for me, that starts at home leadership is and leadership does. And so I want to show my kids, you know, the power of networking, the power of association that we all have heard before, Jay talks about, you talk about it in the show, you bring experts on on your show. And for me, I wanted them to see their dad having the ability to go get access to some of the top minds in the world and how accessible it could be if you just thought a little bit differently about how do you add value to these people’s lives first, to then create an opportunity for the relationship. So that was number one. Number two, Paul, what what I found about myself, or what I find about myself is that I love to learn. I shared that a little bit earlier that many ways I see myself as a mini Joe from a learning perspective. So for me, having the opportunity to do these interviews, right, you do these and you’re one of the best at it, like you get in these conversations with people. It just it you learn from those interviews, don’t you?

Paul Durante 29:27

The thing is, Dan, people don’t realize this, you know, they hear TV or you know, they watch TV and they hear the radio and they listen to podcasts and you know, sure there’s people out there who get paid for this kind of stuff. But Jan I don’t get paid for the show. You don’t get paid for your show. You know we do Jay calls it adding value I call it you know giving back. We do it because we have a passion to help do we not?

Dan Kuschell 29:51

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And it’s that strategic byproduct right? Of getting paid from a psychology from a psychological point of view. For me, Paul, what it does is it puts me in this hyper learning experience. So like, to kind of give a framework of every show I do I do at least two, sometimes up to four hours of hyper research and y’all go listen to like five interviews that someone’s done, because I want to jump into an interview with a little deeper perspective, because they can go get superficial interview questions from anybody. But I’ll go in and I’ll start asking them about like, you know, what would your wife say, Right? Or what would you what would you want to have your kids say about this thing that you’ve done? Or this strategy you’re an expert known for? Right? And I like to go deeper into some of the more on the personal side. And I do that not just because of me, or my thoughts, because I want my kids to learn from that, you know, what would you say to your kid, if you were starting over? So anyway, it puts me in this hyper learning phase is hyper learning stage, it’s the best platform I know of, and the payoff psychologically for me, or, you know, an exponential growth? You know, Dan Sullivan, he has this 25 year question. He says, you know, is this something that you could do for the next 25 years? And for me the answer, like you said, Whether I got paid or not directly or indirectly, for me, having those conversations with bright, smart, incredibly wise people in all kinds of areas of business. That answer for me is Yes. Which is why I decided to start and restart the show.

Paul Durante 31:20

You know what, Dan, we’re gonna wrap, but I’m gonna pay you what I think is the ultimate compliment. You’re ready.

Dan Kuschell 31:27

Yes, thank you.

Paul Durante 31:28

You are a great dad. Thank you. I really mean that I got goosebumps when, when you told me back in the day, whenever that was that you were doing a new show, because you wanted to leave a legacy for your children. I thought those children have a great father. And I’d like to end on that note, if you don’t mind. So GeniusNetworkevents.com. Just like it sounds GeniusNetworkevents.com. Jay and I highly recommend Genius Network. Our last three Ultimate Entrepreneur programs. We’ve spoken about Genius Network, that’s how much we love what you all do. Joe Polish Ilovemarketing.com and amazing podcast, and our good friend Dan Kuschell. His program growthtofreedom.com growthtofreedom.com. You’re a cool guy. You’re a great dad.

Dan Kuschell 32:16

Thank you. Thank you.

Outro 31:28

Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com. Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall in growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation. Do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com. That’s breakthroughstrategycall.com. In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free Small Business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com That’s activate.breakthrough3x.com. If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com

Share this post: