Episode 46: Scott Weaver on a Dad's Perspective on Being an Entrepeneur
Dec 21, 2021
Scott Weaver is not a mom! But he is a dad. Men and women don't always see things the same way (shocker, I know!) and Scott joins me as we talk about the differences in how men and women often approach entrepreneurship. As we understand those differences, we can use that new knowledge to communicate better.
This is actually a continuation of a conversation started on Scott's podcast about the frontier where home and business meet. (You can hear that here.)
Scott mentioned the book the E-Myth Revisited, which is an excellent resource
Connect with Scott on his website
Scott's favorite resource is plain old pen and paper!
Hear it:
Watch it:
Read it:
This is a transcript of the This Mom Knows Podcast - Episode - 46
Jennifer Uren
Scott Weaver works with business owners helping them plan and manage growth in their business. He does this through a process that gives clarity and certainty to what the business is focused on and then pulls together all the complex moving parts of their business into clear processes that move their business forward. That's a lot of business. He has been married to his wife who he calls his CSO, or his Chief Sanity Officer - I like that. He's been married for about 25 years, and together they call Tennessee home. So welcome, Scott.
Scott Weaver
Thank you. Thank you, Jenn. I'm really glad to be here. And what a wonderful introduction.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, well, thank you. Well, why don't you tell us - I mean, that gave us a really high level - but why don't you tell us a little bit more about your family, and maybe you know what you love to do when you're not consulting?
Scott Weaver
Okay. So we lived, actually, we're recent transplants into Tennessee. So we lived in Oregon for quite a number of years. In fact, we raised our kids there. And just last year, we moved to Tennessee, that was a big adventure. And so I have two kids, they're both in their early 20s. And as a family we took off from Oregon into Tennessee. And we spent about two months on the road, staying at relatives, and driving across and camping. So that was just a really wonderful, wonderful time together to be together and get to know each other well. What do I love to do?
Jennifer Uren
Yeah
Scott Weaver
So, so that's actually a tough question. I like, I like gardening, it's more of a hobby, because it's downtime for me. And it's most of the time fairly simple. And it's like, make sure it gets water and then you pick them and yeah, so get time there. I like hiking, especially with my wife and family. So last year we were when we were going across the country driving we stopped in the Grand Tetons hiked up to Inspirational Point, which was kind of a major personal goals. So that was exciting. And both my wife and I are fantasy and sci fi freaks. So we watch a lot of the movies and I read. And so it's no surprise that Lord of the Rings books is my favorite.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah. That's so fun. So Star Wars or Star Trek?
Scott Weaver
I like them both.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, well good. Usually someone's got an opinion. So...
Scott Weaver
Well, they each are unique. And it'd be kind of neat to combine them into one show. See what happens there. But we'll speculate. One in the past one in the future, you know, see, what happens.
Jennifer Uren
Right? Yeah, that would be funny. Well, today, we're going to talk with you kind of on, you know, business from the other side, that other perspective. And so we're gonna just start with the obvious, you are not a mom.
Scott Weaver
I'm not? Let me check here.
Jennifer Uren
My daughter says, "Is that going to be a surprise to him?" But you and I met at Podcast Movement last August. And one of the things that we quickly discovered was that you and I are kind of coming at this entrepreneurial experience, but just from these opposite perspective, perspectives, and you were gracious enough to invite me onto your podcast to have a conversation about it. And so today, we want to kind of continue that conversation, but from the male perspective. So let's start with you maybe telling me a little bit more about what it is that you do with business owners?
Scott Weaver
What do I do with? So I think we're off to an interesting start, because even the way you phrased the question is different.
Jennifer Uren
Mmmm.
Scott Weaver
So um, you know, it's like gardening, right? I do something with a hoe or I do something with with a tractor, right? But when it comes to people, I usually don't do something to them. So this is this is this is a really interesting and it's going to spawn a lot of conversation later on. So I actually work with people. I work with business owners, usually small and medium size people. And the main thing I'm trying to do is to get them to have freedom in time freedom and freedom in finance, because running a business is very difficult. It's not rocket science, but you have a lot of juggling things in the air, and that's where things get complicated and overwhelmed. And when I work with them, it comes in two steps. The first step that I do is usually what I call the hard skills, working with the strategy, the accounting, the finances, the management are - is the company running the way it's supposed to, is the company running so that the business owner doesn't do everything, and the employees are happy and the customers are happy. But in the end, it almost gets into life coaching. Because there is a lot of pressure on business owners in - a tremendous amount. And, you know, one of the reasons why people like having, getting a business is being their own boss. But in reality, business owners have many, many bosses. You have the government saying you got to pay your taxes, you have an employee says you need to do this and this for me, you have your insurance people saying you better have that. Your customer -well, the customer is always right, which they're not. So all of a sudden, and then if you have a board of directors, if you take a loan to a bank to your boss, and so that adds a lot of stress and pressure on the business owners. When it's done right, a lot of good things can happen. When is not going right heads explode, especially the owners so I am there to help them both on the hard skills and what happens between the ears.
Jennifer Uren
Okay, okay, and so I think there are some similarities where part of what I'm trying to do with mompreneurs is help them really identify their priorities so that they have a filter through which they can say yes and no to things so that they can have freedom to do in their business and with their family the things that matter and so it's it's just that different approach. Their bosses are often mom guilt and their kids you know, like sort of their own their own worst enemies but that's interesting that yes, it done well it can go well and done poorly. It can be a nightmare.
Scott Weaver
But the sad part is is the either one of those cases are easily to spot. Yeah, it's the mediocre ones, the ones that are in the middle are kind of lukewarm. Those, to me is the most sad. Because they can get by but they're not thriving.
Jennifer Uren
Yes.
Scott Weaver
And then it's like well, if you make change, then it seems to go worse. So they don't make change. And they're just there.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah. So would you say those are the people who are less of a business owner and more of a job owner like they own their job for their income, but they don't actually own a business?
Unknown Speaker
No, no, I'm not I'm not referring to things like what they do. It's it's more of a mindset.
Jennifer Uren
Got it. Okay.
Scott Weaver
It's like whatever, whether working in the business or working on job, you know, they have they cover their expenses, and they have a you know, enough to save up for one vacation.
Jennifer Uren
They just get by yeah
Scott Weaver
Yep. And, and that's a mindset, and I've seen it in business. I've seen it in employees, they seem at home. And that is, yeah, it's - yeah, life, life is meant to be lived.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, yes. Yeah. And that's a different mindset than a content. A contented mindset. It's a it's almost more on the victim end of things of "Well..."
Scott Weaver
Yeah, it's kind of the difference between scarcity mindset and abundance mindset. Yes, yeah. I've I've, I've met a lot of poor people with abundance.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah
Scott Weaver
I first experienced that, you know, growing up as a kid, I was like Middle School. And so my dad had a pretty good job at the time. And I had really good friends who were struggling to get by financially. But they got to go raft the river in the summertime, they got to go fishing, they got to go camping. And I was jealous.
Jennifer Uren
Isn't that funny.
Scott Weaver
Yeah, they had a lot of fun without spending a lot of money.
Jennifer Uren
So that's great. So what was it that kind of moved you out of your career working for other people and into becoming a business owner yourself?
Scott Weaver
Oh, wow. Let's see how many hours do we have? So I'll try to shorten it. It's, it's a little bit long and a little quirky. But so basically, I graduated with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. And it was I was working in it about 10 years or so. And I was doing pretty well. And then the .com bust came, so showing my, my age here. And then from for the next about four and a half years, I worked at four different companies on one desk. And number five was coming coming and I just, I just had enough so when you know in the news is that semiconductor shortages, you know, I was going through, that's what I did. I made computer chips. I was in that industry. And that the problem we're seeing today is, man 2025 years in the making. There's gonna be no easy solution out of it. But I just got fed up. Quit. I went to business school and coming out of business school, I was a CEO of a technology company, a university spin out, did that for a couple years, and then launched my own company. So it wasn't like I had this great life plan. This is what I was going to do. But I do remember I was at when I was the last couple years in my engineering job. I was in a very, because of the upheaval in the, in the company, you were assigned a position, and that's all you had to do. So I was making good money. And I was finishing my work in six hours.
Jennifer Uren
Wow.
Scott Weaver
And it's a lot of people think I'm actually crazy, but I wasn't, I was bored. And not content. And I just think and you know, you know, God didn't put me on, you know, this planet, just, you know, to sit back and drink lemonade all the time. There's, there's more important things than just me trying to fill an extra two or three hours a day, because the big boss was trying to please a bigger boss in another state.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, yeah. Which is interesting, because you could have been that mediocre person who just went, you know, and said, "Well...
Scott Weaver
This is the funny thing. Um, I don't, it would have been mediocre for me.
Jennifer Uren
Right.
Scott Weaver
But um, I had the honor of being actually with one of the top teams in the digital cameras, you know, the actual chip that makes digital cameras, and the hard backup ones in the world. Um, really high talented. They were, they were - and I'm sitting here, why am I here? They're loving it. I was in an environment where - and it wasn't until about three, four years after I stopped working. I realized it was me -It wasn't the environment. I was just not in the vironment that I needed to be. Yeah, even though I was pretty successful in it. From outside perspective, but inside, I was not content.
Jennifer Uren
Well, when you approached your wife, and you said, you know, "Hey, honey, I think I want to quit my job with a paycheck and start a business with no guaranteed income." Well, what was her response? What did your kids think?
Scott Weaver
Let's see, freak out is probably the very it was like, my husband He wants to, what's his problem? I didn't, it was two years, it was over two years before I quit.
Jennifer Uren
Okay.
Scott Weaver
And so I first did it, I was working for the first company I ever worked for. And so it was pretty contentious is like, I was very unhappy. The unhappiness and the the the problems at work, it was management, it wasn't the group I was in. It was it was the management. So maybe we'll get it in my viewpoint of you can have good corporations and bad corporations, right? I worked from great companies, great corporations, s&p 500. Just love working them. And there's some other ones that man, where did these people come from? So, so what was it I was ready to give my notice of I said, I've had enough, I'm quitting. And so life was that. And then our division got bought out by another company.
Jennifer Uren
Hmm.
Scott Weaver
And so I told my wife it's an answer to our prayers.
Jennifer Uren
Right?
Scott Weaver
So I wasn't sure. But I stayed for another two years. Before we were being sold off to another one, and that was a good company to work for. But at that time, I realize, you know, there's something inside of me that needs to move on.
Jennifer Uren
Okay. So did you sort of start planning them so that when the next opportunity presented itself, it wasn't reactive? It was it was you were ready?
Scott Weaver
It was and it took my wife about two years to get used to it? Yeah. But I had an advantage. So her father had his own business. Okay. wasn't surprised it wasn't that going off into the unknown.
Jennifer Uren
Yes
Scott Weaver
It's just that. Let's see, hopefully, my wife is not gonna listen to. But growing up in terms of like finances and money, her attitude was there's always cookies in the cookie jar. And that's how her parents raised. They, there's always cookies. She never saw the cookies being made.
Jennifer Uren
Okay.
Scott Weaver
Um, but whenever she wanted a cookie, you just open the the jar, and there they are. And so that was her attitude towards finances. Whenever you want to buy something, just open the checkbook, and there it is. And then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, wait, we're grownups now. And so that money has to come from somewhere.
Jennifer Uren
Yes.
Scott Weaver
Yeah. And then realize, like, oh, okay, it's, it's better to live life than have a full jar of cookies and be in a terrible place.
Jennifer Uren
And you can still have a full jar of cookies. It's just that you have to plan for it differently. You have to know how they get there. You don't just open up the lid. And yeah, it is a whole different way of talking about finances of handling inflows and outflows. And yeah, it's it's very different. In fact, I feel like, if everybody could be taught entrepreneurial finance, then they'd have no problem with regular paychecks and everything else because they could plan.
Scott Weaver
Well, yeah, this is a funny thing is like, you know, I have an MBA master's degree in business. I've had a year of corporate finance and there isn't much difference between entrepreneur finance and normal finance or corporate, it's, it's just planning where the money is going to go, and actually doing what you said you're going to do, and making sure that you don't have cashflow problems.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, and that's the hardest one. The cash flow because you have inconsistent income, that's where I think the hardest one is for most people.
Scott Weaver
Um, it is, and it isn't. And so, the funny thing is, is when we started the business, money was not the most number one thing we were on a journey and we're gonna have times where storms gonna come in, and we're going to eat rice and beans or Top Ramen for a bit. But then other times I'm, you know, my, the in laws, we would able to live live yet spend three weeks with my in laws, the grandparents, in another state, and still able to work from from home. And in particularly my my in laws, my wife's parents live in Hawaii. And so people thought we were really, oh wow - you're going to Hawaii again? And it's like, well, we're, we don't have to pay for hotel food. We do have to work around the house a little bit. And when you have your own business, you're able to do things remotely. So I was doing I was doing remote a long time ago. Now all of a sudden, it's like, well, we don't need as much money. But we do need much money. It is when you're a business owner, you get it. Yeah, but we have the ability to put our money into airline tickets to Hawaii, knowing that we don't have to pay an expensive hotel. Right? Yeah, so we that's part of the living, right, you can live without spending a lot of money.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, that's the fun part.
Scott Weaver
Not sure, if I answered your questions, though,
Jennifer Uren
you know, I think you did I mean, because basically, your wife was like, hold up, and
Scott Weaver
No, no it was like, oh, have you gone nuts? Have you? There was no hold up!
Jennifer Uren
I was being been gracious. That's funny, though. But when you do come out of like you said her dad owned his own business, there's still probably something there of like, even though the cookies were always there, she she sensed that there was a lot more stress and, and different things than just going to work every day. And so who knows what it was, but it is different. And one of the things we talk about a lot here is integrating business with home and family. And so most of the time, we're talking about it from the perspective of a mom who's adding something in. So tell me what it's like from the perspective of a dad, who was already used to going to work and having those hours, hours carved out. And in particular, I guess I'm really wondering, how did you set boundaries so that the business didn't now monopolize your time, thoughts and energy the way it really easily could have?
Scott Weaver
Okay, so multiple questionsin there.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah. I'm good at those.
Scott Weaver
I did a whole podcast on I probably mentioned, I forgot on the podcast or two, I did a whole podcast on just the approaches of the integration. And so there is a couple of ways to approach it. One is that the husband and wife are a team in the business. And at home. In that case, there is almost no work and home is the same. The kids you know, you know, go to the store, the tire shop, or whatever. And they're there from age 2 and on going so that's one integration. The other one is the complete separation, businesses, business and families family, and there's complete business, and I'm generally not too much in favor of that, because I've seen too much of the negative side. And the reason why is let's see how to put it. I'll just give an example of a doctor, very successful doctor. He had his own business, he was making lots and lots of money, I mean well into hundreds of 1000s of dollars. And he was working all the time. But he never enjoyed the fruits of his labor. His family did. His family went on the vacations, they had the nice cars, they had the swimming pools, they they were doing all that stuff, and he's working and that built up resentment. And so one of the points is, you don't want to build up resentment on either side either for the mom or the dad. Or in my world. It can be switched. There's some some Yeah, Dad moms, and the wife is working full time so. And then the third is what the approach I I did cuz is You don't, it's blended. So I will work from home. Actually, I worked from home for over 10 years. But there's a separation, but it's not large. And at the dinner table, I would talk about what happened in the business, I would say this customer did this. And that or I was like, I can't believe, you know, this person did that. And there was a, there was an agenda two part agenda. One is teaching the kids about real life, about real people skills, and why learning their mathematics is important. The other part is, especially for guys, they don't like to share, they don't want to - how to put it, I think it's just natural for guys not to share burdens, they want to take the load all themselves. And so when I'm talking to the kids about, well, you know, my competitor destroyed because he felt self righteous, and he felt everybody owed him, and then customers stop going to them, because he didn't like them, and then came to me. So it's a very simple story about how, you know, the give and take in the in the real life. But it gets me talking about business so that when the really serious things his customer hasn't paid they're three months late. We need to cut back on our food budget. I can it's it's, I can comfortably bring that up.
Jennifer Uren
Right.
Scott Weaver
And that's that's a that's a long...
Jennifer Uren
yeah
Scott Weaver
...that's a long process. We still work on it. Boundaries. So yes, about boundaries.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah.
Scott Weaver
So to me, boundaries is like a fence, either keep things out or keep things in. So when you have boundaries, are you keeping the business out? Are you keeping the family in, and I, I don't like I want the third choice. And so maybe it's a, like on a football field or a basketball field, there's an out of bounds line on the floor, but it's not a wall. It's not a fence, right. And a couple things which may be useful to your listeners, is a 15 minute rule when I come back from a business or something. So coming in, I will have I have the right I worked out with my wife and I, we actually, if I get rambling, please stop me. But we actually went to a marriage conference a long, long time ago, we got a lot of tips. So very useful to go to those every once well, even if you're everything's great. But the 15 minute rule, if I come home, and I'm grumpy and I are just tired. Last thing I'm going to do is be jumped on with a whole bunch of questions. There has been times where I haven't got my coat off before, you know it has been jumped on to the problems, such as seen on all this stuff is not working or blah, blah, blah. And then that that usually is a trigger point for me. So if I'm in a good mood, I don't need 15 minutes. If I am, I claimed 15 minutes. And literally there has been times where it takes me 15 minutes to take off my coat and tie my shoes. And that's it. But after that, also I'm back into this space. So which gets into one of the the habits that guys really need to get into actually both is being in the moment in the present.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah.
Scott Weaver
And that takes practice because there's you could be physically there. But your brain could be somewhere else. And that takes concentration. And the way I tell myself is the problems aren't going anywhere. There is no magic fairy that's going to fix the problems while you're gone. So you don't need to think about it now because it's going to still be there. Yeah, so just to be really focus in the presence and realizing that you're taking a break and doing something you like doing. And then you'll have more clarity to do that. See the other boundary? Oh, the other Yeah, the third big thing is to know when it's a planting season, the harvest season. So when it's planting season, whatever spouse is working, they got they got to they got to get that crop in the ground, otherwise you don't eat. And that takes long hours. Yeah. Okay. And that takes away. Same thing for the harvest. When there's a storm coming in, you have grain crop. And you are, you're on your combines. I had a friend who was on 140 hours straight, trying to be a string of thunderstorms. Otherwise, the whole crop would be lost. So you got to do it. Yeah. But what I tell my clients is if you are working those hours in winter and middle of summer, that you have a serious problem. In the summertime when the plants are growing by themselves, you should get home at 430 in the afternoon and take the rest of the evening off. Yeah, so that's that's a sign.
Jennifer Uren
Okay. So it sounds like all of these I mean, there's some transition. There's some some mindset things there. But really they all are about communication. And so as you built your business, you know, how did you communicate with your wife so that she felt included, you know, maybe outside of those dinner conversations with the kids, but so that even if she wasn't working day to day in the business, she still felt like she was part of what you were growing.
Scott Weaver
Yeah, yeah. Right. So once again, yeah, you're asking another loaded question. Talk the whole time on that one. So, um, so for me, I had people around me when I first started bad examples. And I said, I don't want to be like them. And so if I don't want to be like them, then I can't do things that they're doing, right. And the biggest one was the complete isolation. Isolation is the enemy, both for men and women. And so too many business owners, especially men get wrapped up in their work, and they become isolated. And when you get isolated, the thought process becomes quite limited, and myopic. And then you start making bad decisions. So it's like, okay, don't want to do that. The other part other thing I didn't want is, to, hopefully I can find the right words for this is personal growth. So a business owner, by definition has to grow as a person, the business grows, they got to do, they got to better habits, better communication skills, better finances, able to handle employees, they have to deal with lawyers and CPAs, they're no longer afraid of them. Okay, so they're personally growing, if the other spouse does not grow with them, then one spouse is left behind. So it would be like somebody who stops growing at age, let's say, age 30, with small kids, and that's it, they never progress beyond that. And then let's say the husband's working, and they're growing. So all of a sudden, now you, you're living in a house with somebody, a 45 year old and a 30 year old, and the maturity levels are just not there. And that causes. That's a lot of sad things. So, so Okay, so two things not to get isolated, and not to grow too fast. And actually, my wife helped me out, she surely knew that, but I tried to include things not be isolated. Try to get home on time. Because business is always there family will not always be there, the kids, kids are a gift, and they will grow up and be on their own. So you better enjoy while you can. But my wife actually started her own our own business, just a little home. What's it really called now? multi level marketing?
Jennifer Uren
Yes.
Scott Weaver
And in that is training, and that was her growth. So she had to do things he didn't have to do she had to make phone calls to strangers. Like, well, business owners always have to do. Yeah, and so and so. So for the last probably six, well, that was one of the beginning. So she was growing independent. And then about five, six years ago, all of a sudden was like, we start listening to the same personal growth, start listening to podcasts. And I was I was the mean, dad, whenever the family was in the in the car, took a page out of Zig Ziglar. We had Automobile University. So I picked a podcast, and everybody had to listen to it.
Jennifer Uren
Love it. We do similarly, we're like, we're gonna listen to this book on this drive. And then you have to tell us what it said.
Scott Weaver
Did I answer your question?
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, I think that's great. So as we're kind of getting to the end of our conversation, what advice would you give the mompreneur listening when it comes to starting a business? Maybe specifically, is there one thing that many businesses owners overlook? That would really make a difference if you paid attention from the start?
Scott Weaver
Well, if there was just one thing, then yeah, I probably wouldn't be a business coach.
Jennifer Uren
Well is there one thing most people miss?
Scott Weaver
No, no, there's always there's always multiple things. The third podcast I recorded was called You are a Problem Solver. And it talks about if you're a business owner, that's what you do. You solve problems. And people come to you to solve problems. Your customer comes to you solve problems. Your family comes to you and solve problems, employees solve problems. And of course, the government causes problems, but you have to solve them too. So there are a lot of people don't don't know that they just think, Hey, I'm going to do this great thing. And why is there's all these problems. So if you're not a problem solver, you don't like problem solving problems. You probably shouldn't start a business. The other big thing is you got to know your goals. And he needs to know your personality type too. So those two things because I Give me a give some extreme examples. So my grandma sold Avon, I mean for like 50-60 years, right. And she only sold local. It was it was a hobby. And it was enough to get like Christmas money and a couple other things. That was her goal. And she met it. And she won some big awards, too, over over the years. But that's that's all she didn't want to grow anymore. And I've known people who are very ambitious, who want to start, you know, 1000 employee company, and then from the get go there, that is where they're going. So if you don't know what your goal is, and let's say you just want to do some part time thing, and you launch a business that requires, you know, 15 people, it's, it's not going to go well, because what you're doing does not match match the goals. So, as you kind of notice, I look at the big picture, and in a lot, a lot of things. There's a book called The E-Myth. And again, to give example, about a woman who wanted to start a bakery. Yeah. And actually, it was, it was there, it was like her aunt's recipe. She loved baking, very talented. And she gets into it, and she like, hates it, and not knowing why it's and she felt guilty, you know, betraying her aunt, and you know, so she was trying to live up to these expectations. And so in the book, it goes in, and they start talking about, it's like, well, a bakery owner doesn't bake, right? They run a business. And so if the whole purpose of starting a business is to like bake, you're going to be very disappointed. And a lot of people don't understand that. Because you got to balance the books. You got to find the taxes got to do with customers.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, set prices, you get a train your employees. Yeah. So many.
Scott Weaver
So those are the three that those those are the three things I think to wat- to yeah to watch out for.
Jennifer Uren
Well, this has been fun. This is this is a great conversation. And it's interesting because you've said things like you're a problem solver. And I'm thinking that's a male perspective. Because as a woman, I'm a nurturer and it's about the relationship. And so there there are different bents and ultimately you're looking at the same things just coming from opposite directions. But...
Scott Weaver
But, but you kind of said something in your notes that you sent me. We haven't had a chance to talk about that yet. But oh yeah, you know, you know, talk one was nutrient nurturing, and one was providing, and I have a slightly different cause they're both,
Jennifer Uren
Well let's talk about that.
Scott Weaver
Yeah, they're both providers. Ones providing nutrient nutrients and nurturing. The other one is usually material, material things. Ah, and, and if you lack either one of them, it's not a thriving life. Yes. And so that is the how to put it, you need if both of you are the same, one of you is not needed.
Jennifer Uren
Hmm.
Scott Weaver
And to thrive both of our you needed with individual talents, what they bring into it. I don't want to sound too logical, but you have to bring value into the relationships. And if they're the same value, one of you is not needed. Or one gets isolated. But when you start bringing both of them into there, you have thriving, your family's thriving, the business thrives, the family thrives. Yeah, across the board, if the family's not thriving, the business does not thrive.
Jennifer Uren
So when we can both be providers in a complementary way be what nurturing and materially then we're on the same team and we're not butting heads as competitors because we've got the same goal of providing that's that's an interesting perspective.
Scott Weaver
And that's why my wife is my chief sanity officer. Yeah, there's times where I'm, you know, I get wrapped around the axle. You know, I'm, you know, somebody didn't live up to their promise. And that's really impacting campaign and all this and she's comes in like, like, you're losing Scott, you better know you, you're looking at this the wrong way. That's, that's where she comes in and keeps me sane. And so that is working together. And that's where you talked about integration.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah.
Scott Weaver
So that's the integration that we have. So a lot of times she is my life coach. And and without that, there's a lot of successful businessmen that when they enter a new partnership agreement, the wife has to meet the other other partner, and their wife either dinner so because women can pick up on I don't know what you'd call them bad vibes?
Jennifer Uren
Right? Yes, we've intuition
Scott Weaver
I there's more than one. I mean, both at national level business people just local said, Every time I haven't listened to my wife, man, I got burned bad. So, and so it's, I do want to stress you know, before we go, don't be afraid of the business, don't be afraid of the family, they can actually be complementary to each other. And when both are thriving, believe me it's a good life.
Jennifer Uren
Yes.
Scott Weaver
You're making more money on less effort. Yeah, with activists will be surprised if you're a business owner, you kind of get this you actually have more stability than working for somebody else.
Jennifer Uren
Mm hmm. Yes, and that's the goal. It really is to, to to have a little more say in what is coming and and not be at the whim and wimzie of someone else's plans. So yeah, well,
Scott Weaver
Okay, brings up another point. Yeah, might want to edit this and put it so let's So on the communication side, a lot of times it was my wife who reached out first Hmm. And it's just kind of gently you know, figured out my personality and approach and said, Hey, you know how the things that work, you seem a little tense, something going on, and then the that, that asking questions open up, and over time, then it becomes easier to share. Because there is in guy thinking you need to protect and then forget that, you know, they live in the real world to live in the real she gets these things. But sometimes guys lose that perspective to the woman to to help her man out in that area.
Jennifer Uren
Yeah, well, that's good. That's good to hear it to be patiently persistent in asking the questions and inviting the conversation. So, well Scott, one thing I ask every guest I am a gadget person, I love any tool or system that is going to save me time and make life easier. So I always ask what is your favorite time saving gadget tool or system?
Scott Weaver
Um, let me get it for you. I think you might be surprised. So this is a pen. Okay, and this is a paper planner.
Jennifer Uren
Ah...
Scott Weaver
My gadget is pen and paper. Okay, so I do full schedule. Um, so I do my planning on pen and paper. And there's just something for me personally, that I think out what I'm going to do for the week, you know, usually Monday morning is when I plan out the whole week. And so that saves me a lot of time because the pen slows me down. And when you're writing there's something about writing and moving your hand helps you remember things and so old fashioned pen and paper actually saves me time later in the week.
Jennifer Uren
That's great. That is good advice too because it is easy to forget where something is digitally or out of sight out of mind but when you've got it right there
Scott Weaver
Or if the internet goes down
Jennifer Uren
If the internet goes down! Yes! Which we all know can happen every time I get more confident and keeping things online in the cloud that's when it all goes down and I'm like no back to printing everything
Scott Weaver
but you know it's just it's just my personality the writing down on on the on the weekly planners is one of the best time saving devices I've use.
Jennifer Uren
Well Excellent. Well Scott, how can people connect with you where they can they find you and do you have? Do you have any sort of opt ins on your website?
Scott Weaver
Okay, um, okay, so you can contact me at arise2live.com, arise2live.com. That's the main the main page and there's also a podcast of it You can reach me at [email protected] So that's to be that way. I'm I'm on LinkedIn. So under Scott, R Weaver in Franklin, Tennessee, or Nashville area. So those are the main ways to contact me.
Jennifer Uren
Well, Scott, thank you so much. It's been fun to to have this side of the conversation with me in the asking seat this time. And I appreciate your time. So thank you.
Scott Weaver
All right. This was fun Jenn and enjoy.