3 top tips from Danny Mishek
1. Try to look through other people’s lenses
I think that helped me a lot in writing the book. I used an illustrator who did an amazing job. Her name is Megan Shumway. She put a person in a wheelchair, people with different skin colour tones, so no matter who looks at this book, it’s through their lens and they can see what they want to see. So when you make decisions for your person, for your employees, for your vendors, what are they looking at, through their eyes? Some people get excited about the holidays, because they get to travel. Other people, it’s heartbreaking because the bills go up, so what’s it like through their lens?
2. Get out of your comfort zone then share it!
I’ve had more success being uncomfortable, and getting out of my comfort zone widens it too. So when somebody thinks they’re going to bring in an uncomfortable situation, to you that’s not very uncomfortable. You can deal with it easier. And when you get out of your comfort zone, share that with people. Share your personality and your character, because it’s been so fun to talk to people about my book, but it’s grown into other relationships. People want to know, how is it to have a beehive and to write a book, to be self-published; they want to talk about manufacturing and manufacturers. There’s not that many of us in the US, people say, ‘Oh, you make something? How? How does that work? What kind of schooling do you need? Do you have internships?’
3. Be yourself
Being different, being out there and sharing that you’re different. We’re trying to be the same. Don’t be the same. Be who you are, but then share it loud and proud. Have your core values, you should have the business ones and your personal ones. But just be true to yourself. If you know what your intentions are and they’re pure, we’re all going to make mistakes, but if you have good intentions, people are going to understand when you have to apologise. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, I get it. You screwed up, but you owned it.’ I’d say as long as you’re transparent and with good intentions, you’re going to go far in life.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, book, core values, business, danny, family, manufacturing, life, year, share, EOS, meetings, write, tree, fantastic, called, gave, fail, helped, job, christmas, author, delegate, elevate
SPEAKERS
Danny Mishek, Debra Chantry-Taylor
Debra Chantry-Taylor 00:12
Welcome to another episode of Better Business Better Life. I’m your host, Debra Chantry-Taylor. I’m passionate about helping entrepreneurs and their leadership teams get what they want out of business and life. On the show, I invite successful business owners and expert speakers to share their successes. They are open and honest about the highs and lows of business and also life as a business owner. We want to share those learnings with you to inspire you, but also to help you avoid some of the common mistakes. My hope is that you take something from each of these short episodes that you can put into action to help you get what you want, not only out of your business, but also your life. So good morning, and welcome to another episode of Better Business better life. Today I am here with Danny Mishek, who is joining me from the US. And Danny is part of a family-owned business called VistaTek, which is a manufacturing business. Welcome, Danny.
Danny Mishek
Thank you. I appreciate being on. This is exciting. It’s my first podcast. It’s exciting.
Debra Chantry-Taylor
Oh, fantastic. Look, I’m really pleased to have you on here. We just had a quick chat before we started recording. And I know you’ve got a fascinating story to tell. So we’re looking forward to hearing more about it. What I’d like to do before we get started just so the listeners can get a bit of an understanding of who Danny is, could you share with me your professional and your personal best so far in your life?
Danny Mishek
Sure, professional best, I would say I’m having awesome meetings. I think I’m having awesome meetings with my employees and the customers. So it’s, we’re really seeing some really good heartfelt meetings that are getting really good results. So that’s my personal best, no my professional best. My personal best, kind of two in one, is that I got my first book published, which was not ever part of my plan. So that’s been tremendous, I sold 1000 books in 10 days, which I just thought, I was just trying to make 20 for my family, but also the other personal best I rode a real bull last weekend in Arizona. So not a mechanical bull, a real, a real bull. So I can’t, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I wrote a real bull. I did not stay on very long. But I did it. So that was awesome.
Debra Chantry-Taylor
That’s fantastic. I actually rode a mechanical bull over in Dallas. That was my first time ever. And similarly, I looked at that this looks really easy. I got on there because I was on there for about two seconds. And I’m a horse rider. Anyway, that’s really cool.
Danny Mishek 02:26
Yeah, I was so scared where they gave me all these distractions. And then the corral opened up, and I blacked out next, and I was on the ground and I was cheering. So it happened really fast.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 02:35
Brilliant. Well, I’m pleased you got to do it. That sounds great. So I’m going to talk a little about your business. And what I understand is that your business is a family owned business, but the business has been in the family for generations, right. So it’s your grandfather?
Danny Mishek 02:46
So actually, my parents started the business in 1996. Both my grandparents and parents have both been in manufacturing. So me personally, I’m a third-generation manufacturer, but VistaTek is two generations.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 02:57
Okay. And you were not trained in manufacturing or anything before joining the family business is that right?
Danny Mishek 03:04
I was not trained educationally, but breakfast conversations, lunch conversations, dinner conversations, Fourth of July conversations, fishing in the boat conversations revolved around making things, manufacturing, the importance of making things. So yes, I’ve been around it a whole a whole lot.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 03:20
So what caused you to come into the business? Like what was the sort of the moment where you went, oh I’m going to join the family business.
Danny Mishek 03:27
You know, I never really intended to join the family business. But my father called me looking for a new salesperson, he asked do I have any friends. And I asked, you know, kind of what, what it all entailed. And I was selling metal and plastic containers from Minneapolis to Montana. And I was looking for a chain. I said, Actually, Dad, I think it’d be a good fit for me to come on. He’s like, I don’t want a family owned business. So long story short, I was hired and now it became a family business.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 03:54
And yeah, okay, so that’s an interesting way to get into it. And how did you find it? Because you know, you obviously gone from working for someone to now being part of the family business. What was the were the main differences for you?
Danny Mishek 04:05
Well, it’s right away. Yeah, you have to change the titles and what you call people you know, I used to call somebody mom or dad. That’s doesn’t go as well in a conference room, you because once you tell, you know, this is hey brother, or sister or Mom or Dad, you’ve somehow elevated or de-elevated someone in the room because of the tradition of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. So you sort of have to start calling your parents by their first name, which is one of the first things, that’s, it’s kind of weird to do when, ‘Oh, hey Jim, or Laurie’ instead of mom or dad, but that’s an easy transition, but it was awkward at first.
Debra Chantry-Taylor
I hadn’t even considered that. That’s interesting. And so your role in the business now?
Danny Mishek
I am now president and lead the daily operations, but I have an awesome team that do the sales and marketing, that do the operations, that do the accounting. You know, allows you to get to, have those three, those three peers are the pillars to have other people run those for you.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 05:05
That’s true. So you are an EOS run company. And you’ve been doing this for three years now. Is that right?
Danny Mishek 05:10
Yeah, we finished up our third year in February.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 05:13
Wow, that’s fantastic. So why EOS? And how did you come across EOS?
Danny Mishek 05:18
EOS was our accountant. He kept mentioning this, and I read the book, probably 5,6,7 years ago, but reading the book, and understanding, implementing it is different. So I read it, I love the concept, but I had no way of how you do it, you know, and so just because you’re a good baseball player, doesn’t mean you’re a good baseball manager. And so I might had a good arm and I’m good at bat, but I didn’t know, I didn’t know, you know, what this what the scheming of the planning was in that. So we did, we brought a coach on when the ownership changed, I became 50% owner, and then brought the other family in, we thought that was really good to make sure we understood and we all understood our core values and understand potential business conflicts and how to work through those and just get, we need more tools in the toolbox. And this was an amazing way of doing that, you know, standpoint.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 06:15
Okay so let’s just go back a couple of steps, you brought some another family into the business, how did that come about?
Danny Mishek 06:20
You know, just think about the opportunity. I, my brother and I, my brother he still works here. He’s one of my best employees. It just, it was just time for a change. I think we need some different funding to help us take some opportunities that we just didn’t, we couldn’t do it ourselves. And so it was really a good fit for us to where vision was and where we, what we need to do it. It was a good transition.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 06:44
And so just to talk for the listeners’ benefit – so you were already doing EOS or you brought EOS in after you joined the companies?
Danny Mishek 06:52
Yeah, we did EOS after the merger. Yep.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 06:57
Okay. And so you talked about the sort of four core values. And that’s obviously a very key part of EOS has been really clear about what they are living and breathing, hiring, firing, rewarding, etc. What are your four core values?
Danny Mishek 07:09
Well, our four core values are hospitality, character, innovation and get shit done. Meaning do your job. And so those when I think we know, we reevaluate them every six months or a year like, does it, should they change and how we have those like with the hospitality, when somebody comes to visit us, we’ll make sure there’s a beverage in the cooler for them and coffee and a clean facility. But characters not, yeah, being honest and loyal and trustworthy, but character is if you do something if you ride a bull, share it. I’m attracted to characters and so whether you go jump stoning, whether you make jewellery, whether you write a ball, whatever, share it, then you might have more similarities with people. Innovation, you can’t be in manufacturing without making innovation important. You know, we don’t just compete in the Midwest or in the US, we compete in the world. So you have to be innovative on a world level, not just in a Minnesota United States level, and then get shit done. Do your job. That one when you say that, you know, we never really used it properly. Our four core values when Sarah, I mean, she’s our EOS, I don’t call her a coach or she’s our EOS super like superhero. But do your job. Like get shit done when you say that? We were never using it in the hiring process. She says, you know, yeah, we’ll people will they’ll start, you know, after they hear at five to seven times but she was like, ‘Are you hiring, when you hire somebody in the interview process, are you mentioning your four core values?’ Like? No. She said, they should hear them the first interview, second interview, the onboarding, the first human company meeting. But once you hire with that, I feel like once you’ve laid out your four core values, you now you’ve just laid the groundwork of expectations. And if they’re uncomfortable with that, then obviously it’s not a fit right away. But you can always go back to the very first time you met. Remember, we talked about this? Where’s this innovation? Why are you doing this by hand when we have automation that can do that? And you can do something else? It’s so much easier to have that conversation.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 09:16
Yeah, I love it. And of course, you know, innovation we talked about before we go online that you’re now producing plant-based plastics as well as your traditional plastics. So when that world is just changing all the time isn’t it.
Danny Mishek 09:28
It is, I mean, I’m so proud to be a manufacturer and a US manufacturer to help our local economy, but to use traditional methods of manufacturing but also evolve in these plant-based plastics to actually create things that avoid landfills. So we don’t drill for oil and we don’t put something back in the landfill. So we can actually get something produced from corn. And without taking the kernel you know, we take the root and the stalks and create a polymer. Like this being my first podcast, this glass of champagne, but this is a plant-based champagne flute. So we make this here in Minnesota. And they go when you’re done, it goes into compost bin, and it turns into compost of 30-90 days. So cheers.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 10:14
Thank you. That’s great. So tell me a little bit about, you know, some of the challenges you’ve had as a family business and how EOS has actually helped you to overcome that.
Danny Mishek 10:24
I think the challenge is not just, the family business side is you have different dynamics with that, but we’re talking, you know, trying to run this company, they’ve been on board for three years, but you throw a pandemic in there. So you have the transition of getting them truly exposed to manufacturing and feet on the ground, to also now third shift, they might have contact tracing of COVID. So they can’t come in. But the machines have to be running. So you have to come in and be relevant. So how do you how do you how can you always, how do you always be here when you don’t have to be here? Yep.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 10:59
So how has EOS helped with that in terms of your thinking, or tips and tools and things that’s actually helped with that?
Danny Mishek 11:05
I would say, um, how it’s helped is to go back to the four core values, and that, honestly, the AC or the accountability chart, the accountability chart is magical. And when we first do it, oh it’s an org chart. No, it’s an accountability chart, it doesn’t matter from top down or left to right. It’s wherever you look, the accountability is on that person. And on him or her whoever it is, like this. If something falls short, you can go with the accountability chart.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 11:38
Yeah, that’s a really key point, isn’t it? Because when we first start doing it with any of the clients, they go, well, they treat it like an org chart. And it’s really quite different to that in terms of being very, very clear, like anybody in the organisation can look at it and go, that’s the person who you want to speak to, but it also comes down to solving issues and if you’ve got a challenge or an opportunity, you know exactly who is accountable for that.
Danny Mishek 11:59
100% I felt we’re having company meetings, kind of lecturing or scolding the entire company, when it was a department or an individual that needed to be talked to. So it made it easier to go and bringing up all the things that happen on first shift or second shift or third shift. It was just one person that’s not doing their job, we can reward the other people that were doing their job, and then we can retrain and address the individual who was falling short.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 12:27
Yeah that’s fantastic. And you mentioned at the beginning, better meetings. Tell me about that.
Danny Mishek 12:33
Yeah, great. I think going in there with a focus and a laser focus of having the agenda, having your to-do’s and issues list. It keeps them shorter, but also keeps them relevant, where you don’t get hung up on some of the things. I just felt with those, better meetings and bring the core values to them. And with the accountability chart, people are coming prepared, because we’re seeing results from meetings, before we would have meetings and we’d not see results. So I would always say even before the other owners came in, we’ve always had great effort. But we never got rewarded or never got the results from great effort. And so now I think we’re seeing the meetings are being effort but with rewards with the effort. And the meetings, I think they’re precise, our vision is clear, because of being able to delegate and elevate. So you know, we had our two-day session with Sarah. And one of the things she said was, Danny, you got to get out of the office more, go do what you’re better at doing, go be the visionary. And also that first Monday back, I had a coffee with a customer that we’re growing with, and this company is led by this President and she’s done such an amazing job to grow through COVID. And I could have coffee with her for two hours on a Monday morning and talk about the growth opportunities. And before, I’d be like I feel like I need to be seen in the office in case I need to help with something. I can’t help with something. I always say, the higher you get in the company, the dumber we get and I’m at the top. So like I can’t help. Move out, you get out of the way Danny. Yeah, so it’s been good.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 14:05
And also get back to doing what you love, right? Because you obviously love those relationships and looking for opportunities rather than being stuck in an office worrying about whether or not the machinery is working properly.
Danny Mishek 14:14
100% I love the sharing and caring and storytelling. The things I do, I have a beehive, I like to garden, I like to golf, I like red wine. Those come into not selling but sharing the relationship and building ratio to other people. It’s amazing when you have a beehive when people say so, how does, how’s honey made? You know how many gallons you get from this and pretty soon they they’re like it’s fun to talk to Danny because you always want something different and some of this that normal people do.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 14:45
You say you’re normal?
Danny Mishek 14:48
I’m not normal. I’m not normal.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 14:51
I just thought out of interest, had you heard of like a visionary role before you took on board CEOs?
Danny Mishek 14:57
Not really I’ve heard visionary. I heard entrepreneurs. I still struggle to call myself an entrepreneur, I really, people have to tell me, I’m an entrepreneur. Because you, there’s classes for entrepreneurship. I mean, people like, oh, I’m an entrepreneur, and, oh, what do you do? I’m going to school or I’m doing this, like, well, you might want to be an entrepreneur, but what do you have? I have eight patents. And I don’t think I’m an entrepreneur. It’s weird. It’s almost like, I think entrepreneurs have to have like, so much more success. And but really, to get to this point, you have to fail so often to have these successes. And I just, I have a hard time forgetting the times I failed. I hold it on. I was like a crutch. But really, if I didn’t have failed, if I didn’t fail at that part, I wouldn’t have been up here developing products. But with plant-based plastics and garden pots, you can plant in the ground. And they, it feeds the roots like, these are things that we’re working on. But I failed in 2014, the first try at it. But now I’m bringing it to market this year.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 15:58
Certainly sounds pretty entrepreneurial to me. And you’ve also you mentioned earlier, but you actually took on board something completely new this year. And I can see it in the background there. So you have a New Year’s resolution. Tell us a bit about that.
Danny Mishek 16:10
Well, I’m other you know, your resolutions that I make have failed because all revolve around losing weight, and I just can’t do it. I don’t do it, or I don’t try hard enough. But this year being with the social unrest in Minneapolis, and that divisive political landscape of the election, and COVID I just felt those that darkness was really coming in me personally. And it was really hard to that to be locked down and it was difficult to see people post something on social media that just, well, I care, like and love some of these people, friends and family. I was by myself, really not liking people. And so I told my wife, I’m going to get social media for 30 days. And I did so I woke up next morning and New Year’s Day 2021. And I went to grab my phone, I’m like, No, I said I was going to do that. So I found myself with all this extra free time. And so I started to read a couple books, I don’t love reading, but I start reading some books, but I decided to finally write a book. And I’ve always wanted to write a book about the importance of decorating a Christmas tree, at least in my opinion. And it was fun to put down thoughts that I’ve been blessed with my family and as a child with my grandparents and parents. I want to make sure this was an all-inclusive book that it wasn’t my Christmas story. This was like something that everyone gets into the holidays, once the December 1st comes along, you turn your calendar page and you just see everything already filled, and the stress and anxiety, but there’s so much love and care and sharing and festivities that go with that some get overwhelmed with all that. And so, to me, I feel like I have four children, two in college two in high school. And I feel like this was my one hour a year that I get a chance to decorate the tree with my kids. The kids can’t have friends over, they know that they have to be home. My wife has all the decorations out and we all have a look at all the ornaments, we say is there room on the tree? Where do these all go? And then what we’re gonna drink, so hot chocolate with big marshmallows, or a bourbon for dad, a glass of wine for mom and then we fight for the music is it going to be country western music tonight or is it John Devlin and The Muppets or is that you know, gospel music. But when you get all done, it feels like as your ornaments, every time we travel somewhere, we buy an ornament. So you’re almost unpacking your life every year, from when you went to Napa Valley or went to Barcelona, Spain or these places you’ve been or a first-grade teacher gave this to you. And just that for an hour to me, I’ve reminded how blessed we are. And doesn’t matter if you cut the tree down from a farm, or plastic if it’s a fake tree, but your story is your story. There’s no right way to celebrate that time of the year. But I’m trying to get people slow down and celebrate that time of the year.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 19:11
This has been really interesting because we’ve been locked down for a couple of years on and off over in New Zealand as well. And last Christmas, I actually didn’t put up a Christmas tree, it’s probably the first year ever. And it was because we were, there was all sorts of stuff going on. And now when I hear us talking about this, I remember, I’m exactly like you. I buy an ornament for each new family member, everywhere we go to, it has to match colour wise, I’m very anal about that. But you know, and it’s true. There’s real joy when you pull it all out and start to look at those things. And it’s the gratitude. That’s right. We had the most amazing time there or, you know, Hermes, our new puppy joined us last year and so this year I ordered Hermes a bobble and I am putting a Christmas tree up. But what’s the book called?
Danny Mishek 19:51
It’s called The Christmas Tree Story. Not very original. But what was fun was I thought my journey was always about writing the book. I love to share stories. I never cared about or thought I would be an author. But to share the story is more rewarding than actually writing the story. And as I tell people in the book, there’s like Easter eggs in the book that reflects on my family or my experience. But there’s a story when our kids were first born. I drive by this tree farm, it’s like a tree lot. And they’re already precut. And it’s called Jolly Jack’s, and I drive by there. We’d have snow on Tuesday and the snow it’ll be on the trees on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. So I know that they weren’t cut fresh every day, but we’d see him and finally it was, we try to wait a couple weeks before Christmas. And so we finally go up there and then say, alright, Jack, we need to look at a tree. And I said, How often are these cut? He looked at me says the cut fresh every day. And like well, I drive by every day. So I know that it’s snowed Tuesday and there’s still snow on the tree on Saturday. It wasn’t cut today, you know, but he looked at me and so everytime we we’d go back and he’d always lie, my wife would say don’t ask but I’d say, Hey, Jack how often are these cut. He says cut fresh every day. So it was like an open lie. But I accepted it. It was okay. And then the big thing was the person in front of us neither knew the tree tied up on top of the car. And Jack would say How far are you going? And the guy would say I’m going seven miles. He said, I’ll give you the seven mile tie, and always kind of laughed about that. And then he says, Alright, how far are you going? My friend, I said, I’m going two miles, he’s uh, then I’ll give you a two mile tie. So I was able to put that little story in just a stanza that says ‘A local lot for us, Jolly Jack’s was its name, we ventured down each row, no tree was the same. Clean cut fresh each day, which I knew was a lie. On the roof, they got home with Jack’s two mile tie. It was so fun to build a, put a story into just a stanza, but have this meaning for me. But when I share that story, 9 to 10 people tell me their story of they went to a tree farm or they’ll go with grandma or they’ll go with dad. And it’s so fun, because now we’re not talking about wearing a mask. My time not vaccinating. We’re not talking about political unrest. We’re not talking about all these things. We’re talking about tradition and a happier time. So it’s been so rewarding for me to get out of the office because people are doing their job. And people are delegating and elevating. I could write a book. It’s been amazing.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 22:14
It is amazing. Hey, I’m really curious. It’s a little bit off topic. But in terms of getting off social media for 30 days. How hard was that? Because I must admit, I’ve got to the point where I’m getting really quite tired of the stuff that I’m seeing on social media. I know it’s doing me no good. But I must admit I’m a little bit you know, what’s the right word, addicted to my phone? I think probably the right word.
Danny Mishek 22:34
Yeah, yes. Yeah, it was difficult. But after the, I’d say after 48 hours, I realised what I was missing was nothing relevant. Yeah, I wasn’t because you find yourself scrolling and caring what things you should not care about. Yeah. And so it was hard. So I turned my, I still have my alerts off. And I will check it over lunch or in the evening. But I have not, I’m not a slave to social media. Now, I’ve always thought ahead to be quick to reply. If somebody replied to me, and stuff, I realised it just doesn’t matter. People are not judging you on your activity on social media. And so also I have more engaging conversations with my wife, my family, my employees. Yeah, but now I need social media to sell my book. But it’s managed accordingly. And from there, you know, it’s like when I rode the bull, and post on an Instagram and social media, it was fun for people to see that. And it’s fun to get their comments. But that doesn’t define who I am, or define who my friends are. So you have to kind of put in perspective of like, it should be one of, one of the things that helps you get through life, not the only thing that drives your life.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 23:45
That makes perfect sense. I love it. Yeah, I must admit, I turned off the notifications on the phone. And even that makes a difference. Because that little red circle that used to pop up with numbers, it was almost like, I have to see, somebody commented or somebody’s done something and even with emails, I know I’ve done the same to my emails as well, I think it makes a big difference. I’m so pleased for you. I think it’s a fantastic you know, that’s the power I guess, to my mind of EOS, particularly in family business, but in any business is just being very, very clear about who does what, making sure you’re doing the things that are the things you are really great at and freeing up that time to do the things the other passions in life because we all have those other passions.
Danny Mishek 24:22
100% I totally agree. Yeah.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 24:24
Hey, look, I could talk to you all day, but we do try and keep these to a certain timeframe that’s unfortunately running out. Could you before we go share three tips or tools or things with our listeners that have really helped you in your life? I mean, professionally and personally doesn’t matter. But just three things that you’d like to share and then I’d love for you to tell us where they can get the book as well.
Danny Mishek 24:43
Sure, thank you. I do think that looking, trying to look through other people’s lenses, I think that helped me a lot in writing the book. I used an illustrator who did an amazing job. Her name is Megan Shumway. She put a person in a wheelchair, people with different skin colour tones like so no matter who looks at this book, it’s through their lens, and they can see what they want to see. So when you make decisions for your person, for your employees, for your vendors, what are they looking at, through their eyes. Some people get excited about the holidays, because they get to travel. Other people, it’s heartbreaking because there’s like, the bills go up, you know, so what’s it like through their lens? I’d recommend that. I would say, um, get out of your comfort zone, I’ve had more success being uncomfortable, and getting out of my comfort zone widens it too. So when somebody thinks they’re, they’re gonna bring in an uncomfortable situation to you, like, that’s not very uncomfortable so you can deal with it easier. And when you get out of your comfort zone, share that with people. Share your personality, your character, because man, it’s been so fun to talk to people about my book, but it’s grown into other relationships. People want to know, how is it to have a beehive and to write a book, to be self-published, they want to talk about manufacturing and the manufacturers, there’s not that many of us in the US, people say, ‘Oh, you make something? How? How does that work? What kind of schooling do you need? Do you have internships?’ You know, so I just think being different. And being out there and sharing that you’re different. We’re trying to be the same. Don’t be the same. Be who you are, but then share it loud and proud. So then people say, ‘How was it? How was it being that way?’ Share that part of it.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 26:24
I love that. And I think it helps to build resilience as well. As you said before, you know, if you don’t try things out of your comfort zone, you’re gonna have some failures, without a doubt. But you bounce back from those and suddenly, nothing seems hard anymore.
Danny Mishek 26:36
Totally agree. I’ve been talking to people and it’s kind of odd that people come and talk to you, and you have to share your failures. But that’s what gets them excited because of the successes that come after it. Yeah, failing is learning. So just learn a bunch and just learn fast. My father, he would tell us, if you’re going to fail, fail fast and fail cheap. If you have long fail that costs a lot money, you have a hard time to succeed, having success after that. So fail fast and fail, fail cheap.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 27:03
Love it. And the third and final tip for us, Danny,
Danny Mishek 27:06
I think those last two were kind of there. But I would say just be true to yourself. If you have your core values, you should have the business ones and your personal ones. But just be true to yourself. If you know what your intentions are and they’re pure, we’re all going to make mistakes, but if you have good intentions, people are going to understand when you have to apologise and say, ‘Yeah, I get it. You screwed up, but you owned it.’ And I’d say as long as you’re transparent and with good intentions, you’re going to go far in life.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 27:31
Fantastic. That’s great. And so your book, I’m really keen, how can we get hold of your book if we’d like to get a copy?
Danny Mishek 27:37
So it is on Barnes and Noble. For pre order. They’re shipping on November 1. So Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Target.com and then DannyMishek.com, I’m selling them myself from there. So it’s been really exciting, a heck of a journey for me, but it’s been really rewarding. And I have to say, if I have one more minute, Sarah Stern, who’s my, you know, EOS coach, business coach, I asked her to come to my house and read the first copy before it was hardcover, because I really struggled with, I should do something more with it. Because when you go to self-publishing, it costs a lot of money. And I wasn’t sure if I could really sell what I needed to sell. So I had her come over, I mixed her cocktail. I said, Sarah, I need your opinion, I need you to let me know, should this be 20 copies for my family and say, ‘Look, Danny, you wrote a book for your kids. And that’s cute.’ Or should it be something more, and my wife would have been supportive. But here’s another journey of more $1,000 to publish yourself. And she read the book. She read it a second time. And she says, I don’t think you’re gonna like me, I think you should do more with this. And so that gave me the confidence to do that. But she also bought the first 30 books to promote to her business. Like, here’s something for the holidays, and I know the author and local. But she after I gave her when they came from the publisher, I gave her the 30 books and she told me she was Danny I came 95% prepared to tell you, don’t go all in on the book. Like she came prepared to break up with me, you know, and but after she read it twice, she’s like, you gotta do something more with this. This is more special than just 20 books for your family. But I love that she came prepared to, you know, to let me down like, ‘You’re not an author, move on. Don’t worry about it.’ But she was honest. She’s like, ‘No, yeah, do more.’ So I just, I thank her for part of my journey. And that’s how we got to here with you. And this journey. This journey has been amazing. And thank you for letting me share it.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 29:43
It’s been a pleasure. And I have to also thank Sarah. Sarah and I share a common interest. We’re both really passionate about family businesses. And I reached out to her and obviously said if you’ve got anybody who could come on and talk about it, and she immediately thought of you which is great, and I’m very, very grateful for her for the introduction. So thank you Sarah. If you’re listening, it’s fantastic. Hey, Danny, it’s been an absolute pleasure, I really could talk to you for hours. And I’m very hopeful that you know, when we get to travelling again, I can come and visit you and see your manufacturing plant and also meet the family.
Danny Mishek 30:11
That’d be fantastic. We’d love to have you on.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 30:15
I’d love to say in the meantime, please look after yourself. Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to talking to you. So just a quick reminder, DannyMishek.com is where they can find the book, as well as all the major retailers. And I guess if anybody wants to have a chat to you about family business, you’d be okay for them to get in contact with you?
Danny Mishek
Absolutely. 100%
Debra Chantry-Taylor
Wow, that’s fantastic. I look thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Danny Mishek 30:35
Thank you. Cheers.
Debra Chantry-Taylor 30:37
Thanks again for joining us on Better Business Better Life with me, your host Debra Chantry-Taylor. If you enjoy what you heard, then please subscribe to this podcast. And let us help you to get what you want out of business in life. Each week we release a new short episode which will give a success story and three takeouts to put into action immediately. These will help you take your business from good to great. The podcast is also supported by free resources, templates and useful tools, which you can find at DebraChantry-Taylor.com. I am a trained entrepreneur leadership and business coach, a professional EOS implementer and an established business owner myself. I work with established businesses to help them get what they want. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to have a chat about how I might be to help you. Or if you’d like to join me as a guest on this podcast. Thanks again to NZ audio editors for producing this podcast. See you on the next episode.
Debra Chantry-Taylor
Professional EOS Implementer | Entrepreneurial Leadership & Business Coach | Business Owner
#betterbusinessbetterlife #entrepreneur #leadership #eosimplementer #professionaleosimplementer #entrepreneurialbusinesscoach
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