275 - An Encounter with Tom Phillips

In this episode, Jay interviews Tom Phillips, the founder of Phillips Publishing International, about how to build a business through recruiting, motivating, training, and retaining your key business builders. Tom shares why it’s critical to work on the business while your colleagues work in it, and why reinvesting in your business is critical. Tom talks about how to grow your business the right way by leveraging bank financing. He also shares how to turn adversities into advantages and ripple out steps at a time for sustained business growth. You’ll learn the best tips for acquiring new businesses, why it’s important to compare your business with others, and some key principles Tom and his team developed over decades of experience. Tune in to hear Tom share his wisdom about leadership, capital, and feedback — and learn how he thinks differently when it comes to delivering value. 00:00 – 09:30 – What Tom will be talking about, his origin story, how the business grew over time, his thoughts on entrepreneurship, and why reinvesting in the business is critical. 09:30 – 19:30 – Working on vs. in the business, when to borrow money, why bankers don’t understand entrepreneurs, legal battles, and turning adversities into advantages. 19:30 – 28:00 – Key principles they’ve developed over time, business success, acquisitions, and comparing your business with others. 28:00 – 36:00 – Understanding your cumulative value, goal-setting, keeping benchmarks, the secret to success, and the three things to do with key players in your business in order to grow. 36:00 – 49:00 – Leadership, feedback, delivering value, the truth about capital, and what it searches for in order to work. 49:00 – 58:00 – Inspiration, desk-swapping, building rapport, putting the ego aside, mistakes he has made, and tips to retain the best people.