Zeb Welborn Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Zeb Welborn
Zeb Welborn is a name that many of the listeners will not have heard of but was a major part of the growth of Join Up Dots.
In fact he appeared on episode 32 in the first month of the show back in 2014
You see there are times when everybody needs a little confidence booster in the early days, and having someone believe in you enough to say “I know you have just started David, but come on my Defining Success podcast as a guest and tell your story” was just the kicker I needed to make things happen.
And its not a surprise that his show was called Defining success as that is just what he has done in his own life time and time again.
His goal when he started his entrepreneurial career was to start a successful tutoring business and the tutoring business was going to fund his lifestyle.
A tutoring business, he realized wasn’t going to be extremely successful unless he took it nationally or did something like that.
He knew it would be a difficult long road.
But he took action to get there and as he started down that path he began to learn about internet marketing.
How The Dots Joined Up For Zeb
He also started learning about how to market himself and people started to approach me and said, “You’re really good at this. why don’t you try doing more of this. Go out and try to attract businesses.”
And it has worked extremely as he says “As the President of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, I am focused on promoting growth in the local business community.
I am currently working on an Upskill Chino Valley program to support workforce development, economic development, entrepreneurship, and leadership in our region.
As the President and Owner of Welborn Social Media which he founded with my sister Lacey , I help passionate organizations reach more customers through digital and social marketing strategies.
And as the President and Owner of 19th Hole Media, I use digital and social marketing to increase rounds and revenue for golf courses.
So with so much on his plate how does he prioritise what is most important to himself to ensure he achieves his goals?
Where does he focus his energy in first and foremost ?
And i guess the biggest question of all is “Does he define success differently than he did over a decade ago?”
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots for the second time with Mr Zeb Welborn
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty subjects with Zeb Welborn such as:
Zeb shares why his Dad was such an inspiration to him and why he believes he is now in the position he is.
Zeb talks about digging down into a local business to find a niche that is profitable which is always there if you want to look.
We talk about the difference between the rich people and poor people, and how they get that way because they love what they do.
And lastly……
Why all business should choose 3 or 5 things that should bring success to your organisations and focus, focus, focus
How To Connect With Zeb Welborn
Return To The Top Of Zeb Welborn
If you enjoyed this episode with Zeb Welborn why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Jack Canfield, Nick Ruiz, Socratescustom or the amazing Raman Sehgal
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Zeb Welborn Interview
Intro [0:00]
Life shouldn’t be hard life should be a fun filled adventure every day. So now start joining up dots tap into your talents, your skills, your God given gifts and tell your boss, you don’t deserve me. I’m out of here, it’s time for you to smash that alarm clock. And start getting the dream business and wife you will, of course, are dreaming of. Let’s join your host, David route from the back of his garden in the UK, or wherever he might be today with another JAM PACKED episode of the number one hit podcast, Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [0:40]
Good morning to your listeners. Good morning. And thank you very much for tuning in wherever you are, across the world is an absolute delight to have you here. Well, today’s guest on the show is a name that many of the listeners may not have heard of, but was a major part of the growth of Join Up Dots. In fact, he appeared on episode 32 In the first month of the show, back in 2014. And he there’s times when everybody needs a little competence booster in the early days, and having someone believe in you enough to say that I know you’ve just started David, but come on my defining success podcast as a guest and tell your story was just a kicker, I needed to make things happen. And it’s not a surprise that a show was called defining success, as that is just what he’s done in his own life time and time again. His goal when he started his entrepreneurial career was to start a successful tutoring business. And the tutoring business was going to fund his lifestyle. A tutoring business he realised wasn’t going to be extremely successful, unless he took it nationally or did something like that. He knew it would be a difficult long road, but he took action to get there. And as he started down that path, he began to learn about internet marketing. And he also started learning about how to market himself. And people started to approach him and say, Hey, you’re really good at this. Why don’t you try doing more of this go out and try attract businesses. And it has worked extremely well. As he says, I’m now the president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, and I’m focused on promoting growth in the local business community. I’m currently working on an upskill Chino Valley programme to support workforce development, economic development, entrepreneurship and leadership in our region, is also the president and owner of Wellborn social media, which he founded with his sister Lacey, where he helps passionate organisations reach more and more customers through digital and social marketing strategies. And as the President and Owner of 19 pole media, he uses digital and social marketing to increase rounds and revenue for golf courses. So we’ve so much on his plate, how does he prioritise what is the most important part to himself to ensure he achieves his goals? And where does he focus his energy in first and foremost? And I guess the biggest question of always, does he define success differently than he did over a decade ago? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only for the second time, Mr. Zeb Welborn. Good morning, Zeb. How are you?
Zeb Welborn [3:12]
Good morning, David. I am doing fantastic. And as last time, your intros are unbeatable. So thank you for the warm introduction.
David Ralph [3:20]
I’m gonna get straight to it. Because this interests me, I listened back to the defining success podcast I was on. And I will touch base with it later. But during it, I thought to myself, I have certainly become a different person. I No doubt you become a different person. So has success become different for you? Did you define success differently than you did over a decade ago?
Zeb Welborn [3:46]
So I think I learned a tonne, I’ve learned a tonne. I feel like when I was doing the show, the reason why I wanted to do this show was because I admired my dad greatly. He was a reporter for the Orange County Register for 40 years. He loved what he did. He was good at it and use it to help other people. And so when I when I, when I call it a defining success podcast was because of the time when I signed up for internet marketing, there’s a lot of my friends that were very hung up on, like the Ferraris or the big houses or the things and and I didn’t think that that led to happiness because I just know that the childhood that I was raised in, you know, as a happy childhood. I was raised in a great family and had a great role model. And so when I did that, I wanted to interview people who love what they did, who were good at it and who are helping other people. So, when I did that podcast, I interviewed 120 I had 120 episodes, I interviewed people that I felt embodied that and honestly that just totally rubbed off on me. So I do love what I do. I am good at it. And I am using it to help other people. So I would say that the findings I guess is what I went into it doing, I would just say that it solidified what I was, what I what I thought about success, and how to go about achieving it in my own life. Now, it’s
David Ralph [5:10]
interesting because I just released a podcast episode, where I asked the three happiness questions. And the first one is, when was the last time you lost yourself in something that didn’t cost anything, but you just got totally in the flow and was just so absorbed by it? Second time, when did you last, you know, feels real happiness, not doing anything at all, just sort of sitting there. And the last one was, when was the last time you got surrounded by people that made you feel happy? Because they were your tribe? So those questions are things that I think at the very beginning when people are starting their entrepreneurial journey they don’t even consider, but actually, it’s the benchmark of getting success quicker, isn’t it? Focusing in on what makes you happy? First and foremost?
Zeb Welborn [5:57]
Yeah, I think so I think that makes a big difference in how you pursue life in general, you know, if you’re not happy, you’re not going to be excited to tackle the day. And so happiness is extremely important. And the people you surround yourself with is extremely important. So I couldn’t agree more with you.
David Ralph [6:15]
Now, I want to jump into 19 poll media, because I don’t remember that being around when we last spoke. But that seems to me one of those perfect, sort of like, dovetail businesses, where your passion for playing golf matches up with your passion for internet marketing. And then you look around and you see other companies within those niches struggling. And you find you know, that you can bring in digital marketing to golf courses, which once I read about it through your business, I thought, that’s a bloody good idea. I would never thought about it. Now, is that still something that you like and you love? Or when a business becomes too close to your hobby? Does it sort of take the shine off it?
Zeb Welborn [6:58]
That’s a good question. And I went back, and I listened to our interview previously, and I listened to my interview with you on the defining success podcast. So we did have a chat about I guess, apparently, I didn’t have that started at that point in time. So we did have a lengthy discussion, but there was a so to answer your question we did have I think when I look back at the interview that you did with me, was I was very rosy, rosy eyed. I don’t know what the word is. But I was very excited about the prospects of things that were coming. And it was speaking very highly of the work that we were doing and, and there’s been lots of ups and downs and any any waves professional journey, but in that case, that was one of mine. So the golf course industry was something that we I wrote a book on and it’s called the Social golf course, about how to do social media marketing for golf courses. We did really well the first year or two. So we sold the book. And then I ended up getting probably about 15 or so golf course clients. But the issue that came up for me was was at that point, I was kind of a solo show, right? So I was doing all of that it was me and my sister, but it was between me and her. We were doing all of the social media content. We were doing all of the love, my sister was doing website design, so anything that was involved in the business we were doing together. And so when when we added enough clients, I had to bring somebody on board. So he brought me on board that I thought would be great. He was kind of doing it at a golf course already. The issue was was it just me being new to business, I didn’t know how to structure it in a way that he would be able to tackle it appropriately. So it didn’t work out. He ended up losing a handful of our golf course clients. But I will say that I I love golf. I like playing it. But I love the work that I do more. So I ended up playing a lot less golf when I’m working I do now I play in a lot of charity golf tournaments. So I’m playing in probably probably about 12 charity golf tournaments a year. I do keep a handicap so I know what my handicap is. But I only played six rounds of golf on my own golf ball last year, which is a small amount if you’re a golfer, you know. So I do love golf. I love the work that I do more. And the social media and golf, I do enjoy it. But I do enjoy. I feel like I’m making a bigger impact in the work that I’m doing currently. So that’s where most of my focus lies. But I do still love playing golf. I do still like doing the social media for it. And we still have lots of golf course clients that we work for in my business. So that’s how I would answer that.
David Ralph [9:41]
But it’s a perfect business for somebody out there to just look around. And I always call them non sexy businesses, you’re helping other people sort of expand their reach, and we’ve got golf golf courses everywhere. And we’ve got hairdressers everywhere and we’ve got now shops where you can sit there and get your now shop. And quite often I google them. And I struggled to find them, even though I know they’re around the corner because of their web profiles. Not that good. So for the listeners out there, we’ve got businesses everywhere that are primed to being helped. Now, what we talked about Zeb on your show, which I was interested in, was the fact that I was saying, you don’t have to be an expert on anything. You just have to have a passion for something and then research research research until you become an expert. Is that the advice that you would share as well to the listeners?
Zeb Welborn [10:36]
Yeah, for sure. So as I’m the president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, I’ve been I was I joined the chamber. So if you’re not familiar with the Chamber of Commerce is it’s a business organisation, businesses from a local community come together. It’s kind of like we work together to help support one another. So I joined as a member, when I started my business, I got on the board of directors fairly quickly, which kind of as a volunteer group that oversees the chamber. And then about four years ago, they asked me to take over the chamber and like a full time capacity. So I said no, a bunch of times, but eventually I did. Why
David Ralph [11:10]
did you say, jump jumping in, but bearing in mind, you love it so much. Now? What stopped you saying yes, straightaway? Well, I
Zeb Welborn [11:17]
love my business. So I was running my business. And that was my goal. I wanted to grow and expand my business Wellborn media. And I didn’t. That was kind of my plan. A lot of different factors came into play, I think mostly a lot of people that I respected and admired, kept encouraging me to do it. So I said no, a bunch of times, they said Zeb, I think this will be great for you. The pay was not very well, it was not very good. So I kind of said that was the main reason why I didn’t want to do it. And but I figured out a way to make that something that I could build on and increase that salary. And so that was something that was exciting for me, which is why I eventually said yes.
David Ralph [11:58]
And what, what did I see in you out of all the people in your area,
Zeb Welborn [12:03]
I think I cared the most. So when so we’re talking about the board of directors, you know, and we were making decisions and looking at things. Again, if we go back like a chamber of commerce, or especially when I joined ours, I would say that I was probably the youngest person by about 30 years, it was connected with the chamber, soon as mostly people who were retired and were honest thinkers, and those are the people that were engaged in the chamber work. And in my mind, I wanted to join a business organisation, with business leaders that I could get advice from. So just like I did the defining success podcast, the reason why interviews are one of the main reasons why I interviewed a lot of people was because I just wanted to get business advice. I wanted to learn how to be a better business person, learn how to be successful. And so when I joined the chamber, it wasn’t quite what I thought it was, I thought I was going to be meeting a lot of business leaders in the community and stuff. And I want to call those folks leader, they’re great people. But they weren’t like the business leaders that were going to give me the advice that I needed to grow and expand my business. But then I would always think like, well, it shouldn’t be, and there isn’t any organisation close to it. So either I can try to start my own. Or I can join this organisation and see if I can help them do that. And so because of that mindset that I had, that I cared about trying to build a business community, full of like minded business people that were successful, that could mentor other business owners. That is why I got involved in invested and why people saw that in me was because I had a vision for what the chamber should be. And I vocalised that vision, and I worked towards trying to create it.
David Ralph [13:51]
Now I’ve worked for council based companies, you’re sort of like state, I don’t know what you’d call it over there. But sort of like localised state government departments, and you couldn’t get anything done, no matter what you wanted to do. Even if it was an obvious thing. We had to go through meetings and get signed off and it was ridiculous. Did you find that you got bogged down with red tape where actually you just said let’s just do it?
Zeb Welborn [14:17]
No, not at all. So the Chamber of Commerce, we’re not it’s not it’s so in the United States. It’s called it’s a nonprofit, we’ve got a 501 C three, meaning we don’t pay taxes because we’re over it because we do community good. And because we’re overseen by a board of directors, a volunteer board of directors, and so we are not a public entity. There is no oversight other than our board of directors, but like I said, I care the most about what we’re doing. And people recognise that and they trust me. So basically anything I want to do I do and that’s why I ultimately love what I’m doing because I anything that I want to try to accomplish anything that I have Vision for I am allowed to go full force into that. And, and it’s paid dividends for the the group of people that we, that I represent in our community and all sorts of stuff. So it’s been a lot of fun.
David Ralph [15:13]
Well, let’s hear from Oprah. And we’ll be back with zip all
Oprah Winfrey [15:16]
the way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, no, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [15:47]
Well, I’m going to take you back in time, zip, and we’re going to join up some dots, we’re going to, we’re going to make sense of the knowledge that you’ve gained. Now, let’s take you back. And this was asked to me the other day or by a listener, and I gave the best answer I possibly could. But I’m interested in your point of view. And this listener said to me, am I missing a point here? Isn’t it easier to work for somebody else? Why? Why is everyone focused on starting their own businesses? Why don’t they just go to somebody else’s business get paid? And then come home? And not think about it? And it’s a very good point. Very good point. So what would be your answer to that? And why did you then decide to make a go of it yourself?
Zeb Welborn [16:29]
I think different people have different outlooks on life, and what they want to accomplish. So I think that for that person that makes a lot of sense in the world, that was what I was trained to do. As I was growing up, you know, my parents told me to the goal was go to college. And then from there, you’ll figure it out. Go to college, get a job, right. I think I remember talking about this last time, I went to college, I got a job. As a high school history teacher, I got a house got a car got a got a wife, and and that’s kind of like what you envision happening. But then like, for me, there wasn’t any next there was just kind of like, okay, we know that I’ve got this job for the rest of my life. I’ve got everything that I kind of imagined that I was going to have. Well, now what do I do, and I was kind of like, I don’t know, if the press was there, I didn’t know I was, I would say that I was depressed, but it was just kind of like, I didn’t have anything to strive towards. And that’s something that I had been doing my whole life up until that point. And it was like, I just kind of felt at a loss. And so for me, one of the things that I’ve discovered, and I was not exposed to entrepreneurship at all, when I was a youth, and that’s one of the things that I am bringing to my community, I am making sure that there is entrepreneurship, programming and training for kids, so that they have the opportunity to at least be exposed to it at an early age so that they can think if that’s the right thing for them. But that entrepreneurship stuff is really exciting for me, because I get a chance to grow continually. There isn’t anything that’s like, oh, well, now I’ve hit this pinnacle. And now I’m done. You know, it’s like continually growing and evolving and solving problems. There’s tonnes of the one thing that I would say about anybody going into entrepreneurship, is there are tonnes of challenges doing it. And you know, this, this as well as anybody, that it’s never easy at the beginning. And you question yourself constantly. And even to this day, it’s 10. You know, I’ve been doing the entrepreneurship thing for 10 or 12 years, and it is still, I still have those moments where I’m like, oh, gosh, am I am I gonna make it, you know, am I doing the right thing. But overall, things have been on a steady growth trajectory for me over the last four years. And I think that’s one of the things that makes it that that why some entrepreneurs succeed and some fail is that someone should printers are committed to the long haul. And there’s other ones who are like trying to get the quick money fix. And that rarely works out the ones that are kind of committed to the long haul years and years of development training. And he shared that clip from Oprah failure is inevitable every time you fail. The thing that I feel like is you’ve learned something so failure is inevitable but you always learn something and whenever you make a failure and you grow from that so I think that that’s what I would tell that person right
David Ralph [19:31]
so if we took you back to the very start zip when you started your first business would you do it differently now let’s let’s join up the dots and let’s give it a plan for people moving forward. So did you do like so many people by have an idea? When I buy a URL they throw up a website but I do no research they do no competitor analysis they do no profit margin. They have got no business plan at all. Was that you or did you sit down and do it properly?
Zeb Welborn [20:02]
No, that was totally me. I had no plan whatsoever. The reason why I started the tutoring business was more out of necessity, then then then then like planning it through. So this was during the recession 2007 2008. And I quit my job as a teacher, not knowing the recession was coming. And then I was looking for a job, and I could not find a job anywhere. The only job that I could find was tutoring this one kid, one on one. It was like three hours a day throughout the week. So I was like, You know what, maybe I’ll just make this a business. At the same time, my sister and Lacey was learning how to build build websites. So she helped me build my first website. But that would exactly that what you articulate would be the exact advice I would give to myself, I wouldn’t change anything like looking back. I love the path that I was on. And I have enjoyed every minute of it. Oh, I shouldn’t say every. There’s like I said, there’s ups and downs. But I’ve enjoyed the ride, for sure. And when I look back, I would just, if I were to teach a younger Zeb or I were to teach a person that was coming in entrepreneurship, it would be to focus more on like the planning, I see a lot of business aren’t like I guess, especially if you really want to be financially successful. I know a lot of people were like venture capitalists are people that have a really strong plan. And they have a big vision and they know how to build a big business. And my business is totally different from that it’s just like grassroot or pulling up by the bootstraps kind of businesses. And that’s why I’ve jumped around from different things just because I’m just drawing my the way that I look in life, and I attended a conference once where they were talking about it was like the difference between rich people and poor people, that rich people and poor people. But the difference between the mindset difference is that rich people look at life, where when I looked at rich people, before business owners, before I started my own business, I would see people that were self interested, and don’t over indulgent, and that was my thought as a teacher. But as I got into the business world, and I meet business owners, the one overriding theme from all the people I interviewed on the podcast, from all the businesses I’ve talked to, is they genuinely love what they do. They genuinely wants to help people solve their problems. And that’s one of the things where, if you’re able to figure those things out and put together a strong business plan, then that’s where a good starting point would be.
David Ralph [22:39]
So how do people find out what they love? Because you ask anyone, you ask my son, you asked my daughter, and my daughter’s got a plan. She wants to become a dancer, she wants to work up in London and theatre. And she’s just like, she’s focused. And my son is kind of harder? I don’t know. And I was like that for years, I could tell you what I didn’t want to do, because I’d done it and didn’t like it. But actually, knowing what I did do. It was very difficult. So how do people find beloved zip?
Zeb Welborn [23:09]
So it’s trial, my thought would be trial and error. So you have to do things. I remember early on in my career, or early on, when I became an entrepreneur, I at the time, I had just started a business. And right before I started the business, like I was kind of just sending out resumes everywhere. And I didn’t have a plan, I would just like, please give me a some kind of job. And other than that, I was kind of I don’t know if lazy is the right word, but I just wasn’t proactive. And for whatever reason I read a book or I got some advice or something. So I stuck to doing six things every day at the start. That was going to advance my business. And so that’s what I stuck to. And through that process, and I’ve kind of continued that to this day. I don’t like think of it as six things to do every day anymore. I just kind of do a tonne of stuff. But as I’m doing those things, I’m like finding more. I’m finding more opportunities to do things that I love. But I do have to be there is an experimental phase, just like with anything we have to figure stuff out. So my son, I think the last time we talked, I didn’t have kids. But I have a seven year old. I have a four year old and I have a two year old. And that’s something I’ve always been interested in that like like, what are they going to be passionate about, you know, one of those is going to expire them. And as I’ve grown and I always like wondered what type of activity I know, I wanted to get them in activities. But I didn’t know like which ones to choose, you know, because I wanted to choose ones that they were enthusiastic and excited about. And I feel like right now and I just had this epiphany recently was that I need to choose things for my kids that they’re clearly into. So I played soccer my whole life. I love playing soccer. I still play every Sunday. And so I want my son, you know, I wanted to expose my son to soccer and he enjoys it. And when I asked him like Hey, son, do you like this? He’s like, Yeah, and he always likes everything. So I’ll say hey, do you like this? Yeah. Do you like this? Yeah. But when you look at the F, he’s good at it, the things that he excels at, I feel like those are the things that I want to encourage him to push them towards. So for him, he’s like, he’s just, he loves reading, he will read a book every single night before he goes to bed. And he takes these tests for school to get points that add up his reading scores. And so I think he has the most he’s in second grade. And he has the most points out of his entire school, which includes cludes first eighth graders. So that’s something where I know he loves it. I know he enjoys it. And that’s where I’m going to push him to encourage you to do that kind of stuff.
David Ralph [25:38]
Right? And should you push them because we was having a discussion the other night, me and my wife had never pushed our kids. But my my other daughters who were stepdaughters they got pushed really, really hard by their their stepdad or their dad. And they’ve done incredibly well for themselves, but they’re not happy. They’ve done really well financially because the dad was pushing them. And we’ve always said to our kids, just do what makes you happy. Because you put more effort into doing what makes you happy?
Zeb Welborn [26:07]
Yeah, I don’t think we’re pushing them in the sense of like, oh, do this, this thing that you’d hate? Love. We, I think, and I don’t know, I mean, like I said, they’re so important to so I haven’t run the full gamut of childhood yet. But so far, you know, their kids, they love their parents, they want to talk to their parents all the time, they give us hugs all the time. And that’s, I know that as I get older, and that’s gonna change. But for now, like I said, He loves reading, we don’t have to push them at all, we just encourage them and say, oh, man, that’s amazing what you’re doing, what you’re doing is fantastic. So we encourage them constantly, we get them to do it. So we don’t push them to do things that they don’t want to do. We encourage them to do things that they love to do, so that they’ll do more of that.
David Ralph [26:54]
And who pushes us that when things aren’t going your way, and you’re a bit lost and rudderless. So I have
Zeb Welborn [27:02]
grown in the chamber roles and my industry is I have built a lot of really helpful people that that I think you mentioned earlier, like happiness is that people you surround yourself with, you know, so over the last 10 years, I’ve built up a lot of people that share my vision for life, my passion to help our community, my desire to help online marketing and, and folks. And so when you bring those people together, and you’re kind of like, I’m kind of responsible for that, at least I feel that way. I don’t want to let those folks down. So what pushes me is is the people that I surround myself with, and it’s not a burden at all. It’s something that I enjoy. But it’s the people that I’ve surrounded myself with over the years and inspire me to want to continue to grow. I feel like this. Every year at New Year’s time, I always reflect and set new goals and stuff. And this year was a little bit different for me because I didn’t really go gung ho on setting goals. I just recommitted to the ones I had set for myself previously. And I feel like I’m doing those things that I missed out and that I didn’t accomplish last year, or the following couple of years. And I put those things in place right now. It is only a weekend to the new year. But those are things that I said to people that I surround myself with and make me wants to do better.
David Ralph [28:33]
So do you throwing you back to the Oprah speech? Do you think that’s good advice as well? Do you think that the key thing is just to not doing hundreds of things, just be quiet and almost wait for the next step to come? Or is that kind of naive advice,
Zeb Welborn [28:50]
I think is great advice. I think that’s taking the next step like when I, I’ll tell you what I do in my business since so, in the chamber world, we operate or at least in my chamber, it’s in July, June year. So every June, I will work in and I caught OKRs I read a book by the guys who run Google. And they talked about a system that they use in goal setting called OKRs, which stands for objectives and key results. And basically what they say is choose three to five things that are going to advance the interests of your organisation, as opposed to your objectives. And then create three to five kind of metrics underneath each one of those three to five things. And those are how you know that you did a good job. So when I set goals, those are the things that I feel like are the next logical step in growing the chamber. And then I have those three to five metrics to know whether or not I’m successful in those efforts. And so those are the things that I pursued throughout the year. And as I reflected on so I’ve copy the I know what my goals have been over the last since I took over the chamber four years ago. Every year I have seen how those goals that I set directly translate into success for the organisation. And so that’s success in my life as well. So those are things where those next logical steps makes perfect sense when you’re growing yourself, and when you’re growing your business.
David Ralph [30:17]
Now, you said something there, that’s very interesting about growing yourself, because that is the biggest journey, isn’t it? Where you suddenly believe in yourself, you know, I listened back to my podcast episode with you on the defining success podcast. And for about the first 10 minutes. I didn’t like it. It just sounded like somebody that was just hugely lacking confidence. But I was I was at that time, so it was perfectly acceptable, because you do sort of grow is the personal journey. What people should focus on more than the business? Do you do you think the, the personal side is what makes the business when
Zeb Welborn [30:54]
I want to share a little bit of insight into you and I had, when you when that didn’t interview in a pious I remember, I can’t remember if it was after you interviewed me or interviewed you, but you I know you’re very excited about it. And at the end of the episode, we kind of did a recap, you know, are you just gonna talk a little bit afterwards? And I remember you guys say, like, hey, what do you think you think I’m gonna make it, you know, something along those lines? And I remember telling you that, yeah. I mean, you sound great. You know, I love what you’re doing, I think you have a good shot at doing this. And that was exciting when I got the invites to come on the show, because it proves that 10 years later, you’re rockin and rollin. And it’s really exciting thing to see. Because I remember back to that day when we had that first interview and chat with each other. And so this is very fulfilling for me to see people that are good people doing good stuff, making accomplishments. So I wanted to give you a second gratulations for what you’ve been doing. I know it’s hard work. And I know you’ve done a great job at it.
David Ralph [31:55]
Thank you, sir. Thank you. So So do you think it’s a personal thing, too, is that where people should focus more of their energy.
Zeb Welborn [32:01]
So I think that it’s a little bit of absolutely both. You can’t be successful, if you’re not working on your personal development, I think a lot of people did, don’t focus on personal development. And I feel like those are the people that probably get stuck in their jobs probably get stuck in their roles I was talking with. So it actually I had a performance meeting yesterday with one of my employees from Wellborn media. And I also talked to my sister about it, one of the things that they saw are in professional development all the time. And I encourage all of my team to pursue professional development, but oftentimes they don’t. And so this year, I wanted to make it a mandatory mandatory that they were going to do some kind of professional development, whether it be join a group that meets monthly or weekly. So they can get together with peers, and figure out things out or go to a conference and annual conference. But those are things that help grow you personally and professionally and build a better life, investment or like perspective for life. And you have a lot more options when you are working on yourself and focusing on those things. But you also have to grow the business, if you’re a business owner and you want to grow the business, you got to focus on that. And I know that’s where a lot of people focus. But I do feel like you shouldn’t do both. But you don’t have to.
David Ralph [33:21]
I have a quadrant and I talk about this on the show quite a lot. And it’s just four squares on one side is business. On the other side, it’s friends and family, then exercise and maybe meditation. And then I vary the last one, but it could be me time, it could be something else. And I just look at it. And every time I’m doing something business wise, I tick and then I think Hang on, hang on, I haven’t spent enough time with the family need to balance it up. And at the end of the week, hopefully all four squares are sort of equally ticked off. But I’ve had some me time. I’ve looked after myself. I’ve been there for the friends and family and the business. And I can honestly say, times when everything else is ticked more than the business, I can look at it and go, Yeah, I didn’t spend as much time in the business, but the quality was a lot better. Yeah.
Zeb Welborn [34:13]
Yeah, that’s a good way to do it. I do something similar. I have an online calendar that I put in so I have a calendar of stuff. So I have a work calendar. So I pass it what I call finding passions in life. It’s work, it’s my family, and is doing activities like golf and soccer and is being of service and it’s educating and teaching. And so whenever I schedule something, I will schedule them in my account and they’re all different colours in my online calendar. So I will schedule the work stuff is green. The being observances yellow, B and doing activities is red. And so I have this wholeness, a sense of when I look at my calendar and things that are scheduled for myself for the week. I can see very clearly whether or not I have up balanced schedule or an unbalanced schedule. And to be honest, it’s usually an unbalanced work stuff because the family stuff, I don’t put it in, but I get home in a reasonable hour every day, I spend lots of quality time with my family. So if I didn’t put those things, it’d be there. But those are the things that are kind of like open ended on the schedule, more so than the work stuff. But I do have it is like a colourful calendar. And that’s been super helpful for me trying to find that balance for sure.
David Ralph [35:29]
Because if I went back in time, the one thing that I would say is, David, don’t be too ambitious. You know, I got into terrible health issues, that has taken me a good six years to unravel, due to the fact that it wasn’t just me, it was global domination, you know, and now I would say, it’s just get through a day, enjoy yourself, earn some money, go again, you know, just just nice and relaxed, but at the beginning, there’s an awful lot of wasted time where you’re just throwing things at the wall, hoping, hoping that it will stick somehow.
Zeb Welborn [36:04]
Yeah, and honestly, I mean, I feel like I had to do that, right, like, enemy solid fight. That’s the thing that provides the most stress for me is if I’m, if I don’t have a good financial foundation, or I feel like I’m concerned about my finances. So that’s something where I spend a lot of time. So at the beginning, when you’re starting a business, that’s, of course the case. So you want to like flesh down. And so it took me years because I didn’t really have a good plan. And I just kind of didn’t know what I was doing. And I went through and figured it out along the way. And now that I’m in a much better spot, it makes it easier to do the other things because you know, you want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, your family, that kind of stuff. So like going to the gym was something that went by the wayside for a while I mentioned to kind of reconnecting with my goals and the established a year or two ago, I did not do a good job of exercising last year. So this year is one of the things where I definitely want to do more exercise, take care of my health a lot better than I did previous years.
David Ralph [37:09]
Let’s bring Steve Jobs into the show.
Unknown Speaker [37:12]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [37:46]
So we got 10 years to look back on his zip. And the first question is, what did you choose to trust.
Zeb Welborn [37:54]
So finally, when I started my business, I had a goal. My goal when I started my business was to make a million dollars in my first year of running my tutoring business. And when I started it, and I committed to it, I went gung ho that first year I worked around the clock. And the reason why I did that was because I had a friend of mine who was running because it was a family business and have been around for 30 years. But like I didn’t know the difference. So he had 30 years of experience building up this business. His dad had passed away. So we took over the business. And I was like, Well, this guy, if he can do it, I for sure can do it. So I started this generic business thinking I was gonna make a million dollars and I worked my butt off, I worked from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. And at the end of the year, I made $40,000. And for me, when I look back on that, like I was so I was proud of that it was not anywhere near my goal. But I was very proud of like, I started with nothing. And then I created like $40,000 worth of stuff, you know, and I look back at the kid that worked at the golf course at low Serrano’s golf course making minimum wage. And that was a good experience for me, right. So then the next year, I was like, Well, I didn’t make my goal. Let me try it again this year, and see what happens. So the same thing, year two, I worked around the clock and I made $60,000 that year. And it was like a 50% increase, right? So it’s pretty amazing. So every year, so I kind of set that as my goal, right? I want to grow my entities by business entities by 50% every year. And it hasn’t been 50% Every year some years. I think I’ve grown it my entities every year. Maybe except one. But it’s grown hasn’t quite grown 50% Every year either. There’s been a few years and a half, but it’s usually around I think I average them on the spot 33% every year so every year I kind of grow the stuff that I We’re doing 33% every year. And that’s exciting for me, because it’s something that I can always strive towards, I can always strive for growth. And that’s something that I get excited about. That’s something I can continue doing for the foreseeable future.
David Ralph [40:14]
So, next question is, have the dots joined up?
Zeb Welborn [40:21]
Looking backwards? Yeah. I have. Yeah, I mean, I just do the things that I feel like the way that I’ve done things, which is not slowing down at all, so it is all joining dots I look back on. It’s like doing the things that produce the most. I think I mentioned that thing earlier about that conference that I went to, it’s like, looking at, how do you know that you’re doing well? How do you know that you’re making a difference in people’s lives? How do you know that you’re having an impact and, and for me, when I went to a conference, it was like revenue, revenue that you’re making, like when you’re making money for people, or when you’re making money for your business. Making revenue is like a metric that shows how much impact you’re having in people’s lives. And so when I’m looking at it that way, that’s like my ultimate goal, I just want to make the world a better place have impacted people’s lives in a positive way, so that they’re living, more successful lives for themselves are happier and enjoy. But the way that I kind of measure that is, is by revenue. And so that’s something where that’s what I’ll look towards, you know, if I’m making an impact,
David Ralph [41:31]
I, before we send you back in time on the Sermon on the mic, like you did before giving you a chance to speak to your younger self. Are you really happy now? Or are you not fulfilled? You know, what, where are you based on the last 10? years?
Zeb Welborn [41:47]
That’s a great question. I look back on the times, you know, because you know, the ups and downs is you look back on things too. And, you know, like, I remember when I, when I would go on podcast interviews every Wednesday, it makes it sound like all the answers, you know, I know what I’m doing, and, and all of that stuff. And I don’t want it to come across that way that I have all the answers or they don’t even know what I’m doing. But I do. I am and there’s moments of stress. Absolutely. That’s one of the things that I know I experienced stress. On occasion, I feel like I’ve mitigated that a lot over the last few years. I feel like I don’t like when I first took over the chamber, he was in a really poor financial position. So I’ve worked really hard to try to get it in a good solid spot. And now than it is now, I don’t have that concern. And that financial worry of the organisation whether or not I’m going to be around to see it through. It allows more free time for me to focus on making sure that I’m more stress free, I don’t let things get to me as stress wise as I used to. So that’s been tempered a lot. But I still experienced stress from time to time. And those are the times where like, oh, gosh, am I doing things right? But ultimately, I am doing all the things that I set out to do that are my five pillars, and I spend lots of good quality time with my family. I am exceeding I’m doing well, in my work. I am getting a chance to play soccer every week and play golf every so often. I do a lot of learning and self development. I do a lot of teaching in the role that I’m in. And then I do do a lot of service projects for my community with the Rotary Club that I’m involved in.
David Ralph [43:29]
So happy to Lamerz is that we can put that down as happy zip.
Zeb Welborn [43:35]
For the most right, yes, yeah,
David Ralph [43:37]
good place to be good place to be. Well, this is the part of the show that you’ve already done 10 years ago, when we play the theme tune and when it fades, you get a chance to reconnect with your younger self. Now the very first time he was on the show you could choose. But this time, I want you to give advice to the person that was last on the show back in 2014. And if you could reconnect with that zip, what advice would you give him? Well, we’re going to find out because we’re going to play the music and when it fades is your time to talk. This is the Sermon on the mic Part Two here we go with the best beat of the show the same manner so
Zeb Welborn [44:36]
I want to share a story before I knew that I was listening to these podcasts that you and I did together 10 years ago and I was in the car driving started playing on the car when I was driving and my son who’s seven years old that was in the back. And it was like What advice would you give to liberals in the future and so like I said, when I did this, I didn’t have kids. So my son was one Sing to my advice that I gave in the last time. And as I said, You better listen to this. And I love the advice that I gave, I think it was quality advice. Looking back on the one that was on the podcast 10 years ago, I think, I think I would just take her as a person that continued doing what he’s doing, I think that I’ve, I’ve worked really hard to do a lot of fun things. And I’ve worked a lot of hard and worked really hard to do fun things and inspire me. And I know that it’s inspired and motivated others. And that’s something that I get immense joy from. It was an unclear path, it was something that made me that wouldn’t be the thing that I look back, and I go into my younger self, and I just say, you know, I know it doesn’t, you don’t have it all figured out just yet. But like you, your Oprah float that you gave, taking the next step makes a big difference in developing your path and your career. And, and where you want to go. And so I would say the one thing maybe that I will say is go for big steps. So there’s risk for people to play it safe. A lot of people wants to playing safe. And I think sometimes I would play it safe, and not value myself as highly as I should. And I think that if you set high expectations go for big, go for big wins, you’re going to be successful. And I want to share one example of that. For your listeners was this last year, we created and you mentioned at the beginning, we created this programme upskill Chino Valley programme. And I mentioned my goal was to make a million dollars in that first year. And I’m thrown in every year, but I don’t think I hit a million dollars this year. But this year, we put that upskill Chino Valley programme together, I pitched it to a lot of folks. And in one day, we were approved for $2.1 million of funding to come to the chamber. And that is unheard of in the chamber industry. It’s unheard of in that chamber that I was involved in has been around for 100 More than 100 years. And so the fact that we were able to accomplish and do that are things where because I went big. And because I didn’t settle for just flow. I went for the big prize, where oftentimes in my social media business, I kind of tend to devalue our work. And I charge less than I probably should. And therefore I’m constantly struggling. I was struggling, but it was challenging to make it profitable. Because I would always devalue those services instead of going for the big, the big wins, I guess.
David Ralph [47:47]
So where are we now then zip? Where are we now in 2023? Could you choose one thing that’s on those three or five big things that you want to do? What what’s your number one priority.
Zeb Welborn [47:59]
So this year, like I mentioned, I wasn’t exercising at all last year, I know I need to do that. And so that’s, that’s the main thing. I feel like I mentioned, I’ve worked really hard to build up things. But now that it’s there, and it’s not something I’m overly concerned about running successfully. I added a lot of really great employees, team members to the chamber. And so it just requires my efforts last requires me just like managing my team more. So that frees up time for me to do more of those types of things. So that’s what I have planned for myself, because I want to make sure I’m being healthy. And I take care of myself so that I can be better when I am working in the office.
David Ralph [48:43]
Yeah, great stuff. Yeah, key thing. So Zeb. For the listeners out there, what’s the best way that they can connect with you, sir.
Zeb Welborn [48:51]
So my name is really easy to find where nobody else hasn’t. So you just typed that in the Google, you can find me on all of us. Obviously me doing social media for our business, social media channels. And I remember, Damon the UN at one point, swore off social media. And I remember the news. I was sad because I loved seeing your posts and watching your journey and stuff and so amazing to reconnect with you. I had a great time on it 10 years ago, and this time was just as good. So
David Ralph [49:21]
thanks so much. Well, thanks, mate. And we’ll have you back on in another 10 years. So you know thanks. Thank you so much for spending time with us today joining up those dots. Please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up because I believe by joining up those dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures Zeb were born. Thank you so much. Mr. Zeb, well born. Hopefully the audio from his side wasn’t too problematic. We’re not sure what happened there. But yeah, a 10 year journey. So what did we learn? We learned that at the beginning, he didn’t make a plan. He just dived into it. He didn’t ever clue what he was doing. He took a load of action in the first year, made 40 grand, he took even more action next year made 60 grand. But the key thing is, it wasn’t all planned out. It didn’t have a clue. It was the action. It was the drive. It was the ambition and I think every single one of you out there, you can put your mind into something and make it happen and work your way around obstacles and see where it takes you. And little by little these things always take you somewhere they really do and generally is somewhere good. Okay, so thank you so much for everybody out there and we’ll see you again. You look after yourselves. Cheers. See ya. Bye bye.
Outro [50:39]
That’s the end of Join Up Dots. You’ve heard the conversation. Now it’s time for you to start taking massive action. Create up churn create your life busy only you live God. We’ll be back again we’ll see. Join Up Dots during the gods or the gods. The gods. Jolene, Join Up Dots.
