Finding Purpose Beyond Achievement
I joined Leslie Maloney on Meaning and Moxie After 50 to share my journey from successful software entrepreneur to business coach, and the profound transformation that came through sobriety. At 68, I’ve learned that moxie isn’t just about achievement—it’s about having the courage to face yourself, change direction, and live with intention.
Key Insights from Our Conversation:
- Starting Over at 58: After decades of entrepreneurial success building Robelle into a global powerhouse, I launched my coaching practice at 58 with clear boundaries—working no more than 20 hours a week and taking 12 weeks off annually. The hardest part wasn’t building a new business; it was learning not to work hard after proving I could for 40 years.
- The Sobriety Turning Point: For 20 years, I drank alcoholically every day while running a multimillion-dollar business. Meeting Coach Kevin on my 50th birthday set me on a path to sobriety 18 months later. I’ve now been to 2,500+ 12-step meetings and learned the most important lesson: the addictive mind that got me into trouble wasn’t the mind that could get me out. I needed help.
- Redefining Success: Sobriety taught me to be present—no more inventing reasons to leave the playground early so I could start drinking. It taught me I deserve self-care, whether that’s lying on the couch watching NFL football or spending solo time on my sailboat. High performers squeeze themselves out in the middle while caring for everyone else—I help my clients learn they deserve better.
- Practical Business Wisdom: For entrepreneurs starting after 50, I advocate the one-page plan approach with quarterly 13-week goals. It’s not about doing more—it’s about working smarter, creating alignment, and building the discipline to work ON your business instead of just IN it.
- The Gift of Experience: At 68, with over 45 years of entrepreneurial experience and 16.5 years of sobriety, I have perspective younger entrepreneurs desperately need. You can run into all the potholes I did and wear all my scar tissue, or you can learn from my mistakes and still make plenty of your own.
The Underlying Message: If you’re struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or workaholism, there is hope and there is help. Reach out to someone—you can’t do it alone. And if you’re over 50, know that people need to hear what you have to share. Your second act can be your most powerful.
Audio
Transcript
Leslie Maloney (00:00):
Hi, welcome back to Meaning and Moxie after 50. We’re in the top 2% of all global podcasts. I’m your host, Leslie Maloney, and today I am joined by someone whose story is both inspiring and deeply real. David Greer. David spent decades as a successful entrepreneur, leading teams and building companies, but what makes this story especially powerful is the personal transformation that came later after facing some tough crossroads in his life. David chose sobriety and that decision became the foundation for a completely new chapter. Now, as a business coach and mentor, he helps others not only build businesses, but build lives with meaning and intention and freedom. And our conversation he opens up about resilience, recovery, and what it really means to redefine success. After 50, let’s go Welcome to Meaning and Moxie After 50, the show that helps people rediscover their spark and create a vibrant next chapter.
Leslie Maloney (01:17):
I’m your host, Leslie Maloney, a coach who helps women in midlife and beyond design their second or even third act with clarity, courage, and joy. Maybe you’re feeling burned out, bored or just stuck. Maybe life handed you grief, loss or big changes you didn’t see coming. Whatever brought you here, you know there’s more potential in you, more joy, more purpose, and more possibility. That’s where I come in with just a few focus sessions. I help women like you get back on track with the support, the tools and accountability you need to move forward because you deserve to invest in yourself to feel alive, to feel fulfilled and confident about what comes next. So grab your coffee or your tea, take a breath and let’s jump into the stories, the strategies and inspiration that will help you rise with meaning and moxie after 50. Alright, everybody, welcome back and I have David Greer here with me today. Hi David.
David Greer (02:35):
Hi Leslie. It’s fantastic to be here with you today.
Leslie Maloney (02:38):
Yeah, so glad that we could have this chat and I was just reading up about you and you have such an interesting background. We could go a lot of different directions here in our conversation and will, but I think I want to start. You are a business coach and you have over 40 years of entrepreneurial experience, quite successful. You were in the software world and very successful in that, and you have a lot of insights there, and I think our audience, meaning Moxie after 50, we have a lot of people that are starting businesses after 50 and could really use some insights and direction on that. Let’s just start there. Give us a little bit of your story and tell us about your business coaching.
David Greer (03:30):
Sure, thanks. I just want your listeners to know that if something resonates either about starting a business or about anything that we talk about, I offer a free one hour coaching call. You just visit my website and it’s easy to get ahold of me. If something, because we’ll only go to certain depth, if you’re stuck on something, I want to put the offer on the table. I started my coaching practice, I just turned 68 last month and I started my coaching practice 10 years ago,
David Greer (04:05):
at 58, and the way I’ve been structuring it is I do it in five-year increments, I committed to do it to 65. Then at 65 I decided to commit to doing it to 70, and as I turn 69, I’ll make a decision as to whether I want to continue on to 75. There’s a caveat there, barring any health or health issues with my spouse, right?
David Greer (04:39):
There’s an underlying thing that is there, but not often said out loud. Now, in case this helps your listeners, I came out of a series of senior executive gigs in my mid fifties, and I came out of the last one, and actually on my 50th birthday, I hired an amazing coach who made a huge difference in my life, including getting me sober or I believe the universe put coach Kevin in my path so I could get sober. When I came out of this mid fifties leadership gig, I decided that I did not need to prove to anyone again that I can work hard. I decided to start my coaching practice. I wanted to give to other entrepreneurs what coach Kevin had given to me and the gifts that I got from him, and then I put boundaries around. My goal is to work no more than 20 hours a week in the weeks that I work and to take 12 weeks off a year.
Leslie Maloney (05:44):
I love it.
David Greer (05:46):
That’s kind of the broad brush strokes. Now it turns out for me this not working hard is really, really hard. Seriously?
Leslie Maloney (05:59):
Yeah, you’re a go-getter.
David Greer (06:01):
And I have this deeply, deeply embedded taskmaster spirit, which was part of me probably by the time I was two years old, that I represent internally as an octopus. It has eight arms, I can think I have two calm down and there’s still six more moving me into action. And sometimes this particular week is a coaching week, and I have a lot of podcast interviews and the kitchen renovation project my wife was supposed to manage somehow I’m now managing it and we’re in the heaviest lifting project planning, signing things off point of it. My 20 hours a week is essentially completely blown out of the water. Now it’s not all work, and then we’re flying Friday, we’re in a Wednesday, listeners won’t know that, but Friday we fly to the province next to us for a niece’s wedding. I’m going to pack 40 hours into the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of this week. But I want you to know that’s not the goal,
Leslie Maloney (07:09):
And I totally identify, I totally identify with what you’re saying. I tend to be somebody who’s pretty high energy and has a lot, I love a good list. I love a good list. Yes, totally. I’m constantly, and I think I’ve made peace with this. I constantly realize that there’s that balancing act of like, okay, I feel like I have enough going on. I’m pretty fulfilled. Oh, I don’t have enough going on, and then my plate gets too filled, and then I’m constantly sort of maneuvering that and I’ve come to the realization that it’s life and it’s all good stuff you’re describing there. I mean, you’ve got a lot of positive things happening, but it’s just the managing of that balance that there’s energy required in all those activities.
David Greer (08:07):
One of the things I worked on with coach Kevin is now at 68, there’s slightly less, although not a lot, but I have a lot of energy and it needs to go into something, otherwise it comes out inappropriately with my spouse or my children or grandchildren or the energy needs something to target. And that was a real insight for me that I needed to go torque up against things, just the way I work, and it’s just the energy levels that I have. I’m like a diesel engine. I work best when I’m harnessed up and in gear and chugging along. And then the work in the 18 years since I hired Kevin has been trying to find the appropriate things to torque against and to not overheat the engine like I am this week.
Leslie Maloney (09:05):
Yeah. Did you find before you encountered him, coach Kevin, you were probably working way, way too much? I’m going to guess.
David Greer (09:15):
No, no. I had the opposite problem.
David Greer (09:23):
I joined a young software startup when I’m 22 years old. I’m the first employee after the two founders. I liked the place. I stayed 20 years build it into a global powerhouse. Only one major disagreement. Well, and I bought out one of the original founders, became co-owner in 20 years. Bob and I only had one major disagreement, but it was a doozy and it ended in divorce, he bought me out. In 2001, I’m on the street not really noticing this .com meltdown. Our market was outside of that and chasing deals until someone smarter than me said, David, your kids will never be 11, nine and five again. And I can still picture her sitting in the chair in her office across from her and having the massive aha moment from that, my wife and I hatched a plan to commission a sailboat in the south of France and take our three kids and homeschool them for two years while sailing more than 5,000 nautical miles, about 10,000 kilometers in the Mediterranean.
Leslie Maloney (10:33):
Amazing.
David Greer (10:34):
Talking about torquing up to a project.
Leslie Maloney (10:36):
Yes, yes. Were you a sailor prior to that or did you have to build those skills?
David Greer (10:41):
I had a lot of skills. I come back and now it’s like, what’s next? And I work on angel investing and I’m looking at a hundred plus deals a year, and I’m investing in one and I’m being on the board of directors and I am working for options. And I meet this guy, Kevin Lawrence, coach Kevin at a training event, which I went to with one of my young CEOs to learn about strategic planning. And he made me more uncomfortable than I’d been in four or five years. He made me realize how completely unfulfilled I was. And he said something really simple. There’s a hundred people in this room today and probably every one of them needs your help. And I had been desperately trying to find entrepreneurs that needed my help and not succeeding. I wasn’t working enough hours and I also, I was just not torqued to people at my level. The entrepreneurs I’m working with, I probably were at their level when I was 23 or 24 years old, 25. I operated a different level. I took his card, I had it next to my phone. I looked at it once a week. I thought about calling him and the phone weighed, oh, I don’t know, 10,000 pounds, the fear of change of what would happen if I engaged with Kevin
David Greer (12:18):
just held me back. And then three weeks in, he called me.
David Greer (12:22):
Said, Hey, coach Kevin, we met at the Verne Harnish event. Do you remember me? I said, Yeah. I didn’t say haven’t thought about much else for three weeks. And then started our relationship and yeah, we definitely got me back to work.
Leslie Maloney (12:42):
And do you think part of that was you were so successful, so young, and then it was sort of like, what’s next after this kind of thing?
David Greer (12:58):
For sure. I’d been massively successful on a global basis, my former partner, and we wrote a new paper every year and then traveled the planet giving presentations to both technical and management audiences, creating belief in this obscure Vancouver based software company you’re going to trust your whole business to. And I’d been doing that since my early twenties, and that was my norm. And we just grew everything by the seat of our pants. No one told us, you can’t build companies that way. Well, maybe you can’t, but we could. And I always knew when I was really on the right track was when people told me that what I was doing was not possible. Oh, it’s impossible to run a business like yours with that much profit. If you say I do it every month. But you say it’s impossible.
Leslie Maloney (13:57):
Yeah.
David Greer (13:58):
I have 20 years of that. When I left Robelle, I was only like 41 or 42 years old.
Leslie Maloney (14:05):
And then you step away, you go for a couple years, you pull your kids out of school, you homeschool them, you’re out sailing all around the world. That must’ve been really profound for you to change it up to that extent. What was that like? How did it change you?
David Greer (14:25):
I don’t know how much it changed in the moment because it’s such a big project.
David Greer (14:32):
We get back to my taskmaster spirit was very, very happy. You have to wear so many hats and do so many roles. You’re trying to run a boat and keep it working. You’ve got to be an engineer and then you’ve got to be a navigator. You’ve got to be a sailor. That’s just that piece. And then you got a provision for three growing kids, and my two oldest were starting to get into teenagehood, and they’re all super energetic, big kids, so it’s a lot of food. And just the day-to-day and just being present to that, which was really the gift I think was we were day-to-day and present to that and not focused on the future outcome other than where we wanted to try and go explore next in which countries to go to and for what reason. That really just now, some of the things were truly, in hindsight, I’m an alcoholic. For 20 years, I drank every day alcoholically, and we did over 20 overnight trips during that trip where we sailed for 24, 36, 48, 72 hours. And every case, I never thought of picking up a drink when the life of my family was a hundred percent on the line, I could put the drink down. I didn’t realize this until I got sober.
David Greer (16:06):
And of course, as soon as we hit land, the first way I’d celebrate was
Leslie Maloney (16:09):
drinking
David Greer (16:09):
a beer. And the second overnight passage, we were in the Western Mediterranean Sea and there was a high pressure system, we were having to motor, but it was a hundred percent clear. Couple hundred miles from any light source and above my son and I at two o’clock in the morning is the Milky way as far as we could see. In fact, we kept seeing stars on horizon and thinking it was the stern light of other ships. It was that bright. And I really think that was the universe trying to show me that there was another path, another way, and it’s something that I go back to in terms of turning my life over to something bigger than me is that experience. I mean, it’s turned into something that’s very profound. I don’t know if I really knew it in the moment other than to live it. I mean that night with my son, Kevin, we’ve talked about it many, many times since, and it was completely magical for both of us.
Leslie Maloney (17:14):
Yeah, super profound it sounds like, and a lot of aha moments because an aha moment I should say. And it was shortly after that you come back and how long was it after that trip that you met coach Kevin and he, it’s
David Greer (17:31):
about three, four years.
Leslie Maloney (17:34):
Okay, you continued to drink still pretty hard, and then he was the one.
David Greer (17:38):
Oh, absolutely.
Leslie Maloney (17:39):
Okay.
David Greer (17:41):
And it took 18 months of working with Kevin until we got me back into some career gigs and kind of cleared off all the other messes on the table, and there’s the elephant in the room.
Leslie Maloney (17:57):
I think that obviously substance abuse is such an issue in our culture, our western culture, and it is very prevalent in the over 50 crowd too. Sometimes people don’t start having a problem until after, and I think we can’t talk enough about it and how it can slip up on you. It can sneak up on you, and then all of a sudden you’re like, oh, man, I’ve got a problem here. Is that sort of what happened, do you think over time or were you having little inklings?
David Greer (18:39):
I was really mostly in denial right up to the end. I mean, there were little times when I might admit it to myself, but really I stayed in denial about my drinking and a couple of things. For your listeners, what I want you to know is if you feel really challenged with alcoholism or addiction, there’s two things I’d really like you to take away. One is there is help out there. There really is help and there is light at the end of the tunnel. And the other thing I believe is my addictive mind that got me to be an alcoholic was not the mind that could get me out of that. I had to do it with someone else, which started with Coach Kevin, and then he coached me to 12 step recovery. And then that’s been a really fundamental part of my recovery. One, know there’s hope, and two, please reach out to someone for help.
Leslie Maloney (19:41):
Yeah. Yeah.
David Greer (19:42):
That’s really the two things I want people to know, right?
Leslie Maloney (19:45):
Yeah. And what is that quote by, I think it’s Einstein that in order to solve a problem, you have to come from a different, basically what you’re describing there from another mindset, you can’t solve it from that same place.
David Greer (20:02):
Yeah.
Leslie Maloney (20:03):
I’m paraphrasing, but
David Greer (20:04):
Yeah. Yeah. But that’s really the essence of it, and that’s been my experience. I’ve been to 2,500 12 step meetings and I’ve heard people’s stories. I’ve heard hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories, and it’s all the same. Someone had to have some hope that they could get clean and sober and none of them could do it on their own.
Leslie Maloney (20:25):
Yeah. The 12 step program,
David Greer (20:27):
they had to reach out.
Leslie Maloney (20:29):
The 12 step programs are so powerful. I mean, I’ve had some close friends and some family members go through that and seeing the change, and it really is, it’s got such a spiritual element to you’re basically giving up. Well, that’s the first step, right? Giving control to that higher power. Do you think you were a spiritual guy prior to that?
David Greer (20:56):
I think I was a spiritual person in my teenage years and in my early twenties, and then that kind of went by the wayside and life got busy and it just was really all about torquing up into life and then kids and running a multimillion dollar business and all the fears and the things that go with that and alcohol was how I coped with feelings. I made the highs higher. I made the lows not so low. It was rocket fuel so I could work more. It was how I coped with life. And that’s the thing when you put down alcohol if you’re an alcoholic, is putting a plug in the jug is not actually the hardest part. The hardest part is life continues and life continues to throw us curve balls and challenges. And now our solution of choice is not available as our solution of choice for me for over 20 years was alcohol. And the 12 steps are a path to lead you forward through life, so you don’t have to go use that coping mechanism to deal with life on life’s terms.
Leslie Maloney (22:17):
Yeah. How did you change in terms of being a husband and father after you got sober?
David Greer (22:26):
Definitely more present. I remember times, I’m not proud of this, but it’s true that when the kids were younger before we went on our trip where we might be at a playground at six o’clock on a Saturday and I haven’t had my first drink, and I’d invent some reason why we needed to go home, which was almost the only reason I did that was so I could go start drinking,
Leslie Maloney (22:50):
Right? Classic.
David Greer (22:56):
And obviously once I stopped drinking, I’m at the playground with the kids and it’s six. I mean, as long as they’re not starving and giving me clear indications that they’re starving and becoming wild animals, we can play as long as we want. There’s not a hidden agenda
Leslie Maloney (23:16):
going
David Greer (23:16):
on here. That’s definitely one of the underlying really big changes.
Leslie Maloney (23:26):
Super
David Greer (23:30):
also getting much clearer. This is work with coach Kevin. This is work in recovery, work in therapy. I deserve to look after myself. One of the other changes is now when I’m really low energy and worn down, I’m much quicker to recognize it. And if some people around me are uncomfortable about that, they think I should be doing more or I just say, I’m not doing anything all day, I’m going to lie on the couch, watch NFL football. If other people have issues with it, it’s like that’s their issue. I know this is what I need for me right now. I’m honoring much more what I need to operate in the world and be able to look after myself, and I do things consciously. Going out sailing and now it’s like I say, Karalee, I’m going to spend this time out on the boat. You’re welcome to come for the whole time, part of the time, none of the time. I’m going to be away, just so I want you to know, because I know that that’s what renews me. And sometimes actually I’ll say, look, next week I want to be away on the boat. I really would just prefer it was by myself.
David Greer (24:53):
I know it’s like being in a super intense period and I just really want that decompression time with that environment that is really, really sustaining and renewing and building of my resiliency.
Leslie Maloney (25:07):
Yeah. Well, and what you’re talking about there is self-care, and we talk about that a lot on here, but what I love is having a male talk about it because males don’t often talk about that and it’s unfortunate, or maybe they do, but we don’t call it self care. We might call it something else a little different. But yeah, renewing yourself, filling up your cup, which is so important. We all need that. And then if you’re an extrovert and introvert, it works even a little bit differently tuning into that energy exchange and what you need there. Being alone or being with other people,
David Greer (25:46):
I am definitely an extrovert and what the learning has been in the last 16 years and a half of sobriety is, but I’m also an introvert. It’s not this clear cut. There’s times when I’m with other people and it really energizes me, and there’s times I’m with other people and doing massive things where I actually need really significant downtime and I really need alone time or very little interaction. And I’m a super social guy, and it’s also being okay with, I deserve this. I don’t know, you’ll have to help me answer this. I think maybe it’s more a guy thing, maybe not. But I work with just high performers and they’re super passionate about their career and their life and they’re usually super passionate about their family and their partner and their kids and their grandkids, and they’re terrible about squeezing themselves out in the middle
Leslie Maloney (26:55):
and
David Greer (26:57):
feeling like they deserve to actively plan and do things that are just for themselves.
Leslie Maloney (27:06):
Right? Yeah.
David Greer (27:09):
And I actually ask people, if you become a client of mine in one of the first things I ask you to set goals for six, 12, and 18 months, at least one. But I ask you to set a goal in each of those three buckets, like career, business, life, relationships, and yourself. I want you to be intentional about it. And then sometimes I have to work with people to help remind them maybe they haven’t done it for 20 years.
Leslie Maloney (27:40):
Oh, so easy.
David Greer (27:41):
Maybe it’s going and buying a huge Lego thing and building it like, oh, well, that’s just what kids do. Well, no, there’s millions of adults that love doing that, it’s okay, and actually it doesn’t matter what others think about it. It’s what works for you,
Leslie Maloney (28:00):
and it doesn’t have to make sense, and it doesn’t have to be productive. It can just be, it can just be, yeah. And I would think too, I think that that is such an important gift to not only give ourselves to learn that and to stand by it. We know it intellectually, but do we live it and keep those boundaries clear that when we need that time, but also to our family and our friends that are close to us, it gives them permission to start practicing it too. I’ve seen that play out many times with myself and then also people that I work with
David Greer (28:37):
where one leads the other follows.
Leslie Maloney (28:41):
Yeah, for sure. For sure. You’ve got this in play and it really sounds like this has been so transformative for you in so many different ways. And I would imagine you’re probably really very still active in the 12 step program and probably sponsoring people and all of that. And you bring this piece over with you in terms of the business coaching, helping people, and maybe they do, maybe they don’t have an issue with substance abuse, but usually it is funny because it doesn’t even have to be substance abuse. It might be something else, right? Like workaholism or, exactly. Yeah. I mean, it can show up so many different ways.
David Greer (29:24):
We have lots of ways to cope, and some of them are really unhealthy.
Leslie Maloney (29:28):
Yes, yes. It’s just to me, how many different ways it can manifest itself. Is that the root, what we’re talking about here, helping people with these different buckets, the self-care is one of them, and then these different goals for their business and so on. And one of the things I wanted to ask you about is you talk about the difference between habits and goals. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
David Greer (29:58):
Sure. As a coach, a lot of the work that I do with clients is helping people to get crystal clear where they want to go, which is the goals. That can be where you want to move your business, where you want to move your life, these things you want to introduce to go achieve. One of my goals for a long time was to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, which I did in 2013. That’s kind of the visioning goals piece, and I think that’s a big part of a coach’s role. Then the habits show up in two different ways, I believe. One is building daily rhythms and habits that really serve us well. I was at the Cycle Collective this morning at seven 15 to do a really hard spin class. I start the day with exercise, and they don’t all have to revolve around this, but it’s usually sleep what you put in your body and exercise movement. And it’s still amazing how often I have to go remind my clients about that. They’ve got too busy. And a lot of my clients, it’s like in the summer, they’re going to take it easy. They’re not going to exercise as much. And I’m just in the middle of doing my first call with every client for September, and it’s like, okay, summer’s over. What are you doing? And then the other thing is what I call drains and distractions, which may show up as habits often could show up as habits, but I liken these to, you walk around all the time and you have tied to each ankle 20 feet of really heavy chain, and you’ve walked around it for so long, you don’t even notice how it’s slowing you down and dragging you. I call them drains and distractions. And sometimes to get rid of a distraction, you build it into a habit and then it doesn’t become a distraction anymore because your brain just does it on autopilot. Sometimes it’s like you got to have a conversation with your spouse to take this out of your life, or you need to stop doing this thing, or you need to delegate it. And usually each of us, if you haven’t looked at this for a while, might have 20, 30, 40, 50 things like this. Start making a list and once a week try and see if you can eliminate one, which you might get there is through a habit, but you might have to find another way to solve it. And
Leslie Maloney (32:47):
these
David Greer (32:47):
are the things, you’ve got this vision of where you want to go, but you’ve got this heavy damn weight that’s like slowing you down and preventing you from going where you’re going, but you’ve done it for so long, you don’t even realize, or maybe you have a habit that doesn’t serve you anymore. A huge change I made about 18 months ago was exercise at seven or seven 30 instead of six, which let me get, go to bed a little later and maybe have a little bit more sleep. I tell you, I had over a dozen years of exercising every weekday at six. It was a really tough change.
Leslie Maloney (33:28):
Interesting. Yeah,
David Greer (33:30):
just to do that kind of 75 minute to 90 minute shift. But what it meant was the hour after that suddenly felt super compressed.
Leslie Maloney (33:42):
Okay, interesting.
David Greer (33:42):
And that’s how it showed up for me. It’s been a very interesting journey. I’m almost used to it, but it’s probably taken 18 months because I’d done it for so long. Right.
Leslie Maloney (33:58):
Yeah. And you’re walking the walk. You’re walking the walk of what you’re trying to teach people. The thing I love about coaching is the accountability. We all, especially when we’re trying to make a change, having that person to be accountable to is so important. Somebody that we kind of just is going to hold us and remind us of our vision, remind us of what we, because there’s so many distractions and things depend on people. When you work with these entrepreneurs, what would be like somebody who’s just getting into this and starting a new business over 50? Are there some basic three or three to five things that you would sort of tell them right out of the box?
David Greer (34:51):
Yes, I love, I work with tools that are called one page plan. One comes from a guy Verne Harnish. It’s very robust, very big. I think it’s too much, especially for someone who’s just starting out. And then there’s an entrepreneur from Atlanta called David Cummings, and he has a blog post, which he writes once a week. It’s davidcummings.org, and he has his version of the one page plan. And for anyone starting out, I’d really just email me. I’ll send you a copy of it or I’ll send you a link to David’s. The main thing is what’s your purpose? What’s the bigger thing you’re trying to achieve? I think there’s a cultural piece, and then both sets of plans. We built Robelle the classic way, which is our planning was mostly let’s do what we did last year and kind of do 5% better.
David Greer (35:52):
The David Cummings and Verne Harnish invert that and say, where does the business need to be in three years and what does that look like? And where’s four or five key things? Again, all of this is about simplification. It’s not about making massive lists, it’s about making massive lists and shortening them down to the most important, like four or five things. In four or five years, if you’re starting a business, it’s like, well, in three or four years I want to be operating in Vancouver, or maybe I want to be operating in the lower mainland, or maybe it’s BC.
David Greer (36:31):
Then where do you need to go for the next? Where do you need to go for the next year? And again, four or five critical goals for where you need to end up at the end of this year, which are hopefully on the path to getting you to where you want to be in three years. And then what do you need to achieve this quarter? And I’m really a big believer, quarters are 13 weeks long, and my assertion is in 13 weeks, you can get a lot of stuff done, and if you were completely off base and you completely went in the wrong direction, it’s extremely unlikely you would kill the business and you’d still have enough time to regroup, face any new brutal facts, and learn from what you tried in the 13 weeks and course correct, and choose a new set of three to five goals for the next quarter, 13 weeks.
Leslie Maloney (37:22):
And that’s what you’re doing when you’re working with those clients and just kind of keep, yeah.
David Greer (37:30):
Yes. I really push them to the David Cummings one page plan. I was just reviewing it with one of my clients yesterday for his business, and he intends to build a very, very substantial business. You add it for about 12 or 15 months so far, and we’ve got it boiled down to two and a half pages.
Leslie Maloney (37:50):
Okay.
David Greer (37:53):
And I pulled it up before a call yesterday, and I just reminded him a couple things that are in his plan, because some of the things he was sharing with me sounded like they weren’t totally aligned with what he had. I checked in, I said, have you changed your mind about these things? And it was like, oh, no, I haven’t. Oh, well, what I just shared you is on the path to this because this leads to B, leads to C, which leads to D, which is what’s in the plan,
Leslie Maloney (38:19):
and working smarter, right? I like the idea about simplification, working smarter, because you can just run around with a chicken with your head cut off, the expression, trying to do it all, you lose sight of that important stuff. What’s the big stuff that I need to be focusing on here?
David Greer (38:40):
Well, and especially if you need to involve other people, whether that’s subcontractors, I do a lot of work. Part of my work is facilitation with entrepreneurs and the senior leadership teams. Again, we need to get alignment. Everyone is, at least when we leave the room after a quarterly planning session, everyone has to agree, this is where we’re going for 13 weeks. Then get back together. And you can argue again that we’re in the wrong direction. But if you don’t have alignment, it’s like being in a rowboat and everybody is pulling on there really, really hard and there’s a lot of splashing and there’s a lot of water, and there’s a lot of movement. And at the end of the day, you’re going in circles because you’re not actually aligned in pulling together to some agreed upon direction.
Leslie Maloney (39:30):
And I think that’s true in families too, that we can take these principles completely and apply it, right? We can apply it in relationships, families, it all works there as well.
David Greer (39:44):
Anyways, if you’re starting out a business, I think the discipline of taking David Cummings one page plan, like I say, it’s only probably got six prompts and maybe eight max. I think it’s six. And filling that out, I just think your chances of success, and then again, building the discipline of quarterly planning. And it is a discipline to hit the pause button because as entrepreneurs, we tend to work in the business. The next call, the next fire, the next shipment, the next thing. And we lose sight of working on the business. But that’s the smart piece that you’re referring to. Absolutely. It’s not just doing more. It’s like maybe doing less and getting more value, which you won’t figure out if you don’t take a giant step backwards from the business and look at it strategically and where you’re going and what you’re trying to achieve. Having it written down, but then reviewing it every quarter, it’s a living thing, which every quarter changes.
Leslie Maloney (40:57):
Good stuff. Good stuff. Any final thoughts as we wrap up here in terms of, I mean, I’ll have all your information in the show notes, show notes, and where people can find you and so on. Any final words of wisdom that you want to leave people with?
David Greer (41:13):
Yeah, sure. The title of your podcast is Meaning and Moxie After 50 and having Moxie doing stuff, bringing change to the world is a lot of fun.
Leslie Maloney (41:28):
It is.
David Greer (41:29):
I come on these podcasts because I want to share my experience, strength, and hope in business and in recovery. That’s the bigger purpose that I am living right now. And I think I have a lot to share at 68 with people who are half my age. In fact, I just had a podcast come out with someone who self-admitted to being less than half my age, but nonetheless, found our conversation really helpful. And if you’re over 50, there are a lot of people that need to hear what it is that you can share.
Leslie Maloney (42:05):
Oh, for sure. That long view. I mean, I agree. The older I get, having that long view is such a gift. And to be able to share it with anybody is just the wisdom of age. I mean, it’s a real thing. It’s a real thing.
David Greer (42:24):
And as I like to tell younger entrepreneurs, you can run into all the potholes and wear all the scar tissue that I have, or you could read my book or spend a little time with me and at least avoid the potholes that I tell you about. You’ll still make lots of your own, don’t worry.
Leslie Maloney (42:39):
Yes. And tell us the name of your book.
David Greer (42:42):
It’s Wind In Your Sails. It’s vital strategies that accelerate your entrepreneurial growth.
Leslie Maloney (42:49):
Okay. We will put that in the show notes as well. Well, thank you for this great conversation. It gives us a lot of food for thought and a lot of different directions we were zigging and zagging and all that through that. We appreciate you sharing, and I know everybody enjoyed that. Thanks
David Greer (43:12):
again. Well, thanks.
Leslie Maloney (43:13):
Yeah.
David Greer (43:14):
And thanks, Leslie, it was fun.
Leslie Maloney (43:15):
Thank you for listening everybody, and I know you enjoyed it. And you take care now. We will talk soon. Bye now. Thanks so much for spending this time with me on Meaning and Moxie After 50. I hope today’s episode inspired you to see what’s possible in your next chapter. If you enjoyed this conversation, please take a moment to leave a review or share it with a friend. It really helps spread the message that life after 50 can be rich with purpose, joy, and new beginnings. And if you’re ready to rediscover your spark and move forward with confidence, visit www.meaningandmoxieafterfifty.com to learn more about working with me. Until next time, keep shining and take care.
