1510: Why Knowing Isn’t Enough: Turn Insight into Consistent Action and Profit with Business Strategist and Coach Glenis Gassmann

Robert Plank 0:01 Linus Gasman is here. She is a business strategist, mentor and result driven coach with over 35 years of real world experience helping business owners turn insight into action. And she's the founder of so many successful ventures, including a high performing accounting and coaching firm, and she knows what it takes to build scale and exit a business with intention. And the book that she has coming out in audiobook forum soon, that we're speaking about today is called why knowing isn't enough, the no fluff guide to building a business that finally turns actions into profits. So if you invested in programs, read books, listen to podcasts, and you know what to do, but you're still not doing it, then you need to check out this book, because success doesn't come from knowing more. It comes from doing what matters consistently. And Miss Glenna Gasman is going to get us excited, inspired, educated, so much more to finally take action, finally put some of these massive, infinite resources in front of us to use. So Miss Glenn escasman, glad to be speaking with

Unknown Speaker 1:11 you. Thanks so

Glenis Gassmann 1:13 much, Robert. What a what a great intro. And yeah, like you know if you're ready for action, if you really want some results, well, let's, let's crack it open for the next 20 minutes.

Robert Plank 1:23 Let's make it happen. Because when smartphones, and especially iPhones, came out, where it's internet connected, and the screen can be anything, I thought like, Whoa, there's infinity in my pocket. And then now that there's AI, and you can talk to it, feed it, files, images, video. I'm like, it's infinity times 20, but at the same time, I'm so overwhelmed, and I sometimes feel bad about myself, because I think, like you think about what someone in 1850 or 1950 could do in a day, versus what we can do now, it's like, what's your excuse? Why aren't we all just like multiple millionaires changing the planet? And then I think, Okay, I have to be kinder to myself, and now I'm thinking I need to have Miss Glennis tell me about just what her take is on this, and just what's happening with the world and how we can succeed. So what are your thoughts?

Glenis Gassmann 2:10 Yeah, my thoughts about all of that. It's really amazing, isn't it? From where we came from, you know, because in 1958 I was born, so, you know, like, and then, you know, over the years, I was even looking at, yesterday, I'm looking at a document that was given to me about launching this book as an online course, and it's got all my digital, you know, emails and everything that's in it, and I've got to approve it all. And I was going, my God, that would have taken me a month to write. Okay, and and so we are getting information faster through many different mediums. And you're right, lots of people are just overwhelmed, and they're stopped, and they're just not getting anything off the ground. And you know, there's some it's not even just like people who are wanting to starting businesses, or it's people who have been in business for a long time, and, you know, they're managing operations, they're trying to scale and grow at the same time, they're managing people, and they're just not getting off the ground because completely overwhelmed, stopped procrastinating whatever For whatever reason. You know, we all have different patterns. We have different reasons for getting stopped. And it's actually understanding those number one, and that's the first part of the book. The book's actually in three, three different sections. The first part is all about understanding your psychology of an action. And once you're aware of it, you know what they say? 85% is awareness. 15% is actually in the doing. The second part is really developing a action system that suits you, because everyone's different. And I want to talk a little bit about that action system, because we actually have to be kind to ourself. You're talking about that before. You know, like we, even though we're getting lots and lots of information from many different mediums as fast as we want it, it doesn't mean that we have to keep up with that level of of information as fast as it comes to us, we can take it. We can review it. We can take, you know, really strategize and think about, Well, how am I going to implement this? And have a program of implementation this actually works for you. There's so many people, you know, like, we get over and we've got all this, we go, we've got to get done faster, faster, faster. No, we actually need to probably slow down and and work on what's the most important, the highest priorities. I was talking to a couple of people yesterday about what's your three highest priorities and and they you know, that's just focus on the three highest priorities you have right now. And then let's block. Out some time in your diary, daily, maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Say no to distractions. You know, like, close your email down, put your phone in another room, and I recommend putting it in the fridge, like some people do. But you know, like, just turn off your distractions. I had one person say to me, but what about my cat? And I go, Yeah, well, can you put it outside for an hour and a half or something? So, you know, there, there is certain distractions where you'll have and just focus for that 90 minutes on what you want to achieve, what that vision is, that project that you want to get done. Because it's all in the consistency of the action. And I explain that a lot more in the book, it's taking consistent action on a regular basis. It's, you've heard about the compounding effect on dollars. You know, if you have $1 today in the bank, if you add $1 every day for 30 days, you get something like about, you know, an investor, you get, yeah, lots of money. Okay, this is a bit the same. It's like, you know, one hour, one and a half hours every five days a week, or the week that you're working week, whether it's five or three days a week. And if you consistently take action on what you want to achieve, then you start seeing growth, like, in 30 days, you might have your project completed. Okay? So it is about, you know, like being kind to yourself and saying, I don't have to go like full speed eight hours a day. I just have to do like, focused work on that project for, you know, like an hour, hour and a half, and you will see progress each day, each week, you will see progress. And all of a sudden, you're in the you're being in the middle of it, and all of a sudden it just blooms, you know, if you're into flowers and guns goes, whoo, I've got it done, you know. And you feel so good about it. So, and then the third part of the book is also about, it's about like, okay, you've you understand why you're in it in action. You know, you're sorry you're not in action. You understand your patterns. You've created a really big why that's bigger than you, big enough to get you out of bed, you know, in the coldest mornings, and then you've developed an action system. And then the third part of it is all about, okay, so I've got this now. Now it's time for me to share that with my team and lead people through this process and demonstrate through, through, doing, right? So when you're like that, then your team's like that. So all of a sudden you've created, you know, some you've created a system that's workable for everyone inside of the chaos of the information that we get on a daily basis. Because we're just focusing on the one thing, you know, yeah, oh yeah. That was a bit of a long winded conversation about that, Robert, but you know, it's, I see people like struggle, because they are staying up at night heavily embedded in spreadsheets. You got staff ringing up in the morning going, can't make it to work. They're managing their operations, and yet they they want to get out. They see their sales dropping. They need to do something strategic to to improve. But they're just embedded in this daily mess, all right, and so we have to break through that.

Robert Plank 8:42 Oh, yeah. And it seems like that scenario, they're taking a path that's not working, and they seem to think the answer is, double down, triple down, Forex, and just keep doing more of what's not working. And you're like, Well, hey, there's a better approach, a better perspective of being smarter and more strategic and and it seems like the kind of the bad scenario we want to stay away from. There's the confusing motion for action, and there's putting unnecessary stress on yourself, and it even seems like self sabotage in disguise, right? Of just like kind of taking on too much, being spread so thin, having all the chaos, and you say, hey, instead, like refocus and and have a better structure here. And when you're explaining the three parts of your book, what's going on in my mind, I'm thinking like, there's like the the inner and then the outer, and then there's others, right? There's the kind of get that purpose figured out, and then that second step is okay. Now, how do I actually, like, take my action and be disciplined and consistent, and then, how do I then apply my leadership and and work with the team and delegate and kind of like, you know, expand outward in that way, and, you know, you and it's all good stuff, right? It's because, and it's like. It's, it's, I used to think that this all this, like, emotional intelligence, self awareness, time management. I used to think it was this kind of like optional or an add on, or something that was to be explored if we really were stuck. But now, just with all these resources at disposal, it seems like it's more built in, or it's, it's more like essential to apply every day, not just sometimes. Don't you think,

Glenis Gassmann 10:24 Oh, absolutely, totally, you know, like, for probably the last, let me say, 10 years, all I've seen around the world, and I've spoke at, you know, conferences for coaches, and that everyone bangs on about strategy, strategy, you know, but the biggest thing is the tactics. So these are, like, the tactics of understanding yourself. Because if you can have hundreds of strategies. I mean, if somebody came to me today and said, hey, you know, here's my business, look at the cash flow. I want to earn, you know, an extra couple of 100k next year profit. Show me how to do it. You know, like, literally, in half an hour, 45 minutes, I could show them six or so strategies that would make them more profits, right? But that's not the answer. The answer is, are they going to put that into action? And I've seen this time and time again, people pay for coaching. They pay for strategic advice, and it's like the old business plan, you know, goes in the top drawer and it gathers dust, and no one looks at it, and no one implements because A, they haven't got time, and B, they're just not they're not action orientated, right? So what I see now is that we've gotta work as business owners. We gotta work on ourselves. We gotta work on our own tactics. And, you know, like you said before, we gotta have some consistency. We gotta have some discipline. We gotta be committed to the outcome, and we gotta make it easy for us to do that for sure. And we can't, we can't, like, just go full on, because it just doesn't work. It's really just consistent over time. And then you're going to get, you're going to get one major success out of all of this. And then you go, Hey, that was easy. How did that happen? You know, and away you go. So it's very tactical. This book is really working on you. I like how you said it was working on your inner and the current, and then, you know, get your outer, and then your team, because it really is that that really is how it's been developed. So if you want a great business, you it starts with you, you know, the fish rots at the head first. Did you know that?

Unknown Speaker 12:38 So, but I can picture it, yes, yeah.

Glenis Gassmann 12:43 And, you know, and most business owners aren't prepared to look at themselves, you know, in that way, not that it's a wrong thing, because there's we've gotta learn and grow every day. But when you do turn it in and look at yourself and go, right, well, what could I be doing a bit differently to have my team turn up a different way? Then that's growth. Even asking yourself that question is growth, yeah,

Robert Plank 13:11 oh, yeah, you have to start somewhere. And even that's the first step. And someone told me that years ago, How reassuring that is. That if you're like, doubting something specifically, right? Are you saying, well, could I be delegating to my team more? Could I be a better parent? The default is to think, well, because I'm asking these questions, I should feel bad about myself. But he said, No, no, just a lot of people don't even consider these questions. So it's not you definitely don't want to get stuck in a loop and dwell on it, but if you're asking these questions, you're like, Hey, I'm looking for that progress. I'm looking for growth. And this has me curious about your own transformation, because I'm sure you didn't have it all figured out. So Does anything come to mind about what, where maybe in the past, you struggled, and what you think you've overcome

Unknown Speaker 13:56 over time? Well, yeah, like

Glenis Gassmann 13:58 this book has come out of the school of hard knocks. Robert, so, you know, like, we all go through that, and you know, I've had plenty of of downs as well as ups, you know, and survived. So yeah, like, you know, one thing that comes to mind, I was in my accounting practice, and I hated it. I was, like, about seven years in, I had managed to create a monster. I had we did so much great work, high value work, lots of clients. I had a team of people who weren't as productive as they should have been, and I was picking up the slack. Um, probably working 10 hours a day, you know, absolutely unhealthy, the whole lot, right? And I wanted out, and I was going to sell at that time, and I got something in the mail, and it was to, you know, come along to this seminar. And, you know, bring your bring your high level. Team with you, and it was all geared to accountants and profitability, because although I was working really hard and 10 hours a day, my salary wasn't commensurate with that. And so we went along, and by lunchtime, I've employed a coach, so I just I saw for myself. What I needed was someone to look at me and find out what the hell was going on, right? And one of the first things he said to me was, what's your productivity? And I said, oh, about, you know, 70, 73% and you know, I pride, proud myself on the fact those days that I was productive and, you know, and I was being an employee in my own business and, and so he said to me, I want you to get down to 30% I go, What 30% he goes, Yeah, you can do that. And so what I had to do was, you know, I had to look up all of my low level tasks that I did on a daily basis, and I had to give that away to someone that was worthy of that role, not me. You know, it even got down to collecting the mail in the morning. You know what I mean? Like I used to go to the post office and collect the mail. I'm showing my age now. But you know, it got down to that. So I over the course of or 12 months, 18 months, I reduced my productivity down to 34% my income doubled, my profits doubled or tripled. I got a better bang for my buck, and that was just from, you know, reducing things down a little bit, just taking it, being strategic, following through. And so, you know, that's, you know, part of my hard life story is, you know, I loved my business so much then that, guess what I decided to do. I thought, my God, I'm not the only one. He has suffered like this. There must be other business owners that do this. So I started a coaching business in behind my accounting practice based on everything that I'd gone through in the 18 months, and I turned my molecules in my head from an accountant giving advice to a coach that asked questions, and that's another story for another day, because that's a whole different skill set. And I actually, literally felt my molecules in my brain go from left to right, you know, or right to left, you know, it was just, but it was good, so it's good. So, yeah, you know, like everything in this book, I've been through everything. And throughout the book, there's this stories about my journey, there's stories about my clients journey. Of course, there's not the same names, but I've been really authentic through my book about my journey and where I've come from, and what I learned, Yeah,

Robert Plank 18:00 amazing. And it those are two examples there of, like, literally going the wrong way. Like, haven't you ever been, like, maybe not driving, but walking in, like, you parked your car, and you're like, Okay, I know that the address is somewhere here, and you walk one way down the street with your phone, you're like, Oh, nope, now I need to turn around and go exactly the other way. And so you're saying this productivity percent you thought you had to increase it, and then your coach said you had to decrease it. And then even that gave you the then that expanding circle again, of you saying, Well, you had been an advisor who gives advice, but maybe you had to do an about face there and be a coach that asks questions and so. And I think there might even be a little bit of subtext in there of involving other people and getting the advice of someone else. Because sometimes, if we ourselves decide to do something, well, could we really stick with it? That's iffy. But if we have a coach, mentor, mastermind, those sorts of things that are there on the ride with us, and we say, Okay, well, it's not just me, it's my team or my coaches is helping me to to achieve this goal. Now I'm less likely to give it up, because if it was just it was just me and my low self esteem, I might give it up, but others involved, I have a greater chance of success, and it's wonderful to think about. And so you taught your experiences in this book, but then sometimes collecting the thoughts and putting it into words that in itself, gives you some aha as Revelation. So was there any kind of breakthrough like that in the process of writing this book? Did you say like, oh my gosh, I have a new AHA in that category?

Speaker 1 19:40 Oh, it's so funny you ask that question just today, you know, because today is a year anniversary to i from i had my hip replacement operation, right? And it was about three days. Oh, no, it was about three weeks later. I was taking. Calls for I was at home, and I was taking calls from clients. I had slotted them in one particular client. You know, prior to going in and having the operation, I we had set out a bit of a criteria for him to follow, and he had a few actions to take in those three weeks. And then, you know, get on the call with them, and I thought I was okay, but when I look back now, I was still taking a few painkillers and very tired and that. But after 20 minutes of listening to his reasons, stories and excuses as to why he had taken no actions,

Glenis Gassmann 20:39 I thought, I have gotta

Glenis Gassmann 20:43 actually put everything in my head into a book and get it out to the world, because he's just not the only one. I mean, when I left him three weeks ago, he was fine. He was going to take the actions, but then everything came in, you know, like it didn't matter what it was, whether it was family, though. It was business, somebody leaving whatever he never actually put in place the time to actually take those actions that were going to help him to get to that next level. And and so it was three weeks after my hip operation, I thought, right, why? Knowing about things isn't enough, and that's where that came from. And I I wrote down the the outline, those three areas that I wanted, and then within that, I just mind mapped it out, probably by Christmas last year. And then in January, I started writing. It was so easy because I'd lived it, and as I was, as I was writing it, it was like, Oh yeah, that I remember a time when that came up and when this come up, and so, yeah, it was, it was quite, what's the word I want to use here? It was just transformational. Maybe, I know that's a cliche word at the moment, but it was, I got from one to the other by about, probably end of March. It was about three months that I just, you know, it was a certain time every day I just banged something out or reread something, and did that, and I just thought, you know what? This is great. This is what everyone needs. How, if anyone needs help with or struggling with putting things in action, then, you know, grab hold of the book, take it, read it, and it's a work in progress book. You know, it's like something you're not going to read and put it aside. You're going to go, Okay, this chapter, I'm going to, you know, this week I'm going to work on my my integrity. This next week I'm going to work on my discipline, you know, the next week I'm going to work on saying no to distractions, right? And so it's that, that's how the book came about. It was like I got to the

Unknown Speaker 23:00 end, and I thought my all of

Glenis Gassmann 23:02 my school of hard knocks, it's all in that book. Yeah, right. And success stories too, yeah,

Robert Plank 23:09 so. And I'm sensing a recurring theme in our conversation that that helping others is such a motivator, right? When you're saying, Well, how can I get this, these business problems solved? Well, who am I helping? There's my team. There's my customers. And if someone out there has the writer's block of putting out a book, well then you look at what happened with you. You said, you know, I had people that they they still get stuck, and sometimes you you only have a limited amount of time in a coaching session, or you can't get through to them, or weeks past and it's like, imagine if you could just hand them the Book and they can be working on that in between them that next thing you know, you're saying, Oh my gosh. Like people need help with this. They need help with that. And then the book is already mind mapped out and halfway to being done and written. And so there's so much good stuff that you're mentioning that's in this book, why we get stuck. Purpose, integrity, decision, execution, discipline, courage, saying no, as you mentioned, using failure as fuel, lighting the path for others, and just deciding to take action. And we all have these things that we've been sitting on, and we could have, would have, should have, get to applying to go back to college, to reach out to that friend, to create that coaching program to build that business, to make that app, whatever it is, we all have those things that, if we're not careful, might be regrets later in life, or that might be unfulfilled dreams. So it's sometimes a test, isn't it, if we really want it, well, then are we going to pay the price and time block that 90 minutes that you mentioned and get through those problems and figure out who can help us and everything that goes along with that. And so we've just, we've got into all kinds of interesting topics and areas here at Glennis, but in these final minutes of our conversation, what do you think is the missing question? What should I be asking you? I just don't know to ask you.

Unknown Speaker 25:00 Oh, isn't that interesting?

Unknown Speaker 25:03 Yeah, I'd be thinking about that. And

Glenis Gassmann 25:08 I think it comes down to, you know, why is it that people continually be like, can just why is it that people continually just stay stuck, right? They just, they think that's just the status quo. They think that that is all there is, you know, we're just gonna they have all these great ideas. They're innovators that could, they could actually change the world. But why is it that they think that they they can't get this done. And why is that? That's a good question. Yeah, yeah. Why is that? Well, the issue is, is that they have never actually seen their idea. Well, firstly, they don't believe they haven't got a vision bigger than themselves. So most of the time, people don't actually have the vision bigger than themselves about helping others, alright? Because sometimes we create the product or the service to that we're not thinking big enough about who it's actually going to help. So it's not big enough to pull us forward. Okay? So firstly, we've gotta get a vision bigger than ourselves, and we've gotta start believing in ourselves that we actually can change the world. We doesn't matter if we're a one man band or we've got a team of 50 or 100 you know, we actually, if we've got a great idea and we think that it's, you know, it's definitely worth pursuing. It's worth your time to develop it and get it out there, because that's how the world is going to evolve, especially if they're great ideas, you know, and we're going to get, I'm not talking about anything that's not going to help the world progress here. And I think that that's the main thing. And then you need to have a mentor. You need somebody like you just mentioned before. It's not even about accountability, you know, like people see that word accountability is, you know, bad and wrong, you know, but it's not about it's not about cracking the whip. It's about championing you as that person to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve, and we don't be kind enough to ourselves to do that. We just don't we have, we need an outsider to, you know, be on our shoulders, you know, almost like to champion you all the way. And that's what I think that people lack in this world, and you know, we there's some great coaches and mentors out there. There's also some that don't actually match with the person that they're, they're they're working with, and subsequently, the person doesn't take the actions and doesn't get the results. It's not about strategy. This is all about tactics, having that belief in yourself, having a vision bigger than yourself, and taking the actions. And sometimes you just need humans being humans. We just need someone to champion us along the way. So a little bit like when we're a little kid, you know, or when you have kids, have you got kids? Robert,

Glenis Gassmann 28:22 yes, five year old, yeah. So I've got

Glenis Gassmann 28:25 a couple as well, but they're more adults now, but I still remember them when they were little, and we were always championing them along the way, whether it was walking, whether it was, you know, like their creativity, playing a musical instrument, you know, whatever it was, you know, getting their the certificates at school. We champion them all the time. That's how people grow well. Business owners need that champion, and so they they've just gotta find that person to do it, yeah. So don't work by yourself. Go and find someone who you match with, who's going to do that for with you.

Robert Plank 29:01 That's an important reminder, because it's such a paradox, isn't it, to have the low self esteem, lack of belief, lack of motivation, but at the same time be trapped in your own mind and say, Oh, I don't need anyone else. It's like, well, which is it? Are you? Are you not competent in your present state and you need help, or is it the reverse? And so if there's no harm in getting that, that extra perspective, and trying new things, and you're saying, Well, if you're someone out there who says, Oh, I tried a coach, I tried to mentor, it didn't work, well someone might you say, well, maybe it was just the wrong fit, right? Like you might you go on a first date and say, Okay, I went on one date. Dating is all bad. It's like, well, maybe it was the person. And it's similar analog in business, isn't it? And so it's like, well, you get this, this bigger belief, and get something that gets you excited, that pulls you forward, so that we can actually achieve and accomplish great things. And you know, there's. A limited amount of time. None of us know how much time is left, but great things have been achieved in history, and there's great potential and future in store for the people listening to this podcast. So if someone says, oh, man, I'm so excited about jumping into this no fluff guide to building a business that finally turns actions into profits, what's the next step here? Where can people find out about your amazing book and also more about you?

Glenis Gassmann 30:26 Well, they could jump on Amazon. We've got the audible book coming out as well and but Amazon you can, you can get the book or an ebook of paperback audible. Like I said, it's coming out. I'm actually working on an online course at the moment that'll be that'll drop in 2026 and you can actually do this course in a limited amount of time. You know, it's not something that you're going to take years to do. It's a short amount of time. And then you can re, re, you know, revisit it on a regular basis. So definitely jump on Glennis gassman.com.au, or you could jump on your success shift.com and, yeah, I'm on LinkedIn. I'm everywhere. Just, you know, come in and, you know, send me a message. Um, I'd love to have a chat. You know, if you got something worthwhile you want to, you know, get off the ground and you're looking for a good fit. That analogy you just said Robert was really great. You know, about the dating, I like to think about it like shoes. You know, sometimes we put on a pair of Nikes, and they're just great. And then we sometimes put on a pair of, you know, Adidas and, oh, may not feel quite as good, or new balance or something like that. So it's, you know, there's plenty of people out there who could potentially help you. You know, we just got to get the right

Unknown Speaker 31:51 fit.

Robert Plank 31:53 Yeah, and no one said that. That's instantly figured out, but and we need to get on that right track, and don't give up. Don't be a self defeatist. Solve the problem, right? Be a entrepreneur, be a business owner. And the person that can help you get there is Glennis Gasman. She helps business owners turn intention into momentum. And this book that we've been speaking about is called why knowing isn't enough, the no fluff guide to building a business that finally turns actions into profit. So you can find that on Amazon. You can find her at your success shift.com and most importantly, you can print her on LinkedIn and start that conversation. Check out her posts. You search G, l, e, n, i s, last name, G, A, S, S, M, a n, n, so that's Gasman with 2s and two n's, and you find the one from Queensland, Australia. She's got 21,000 plus followers on LinkedIn. You friend her, you connect with her, and you can check out her newsletter on LinkedIn called the execution gap, and see what her latest posts are. At the moment, she's posting about the audible version that's coming out that we mentioned. You can get a free sneak peek of the book. Why knowing is enough. And as people are going there Miss Glennis, it's time for the scary final segment of the podcast where I tried to stump you. I tried to put you on the spot by asking about a fun or interesting quote or lesson. So what comes to mind as far as a fun or interesting quote or lesson,

Glenis Gassmann 33:23 right? Well, that's it. It's really interesting. Okay, I now I've got this one from Warren Buffett, right? It's the difference between successful people and really successful people is the really successful people say no to almost everything.

Robert Plank 33:42 Very nice, very helpful. So it is time to say no to more that way you you have that time to think, strategize and do the more important high level tasks. What a wake up call that book, as we said, is why knowing isn't enough. By Miss Glennis Gasman, thanks for being here and enlightening us. Being authentic. I'm really glad that you came, Miss Glennis,

Glenis Gassmann 34:01 Thanks, Robert,

Glenis Gassmann 34:02 it's been great being here, and thank you to everyone listening. It's a joy to actually be able to share all my wealth of wisdom and knowledge here with everyone. And you know like, please reach out, have a chat if you want. So.