106. Hack Your Process with Dev Chandra

Russ Harlow 00:00

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Dana Dowdell 00:37

Hey, Russ, 

Russ Harlow 00:38

Dana, how are you today?

Dana Dowdell 00:39

I'm good. How are you?

Russ Harlow 00:41

Doing? Okay, just trying to learn more and do more. We have a great guest. And I'm excited.

Dana Dowdell 00:47

Yeah, we're talking with Dev, Dev Chandra. He operates the process hacker, which is a blog and consulting business, geared to help small business entrepreneurs scale and increase their profits by streamlining and optimizing their operations and project management, which sounds like a dream come true. So, Dev, welcome to It's Just Business.

Dev Chandra 01:10

Thanks for having me.

Dana Dowdell 01:12

All right. So you come from a navy background? You're still in navy reservists. So tell us how you went from Navy to coaching entrepreneurs? What was your journey like?

Dev Chandra 01:22

Yeah, so I joined the Navy. Right after college, I went to undergrad at Johns Hopkins, I was an engineer. And from there, I really wanted to join the Navy. And I was like a huge ship nerd, and really wanted to serve. So, I became an engineer in the Navy. So, I worked on a lot of cool projects. And the self improvement journey started while I was in the Navy really like optimizing my, you know, just my ability to do my job, like one of my bosses really pushed me. And from there, I actually got to go work on congressional stuff. And that's where my job kind of got a little easier working for. So, for three years, I was an engineer, and then the other three years in the Navy, so I was six years total in the Navy, I was a Congressional Affairs aide, which I get to see the quick the dirty of politics, which don't want to be in the politics anymore. But yeah, that's when I started really working on the process hacker, it's when I was a Congressional Affairs aide. And it was just me wanting to be a content creator and putting all my like self improvement type journey learnings on a website. And so the process hacker was about like productivity and habits originally, and then the pandemic hit. And I really started diving into applying my operations experience into helping business operations. And that's and I just started out as a blog, and slowly, I would take on a couple of coaching clients here and there from the website. And I've since moved away from productivity. So that's really how happened, I left the Navy, less like in 2021. And I've gone full time into doing more business coaching. So right now with one of my business mentors, we have a program called Quantum Leap, and we help entrepreneurs manage their time and priorities. And that's really what I've enjoyed doing the last year is just helping entrepreneurs not get shiny object syndrome stay focused on growing their business. And then since then, I've been doing consulting. And that's where the streamlining of operations a lot of my clients had the need of getting their processes in order getting the project management in order. And that's how it evolved to that. And so now I'm doing that consulting while also doing this business coaching, but the the focus of the process hackers now on the operations and the and whatnot. So

Dana Dowdell 03:40

all right, explain to us because this just hit me in got this shiny object syndrome. Okay, so what is it? What does it look like? And how can a business owner know that that's what's happening? Alright, so

Dev Chandra 03:53

we all go through it. Alright, so I'm just gonna tell the audience, imagine yourself like, you're working on your business, you're trying to get clients, you try to do the normal things, right? Sales, Marketing, fulfillment, right? Or marketing, sales, fulfillment, right? You get leads, you sell those leads, you give them a good quality product or service, right? That's a business. But then there's all these people on LinkedIn that are messaging you, like, you're on Grant, cardones, email list, whatever. And they're like, Hey, we got this cool course, that is going to do all these wonderful things. And then you're like, let me buy this course that's shiny object syndrome. It's where there's all these people trying to sell you stuff, as well as just how you could spend your time that take you away from that core business. And I've seen this over and over again, where somebody pit somebody's like, hey, buy my course buy my program, and then you're derail from what you should be working on. And that's shiny object syndrome. It's like, you have your priorities you need to stick to them. But that's what I've seen with entrepreneurs and my job as a coach has been, do not do not buy that course like do not like do that like program because you're, you're going on, you're working on the right things. And it could definitely help. But a lot of times, it's just doing more of what works. And I know I think that's an Alex Hermoza. Or maybe the maybe it's like, everybody's been talking about this, but it's like, just do what you're doing, and how can you optimize what you're doing or improve upon what you're doing, instead of trying to bring something completely new? That might not make sense at the time. So that's, that's what I mean by shiny objects. And

Russ Harlow 05:29

so that's easy to say, especially with somebody who's got a coach kind of got the bug in their ear. Yeah, or even a mentor or an accountability partner. But what about the business people who are out there just kind of trying to make it on their own? How do they avoid kind of, you know, falling for some of those things, and not that there's not value in some of them? Because I'm sure there is,

Dev Chandra 05:50

I think the best way is that as what we talked about, you might not need a coach, a coach, if you can afford a coach, Coach is super helpful, I would definitely recommend it. But just having a good peer group, I know you talked about you both were you're part of BNI. Right? So now it's surrounding yourself with the right entrepreneur peers, that that can help you stay focused, right, and you can go to them and be like, hey, my goal, right? And it comes back to the vision. So first, before we get into that peer group, really having a concrete vision, where do you want to take the business? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your business to look like? What numbers right? That's critical? What metrics are you trying to achieve in the business, and then working backwards, and then telling other people, Hey, this is my goal. This is what I want in life. And, and having that community with people, because Pete, other people can give you feedback. Like, if you have a good peer group, or friends or other business owners, they'd be like, hey, stop doing that, you know. So that's the one thing that I've seen, over and over again, it's like when you're in a vacuum, when you're operating by yourself, like that's the worst case scenario, because you have nobody giving you feedback, other than your customers, right. And so that's what I would say, start getting a group of people that you trust, maybe mentors, if you can hire a coach like hire coach, but to keep you on track, because that is, the biggest thing we do as a coach, as I like what we do in our QUANTUM LEAP program is just keeping people on track on their goals, by keeping them focused, keep working on working on the business side of working in the business to grow over time, right. And the reason that is important is because businesses grow over a period, like it takes about three to five years to really grow a big a good business, like from what I've seen. And that means that you're putting in work day in and day out, over time making small improvements, small gains to achieve a profitable business where it's not going to happen overnight. And so the chances of things coming in derailing you over a period of three to five years is super common, like so that's the thing. That's why it's super critical that you know, your vision three to five years out your you work backwards, and you have the right group of people around you.

Dana Dowdell 08:07

So in my BNI, we're actually doing a BNI book club, and we're reading at my let's the power of one more any talks about the matrix, like making sure that the matrix, the world that you exist in is full of people that are going to continue to push you? And is it more than that, though, it's not just having people around you that will support you is it, you also have to make sure, like, be vulnerable and tell them what you're trying to achieve so that they can kind of hold your feet to the fire.

Dev Chandra 08:36

Yeah, and you got to be honest with people like I mean, I was just actually before we were on this call, like one of my best friends. Like we talk like every day, I mean, just like about fitness and business. And he has a personal training business. And like we've recently began giving each other like financial advice over some things that have been happening. And he's like, I I'm just completely, like, I trust him with my life. He trusts me. And like we're just completely open about our business situations like or financial situation, whatever it is that it's that having that person around you that you could trust. I mean, and when I was in a relationship, it was my girlfriend, right? But it's, it's having those people that you can be fully open with and say, Hey, I messed up, right? Like or, you know, like, here's what's going well, right and, and then being able to give you that honest feedback because you are vulnerable. So it is important to have the right people around you that and being open yourself, right being open about your situation, wherever you are, because there are always ups and downs in the journey. And if there's a coach, like, what I tell my clients is, hey, we have to be open with each other. Because if you tell me what's going on, I can help you the best right? Where if you try to make everything great. It's only great for so long, because it's again, it's a ups and downs type of journey.

Russ Harlow 09:56

And that's not very that's not uncommon. I mean, we Do that with friends and family and close business associates a lot. It's natural for us to want to put on a good front. For whatever reason, and I think, you know, I'm, I'm listening to a book right now on Audible. And the author said, you know, what's important is, if you're a friend or close associate came in to ask you for a favor, ask for you for help, would you give it to him? And without a doubt you would? So if you need help, why aren't you asking these people who are close to you and care for you, they will gladly help you. Like, don't put up the front. And I think that our listeners and business owners need to understand that. How do you coach people through that process?

Dev Chandra 10:43

Oh, for sure. I mean, like, recently, and it's common, it's like, we try to think we're stronger, right? We like one of my mentor, my mentor, I've partnered up with this coaching program is, his big thing is willpower only works so much. And that it doesn't, right. And there is like some people that are in your life that love you, like, I'm gonna go home for Thanksgiving, I'm gonna see my parents. Now. They, I mean, my dad definitely doesn't understand what I'm doing. Like in my life, he thinks that I probably should get a job and do normal things, right, which is fine. My mom gets it, but, but it's those people that have been there, right. And that's why for entrepreneurs, I definitely think having other entrepreneurs because things aren't gonna go well, all the time. Like, and even that first couple years, when you're starting something, people are gonna doubt you. I mean, for sure, like other naval officers that were friends of mine. Were like, what are you doing? Why are you creating this blog? This is stupid. Like, I mean, that's literally what I got. Because they're in their minds. Like, well, I was in one of the, one of the most nerdy parts of Navy and, and people can leave this part of the Navy and go make really good money and consulting, or, you know, whatever, do some cool things. And it's, it's what I was trying to do is different, right, and so definitely having people who will support what you're doing in the sense that they've been there probably and that, you know, it's gonna be weird, it's gonna be, you know, you're gonna have with other people that you might try to be real with, they might just be a hater, regardless, just because they've never been a business owner, they don't know what it takes, right? And then seeing that you might not be making that much money in your first couple years, it might be like, Why are you doing this? Why are you putting yourself through this struggle. But there's a bigger goal, right? That three to five year goal, that means the first couple years might suck, but in three to five years, if you put effort, you can definitely create a business, that will be rewarding, and that will be growing and will be profitable, right if you put the time in, but they don't see that they might see that at the three to five year mark, when you have something successful, versus in the one to two year mark, when you're when you're just building something that isn't going anywhere, or it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, right? So

Dana Dowdell 12:58

oh, man, this, this topic resonates so much with me, because it's like, the people who are not business owners think that I'm like, a total badass, like, they think my business is more successful than it actually is. And then I sit, I sit in it, and I'm like, I don't feel as successful as they think I am. And then at the same time, they're also giving me slack for working the amount that I do. But I'm curious, in your own entrepreneurial experience, has there been someone in your circle or in your matrix, who has either said something really profound to you, that change the trajectory of your business at all?

Dev Chandra 13:38

I mean, yeah, it's just, I think it's like one of my, for myself, I think, two people come to mind one, my friend Dave, who's like my best friend, who we kind of hung out all through the pandemic. And like, while, you know, the world seems to be going crazy, we're just like keeping each other going, like when it comes to fitness, or comes to our business. So it was just, it's that constant. It's nothing profound, I think it's that constant. Like having someone in your in your corner that will constantly be there and push you right to keep going, and then call you out when something's not working or to change direction. But I think my business coach, not my business coach, my business mentor with this program, like, what profound, I don't know if there's a good quote to summarize it, but what we found is that it's that focus, right, kind of like what we talked about the shiny object syndrome, like the people in our program that do the best that are the most successful business owners are the ones that know what their vision is, know what they're trying to achieve the metrics for sure, like, hey, I want to achieve this much revenue by this year, and then just put in the work day in and day out, and it's just not glamorous, it's just this. It's just the typical, like, you know, I'm just gonna make this many calls or I'm gonna make this many contacts on whatever site and I I'm gonna reach out, and I'm going to follow up and do all these things that are just the just normal business things that just seem like, you know, they seem boring, but those are the people that do the best. It's just the stuff that works continuously. And unlike trying to do some, like trying to be on all the different platforms and, and trying to come up with, like new things all the time, like, yeah, that's what I've what I've noticed. So just do more of what works. I think that's been what's resonated with me if I had to capsulate it, and it doesn't have to be glamorous. So I don't think there's like a good quote in there. But do more of what works is definitely one that I would say for sure.

Russ Harlow 15:43

Do you have a process for kind of mapping this out and kind of getting this, like, out of my brain and out of the ether and down on paper? So it's something concrete that I can face every day? And really Chase? For sure.

Dev Chandra 15:57

I mean, like, I think the best way is, starting with the vision, right? This is, what do you want to achieve in life? Right? What do you want your life? What do you want? Where do you want to be? But what do you want the journey to be like, in a sense that like, does that whole ideal day exercise, right? Like, do you want to spend more time with your family in the future? Do you want to go on vacations all the time, like, for me, it was when I left the Navy, I wanted to live in this life where I could go live somewhere for a month, like recently, I was in Lisbon for the whole month. And now I'm gonna go to Mexico City, and then come back to Pittsburgh, and I kind of had this idea, this travel life that I wanted to live while working remotely on the business. And then working backwards, like, hey, I want to achieve this vision by like me three to five years, which is what it tastes like, it's gonna like I tell my clients like, you're in the game for the long run. It's just not about the destination. It's more about you putting it it's the work ethic that you put in every day. And then really being metrics oriented, right, like really breaking that three to five year vision down into years, but then into quarters, I think the month and the quarter timeframe works really well for solopreneurs. And saying, Okay, what is the big thing I want to achieve this month, or the big thing I want to achieve in three months, right, and then constantly set deciding on the day to day activities and taking action on those activities that will result in your monthly and quarterly goals. And that's the process we use. So vision down to execute like a good plan and then having good execution on that month and quarter time horizons. That's what I would do. I mean, it obviously depends on what business you're in, or what stage your business in, but that those are the places I would start for sure.

Dana Dowdell 17:44

So you have been featured in a lot of different areas like articles and magazines. How is that? How has that worked for your business? Have you found that to be a benefit for your business? And can you share a little bit about how you might have gotten connected to some of those areas?

Dev Chandra 18:07

I think it's just putting out good content? It sounds really, I mean, some of it, it was intentional, like sometimes you reach out, right? So my big, I think every business should have a good marketing channel. Not they don't need a lot, right. And for me, it's been the blog. And I've worked on the blog since 2019. And it's just been writing articles. So it started with good content. And then after a while, when your site gets started to get more traffic and gets big enough, you can start reaching out to different people, or you can have other people that you hire, reach out on your behalf. And that's it's really being intentional, like, hey, like, I got the site, I would love to write a guest post or maybe write a feature. And that's how that's how those happen. Sometimes they reach out to me, but it's because I put in a lot of work in the blog specifically, that that that's why that's happening, right. And I think if I if I did the same thing with a YouTube channel, maybe other YouTubers and would want to collaborate and whatnot. And so it's, it's just being intentional about the marketing platform. And I over like three years, I've learned SEO and really have put better quality content on the website. And then now people are loving what I put out. So that's really, that's really it. Yeah, it's and then a sense of helping my business, I would say, it's validating what I'm doing, in a sense that like people want to see what I write on the blog. And so I've been now for me for the next couple of years, the blog is a huge focus of what I'm doing because I want to be more than the business I'd want to be more of a brand and so that's why my focus will be the blog over time and trying to get featured more and do that just to keep growing that ethos or that brand I guess.

Russ Harlow 19:48

And it's more than just it's putting good stuff out there. I mean, you said it putting out good content. Now that takes time and it takes effort. But if you want to be the subject matter expert in your field That's one of the things you have to do, you have to continue to learn. But you can't just make a video to make a video or write a blog that's got a bunch of keywords in it. Just, it just, it just doesn't work anymore. So I mean, how much time are you spending kind of creating really great content, to, you're giving away a little bit of information, and it's with the hopes that people are gonna want to work with you. And it works. But tell me about it.

Dev Chandra 20:24

Yeah, so I do a lot of so my, I kind of the thing about blogging is you got to start somewhere. And you honestly have to just put out stuff in the beginning. So with any content medium, it's not about being perfect. It's just like, write one blog post, even if it's 100 words, even, it's about whatever, doesn't need keywords, because the process of just the habit over time, eventually, you'll be like, oh, I need keywords, or oh, I need to make sure that people are searching for this content, right. And then you start creating articles that actually meets what the audience wants, or what Google wants. And that's the same thing on YouTube, or whatever it's, it's like, over time, your content will adapt to the audience or to the search engine or whatnot. Because you're just gonna get smarter, you're gonna realize, okay, if I keep improving my blogs, a little bit each time, I'm gonna get better and better, I'm gonna use the best tools, but starting on day one, trying to do everything is impossible. And then the second thing is, with that with good content, is it's giving that value. So for me, I've realized originally like, my like, if you both her to Entrepreneurial Operating System, EOS or, yeah, so that that was what those articles started taking off in the beginning, and then that company decided to, that is the only time it's happened, but like, you can't write about us. So I had to take down a bunch of articles on this topic that was actually growing my blog significantly, and then I started getting into book summaries. And my book summaries are way better than most people's like, I'm not gonna lie, like I put, because I actually read the books, and care about how I, I write it down. So people get value out of it. And what happened over time was my book summaries started ranking on my site. And I picked book summaries that are either on productivity, habits or business. And that's why like, I become an authority in that space of Google search, realizing that, hey, people, like my summaries, are staying on the site longer. And so that's where it goes. So when you're a blogger, you have to really try stuff, and then figure out what people are coming to your site for. And then start to become an authority in that niche. Or if you're like, hey, I really want to become an authority in this topic, then finding keywords and writing articles around those. But it's, it's an iterative process of continuously putting out content, seeing the results, and then and then making it better for sure.

Dana Dowdell 22:55

That's an interesting way to develop content, the book summaries that's yeah, I've never heard of that before. sounds really cool. Um, you live a bit of a nomadic entrepreneurial lifestyle. Can you tell listeners a little bit about, you know, what, how you do that? And what, what you've been able to accomplish in that capacity?

Dev Chandra 23:24

Yeah. So the big thing about it is that I've always wanted to travel and I was in the Navy for that reason. And there's a lot of places after leaving the Navy that I've never been to. And the America in my opinion, we have a flawed way of traveling as Americans where we go somewhere for a week or maybe two weeks. And then we cram everything into that week. And then you're just like, actually, one of my friends I was on the phone with yesterday, did the same thing. He's like, Yeah, I go somewhere for a week. I plan it super hard. All the restaurants, all the hotels, every activity, and then you're just like stressed out because you're trying to make all these activities, right. But with this slow travel, right, all you're doing is you're doing what you do in a normal city. You're just moving there. And then you're just doing the touristy stuff when you have free time. So instead of like so for me, like right now I'm in Pittsburgh. I mean, I live here. Normally I work during the days. Sometimes I work like I work on the weekends too. But when I moved to like a Mexico City, I get an apartment. I have a co working space there in case I want to go to an office and have facilities for like printing and stuff like that. And then whenever I'm free in the evenings, I go to try a restaurant out or an on the weekends. I'll go do like the touristy things, and then you stay there for a whole month. And you would do all those things, like you'd normally do. But you do them over like a whole month or two months, and you'd actually get to enjoy the city. Like I got to start learning. I took Spanish lessons too. So that's the fun thing. So if you're, if you're single or you're in a relationship where you both have remote jobs, it's perfect because you get to go experience a culture and Take your time and enjoy the culture versus really getting like a like a, like a really quick, like vacation. So that's why I enjoy this life because it's just you have internet everywhere. And then the cool thing about Latin America is all the time zones are the same. So if you're in Mexico City, you're working Chicago hours or, you know, if you're in Brazil, you could be in New York time. So it just depends on where you are just. And there's good internet everywhere. So and there's a whole community of people doing this. So it's a really cool thing now that we don't have to be in an office all the time. So yeah.

Russ Harlow 25:37

That's, that sounds pretty fun. I'm not gonna lie to you. What are some of the other things when we're talking about planning and mapping out our success? And looking at moving forward? What are the things that we look at as key performance indicators? Or how do we figure out if we're hitting the mark?

Dev Chandra 25:55

Are you talking about like, life or business like business? For the most part? Alright, business? Yeah, I mean, okay, well, it just starts with how much money do you want to make? And then really looking at, alright, what business? Are you in? What are your margins? Right? And then how much revenue says like, the standard numbers like revenue, your margin? If you're looking at marketing, like how many people are converting, right, from like marketing channels into sales appointments, right? But understanding the amount of money you want to make? And then what is it going to take in your business? To get you that profit, so that you can enjoy the life you want? Right? And so that profit will come from the profit margin and how much you sell? Right? And how good are you are fulfilling, right? So it just comes back down to marketing, sales and fulfillment? And how good the metrics in all those areas? All right, so for marketing, it's how many what are my channels? How many people am I going to send? From how many leads am I going to create out of those marketing channels? Right? And, and then what is the success of you put ads out? Or if you put organic right? What is the percentage of leads that you create from your efforts? For sales? Okay, you have these leads? How much? How many percent of people? Are you converting into a sale? And how can you increase that? So for each of these things, if you look at those metrics, like how can you improve sales, conversion, for marketing? How can you improve, you know, return on ad spend? Or click through rate or whatever, so you can get more leads? And for fulfillment? How do you create a quality product? Like, are people satisfied? What is your customer satisfaction, right? So those are the key metrics that you gotta mess with. But then overall, you have revenue, right? You have like, Okay, how much revenue is coming in? What's your profit that you're gonna create off that? And then, can you live off that profit essentially, right? Or do you reinvest that you live off a portion, and then you reinvest the rest? to growing the business? Right? So it just comes back to those metrics? I probably listed a ton of metrics, but that but that's, that's literally Yeah, it's just, it's just it's basic stuff. Now, if you don't understand any of the terms I met, I would definitely do research or ask your friends for help just for the audience. Because like in a business, those are the key things that you have that like the the key areas that you need to understand those numbers or else, you have no idea what's going on your business like the like those metrics tell all and then you can adjust. You can do stuff in your business to adjust those metrics to then be more successful, you know, at the end of the day.

Russ Harlow 28:30

So your website's the process hacker, right. So that that the term hacker suggests to me one of a couple of things, either it's, it's either a shortcut, which I don't think there is one, or it's that just knowing how to decode the information that's out there to make it work for you. Oh, for sure. Tell me tell me what it is for you. When

Dev Chandra 28:51

you say process. Yeah, I mean, process hacker is making information available to people to want to improve operations. So processes, systems operations, that's the area ideal. And those are like systems, like that's what I love talking about, like, I'm not really a marketing or sales person. But how do you take those that information, you know, make it digestible for people like how to how to, can you understand a book or this concept or, or that makes it easy for someone to understand and take action, right? Because at the end of the day, the systems in our life help us execute, you know, consistently, more often or just so you get, just so you get the same results every time, right? And that's what it is about. It's really hacking your business, maybe creating processes or creating systems so you can get consistent repeatable results and get and make more money again.

Russ Harlow 29:51

There are a lot of processes out there so it's not like you have to recreate the wheel. There's ones that are available for industries and services and products, you know, There's no traction there. You know, you got Mike McCalla wits and another, I mean, there's a lot of people that talk about process. So as a business owner, you know, there's a lot out there and a lot of information, but it's about being committed to it right and making it repeatable. I think that's really important. You do these, the book, not reviews, but kind of synopsis, right? What are some of your favorites? And what have you learned the most out of those? Because it's not just about getting the information and rewriting some information for people because I know you're getting something out of it. So what are some of your favorites?

Dev Chandra 30:35

So the one thing I'll say about books, and I think Alex Hermoza, he talked about it really good is finding the book that solves the problem that you have at the moment, not just trying to read for the sake of reading, but identifying like, what are your big issues in your business, and then using the book as the solution to the problem? So there's that I really liked what he said we're, you know, there's this people trying to read one book a week or something, but the reality is, okay, maybe it could be I'm right now, like, I don't have processes, alright, find a process related book, or I'm terrible leader. Okay, maybe you go explore John Maxwell's books, right? Or maybe I need to improve my persuasion skills. Right. You can go to Robert Cialdini, his books, but that's, that's the way that you should approach looking for books. So my favorites, I would say for, for process, so I think I think I would probably go more on the self help. So essentialism is one of the best ones, because it talks about really getting down to the basics, and really living an intentional life. And I think that carries over to business, which is just stick to the basics. Don't try to do anything too fancy. And doing more of what works, right? So essentialism is like one of my favorites for like both life and it applies to business. Also, four hour workweek, for sure. Because the whole point of that book, I'm Tim Ferriss talks about living this trend. So I'm trying to embody that lifestyle. But how can you like the whole book is him helping you either work remotely, or really taking your business and optimizing it to a point where you, you could work for hours, but in reality, maybe you'll work like four hours a day, but having you know, management, good management processes in place, having the ability to outsource things, like he's big on outsourcing. And so that book is one of my favorites as a four hour workweek for, for just being like an 8020 type business owner really getting down to the 20% that will cause the 80% of results. So that for sure what recently I just read this book, from six to seven figures by Austin NetSuite, and that one is very tactical, where he goes into detail about what systems you need in your business. Like in terms of hiring, in terms of sales and marketing, and just really showing you how to put those into practice. So those are some my favorites. I'd say.

Dana Dowdell 33:08

This episode is brought to you by boss consulting HR. If you own a small business, you don't have to do HR alone. Boss consulting provides outsourced HR services such as recruiting, compliance, training and employee relations, visit boss consulting hr.com, to schedule a consultation and download our white paper on the steep cost of not having human resources. I'm literally staring at my bookcase and I have the four hour workweek on the bookshelf. I had a client Give it to me and I have yet to touch it in like three years. So

Dev Chandra 33:44

it's probably the most influential life business book that I would say for myself. And only because Tim Ferriss shows you what's possible in life where it's everything's different, right? Because if you decide to be a business owner, you're deciding to do something most people would not think is normal, because most people just want to go work a job. They want to work X amount of hours a week, right? But you're defying the norm, right? And then he talks about all these other ways that you could define the norm. So basically, his book is also like a mindset book, or it's like what people tell you that you have to do in life where you got to retire by this age, or you have to do this or that. And he's like, how can how can we are those assumptions actually true? Like one of the assumptions was like you could you like you. You can't retire till a certain age. Well, he was like, Well, maybe you take a year off your life. You know, and you could travel really cheap. That's the thing about travel. If you travel on the right parts of the world, and you're not staying at fancy places or going out to eat at fancy, like restaurants. It's really affordable and super cheap actually, like if you're in Southeast Asia, and it's safe to it's safer than traveling in the US. us in a lot of parts, and, or if you got to Latin America, like it's really cheap down there. And you could live there for, like, in like some parts of world you could live on one to 2000 a month, and still have good food to eat. It's affordable. And, and as that's the other thing that the book showed me that, hey, the all the ways that I thought I had to live and had to had to do, like work a normal job, you know, have like, I want to have a family but like, you know, like, like, retire at a certain age were not necessarily true, it was just what I thought was what had to happen, you know, and even the idea of going to college now is being challenged right people, right? If we think about that, that was such the norm that if you want to make good money in life, you had to go to college. And now, that's not necessarily true, right? A lot of companies don't even look at four year degrees, they look at the skills so and even colleges and universities are now moving more toward how do we train people for skills, as opposed to just giving a degree out, you know, and that's, that's the reality of, that's why I love that book. It's just like challenging what you thought was possible, or what you thought you had to do in life? And then how can you enjoy your life without, without, like, you don't have to be rich to have a I know that people think that but like you like there, there are things I've done this last year that are super affordable, that a lot of people could do that. Were awesome experiences. And I would say like, I wasn't like blowing money to do them. And that's the thing people think it's like that you have to be rich to like to have this awesome life. But there's a lot of things that you could do, or even in your own city, that you could go like on some cool hikes or whatever that are free. And fun. You know, and that's, that's the other thing that travel has taught me, like with the four hour workweek, like you go to other parts of the world. And they're like, their weekend is just maybe going to a store buying a six pack and Sean, you know, and enjoying life. And it's nothing crazy. And we could do that anywhere. Like you could just go get a case of beer, just have a good time. And but yeah, it's uh, yeah, I don't know. So

Dana Dowdell 37:17

you don't have to be independently wealthy to have a vibrant life is the takeaway here?

Dev Chandra 37:23

No. So it's definitely what I've learned for Yeah,

Dana Dowdell 37:26

we do a lightning round at the end of all of our episodes. So we'll hit you with four questions that we ask of every guest. So the first question we have for you is, what's one thing that you wish you had known before starting your business?

Dev Chandra 37:38

I think the shiny object syndrome thing. Because again, like it's just, you're just spending money on things that you think are going to be valuable. That don't work, right. It's a lot of people try, a lot of people are in the business to sell you on stuff, just to sell. And even now, I'm LinkedIn, I'm getting hit up by people constantly. And I'm just like, it's annoying, and I don't want to be that person. But, but I mean, I hope I mean, you'll hopefully it's working for them. But it's just like these, that's one thing I've learned, there's a lot of people that don't that want to sell that might not care about delivering and then might sell the thing that they might sell to you might not make sense. At the stage of business you're at, like your, you know, when you're starting out, you don't need to buy anything, like people think that you need a course or whatever it's like, you just have to get somebody to pay for something that you're going to give them. And you don't need anybody. You know, a lot of people do, like some people, like some kid on the street, is going around mowing lawns, like that's a business, right? It's, he didn't need a course to teach them how to do that. He just was like, hey, I'll mow your lawn. And it's this much money, you know, it's and if he grows that big enough, then you can be like, Oh, maybe I need processes. Or maybe I can hire other people that do this for me. And then when you start making more and more money, that's when the one thing I wish I knew is generate the revenue first and then use that to buy other things to to improve your business. That makes sense, you know?

Dana Dowdell 39:10

Yeah. What about your favorite way to market your business?

Dev Chandra 39:15

I mean, I'm a blog guy. So definitely my blog. It's SEO I love I mean, I like writing and Google, I understand the Google algorithm enough to be like, alright, I can write something that will rank where other people like YouTube and stuff, but the blogging is for me for sure.

Dana Dowdell 39:31

What is one business platform that's changed your life?

Dev Chandra 39:38

Um, I don't know. I mean that's a tough one because it's like there's not really a thing in specific, I would say. I mean, I really wouldn't attribute I would say like a bunch of books right that have Yeah, Been, because he's everyone's just rehearsing or, like packaging things differently. But the definitely the fundamental books, for sure. I don't think there's one platform other than having the right people. So maybe not. Yeah, I don't know. That's tough.

Dana Dowdell 40:18

And then the last question is, when did you feel that you had made it?

Dev Chandra 40:23

This past year, I think just knowing that I've been able to travel, meet awesome people, like really have my horizons expanded and just knowing that, hey, like, like, just knowing that, hey, if I do a great now I live on such little money for the most part that if something bad happened, I'm gonna be fine. And I can have these experiences that are going to be fun. down I need to spend a lot of money on but sometimes it's nice to spend money on things, you know, every so often because you just can enjoy your stuff. But that's, that's when I know I've made it. Because I know that if I keep making a certain amount of money every year, I'll be fun. And I can still enjoy my life, I can still have really great friends. Go get coffee, and you know, whatever. Right, like so. That's what so how I know. I feel like I've made it in the sense this past year. Yeah.

Russ Harlow 41:20

Well, thanks to have where's the best place for people to find you?

Dev Chandra 41:23

Yeah, so you can go to my website at DAP process hacker.com, where you can go on Instagram, which I'm terrible at updating that, but I'm at the process hacker. Or you can just add me in general, it's Dev Chandra. And then I have a free productivity guide, which you just go to the bottom of my site, and there's a, you could sign up for the newsletter, but there's also a free productivity Guide link or I think we're gonna put in the notes. 

Russ Harlow 41:47

we are definitely going to share that in our notes. If you want to connect that up. That link will be there, both for the website and for the free productivity guide. Yeah, it's inspiring. I love the direction you've taken and you know, being different because that says you have what you want it and I love that story. And I think it's going to resonate with our listeners too. So thanks for stopping by the podcast. Thanks. Thanks to our listeners for being here. And I think there's plenty of inspiration to come out of, you know, the conversation we've just had, like it, share it, you know, there's somebody else out there who needs to hear this. Share it with them, leave us a review leaves some criticism. It's okay. We're gonna grow from it because it's not personal. It's Just Business.