1560: This question ALWAYS leads me to growth...

0:00Hey, what is up? Welcome to this episode of The Wantrappener to Entrepreneur podcast. As always, I'm your host, Brian Lofimento, and this Solosunday episode kicks off. What is going to be a very special week here on the show? Because every single day this week, you are getting me behind the microphone. And I'm sharing with you one big question that I tend to ask myself that sparks a new chapter of growth. I'm so excited about it. Let's dive in. So there's one thing I know about the global Wantrappener to Entrepreneur audience. It is that we are all very interested and ambitious and determined and driven when it comes to growth. Growth in two ways that I can very comfortably call out. One is of course growth in our entrepreneurial endeavors. But two, what I think really means a lot to me as the host of this show for so long now is also growth in a personal way. Because I think that if you are a regular listener of this show,

1:03it's probably because you've openly accepted the fact that business growth comes with personal growth. Oftentimes we hear so many business experts talk about the fact that you'll never outgrow your own personal development. Your business growth will always be limited by the growth of your own person, by the growth of you. If you are the limiting factor in your business, then your business can't outgrow you. And so that's why I'm really excited about this week because I will also preface it that we've been planning this week because something special happens in the changing of seasons and fall is definitely in the air. And I can say that even though I live here in Florida these days and so I'm sure everywhere else in the country you feel it even more so. But even still, here in Florida, I can already feel those changing of seasons, which to me really kicks me into overdrive because the end of the year is a massive opportunity to take huge action when it comes to your growth. And I often say at this time of year that next year starts now. The results that

2:05you're going to get in 2027 start now because results obviously are always a lagging indicator. So the things that you and I spend our time on and our effort and our focus and our resources on here towards the end of this year are going to start showing up in the beginning of next year. And so I really wanted to share with you. It's why it's going to be a fun week. I tease it at the top of today's episode where every single day I just want to share with you one question that I internally ask myself in life and in business. These are questions that I always come back to, which is why I'm so excited to share them with you because this is almost 20 years into my entrepreneurial journey, the questions that consistently rise to the top in spark that new era of growth for me. And so they're going to be short, very digestible episodes. And we also have some very special collab episodes for you here this month in September that I'm so excited for you to tune into. But without further ado, I want to kick this week's episodes off with this first question, which is one

3:09that I always ask myself at the beginning of every month, and especially at the beginning of every quarter. And that is, where is my universe expanding? Where is my universe expanding? And at the root of this question is the realization that your business and your life does not grow beyond its current borders, unless your universe is expanding. What do I mean by that? Well, for me personally, I realize that if I only know and talk to the exact same people 90 days from now that I know and that I talk to today, there's not going to be expansion. There's not going to be expansion of thought. There's not going to be an expansion of ideas. There's not going to be expansion of perspectives of opportunities of connections of of a lot of things. And so I think about it in terms of relationships is I have to constantly be meeting new people. My universe needs to be expanding in so many different ways. I also think about it skill wise hobby wise time investment wise. I'm always

4:11looking at my calendar because ultimately that's the number one source of truth for how I'm spending my time. It's not how I think I am. It's not how I say I am. It's not how I wish that I was. Really, I look at, okay, how am I actually spending my time? And if I'm not spending it in new ways to get new perspectives to gain new skills and hobbies, which by the way, I'm lumping hobbies in here because I think that when you invest in your hobbies, you inevitably get a change in perspective. You inevitably grow your universe in your perspective that way. Where are you getting new ideas from? Where are you trying to pitch your products and services? What's that new audience that you're tapping into? All of these things you have to start confronting when you ask yourself where is my universe expanding? And I don't often do this. I don't usually Google things while I'm on the fly, but there's a quote about travel that Mark Twain said that I always bought. So actually,

5:14I just did pull it up. And here's the quote from Mark Twain. It's about geography and it's about travel. But I think that Mark Twain's quote can really be extrapolated just into life in general and talking to other people. Here's the full quote. Mark Twain once said, travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. And many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth, all one's lifetime. That's the end of that quote. I love that quote from Mark Twain. You know what? I'm going to read it one more time. I'll read it much quicker this time. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. In many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth, all one's lifetime. I feel like that quote sowing capsulates this question that I asked myself every quarter is, where's my

6:19universe expanding? Mark Twain calls it out right there that you cannot have broad-wholesome, charitable views of the world by simply vegetating in your own one little corner of the earth. And you know, you hear me here on the air every single day of the week, that I view one of my advantages in life and in business is the fact that I'm talking to different people every single day. You get to hear all of these conversations that I have with people in different industries, different stages of their business growth, different past, different experiences, different, so many different perspectives. And I've always just talked to any client that I ever get the chance to work with. I always share with them so abundantly, hey, here's what I picked up from hosting my podcast. Here's the amazing founders that I'm talking to. Here's the ideas that I hear from them. And that's why it's very meaningful to me to host this show for going on 10 years now is that I always set out on a mission that I don't just want to have these conversations for me.

7:19I want to bring them to you. And so I think it's really important for all of us to not just consume this content, but to let it evolve our universe and expand our universes. And I think that we have big questions to ask in our personal lives and in our business lives of how our universe is expanding. You hear how frequently I on the air say, don't be shy. Reach out to today's guest, on LinkedIn. Don't be shy. Send me an email. It's because I love meeting people. I love getting virtual coffees. I love connecting and introducing people. I love all of that. I've never had a connection that made me smaller. I've never had a connection that made me think in a less diverse and less worldly way. I've never had that. Even the connections that you can say, quote, unquote, are not great or not productive or you just didn't jive with them or something didn't go right. Even though it's make me reflect in so many meaningful ways that I'm grateful for each and every experience in this

8:22lifetime. And so for all of us in our businesses, I think this is a great marketing question. Is how is my universe expanding? I think this is a great sales question. How is my universe expanding? How frequently have you heard me say on the air, if you're not getting rejected, then you're not going for it in your business. We need to be trying things. Always. It doesn't matter what stage of growth. And that's something that it really sticks out to me. How many guests we have each week that when I ask them at the end of the episode, what's your best piece of advice for listeners? How frequently do we see the theme maybe not articulated the same way, but the theme of we need to always be learning. Always be trying things. Always be expanding. Always be investing in ourselves. And I think that this question phrased this way of where is my universe expanding? Is a question that sets us up in the direction of growth because growth is part of expansion. And so this question is going to hit

9:22all of us differently. It hits me differently throughout the year, to be honest. Sometimes it hits me when it comes to audience expansion and connections and networking and all of those things. Sometimes it hits me differently with regards to my physical space. And I need to change things personally. I need to change my desk. I need to change my layout. I need to get out and go somewhere in the world where it's all going to be different for each and every one of us. But that's why I'm excited to share these questions with you this week because it's not that I want to talk about these questions. I want you to sit with these questions. I want you to play with these questions. I want you to think through these questions. And so this question to kick off this week is where is my universe expanding? It's a fun one to sit with. And I hope that you enjoy this episode because we've got quite a few more coming your way this week. So make sure you pound that subscribe button because I will see you as always every single day right here on the Watcherpener to Watcherpener podcast.