The Leadership Stack Podcast

Sean: True that, and Patrick Lencioni always says there's no other way to do leadership than to serve others. Right? And if your motive is to be served and to climb the ladder and get the perks, then don't lead because the world will be a worse place with you around. You mentioned earlier in the pre show that the book has four major topics. I don't want to preempt it here because it's your book. A...

Sean: All right. The next question is from Patrick. How do you do market research for your business? What are the factors to consider to have a business that has a market? One easy way is actually to put the keyword for that business. So for example, if you're selling Taho, maybe put that keyword on Google and see how many people are actually searching for Taho. So I'm going to go ahead and open a...

Sean: It's a matter of awareness. Here's the thing for a leader like me, for example, to be aware, you're the CEO, you're the president, you're the founder. Here's the problem. Not a lot of people will say to your face that, "Hey Sean, this is the problem with you." And sometimes we could be blindsided to it. Totally unaware that we have that problem. The problem is people don't want to speak up t...

Sean: Do you have any pointers on how to properly manage a newly opened business? My biggest advice would be to always be on the block. Always make sure the revenue is greater than expenses. That's the biggest thing right there. So if your expenses are lower and you're selling more, you're making more profits, you're making more avenues, for me, you're doing a great job. That usually entails you b...

Sean: Now as a leader, here's the thing. How do I identify that they are meant to do this and that? Because people want to do what they want to do. They want to grow and flourish where they want to be in, but they're not always going to tell you that. And they don't always recognize that they're Eagles. They don't always recognize that they're penguins or ostriches. So how do you identify that? An...

Sean: The next question from Erika is, do you consider yourself as a leader or a manager?  Apple: I would really prefer that it would be my people answering this, but I would have to honestly say that I'm both. I am a leader in the sense that I know I could give them a bigger picture of where we're planning to go as a team. I also lead in the sense that I lead from the front. So when I tell them t...

Sean: Now there are some listeners here may be wondering, okay, how can I do that? How do I know my strengths? What's the next step for them? Jason: One of the ways that - one of the best ways that you can actually understand what is your strengths, imagine this like, so Sean when you first started doing your work and all that, right? When you're doing certain things about your work, are there som...

Sean: From Erika, how do you effectively manage your team mostly made up of young people, millennials or gen Z? I'm going to let you answer that first. Apple: We do it how we would like ourselves to be managed. So we don't micromanage people. We give, we set the goals and we respect how they will do it, when they will do it. Well, of course, that is also setting the deadline. Young people, older p...

Sean: And you talk about spokes and I'm wondering during this pandemic, what happened to be new spokes? Because I'm pretty sure with the way things were going on for you, you've managed to figure out some new potential spokes, or you actually built those spokes already by now. I'm wondering how did you discover them and how did you get them connected to your business? Sensei: I'll stick with real...

Sean: We have one from Erika. Do you have any tips on how to build an effective team? A team that does not need supervision and consistently delivers great results. Wouldn't we all want to have that kind of team? Apple: First off, thank you, Erika, for your question. I believe it first applies to who you let in your team. So it's very important how you filter the good from the rotten eggs out ther...

Sean: There is a way to delegate and you know how it is. Can you share that with us? Sensei: I had a hard time. I had a big struggle learning how to delegate. Like I said, in the beginning, I'm a control freak. And then the next thing you know that, okay, I delegate a job, but then I'm micromanaging. You know, I'm looking over your shoulder. That drives me nuts. It was driving me nuts to micromana...

Sean: From Patrick. Question is, who do you consider your mentors in life? So for me, if you have more mentors for different areas of life, because a mentor who is great doesn’t really mean that he/she can mentor all areas of your life that you want to grow in. So I would say, like, get one mentor per one area of your life that you want to grow in. For example, for stocks, it's definitely Marvin a...

Sean: Having the right people in the right team is extremely important, but not a lot of entrepreneurs know that, especially when they're starting out. I didn't know how important it was when I was starting out. All I thought was I have to have this position filled because I can't do the job anymore. And what that ended up for me is when I hired the wrong people, they would burn more of my stuff d...

Sean: What is your most favorite Top Shot moment you bought so far? What is Top Shot first? Maybe we have listeners here who don't know. Marvin: Do you want the blockchain answer or you want the simple answer? Let’s go with a simple answer. The best way to say it ist, it's like NBA cards, but it's a video version which is online. That's it. You collect it online. That's what it is basically. You'r...

Sean: What are your methods in creating wealth using real estate? Sensei: Well, to create wealth, you actually have to buy and hold. If you think you're going to get wealthy fixing and flipping properties, you're not. You could become cash rich and it could be a great business. How do I know that? Because that's how I started. And that's what I do today. I am known for flipping properties by volum...

Sean: We have a question from Myrose. Which one would you recommend for a first time stock investor? Marvin: I won’t buy any of that. That’s true. People need to understand this, that in the world of investing, you invest in where you are confident already. And when you're asking that question, it also means that you also need to have more research. And if we answer that, they might do, “Oh, Sean...

Sean: We want to hear from you first. Like any other person who ends up being an entrepreneur, what was your start up journey? How did it look like? Sensei: Oh man, I can really go into depth on this, but I'll hit some key points here. As a kid, I didn't grow up rich. In fact, I didn't even grow up with money. My grandparents had a lot of money. My parents did not have a lot of money. In fact, I r...

Sean: Thank you so much for being on the show. We have a question from Erika. How can I start stock trading in the Philippines? Very basic, but maybe a lot of people still don't know how to do that. Marvin: It’s very, very simple. You just need a broker. I guess when you enter the stock market you need access, meaning you need a platform that will allow you to buy and sell the shares in the market...

Sean: I'm wondering what other values does your culture intentionally hold on to? Aside from people over profits, you seem like you have a very strong company culture and it seems. I mean, it's four generations. "Hello, it should be right." But you know, culture is going to be built, whether you are intentional about it or not. A lot of companies aren't. They're just like, you know, culture happen...

Sean: From Mitch, what can you say about people who choose to work for free in exchange for testimonials or possible long-term employment? I would just first assume, Mitch, about this question being a service being provided to the client, maybe you're a freelancer, or you’re maybe social media marketing as a service. So I'll answer it from that perspective. And I think that if you want to work for...

Sean: I'm going to stem from what you were saying earlier, when you mentioned you trained people to already do the work for you. A lot of people miss this out, especially startup entrepreneurs when we're juggling a lot of things. And we're so phased with the stuff that we have to learn and the stuff that we have to do, and a lot of entrepreneurs want to do it themselves because they have no idea h...

Sean: Next question would be, what should be the important details included on your client contracts that are often overlooked by most companies? All right. In SEO Hacker, we have to make sure that the payment terms are there and what the penalties are if the clients pay late. What would be the goal of the contract? Of course, first page rankings. One of the most important things as well now, duri...

Sean: What does a day look like for you with your personal growth plan? Charlie: You schedule your priorities and then you schedule around them. And my priorities are to take care of myself physically. So I am in the gym almost every day. I think that - that's a cheat code for any entrepreneur out there. Take care of yourself, get strong and get in really good shape. And you'll be able to reap the...

Sean: Next question, how do you build and foster the right company culture? Alright, here we are on the hard part. JM: I think it really starts on the company's mission and vision, and the important values of the company as well. So I think the foundation itself is very crucial in order for you to really have that map. Right? Because if you don’t have a roadmap about the company's culture and even...

Sean: How did you grow into this position? And this is a family business. I'm wondering, as someone who grew into the family business, what did it look like for you to be where you are right now? What did the journey look like for you? Charlie: Yeah. It's the phrase that comes to mind is that, it's both a blessing and it's a curse. And you know, it's because when somebody asks me, I'm 34 years old...