SPEAKER_02 0:00

How did your network get so big and how do you know these people?

SPEAKER_00 0:02

If you want to have really successful relationships, partnerships, and help you grow your business, you've got to give.

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Putting your clients first, not yourself. There is no game like that. There's no competition. There's no winner. Was there ever a challenge for you where you're like, no, this doesn't make sense? People who bring other people value. That's the key. Your life is going to change significantly. If you don't believe me, just try it. And then the worst thing that happens is your revenue is gonna go up, and that's generational, and that makes an impact, and that's legacy.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

What's up, everybody? Grant Wise here. Welcome back to the Partner Profit Podcast, the show where we teach you how to turn your relationships into revenue. And I am pumped today for this conversation because uh I get to get to interview the one and only Mr. Tom Kroll. Tom man, thanks for being on the show with me today.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Thank you for having me, brother. I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

This is certainly an honor and a privilege for me. You've had me on your show a few times. I've gotten to speak at a couple of your events. I'm glad I could repay the favor in some way. For people that are listening to the show and maybe don't know much about you, give us a little bit of the backstory. How do you get to where you are today?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah, so let's see. Uh I have a same story as so many other entrepreneurs, right? I struggled in school, barely graduated, uh, all that good stuff. I ended up doing a real estate transaction, and I realized I didn't have to work for anybody else, and I was hooked. So once I had that adventure, it was awesome. And then I started a coaching business that I sold and I had a an awesome exit. And uh then I started coaching coaches and building a mastermind and a coaching business around that, and it's been awesome. And I have all sorts of interesting partnerships, revenue share agreements, and all kinds of cool things that I I work on and get to enjoy. It's awesome. I've got I'm married, I've got five kids. It was started off, it was rough. Julie and I got pregnant, or well, Julie got pregnant in uh college, which which got us booted right out of college because we were in a small Christian college in Arkansas in Cersei. So I had to work right away, and uh it was tough for a while. But once I figured out entrepreneurship and the rules, I was very blessed early on, and still to this day, right before this podcast, we were talking about some of my mentors, and I'm very blessed to have phenomenal, phenomenal mentors who just consistently give me very good advice, rock solid advice, advice that doesn't always feel good in the short term, but is always good in the long term. So I was very, I'm very lucky to have that.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

That is awesome. I had no idea that you guys went to Cersei. You were you were at school in Cersei. Uh that's just a few hours from where I'm at. So that's funny. I didn't know that about you guys.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

I was at uh Harding University, yeah. It's a small little Christian school. And uh they do not play. You get you get your pregnant and you are leaving.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

That is wild, dude. I didn't know that. Okay, so uh coaching Inc. is your your coaching company now, right? Where you're coaching coaches and your mastermind. I am obviously blessed to be a part of that group. It's it is an amazing community of people that are dedicated to helping each other. So you guys do a phenomenal job there. So let's dive into this. Okay, how do how do we turn our relationships into revenue? This is something that I've watched you do over the years, and I think you do a phenomenal job at it. But if we're listening to the show and we're trying to learn, what do you got to teach us today?

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Yeah, I mean, it's it's I'll I'll give you the 50,000-foot view, but then I'll give you something right now that everybody listening can like pause this podcast and go and do right now that's practical. What I would say is this all of the rules of business, and I personally I have 88 of them that I follow, but all of them are ancient and proven and are full of wisdom. What I would suggest is that the number one way to build relationships is via reciprocity. I think that that's really the key, right? Reciprocity is the key. It's something that Robert Cialdini talks about in his book Influence, and which is one of my favorite books. And I think that the most important thing to do is to not ask for help and is not to ask how you can help, but is to just help. That's it. I mean, it's really as simple as that. So I think that the problem is most people don't do that. Most people what they do instead is they either ask for something too soon or right away, or they ask, How can I help you? And people at certain levels, they just don't have time for that conversation. You have to start by being a go-giver, not a doormat, a go a go-giver. And I think that is the number one way to how you know, people will say to me, Tom, how did your network get so big? And how do you know these people? And you know, because I I mean I'm very blessed to say that people take my call. It's people who are very much, you know, running large some of the largest, most influential companies in the country, you start by helping them. And they're very easy to know how to help because people who are on an adventure are very loud about it. They're usually the evangelist of their company, and they have euphoric enthusiasm and they talk about it on social media. So if you know somebody's launching a podcast, has selling a book, making a post on social media, share it, like it, love it, comment on it, download their podcast, subscribe to it, leave it a review. I mean, it it's it's as simple as that.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

That is definitely some very simple and straightforward advice. There's a common theme that I hear in a lot of the elite people that I've gotten to interview in this show, and that is you've got to focus on giving to people. You can't sit around and think, like, what can I take from all these relationships? If you want to have really successful relationships, partnerships that help you grow your business, you've got to give. And I think you gave us a very simple, simple, simple framework for doing that. And I want to make sure people didn't miss it. Okay. So if I am like, okay, I want to work with Tom, what do I do? I just go to Tom's Facebook account and I look at his last five or 10 Facebook posts, because he's probably, based on what you're saying, shared something that he's doing right now that's important to him. And then I just do that.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Let me give you the actual here's the framework, right? Here's how I run it. And this is what I share with my clients. What you should do is you should make a list of, we call it 40 good people. And what you should do, what I would strongly recommend that if you're stuck, if you are at a ceiling that you can't seem to get past, if you are self-sabotaging or whatever it is that you're struggling with, you're not going to get past that ceiling with a funnel, a tunnel, a webinar, a seminar, that it's not a CRM problem or strategy problem. You have a people problem. You are one relationship away from your next leveling up. We all are. If you want to level up, right? And some people don't, and that's fine too, right? It's different strokes for different folks. But if you are sincerely confused and stuck and not satisfied, satiated, or happy, and you're just not content and you want to level up, it's a person that you have to get to. What I would suggest that you do is make a list of 40 people. We call it 40 good people. These are people who are influential in your space. They either are they have direct access to your prospects and influence, and they have your prospects' eyeballs, or they're people who are further ahead of you in the same industry. What I would suggest that you do is make a physical list of 40 people, write down their names, Sally, Johnny, Bobby, Rachel, whoever. And then what I would do is I would get a calendar, and for eight weeks, every day for eight weeks, when you start your workday, the first thing that you do is on day one, you help that person. So if let's just say Rachel wrote a book, buy the book, promote it on your social media accounts, leave it a five-star Amazon review and send it to her and let her know, like, hey, I did this for you. Just want to let you know, I think you're doing a great job, and I'm rooting for you. On day two of the eight weeks, now you go to person number two. On day three, this is a two, three, five-minute exercise. Somebody gets married, somebody has an anniversary, somebody has a birthday, somebody's launching a podcast, making a social media post, whatever it is. You have a resource, you have a content, you contact, maybe you can send them a referral, a customer, a Google review. Every single day, Monday through Friday, for eight weeks, start your day with the first, second, third, fourth, fifth person on that 40 good people list. When you get to the last day after eight weeks, and you go start those eight weeks again, you just go through that whole list again. And I guarantee you, I personally will guarantee this, that if anybody listening, if just one person does just that, this two, three, five-minute exercise in the morning, with not eat before you get to the end of those eight weeks, you're gonna have a season where you're just absolutely you're gonna not believe what's happening in your life. You are gonna have doors open that weren't open, you're gonna have opportunities come to you, you're gonna have joint ventures, affiliate launches, you're you're gonna have things come into you, into your life and your business that you were not expecting, things that are even better than what you can imagine. The problem is people meet popular people and wealthy people, successful people, influential people. And the first thing they do is they either say, me, me, me, me, me, help, help, help, you know, can I, can I, can you do this? Can you can I do? Or what they do is they become a fanboy or a fangler and they just like, oh, I'm your biggest fan, which people don't like that. I'm gonna tell you right now, that does not work. It does not work. People value people of value, people who bring other people value. That's the key, right? You never want to lose your usefulness to other people. There is no such thing as retirement. You are either useful to someone or you're dependent, right? And and what you want to do is you want to get into a season of bringing people value. So, what I would suggest that you do is do this exercise, make a list of 40 good people, do it for eight weeks, and then as soon as the eight weeks start, restart the eight weeks again with the same exact people. If you do this three times and a person just does not respond to you at all, which is rare, um, you can you know take them off the list and add somebody else. But when people think of you, they should this is like a I don't know if you want to call it ethical manipulation, but I guarantee you, if you do this, your life is going to change significantly and immediately. It's this is not something that takes a long time to go into effect. Yeah, if you don't believe me, just try it. And then the worst thing that happens is your revenue is gonna go up and you'll have a lot of friends. I mean, that's like the worst case scenario.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So I think if I if I think I was listening to this, I would be like, okay, how do I take how does the transition happen though? How have you experienced it? I guess maybe share a story of you know, you buy somebody's book and you leave them a five-star Amazon review. How does that transition into some type of like affiliate or JV launch or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 10:09

It's endless. It literally describes.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

So is it like you don't even have to ask for it? It just happens or or or what?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Oh, yeah, it just happens. Oh, hey Tom, uh, thanks for doing that. As a matter of fact, it's so funny. I was just gonna do like a two-day in Tampa or Orlando or Jacksonville, you should come out and do it with me. Just like that. That's how it happens. People um have reciprocity is when you help somebody, when you sincerely help them, they have like a little glowing marble that they want to give to you back. And they can't wait to do it. So any opportunity that comes up, if you come up and you are just a fan or you're just you know, me, me, me, me, me, how hey, I wanted to show you this new thing I'm working on. I think you'd be a really good fit for your audience. And that people are like, oh my goodness, I've they already have turned out, they're turned off, they they have no interest. So it's it's shown up in my life personally in so many different ways from the very, very, very beginning. When, you know, it's funny, Todd Tobak was just on the phone with me a second ago and he was talking about this guy, Alex Youngblood, who you know, I remember supporting his group, and he was one of the first supporters of me, and he let me into his group, and that led to legitimately mountains of revenue. And I just think that um I can describe every real I mean, the exit of the company that I had came from a person who was came in and was just helping and helping and helping and helping so much that he basically ended up running the company and then buying it, and that was Brent Daniels, right? So I think that it's just a way to operate where it's a recognition that a business reduces your suffering by first reducing the suffering of other people. And it's a way uh it's generational. This is something that, you know, of all the things that you're gonna leave your kids, uh cash is the least of the contributors to generational wealth. Cash is nothing, right? By the time we die, God willing, our kids are gonna be in their forties and fifties, right? If they haven't made it by then financially, the worst thing you can do is leave them cash. That's only gonna make their problems worse, right? This is actual generational wealth. Entering relationships the right way. This is what you see when there's succession after succession after succession of people where families are just wealthy and doing the right things. And I would suggest that this is something that everyone should embrace. You know, I know it seems a little mechanical to do it that way, but the reality is we're all busy. And if you don't make a list of 40 people, you're gonna have good intentions and you're gonna say, I'm a really good person, I want to help people, but it's not gonna happen. So you you have to use the tools that work, and this is one of them is you you are one relationship away from your next leveling up. If anyone thinks that's not true, just go back into all of your leveling ups. And it's a person, it's not a strategy. I'm not saying are strategies great, yes, they make you more consistent. They a hundred percent, but it's people. We're a people business. You know, this goes to one of the rules about working from home. Work from home, don't become a homebody, right? It's all of these rules are about putting your clients first, not yourself. Put your clients first, your customers, your team, your community. And then it's you know, it's frustrating at first because you see it and it's right there and it's right in front of you, and you're like one inch away. If you could just reach it and grab it and take it, and it's like, but if you just calm down and take a deep breath, you learn how to flank situations and come out there from the side, and you do it in a good, wholesome, organic way, and then everything just kind of like grows together in a beautiful garden of your business and of your life, and that's generational and that makes an impact and that's legacy.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Have you seen where people have really struggled? Like, what's the mental like? Because I I I think so many people get caught up in like, well, I just want to I need to take, take, take. What can I get? What can I get? What can I get? But what you're saying is like, hey, let's flip the switch here and let's just focus on giving, on contribution, on you know, making other people's lives better. I love the quote that you just said. Oh, a business, yeah, a business reduces your suffering by your suffering by reducing first reducing suffering other suffering others. Yes. I'm sure you've got some stories of people that just couldn't flip the switch. Like, what's the what's the mental challenge like? Or was there ever a challenge for you where you're like, no, this doesn't make sense. I gotta, I need to ask them to do something, to be on a podcast or to do business or to do this, not just give to them. Like, what was the mental transition like?

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Well, so first of all, there are times when it's tough, especially in the beginning when you have limited resources, right? So if you go back two decades, it's it was tough, right? But I what I would say, there's a few different ways to come at this question, right? I think that it's just a maturity in business that you are never gonna get off the hamster wheel. If you think that the that you know, there's something external from you in order to make you happy, and that's what you have to get, and then you'll be happy, you're gonna be stuck in this cycle. And it's really, really, really tough. But what I saw from my leaders early on is they genuinely wanted to see me succeed. It's it's like one of the, you know, one of our rules in business. Well, rule number five is only take feedback from five people, right? Which is the people who love you, pay you, you pay, the people who regulate your industry, and the people who are already where you want to be. The thing I started to notice about the people who were in that my important feedback loop of where I already want to be, they are super generous people. I've never I've never been in a situation where they wouldn't help me. The thing was the way the relationship got started, though, is I was able to help them. And how Tom, how are you able to help them if you're not in a position I don't have this or money or an audience, or there are ways to help people 100%. 100% that's kind of number one. Number two, rule number seven for us is strive to be the best, not the biggest. One of the things that I notice about people, especially when they come into my mastermind right in there, they'll say, like, well, I just want to be the biggest blah, blah, blah, blah, blah coach of this, right? Those people always suffer the most. They always, and I hate to say it because I'm friends with them, but this is so true. If if you talk to the biggest coaches in our business, and you say, like, what's the line that separates the biggest and or the ones who have the most wealth, right? I describe wealth as they have more options and better options than other people, right? So they have the most wealth and they have the most success. And to me, success is how close you are to your ideal, right? So if you look at those people, they are always generous. I've never come across one who's not. And they all are in that feedback loop of love you, pay you, you pay, regulate your industry, or the last one, which is are where you want to be. When you see the ones where maybe at first sight it looks like they have what you want, but then when you dig a little deeper, you meet their kids and you're like, Oh my goodness gracious, what the heck happened here, right? Or whatever. And I shouldn't say that, but like, you know, it's true.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

I mean, it is, and especially in entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yeah, so but when you see that, what you'll notice is they're either striving to be the biggest or their arrogance is so great. And uh, believe me, brother, I just let me pause here for a second. I have so many different problems that this podcast isn't doesn't have enough episodes for me to fill all of my problems, vices, challenges, things I struggle with, right? One of my kids are talking to me and I'm looking at the phone the other day and I'm like, oh man, what an idiot, right? So I have problems all over the place, right? And twice on Sunday. So I'm not, this is not a holier than thou, believe me, right? I'm the low man on the totem pole. But there are these principles that are in place that are like a compass. Yes, you should be a generous person for all kinds of moral reasons, but you should be a generous person for all sorts of business reasons because it it works. So even in a in a selfish way, I think it's it's good to start by giving. To answer your question, where it can become problematic is if you become a doormat. If you become a doormat and people are just taking advantage of you, then that's not a good thing. I haven't really experienced that. Honestly, I haven't. Most people are very good about reciprocity, and there are situations that come up where you just are now you're just becoming a doormat, or people like will try to hire you, and that is not what we're after here.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I have so many questions, but I want to I want to respect your time. Uh go ahead. I think I think the framework that you've laid out is unbelievably simple. Some people might say, Well, this just sounds too simple. I could do two in a day or five in a day. What would you say to those people?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Well, I think that you could do that, but it what takes a little bit of time is trying to find out what Grant Wise really likes. Brother, you did this to me. I still to this day have your rhino ring in my closet, which is like a very personal space. I have almost everything in there is from like a brother, uncle, kid. That ring was cool. I just feel like it is an ethical way to get people to, you know, help you. And there's just so much suffering. People just they break all the basic rules of business. And you know, you're in business for a good night's sleep, right? I don't I don't care what your definition is of you, but it's no one is an entrepreneur, so they could be up at three o'clock in the morning riddled with crippling depression and anxiety, right? So if you want to like put your head on the pillow and like go to sleep and calm down, you don't have to chase and convince, you can attract and repel. And I'm trying to give you guys, right, your listeners, I want just one person to do this. I'm trying to give you, like, well, Tom, what do you mean by you can move from chase and convince to attract and repel? This is one of those things. This is one of those things where you can move into a new season of leveling up that's actually easier than running, running, running, running on the hamster wheel, and then moving the goalpost and then thinking, man, as soon as I can get that yacht Ferrari, girl, the bikini, but whatever, guy in the Speedo, I don't know, right? Whatever, whatever it is, there is no game like that. There's no competition, there's no winner. It's either it's you on a journey, there's no destination. We move until we stop moving when we die. That's it. And in this time of movement, we want to be with the people that we want on that journey with us, and we want to do the things that we want to do with them. And the way that we do that is by reducing the suffering of other people. Reciprocity is the first step in that. If someone is trying to launch a book and I'm like, man, for 12 bucks, I can buy their book and talk about it in my group and read it and leave it a five-star review. And why not do it? Like, what is the what's the you know, instead, I'm gonna drop a thousand dollars on a new cell phone or $25,000 on Facebook ads when I can just literally buy this for $12 and help the dude out? Like, what is the problem? And one other thing I'll share with you that's really just so brilliant about this is this goodwill is never wasted, it always comes back. It sometimes people are like, Man, I did that for that one guy, and I never go to d. I'm telling you, just stay open to it, it doesn't go away.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

You got it somewhere else. Yeah, you got something somewhere else, a thousand percent. I remember, I remember I was coming to speak at an event for you guys, I believe it was in North Carolina, and the like mascot of wholesaling ink was a rhino. And I was like, oh, cool, I'm gonna go find, and I just sit there one day, I was like, I'm gonna get him some rhino rings. That sounds cool. So I was I went Google and I was like rhinoceros ring, and somebody had it, and I was like, that's it. I gotta figure I gotta get that. And so I can't remember how exactly I think I reached out to your wives and I got your your ring size, and I ordered three rhino rings for you, Darren, and Cody. And um, yeah, it's such a cool thing to do because obviously, like you just said, you've had this what was that, seven, six, seven years ago? Maybe it was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

That was Astral, that was years and years.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

And um, I I've done this with other people. Um, you know, there's there's been many times where it's like, I want to get in touch with them, they're not answering my calls, they're not accepting the podcast invite requests. Like, I gotta figure out something else. One time I um had a guy who was very influential I wanted to get connected with, and Tom Brady had just won another Super Bowl with the Pats, and I was like Hey man, what's your favorite? What's your favorite sports team right now? He's like, I'm not really into it, but I'm a I'm a fan of greatness, so I'm into Tom. So I bought him a twelve hundred dollar Tom Brady signed helmet.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

And I wrote him a letter inside of it, short, sweet, and I said, Hey, blah blah blah, go visit this website. And I built a landing page that basically, when he got there, like sold him on, you know, wanting to do something. And we we ended up doing a little bit of stuff together. It was fun. Um that kind of stuff people just don't ever forget. He's still got that $1,200 Tom Brady helmet sitting in his office, right? That's a that's a piece that you just never you never forget. And he always thinks of Grant every time he goes and looks at it, like just like you guys think of the rhino rings.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Brother, I'm telling you, Jason Lavinger sent me a picture of a rhino at the at the Louvre in Paris. I've got I I can't tell you how many I I've got brother. I the coaching inside above my head. I mean, I every I love it. It's amazing. People don't forget it. People don't forget it.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

I have a little thing that I'll do for guys whenever we make our first dollar together. And um, I will go get a dollar and I'll I get one of those like clear uh picture uh canvases or screens, uh frames rather, and I'll put the dollar in there and I'll write a little note like, hey, congrats on our first dollar together, looking forward to many more. People hang that up in their offices. They like never ever, every time I get on and on with them, they'll like go grab it and they'll pull it over, like, hey, I still got my dollar. Um I think you don't realize how little you could do to leave a positive impression on somebody else that, like you're saying, then turns into business in other ways, whether it's directly or indirectly. It's such a good strategy.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Well, that's really the problem, right? Is how do you start the relationship? It's it's you know, it's a little awkward, but if you start by helping, instead of what would be the best way for me to help you, or what did it be? No, no, no, no, no. Right? It's like just help. They're super easy to read. These are these are not introverted, like high school students, right? These are like loud, contagious enthusiasm entrepreneurs, like very easy to read. Like these people are not, they'll tell you, right? So it's it's it just makes life in business better. And you smile, and you know, life is short, and the more smiles and the more peace, you know, it's it's that's the garden that you want to grow. You don't want to, you don't want to, you know, just have the the cash and chase and move the goalpost. And it's just not it's not conducive to any sort of good outcome uh ever.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah. All right, brother. Well, going down this pathway, how can we partner with you? How can we lock alongside you what is important to you at this moment that we can support you and your growth in?

SPEAKER_02 24:30

The mastermind you're in, coaching inc. And if anybody knows a real estate coach, influencer, broadcaster, publisher, anyone who's in the real estate investing space, if they're in that space themselves, they're more than welcome to apply. If they come in through you, that would be awesome. We have an awesome affiliate program, it's 10%. And anybody who they know who they pass along to Coaching Inc., that would be awesome. So I would love for anybody who is interested in in real estate investing as a from a coaching standpoint to come and launch. I should have a better sales pitch than this, but I'll tell you a secret. I'll tell you the secret of why I'm not good at this sales pitch. Every single person who's in, which now includes almost 200 people, and they're all, I mean, these are some of the biggest, largest, most successful coaches legitimately in the whole country, in the world, really, and is because they're all on my personal network. And it's just been amazing getting to know these people and spend time with them. They're so awesome. I really, I love real estate investing coaches because they're so one thing that's so interesting about them all is they all are totally convinced that their particular niche of like, you know, yeah, like rehabbing, wholesaling, subject to, you know, blah, blah, blah, like buying mobile home park. They all are like, this is the best one, everything else then I'm like, I know, okay, okay. So yeah, but I I anybody who's a real estate investing coach who would like to be a part of it, they're more than welcome. Or any experts who help real estate investors help them grow their business or do more deals or do bigger deals, they're welcome to join uh as well. So we'll have a great adventure together.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Love it. We'll make sure that we link up the ways that people can connect with you and refer people to you in our show notes. Tom, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you taking some time with me today, dude. It means a lot. And uh as always, the uh the value was primo. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

I appreciate you, brother. I'm ringing the victory bell for you.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Let's go. Have a great day. There we go. And thank you all for continuing to listen to the Partner Profit podcast. We'll see you on the next episode. Peace.