SPEAKER_00 0:00

I know enough about almost everything to have a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

I gotta get something from this instead of I gotta give something to this.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Like we're thinking more about what they can do for us in this relationship than what we can do for them.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

It was like they just like sucked the whole life out of me.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

You know, after 200 episodes, you are a way better listener than you were, you know, two years ago. Compromise is basically each person losing in a way that they don't feel terrible. They try to disguise a transactional desire with a relationship conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Hey, what's up, everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner and Profit Podcast. Excited for the interview today. We're talking to Kevin Davis. Kevin, man, thank you so much for hopping on and chatting with me for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah, man, thanks for having me. This is awesome. I um uh haven't done this for a little while, so I'm super excited to sit down.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, that's cool. Well, give us uh give us the backstory, man. How did how did you get to where you are today?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

It's a long backstory, so I'll shorten it. I've been an entrepreneur for over 30 years, have run multiple companies, have helped companies grow from, you know, I was in the dot-com days. I'm a little bit older, so we took some dot com startups from you know two employees to 250 and uh did that whole thing. And then over time I have e-commerce brands, I do coaching brands, I've done some television consulting as well, and a little bit of everything. And now primarily what I'm focusing on is my e-com brands, which are retail, and then uh also my coaching, business coaching and consulting is primarily what I do.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Now, in the pre-show, you told me like, hey, strategic partnerships, relationships, that's my superpower. What what all did you mean by that? I'm I'm sure obviously if you've taken some companies and grown them like that, you know, growing it, growing a business through relationships is is certainly something that was part of it. But how you know, walk walk us through that. How how did it become your superpower?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, so you the way I describe that superpower basically is is what I call getting a conduit between almost anybody. I've I've I feel like I've got kind of this God-given ability, and I'll back up and say I'm a generalist. So I'm one of those guys that can literally talk about I know and I know enough about almost everything to have a conversation. So, what I mean by building a conduit is that I I have this ability, and I think it, you know, it's innate with me a little bit, but it's also learned, and I think anybody can do this, is that you learn how to speak to someone where they are. So if I'm talking to an eight-figure business owner, I'm gonna speak to him in certain ways. If I'm talking to a car guy, I'm a big car guy, I talk to him in a certain way. And sometimes those two things, like I was with an entrepreneur yesterday on the phone, and and we start talking about his C10 pickup restoration product that he wants to do, but we're on a call about his business, right? So that brings that connection. I can talk about my hot rods I've built, what I have in the garage right now, and those kind of things. So whether it's that person or you know, you meet a custodian of a high school, you can sit and have a conversation with them. But really, what it's about, and for me, the main goal is I am here to serve that person with this conversation and look for opportunities to serve them. Because I think one of the biggest mistakes we make in networking, quote unquote, is that we're thinking more about what they can do for us in this relationship than what we can do for them. And I find that that puts people on the defensive, right? And so what one of the big things I try to do is make sure that they end up like I'm not here for me. Like, how can I serve you in your business? And we talked about a little bit of this before we got started, but that is what I've developed over time, and I have yet to find someone, unless they're just kind of like they don't really have social skills at all. I feel like that I can I can have that good connection with pretty much anybody.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I think that you know, to your point, like if you if you just show a genuine interest in people, I think it's fascinating how much you learn. Because I I probably would would say I could relate to you, like being able to kind of talk to everybody about anything. It's not that I like am so smart, I think I've just been so fascinated and so curious about people and things and what they do and how they live their life and all of that kind of stuff, that you kind of learn a little bit about all you learn a little bit about a lot of stuff because you you know, especially like you told me that you do a lot of podcast you've done a lot of podcasting in the past, like you're basically getting like free coaching sessions in a podcast, like people are giving you their expertise on everything. And so if you are, you know, genuinely both open-minded and interested in stuff, or interested in people, and um I think it's been a a theme in a lot of the interviews I've done is like, well, I just focus on giving more than taking. Like, how can I contribute to this relationship instead of how can I take from it? And that mindset has really served me, and it sounds like most of the people, most of the experts that I interview serves serve them really well. I was curious if you could send the guy that um wants to work on C tens to my house because I've got a C10 in the garage that needs to be finished too.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Oh, that's great, yeah. My wife inherited a uh 72 three quarter ton from her dad that he's had since noon. And uh I stopped adding at like 45 grand worth of parts uh before we before we get started on that restoration. But uh yeah, yeah, for sure. No, I mean, you know, to your point, if you want to learn how to be a better listener and thus better husband, better father, better all that, do a podcast. It will make you it will my rest was like, you are, you know, after 200 episodes, you are a way better listener than you were, you know, two years ago. Because you kind of have to shut up and really pay attention. And when you do these things and you know you're recording, like you have to actually be listening instead of pretending to be listening. And with one of my podcasts, the Max Out Man podcast, I I had anything from uh my neighbor who's 92 years old and had been a pastor for 40 years, was dude, look worked for the CIA, and then to like a sex coach from Europe, right? And the joke goes, I told I told, I told the pastor, my friend, that he's like, I could have talked about that if you wanted me to. So he's like, we need to do another episode. He's he's 95 years old, and so uh but but but yeah, like that just being able to meet a lot of people and learn from each other. That's that's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Yeah, I love it. You know, a lot of people like hear what we're saying. It's like, yeah, I can I can talk to people, I can connect with people. And I have two questions. So I'm gonna ask the first one before I move on to the next one. But what do you think it is about people that that kind of puts them in that mind space of like, okay, I gotta get something from this instead of I gotta give something to this? Like, I see it all the time in network. Like you made the comment, like in networking, it's like, what can I take? What can I take? What can I take? I'm here to here to do this, here to do whatever. What do you think kind of puts people in that mindset and how do they shift it so they get more value out of the relationships that they're developing?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Well, I always laugh because you know, kind of the woo-woo crowd is always like you need to love yourself more and you need to care for yourself. Dude, we are the most self-centered, self-loving people, like all of any generation, right? We literally have social media networks that do nothing but take pictures of ourselves and post them for other people to like or dislike, right? So we are in that mentality that like we really do want to talk about ourselves all the time. And it and it is a learned communication skill to think about what the other person is saying more than thinking about what I'm going to say next. And I I'm a little bit of an ADHD kind of guy, and so like that's been that was something I had to learn over time, is because my brain works so fast that I can almost anticipate, and I think other people are like this, you can almost anticipate what they're gonna what you think they're going to say. I interrupt and that kind of thing. And so really it's it's slowing that whole process down and understanding that I am important to this conversation, but right now I want to learn more about them, which then makes them want to learn more about me. Um that's that's a big part of that.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah, I love it. I um I'm actually I kinda kind of come at it from like I I am selfish. I like I would agree with that. Like I'm probably am pretty selfish. I don't like to talk much. I'm like an introverted extrovert. So if you put me in a room with like five people, I'm probably not gonna say anything. But if you put me on a stage in front of 5,000, I'll crush it. Like, I don't know, that's kind of a weird thing that about myself. And so I've gotten really good at asking questions so that people will just talk the whole time, so I don't have to. So it is a little like self-serving, but um, I've always found it fascinating and sometimes funny because like we'll go to dinner with like friends of my wife, and then we'll get through the dinner, and they're like, you know, now that I've I think about it, I sat here and talked the whole time. I didn't learn anything about you, and I was like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

That's a that's a successful dinner, right? I mean, we like I'm the exact opposite. Like, after almost everything that my wife and I go to, I'm like, was I too much? Like, no one was talking. Like, I uh it's like I'm doing a stand-up routine because I'm I tend to be witty and funny and that kind of thing, and I'm loud, and I'm just loud, like you can kind of hear my voice on this podcast that I'm just I've got that residence and all that. Like, I I don't need a microphone in front of like 200 people, and so I can be loud, and so I'm constantly having to be like, shut up, dude, let someone else talk. And she's kicking me under the table, and I'm hoping not to say anything stupid. But but I think you know, I I talked to a buddy of mine about this, and when you're in a two-to-one, like a one-on-one conversation, whether it's live or or doing like this, there is an energy exchange that happens. And I'm not a I'm not, you know, you can again, I've used this phrase before already, but you're not not in a woo-woo way, but like yeah, you you have the the purpose of great conversation is that you are exchanging, you're giving me as much energy as I'm giving you. And and so for you, the listening aspect of it is is actually energizing to you more than the speaking aspect of it, I would guess. And with a big audience, you're not worried about it because you're giving the energy and them listening is giving it back. Whereas if you have to talk, it's almost it's more exhausting. Um, I'm guessing. So in those conversations, look for conversations to where the energy exchange is relatively equal because you know after you've had some of those, you're just like, I don't want to ever talk to that person again.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

I've unfortunately had some of those. I was uh I remember vividly I was after this event and uh we had hired somebody to to do something for us. I'm gonna go into too many details because I would hate for them to listen to this and feel bad about themselves. But they one of the most energetic people I've ever met, and this is post-event, so I'm exhausted because I've just been speaking for two days straight. And we go into the post-event function with a team to kind of celebrate everybody, and that person came up and they were still just as high as high could be, and just blah blah blah blah going, go, go, go. And it was like it was like they just like suck the whole life out of me right then and there. Like after they got done, I was like, I gotta go lay down. Like, I'm I need a nap after I just took it all, like I don't have anything left, it's over. Yeah, yeah, wild. Okay, so getting back to partnership, getting back to strategic partnerships, how do you identify a good strategic partner? And then maybe more importantly, like how do the deals get put together? How like how do you do that to where it makes sense for everybody? Kind of kind of walk us through your process.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, so one of the things that I learned, I used to use this on my podcast. I would use this phrase called, okay, this guest is the how did you get in here guest? And to give more context, I also use that for like events that I've been invited to and circles that I've been invited to. Because I look around and I'm like, the joke is I'm just waiting for security to come tap me on the shoulder and say, How did you get in here? Right. Like that's you know, just because of the opportunities. And so one of my business coach and and mentor was like, dude, stop saying that about yourself. You have something to offer to every situation, relationship, room, whether it's someone like super famous or someone that's not famous or whatever. And so I think that's you know, that goes kind of that's like two sides of the same coin when it comes to, you know, learning more about the other people, but also realizes that you always have value to bring to whatever relationship it is. And so I'll give you an example. I just had a so I do business coaching, and in part I do it in like the detailing and automotive space. You and I are kind of working on some stuff with codemarketing.com with that. And I'm I'm working, I had a great conversation with someone that I have known for probably nine or 10 months, and he's like, I've always wanted to work with you. They make a very successful CRM app for that industry. And so I'm like, well, let's just jump on a call and kind of see how it goes. And so we really talked about like this is kind of a second date because we knew each other, but we're just talking about, we're just brainstorming, like, what do you guys do? What do what do I do? How do we think these things could work together to kind of get those things started? And so I'm gonna see them at the end of next week. We will continue, but he's like, at the end of that call, he's like, I love this call, I've got some great ideas. Um let me spin them around and then and then we begin to talk about it. But in that case, it will be something where I benefit their business by by not only helping because I have a pretty good social media presence, push them, you know, push their brand and push their business and all that. But then I actually have something to offer to their network because if I can do, you know, large group coaching, whatever the offer ends up looking like for their customers, they get a value add of adding high performance business coaching to someone that's paying 300 bucks a month for their software or or whatever. And so that typically for me is is kind of a great example of how that works, but it started out as that converse started out as hey Eric and Tent Wiz, you know, I I'm really interested in learning how I can help grow your business. Like that's that's the whole conversation. That that was it. I shot him a text, and you know, hopefully the rest will be history.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

I work with somebody else pretty closely, and they kind of have the same mindset. Like, I've just dedicated my entire life to helping other people grow their businesses, and as a byproduct of that, my business has grown, you know, leaps and bounds over what anybody thought it would. And so if I hear if I'm hearing you right, it's like you know, you meet people, you focus on giving, growth, contribution, like how can I help you? What's important to you, let me support you. And then it naturally turns into a conversation, typically, where you collaborate, you connect, you get to know each other. And but I think that's so important. Everybody like feels it seems like sometimes like people just want to do a deal on autopilot. Like it's like, yeah, but we gotta connect, we gotta talk, we gotta get together. And it's like it seems like so many people are trying to figure out how to you know grow their business without doing that.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Transactional. Yeah, they want it to be transactional, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Yeah, like no, no, no, no, no, you just send me business, I'll send you business. Like, I don't want to do that. Like, I want to get to know you, I want to actually I want to understand what's important to you, I want to actually like move the needle in the ways that's like really, really impactful for you. Um, I don't just want to send you business and you send me my business. Like, and and also that never happens. Like, none of the transactional relationships actually seem to work out very well. Um, and that was gonna be kind of where I was going with my next question is follow-through. Like, how how do you guys manage that? You get together, you like each other, you put a deal together. What's the follow follow-through and execution look like? Because in a lot of partnerships and relationships, sometimes that's where everything drops off. A large majority of stuff drops off is the the nothing ever really gets done.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Well, I mean, you have to be if if it's kind of your thing to drive, you have to be the one to drive, right? And so the way I left the conversation is like, hey, it's the ball's in your court in terms of you tell me how I can help and how we can work together. I'm gonna happen to like in this case, I'm gonna see them in person next Friday. So when we have that conversation, I'll be like, hey, loved our conversation. Where are we at? Like, what what do we need to do to make this thing happen next? And and to be able to continue to drive to drive that process forward. And I think that that, you know, obviously, and I want to be clear, this is not all true altruism, right? Like, we are trying to build each other, and they know that. The nice thing about working with other businesses is that they know that that's what you're trying to do, and they're trying to do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Well, everybody, like we've all got to craft these win-wins, right? Win-win-win-win.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Everybody needs to win, like, for sure. For sure. And I think even with you and I, what's interesting about you and I is like, we were a little trepidatious even with connecting on Facebook. Um, you were like, I don't know what this would look like. But as it turns out, the market that I happen to serve, one of the big markets I serve and have credibility and and all that, happens to be a market that you were like, I'd love to get into that market. I just don't know anything about it, right? Yeah, and and so you and I have already begun to build that, and I've had probably five or six conversations in the last four or five days about co-marketing.com and be able to say, yeah, hey, this is this is what it's gonna look like. Because, and I'll, you know, that I I don't want to make this total plug for you, but essentially, like it's in the detailing space, right? They come in contact with all sorts of people. I had also had a conversation with my CPA, but the answer is always like I send those guys a tons of ton of leads, they never send anything back. Yeah, never say anything back, right? And so they're like, Well, I'm like, well, how do you let's here's let's use this system, let's figure out whether it works for our industry and and all that. And so they've been super excited. But yeah, it's to answer your question, it's really just like you would do any other quote unquote sales, which is you just have to follow up, follow up, and then you know, make make the deal and make it attractive for both of you.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

What do you think are partnership killers? Like, what do you think are deal killers? How how do how do these things go awry or go south?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

I like to use the word compromise because compromise the the definitive and I don't remember who remember who said this, but compromise is basically each person losing in a way that they don't feel terrible. So because when you compromise, someone is having to give something up. Yeah, um, and what I want to do is I want to develop the relationship in such that neither of us feel like we have to compromise because there's always some path to find like if I said, Look, you know, Eric, I want to do coaching for you, but it's a minimum of $1,500 a person, right? Like I know their price point doesn't match that price point. And so he would, in order to do that, which he's not going to do, he would he would have to like say, Okay, well, that means I've got to lose prices, and he's got to lose something. You know, we want to make it attractive for them to do that. And so I think that's the big relationship killer. And just being selfish and and pretending what a lot of people do is they they try to disguise relations, they try to disguise a transactional desire with a relationship conversation. And people have great BS detectors, yeah. Like they they know you're full of crap, so don't be full of crap. Either say this is transactional or this is relational, because if you're lying, this is just never gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

So good. I uh I've always said that like I shouldn't have to lose so you can win, or you shouldn't have to lose so I can win. And I could not agree more. I think I've seen so many relationships fall apart because of that. Like if somebody's gotta lose so that like this can go, like it just doesn't feel right. Like, I don't I I I certainly agree with you anyway. Um, how do you think about it?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Well, just as a side note, I talk about that in marriage context. People always say our marriage is 50-50. Well, then you're 50% wrong. I don't agree. It should be 100%, 100%, right? 100%.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I like absolutely agree.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

That's that's a good relationship advice along the uh you know, across the board, I think.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

And I think that, yeah, it goes the same way in partnerships. Like I'm okay giving 100% to this relationship, and I have zero expectations in return. Like that that is it's a just a happy, it's a great way to live your life because you're rarely upset about anything, right? Or rarely upset with people, but uh man. Um okay, last question before well, I've got two more questions. Um how how do you think just like as the landscape is changing with social media and AI and just everything that's taking place, how do you think that partnerships and relationships, real ones, are gonna impact the growth of businesses over the next three to five years compared to you know the traditional running you know paid ads or doing those types of things?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I think the relationship side makes it just so much it it actually highlights the importance of human human interaction. And I think the mistake people made, I spent a ton of time in AI. I think we talked about this before with our with our calls, but I probably spend three or four hours in AI every day, and in 2025 is probably six or seven hours. But um, first of all, AI is dumb, it's not as smart as you think it is. But what it highlights is that these interactions like this, I can use AI as a tool to begin conversations, maybe, or to seek out opportunities or all that. But I feel like now, and if you kind of look at the statistics even for the younger generation, the whole IRL thing is becoming more important.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

You know, kids are realizing that just just real fast, IRL means in real life for anybody. In real life, yeah. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

I'm I'm way too old to use the phrase IRL. Um, but I hang around a lot of young people. But the young people are are starting to see the value of having that that interaction with a with a person. And this is, you know, what I count this as personal interaction because most of my friends are all over the world and I don't see many of them. But that's what that personal connection, because AI sucks at personal connection, and it all it we're at least 20 years away from it actually being able to do that better, in my opinion. It could be five years, um, but we'll we'll see. But I think that that that human interaction is what becomes really, really important.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Okay, last question. How can we, as just the listeners of the podcast, how can we partner with you? How can we help you grow what uh grow your businesses?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

So for me, my goal for 2026 is basically to help uh it. I have twofold, but uh to help as many businesses achieve their goals through sales systems, um, understanding team, understanding leadership. Uh that's kind of what I do. So I come in and overhaul your business. I look at everything. And it the nice thing about that is it's not industry specific. So whether it's an automotive shop, a detail shop, a med spa, all businesses pretty much have the same problems, uh, which is typically lack of process, lead gen, speed to lead, how to handle your sales process, how to lead your teams. And so that's my main goal with that. And on, you know, I have the men's coaching program, which is primarily for men to help them with you know health, fitness, marriage, and business. And so that's my goal. So if you're a if you're someone that is That has a a network or something like that or has a business and you're interested in collaborating with me and whether it's me helping your business or me helping to help other businesses, I'm totally on board with that. Uh any if you happen to be a guy who who wants to wants help in those areas, I'd love to collaborate on that as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Awesome. A lot of uh if somebody wants to connect with you, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Uh easiest way is just go to like maxedoutman.com or you can just find me on Facebook. It's it's Kevin B. Davis, uh, is the easiest way to do it. Or shoot me an email, maxedoutkevin at gmail.com. So that's probably the easiest way.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

We'll we'll make sure that we link up the ways that uh everybody can connect with you, man. I really appreciate you spending some time with me today. Means a lot, got a lot of value out of the conversation. I know everybody listening uh feels the same.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Dude, I can't wait for us to tell everybody how awesome our collaborative relationship is.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yes. Could not agree more. Could not agree more. Awesome, man. Thank you again. Thank you. And thank you all for continuing to listen to the Partner Profit podcast. We'll see you on the next episode. Peace.