000 About the Show (and your host Gene Hammett)

This is Leaders in the Trenches, Episode 000.  My name is Gene Hammett, your host for this podcast. In this introduction, I am going to share with you everything you need to know to see if this podcast is right for you and how it can help you lead your business with more freedom and impact.

Let’s address the NAME..Leaders in the Trenches was created for the owners of companies that struggle and stress to run and grow their business. This podcast is for business owners that are “in the trenches” running their businesses day-to-day.

If you own a business now, but you seem to be working all the time and know that you need and want to take a new approach, then LITT is for you! Here you will discover new and important strategies and techniques to take your business to the next level.  You may only need to add 6 figures to your current income or you might want to take it to a 7 figure success to have the freedom that you know is possible. Whatever it is you are striving for…this podcast will inspire you with conversations with other leaders that have been exactly where you are right now.  Stay tuned for more after the intro …

I want to begin by thanking you for listening to this first episode. I am so pumped to be here. I am going to share with you 3 extremely important aspects to business leadership….and I am going to connect those 3 aspects to some of the benefits you’ll get from listening to “Leaders in the Trenches”. I am also going to tell you more about me as well. But most of all I want to tell you WHY I just had to create this podcast.

I know that running a business is HARD.  It takes hustle, persistence and a big dose of WISDOM. Yes…wisdom is sometimes the missing element in success.  We seek to learn more information and forget to look internally for the wisdom to move forward so we end up just stagnating.

I also believe that every business has to work through the first few years of traction that makes you want to quit or, at the very least, second guess if you are in the right place.  You have probably been there…or maybe that is where you are right now.  Trust me in every business I have ever started, I went through that period. There is a reason why 4 out of 5 businesses that are started fail before the 18 month mark according to BLOOMBERG…it is because we focus on the wrong parts of the business.  You will discover here exactly where you can focus your attention to maximize your results. I also know the emotional toll that building a business can have on you if you try to do it all by yourself.  Plus, there is so much information out there that it can keep you from taking the actions necessary to build the business you want.  (You know the one you dreamed of when you first started this journey?)  And these are the primary reasons WHY I wanted to start this podcast, so that you can hear from successful leaders that are creating strong teams, understand who they are, and are leading their market with clarity and confidence.

Building a successful business and leading your company is a HUGE topic and I want to share with you 3 specific areas of leadership that are important, if you want to create a business that allows you the freedom to do what you want – when you want to do it.  Too many entrepreneurs are essentially stuck in their business like it is a job.  In addition, they are running their businesses like everyone else in their industry so they become a “ME TOO” type of business, which again makes it hard to market and sell their products and services.  Well there are some HUGE changes happening in business that if you are not aware of them and planning a way around them…you’ll be caught of guard, but more on those at the end of this introduction.

OK, now to those 3 specific areas of leadership that I mentioned earlier.

The first is Leading Others.  This is probably the most common aspect when it comes to leadership.  If you already have a team you get this or if you are just starting out and building your team, you can still understand the power of working with others to achieve a common goal.  Leadership is so much more than just a title.  In fact, real leadership has nothing to do with titles.   In this podcast, we will discuss ways to improve your ability to lead others through influence, vision and communication.

The second is Leading Yourself.  Yes, you heard me right.  You can and do lead yourself.  Leadership starts internally.  It is not just about taking action or communicating with your team.  Leading yourself is a critical component to your confidence and dealing with the self-doubt that peeks into your inner voice.  You will understand how to be intentional about who you are being and the importance of how you see the world.  Some of the podcasts here will help you address this part of leadership as well.

Now, the third aspect of leadership that is critical to your success is LEADING YOUR MARKET.  If you want to create freedom and impact you can not be perceived as a commodity.  Our world is quickly changing and your need to specialize in your market will make all the difference to attracting the RIGHT clients to you. This is really important because rarely can you create a wildly successful business in today’s economy if you are not seen as the top or near the top of your market.  Whether you offer a product or a service, you must have a clear audience that is right for you.  You must stack successes one on top of the others in this market so that others perceive you as the authority and you become a trusted advisor.   Leading your market requires you to carve out a segment that you can focus on…you can no longer be the jack of all trades and master of none if you want to be a LEADER in your market.

OK…now all 3 of these aspects of leadership are critically important, but I also believe that I am not going to try to tackle all of them at once.  I am believer in “divide and conquer” so I want to focus on one of these aspects of leadership with the initial interviews with other leaders.  In the beginning of “Leaders in the Trenches” we are going to focus on “Leading Your Market”.  We will break this down into smaller segments so that you get all angles of this.  We will talk about target audiences, finding profitable niches and all the fears that come along with this process.

In future episodes, we will explore the other areas of leadership too.  Having the business of your dreams will take all parts of leadership and I want to dig into them when the time is right.

Remember  the words from the intro… “These entrepreneurs weren’t born successful, but through blood, sweat, tears, failures and fears they were able to pull themselves up of out of the trenches.”  Well that means I am going to explore deep into the pain and successes of these leaders to help you discover the insights you need to take action to move forward with your business.

I bet you are wondering about who am I to share this stuff with you.  Well, I have had my share of blood, sweat, tears, failures and fears…and I have seen amazing successes too.

But I want to share with you just a bit about me, Gene Hammett, so you know me before you listen to all the other interviews with these amazing LEADERS.  I was not born rich nor was I born with the wisdom to start and run a successful business…in fact it is a fallacy if you think anyone is born with all those talents.  I had to learn just like everyone else…with years of hard work, long hours and looking to others that can help me avoid the pitfalls.  In my 20 plus years of professional experience, most of that time was running my own business. I started a business in 2001 that allowed me to travel the world and gave me the financial freedom to do what I wanted.  From the outside I looked like I was running my dream job.  To be honest the 7 figure success I had built was just about the money. I knew how to make money, but much of my life centered around me–and my personal relationships suffered.  It is no wonder I felt like something was missing in my life…in fact I would say to myself “there must be an easier way”.  I said that thousands of times.  I look back now and realize that I was not living a purposeful life.  All of this changed in a single day…I went from “having it all” to “losing practically everything”.  I have told this story numerous times before and it never gets easy.

In one day, just over 4 years ago, I lost nearly $3m dollars in a contract gone bad.  I was caught in the middle of thousands of customers and this failed contract.  I trusted the wrong person and my life changed in that moment. I could share details about the all the lawyers, reporters, secret service agents, and my own emotional breakdown, but the important part of this is what I did AFTER this failure.  I looked at myself and what I thought about business.  I wanted to live with purpose…I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others.  Initially, I was not sure how I would do this, but soon I figured out that I would become a business coach.  I even went on to become a certified business coach. I emerged with more insights to who I am and why I am here than I ever had before.  I truly went through a transformation where I will never go back to how I saw myself and business in general.

This is important because living through the pain of something like this has taught me that there is more to business than just money.  In fact, it is about impact and making a difference with others. As I coached more and more clients, I discovered  a deep desire to help them find the success they wanted…to build the business they wanted…and to do it in a way that makes them feel great about what they do.  I am truly lucky to have found a way to make a difference to others by leveraging my experience and insights as a coach.  And this podcast is just one of the ways I want to add value to the lives of others.

OK…we have been through so much here…so let’s recap for you.

• This podcast is for the business leader that wants to have more freedom and impact
• There are 3 aspects to leadership that drive success in business and we will initially focus on one, which is “being a market leader”
• I am your host, Gene Hammett. I have seen my share of ups and downs…and losing everything has put me in a place in life where I can serve others to new levels of success

I am thrilled to have your attention for this first episode of “Leaders in the Trenches”.  The following episodes will feature a guest leader that will share his or her story and their perspective of leading. I look forward to delivering on the promise to help you lead with more clarity and confidence. We will have many leaders featured on the show… best selling authors, amazing podcasters, transformational coaches, powerful consultants, inspiring speakers, amazing designers, social media superstars, branding experts and many more.  We will have all kinds of industries featured here so that you can learn from leaders outside your typical domain of influence.

I can’t wait for you to hear from these leaders about their journeys of success and the lessons learned from their failures.

Enjoy each episode as this is a conversation with leaders for leaders so that you can build your business with ease by discovering new strategies.

But wait…I want to offer you a free gift to give you common sense insights to being a Market Leader. You can find even more detail on the website…Leadersinthetrenches.com

Look for ..”The #1 Thing Leaders Use To Save Them Time & Money… and Classify as ESSENTIAL to Building Their Business.”  You can get this at http://leadersinthetrenches.com/free.

Before we end…think of a specific person that you know can benefit from this show and share this podcast with them today…take a moment to email, tweet, Facebook or just tell them about “leaders in the trenches”.

Thank you for listening to episode 000…this is just the beginning of this journey.

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