Episode 146: Profit first lessons from business coach & investor, Polish Peter
The Profit First REI Podcast
January 12, 2023
David Richter
Summary:
Peter Kolat, also known as Polish Peter, is a multifaceted professional in the business world. He’s an investor, entrepreneur, speaker, and transformational coach. He is a coach from Lifeoanaire, an organization with the goal of helping people reach fulfilling lives. Furthermore, he created the Immigrant Masters Unite mastermind, which focuses on helping and connecting immigrant entrepreneurs.
In the past, Peter faced some challenges that made him unhappy, despite his successful career in investing and coaching. He faced difficulty connecting with his family, and his tendency of people-pleasing impacted both his personal and professional life. Peter has been on a journey to overcome these struggles and has found success in both his life and his business with the help of the Profit First and Lifeonaire systems.
In this episode, he will be sharing more of his story and wisdom with us—a great opportunity to learn from Peter’s experiences and gain insights on how to gain true fulfillment!
Key Takeaways:
[00:41] Introducing “Polish Peter” Kolat
[03:47] Peter on the Profit First Method and
[06:56] On Struggling as a Business Owner and Leader
[11:26] On How Work Life Affected His Family Life
[14:58] On Personal Development
[17:53] The Importance of Having a Coach
[19:42] Why Investors Live Deal-to-Deal: Not Having Support and Clear Goals
[26:39] Questions to Ask Yourself and Conquering Your Subconscious
[29:29] What Would Peter Do Differently If He Started From Scratch?
[31:47] Connect with Peter
Quotes:
[04:43] “When you start looking [at] the profit first and you focus on that number, amazing things happen in your life.”
[21:08] “When you write down what your life is going to look like, and you get very clear what you want to end up in…that’s like at this GPS, this Guiding Light. Then the next question becomes, ‘okay, what does my business need to look like to support that life?.’”
[30:34] “One of the worst things you can do when you’re a business owner, or when you’re in a dark, dark, dark place, is [going] at it alone. You gotta reach out, you gotta surround yourself with other people.”
Connect with Peter and Get a Free Copy of Lifeonaire: An Uncommon Approach to Wealth Success and Prosperity:
Website: www.lifeonaire.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachPolishPeter/
Masterclass Website with Immigrant Entrepreneurs: https://mastersunite.com/
Tired of living deal to deal?
If you are a real estate investor or business owner who is tired of living deal to deal, and want to double your profits, head over here to book your no-obligation discovery call with me. Either myself or someone from my team will hop on a short call with you to get clear on your business goals, remove any obstacles holding you back, and map out a game plan to help you finally start keeping more of the money you work so hard to make. – David
Transcription:
Peter Polish:
But when you start looking for the profit first and you focus on that number, amazing things happen. Not only your life by your business, but it has this effect, this ripple effect I think that goes through your entire life. I think
Outro:
If you’re a real estate investor who’s sick and tired of living deal to deal, then welcome home. Hear from everyday real estate investors just like you, and discover how they’ve completely transformed their business by taking a profit First approach. This is the Profit first for REI podcast, where we believe revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. It’s time to start making profit a habit in your business. So here’s your host, David Richter.
David Richter:
This episode will rock Your World. We talk with Polish. Peter, if you’ve never heard of him before, he is an incredible human being. He puts the first things first in his life. He is a part of the life and air movement and if you’ve never heard of that, that’s an also a great series. But he talks about his experience with Prophet First. He goes really raw and deep and some personal stories that of things in his life. He talks about his four year old and missing sometimes with her and with the, and just not being able to connect on that level and how some of these things in his life help turn all of that around. He tells about why people do what they do and like why do we live deal to deal And some of the great points there. I mean, he hit on so many good points.
I know from this episode you can listen to it and I believe you could go out and make a whole lot more money, have a whole lot less stress and connect with his story. He also tells about being a people pleaser and how that’s affected his life, his business, and how Prophet First helped turn that mindset around too, of how he’s making sure that his business and the people and the right people are being taken care of. So I’m really excited for this episode that you’re gonna listen to. You’re going to grab something from this, I promise you. You might even have to grab a tissue box at one point as well too. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey that we’re taking with people and can’t wait for you to listen. Hey everyone, we have Polish beater in the studio right now and this is so exciting because he is a prophet first believer.
He’s not only read it, he’s implemented it. He is also encouraging other people to use it as well too. He’s got a great background. He’s a part of one of the premiere I believe event places the Life and Air and he’s a part of that group. I love that book. It was a mind-changing book for me years ago. Uh, it’s why I do a lot of the things I do with my daughter right now today and my wife and building that in first in my, you know, into my calendar. So Peter, it is awesome to have you here. Thanks for being on the podcast today.
Peter Polish:
Well, thank you for having me man. It’s a privilege to be here with you, man.
David Richter:
Yeah, and it’s privilege to have you on. I’ve met you a couple times in person and been on your podcast as well too because they’ve, they’ve got the Life and Error podcast to make sure to check that out. This is one I really believe in. I’m gonna just plug them here a little bit because life and Error is all about not just being the millionaire but making sure that your life fits into, you know, like what you really want to do, what’s really important and there’s a lot of great aspects there. So read that book and listen to their stuff. So I just want to give you a plug right from the beginning cuz I believed in it and I believe in that book and it was a mindset shift for me all those years ago when I first read it. So thank you for being a part of that and putting that out there as well too.
Peter Polish:
Well we appreciate it and I specifically appreciated him because this was one of the books that had a big shift in my life and just like Profit First, I mean Yeah. What of thing Profit First, what,
David Richter:
Right,
Peter Polish:
Right,
David Richter:
Exactly. Which is hilarious cuz there’s a lot of similarities in the books.
Peter Polish:
Mm-hmm <affirmative> ,
David Richter:
And what they teach in the concepts. So let’s just start there. What got you excited about the Profit First message?
Peter Polish:
Well, one of the things, because if you think about it, in business world, most people don’t look at it that way. Especially entrepreneurs.
David Richter:
Yeah
Peter Polish:
People who are just one man shows they don’t look at, you know, profit, they look at, you know, they look, they don’t look at the numbers and all that kinda stuff. And when they do look at them, let’s say revenue,
David Richter:
Right
Peter Polish:
That’s still revenue, let’s look at the revenue, how much am I making? And then what happens when they look for ’em, they’re more of a mindset perspective. The significance pops up and they’re like, you know what? My business is bringing me, you know, half a million or a million or 10 million. But nobody really talks about the profit aspect of it. And when you start looking from that perspective and start dialing in on the profit, and that was one of those books that actually had a big shift in my business, in my life, personal life too actually. Because it’s not just about business, but when you start looking for the profit first and you focus on that number, amazing things happen. Not only your life, but a business has this effect, this ripple effect that I think that goes through your entire life, I think.
David Richter:
Yeah. Well that’s really good. Well then let’s pause there a little bit. What did your business or personal life look like before implementing and reading Profit First?
Peter Polish:
Well, so before that business, my business was um, constantly driven by revenue. Looking at how I make more money, how do I make more money, how do I make more money? Right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And that was a lot of stress because then I started, you look at from, okay, so do I hire somebody or do I not hire somebody because this is my revenue, right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And how much revenue do I need to bring in? So it’s kind of like this performance type of business kind of striving. And when I started switching it more towards the profit side and I started seeing that and focusing on that, all of a sudden for some strange reason, <laugh> profits started to grow, right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And you start looking from the perspective of, okay, how do I impact the world, right? How do I impact the people around me and maybe it’s employees. And now when you see the profit grow, you start to act in business differently. You start to be a different person. You know what I mean? You’re not stressed out, you’re not wondering about what’s gonna happen next month.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
How do I pay my employees and all those kinds of things. Because you see that and you put that first in your bank account kind of a thing. You know what I mean?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Let me take care of that first. Not like wondering in the end of the month, okay, where did the money go?
David Richter:
Right, Oh man, this is good stuff because this is exactly what I think a lot of the listeners want to hear. They want to hear people who have implemented it, who have actually seen it pay off and which makes me, you know, like what you said is so true, a lot of people driven by revenue, let’s do living deal to deal. You know, like just paycheck to paycheck and the real estate game. It’s like, please don’t do that. So, absolutely.
Peter Polish:
Um,
David Richter:
A hundred percent agree with what you’re talking about there. So let me ask from there, before you had pro, you know, you had put it in too, did you ever think about throwing in the towel when you were driven by the revenue, when it was the performance business? Did you ever think about giving up on it?
Peter Polish:
So you wanna sarcastic answer and that is never
David Richter:
What’s Yeah. Never
Peter Polish:
Not the real answer, but that keeps going on in your life.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Because here’s the thing, one of the things I remember looking at my business
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
You know, and I used to have my business in my own house. Well I do now, but it’s a completely different structure. Right?
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
But it was in a basement back in the day and I would pull all nighters because I was looking at, okay, how do I make sure that this month we can, you know, bring in the revenue and make things happen?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
You know what I mean? So there is, you have to pull an letter I forgot to do about this and that and that and that. And there is this mentality of lack a little bit I think that pops up in that. So that puts some stress on you.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Right. Because you don’t go and look at the profit and put first thing in you to pay you first. You’re the last one in line. Especially if you’re a person like me who grew up and discovered in my mid thirties, I’m a people pleaser. Guess what? That people pleaser is not gonna pay himself first. That people pleaser is going to go and he’s going to do everything for other people. Right. Take care of other people.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And that translates over, I think, into what the profit first talks about and how do you actually structure your, you know what money goes in where. Right. Pay yourself first.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Look at the profit side, those kinds of things because people please don’t look at it that way. At least I didn’t. So that was stressful looking, you know, I mean, how long am I gonna keep doing this? Maybe I should just stop me, I should change something else. And now you have this ping pong thing game going on, you know what I mean? In your head
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Whether you wanna throw in a towel or not. So
David Richter:
So did you have employees at that time when you know
Peter Polish:
Yeah few. Uh, most of my was, uh, there were some virtual employees that I had.
David Richter:
Sure.
Peter Polish:
You know, but um, again, you know the thinking behind it is, for me at least, it was a little bit more stressful.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Because I need to pay them and then guess who’s the last one in line?
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And guess what’s left over is the last one in line <laugh>
David Richter:
Zilch.
Peter Polish:
Right. And guess what? And you got wife and three kids.
David Richter:
Right. That,
Peter Polish:
That gets stressful.
David Richter:
Exactly. That’s why once I’ve got a bunch of questions here now that have popped up, but because I wanted to focus on what you said about being a people pleaser, cuz I a hundred percent agree with that. It’s taken me about around the age of 30 to realize like how much that’s affected me in my life.
Peter Polish:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
David Richter:
So I resonate with that of like, well I gotta make sure everyone else is taken care of, you know, like I need to make sure that I’m making their life happy. And not that I don’t do that now, I just have to make sure that if I get burnt out, none of those people are taken care of. So
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
David Richter:
Was that how it was for you? Like with your employees with the virtual assistants? Like just always wanting to make them make sure that they are taken care of and like at your detriment it sounded like too?
Peter Polish:
Well, yeah, it does because here’s the thing, it’s almost like a house of cards.
David Richter:
Mm-hmm
Peter Polish:
Okay. If you think about it. Right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Because I wanna make sure that they’re taking care of and they’re taking, taking care of and I wanna make sure that my line, my bottom line and the revenue is going and all the kind of stuff.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
So if I start burning out what happens, they get affected.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And now the whole thing falls apart.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Right. So when you start, when you switch, I think there’s a shift that happens for people. Cuz now I’ve even taken one step further and I do this not only from money perspective of profit first, but from the mental perspective, profit first. Meaning like, okay, I need to make sure that every week I literally have what I call stare at the wall time. So I get to just, you know, set everything aside and take care of me first up here mentally. Right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
So I’m paying myself first in that regard and then I can pour out to other people. And I think that’s what Profit First does really well is that they look at, you gotta take care of you first so then you can take care of others.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And the other way that most of the people are looking at it, I gotta take care of others first and then me.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Well that’s a kind of recipe from my experience. A recipe for fail
David Richter:
<laugh>. Exactly. Which brings me to the next question of, you’ve mentioned pulling all-nighters, you know, your people pleasing, you’re trying to, and please the employees. So how did that affect relationships at home? Did it, and did it have a great effect on the family too? You know, like putting those other people first or how did they feel with, with the all-nighters and such?
Peter Polish:
Well, I will tell you this, this was not the only reason. Yeah. But I think big part of the reason is in 2011 my marriage failed.
David Richter:
Mm.
Peter Polish:
She literally, I remember it was in November 6th I think it was, and like one o’clock in the morning we had a little discussion and she literally came out and said, I’m done. I on the divorce. And that’s when all of a sudden all the wakeup call came in for me. So that was a big wake up call cuz she’s been telling me this for majority of our marriage. Like, look, stop doing everything for everybody else. What about us? What about me, what about me? I’m like, I’m doing this for you. Right,
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
But that’s the switch. So that was part, that was a big cost for me. And in the grand scheme of things, I mean, everything worked out for a while. I needed to work out because now I’m married to a beautiful, awesome, amazing woman that I get to share my life with. But, um, that was the cost that came with it. And look, my kids, I remember my daughter who was at one point, I think she was four, wanted me to tuck her in bed, read her a story.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And I’m like, yeah, I’ll be right there. I’ll be right there, I’ll be right there. I’m coming. By the time I got to the bed, she was already asleep. And that wasn’t one occurrence, there was multiple occurrences.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Because we don’t look at the fact that it can happen on our lives. Yep. You know what I mean? You’re not present, you know, you’re not really there for the family because what’s happening in the back of your mind, who do I take care of this, I do this, do I take care of that?
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Do I have enough to go and pay for this or that or whatever it might be.
David Richter:
Wow.
Peter Polish:
Especially in real estate investors. Right?
David Richter:
Yes. Especially in the real estate investing game. I think that’s gonna hit home with a lot of people. I think we talked to so many people in the real estate world, the real estate game that are just like that. Like, gotta get the deal. Ooh, did I sign that? Did I call this person? Did I pay this person? Did, you know, and just all those things
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm. <affirmative>
David Richter:
that are important, but not as important as the four-year-old who’s asking you of begging you for her stories. And I’ve got a five-year-old daughter, so that really hits home here of like, I gotta make sure that I am taking all the time I need to make sure, because at the end of our lives, I don’t think it’s gonna be those people that are gonna be like knocking on our door saying, oh man, it’s gonna be the f it’s gonna be those four year olds that grow up into the adults that said, I’m glad Peter lived, you know, I’m glad my dad lived. So No, that’s,
Peter Polish:
yeah,
David Richter:
That’s definitely a touch of story. So then,
Peter Polish:
So listen, can I interject something For sure. Before you ask me. Um, at our events we share the slide towards the end of, uh, day two. No day one we share this slide on five regrets of a dying. And this is basically people who earned their death pads
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
At the end of their lives and they’re looking back at what the regrets that they’ve had.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And I’ll shocking, but I will tell you, not one of these regrets had to do about which I would’ve taken care of that deal, which I would’ve made more money, wish I would’ve. Um, you know, they’re all about their relationship, um, telling the other people that you love them, um, you know, connecting those kinds of things.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
So when it comes to that, I think profit first that thinking that methodology allows people to step more into living their life.
David Richter:
Yeah. So it sounds like the two, two big breakthroughs for you was life and air and profit first for being able to think that way. Like there was a wake up call back in 2011. Were those a couple of the catalysts along the way that helped you to where you are now? Because before the show you to said some pretty cool stuff of like how many hours you’re working now and like how you get to
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm. <affirmative>
David Richter:
Fill things in. So where did it go, you know, like from those times to where it is today?
Peter Polish:
Well, I mean, it takes work, you know what I mean? Takes actions. Uh, takes vulnerability.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
It takes being real with yourself. Because for a long time I was like, well, you know, the whole being significant, making sure that people like you and understand you, especially football pleaser, we weren’t real with ourselves.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
But when you get to a point where like, you know, something’s gotta change because like your wife just divorced you, what ends up happening is you’re starting to look from the perspective, okay, what’s going on here? And you start getting real with yourself, being vulnerable, people who surround you, who are actually there for you, who will help you out. And then you start making different changes in your life. You start operating different, you know, you start putting these things, you know, action steps and uh, you know, life on there was the first thing that kind of came into my life.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And then shortly even actually it was true life and error that I discovered Prophet first.
David Richter:
Oh wow.
Peter Polish:
Because we, you know, there was other coaches that were talking about that book. So I started, I’ve read that book, I started looking at it, implementing it, and then shortly after I’m like, my students, my, you know, we have those kinds of conversations.
David Richter:
Yeah. Well that’s an incredible journey from, you know, like where you were to where you are now and like just the, like you said, it is taking those actions and making sure you’re getting around those people. So was it someone in your life that pointed you to Life and Air? Or like was it the book that you found initially or like what was one of those catalysts that you know, even got you started on that path?
Peter Polish:
Well also, um, I don’t think she might me saying her name, but I think in the real estate industry who our listeners are here.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Uh, they know Wendy Patton. Okay. Uh, probably most likely she’s a queen of lease options.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
She’s amazing when it comes to that. So I became friends over time with her because she lives in the same state as I do and my previous business, I’ve helped her in some different aspects of the business and marketing, things like that. So we became really good friends and after I got divorced we were on one call and she’s like, listen, um, I know you’re going through something that’s really tough. I know this guy, you connect with him because you have similar stories. And so we end up connecting with this guy, his name is Jason Bojo. Chesky.
David Richter:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>,
Peter Polish:
You know him very well. He’s the CEO of Life funder right now. And that’s how I came to know Leifer.
David Richter:
Okay.
Peter Polish:
So it’s amazing how this low life works, isn’t it?
David Richter:
Right. It is. Cuz I like hearing people’s stories too because it’s like, where are you at those dark times that helped you get through it and sounded like Wendy was one of those angels, you know, like one of those, you know, beacons of light for you at that time. So how important to you is it to have a coach or someone, a mentor or a friend or someone in your corner during those dark times?
Peter Polish:
You know, um, I remember when I was broke way back in the day and people were telling me, you need to get a coach. You need to, and I always had this, but I don’t have money but I don’t have this or whatever the case may be. And that was the, actually, you know, I say this at events, you already have one, but even in another one,
David Richter:
<laugh>.
Peter Polish:
So using those buts is not gonna help you tremendously. And I will tell you this, that you’ve been living with yourself your whole life. Correct?
David Richter:
Correct.
Peter Polish:
So is it possible that since you’ve been living with yourself your whole life, you don’t see what will get you from point A to point B?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Very important. So having that mentor, having that coach coming from the place of law, because this is very important that a coach that you have or the mentor is really coming from a place of love and support and you being vulnerable over there, he might see something in you that’s gonna help you move from the needle, get from point A to point B. So right now I have, you know, I have a coach, I have few mentors, I’m surrounded by people in my masterminds and they are one of those things that I look at it as like breeding, like an electricity beer bill, basically.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
You can’t go without it, Right?
David Richter:
So that’s really good. Uh, that’s wouldn’t be here or wouldn’t have gone through some of those journeys without some of those people. And especially like I, there’s a lot that I resonate myself here with what you’re saying.
Peter Polish:
Mm-hmm <affirmative>
David Richter:
With the people pleasing, just all of that. So really appreciate you being raw and real and telling us about your story and going through that. Why do you think then a lot of people in the real estate world live deal to deal, like they’re struggle, like they are just trying to just, you know, the revenue, the revenue, focusing on that and basically living paycheck to paycheck. What do you think one of the big reasons are?
Peter Polish:
So I think it’s couple of them. Yeah. One, most of them are doing it by themselves.
David Richter:
Mm-hmm.
Peter Polish:
Because there is this idea in real estate that I’m an investor Yeah. And I gotta get the deal and make the deal. And it’s, although I need, it’s for some reason you have to do it by yourself. It’s a team sport. It’s not a me sport, it’s a team sport. Okay. So that’s one. Two, they’re not clear on what they want their life to look like.
David Richter:
Mm.
Peter Polish:
You know, in life when we talk about having your life vision,
David Richter:
yeah.
Peter Polish:
Before that nobody has ever came to me and said, listen, you need to write down what you want your life to look like.
David Richter:
Hmm.
Peter Polish:
And what ends up happening is everybody keeps telling us, you need to know what your business is gonna be gonna look like. What’s the business plan? So some of these investors, they’ll go and create quote unquote this vision for their business. Right.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And what ends up happening, it takes over your life.
David Richter:
Right. <laugh>.
Peter Polish:
And what ends up happening, you, especially if you’re a people pleaser, you end up doing 10, 20, 30,000 things in one day or you wanna do them
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And you say yes to everybody and everything and guess what? Life goes out the window because you’re not very clear of what you want your life to look like right now when you write down what your life is going to look like and you get very clear what you want to end up in now that’s like at this gps, this guiding light, then the next question becomes, okay, what does my business need to look like to support that life?
David Richter:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Peter Polish:
And now when you do that, all of a sudden you know that okay, I said on my vision, on my live vision that I will be, because by the way, this is what I did between 10 and three o’clock, it’s business before 10 and after 10 no business. And the reason for that was because it was really important for me to pick up my kids from school at the end of the day and drop ’em off at school, um, in the morning, especially after I get divorced. Right?
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Don’t see him as much. So that was so important to me. So I literally, that was my parameter for setting up my business.
David Richter:
Yeah. Wow.
Peter Polish:
So what ends up happening now, if I’m saying yes to everything and everybody answering the phone calls during those hours and being distracted and not being intentional, what goes out? Is it me? Am I miss picking up my kids now?
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
Is it me not going to the gym or whatever? Something’s gotta come out because we have 24 hours in a day. So when you clear on that vision, your live vision, all of a sudden things start to shift a little bit because there’s so much important to you.
David Richter:
Wow.
Peter Polish:
Makes sense.
David Richter:
Yeah, that makes sense. And one of those statements you just said, your business vision takes over your life vision cuz you have, you don’t have that life vision and man, I could just sit there all day basically because that’s so good. The question was why do people live deal to deal. That’s why, you know,
Peter Polish:
hmm
David Richter:
They’re just going after the deal. Their business vision is overtaking everything else
Peter Polish:
Right
David Richter:
And they don’t have anything they’re working towards, you know, like Ford
Peter Polish:
Right.
David Richter:
To be able to do that so.
Peter Polish:
Man. Right. Because for most of them it’s just, I need to make that $20,000 or $30,000.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And then they make it and what <laugh> I need to make 20, $30,000 more.
David Richter:
Exactly.
Peter Polish:
And what ends up happening is in between that period, either they go and spend that money somewhere because guess what? There’s no profit first in their life so they’re not paying themselves,
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
They just don’t spend it or whatever.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And then all the money goes out and they’re like, what happened to the money? So now I gotta make another deal.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And it’s just this revolving door that keeps going on and on.
David Richter:
Yeah ,man that’s so good cuz that’s, see that all the time in the real estate world especially, and I’m sure you do, you coach a lot of people too, so
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm <affirmative>,
David Richter:
I’m sure you, you dig into this and tho that’s after years of working with people and really getting behind the scenes of why do people do what they do. Which is another thing we were talking about before you, you’re very much on the psychology side and like why people do what they do. So that’s obviously a big one for us in the prophet first, you know, world here. Like why do people live, deal to deal. But why do most people do what they do? Like is it because they don’t have that life vision or they don’t have something planned out or it’s just like happenstance or like what is a big reason that a lot of people in the real estate world are just people in general are, you know, floating around out there? Is it that life vision that they don’t have written down?
Peter Polish:
Well so that’s a great question and it is the life vision, but what’s underneath it all
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Is I’ll tell you a couple of things. What’s underneath it all boils down to this. We are wired as human beings if you think about it for survival.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Right. We wanna survive. That’s the whole thing. And that’s why we do businesses. That’s why we go make money. That’s why we, you know, create the relationships, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Now what ends up happening, driving that survival is two big fears that we all have. Two, like every single person on the earth has those two fears. I don’t care who you are or where you come from. One is this constant question, this is for some people it’s gonna be, one’s gonna be bigger than the other. But first one is, am I enough?
David Richter:
Hmm.
Peter Polish:
Am I enough, enough money enough in a relationship enough as a dad, as enough as a husband, enough business owner, enough, enough, enough, enough, enough. That’s the fear. And if that drives you, guess what? It’s never gonna be enough.
David Richter:
Hmm.
Peter Polish:
Because there’s always something that you’re gonna find out is not enough.
David Richter:
Right.
Peter Polish:
And second one is this question am I loved because if you think about when we were little kids, there’s a whole, you know, when it comes to when we can go first, have a conversation for an hour about this,
David Richter:
<laugh>,right
Peter Polish:
About kids growing up and things like that and how you grow up. So there is this need to be loved, appreciated, um, needed and that kind of stuff. So when you start looking from those two fears, how they play up, especially for people pleasers, those two are huge.
David Richter:
Oh yeah. Big time.
Peter Polish:
So they drive most of our actions. But when you start looking now you look at the light vision in the profit first model, in a way it turns the tables, doesn’t it?
David Richter:
It does.
Peter Polish:
Yeah. Because now you don’t have to focus so much. Am I enough? You start focusing who do I need to be? Who do I need to become?
David Richter:
Right, exactly.
Peter Polish:
It makes a difference.
David Richter:
Yep. Putting the first things first. And that’s really good. So you would say the counter to those is implementing something like that, like a profit first or putting, you know, like life and air, putting those first things in, because I know a lot of people that are driven by those two big fears and I’ve questioned myself like those in the past as well too. Those are raw real questions so
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm. <affirmative>
David Richter:
Appreciate you bringing those up.
Peter Polish:
Yeah. By the way, I wanna ask listeners who are listening to this podcast right now, if you wanna get real with yourself, ask yourself this question because I do this at the events and every single time I’m asking people are like, their face changes. What are you most afraid of?
David Richter:
Hmm.
Peter Polish:
As you’re listening, what are you most afraid of? I’m not talking about spiders
David Richter:
<laugh>
Peter Polish:
Or you know, heights or whatever about what deep down in core in your heart, what are you most afraid of? And I would not be surprised you’re gonna arrive in those two things.
David Richter:
Hmm. Yeah. Wow. That’s really good. What are you most afraid of? And have you seen people that ask themselves those questions and then get out of those? You know that those two fears, have you seen them on the other side? Have you seen people break through that?
Peter Polish:
Yes. And that is a beautiful thing to see. I mean it’s just, you can see like in their lives, in their faces because what ends up happening is you finally in step one, you become aware that what’s underneath and what’s, what’s driving. It’s like the subconscious thing, right? You and when you uncover what’s subconsciously going on, all of a sudden that thing has to give up power over you doesn’t have any more power as much in you. Right?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
Cuz now you can do something with it and then you start, well can I do this? Let’s go do this, let’s go do that. And you start looking for a different aspect, different way of looking at yourself. And that’s one being among other people who support you is so important because they can encourage you. They can see like, listen, I don’t think you’ve done enough. I mean look at all of the stuff you’ve done. You’ve done A, B, C, D, E, F, G. And then like, huh, I never thought about it that way. Yeah. I am doing A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
David Richter:
Right?
Peter Polish:
And all of a sudden that whole fear starts to go out the window a little bit.
David Richter:
That is so good.
Peter Polish:
And then you become more, you know, empowered within yourself.
David Richter:
That’s good. That plays back into having those good people in your life too, that you can go to during the difficult times. Cuz you go to ask them, they’re going to tell you those two things. Yeah, you’re enough and yeah, you are loved. Like even if you don’t feel that, so there’s a call back to what he was talking about when you know you’re in those darkest periods of your time too. Find those people. If you don’t have those people like follow peter, follow wife and air, follow what we’re doing prophet first. Like those are the type of people we want in our circles.
Peter Polish:
hmm
David Richter:
That’s who we surround ourself with is those types of people. So that’s why this has been incredible. I mean you are already getting, if you’re listening to this right now, you’re getting incredible golden nuggets all throughout this podcast of how to make sure you’re not living deal to deal. How you make sure that you’re enough as a human being. I mean we have delve pretty deep in here to make sure that we’re getting you as much value as possible. But Peter, I’ve only got a couple more last questions here. So gonna fire away here. Um, one of ’em, if you were to start from scratch all over again, what would you do differently in your business?
Peter Polish:
Well, so <laugh>, that’s an interesting question because on one side of the flip I would say nothing because if it wasn’t for that perspective, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
David Richter:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s great.
Peter Polish:
And I wouldn’t learn the lessons that I’ve learned and allowed me to grow
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
And be who I am, you know what I mean? Right. Uh, because all those things, I believe that every single one of these things that happened up to this point happened for a reason. Cuz I can literally go back to when I’m a child and say, if that didn’t happen, my parents got divorced when I was eight.
David Richter:
Okay.
Peter Polish:
If that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you.
David Richter:
Hmm.
Peter Polish:
So would I change it? Well one side of me says, yeah, I would basically, first thing I would get a mentor, a coach,
David Richter:
okay, alright
Peter Polish:
Probably on the first things and given the mastermind with people in some, some kind mastermind something. And then, uh, but outside of that, because I used to do it alone,
David Richter:
hmm
Peter Polish:
One of the worst things you can do when you’re a business owner or when you’re in a dark, dark, dark place is God it alone.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
You gotta reach out, you gotta surround yourself with other people.
David Richter:
Yep, that is really good. So there’s a couple of things he would do, you know, going back. So if you are in that stage right now, there’s some things you could do right away and make sure that you’re not, you know, you could maybe skip a couple of those steps and go straight there with good mentors like Peter and like the group and like the people that we have on this podcast. So now that was really good and there’s been a ton here, like I said, going from the beginning when we were talking about being driven by revenue performance base to going and flipping that model, to like actually worrying about the bottom line and the cash flow and the profitability of the company. And you were like, it’s a incredible, when you focus on it, what happens. So going from that, talking about how the things that you’ve gone through and what the great perspective you have of how they’ve helped you get to where you are and where you are now. So I think there’s been a great, great journey here why people live deal to deal and you know, like why they are and by they’re working by themselves, their purpose isn’t clear. I absolutely loved when you said the business vision, you know, takes over their life vision cuz there’s nothing there. So
Peter Polish:
mm-hmm. <affirmative>
David Richter:
Some great nuggets here. So then since you’ve been dropping those bombs the whole entire time, how can the audience and the people listening, you know, give back to you? What are you working on or what are you, where would you like to make sure that they can connect with you?
Peter Polish:
I would say, um, you can connect to me, I’m on Facebook. Um, you just type in Polish Peter, you’re gonna find me under
David Richter:
<laugh>,
Peter Polish:
Um, in life on error. Uh, come to our one of ours or just reach out. Um, if you want, I can, if somebody reaches out to me, I’ll give him a, let me see this side. See that book right there?
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
I’ll send it to you for free.
David Richter:
Awesome.
Peter Polish:
Um, if you wanna reach out now, only have about 10 copies right now. So that’s that. And, um, one of the most important that you can do, listener, is take action and pass it on what you’ve learned. Give it to somebody else.
David Richter:
Mm-hmm.
Peter Polish:
Encourage them, support them. Because when you do that, especially if your dark time and you do it something for somebody else, all of a sudden you get outta your own head and you’re actually helping somebody else and things change.
David Richter:
Yeah.
Peter Polish:
So do something for others.
David Richter:
That’s really good. And if, if you’re not watching this on YouTube or somewhere else, he pointed to the life and air book behind him. So that was the book that he was referring to. So he’ll send you that book and so make sure to reach out to him. I was looking him up on Facebook over the last week as well too. And if you just, if you just type in Polish Peter, he comes up, he’s the first one right there. It’s, uh,
Peter Polish:
Pretty hard. There’s not that many Polish Peters
David Richter:
Price Exactly. On
Peter Polish:
Facebook. That’s the only reason
David Richter:
Why. Oh. So it’s really, that was great. So there you go. It’s gonna be easy to connect with him. Make sure you get into that world as well too. They’ve teach a lot of great stuff, like I said at the beginning, so I endorse that a hundred percent. So make sure that you go and find them. What about the website for Life and Air? Is it lifeandair.com?
Peter Polish:
Yep. lifeandair.com.
David Richter:
Awesome.
Peter Polish:
There you go. And, um, you know, you can come there. I have, uh, another website called Masters Unite where I interview, uh, successful first for second generation immigrants.
David Richter:
Awesome.
Peter Polish:
And helping their stories and unveiling like, why is that, they’re so successful.
David Richter:
Yeah
Peter Polish:
And so I’ve had a lot of those kinds of conversations.
David Richter:
Well there you go. There’s a couple different places you can go to as well. Uh, and Peter, thank you so much for being here. I just wanna leave with this. If you’re a real estate investor or a business owner, maybe you connected with Peter today and how he was a people pleaser or always putting others first and not really getting what he needed out of his business. If you’re tired of that, head over to simplecfo.com. We can help you with the implementing profit first. Getting that mindset, putting someone on your team that can help as well too. We would, and it’s a no obligation call if we’re not the right people, we might point you to Life and Air. We might point you to someone else in the finance world. We just want what’s best for you. So head over to simplecfo.com. Would love to help you there. Then another thing I wanted to leave you with as always, start making profit a habit in your business. Thank you so much.
Outro:
This episode of the Profit First for REI podcast is over, but there are plenty more where that came from. Are you ready to learn how David and his team can help implement the Profit First system in your business? Schedule a discovery call at simplecfo.com right now. We’ll see you next time on the Profit First for REI podcast with David Richter.
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