David:

[0:00] Welcome to the Redeeming Business Today podcast. I'm super excited today to have with me Justin Winstead, who is currently heading up the Improver Group. Among other things, he's a coach and he's done different things. From insurance salesman, to owning a virtual assistant company that he helps run called The Hire Group. And Justin has unique perspective on purpose as relates to both you as a person and as a business. So, let's welcome Justin to the show and hear what he has to say. Welcome, Justin, to the show.

Justin:

[0:34] Hey, David. Thanks so much for having me on.

David:

[0:37] Yeah. Well, to start things off, could you just put things in perspective of where you are today? Give us a brief journey of where you have started and how you led you to your business today of the Improver Group.

Justin:

[0:53] Yeah, and I'll take a little bit longer on intro than I normally would just because it's in the context of purpose that I'll share some more of my background. But I grew up in Louisiana in a small rural farming town. My dad was a hardworking guy but had dropped out of high school. My mom was a public-school teacher. I had siblings. And so, we really kind of struggled and scraped to get by in life.

Justin:

[1:18] I developed somewhere along the way that this idea that money is bad, rich people are evil. And if you are successful in business, you must have cheated your way to get there. And that was kind of my maybe preteen and teenager-ish view of the world. And then along the way, I had a few enlightening moments that happened. And I realized that, you know, money isn't necessarily bad, and some people achieve success not because they were cheaters, but because they actually had integrity and look for ways to serve people.

Justin:

[1:49] And I wrestled with a lot of things along that journey. And during that wrestling time period, I spent a phase of my life in the ministry. So, I had about 10 years that I was serving in Christian ministry because I thought it was my purpose, and I still think it was at that time, but I thought my life purpose was to serve in church ministry. But as my eyes began to open about how I could best serve others and best do ministry I realized that my purpose actually was in the business world and the thing that I kind of looked down on and had been arrogant towards and ignorant about that that actually is where my purpose was and so I went in and spent a little bit of time learning business and just soaking in as much as I could. There's that old book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. And there's a line in there that I love. And he says, look for a job for what you can learn, not what you can earn. And that's what I was doing. I didn't care about the income. I just wanted to get the intake of information. So, I went through a phase of that. Then I decided to go do business on my own. And so, I launched out and did a few different endeavors. I found my footing with an insurance agency that I started, had a team of producers, had an excellent service team, and we had millions of dollars of recurring revenue in that business.

Justin:

[3:09] And then I decided to sell that a couple of years ago because part of the way I built that business was through empowering other individuals through coaching and through doing workshops. Actually, I did it as a marketing avenue. And it hit me one day that I love the workshops and the coaching and the teaching of these other business and life skills more than I do insurance itself. So, I sold the agency, jumped into Improver Group full time. As I coach entrepreneurs, sometimes the opportunity comes up for me to invest in those companies that I'm coaching, get skin in the game. One of those is the company Higher Culture, which is our virtual assistant group. I also have a small software company for CRM, and I've got my hands in a few other things as well.

Justin:

[3:56] But Improver Group is what fuels my passion. It is my ultimate purpose and calling in life. And mainly what we do here is working about half the time one-on-one and about half the time in a group setting with entrepreneurs, with leaders and their teams, helping them to level up personally and professionally. So that's my story.

David:

[4:17] All right. And you're sticking to it, aren't you?

Justin:

[4:19] That's it.

David:

[4:20] Very good. Very good. So, the Improver Group goes around and helps, like you said, one-on-one or does like a whole company, like a workshop thing?

Justin:

[4:30] Yeah, yeah, we do workshops. I do keynote. But my favorite thing is to create a program of ongoing cohorts where we maybe bring multiple units in a company together. And there's a small group aspect with them where they can go deeper, but then there's still that large group feel that has good energy and where we can deliver a lot of information. One example of that would be is Chick-fil-A. And so, Chick-fil-A in our area here in Dallas, Fort Worth, I've got about eight of those locations that meet together every month. The operator and a handful of their emerging and aspiring leaders come together for this event. And part of that event, that monthly event, is spent with them and their teams. And then part of it is spent in a large group all together. And then part of it is spent with them mixing and mingling with people from the other locations. And that typically doesn't happen, especially in a fast casual restaurant setting. Most locations aren't engaging with team members at other locations. And so those are the types of things we love to do. And a lot of times what we're training on there is we're training on things like communication, strengthening relationships, getting properly aligned, executing on performance metrics and vision of the company, and then increasing capacity.

David:

[5:50] All right. Very good. And is that just live or do you do any virtual events as well? I mean, do you stay just in Texas, or do you go?

Justin:

[6:00] I go all over and about half of my time is spent in person and about half is virtual. And so, yeah, we've got Chick-fil-A's in Phoenix and primarily we're virtual. But then once a quarter be flying out there and visiting with them. So, and then we're building out some online courses. is we actually have a library, a catalog of trainings that are available. So, part of my philosophy of training is that for true transformation and improvement to happen, you go through three phases. And those phases are exposure, then understanding, and then application. And where most coaches and most learning in general falls short is it only focuses on the exposure part. So, I read the book and realized this whole new concept. And there was an enlightenment moment and then I just went on, but nothing changed. And it's because, yes, there was a light bulb moment, but I needed to take it to a place of deeper understanding. And then beyond understanding, I have to apply the principles in it. So, the reason I bring this up in the context of your question is I love to be able to send information ahead of time via video or a book to those who I'm coaching so they can get exposure already even though I love exposure from an ego perspective, because I feel like if I was the one presenting the original idea.

Justin:

[7:21] You know, then you're like, oh, he's so smart. But really for the client, it's better for them to already have exposure to the concept. And I can spend my time going deeper in understanding and clarity and then figuring out how do we implement and apply this. So, yeah, that's the model and that's how we serve.

David:

[7:39] Very good. That reminds me of what Jesus said about, it's good to hear. If you don't do it, it's not very worthwhile. That's putting things into practice.

Justin:

[7:50] Well, you know, and I've never thought about this, but for some reason, the way you just said that reminded me of His words about spreading the word. And He talked about throwing seeds out and He's like, all the seeds hit the ground, but some of them hit hard ground and never take root. Some of them hit deeper ground and then some of them get choked out as they go along the way. And ultimately, you're trying to get to that spot where you're bearing fruit. And I just say it, but there's a lot of people in my industry that go all over the country and get paid very well to just throw seeds out, but they're not actually continuing the cultivating and harvesting process. And a lot of times those seeds don't actually take root. So, we need to, I like to soften the ground ahead of time, get the soil ready, make sure that it's ready to receive those seeds.

David:

[8:36] Absolutely. Very good.

David:

[8:40] Purpose. We talked about purpose earlier. And how does purpose help you as a person giving direction in your life and also in business?

Justin:

[8:51] Yeah, well, you know, I love that quote by William Barclay that says, there are two great days in a person's life, the day we are born and the day we discover why. And those are those are two incredible phases. And so, everybody is born, but not everybody discovers why they are born. In fact, there's a lot of people that sadly have the idea that everything around us is just an accident and it's completely random. And, you know, it's just through the process of evolution and random chance of coincidences happening over time that we even ended up here. And their philosophy is basically that we're just a collection of chemical reactions and atoms and molecules bouncing around. And so, there's really no purpose to any of this, except for whatever purpose we define for it. And I think that's a sad way to live, because I believe that the opposite is true, that there is logic and reason and rhyme to the world, even if we don't always understand it, there is rationality to it. And I believe that we as humans were created with purpose. And if you lack purpose, I love the way you intro the question because you use the word direction. You are like a ship without a rudder. And so, you are directionless if you don't have purpose.

Justin:

[10:12] So if you had to choose between no purpose and deciding your purpose on your own, I would say, well, choosing a purpose is better than not having one. But ultimately, I don't think your purpose is something you determine. Your purpose is something you discover. And so that's where I really try to take people to is, OK, first off, I got to get you out of the realm of where you think there is no purpose because we got to have you living with intentionality and with direction and with vision and focus.

Justin:

[10:41] Otherwise, you're just drifting. You're just on life's big, giant, lazy river, and you're just going to go wherever it takes you. I've got a book that's coming out next month and one of the parts of it Is this idea of escaping average and unleashing greatness, well, part of average is the average person is just drifting. The average person is living reactively in life. They are just going through motions. And as things come at them, they emotionally respond to them. And that's how they make their decisions. People like you and I, I'm sure we watch commercials on TV and go, why do companies spend millions of dollars on these ads? ads because we just don't feel like we're swayed by them. And I'm sure there's a little bit of subliminal subconscious things where we maybe are getting more swayed than we realize. But I don't think most of those ads are geared towards people like us who are filtering things through a lens of discernment and who are being intentional. Most of those ads are being filtered to the average person who's living reactively and who can be swayed by a funny commercial or by a famous person endorsing a product. And so, I challenge people to get out of that wandering where there is no purpose, move into the spot where you realize the importance of having one. And then now that you realize living with purpose is the right way, then it's like, well, let's go deeper and let's help you discover what yours is.

Justin:

[12:11] So I've got two pathways that I guide people down as we talk about their purpose. And one of those is for those people who aren't yet ready to or may not ever be ready to say that they believe in a greater power or that they believe in some type of God or entity that is that is given them purpose. And so that pathway, I say, let's discover your natural purpose.

Justin:

[12:37] And so, what we do is we'll walk through basically a Venn diagram of the three different circles. And there's two words in each circle, two concepts in each one. And so, the first one starts where most people start and stop on purpose. And so, it's passion and proficiency.

Justin:

[12:56] In other words, what do you like and what are you good at? And so, there's a lot of people, well, there's some that'll say, hey, find out whatever you love to do. And that's just your purpose. That's your passion. It's like, well, I know tons of people who love to do things, but they're not really that great at it. So, you got to find something you actually have talent and skill in that you have the ability to do. I may be passionate about playing basketball, but my abilities are not good enough for me to make it to the NBA. And so, I can't choose that as my ultimate life purpose on that. But passion and proficiency are one of the circles. So, as I work with leaders, one of the things we'll do is we'll discover where their true heartbeat is, what really brings them joy, what's frustrating to them, where do their emotions really attach to. And we want to see what brings them energy. And then the other part of that is, well, what is their true skill set? And oftentimes we don't even know where our true skills are. We may know certain things we're competent at, but there are certain things that we are amazing at that are so natural to us, they're actually blind. We're blind to the fact that we've got these amazing geniuses and talents.

Justin:

[14:08] And we almost think that everybody is kind of that way. Like everybody understands how music moves the soul, and they understand what goes into the heart and mind and they don't realize it. No, you have a music gift. So, we create some self-awareness around passions and proficiencies. The second thing we do is we identify people and places. Where are their opportunities? Now, part of that means, where is there a market? Where is there a job that you can get? Where is there a business that you can start and actually make money? So, we're going to look at that. But we're also trying to dive into who are the people you feel burdened with? Who are the people you feel attracted to and interested in? What are the places? And those may be geographically located on a map, or it may be that there are certain rooms that you like to be in or certain venues that you love to be a part of. And so, we walk through and we kind of unpack that.

Justin:

[15:04] And then lastly, we dive into really the psychographics rather than demographics of people. And we get into what are the pressures and problems that we relate to? What are the trials that we've overcome in our own life? And what are those needs that we're especially sensitive to? And as we kind of build out those three circles and fill them with all of the information from an individual, often where they overlap is a great place for our natural purpose. And the great thing about discovering your natural purpose is it can lead you to profit. It can lead you to a place of sustainability in your life. And there are tons of people who've made plenty of money and overall, they're happy, as we would define the word. They're like hey, I'm living a decent life because they're living in their natural purpose. And none of that has to do with spirituality. None of that has to do with God. That's just people saying this is what I'm good at. This is what I like doing. Here's where there's people and places to serve and do this thing. And here's the need that I'm meeting. And so that's the natural purpose. And I want to pause for a minute and check in with you. Is this making sense? You tracking? You got anything you want to ask me here?

David:

[16:20] No, I'm tracking. Can I understand that whole thing about what you're good at, what you're skilled at, what you're passionate about and all that stuff?

David:

[16:27] I guess my question is that I've had in the past is sometimes, like you said, I don't know how good I am at seeing things because I'm just good at it. Also, there's other things out there that my skill set would fit really well, but I don't even know exists. Yeah. So how do you open that up and say, you know, you have a skill set to organize things. Well, I can't just organize my room, bedroom every day and make a living off of it. How would you help somebody say, well, you can go organize this business, organize these finances, organize something else. How would you open that up for them?

Justin:

[17:05] That's a great question. Well, you know, before you get into the, what do you do? You always have to start with the awareness piece. And so, a lot of people go to self-discipline first, but you got to create enough self-awareness. And so, some of that really is identifying the true accuracy of where your passions and proficiencies are. So, like one of the tools that we use for that, it's called the Six Types of Working Genius by Pat Lencioni. And what's great about that is it distinguishes between your competency area and your genius area. So, you've got to create the categories and the language around what it is because you say, OK, I like organizing. But like sometimes we go deeper and sometimes we get other words to attach to that that are adjacent to that word. So, as you create a clearer understanding about your real passions and proficiencies, then you go, okay, well, there's self-awareness, but what about others' awareness? So, then you have to go and figure out like, hey, where is there a market for this? You have to do a little bit of research and analysis on that.

Justin:

[18:09] AI is now in the world and it's amazing what AI can do because you can go in and say, hey, Chat GPT, here's some things that I'm really interested in. What are the occupations that are out there? And it'll give you a whole list of them in a very succinct way that may be like, oh, I didn't even know that was a job position. Next thing you know, you hop over to LinkedIn, and you realize there's people all around the country hiring for that thing that you want to do. You can also do the same thing, but instead of trying to get a job, you say, I'm going to start an independent contracting business doing this, and maybe I can't do this full time. You know, there's tons of people who have passions and proficiencies that don't develop into their full-time occupation, but it still fuels their energy and their life because they're doing their purpose on the side.

Justin:

[18:57] So that's the way I would guide people on that. But that only leads you to a place of making money and having an overall good quality of life. But the next little step I love to add for those who are willing to open their minds or who are already believers is to take them from natural purpose to divine purpose. And in that, we add another circle, a fourth circle to the diagram.

Justin:

[19:22] And those two phrases in there are the pull of God and the promises of God. And so, when you can see what the creator of the universe and the creator of you and I have intended for us, now that shifts the way we view purpose. Because now purpose is not like our grade schoolteachers used to tell us, hey, David, what would you like to be when you grow up? That's their own question for the believer. The question for the believer is not what I want to be when I grow up. The question for the believer is, is what is my mission? What does God want me to be? What is his assignment for me in this? So, to know that we have to look at his promises as laid out in the scripture, and we have to look at what we know about God. And then we have to look at where he is pulling us specifically? What is his plan for that? And I've got a four-step process that I walk people through on hearing God's voice and discovering what his purpose is in their life. And then we also look at some of his promises that give us assurance and comfort and faith as we deal in the tension of figuring out our purpose. But once we do that and we figure out, man, I'm excited about this, I'm good at this, I'm passionate about these people.

Justin:

[20:35] I've got a pain point, I've got an area of service, and this is the thing that I feel divinely called to do and to be, that's your sweet spot in life. And that's where a lot of your other issues fade away and you begin to be the best version of yourself.

Justin:

[20:48] And you do what I say in my book, you unleash greatness.

David:

[20:53] Unleash greatness. Well, that's really neat. And I've experienced that over my life. And you're correct. I try different things. And it's like, oh. Actually, I really enjoy that. I didn't know I could do that, you know, and just, oh, I can make money doing that. Oh, that's cool. But yes, very good. Well, hey, we're about out of time now. I love talking to you. How could people find out more about you or get connected with you?

Justin:

[21:17] Yeah, so the main website, improvergroup.com, and improver is just improve with an R. So improvergroup.com, you can find out about me and coaching. Of course, I'm on LinkedIn and Facebook and all that jazz. And so, you can look up Justin Winstead or the Improver Coach. You'll find me there. I do have a YouTube channel. But then also the book is improverbook.com, and that would be where I would encourage your audience to go. Go check out the book. You'll get a lot of insights. There's a whole chapter on this purpose thing we touched on today in the book. And it's available right now for preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, wherever books are sold. And it'll be releasing October 1, 2024.

David:

[21:59] All right. That sounds great. Thank you very much. And nice to talk to you. We'll have to have you on again sometime after your book comes out and talk some more because this has been very helpful.

Justin:

[22:12] Yeah. Thanks, David.

David:

[22:14] All right. Have a good day. Well, there you have it. Our conversation with Justin Winstead from the Improver Group. One of the things I enjoyed is the three steps that Justin gave that are the requirements to make transformation happen. One, exposure. Two, understanding. And three, application. Jesus said that it was the wise man who not only heard his teachings, but who acted upon them. The foolish man just heard Jesus' words, but did not apply them. I trust you will not just listen to this and other podcasts to gain exposure, but that you'll dig deeper to understand and put these things into practice. If you have not yet discovered your purpose for being here, I encourage you to go through that four-step process that Justin has just described and look for it. Friends, we are not just here for ourselves. We are here to glorify God in a unique, special, and individual way. A question to ponder, what is the purpose that fuels you with energy. Discover that and you will be on the path to a fulfilling life. And remember that time has limits. You can't do everything. Choose wisely.