Why Doing One Thing Well Beats 10X Thinking for Business Growth with Kenny Harper

Anthony Codispoti (00:00)
Welcome to another edition of the inspired stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispode and today’s guest is Kenny Harper, co-founder and lead growth coach at Growth Amplifiers, a coaching and training firm based in Jacksonville, Florida. Growth Amplifiers helps coaches, consultants, and B2B advisors scale their practices without burnout.

The company delivers this promise through the Amplified Growth System, a five pillar framework that covers goals, sales, teams, systems, and profits. They also run programs like the Cash and Profit Accelerator, the Double Your Sales System, and offer a free Amplified Success Kit. And we’re going to hear about his new book too. Stay tuned till the end because there’s an opportunity to get it for free.

Kenny’s mission is to inspire and empower entrepreneurs with the attitude, expertise and drive to dream bigger and take new actions to achieve new results. But before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Adback Benefits Agency. Listen, if you run a business, you are likely stuck in the cycle of rising insurance premiums. You’re paying more, but your team is getting less. And many people can’t afford coverage at all. We do things differently.

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Imagine being the advisor that becomes a hero by introducing this to your clients. See if they qualify today at addbackbenefits.com. All right, back to our guest today, business growth coach and advisor of growth amplifiers, Kenny Harper. Thanks for making the time to share your story today.

Kenny Harper (02:09)
Thank you, Anthony, for the invitation and the opportunity to share. There are plenty of different things out there that can get your attention. And my goal here is for the people who have tuned in to give you maybe a paradigm shift, a spark of inspiration so that you can leave here taking a new action and move something forward that’s important in your life. So glad for the opportunity. Glad to have this conversation. You are an amplifier, Anthony, and I appreciate you.

Anthony Codispoti (02:37)
I love all that. All right, let’s set the stage a little bit before we kind of get into the work that you do today. Because you started out years and years ago as a graphic designer. What first drew you into that line?

Kenny Harper (02:48)
Music. So music, I was 14 years old. My cousin took me to my Talaka concert and I was just really inspired by the energy of this band, how they connected with their audience. And I just was bit by the music bug. So as in my teenage, early 20s, I was playing in bands, did my first entrepreneurial journey recording bands and we needed to market ourselves. So.

I started to learn how to make graphics, build websites, record our music. And my first passion in music, why I really loved it, I didn’t know the business side. So after several years of playing shows and barely just paying for the shows, to play the shows, I had to give up on that passion. And I searched around and found you can…

build a career doing graphic design and marketing for businesses. using that artistic skill set to market and help others ⁓ grow their vision and build them forward. So that’s how I kind of got into that.

Anthony Codispoti (04:00)
And how did you discover

that? Was there a mentor, a course, a book?

Kenny Harper (04:06)
At the time, ⁓ was actually one of my friends came over and he was just brought over a project he was working on for a multimedia class he was taking in college. We were both in college at the time and I’m looking at him put this video together. We’re watching it on ⁓ VCR tape. Getting a little dated here and I’m like, what is that? He’s like, that’s a project for school. I’m like, what?

What? That’s a video. That looks cool and fun. It’s like, yeah, I’m taking multimedia. I’m majoring in multimedia. Like, what the heck is this multimedia? Like, oh, it’s this thing. So that introduced me to that industry. And, you know, I’ve heard throughout my life and you’ve probably heard this too, follow your passion and the money will follow. And I believe that that is a partial truth. Because there are a lot of people following their passion.

and the money ain’t following. And that was me with my first passion. And that was about to be me with my second jump into entrepreneurial ship when around 2011, I left the advertising agency I was working for and started my own web design firm. And I knew how to build websites. I’d won awards building websites. had built a career in advertising agencies.

but I’d never learned the business side of running a business.

Anthony Codispoti (05:37)
So you didn’t know how to go out and find clients and price jobs and all that.

Kenny Harper (05:41)
Yes, I didn’t know the back end administrative, the team building, all the different pieces and parts. I just knew the trade I knew. And that’s how a lot of people get into starting their business. They have the passion and then they say, I’m going to go for it. And then sometimes they might figure it out and sometimes they may say, man, I don’t know if I’m going to make it. That was about me. I was a

Anthony Codispoti (06:09)
And so how did you figure it out, Kenny?

Kenny Harper (06:12)
Thank you, Anthony. Thank you for asking. ⁓ After watching my bank account dwindle down to scary levels, after having gotten married and had a kid on the way and bought the house, realizing maybe I had made a mistake here, I listened to my brother-in-law who was talking about business coaching and that he…

company that he worked for had a business coach and it was helping them learn about running a business, running and growing a business. So I said, well, I’m just a solopreneur, but if I don’t learn something, I’m going to continue doing what I know, not doing what I don’t know. And then I’m going to probably run out of gas. So I hired a business coach. I went through different workshops, seminars, trainings, read plenty of books.

And I did that to help learn the things that I didn’t know I didn’t know. Building new habits to take new actions to achieve new results.

Anthony Codispoti (07:19)
Who is your coach?

Kenny Harper (07:21)
So there was a gentleman, ⁓ Steve Goranson. I met him through networking here in Jacksonville and he helped me assess my business, gave me recommendations to different books that I could read, ⁓ ran strategic planning workshops, things of that nature. And he really inspired me to pursue that end of

the business because I had learned to be initially more of a technician and using that creativity to build the websites, to create graphics, to ⁓ publish marketing campaigns. But what I really liked about what he was doing is he wasn’t just doing the work himself. He was empowering others to learn how to lead themselves. And it saved

me and my business from just sinking in that first year and crashing to here I am almost 15 years later. And I wouldn’t have been there if I didn’t learn the things that I didn’t know I didn’t know. So it really inspired me.

Anthony Codispoti (08:36)
How many employees did you have at that time?

Kenny Harper (08:40)
What was that?

Anthony Codispoti (08:41)
How many employees did you have at that time?

Kenny Harper (08:44)
I just had about three people that I worked with on regular basis.

Anthony Codispoti (08:50)
And so the big sort of lever that you pulled at that time was empowering these people to sort of go off and do their jobs without being micromanaged or just sort of empowering them to go make big decisions on their own.

Kenny Harper (09:06)
there was a lot of change that happened. So empowering the team, helping them see a vision, helping them to follow standard processes, but also just the personal mindset shifts that had to make myself. And I know a lot of people who are starting their business, especially in the service professionals have to make this change. If you’re making a salary or an hourly rate,

and then you start your own business, you have to charge completely different. And sometimes you can get into this mindset like, how can I charge this much?

And, but if you don’t charge enough, then you’re not funding your business. You don’t have enough funds to make it work. You run out of money and then you’re not going to be a help anyone. And I see that a lot with some of the people that I work with, accountants, CPAs, they just may not be working. They may not be charging enough. And so they run into those, those challenges.

Anthony Codispoti (10:15)
⁓ So how long after you got connected with this coach and started to read these books and started to implement these ideas before you started to notice real improvements in the business?

Kenny Harper (10:29)
I would say within that

for several months, at least I stopped feeling like I was flying blind and started to have a plan and started to feel like I’m at least improving in the areas that I didn’t know to put attention to before. And so it was like, I’m crashing. So now I’m stabilized and I’m slowly starting to move. Then maybe over the next three,

four years has been an evolution. I went from being more the technician myself to running a marketing agency with some partners. And then around 2018, 2019, I started to get into coaching and advising myself. So it’s been an evolution.

and it’s been a fun one.

Anthony Codispoti (11:28)
And so let’s go present day. You’ve got multiple businesses. ⁓ What was, tell us about what you do at Growth Amplifier specifically.

Kenny Harper (11:32)
Mm-hmm.

So now I’ve kind of the student has become the master. And by no means am I trying to say I’m the master of everything. And if you’re looking to be a coach or an advisor or consultant, you don’t need to be the master of everything. You need to be a few steps ahead of the people that you’re leading. And you need to understand the art of coaching. How to ask.

people questions, how to dig deeper, how to hear what people are saying, how to hear what people aren’t saying, and then help them discover things for themselves so that they really can cultivate transformation. I used to misunderstand what coaching was and the value of it. I thought, why is someone just going to tell me the things I know I need to do? That’s not really a powerful coach.

So a powerful coach really helps to understand what is your vision? What is the thing that you really want to achieve? Why is that important to you? All right. Now, where are you at now? And what are the actions that we need to take in order to get you to where you want to go? What are the blocks that are in your way? What are the opportunities that you could seize upon that would help you get there further, be more effective? What are the habits and mindsets that we need to change and alter?

in order to get there. So to answer your question. So that’s what I’m doing now is connecting with business advisors, consultants and coaches. A lot of them, just like me, heard this is something I could do. They jump in and then they don’t know what they don’t know. And sometimes they can get tunnel vision. They have blind spots. They can get caught up in their own way. And so I helped

to understand where they’re at.

where they want to go and then create a path and a plan to get there. Become a partner and extension of their team and then give them tools, guidance and accountability to help them be the best version of themselves.

Anthony Codispoti (13:57)
So I hear a lot of talk about like systems, like sort of taking a holistic view, ⁓ where are the blocks, working on mindset. But as I hear the name growth amplifiers, I think, ⁓ he probably spends most of his time on like sales and marketing techniques that can really help to unlock more revenue. Am I reading that correctly or incorrectly?

Kenny Harper (14:21)
You are reading it correctly. A lot of times people do want to grow their business. And when initially kind of launching growth amplifiers, it was a bit more focused on just the marketing and sales. You hit the nail on the head. People want to grow their business. They want to have a certain lifestyle. They want to be able to afford, you know, a living. They want to be able to save for their family, for their retirement. They want to be able to enjoy their life while they have it.

They want to be able to do these things. And a lot of times they need to either grow either in size or scale or just be more profitable. And sometimes they’re so caught up working in their business, they’re not working on it. Now, some businesses are really dialed in and they are ready to grow and scale. And so we look at what are you doing for marketing? How are you getting your message in front of your market? How are you seamlessly and subtly guiding

prospects to become customers that pay, stay, and refer. people sometimes aren’t the greatest at enrolling people to become clients or customers. So making sure that they have a process and a plan to do that, that’s documented, repeatable, and optimized is important.

Anthony Codispoti (15:42)
So who are some of the ideal fits for you in terms of clients? I’m hearing you say accountants, CPA, ⁓ other business coaches.

Kenny Harper (15:53)
Yes. So the frameworks that we developed and mentioned the Amplified Advisor shares this framework. I am giving that book away to anyone who would want it. It has a framework that helps people get clarity, define some goals, and create a plan to achieve them.

But the people that we’ve been niching with have been the people in the accounting space. And that really happened around the time of the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, we were working more with health and wellness professionals, chiropractors, med spa owners, vein clinic providers. They had a practice. They’re looking to get more customers. We have a framework to help them evaluate what they’re doing, see what their blind spots are.

and optimize their strategies to get new results, to get better results. Pandemic hit and what happened?

A lot of these, yeah, all these places closed. A lot of the health and wellness businesses were having to temporary shut down. They were having to turn off their sales and marketing and.

Anthony Codispoti (16:54)
All those places closed.

Kenny Harper (17:09)
was looking at the business saying, well, this is not good. And I think a lot of people are freaking out. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the world. We don’t know what’s going to happen with business in general. How did you?

Anthony Codispoti (17:21)
So how did

the accounting and CPA sector open up for you?

Kenny Harper (17:25)
So I already had a CPA who was a client at the time because the framework really is universal for different businesses. Service-based businesses are really helpful as well. And his clients were freaking out, but his business was surging because he was doing all these PPP loans and helping people with navigating what they could do for COVID loans.

But he said his clients are freaking out. They’re losing money. They’re losing clients. I said, well, I’m glad to give a free webinar that would help your clients get some ideas and things that they could do to increase customers and increase sales. He said, I’ll do that for free just as a way to provide value to you and your clients. He said, great, that would be awesome. That would be really helpful. So I did the webinar. It helped him help his clients. It helped his clients.

And then some of the people that were on the webinar reached out and said, I could use some additional help.

Then that’s when you had a paradigm shift. There’s all these people in the accounting space that probably could benefit from having similar support. They know how to help people decrease their expenses. They know how to help people create financial foundations, how to become more profitable. But when it comes to marketing and sales, they typically aren’t well-versed in that area.

After thinking about it, it became apparent that CPAs who are trying to do more advisory, who are trying to become coaches themselves, accountants, tax professionals, people who do profit coaching, a lot of these people are serving a similar mission, but have been the technician and haven’t learned how to become an advisor or a coach. They don’t know what they don’t know.

They’re adverse to marketing and sales. And I’ve taken the scenic route through that journey. So that gave me the idea that I could probably help them avoid the scenic route.

Anthony Codispoti (19:40)
So what does it look like for a CPA or an accountant to work with you?

Kenny Harper (19:48)
So the first thing that I’d recommend them doing for their prospects and the thing that I typically do as well is we just assess what they’re doing now and where they want to go. I offer a complimentary, amplified business breakthrough to identify blind spots and untapped opportunities in their business. And the reason I do that for free is because number one, that helps me share the value that I provide.

A lot of times people hear coaching or they hear marketing or sales and they think, I got it covered. I’ve got somebody who’s doing marketing for me. I have an agency that’s doing it or I’ve had a coach before.

but that’s a lot of assumptions based on labels, right? And people don’t know what they don’t know. So in order for them to see things differently, they’ve got to experience it for themselves. So by having that session and experiencing it for themselves, a few different things could happen. Number one, they can say, ⁓ wow, there’s a lot of things I hadn’t considered before, actually could use help here. And then if they need help,

then we determine what help do you need in order to get from where you’re at to where you want to go. How can I help empower you and or your team in order to achieve those goals?

Anthony Codispoti (21:08)
And so do you coach one on one? Are there group sessions? Is it a mastermind? Help me with the structure.

Kenny Harper (21:15)
So I do have a bit of both. And a lot of the people that I’m working with and advising, I’m helping them introduce those concepts too. Because you just mentioned a couple of things that are very powerful. Group coaching, masterminds, right? And a lot of these professionals who are trying to advise their clients could do the same thing. A one-to-many solution, create it once, sell it many.

but many are so used to just providing the service, they’re not thinking they can offer a one-to-many solution. I believe most firms could probably multiply their revenue if they took new actions to achieve new results. So when I’m working with someone, it’s either one-to-one if they’re looking for that one-to-one attention, and some prefer that, or we do have group programs as well.

Anthony Codispoti (22:03)
first.

Kenny Harper (22:13)
Or if they just want to be part of a group, follow a framework to make progress over time, that’s an option.

Anthony Codispoti (22:20)
So for a CPA, an accountant that’s listening and they’re scratching their head trying to think, well, what would a one to many coaching solution look like in my business? What would you say?

Kenny Harper (22:32)
That is a great question. And the challenge that the mindset that I’ve heard, accounts are really brilliant. They know numbers really well and they train their brain to make sure that everything lines up really perfectly. But and they think a lot of times my clients, they’re all different. They’re all different backgrounds. Everything needs to be customized. I can’t see how to do anything group because everyone’s different. But that’s what we say. You can follow a framework.

You can follow a process, right? Because a lot of the process that you’ll walk people through will be similar. Helping people achieve financial foundations. Do they know their numbers? Are they looking at them? Do they have goals to find? A lot of businesses have been in business sometimes for decades. They haven’t been doing any of this stuff. And so just helping them define some goals and

better understand their metrics and then create plans to improve them, that could be transformational for their customers and clients. And you can guide people through those exercises and through those frameworks in a group fashion.

Anthony Codispoti (23:48)
Kenny, hold up your book again, if you would please. It is called The Amplified Advisor. And we’re gonna mention this again at the end of the show, but he’s giving it away for free. If you go to growthamplifiers.com slash book, growthamplifiers.com slash book. Kenny, can you walk us through the five pillars of the amplified growth system?

Kenny Harper (24:13)
I could, ⁓ but I’m going to see if I switch it just a little bit further because I’ll walk you through the cycle, which I think would be even more beneficial. this in the pillars are just general pillars in business for your.

general business pillars that you’d want to assess and know that you’re doing good in. And the book covers those pillars. But the cycle, it’s seven stages. And I’m going to share these stages. I’ll go real quick. And you’re going to be like, yeah, that’s kind of basic. Here’s the thing.

Knowing something, You can, my sons, I have two sons who at this time are 11 and 14. They go to jujitsu. They learn a new jujitsu lesson almost every time. Now, they can, every time they go to jujitsu, they can look, they could see the lesson. I can look and I can see the lesson. But does seeing it mean you’re going to be a master jujitsu? No. Sometimes we hear something, we know something.

And so then we can think, oh, I already know this information. So if you’re going to listen to this just now, I want you to know, you may already know this. This may already make sense. But mastering these steps can transform all the efforts that you’re doing. If you help your team master these steps, it can transform everything that you’re doing. So just a word to not.

Anthony Codispoti (25:44)
Yeah, don’t dismiss it just because it sounds simple.

Kenny Harper (25:45)
You pulled

the word from my mind, Anthony. was searching for that word dismissed. Like don’t, don’t, duh, duh. That’s not what I’m trying to say. Okay, so going through this quick. First thing, fuel. You got to make sure that you’re fueled. If your mindset is not in it to win it, if you feel discouraged, if you don’t have the belief in yourself or you don’t remember why you’re in the fight, then you need to fuel yourself. Get yourself primed and ready to go.

Anthony Codispoti (25:56)
So lay it out for us, Kenny.

Kenny Harper (26:14)
in it to win it. Number two, focus. This is where the assessments come in. The book can walk you through the assessment and you can’t do everything at once. If you’re trying to do everything at once, you’re going to stretch yourself thin, you’re going to stretch your team thin. Where in the business needs the most focus? Number three, once you define where you need to focus, for instance, if it’s marketing and sales, there’s a lot of different things you could do. Sometimes people think the first idea that pops in their mind, they’re just going to start doing it.

it may not be the best idea. Sometimes there’s so many different ideas, they’re overwhelmed and they do nothing. So prioritizing the list, number three, prioritizing based on impact, confidence and ease. So you’re taking the action that would have the most impact, be the easiest to pull off, you feel most confident in. Four, simple is having a plan. Know who is doing what and when. Having a document of plan, sharing it with your team so that everyone’s on the same page.

You’re all paddling in the same direction. Number five, execute. It’s great to have a plan, but you want to make sure that you’re actually executing the plan and following the disciplines of execution to achieve the result. Six, measure, making sure that you’re measuring the actions that you can take that will influence the result and the results that you’re aiming to achieve. Measuring your own scorecard, checking it weekly.

And then finally the fifth, sorry, fifth. I saw my hand and I said five. There’s another hand here and it has two. that five plus two, seven. The seventh step is review because we don’t learn from execution. We learn from reflecting on execution. It’s a simple cycle. Each has an exercise. And if you walk through the cycle and really develop it and have it commit to it with mastery, you can move

further faster.

Anthony Codispoti (28:15)
So Kenny, with all the businesses that you have started and run yourself and that you now consult with, what is one of the most common mistakes that you see people?

Kenny Harper (28:28)
I kind of mentioned it in a moment ago, but we’re going to go back to it because it is a common mistake. It’s the stage number two of focus. Me and entrepreneurs, sometimes we just, we have the drive, we want to achieve more and sometimes we’ll take on more or try to push further. There’s the book 10X, which I kind of have a disagreement with. The thing is to shoot 10X higher ⁓ and try to do 10 times the amount of stuff.

Well, from my experience and a lot of people that I work with, that ends up just stretching people way too thin. They’re overwhelmed and then they’re doing 10 things really poorly, incomplete versus doing one thing really well. So the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller is the book that I subscribe to and I really appreciate, which talks about doing the one thing that would make everything else easier or unnecessary.

Anthony Codispoti (29:26)
It makes me think of the Pareto principle, and you’re getting even more dialed in. Look for that one thing. Pareto principle is a little bit different. Look for the 20 % of the effort that’s going to produce 80 % of the results. But similar kind of thinking, what is that one thing I can focus on? Really dial in, do it exceptionally well. It’s going to make the biggest difference for me and my business.

Kenny Harper (29:47)
Yes, the Pareto Principle, sometimes they’ll even say take the 20 % out of all the actions that you’re taking on a regular basis, 20 % of the actions that you take give you 80 % of the results. And then they say double it down even further, find the 20 % of the 20 % and then you’re probably getting closer to the one thing. There’s probably something that you’re doing on a regular basis that has the most impact. If you did more of that and prioritize that as your one thing, then you probably get further faster.

As it’s written, we’re talking about books here, as written in the seven habits of highly effective people, but Stephen Covey, sometimes the urgent things, the day-to-day things, right, that pull our time, the urgent things that are popping up in our calendar, calling for our attention, prevent us from doing the important things, the things that are less urgent, they’re not calling for us. We can kick them down the road, but there are the important things that would help us really make the progress.

And so switching that focus from, I’m just always reacting to I’m being proactive is the habit.

Anthony Codispoti (30:53)
You know, you talk a lot about ⁓ how entrepreneurs really struggle with burnout. And, you you emphasize clarity, effective systems that they can grow without having to sacrifice their mental and emotional well-being. From personal experience, I can say that that transition can be really hard, right? Because you’re already stretched thin, you’re wearing all these different hats trying to,

Kenny Harper (31:01)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (31:22)
juggle all these different balls to mix my metaphors. And now you have to go and hire somebody and train them when you’re already stretched for time. What would you say to somebody who’s in that position?

Kenny Harper (31:37)
So sometimes it’s good just to take a step back and reflect and really get clear on what’s important to you and what do really want. I continue to connect with people and as I have conversations and sometimes you’ll reach out to someone from the outside of their business. They look like they’re just rocking it. They look like they’re crushing it. They’re doing all these wonderful things and their business looks

but if you look under the hood, if you talk to them how they’re enjoying that ride, a lot of times they’re not and you would never know it. And they’re dealing with challenges with their mindset, with their business, sometimes with their finances or their relationships. And they’ve gotten so focused just checking the box, doing the next thing.

that they forgot what they’re really trying to accomplish in the first place. What do they really want out of being a business owner? What is their bigger why? What is really important to them? They want to build it and grow a business to a certain size? Or do they want to enjoy their life right here, right now? Maybe it’s a combination. So first step would be just to take that step back. If you’re frustrated with how things are at and where you’re at,

Are you on the right track or did you get lost somewhere in the mix? And really getting clarity of what that vision is and what’s needed to work. Because a lot of times we start off with a vision in mind, but it changes and we don’t take time to readjust it. And so I think that’s really important before trying to act upon it.

Anthony Codispoti (33:33)
That makes a lot of sense. you start a business, you have a goal in mind, you have a purpose in mind, and then sometimes you get so in the weeds, right? Can’t see the forest through the trees kind of a thing. And if you take a moment to step back, take a deep breath, you realize I am off track. This is gone in a direction where I had originally intended. And so maybe I want to get it back on track. Go ahead, Kenny.

Kenny Harper (33:55)
Thank

Just for example, sometimes people find that they have, they’re taking on more responsibility, have less time and are making less money than they were before they started the business. And while that might be a small little transition that you might need to make if you’re getting a business off the ground, if you’re continually heading in that direction, then you might need to take that step back and reassess and say,

Do I really need to be doing this the way that I initially thought? Or could I readjust my vision and adjust it to make sure that it’s fitting my ideal lifestyle, that I’m working with the right people, I’m empowering my team to live the lives that they want, et cetera.

Anthony Codispoti (34:45)
And I wonder if there’s a lesson to be learned from your early business where you talked about, know, your bank account is dwindling. You’ve got probably three employees at the time when you hired this coach. And, know, you were encouraged to kind of empower them to step into their beauty and their expertise and kind of let them run with it. And I wonder if that’s kind of the answer to the question that I just asked about, you know, you’re a struggling business owner and

You’re feeling overwhelmed. You know that you need some help, but how am going to find time to train somebody and teach them the way that I do things when I already can’t find enough minutes in the day?

Kenny Harper (35:26)
Yes, that question that I somehow danced around. So simplifying could be a big thing. A firm, any sort of firm, if they’re trying to provide more value, you can say, I want to do more things. I need to have more offers. Anytime you add new services, new offers, you could be complicating the things that you need to manage, the people you need to train, et cetera. There are hot dog stands.

that make a poo ton of money in New York just selling hot dogs, doing one thing. I’m not saying you should go out and start a hot dog stand. I’m saying you might be able to simplify things and then capture what is the minimum viable process, minimum viable product that you can capture, whether recording videos, creating a simple SOP, and then create it once and then train people to follow that process.

But sometimes adding more can actually work against the business and its goals, depending on the situation.

Anthony Codispoti (36:35)
Tell us about your podcast, Growth Amplifiers podcast. How long has this been going? What kind of guests do you have on there? What’s the purpose?

Kenny Harper (36:46)
Yes. So I’m a big fan of progress beats perfection. When initially we launched growth amplifiers, I think it was around the time of the pandemic. ⁓ We had.

Initially started I have a business partner and we started our marketing collective partnership ⁓ rounds 2014 or something it’s called rock my image and Again, you could see the connection to the music in my background with growth amplifiers rock my image and when we initially created rock my image we were working with professionals who wanted to

Elevate their image. Experts out there who knew their stuff, but wanted to be seen, be seen, be noticed, have attention. Through time, as we’ve started transitioning into coaching and helping people grow their business and scale their business, the name loan longer was a fit. So we kind of started phasing out rock my image and launched growth amplifiers and the podcast was the first step.

At the time before the pandemic, were inviting doctors and people who owned health and wellness professionals. And it was a great way for us to get past their administrative filter and talk to people and build relationships with them. And we would ask them questions about their business and what they’re looking to do and kind of just have those conversations. The podcast has evolved a bit over time as we’ve shifted

who we talk to and the value that we provide. And so now we’re seeking other thought leaders out there that are amplifiers in this world. And they’ve learned on their journey lessons to avoid or tips to implement that helps people systemize and scale their business without the overwhelm. Life is short. It goes by quickly. I was just in my 20s playing the bands and now

Coming up on 50 and.

Last year, ⁓ we had a loss in our family. My mother-in-law passed away from stage four cancer.

and she was…

Beautiful person. When I met her, she was younger than I am now. And that was just like 20 years ago. That time flew by. Just like a blink of an eye. And when you lose someone like that who’s close to you, you realize reality check, all of our time is flying by. We’ve got one life to live. Let’s play it full out.

Let’s make sure that we’re enjoying the life that we want and doing whatever we can to show up as the best version of ourselves to achieve it. So that’s kind of been a motivator for me is to help people out there that might have that passion, like I did with music, like I did when I started my web design business, help them identify the things that they don’t know that they don’t know so that they can take new actions.

and achieve new results.

Anthony Codispoti (40:18)
Well, let’s, let’s take a moment to try to light a fire under our listeners. What’s, what is something that you can say to help inspire people to take action? ⁓ Take on a new fresh perspective. Get people psyched up encouraged. Like what’s, what’s a low hanging fruit for somebody listening today?

Kenny Harper (40:41)
All right, so low hanging fruit. You mentioned it earlier. When I’m hosting a podcast, I’ll tell people, don’t just listen to these podcasts. Take an action from something that you heard from the podcast and whether that’s taking a moment to step back and reflect on what is your bold vision? Are you living the life that you want? If you’re not,

satisfied with where you’re at at the moment. Do you have it defined? I was listening to an audio book yesterday at the gym and it talked about how the author interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger years back before he became famous. And he was talking about, he just launched this movie and it really failed.

And he asked Arnold what his next step was after bodybuilding. And he said, I’m going to be the accomplished actor in Hollywood in the next few years. And he said it was such, that was horrible. He said it with such carefree attitude and confidence.

And he was asked, well, how do know you’re going to do that? It’s like, because I’ve created a vision and I’m now going to apply the same techniques I did to build beyond the top of the bodybuilding to step into that vision.

And the thought is, the vision didn’t just come to him. It didn’t just appear to him. He needed to create the vision. So my challenge, the one thing actionable takeaway I would suggest would be if you’re not satisfied with something that you currently have now and you want to improve it, document what that vision is. Make it clear. Write it out.

You say, yeah, I’ve heard that. If it’s not written out, it’s not up to date, you’re not looking at it on regular basis, then do that. You are the creator of your reality, but you won’t get to where you want to go if it’s not clear, if it’s not defined, because it won’t be defined. So take that action and create that bold vision, write it out.

Anthony Codispoti (42:55)
in.

Take.

Create

the vision, write it down, put it somewhere that you can review it on a regular basis, make sure that you’re still working towards that. As you look at your own business, Kenny, what’s been one of the biggest growth levers for you to?

Kenny Harper (43:18)
think the change that I’ve had when it comes to marketing and sales, and it’s what I advocate for, and it’s a lot of the people that connect with me, and I share that mindset, especially in the type of work that I do. And this is where working with advisors, consultants, and coaches, sometimes they have a mindset of how they get business. I’m to market myself, and people will just

you’ll find business that way. And you can do that. You can run advertising, you can put out content, you can do those things. And you should. Yet, there’s going to be a percentage of the market that aren’t looking for you because they don’t know what they don’t know. In fact, my best prospects and clients are doing good already. And they may not even think that they need help.

They probably don’t need help, everyone could benefit from having more perspective, from having somebody who’s going to challenge you to be the better version of yourself, to help hold you accountable.

So the thought is to proactively reach out and connect with people and build relationships and genuinely connect with them and just share how you help people, how you help people solve their challenges. If you connect with more people, connect and engage with them and share how you help people, if you authentically do that, there’s more than enough opportunity.

out there. I think what prevents people from doing that is the people who are doing something similar, but they’ll connect with people and they’ll try to push a sale on someone and it has the adverse effect. It just pushes people away. So I’m not saying cold calling. I’m not saying go out and try to sell all your stuff to people. I’m saying connect, engage, and enroll people in new possibilities.

Anthony Codispoti (45:26)
Say more about that. What does that look like as opposed to a cold call? Because I think that’s the part of sales that most people would be familiar with. What you’re talking about sounds more like nurturing a relationship. How do you go about doing that?

Kenny Harper (45:40)
So for example, I use my podcast as a way to, to begin and foster relationships. I’ll maybe I had the author of getting things done on my podcast. And when you’re connecting with people, you’re going to, you can reach out to them directly and say, Hey, I see you. And I would like to have a conversation with you and learn more about your business.

You’re asking them questions. You’re getting to know them. And then if you get to know them and you believe that you can provide value to them, you can simply share. Hey, I help people who have this challenge achieve this result. If somebody leans in and says, ⁓ yeah, could actually use some help there. Then you can say, all right, we can have that conversation. Let’s continue. If they don’t lean in and they don’t have that need, you can

simply share something that would be helpful for them and ask to be introduced to maybe somebody they know. Maybe they’re part of an organization, professional organization or association. Maybe they have a connection or contact that could use a little bit of help with the value you provide. So it’s simply reaching out, connecting and

Having a plan to move relationships forward authentically. Not pushing, but more pulling by asking questions, engaging, and sharing. We don’t need to sell, we need to share and communicate the value we provide authentically.

Anthony Codispoti (47:22)
I like that. You know, Kenny, in my experience, behind most success stories, there’s usually a chapter that almost broke somebody. Can you share a serious challenge that you’ve gone through, personal or professional, how you got through that and what you learned?

Kenny Harper (47:31)
bit.

Well, I thank you, Anthony. hope you would ask. ⁓ Yes, I’m glad to do that. And because I think it is very helpful. I did have two business partners, but one of them, and we added a kind of change of heart, right? So splitting of the ways. And at the time, I was really not happy with that.

because it caused a lot of problems. We had an agreement of what we were going to do. The agreement wasn’t quite kept and the business that I stayed in ended up having some attrition because of this change. Try not to get into the messy details. So we lost some of our biggest clients which took revenue hits.

Everything was a mess because our other partner was kind of like the key point person in the business. And so it’s like, well, this is now just ugly. Now I’ve got to clean up this big mess and we just lost a lot of And then when you’re having another kid on the way and more expenses and you’re growing and your money’s going in opposite direction. And I was getting into growth coaching at that time.

you kind of feel like an imposter, like a failure. And so I wanted to…

be authentic, but I felt like, number one, I just need to toughen through this. I don’t need help here. And number two, I thought I couldn’t share and be vulnerable. So I felt like I should have all the answers. Luckily, I was going to chapter meetings of the International Coaching Federation. And one of the ladies there, she

had participated in a graduate class for doing like mindfulness. And she asked if I would be willing to go through some exercises for mindfulness and give feedback as part of her graduate class requirements. So because that was the condition, I said, okay, I’ll do that. What did I learn? I learned number one, me thinking I needed to power through it.

and not working with someone to help me identify my feelings and process some of that was the opposite thing that I should have done. Anthony, I was losing my mind. I was holding on to so much resentment and frustration. I was having anxiety issues. I remember being in a parking lot with my wife. went to the movies and I started like tearing up and

almost crying. She’s like, what’s going on? I’m like, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m just freaking out over here.

And it was, imagine if it’s, if it’s happening like that, it’s causing sleep loss, things of that nature.

But because we had the coach was walking me through that mindfulness and helping me process feelings and communicate and being vulnerable and being open and honest and working through that, I was able to let it go and process it in a healthy way. And so I learned number one,

I shouldn’t feel like just because I’m a coach or an advisor that I don’t need one myself. And number two, I can share my losses, my setbacks. I can share my failures and that’s okay. And when you do that, that helps others see and learn as well. You grow when you share your failures. You grow when you can get back up and learn from the mistakes.

and you help other people grow when you communicate those lessons learned. So that was a big lesson. after processing that, wrapping it up here, after processing that and finally letting that go, I started being able to focus on taking new actions to achieve new results and getting right back on track, reinventing myself and going to where I wanted to be versus getting so caught up in the, being in a victim mindset.

and holding on to the past that I was just stuck. So that therapeutic discussion, asking questions, being guided to see things differently, again, transformative.

Anthony Codispoti (52:42)
Kenny, I’m so glad that you shared that. I’ve got some other guests, ⁓ good friends of mine who are coaches in different respects. And I’ve heard this kind of story before where they’ve got this personal brand of I am the person who helps others. And so when their life hits a brick wall, things just feel like they’re not working out. You’re so frustrated and you’re so down. You don’t know which end is up.

even more so than the average person, feel like they can’t go and talk to somebody. Because I am the guy who helps other people through these times. I’m not the guy who asks for help. If I ask for help, then what am I doing? I can’t coach other people. And so you having the courage to share that today and saying, I was stuck in that trap. And then I went and I did get help. And boy, was it transformative for

Kenny Harper (53:34)
Thank you, Anthony, for mentioning that because it is a mindset shift. as my sons have grown up a bit and getting into teenage years, it is also giving me that other perspective. So now I always have a coach. I always have at least one person who’s helping me in one area, if not a couple, because I’m an advocate for it. And I think if you’re in business or you’re trying to grow something, you should have somebody who’s helping.

you see your blind spot, who’s challenging you to take new actions, get outside of your comfort zone, who’s helping hold you accountable. When we get into teenage mindset thinking, I know everything already, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s not a good mindset. That’s what teenagers do because they think they know everything. And what do we know? Teenagers don’t know everything. They know what they know. They don’t know what they don’t know.

So the more I’ve learned on my journey, the more I realized, I don’t know. I’m just, and we’re constantly changing. We’re constantly caught up in the day to day. We’re constantly being swirled around so much. Even sometimes I’m having to be reminded of the things I teach others and somehow lost that I was, you know, not doing it myself. It’s like, yeah. So thank you, Anthony, for, pointing that out. It is a big important part. Never get in the mindset that you’re, you

know everything and that you can’t benefit from working with other people to help you out in other areas.

Anthony Codispoti (55:07)
What’s your superpower, Kenny?

Kenny Harper (55:11)
I think from a young age, I’ve been told that I’m able to connect with people on a genuine level. And maybe it’s a little bit of empathy.

combined with a little bit of visionary and a little bit of integrator. So it kind of puts me in that spot where I have that entrepreneurial spirit. I can see things. I can kind of connect the dots, have a vision with something. I’ll also have a systematic mindset. So I’m able to put structure to it, put it into a plan, and then help connect with people to connect those dots. So it’s the combination of those things that

creates a superpower. when one of the things I’m a big advocate for to Anthony is getting video testimonials, which if you’re in a business and you connect with clients or customers online, or even if you don’t, getting video testimonials is a great way to have your happy clients and customers advocate for you. Connecting on something like Zoom is an easy way just to ask them some questions and get some video testimonials. Point being.

A lot of the people that have connected with me, if you go to my website, KennyHarper.rocks, you can hear video testimonials of people saying that sort of thing. I had these ideas. I couldn’t quite put them into a structured plan. was kind of spinning my own wheels and getting some help, plan, and some accountability to go from having an idea to being in action is what they really found value in.

Anthony Codispoti (56:51)
say more about how you approach those video testimonials. At what point in the client life cycle are you asking for them? How do you ask for them? How do you sort of prime them? Kind of walk us through the process.

Kenny Harper (57:05)
All right, so I’ll share a couple of different things. So this is really cool if you’re listening in. Don’t just listen to this, take an action. So some people have a lot of clients. They’ve been in business for decades. And now, do you have any testimonials? No, really. How much business do you think you can get if when you connect it with new people or you put a message out, you had a wall of people advocating for you, telling how you’ve helped them get the things that they want? It’s totally transformative.

And they were like, well, I don’t know how to get videos, video testimonials. Well, you can ask people, right? So we can ask people and say, hey, based on our conversations, based on the things we’ve been able to achieve, would you feel comfortable leaving a short video, doing a short interview with me and I’ll just record it and we can use it for video testimonial? I asked people to schedule a 15 minute meeting with me or a member of my team.

We ask him four simple questions. We record it. We edit it. We share it for review, and then we could use it for content. You could just ask people to do it, but from what I found, people will get busy. They don’t know what to say. They overthink it, or sometimes they’ll say something that’s not really even relevant to being helpful. I liked Kenny’s jackets. They were always interesting. Thank you for that testimonial.

Anthony Codispoti (58:31)
So what are the four simple questions that you ask Kenny?

Kenny Harper (58:34)
All right, four simple questions and just ask them to introduce themselves, their name, their company and what they do. That’s one. Then what is something that they found beneficial working with me or a member from my team or from the program? Something that they found beneficial. And then how did that help benefit their business? That’s number three. How did that thing that they found beneficial help them? What did it help them do? What did it help them accomplish? What was the benefit of the benefit? And then number four.

Why would they recommend me or my program to others who are looking to grow and improve? Four simple questions. I say, don’t overthink it, just talk to me as a person or record it and then I’ll edit it. You’ll get to review it and then we can share it online. that people enjoy it. This is an important part. Uh-oh, got a little thing saying reconnect.

Here’s the thing that blocks people from doing this. They think, well, I don’t want to impose on people and ask them to do this favor. But here’s the thing I’ve learned. If you’ve helped someone achieve something in their life and help them simplify, take away a challenge or get somewhere, accomplish something that was important to them, it makes them feel good.

to communicate that and return the favor. It is not something that makes them feel bad or imposed. If they don’t wanna do video testimonials, not everyone’s gonna wanna do a video, that’s okay. But asking them to share, everyone that I get done when doing these video testimonial requests, or remember my teams do, they like doing it. They feel good about doing it, helps them feel good. So if you can shift it in your mind,

Anthony Codispoti (1:00:31)
I like that.

Kenny Harper (1:00:34)
from I don’t want to make people feel bad to I want to give them the opportunity to share and that’ll make them feel good, then you’re giving an opportunity for someone to feel good.

Anthony Codispoti (1:00:47)
So what does that

outreach message look like? You’re sending them an email, asking them to schedule 15 minutes. What does it say?

Kenny Harper (1:00:54)
So if you already or somebody from your team already is connecting and has a chance to connect on a one-to-one basis, like some accountants do, they have regular stand-in meetings, I the best way is just to have a quick conversation and just saying, hey, I’m working on trying to get some video testimonials. Would you mind scheduling a time where we can, I can ask you a few questions and we can record it to get a testimonial, something very simple, very authentic and…

99 times, 99 times, 99 % of the times people will say yes. Occasionally someone will be like, I don’t like being on video. Okay, well, could you answer the questions and we could get the audio or we could just get what you’d like to say. And if you don’t have those regular connections, just a simple email, hey, I’m looking to get some feedback on some of the progress that we’ve had made in

our relationship. Would you be able to schedule a 15 minute call? You know, ask you some questions to get your feedback. Might use it for a video testimonial. If yes, here’s a link to my calendar. Very simple. Very quick.

Anthony Codispoti (1:02:08)
And then

you’re putting those videos on your website, obviously, but any other ways that you like to repurpose those?

Kenny Harper (1:02:15)
That’s a great question, Anthony. Have you been trained in marketing? ⁓ Yes. So that’s a good point because that’s another thing I’ll share and I’m doing it right now. Putting people say like, we’ve got a bunch of reviews on our Google page or on our Facebook or what have you. That’s nice. It serves a purpose for people that go there and look for it. But you can also share that content in posts.

You can share it in social posts. You share it on YouTube. You can put it into your sales collateral. You can put it out into your email. You can send it to people directly if they’re if you’re connecting with someone who really wants to get the value that you provide. They have a good connection, but they have a fear. They have a fear because they’ve tried something in the past. It didn’t work out. And they don’t want to repeat that that same mistake.

So they’re like, I hired someone in the past, they said all these things, and then they totally, you know, didn’t do what they said they’re gonna do. So in those cases, I’ll be like, I understand, but don’t take it from me here. Listen to what these other people said and let them do the talking. And when people hear genuine people communicating that they had a challenge, but someone took the time to understand them,

what their needs were and then went above and beyond to help them achieve it, that sells itself. ⁓ For the people who hopefully eliminates someone’s fear so that they can take the actions needed to get to where they want to go.

Anthony Codispoti (1:04:01)
I love that, you know, and ⁓ one of the things Kenny’s been talking about is, don’t just listen, take action and what he just shared there on the video testimonials. ⁓ Go back, we listen to that again, I think that’s going to end up being the most listened to part of the entire episode. There’s a lot of ⁓ great knowledge bombs in there super simple process that anybody with a know, zoom account can execute on.

Kenny, I’ve just got one more question for you today. But before I ask, I’m going to do three quick things. ⁓ First of all, anybody who wants to get in touch with our guest today, he’s mentioned some of these websites already. There’s kennyharper.rocks. And Kenny, what will they find there?

Kenny Harper (1:04:43)
So I’ve been talking about the business side, but recently launched more of a personal development side of looking at mindset habits, things of that nature. So you can find some free resources and articles and videos to help you step into being the best version of yourself.

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:02)
Love it. And then the other two addresses I’m going to give out here first is growth amplifier dot com for his business. There’s all kinds of great content and video testimonials there ⁓ and the book that we’ve been talking about and hold the book up again for us Kenny one more time. There we go. Amplified advisor. You can get that for free today. Go to growth amplifier dot com slash book growth amplifier dot com slash book.

Kenny Harper (1:05:30)
growth amplifiers. Yes, growth amplifiers because who is a growth amplifier? Just to be clear, if you’re tuned in, you made it all the way this far, chances are you are an amplifier. An amplifier is somebody who has that passion. They are taking that their expertise and they’re trying to make a positive difference in the world. And all the things that I’m looking to do is just share helpful tools, tips and resources.

Anthony Codispoti (1:05:32)
thank you. It’s plural.

Kenny Harper (1:06:00)
to help you turn up the volume, clear blocks so that you can amplify your message, so you can amplify your impact. So growth amplifiers is about growing yourself, growing your business and expanding your purpose. And the book, it’s mentioned, the Amplified Advisor, it has the overview of the system, links to the assessment. We’re giving away all the best stuff that we’ve got because we’re just looking to build relationships and make the biggest impact we can while we’re still in this world and you’re still

serving your bigger vision.

Anthony Codispoti (1:06:33)
Two other things before I get to my last question. For folks listening, if you’re enjoying the show, a quick comment or review on your favorite podcast app goes a long way towards helping others discover our show. So thank you for taking a quick moment to do that right now. And as a reminder, if you want to be the hero advisor that shows your clients how to get their employees access to therapists, doctors, and prescription meds that as paradoxical as it seems, actually increases the company’s net profits,

reach out to us at addbackbenefits.com. All right, last question for you, Kenny. A year from now, what is one specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?

Kenny Harper (1:07:12)
So just kicked it off yesterday. I’ve got a ⁓ project I’m working on with my sons and some of their friends. It’s the School of Rock. Yes, I’m copying Jack Black, the School of Rock. But last summer we had my boys learn a set of music that they could play with the song playing. This year I’m trying to get a set that they can play without the song playing and we can try to get a show presented in front of people.

So if we can get that, my goal is to help them develop some music skills, but also leadership, communication, and just enjoying that process. So it’s an important part for me for them just to express their creativity and have fun doing it.

Anthony Codispoti (1:07:58)
Kenny Harper from Growth Amplifiers. I wanna be the first to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today and really appreciate you.

Kenny Harper (1:08:05)
Likewise, thank you so much, Anthony. appreciate what you’re doing and the opportunity to share my experience to help others on theirs.

Anthony Codispoti (1:08:14)
That’s a wrap on another episode of the inspired stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.