Creating Your Roadmap to Success with Frameworks

Cole Abbott (00:00:00 -> 00:00:14)

Talking about frameworks. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, right. Talking about why frameworks matter. Yeah. So I know you have your thoughts. Uhhuh <affirmative> on this subject.

Mark Abbott (00:00:15 -> 00:00:18)

I'm really geeked out about this subject, to be honest with you. I love this subject.

Cole Abbott (00:00:18 -> 00:00:34)

I think everyone who's ever met you, especially recently at work Uhhuh, or even at dinner, Uhhuh, knows that you geek out about the subject. I totally geek out on this subject, so this is probably just gonna be me letting you run and <laugh>, see where it takes us.

Mark Abbott (00:00:34 -> 00:00:35)

You need to control Me on this

Cole Abbott (00:00:35 -> 00:00:39)

One. I know. It's almost like we should have a framework for it. Yeah, exactly. Uhhuh. Exactly.

Mark Abbott (00:00:40 -> 00:00:41)

Alright.

Cole Abbott (00:00:41 -> 00:00:42)

All right. So, yeah, I guess

Mark Abbott (00:00:44 -> 00:02:51)

So, you know, uh, obviously I knew we were gonna talk about this today and, and I'm genuine when I say, and I know, right? That I'm, I'm really geeky about frameworks. I've been using frameworks I since, you know, I mean, basically since I got outta college. And, um, and, you know, I think certain personality types are more attracted to frameworks than other personality types. Um, so I'm an INTJ, um, and, uh, so I love to find frameworks that I can use, and then I'm like, I'm good with it, right? I don't need, like, as a JI am, boom, if this framework works, I'm gonna leverage it until someone introduces me to another framework that I think's even better. Whereas a p could just play with frameworks all the time and, and never make a decision to go with one. But as a J I'm like, no. If I think this is a great framework, I'm gonna lean into it. Because when you lean into something, this is my J brain, right? When you lean into it, uh, now you use it more and more and more, and you just become better and better and better. And you have the compounding of knowledge associated with using a framework, right? So, let's stand back a little bit. 'cause I prepared for this just a little. Um, and I asked ChatGPT, PT what's a framework, right? So, a framework in a general sense, can be understood as a basic conceptual structure used to solve or address complex issues. It provides a systematic approach for understanding situations and guiding action frameworks are often used across fields such as business, technology, science, and academia to organize ideas, principles, or methods in a coherent manner. They enable individuals or organizations to tackle problems or projects in a structured way, ensuring that all critical aspects are considered. There's more, but I'm gonna stop there. So, a map is a framework, right? And so, like, if you and I wanted to go somewhere and we didn't have a map, right? We would potentially, like, have arguments around it, we would like you, you'd have this instinct, I'd have an instinct, go laugh, go, right? Whatever. We've actually experienced this before

Cole Abbott (00:02:51 -> 00:02:53)

Together, you have a horrible sense of direction.

Mark Abbott (00:02:53 -> 00:02:56)

Thank you for sharing that with all of our audience. Yes. Um, a

Cole Abbott (00:02:57 -> 00:02:58)

Terrible physical sense of direction.

Mark Abbott (00:02:58 -> 00:08:05)

Yes, thank you. Yes. I'll, I'll give you some credit there. <laugh> physical sense. Very good. I appreciate that. You're you're very welcome. Touche. But, you know, maps are frameworks, right? And, you know, a map's not the territory, but because obviously if the map were the territory, the map wouldn't be needed. But the problem with maps, the reason we use maps is we have this, like, let's say, say you're looking across the United States, obviously, you know how we're gonna get from here to there. We have this framework, this tool that enables us to go from here to there relatively efficiently, right? Um, and it's not just efficiency in terms of the travel, it's actually a little bit of efficiency in terms of us debating how to get from here to there. As an example. And obviously with GPS these days, there's not even the debate around how to get somewhere because it's like, well, do you want to go 2000 miles and have it take you whatever time? Or you want to go 2,500 miles, but you're going through these really cool places, and those are good conversations, but just, you know, the, the beauty of frameworks is they enable us to not only do work well, but to do work well together, right? And, um, you know, uh, there's lots of frameworks that we use, um, in, in, you know, in terms of how to help people build and manage and scale a business. You know, there are business operating systems, those are frameworks, right? EOS is a framework, and at its core, it's got the six key components, and it's got a framework around process and things like that. Um, so those are frameworks. Obviously. We have the nine core competencies as a framework, um, establishing a vision, right? There's a framework for that. The framework is both, uh, where we have the components, right? Core values and purpose, passion, just cause ideal client, um, uh, unique value proposition, compelling audacious goals, things like that, that we believe any good vision should have. So we have a framework for thinking about vision as an example. Um, we use the RACI framework all the time in at 90. And so RACI for those who don't know is, is who's responsible, who's accountable, who's consulted, and who's informed. And that enables us to reduce the tension associated with a bunch of people working on a project, because only one person's accountable, right? You can divide all the things in the project up amongst a bunch of different people. So you can have different people responsible. You can get clear whether or not, you know, I should be informed, or you guys can go off and do this thing without informing me at all, and whatever it is, I just accept. Or I could say, Hey, you know, guys, I wanna be informed as you're moving along this process in case I think you're going off track as an example. Um, and then of course, there are people who you want to consult and they want to consult that, you know, so you want to intro, you want to sort of involve them in a process, in the process. Um, and so, you know, we at 90, you know, we're huge believers in, in rocks and 90, you know, marching 90 days at a time, and, and allocating, you know, I don't know whether it's five or 10% of our efforts, probably somewhere between five and 10% of our efforts against rocks, right? And so those are things that move the organization forward. Um, and ultimately we have probably, I don't know whether it's 80%, yeah, maybe 70% of people are involved in rocks, you know, in a company with 170 people, that's a lot of people moving the organization forward. But, but to do those rocks, we have a framework around those, right? So we actually incorporate RACI into our rocks, and so that we're all crystal clear on who's responsible for what. And so there's another, another framework, right? We have a framework for quarterly conversations, right? We start with the core values, and then we start with roles, accountabilities, and responsibilities. And then we look at how we've been doing in terms of living up to certain agreements like our rocks and our, and our, um, and our to-dos, uh, because we believe that to-dos are agreements as an example. And rocks are agreements and core values are agreements. And right? We lean into this thing called an agreements based culture, because we believe deeply that if we're all on the same page in terms of things that are important, that really matter, and we are having an agreement, then conversations are really easy, especially if agreements are lived up to, and if they're not lived up to right, then we all of a sudden it's like, Hey, you know, was it, was it you? Was it me? Is there something else that we should be talking about? So, you know, just like in the movie, the Sixth Sense, right? To me, frameworks are everywhere. And like I said, I could geek out and go on and on and on. Like Scrum is a framework. Agile is a framework, right? The way we look at, uh, SWOT analysis is a framework, the way we look at, um, our data and some of the skills we're developing our, we, our whole, um, websites based upon design thinking. And we used to use material design for our icons, and now we've created our own framework for icons. I'll shut up. Yeah. <laugh>,

Cole Abbott (00:08:06 -> 00:08:22)

A framework is the thing that helps you, especially when, when you're lost, right? Like a map. Yeah. It helps you get back on track because there's a, a thing that helps you to sort out the unknown Yeah. To sort out the chaos and actually make sense of it. And if it's explicit, then everybody has the same thing to revert back to. Yeah. And to touch base with

Mark Abbott (00:08:22 -> 00:08:55)

Yeah. And, and know, like I said, in here, in technology and software development, a framework refers to a set of tools, libraries, and best practices designed to help developers build applications more efficiently. For example, web, web development frameworks like Ruby on Rails and React, were ba were mean, right? So where Mongo engage, uh, node and Angular, right? Um, pro provide pre-written code components and conventions to streamline the development process, allowing developers to focus on unique features rather than reinventing basic functionalities, right?

Cole Abbott (00:08:55 -> 00:09:05)

Once you've made sense of the thing, there's no right. Like your j thing, there's no point in going back and trying to redo the work, the really hard work of making sense of the stuff.

Mark Abbott (00:09:05 -> 00:09:30)

Yeah. And, and, and it's funny because just today, right? I put forth a framework to the senior leadership team for thinking about our nine core competencies and vision. So I combine the two things together, um, and I think it's a pretty compelling framework, but, um, and it's based upon, uh, cynics golden circle, right? Oh,

Cole Abbott (00:09:30 -> 00:09:32)

Yeah. The we need the why, who, how, what,

Mark Abbott (00:09:32 -> 00:09:35)

Exactly. Yeah. But he doesn't have the what in there. He just

Cole Abbott (00:09:35 -> 00:09:38)

Has, he doesn't have a who, his why, how, what

Mark Abbott (00:09:38 -> 00:10:21)

Exactly. And I, and I'm proposing, right? That it's why, who, how, what, right? And so then Tim was like, debating with me. I love Tim. We love to debate, right? Whether what, whether what or how goes, you know, is which one's the outer ring, right? And I, and I said, well, you know, we deeply believe in who not how, right? And so, once you get the, once you get the who done, then you get let them figure out the how. But ultimately, when they're figuring out the high, they can figure out what they can and can't get done. Right? And Tim had his own perspective on why it should be what then how, and I'm like, look, it's a debate. It doesn't matter. We just gotta choose.

Cole Abbott (00:10:22 -> 00:10:26)

You choose the thing to start with. And then the good thing about frameworks is they refine over time. Yeah. Yeah,

Mark Abbott (00:10:26 -> 00:10:29)

Yeah. And as a j and he's a j too, right? But

Cole Abbott (00:10:30 -> 00:10:31)

Who's p he he in TP.

Mark Abbott (00:10:31 -> 00:10:42)

Oh, he's a P, that's right. And so he's got two things going for him or against him, and for me and me, me and him, right? So he's thinking out loud, and I'm sitting there not thinking out loud. And then he's gonna go both ways.

Cole Abbott (00:10:42 -> 00:10:43)

He's not thinking or not thinking,

Mark Abbott (00:10:44 -> 00:10:46)

That's not noise. Uhhuh,

Cole Abbott (00:10:46 -> 00:10:46)

Uhhuh

Mark Abbott (00:10:46 -> 00:10:47)

Anyway,

Cole Abbott (00:10:47 -> 00:11:09)

But Right. Tying this back into sort of the, the broader theme of the podcast, right? Why do frameworks in particular matter to founders, and why is it so necessary to integrate them, like, so really necessary to integrate them into everything that you do, and really leverage them to a maximum extent, right?

Mark Abbott (00:11:10 -> 00:15:05)

So, I mean, this is a whole nother, like, you go super deep and geeky on, um, because we've, we've been talking about a lot lately, um, in terms of when you start a company, as soon as you get going, you know, there's just so many different things and rabbit holes and things you could focus on. Um, and my experience has been that not just at the beginning of starting the company, but for a long time until someone knocks you over the head, right? Um, until you bump your head into the wall and a bleeding, I shouldn't even go there, right? But, um, but until you're, you're, you're really hurt, right? You just do some things that are not so really, you know, sort of thoughtful. So what do I mean by that? So, as you know, and I don't know if we've talked about this, I think we've talked about this before on the podcast, right? I believe that building a great company is not that complicated, right? And I believe, uh, that based upon literally sitting on dozens of boards and having invested in over a hundred private companies, I believe that founders and CEOs way over complicate things. And they don't understand some fundamentals, right? And they don't take advantage of some things. So like, I like to say, building a great company's just like building a house, right? And so what you want is you need to have a vision for the house you're gonna build. And by the way, if you're gonna build a house, please build something you're excited about, right? So you have an exciting visitor vision. So, ooh, I'm gonna build this house. And we've built many houses over the years, right? And, um, and I still, I'm digressing, but I still remember the day that we finally finished the house in Key Largo, and you and I were standing there and it was all lit up at night. And I was like, pretty cool, right? I I remember that vividly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we built a house, we had this vision, it was exciting, right? Then we created all these plans, right? And then we, uh, as the home builders, right? We went out and we hired someone to, to build that house for us. And they had tools and disciplines. Their tools were not tools they built, their disciplines were not disciplines they built, right? They went out and hired people that had hammers and saws and screwdrivers and levels and all that kind of stuff, right? And then they went out and hired the people that were disciplined enough to know how to use those things, and they were disciplined enough to show up and do the work, right? And so, you know, so ultimately, right home builders, right? And, and a homeowner, right? It's get this vision, get the plans, and then get the tools and the disciplines. But you don't make the tools and the disciplines, the home builders are not going at night home and, and, and building hammers and, and saws and screwdrivers and things like that. Way, way, way, way, way too many founders and entrepreneurs build the hammers and the straw saws and the screwdrivers, right? It's like, no. Right. You have a vision. Hopefully you're excited about it. Now go get an operating system, right? It'll help you figure out how to do the plans. It'll give you the tools, it'll help you with the disciplines, right? And so, back to entrepreneurs, I deeply believe having, like I said earlier, that you know, that the actual activities associated with building a great business. There's time tested tools and disciplines and frameworks that are out there that will reduce the level of difficulty and complex comp complexity by factors of, I don't know, huge factors.

Cole Abbott (00:15:05 -> 00:15:27)

I mean, the difference between doing everything on your own and then really understanding all the frameworks that you're leaning into, right? So if you have somebody who's started a company and then wants to go do something else, and they, you know, use the exact same systems, right? And frameworks, and then they go and do the next thing, it's exponentially more simple. Well, and that's, and that's more effective and efficient in everything. It's just, it's just better. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:15:28 -> 00:16:28)

And so I always like to, you know, think about, you know, why does what, why is a thing pretty well known? So what's a thing that's pretty well known? A thing that's pretty well known is that venture capitalists like to invest in entrepreneurs who've done it before. 'cause they've, if they've been successful, and they, it's been a company that didn't, didn't just have like a three month or a six month boom boom, right? 'cause they had some brilliant idea. But if they've, you know, been doing it for a year or two years, or three years or four years, guess what? They've developed a bunch of frameworks. They've probably thrown a bunch away. To your point now they're like, no, this is the stuff we do. And sometimes, you know, you know me, strong opinion, not always weekly held. We've got a lot of frameworks and, you know, when people come in and they'll question the frameworks, and it's like, you know, I I, I, I, you know, I'm bad in that, in that I'm not so patient. It's like, look, we've been doing this for tens of years,

Cole Abbott (00:16:29 -> 00:16:43)

And then sometimes it's a chesterton's fence kind of deal where it's like, why doesn't it work? And then it's just, I don't know. It's like, okay, well that's, we're gonna keep doing this and keep refining it until it's proven to not work. Yeah. And it's, it's been pretty good so far. So Yeah. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:16:44 -> 00:18:09)

And, and it's like anything, right? I I, and we were talking about this actually today, right? So we were talking about a moment we're in right now where for some strange reason, more than we have, more than our fair share of colleagues who are trying to give us rocks in the middle of the quarter. Yeah. And it's like, I don't know, something's in the water. I don't know. Right. But, um, it's kind of weird, but we have, you know, that people who've been around us for a long time, you know, a year or more, right? I'm thinking through the names in my head right now are like, they're throwing rocks at us right now. It's like, no. Right. We, we know that we've already allocated all the time we have for this quarter in terms of the things that are not our day-to-day responsibilities. Right. And, and so, and I get it, right? Yeah. I would love to do that. Right? Yeah. I'd love to be, take that competency to this next level. I'd love to have that, you know, that particular thing, right? But it's like, guys, we are where we are. We've done the work, we've done, you know, we have the thing that we have and, um, sure, yeah. We can consider, uh, adding something new or doing something different next quarter. Just add it to the long-term issues list. Would you please?

Cole Abbott (00:18:10 -> 00:18:16)

At this point, it's like a month. Yeah. It's not, it's not that long of a wait No. And time moves fast with all the stuff that you're doing. Wow.

Mark Abbott (00:18:17 -> 00:18:18)

Way fast right now. Yeah.

Cole Abbott (00:18:18 -> 00:19:09)

But you right. When you, when you get comfortable with things and you, you're not practicing the frameworks. Yeah. You get, you get loose on it. And when you're not being very principled in the practice of that, right? Like any skill, you're gonna start to get a little bit lackadaisical on it. Yeah. And right, if you don't have, and it happens within the teams, right? If you got top down, you're enforcing the framework or, or supporting the frameworks. And then, you know, you get some bottom up creep of, okay, well this needs to get done. And some people, due to the nature of their jobs, aren't really thinking in a, you know, 90 day cadence. And so it's like, okay, this needs to be this. I'd like for this to be done in a month. And it's like, okay, awesome. I appreciate the feedback and I'm glad that you let me know, or you let us know about this now so that we can account, or we can document it and then account for it when we go to prioritize for the next quarter. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:19:09 -> 00:21:00)

Yeah. And to, and to be fair, we got a lot going on right now. And, and, and I know that there are, you know, there's stress and it's not, you know, we're, I think we're, you know, we, I was talking, had a conversation yesterday about our culture and, and I know that, you know, we deeply, deeply wanna always have an amazing culture and we know what our, the definition of our culture is, and we know what's important. So I think we're pretty good there. Right. But, you know, the conversation was around, you know, that our culture right now feels a little like, it's, it's, it's getting a little wonky. And my perspective was, I, I don't think it's the culture. I think it's all the change and all the activity and all the associated stress. Um, and it's not that we're working people 50, 60 hours 'cause that's not who we are. That's literally part of our culture is work life harmony. It's just that there's a lot going on and a lot of people, including your truly are spinning a lot of plates. Um, and, and there are a lot of people that want a lot of stuff right now, and they see all the areas where we could be better. And I'm like, a hundred percent get it. And even I Right. Will be guilty of not saying, Hey, that's a rock for next quarter, or at least it's a rock candidate for next quarter, as opposed to, yeah, we gotta, you know, we need to do this right now. And, um, so I mean, we're all guilty of it. And, and, and we say slow is smooth and smooth is fast, and that's genuine. But back to frameworks, you know, sometimes you, it's just, there's so much going on. You lose sight of the framework,

Cole Abbott (00:21:01 -> 00:21:19)

You lose the sight of the discipline, right? Yeah. Because it, it, it takes the last thing when you're stressed out that you wanna do is really lean into a discipline. Yeah. Right? You're, you're fighting fires and you're, you're trying to get everything going, but Right. It's that, it's putting that work, it's staying true to those principles, into that framework that gets you out of that hole. Yeah. Right.

Mark Abbott (00:21:19 -> 00:21:22)

But it's not even fires. Right. Because I'm thinking like

Cole Abbott (00:21:22 -> 00:21:23)

Everything's relative. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:21:23 -> 00:21:38)

Right. Like marketing right now. Right. They have a bunch of stuff that they really want us to, to do, and it's like, yeah, I, I wanna do it too. Right? And, you know, there's a list of like 20 things and it's like awesome. No bloody way

Cole Abbott (00:21:38 -> 00:21:38)

<laugh>.

Mark Abbott (00:21:39 -> 00:21:39)

Yeah.

Cole Abbott (00:21:39 -> 00:21:52)

Well then you get, you sit with them and you're like, okay, we're gonna hold that off for a little bit. Yeah. Then you come back and you prioritize. And then, yeah. I mean, the good thing about taking it slow is that, you know, a month later or two months later, you're gonna go through that and like half of those are stupid. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:21:52 -> 00:21:56)

Yeah. Right. Or, or, or that we can't even think about that until 25. Yeah,

Cole Abbott (00:21:56 -> 00:22:10)

Exactly. Right. Where it's like, we're gonna take this third, we're gonna go put that in the long term issues, and we're gonna think about that way down the road. Yeah. And then mess, we'll do next quarter. And then some of this was, that felt really good in the moment, but the situation's changed and it's not really a priority anymore. Yeah.

Mark Abbott (00:22:10 -> 00:22:29)

Yeah. And, and it's just funny, I mean, I think it's because we're now, you know, almost 170 people that, uh, there's a little bit of the framework discipline deterioration. Right?

Cole Abbott (00:22:29 -> 00:23:19)

Well, we just, right. It's just like anything, you're gonna have a little bit of entropy. Yeah. And that, right. And then now that we're in that phase, we need to have a framework around that. Yeah. Make sure everyone's aligned in the direction they're moving and has those principles and we're working on that. Yeah. Yeah. Which is a difficult thing to do. And, you know, all this is to say, I think we're in a, relatively speaking, I think we're in a really good spot, but, you know, the core values best, we wanna be better and better versions of the best versions of ourselves. Yeah. And so comparing, we don't want to compare anyone else, but we wanna compare ourselves to who we were yesterday Yeah. And build from that. So it's always just constant improvement and Right. Those in tropic forces are gonna kind of mold us in a certain way, but these are all lessons learned. Yep. And that's important. That's how we update and create more and more robust frameworks. Yeah. Yeah. So we, we kinda went off on a little bit of a tangent there, huh.

Mark Abbott (00:23:19 -> 00:23:20)

Never

Cole Abbott (00:23:20 -> 00:23:44)

<laugh>, so, right. I guess we probably, that's like the last couple questions at this point. Yeah. Tying it back to entrepreneurs and founders, right? Right. Obviously there's a bunch of frameworks out there that, that are useful, but where do you start? How do you prioritize? And, you know, there's a framework and there's a hierarchy of frameworks, which is a framework in itself. Yeah. So,

Mark Abbott (00:23:44 -> 00:24:31)

Yeah. So yeah, so literally over the last week, um, and I would say we've been having this debate internally for a while now, right? So I have strong opinions surprising right. On where to start. So, you know, ultimately you have this vision for a house, and then you have some plans, right? And then we get to tools and disciplines, right? But what we're really getting to is people, right? The people are the ones with the tools, people are the ones with the disciplines, right? And so I think that if you came to me and said, you know, dad, I want to build this business, what do you think is the first thing I would suggest you do?

Cole Abbott (00:24:33 -> 00:24:34)

Well, create a vision.

Mark Abbott (00:24:34 -> 00:24:36)

Yeah. Right? And, and, or, or

Cole Abbott (00:24:36 -> 00:24:41)

Have the vision, if I'm going to you and I'm like, I want to create a business, like hopefully you've done that part, right?

Mark Abbott (00:24:42 -> 00:24:52)

But, but, but, but even then, let's just say, let's go back to that and say, you know, I just wanna start a company, right? And we'd have a whole conversation around what, what this means and what I know about you and

Cole Abbott (00:24:52 -> 00:24:56)

For certain types of entrepreneurs, right? That's the thing is I wanna start something. It's like, what is it? I don't know

Mark Abbott (00:24:56 -> 00:27:43)

Yet. And, and, and I know enough about you to say that you would be more, your preference would be to be a lifestyle entrepreneur, right? Um, and that, uh, and that you would then, you know, then the question is, do you want to sort of team up with someone and, and, and, and, and pursue the building of a stage five business, um, while respecting your lifestyle choices, right? Um, or, you know, someone else would, you know, someone else says, no, I've got my vision, right? So let's start with that person. So you've, you've got a vision, you're excited about it, and now what you need to do is, uh, you wanna document it in a way that's compelling, not just for you, but that you, when you present it to people, right, they're stoked about it as well, right? Because that vision is worthless without people to help you build that vision, right? And so, I deeply believe the first thing you need to do is you need to create a compelling vision that enables you to track and retain the people, right? And I believe that a compelling vision does not have to be that comp complicated. I completely agree with sort of the EOS sort of simplicity of it all right? A two pager that has the things that we always talk about, right? The core values and the purpose fashion. Cause the unique value proposition, the ideal client, you know, where, you know, and then if it's the very beginning, it's like, and then let's talk about what you just gotta get done in the next 90 days to prove product market fit, right? And, and, and you don't have to have the entire VTO as EOS would call it, or division and goals, the two pager. You don't have to have it all the way out to three years, right? You just need to sort of have a decent sense. And then you start the journey, right? You bring on some people to help you have a decent sense. You're basically, you know, you're just focusing on product market fit. It's like the next 90 days. And get to the point where you're like, okay, I'm willing to take that next step and maybe hire people, right? And then all of a sudden, you know, other things become more important than maybe within the first six months. You're like, no, I need a one year plan, and then things are going well, and it's now I need a three year plan. And now, right? I, I've got my head around my compelling and audacious goals, and, and, and you work your way through, um, going from having the core of the vision, which is the why, right? To the who's, which is your ideal client and your ideal employees, right? Back to the thing we were talking about earlier, right? To the, to to, to the, to the how's, right? And then to the what's, what are we gonna get done in the next 90 days? What are we gonna get, you know, who's responsible for what, right? And then et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I believe you start with vision.

Cole Abbott (00:27:45 -> 00:27:46)

Yep.

Mark Abbott (00:27:46 -> 00:29:31)

Right? When you're starting a company, for sure. Now, if you've got a company up and running, right, then, it's a different story, right? Because now your company's not, you kind of have some of this stuff in place. So then it's like, hey, you know, um, as you know, we always deeply believe people are better off financially and emotionally and intellectually getting a coach. But if for whatever reason, choose not to do that, right? Then you just take a look at who you know, how good you are across the nine core competencies, or if it's EOS, the six key components, and then you know, where you are stage development wise. And you know, there, in my mind, there is a certain order to the way things should get done. Um, as an example, if someone said, well, I just did the, the nine core competencies and my weakest, um, competencies process, I would say that doesn't necessarily mean that's the thing for you to focus on right now, right? Yeah. It's implicit and yeah, everybody's kind of running around. Maybe they're not doing things as well as they should be, but at the stage of development you're at, is that really the most important thing? Or is it revenues, or is it, you know, refining your, your unique value proposition? Or, or, or, right. Um, so, you know, every company's unique. Every company's at a different point in the journey. But back to frameworks, The stages of development are pretty clear. And what you should be focusing on at each particular stage of development is pretty clear. So whether you're a, whether you're a, you know, just I got this idea, or you're, you're, you know, you're a company that's at stage four, you know, um, on the cusp of stage five, you know, I would give you different advice.

Cole Abbott (00:29:32 -> 00:29:33)

Yeah. But

Mark Abbott (00:29:33 -> 00:29:34)

The framework's the same,

Cole Abbott (00:29:35 -> 00:29:37)

Which is your position within the framework.

Mark Abbott (00:29:37 -> 00:29:37)

Exactly.

Cole Abbott (00:29:38 -> 00:29:44)

Yeah. That's what changes. Yeah. And that would be a great topic for another episode, <laugh>.

Mark Abbott (00:29:45 -> 00:29:47)

Alright. I look forward to that other episode.

Cole Abbott (00:29:47 -> 00:29:48)

I'm sure you do. <laugh>.

Mark Abbott (00:29:49 -> 00:29:49)

<silence>.